"Lord Lloyd," said Giolexius, slowly and cautiously confirming Lloyd's suspicions. "They have been intertwined together without your knowledge, due to the flow of causality."
"Intertwined...?"
"Yes, my lord," the hells' knight continued. "First, when you and Sir Javier slew Lupellan, you probably believed he had died for good. In reality, however, he had only lost his physical body and his soul traveled around in this realm."
"Like an apparition with a grudge."
"Yes, my lord. It must be because his desire to continue existing was far greater than anyone could imagine."
“...”
Lloyd became speechless. He thought about the incident in which he killed the evil sorcerer and dark mage Lupellan, and admitted that the villain certainly exhibited such character. His reaction wasn't that of someone that just didn't want to die, but that of someone that had to survive at all costs in order to bring back his dead wife and children. His work on dark magic wasn't completed. It was that kind of desperation.
Tsk. And sacrificing other innocent people just to bring back your dead family is okay? Give me a break.
Lloyd was disgusted by the hypocrisy of the man that supposedly was that immensely desperate to keep living.
So selfish and inconsiderate. His dead wife and children can't come back to life if he dies? That's not even a special excuse that only he has. Millions of fathers across the world are trying their best to put food on the table and take care of their wives and children. They strengthen their resolve every time they wake up and go to work because they feel responsible for their family.
Lloyd snorted as Sir Giolexius continued.
"Anyhow, he used that desperation to drive him and became an apparition, instead of going to the underworld. That itself wasn't too big of a deal, as apparitions are not that rare."
"Then?"
"The problem was that he was an apparition with great knowledge about dark magic."
"Hmm... Wait."
"Are you getting a rough idea?"
"Yeah. Perhaps he found a suitable tool of an individual."
"That is exactly where I was going, my lord," Sir Giolexius nodded. "Lupellan's apparition traveled around in this world and thought of ways to come back to life. Since he had the desperation and the knowledge, all he needed was a good tool. And he found just that."
"...Please don't tell me that's Sir Neumann."
"I'm afraid it is."
"How did that happen?"
"It was all a huge coincidence, unless they were somehow predestined to meet. Anyhow, Sir Neumann had become a living corpse after sustaining grave injuries all over his body and being exiled. The physical disability to have difficulty even to lift his spoon to eat, along with the mental trauma from the event, drove him completely mad. He barely maintained himself, only to reiterate the same thing, that he will kill Lloyd Frontera one day, over and over. That he'd rather die if it can't be done. That's when Lupellan's soul ran into this man."
“...”
Lloyd bitterly bit his lips. It was a terrible coincidence, or a tragic flow of fate. He was particularly agitated by the fact that both Lupellan and Neumann harbored immense grudge against him.
"It was the meeting between the soul of the dark mage that lost his body, and the exiled knight that lost his soul," Sir Giolexius continued. "It didn't take them long to realize that their grudges were towards the same person."
"So they became one."
"To be precise, Lupellan destroyed Neumann's soul and took over his body."
"Tsk. I suppose that's what an evil sorcerer would do."
"What he did afterwards was also befitting."
"What did he do?"
"He did not exhibit any signs hinting he had taken over Neumann's body. He continued acting like a madman and receiving care from his family, while making one preparation at a time in order to bestow strength to his messed up body."
"Wait. Hold up."
"Did you get another rough idea as to what happened next?"
"Yeah, but it's a terrible one. Did he by any chance use Sir Neumann's family as sacrifices...?"
"I regret to tell you he did."
“...”
Lloyd became speechless again, as Sir Giolexius went on.
"On the first night on which the old moon was up in the sky after he gained a new body, Lupellan performed a dark magic ritual that he had prepared discreetly over time. He summoned the demon of gluttony from hell and offered Neumann's family as sacrifices. The demon of gluttony enjoyed the meal and offered a little bit of health to Lupellan in return, just enough so as to enable him to walk again, albeit with a limp."
One horrific deed after another was revealed, as the evil plan lying beneath showed itself.
"Since he could move on his own, he started modifying his physical body little by little based on all he knew about dark magic. Then he finally reached the peak of physical modification through dark magic; he became a lich."
"Tsk."
Lloyd shook his head. He knew very well what a lich was, as this creature was mentioned in the novel The Knight of Blood and Iron as well.
Lich is an evil sorcerer that became an undead by abandoning humanity and vitality himself. It's an undead archmage, so to speak. Its body will keep coming back to life despite being slain numerous times, with an endless supply of mana.
A lich was as powerful an adversary as a hell's knight. Lloyd couldn't believe an evil sorcerer he had slain became a massively annoying enemy to deal with, and began harboring this question.
"Hold on a second. I can't help but think you mentioned this because this is somehow related to what the king of hell is planning. Correct?"
"That's right, my lord," said Sir Giolexius, with sparkling eyes. "Lupellan did not forget his ultimate goal even after becoming a lich. It is to exact revenge on you, my lord."
"What happened to resurrecting his wife and children?"
"He lost a good chunk of humanity as he became a lich. I suspect his desperate desire to bring them back to life disappeared along with it."
"And he was only left with the grudge against me."
"Yes, my lord. And he chose to go with the surest way to get his wish."
"And what would that be?"
"He expended all of his mana to get an audience with the king of hell, and asked him to open the hell's gate to send reinforcements."
"Hell's gate? Reinforcements?"
"Yes, my lord. The hell's gate is to open on Frontera Estate, unleashing an army of hell's soldiers to sweep it."
“...”
It sent chills down Lloyd's spine and shut him up. Lloyd finally grasped the gravity of the situation.
Dark mage Lupellan. He really laid this out carefully.
Lloyd could guess that the lich had performed surveillance over the estate discreetly, coming to a conclusion.
He probably thought he could still lose despite having become a lich. Which isn't difficult to imagine because of Javier. Even if Javier accompanies me outside of the estate, the dragon Solitas is there, and the angel Raphael recently settled in the estate, not to mention the dragon king Verkis in the guest chamber.
A single lich couldn't dare attack the estate alone. That was probably why he asked the king of hell for reinforcements.
"And what did the king of hell say? He accepted the request?"
"Yes, my lord. There was no reason for him not to," said Sir Giolexius promptly. "As you are already aware, the king of hell wishes you dead so he could keep you by his side. But you somehow manage to overcome one life- threatening situation after another, and that's probably been getting on his nerves."
"And a certain lich from this realm requested an audience and asked for reinforcements."
"Exactly, my lord. That gave the king of hell a great cause to deploy his forces above ground."
"I see. That would make it look like he's only answering the request by the lich to send an army, instead of attacking without a just cause. Jeez."
Lloyd took a deep breath, having finally realized what was going on and how the dark sorcerer he had gotten rid of way long in the past was related to the king of hell.
Come to think of it, it could be an event that could trigger the enforced fate phenomenon. It's a new form of it.
He was reminded of the applicable arc within the novel The Knight of Blood and Iron, in which evil mage Lupellan was supposed to appear towards the latter part of the story. He was a hideous individual that sacrificed thousands of innocent lives through nefariously powerful dark magic and through sheer will on bringing back the dead. He would go on to destroy a few cities and settlements, causing massacres everywhere he went.
But here, he got caught by me and Javier before he could work on anything.
He had died in this world way earlier in comparison to the novel, and did not have a chance to wreak havoc.
Lloyd had thought he did a good job by getting rid of a potential threat before it could grow, and he had taken pride in the fact he saved innocent lives from pre-determined massacres.
In reality, all such actions had caused the destiny as per the original story to go wayward, eventually causing the enforced restoration of fate to affect Lupellan's fate as well.
Dark mage Lupellan, who had lost his life way before he was supposed to, was brought back to life by a mysterious flow of fate. The lich that returned was about to cause massacres Lloyd had prevented from happening.
He was an adept dark sorcerer in the story, but is now a lich. He was supposed to wreak havoc elsewhere, but is about to raze the Frontera Estate. The army of ghouls and zombies he had raised in the novel has been replaced by the army from hell.
Although the details were different, bigger events were just as the original story offered. In terms of horridness and the scale of the tragedy, it was even more catastrophic.
And what would happen after the Frontera Estate is razed down to ashes and everyone there dies? That would yield a result very close to the one the enforced fate phenomenon intends to bring about.
Lloyd was convinced now. The incomplete reset by the enforced fate phenomenon had been wanting Count of Frontera and his wife to suffer death all along, as well as those of Julian, Scheherazade, the Sultan and the Young Lady of Namaran, all of whom were supposed to die in the original novel.
Attacking the Frontera Estate could accomplish all of that in one act, returning the fate and history of those that were saved by my intervention to where they're supposed to be.
Lloyd felt more chills down his spine at the thought of it. He couldn't help but think that this forced restoration of destiny was more persistent and meticulous than he had anticipated. He was reminded of what the king of hell had recently told him.
He said the enforced fate phenomenon will come at me at an even greater force, the more I try to resist it, like a crashing of waves that consecutively gets more powerful, eventually bringing an unstoppable tsunami.
He recalled the look on the king of hell's face, showing absolute confidence in Lloyd's eventual demise despite the endeavors to stop the approaching fate.
Bite. Lloyd grinded his teeth bitterly.
But if you honestly thought I was going to give up here, you're absolutely wrong.
Lloyd was determined not to. He couldn't surrender. Not here.
Not after all I've done to survive!
In fact, he had literally climbed from the very bottom, enduring the stay in a tiny room full of mold and bugs in South Korea, the status of a country nobleman with an immense amount of debt, and an abundance of dust from endless constructions. He had made contributions to the royal court of the kingdom, which were finally recognized by the queen. Lloyd and his family's future was about to be secured for the rest of his life very soon. The life of a bum with status, power, and wealth, which he had dreamt of achieving for a very long time, was right around the corner.
This is basically the last obstacle.
Lloyd could live in absolute luxury as long as he could take care of this problem for good. But this particular matter seemed like an insurmountable wall. Even if he were to overcome it, there always could be another one waiting for him. Because he couldn't even imagine how much worse the next one was going to be, Lloyd came to this conclusion.
I must finish this once and for all.
He was determined to put an end to it regardless of what it took, this time.
It's already getting out of hand. The attack on the Frontera Estate itself is huge, but I should be able to stop it somehow if I scrape together the resources to focus on it. However, I have zero confidence against the next one that attempts to restore destiny. That's why I must put a stop to it this time.
The wheel of fate that continuously and persistently chased after Lloyd Frontera, as well as the greed displayed by the king of hell, had to be destroyed. Lloyd suspected he couldn't keep fending it off one at a time. The greatest estate developer thought of what he could predict, carefully laid out what he was capable of, took many different options into account, looked for hopes here and there, and continued devising tactics and strategies to overcome the hardship. After a series of calculations and weighing of situations, he finally came to this conclusion.
"Ha," Lloyd let out a chuckle and took a glance at Javier and Sir Giolexius. "It's going to be a walk in the park."
