Chapter 48: Backdrop

It seemed Kerriel’s husband, Grister was indeed connected to the Great Megwest Empire. In this world, there were three levels to a country: Kingdom, Empire, and Great Empire.

It usually dictated the size of the country, the number of people they held, and the Level of the Dungeon they had. There were a variety of criteria before a country could call itself a Kingdom, Empire, or Great Empire.

In their continent, there were countless Kingdoms, four Empires, and one Great Empire. But, the Great Empire, Megwest had been destroyed 120 years ago. And, it was now overrun by monsters. The four Empires each erected troops along its borders, erecting forts and walls to keep the monsters at bay and prevent them from overrunning their continent.

It indeed seemed that the Great Megwest Empire had done something, otherwise, it wouldn’t have collapsed overnight. And, very few people had escaped from it and survived in other regions of the continent, living their lives in hiding, terrified of their past.

Grister and Parlut were one of them. And, unlike the other survivors who were simply part of the common populace that had managed to escape and survive by coincidence, they were part of a line of people who were part of the cause that collapsed the Great Empire.

It was a secret conveyed to them from one generation to another, entrusting them to eventually put an end to the curse. And, Parlut was the one who had been holding the key to the situation. In his possession was a parchment that detailed everything the Great Megwest Empire had done.

As Parlut was the older brother, he kept the secret with him. Moreover, he and Grister had concealed the fact that they were brothers to everyone, including Kerriel and Kalluto. Determined to put an end to their ancestor’s sins, Parlut had never married.

One of their inheritances was an Armament with five States, a relic of the past. Using that, the two of them awakened their Darlac, secretly training over the years. And, when they attained the limit of their development, they embarked on a journey towards the Great Megwest Empire.

But, it turned out to be a failure. The information they inherited from their father was only part of the truth.

Once they entered the Level 5 Dungeon, they were viciously attacked by the monsters that had once been the Puppeteers of the Great Megwest Empire. It seemed that over the years, their humanity slowly dulled while their monster instincts had taken over.

Now, they were monsters with the cunning and intelligence of humans, overwhelming Grister and Parlut, Warriors who had reached the peak of the path—Transcendence!

‘Transcendence, a state attained by Warriors and Puppeteers once their Darlac touches 1000 units. They are people who can take on a Kingdom by themselves. And, to think there were two of them hiding in a remote corner of the Heroica Empire.’ Compass Carburettor thought, recalling the rest of the information.

Parlut had been gravely injured. As for Grister, he had been poisoned, slowly dying with each passing day. At that point, they despaired, giving up their quest, intending to simply cover up everything, unwilling to pass on the burden to their successors. After all, even with the peak strength attainable to man, they failed to solve it. So, they judged it as something unsolvable.

But, during their return to Peckle City, Parlut was unable to hold on, dying in the process. Grister buried him in their ancestral home, one that was passed on to them by their predecessors. No one lived there, as it was situated outside the city in a remote location where no one ever visited.

Grister also buried all their possessions—ones given to them by their predecessors, treasures related to the Great Megwest Empire—in Parlut’s grave. With that, he wished to put an end to this chapter, returning to Peckle City to live the remainder of his life with his family.

And, when he sensed his death, he orchestrated a scheme to die from a stab wound, ensuring his family wouldn’t delve into the investigation and end up finding the truth.

But, reality proved otherwise. Regriel’s System was aware of the significance of Kalluto’s fate. That’s how it had devised a Quest in such a way that Regriel would come into contact with Kerriel. And due to the powers he had, it was only due time before he stumbled upon the secrets that Kerriel and Kalluto were kept in the dark of.

There was a reason something like that had become a cliché. It was because it worked the best in working up the Host, placing him in dangerous situations one after another, leading him into numerous plots and schemes.

With that line of thought, once Compass Carburettor began to investigate Kerriel’s background, he unearthed everything. But, to ensure Regriel’s System wouldn’t be alerted about it in case his helpers thought about the buried treasures, Compass Carburettor was the one who did the grunt work.

Because of that, only he was aware of the truth. His allies—scouts and messengers sent over by Ephemella—were kept in the dark, their services only used to gather every information of use. As he was the only one who compiled them whole, only he was able to piece together the truth.

As Grister hadn’t taken much care in the disposal of the truth and just dumped everything in Parlut’s grave, it was easy for Compass Carburettor to find them within a week. After that, he created a fake scroll, one that contained information he had fabricated, a trap to lure Regriel to his death.

Since he was a business magnate on Earth, he handled numerous priceless treasures, historical artifacts with unimaginable value. And, he was well aware of the counterfeit practices used to create fake antiques to replace them with the originals.

So, he was well aware of the methods used in such practices. The scroll was something he created, and using many methods, he made it age and sustain wear and tear as if it was something from 120 years ago. And with that, his initial preparations were complete.

Disguising as Parlut, he met up with Kerriel, feeding her partial truth mixed in with lies that he felt made sense when thinking of the situation. Finally, he gave her the fake scroll.

Compass Carburettor watched Fealta and Caithy finish removing his disguise before putting on another. In the meantime, he closed his eyes, seeing through the eyes of his Puppet, one that had been created successfully a week ago. He watched Kerriel and Kalluto converse, hearing everything they spoke, conflicted all along.

His heart was heavy at the scheme he had erected, even though he had decided upon steeling his will to do anything to achieve his goals.