Chapter 276

Extra Chapter 9

After eliminating the revolutionary forces, Dale bought a shop in the city that had become a hellish scene.

“Until the time comes, I’ll stay here in this shop.”

“Here…?!”

“Yes.”

Dale nodded. Hearing this, Yupiro could only swallow hard, unable to comprehend.

Given the city’s current state of chaos, it wouldn’t be long before the revolutionary army’s reinforcements arrived.

“Bu-but the revolutionaries…”

“We’re waiting for them.”

Dale said. Hearing of the events unfolding in the city, the revolutionary army’s reinforcements would surely arrive belatedly, and they would be anything but ordinary in scale.

It was somewhat crude, but in a way, it was the fastest method to contact the revolutionary army’s high command.

“But… isn’t that dangerous? Like, a surprise attack or something…”

“We’re monitoring their movements through the Blue Spiderweb. Any surprise attacks or assaults at this point would be meaningless. There’s no need for you to worry, Miss Yupi.”

Yupi couldn’t grasp what that meant. Yet, upon hearing those words, she quietly nodded.

“There’s enough food left to last a few days.”

“Yeah…”

“Instead of here, we could have a more expensive meal.”

“Ah, no!”

At that, Yupi waved her hands dismissively, finding the suggestion absurd. Dale gave a bitter smile and turned away.

After that, Dale began rummaging through the shop, preparing bread with a relatively soft texture, sausages, and soup. Flames flickered magically from his hands, and steam rose gently from the soup.

“Please eat.”

“Thank you, Uncle Dale.”

After casting the spell, he took a bite out of the hard, stale black bread that was his share.

Some time later.

Spreading out in all directions around the shop was the power he had once wielded as the Blue Tower Master.

Though he could no longer wield blue magic at the same level after handing that power over to Rize, nothing had changed.

Unaware of the spiderwebs present there, shadows moved in the darkness. Immediately after, the blue spiderwebs whispered the truth to Dale, and it was right after that.

Footsteps fell silently upon the wooden floor of the shop. They were the elite soldiers of the Iron Guard, clad in Type 2 armor, just as they had been when they ambushed the Marquis of Rosenheim.

And when they scanned the darkness settling over the shop, the shadow was there.

A man clad in robes.

“Do you still believe this fight has meaning?”

The man asked, and the Iron Guard’s armored soldiers swallowed hard.

“I encountered men like you in the Marquisate of Rosenheim. Do you know what became of them?”

“You wouldn’t dare…!”

“You are alive because I feel no need to kill you.”

As if he were the god of death himself, the man said it matter-of-factly. At his words, one iron-clad soldier found the courage to ask back.

“…Then why did you massacre the revolutionary comrades in this city?”

“Because they tried to kill me.”

The man said.

“Did you come here to kill me too? Probably.”

As he spoke, the darkness settling within the shop began to stir.

This is your final chance. Bring your commander, who is here with you, before me immediately.

“How dare you…!”

His voice carried not a hint of hesitation or reservation, as if issuing a one-sided command to a subordinate.

That utterly insolent act stirred the pride of the Iron Guard more than fear. But it was at that very moment.

Squish!

A scream echoed through the darkness. It was the sound of a tentacle from the shadows silently wrapping around and crushing one of the Iron Corps soldiers.

“This is your final warning. Retreat now and bring your commander before me.”

Thud. Even the revolutionary army’s pride and joy, their state-of-the-art armor, held no meaning before the ancient darkness. It crumpled and shattered like a piece of paper, flesh and intestines spilling out through the gaps.

And within this room, filled to the brim with darkness, he could finally sense it stirring with malice.

“I… I accept the offer.”

He understood. He had heard of the events that had unfolded in this city long ago, and now he was witnessing the power this man possessed right here.

Resisting this man would be nothing more than a pointless death.

Therefore, for now, he had to retreat.

In the darkness, frightened shadows began retreating one by one.

The man in the robe sat perched on the table, watching the Iron Guard disappear without so much as a flicker,

As if that spot were a throne existing solely for him.

Alone and utterly solitary in the void of darkness.

“You’re putting yourself in too much danger!”

Blocking the man were the revolutionaries’ staff officers present. Though the man there was not the ‘leader’ commanding the entire revolutionary army, there was no doubt he was one of the pillars commanding it.

“He is seeking negotiations, and our revolutionary forces are no match for that man. Wouldn’t you agree, Colonel Bourbon?”

The man spoke. His voice was utterly calm and composed.

“Even comrades armed with Type 2 armor couldn’t handle him. The townspeople say he raised countless corpses from the dead and set them in motion.”

“That… that’s right! The army of the dead that man raised—it was as if the Demon Emperor himself had returned!”

“The Demon Emperor…”

At those words, the man faltered for a moment.

“As I said, antagonizing a mage of that caliber is never a wise decision.”

“Ha, but that man’s magic is utterly wicked and ominous! Even if it means shedding blood, at this point, we must muster our forces and wage an all-out war…!”

“You mean we should mobilize the army and wage an all-out war just because we can’t handle one man? You said that man raised an army of the dead. Then what guarantees that our army, facing him, won’t become an army of the dead he commands?”

“……”

Colonel Bourbon fell silent, and the man spoke.

“I have no choice but to step forward. As I mentioned, I will speak with them myself.”

“……Understood, Sir Yuris.”

The next morning dawned, and surrounding Dale’s shop area were the revolutionary army’s forces.

Peering out the shop window at the scene below, Yuri gasped.

“There’s no need to be afraid.”

Despite everything, Dale’s voice was remarkably calm. As if there was nothing to fear at all.

“You haven’t had breakfast yet, have you?”

“But… in this situation, eating breakfast…”

“Is there any reason not to?”

She asked so casually that Yupi was momentarily speechless with disbelief.

It was right then.

Squeak. Footsteps approached the shop, without any attempt to conceal their presence.

“Excuse me, nameless dark mage.”

At the name “dark mage,” Dale turned his head with a wry smile.

There was a man.

A man with crimson hair. And he wore a smile that felt incredibly familiar.

And yet, he was not someone Dale knew.

“My name is Albert Yuris.”

“……”

While preparing the meal, heating the soup and handing over the bread, Dale silently turned his head away.

“I’m interested in the armor you’re using.”

After a silence, Dale spoke up. Albert Yuris smiled and asked in return.

“If I may ask, wizard, might I know your name?”

“I’ve had many names. But none of them matter anymore.”

“……That may not be entirely true.”

Albert said.

“For just as you are, there are things that remain unchanged even in the shadows of a changed world.”

“Has the history of the Yuris family continued unbroken?”

“Do you know about us?”

“I’ve endured things you couldn’t even imagine and seen all manner of things, young vampire.”

“……!”

At the man’s words, Albert’s expression finally shifted. The fact that he knew his true nature wasn’t surprising in itself. A mage of this caliber couldn’t possibly fail to recognize it.

But the man referring to him without a moment’s hesitation as a ‘young vampire’ was unexpected, even for him.

“Even if magic fades, your kind still possesses power. Is that why you seek a new world through revolution?”

“……!”

“The revolution was born to drive out the emperor and rationalize it. Those outside who don’t know that fact still seek to drive out the emperor for the revolution. How truly ridiculous.”

Everyone has a shadow. And this man was scrutinizing the shadow of the revolutionary army as if it were his own business.

“I have no interest in any of it. There is only one thing I wish to know.”

The man said.

“The Fourth Empire’s relics your revolutionaries are excavating. Surely it wouldn’t stop at just one piece of magic armor.”

“……!”

“How did you get your hands on it, and where are you keeping it?”

“Even if it’s you, I can’t just tell you that…”

“Everyone has a shadow, and you can’t hide yours from me.”

Dale answered and stood up.

“There’s nothing more to gain from you. Your shadow has revealed the truth.”

The moment he heard those words, Albert Yuris’s expression froze. And only then did he grasp the meaning behind them.

“Th-that Shadow Lord…?”

“Has the conflict between gold and shadow not yet ended?”

The man retorted at those words, and Albert Yuris muttered.

“Impossible. The Shadow Lord, the Emperor of the Empire, is still in the Imperial Capital…”

Yet two individuals simultaneously claimed the name and power of the ‘Shadow Lord’. It was impossible.

“The Shadow rules the Empire, and now the Golden Sovereign leads a revolution against it?”

The ancient conflict between gold and shadow. Gold triumphed, shadow triumphed, gold triumphed again—thus the empire’s history repeated itself.

Still, the world remained unchanged.

“Gold and shadows mean nothing to me anymore. I’m only interested in the legacy of the old empire.”

With those words, the man rose to his feet.

Gold and shadow—beings endowed with power and destiny within the ancient conflict. Yet the man walked out indifferently, as if nothing held his interest.

“Let’s go, Miss Yuffie.”

“Yes, yes!”

Having obtained all the revolutionary army’s top-secret information hidden within Albert’s shadow.

What exactly was this man’s true identity? And what on earth was he hoping for?

Albert Yuris, the bloodline that rules the world from behind the scenes, trembled with fear at an unknown terror for the first time in his life.