The Vastness of Magical Destiny

Chapter 107 - 107 2 Half-Beastmen_2

?Chapter 107: Chapter 2: Half-Beastmen_2 Chapter 107: Chapter 2: Half-Beastmen_2 The Food merchants and the owners of the grocery stores welcomed this change; the surge in business had them considering hiring more staff and replacing their carts for faster merchandise transportation from Bruce. Almost everyone looked upon these changes in a welcoming light, almost as if they had all forgotten the shadow that Demonsky Castle in the eastern suburbs cast. With each new Lord’s arrival, inevitable disaster and trouble seem to follow, a fate seemingly never lasting beyond three months. Would the arrival of the new Lord this time change this destiny?

At the moment, Komer had no energy to consider the rumored curse of the demon god. His immediate concern was how to lead these hundred thousand people safely to Caucasus and ensure they survive the winter until the summer harvest season. That was his most pressing calculation.

Compared to the harmonious cooperation of the Meine immigrants after establishing communication through Reese, the immigrants from Meine City-State and Susoer City-State seemed less congenial. Perhaps they had heard of the remoteness and barrenness of Caucasus, along with various horrific tales. The immigrants from these two regions were full of complaints about the migration, but they had neither the option to stay in the Three Kingdoms nor the desire to become slaves to the beastmen. And the cold northern winds were enough to make anyone keep their distance. Despite their reluctance, they had no choice but to embark on the journey south with weary steps.

Gazing at the long procession of families dragging their feet with some bewilderment, Komer found his mood was no longer the excitement or irritation of the initial days. What was meant to come would eventually arrive. Having accepted this trouble, he had no choice but to push forward with determination. Maybe things were not as bad as he had imagined. The first batch of food from Palermo had already been transported out of Duke Zellin’s granary ahead of the group. That guy indeed had some ability, managing to convince Zellin, who was originally displeased with the matter, to agree to sell and transport the food. The safety issues of the region they passed through had also been resolved thanks to the joint public relations efforts of the Internal Affairs Manager and Palermo. Komer hoped that Puber, who remained behind, would give him a pleasant surprise, and not leave too many troubles for him to solve.

Thinking of the endless discussions of the demon god’s curse by the representatives of Meine City-State and Susoer City-State made Komer’s head ache. The fear and infamy brought by Demonsky Castle seemed to have spread throughout the Kingdom of Nicosia and even the entire Northern Alliance. After all, three Lords meeting their mysterious ends shortly after taking over the territory was a coincidence that, combined with the unique geography of Caucasus, was enough to convince anyone that it was an ominous place. To dispel the fears of these anxious people, perhaps the only solution was for him to move into Demonsky Castle and live happily and safely. However, that seemed to be an uncertain gamble.

The horse-drawn carriage rattled forward on the dry, hard mud road. Reese had already returned to his kin, shouldering the task Komer had given him. He needed more time to introduce the beauty and wealth of Caucasus to his kin, of course, with a suitable exaggeration added.

Gently pulling the window board, Komer withdrew his gaze wearily and laid his head back on the cushion at his neck. He seemed to have never had a moment’s peace since leaving Cyprus. The carefree times he spent wandering with Puber and Ilot were probably gone forever. For life, for survival, people need to struggle towards their own goals. He was no different, and weren’t these refugees outside the window the same? And what was the ultimate goal of his own struggle? To become a qualified and successful Lord, or to become the King of Dark Magic, as his Master had said?

Scenes of chaos from the past kept flooding his mind. With the window board closed, the swaying carriage seemed somewhat dim. Komer closed his eyes in a daze, his hand instinctively reaching into his chest to caress the crystal stone warmed by his body temperature.

“Where is this?” The sky turned dark and threatening, with saw-toothed and spherical lightning intermittently piercing the rolling dark clouds. The distant rumbles of thunder, though muffled, were daunting. Enormous, stela-like archways, with no gaps between them, stood aside. Made of some material, five meters tall and polished to a sheen, they were inscribed with strange symbols that seemed somehow familiar, yet Komer couldn’t recall where he had seen them before.

Tall as a man, the wild grass swayed in the howling wind, with tenacious ribbon-like leaves coiling into the air like dancing elves before falling again, and then rising and falling anew. In the distance, the sun set in the west, and the blue-gray clouds at the horizon felt oppressively suffocating. Overhead, dark clouds had piled up slowly, as though plotting something ominous.

The incessant cawing of crows from groves of withered trees was piercing. Behind a gravestone-shaped archway was a broad stone slab path, stretching far into the distance toward the entrance of a huge complex of buildings. Komer unconsciously followed the stone path ahead, and in a daze, it felt almost as though this was a place he had lived before. But upon a focused thought, Komer realized he had never seen these buildings before.

At the end of the avenue, the buildings came into clear view, looking like a group of palaces with a style different from anywhere else on the Continent. The black walls, constructed of unknown material, crowned the entrance to the palace. There stood two rows of massive bluish-gray stone sculptures of mythical creatures that looked somewhat sinister under the afterglow of the setting sun. The sphinxes—with their sly smiles and glints of blue in their eyes—inspired a chilling sensation. With faces of ancient beauties, lion bodies, and dark green eagle wings, it seemed as if they had blood traces seeping from their teeth, residues from devouring travelers who couldn’t solve their riddles. Komer didn’t understand why such creature statues would be at the entrance of such a grand palace. Although their expressions varied, it was evident that these statues looked like they had been petrified directly from the real thing, which also instilled a sense of fear in Komer as he approached the palace entrance.

The palace doors opened automatically, enshrouded in black mist that prevented Komer from seeing what lay inside. He hesitated, drawn by something within he could not identify, having arrived here as if mysteriously lured. In his moment of indecision, a dignified and chilling voice came from inside the palace, “Enter, Guide, for the wheel of fate has brought us to the point of collision, and it is your destiny to inherit all that is mine.”

It was as if under a spell; Komer found the confident voice irresistibly alluring, and even before he fully understood the meaning of the words, he realized his feet had carried him inside without hesitation.

The palace’s vaulted ceiling soared high, supported by twelve massive black stone pillars on each side. What surprised Komer was that, upon gazing upward, the curved vault bore a relief of a mask—a mask of the dark deity—Hades, god of the underworld, smiling eerily—a mask seldom worshipped throughout the Continent.

Atop an emerald nephrite throne sat a figure made of stone. No, it couldn’t be called a mere stone statue; it was almost a full sculpture, except that the head was a living entity. The twitching eyebrows and stern eyes proved it was indeed a living human head, but a closer look revealed that everything below the neck was pure white jade sculpture. And yet, they were connected so seamlessly and perfectly, one could not see any inconsistency.

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