Volume 10 Chapter 42 The Higher One
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
”Yo. How’re you holding up?”
”Captain… you’re looking better.”
She lay on the bed, gazing absently out the window. The fierce adventurer clad in light armor was nowhere to be seen—her hair was loose now, her face quiet, almost noble, like a lady from some secluded manor.
”I just got burned a little, that’s all. You, on the other hand, went days without food or water. Rest up for a while.”
”Thank you. And… sorry.”
He set a dish of fruit slices on the bedside table. Of course, Klock had no talent for cutting fruit neatly—Suzette had prepared it for him.
”Captain… I’m sorry. I let everyone—”
”I was the one who sent you out there. That makes it my responsibility. You just did your job, as far as you could.”
”…”
”When you go home, you’ll be a princess again, right? Royalty should know this better than anyone—responsibility belongs to those at the top.”
”…Yeah.”
Fit’s voice trembled. Nine lives lost—insignificant in the scale of war, maybe, but when she was the only one left alive, it had to weigh on her.
”Maybe I got careless. If I’d been more cautious, maybe… they wouldn’t have been captured.”
”Maybe, maybe not. The scouts were taken because of that poison. It was the kind that kills before you even know it’s there. Escaping it would’ve been damn near impossible.”
He already knew how it had gone. The team had been ambushed while making camp. By the time they realized it, the weakening toxin had already spread through their bodies—none of them could fight, let alone flee. Only Fit and another woman, who’d stepped away to relieve themselves, survived. Fit told her to fall back and report—but the warrior refused, swearing she wouldn’t return until she’d taken revenge. So the two of them infiltrated the enemy base together.
Klock had found that warrior’s corpse himself. Desecrated. Defiled. Which meant… Fit alone had survived.
”Captain… there’s something that’s been bothering me.”
”Yeah? Go on.”
”They had this… weird mask.”
”…A mask?”
Klock tilted his head, and Fit’s expression turned grave. She said it was strange—so strange she couldn’t even describe its shape. The one who’d used it was Roldi, the man who’d fought Klock’s unit. She’d been watching him from hiding when she first saw it… and from that moment, she couldn’t look away, as if something had gripped her.
”That mask… it felt like it was pulling memories out of whoever wore it. But when I saw it, something else came into me instead.”
”Something… came into you?”
”Yeah. I know it sounds crazy, but the instant I saw it, something inside me twisted. I started seeing this place—a spring, I think—and then—”
Klock frowned. Mask. Memory extraction. A spring in her mind. He stayed quiet, waiting as she struggled to form the words.
”That’s enough.”
The voice cut through the air—calm, commanding.
”Eh?”
Fit flinched. A third presence stood at the door—Kispe, wearing an uncharacteristically serious expression. She must’ve been listening.
”Fit, stop. Don’t speak of it. Don’t even think of it. That is poison—a memory steeped in venom.”
”Poisoned… memory? What do you mean—”
”Don’t ask. It’s beyond you. Forget it, at once.”
Kispe—once of the Demon Lord’s army—was not one to exaggerate. If she said this much, it meant danger of the worst kind.
”That’s… hard to do. I can’t even think about it?”
”The skull doesn’t always protect what’s inside. Once you know her, she’ll keep trying to pull you in.”
”Pull me in… so that means, that spring I saw—”
”You’ve seen her, haven’t you? The Lady of the Lake.”
The Lady of the Lake. Another name Klock didn’t know. A title from the Demon Lord’s side, perhaps.
”Yeah. I don’t see her anymore, though. I think I blacked out for a few days after that. It must’ve been three days between the infiltration and when I woke up. Maybe meeting Captain again broke whatever it was.”
”…!”
Kispe’s eyes widened. She blinked sharply, lips parting in alarm.
”Kispe,” Klock said. “What the hell is going on?”
She pressed a finger to her chin, thoughtful, her gaze narrowing.
”Master… if I answer, you’ll need to be prepared.”
”Prepared?”
”Yes. The moment you mentioned the mask, I realized. I know what was calling to Fit. But even naming that being can draw its attention. To know her is to be seen by her.”
”You’re saying just knowing she exists is enough to expose us?”
”Exactly. What Fit saw was likely a mask altar—an altar shaped like a mask. Through it, she glimpsed the one being worshiped beyond it. And that alone was enough for the corruption to take root.”
So there existed something with a perception so vile it transcended mere detection. To know it was to be known.
”So Fit’s already infected, then?”
”She should be. But… you said she doesn’t see it anymore?”
”Yeah. Since meeting the Captain, it’s gone.”
”Then… even I cannot explain it.”
Kispe sighed, thoughtful again. Her profile caught the light—beautiful, distant, and far too calm for the darkness she hinted at.
”Maybe Master isn’t affected at all,” Kispe murmured.
”Really?” Klock frowned.
”It’s possible. Perhaps it’s because you’re one of the Chosen Ones.”
”I see… so I might be safe to hear it, then?”
”There’s no guarantee,” she warned softly. “It’s only a possibility. Will you still listen?”
He nodded. Fit did too, hesitant but resolute.
Honestly, Klock thought, unless this thing was absurdly dangerous, he could handle being ‘perceived.’ If even Meina, Primlena, and Kispe couldn’t manage it, that would be another matter—but until then, he’d take the risk.
”Then… to put it simply,” Kispe said at last, “the one beyond the mask altar Fit saw was the Lake of Dawn.”
”The… Lake of Dawn?”
”That’s the name she’s known by. The Eleventh Seat of the Council of the United Kingdoms. On a whim, she joined the Demon Lord’s Army. She is one of the Higher Beings.”
”‘Higher Being’? What’s that supposed to mean?”
”A Higher One—also called a Higher Existence. You truly haven’t heard the term?”
”Not once,” Klock replied flatly.
Kispe looked almost surprised by his ignorance, as if it were common sense. The words themselves were clear enough, but the idea that such beings actually existed was new to him.
Maybe it was common knowledge on the Demon Continent.
”So it’s not the same as an apostle, then?”
”No. Apostles are those granted power by the world. Higher Beings, on the other hand, are those who have evolved—who’ve undergone convergent evolution and become something beyond their former selves.”
”‘Become something beyond’…” He frowned. He’d never heard a story like that before—never in any legend or record.
That such a being existed—and even sat among the Demon Lord’s Army—was beyond belief.
”There are really people like that?”
”It shouldn’t surprise you,” Kispe replied. “Humans know of one too, do they not?”
”Humans…? Oh. I get it now.”
Klock nodded slowly, while Fit blinked in confusion beside him.
”Um… who are we talking about?”
”One of the Higher Beings—humans call her a god,” Kispe said gently. “Goddess Teekua.”
”…Goddess… Teekua…”
Teekua. Of course. They’d never called her a Higher Being, but if that term existed, it fit her perfectly. There was no denying it—she was a being beyond mortal reach.
Still, no one called her that. Only “Goddess.” No one ever spoke of her in such analytical terms.
Yet, when framed that way, it made uncomfortable sense.
”So this Lake of Dawn—she’s like a goddess, then?”
”Perhaps,” Kispe said with a wry smile. “‘God’ is just a name mortals assign to what they cannot understand. By that measure, some have even called me the god of the Crimson Spire. If I qualify as a deity, then surely so does she.”
”I see,” Klock murmured.
By that logic, a god was one worshiped by many innocents, a figure elevated through faith.
That meant, truly, that there was only one such god—Goddess Teekua. Kispe, after all, was a queen, not a deity.
”Kispe,” he said. “How many of these Higher Beings are there in the world?”
”Insofar as I know,” she said thoughtfully, “four have been confirmed.”
”Four? So, Teekua and the Lake of Dawn… and two others?”
”Yes. The Dragon King and the World Tree.”
”…Huh.”
That, at least, made a kind of sense. “Evolved existence” didn’t have to mean human.
When she named a dragon and a world tree, Klock could only nod in wordless agreement.
”There’s quite a crowd in the Demon Lord’s Army, huh,” he said. “So now, besides apostles, we’ve got Higher Beings to worry about too?”
Kispe shook her head. “No. The Lake of Dawn holds neither malice nor interest toward humankind. Roldi and his followers merely borrow her radiance for their own ends.”
”Borrow her power, huh? You said she joined the army on a whim. But that mask—didn’t it do something? You mentioned extracting memories.”
Klock turned toward Fit.
”Yeah,” she said quietly. “I saw it. He drank the water that flowed from the mask… and right after that, Roldi said your name, Captain. I’m sure he pulled that memory from one of the scouts.”
”The Fountain of Wisdom,” Kispe murmured. “The water offered knowledge from the sacrificed to Mr. Roldi.”
”That’s… insane,” Klock muttered. A being like that—capable of stealing not just lives, but memories—was nothing short of a nightmare.
”If you think about it,” Kispe added, “Lady Teekua also grants power to Chosen Ones. Yet the Demonkin do not fear her. They would never think of her as an enemy. The Lake of Dawn is no different.”
”…I see.”
He had to admit she was right. From the Demon Lord’s side, the Chosen Ones were monsters of divine creation—terrifying, yes, but not something one could simply fight.
Teekua was terrifying in potential, yet she never acted directly against them. So long as she stayed distant, they left her alone.
But the Lake of Dawn was present—part of the Demon Lord’s Army itself. That was something else entirely.
”Lady Teekua may choose her Chosen Ones boldly,” Kispe continued, “but among the Higher Beings, the only one who truly interfered in the mortal world was the Dragon King. Were he still alive, that would be cause for concern—but he perished three centuries ago. There’s no need to worry.”
”Worry? What did he do?” Klock asked warily.
”In the First War of Man and Demon, he joined hands with the Demon King—and together, they sought to destroy the world.”
Klock’s jaw dropped. “That’s not ‘worrying,’ that’s apocalyptic.”
So the dragons had sided with the demons in the first war.
He could only imagine the terror among the humans then—dragons on the battlefield, and one bearing the title of King.
It must have been one of those colossal dragons—volcanic or sea-born, the kind whose shadow alone could darken a mountain.
”He could destroy the very mechanisms of the world,” Kispe continued. “The flat land you see now once folded upon itself like a great cylinder. The border between the living and the dead vanished. Corpses wandered freely across the surface. The catastrophe was so dire that every soul—human, demon, and otherwise—joined forces with the Hero to strike down both the Demon Lord and the Dragon King.”
”Sounds like something straight out of myth,” Klock muttered. “So that Dragon King was… taken down by the Hero?”
”Yes,” Kispe nodded. “By the first Hero and the first Saint. The living today owe their ancestors far more gratitude than they realize—humans, demonkin, all of them.”
* * *
”…A Higher Being, huh.”
That night, Klock lay awake.
He wasn’t in the mood for company, so he rested alone. If Kispe had appeared to claim her so-called “payment,” he would’ve let her—but she never came. The quiet suited him.
She’d told him before what Teekua truly was—back when he first received the summons.
The ancient succubus, who had lived for centuries, had spoken with calm certainty.
> “Lady Teekua was the First Saint. Once, she was human—just like you, Master.”
Remembering those words, it wasn’t hard to piece things together now.
He should’ve realized sooner that other Higher Beings might exist.
Looking back, it was almost laughable how little he’d thought about it.
There was only one god in this world—or rather, only one worshiped as such.
But “god” was just a title.
In truth, as a Higher Being, Teekua wasn’t alone.
The demonkin had simply turned their worship from Teekua to another: the Lake of Dawn.
So that was the reason behind the events of old.
Three centuries ago, the so-called mythic war—the rampage of the Demon Lord and the Dragon King—had nearly destroyed the world.
Teekua had been the one to stop it, to stitch the crumbling world back together.
If the Dragon King could destroy reality itself, perhaps he had been the true threat, not the Demon Lord.
Maybe the Demon Lord of that era had even worshiped him.
Or perhaps, back then, the very concept of Higher Beings hadn’t yet taken shape.
He recalled the sage’s journal—the one that spoke of foreign realms. He’d focused so much on the interdimensional details that he’d ignored the greater anomaly: the existence of gods themselves.
Why, he wondered, did divinity dwell only within the Grand Cathedral?
Why were there no gods in other realms?
No—that wasn’t it. The other realms were the work of the Goddess.
The worlds themselves had been formed by Teekua’s hand.
There was no “other realm” in her origin story, because she existed before the realms themselves.
Because she was a Higher Being—one of those who predated creation.
When, then, had she become divine? The sage’s writings offered no answer.
It seemed the Revealer never got close enough to learn the truth.
Teekua had once been human.
So when—and how—had she ascended?
Was she different from birth? Or had she evolved during her lifetime?
How did such evolution even happen?
Each mystery solved only bred another.
Still, something vital was beginning to take shape in his mind.
The Chosen Ones. Them.
Those who stand against. Those who pursue. Those who guide. The Chain Binder. The one who strikes down.
All of them—except for Klock himself and the still-unknown “striker”—possessed terrifying power.
Cianie alone was absurdly strong, powerful enough to topple a nation singlehandedly.
It was almost excessive—too much power for any cause, even one tied to the Demon Lord.
And yet, if the Demon Lord was as formidable as the legends claimed, perhaps that balance made sense.
He’d almost accepted that—until now.
The Chosen Ones weren’t made to fight mortals.
They existed to oppose the other Higher Beings.
That was the only conclusion that fit.
Cianie’s monstrous strength wasn’t random—it was necessary.
Because Teekua had an enemy among the divine.
The Lake of Dawn.
Kispe had called her detached, disinterested in mankind—but perhaps she couldn’t be ignored after all.
Right now, she was the most likely adversary.
Even if she bore no hostility herself, the mere fact that she could grant power like Teekua made her a threat.
And the fact that she sat among the Demon Lord’s Army? That was too much to overlook.
If the Lake of Dawn was the one empowering the Demon Lord…
He drifted to sleep, as he often did, mid-thought.
Maybe, if the dream came, he’d continue this strange conversation with Kispe.
The world was full of too many mysteries for one lifetime.
But this night was different.
Before his eyes stretched a vast, silent lake.
”Roldi, Officer of State.”
A man stood before a line of drowned Majin soldiers, his face tight with irritation.
The air around him reeked of unease—no one dared step close.
Behind him, a woman approached, quiet as a shadow.
”Sir Bandanzine has issued new orders,” she said softly. “The operation has been revised. We are to return to Sanrid immediately.”
”A revision?” Roldi muttered. “Why?”
”Likely… a revelation has come.”
They didn’t look at each other as they spoke, their voices low, steady—habit built over years.
Two sides of the same coin, bound in long service.
”I’ll accompany you,” she offered.
”Unnecessary,” he snapped. “Instead, Neria—kill the human named Klock Livorno.”
A silence fell between them, sharp and brief. His tone alone made clear the reason for his foul mood.
”What sort of man is he?”
”The leader of an armed group called Brigante,” Roldi replied. “Not in the data, but apparently one of the Brave Knights. He wields a blade that can cut through the air itself.”
Notes:
• Suzette – The older maid from Viscount Fennec. The head maid at the Viscount Fennec’s villa. She is confident, clear-spoken, and professional.
• Fit – Solo archer adventurer; first appears at Barreith volunteer gathering, introduces herself to Klock and group, joining Brave Knight against Demon Lord’s Army
• Roldi – A male subordinate of Bandanzine, executes orders efficiently, tasked with commanding forces in Orrid and coordinating the invasion strategy.
• Meina – She is a golden-haired catgirl employee of the beastman (Larana the cat woman) Inn, appeared performing fellatio, desperate and tear-streaked, with an inexperienced yet earnest approach to her work.
• Primlena – Orange-haired merfolk priestess, fierce yet elegant | First v8c3 | Sister of Sea General Primjune, subordinate to Primrity | Once captured and violated by Klock, now obsessed with reclaiming honor | Commands Obsidian Riders on giant fish, fights with trident | Seeks to drag Klock to Seabed Temple for marriage trial or execution | Unique note: revenge-driven siren bride who masks fury under ritual grace
• Goddess Teekua – The deity who saved Sylvia after her death and granted her rebirth as a hero.
• Cianie – A noble girl with a fluffy white and light blue dress, indicating her high status. She has a hesitant and flustered personality but is kind and courteous. Her relationship with Klock begins as an accidental encounter and develops into a romantic interest. She has a fiancé but expresses feelings for Klock, complicating their relationship.
• Bandanzine – They are one of the Four Heavenly Kings, appeared as a warrior with a dignified gaze, known for their frontline combat prowess.
• Neria – A female Roldi’s subordinate, tasked with killing Klock.
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
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