Chapter 6: Our Lord Has Gone Mad (4)

The day of the solar eclipse.

“Phew. Why is the air so heavy.” I futilely waved my hand, trying to blow away the heavy air. Unfortunately, such efforts only made the atmosphere heavier.

“Look at that. Is he seeing hallucinations or something?”
“Shouldn’t we call a doctor from the village below?”
“He’s always been like that, just leave him be.”
“My dear. You’ve been rambling for a whole year about the world turning dark in broad daylight. Now that the day’s finally here, can you even stay sane? It’s already been a year, a whole year.”
“Aish, tsk. If it were me, I’d have found a rat hole to hide in.”

Hey, you villagers over there. If I had my way, I’d want to retort to them… but I can’t do that either. Because the villagers were ‘genuinely’ worried about someone. Of course, at the center of that concern was me, Ian Darkest. Don’t look at me with those pitiful expressions! Because I’m right!

…If I shouted that, I felt like I’d really be caught and dragged to a doctor, so I timidly opened my mouth.

“A-Ahem…”

It’s been a while since I’ve had this much attention, so my words aren’t coming out well. I was standing on top of a shabby earthen wall.
Below it lay the meager defensive lines I had built by pouring in all the knowledge and resources I had scraped together over the past year. Sharpened wooden fences, traps dug here and there, and piles of stones barely stacked on the wall.

“Tsk, tsk, look at that sight. He’s gone completely mad. Does he think he can stop monsters with just that?”

The voice coming from below the wall was laced with blatant ridicule. My number one soldier, Grandma Ellara. She was looking up at me with her arms crossed, clicking her tongue.

“The world will turn dark and monsters will pop out when the sun sets today? Even a passing dog would laugh. The lord has finally lost his mind after being so tormented by his family, he’s lost his mind.”

Huh, that’s strange. Why does this hurt so much? Have I been nurturing her rhetorical skills instead of her swordsmanship all this time? Even so, I couldn’t scold my number one soldier. The total number of soldiers in Seorigol was two, and half of them were hiding behind that large oak tree.

“…Grrr.”

The snow leopard beastkin girl, Anya, with her silver hair and wary eyes, was crouched down, observing this side. When I looked at her, she made a ‘grrr’ sound and hid herself deeper. Reality is more bitter than I thought. Ah. I miss real-money purchases. A life where I could get stronger just by clicking the payment button. For the past year, I had been preparing for this day while being treated like a madman. I was a laughingstock at the academy, and an incomprehensible eccentric lord to the villagers.

‘Well, what can I do.’

Seorigol is my legal fief. Whether people treated me like a madman or not, I did what I had to do.

“Everyone, don’t forget! When the world suddenly starts to get dark, you must immediately evacuate to the designated underground storage! Lock the doors tightly and never come out!” Despite my shout, they just snorted.

“Yeah~ Yeah~ We understand, my lord~”
“How is that bright sun supposed to suddenly set… what a…”

Although they grumbled, they moved busily according to my instructions. They moved dry firewood, filled water barrels, and checked emergency food. Yes. So what if I don’t have powerful heroes bought with real money. So what if I don’t have a knight who wields a brilliant sword aura, a dragonkin who breathes dragon breath, a magician who distorts time and space, or a priest who heals allies with holy power.

“Hey, Hans! It’s the lord’s order! Dig that pit bigger! Even a goblin wouldn’t fall in!”

These villagers who follow me like this…

“Agh, really! How many people are suffering because of one mad lord!”

These villagers who follow me even though they treat me like a madman…

“Bigger than that! Can you even bury the lord with that?”

…Ahem. If I’m not careful, I might get buried instead of the monsters, huh? It was when I was having such worries.

“Hey! What’s that?”

At a villager’s shout, everyone’s gaze turned to the only road leading into Seorigol. A group of figures approaching, kicking up a cloud of dust.

“I-Is it monsters?”
“The mad lord wasn’t mad!”

Their acknowledgment was so grateful it brought tears to my eyes, but unfortunately, it wasn’t them. Because I could see a flag fluttering beyond the dust cloud. Meaning they were people, not monsters.

“It’s the crest of the Darkest family!”
“My goodness, the main family sent an army?”

The murmuring grew louder. The villagers’ surprised gazes all fell on me at once. It was a rational judgment, as I was the only reason troops would be dispatched to this remote area.

“To that illegitimate son?”
“What on earth is going on?”

Since it’s a harsh fief, people’s words are rough. Hmm. I want to believe that’s what it is. In fact, their surprised reaction was natural. For the past 20-odd years, the Darkest family had treated me like I didn’t exist. They despised me like a bug and exiled me to this barren land. And that family sent troops for me? It was natural for everyone to be surprised. Even I was a little surprised.

‘Honestly, I didn’t think anyone would come.’

Request for reinforcements. I had made various preparations for the eclipse, but the part I put the most effort into was this request for reinforcements. After all, the strategy for the eclipse episode itself was to ‘increase the absolute combat power of the fief,’ and the easiest and most accurate way to do that was to summon heroes or troops. The problem was that I had no money or anything…

— Clank, clank.

A few knights on horseback and infantrymen may not be a match for a hero, but in this situation, they are undoubtedly a great force.

‘I’m glad I tried to get on the family’s good side.’

I had to swallow a little, no, a lot of embarrassment, but so what. I’m already an illegitimate son, so I have no honor to lose.

— Neigh!

A knight on horseback strode up to me and dismounted. Shining armor, a well-groomed beard, arrogant eyes. He removed his helmet, which was engraved with the crest of the Darkest family’s knight order, and gave a formal bow.

“Greetings, Sir Ian Darkest. I have arrived under the command of Sir Lionel Darkest.”

The knight who dismounted bowed his head in a formal manner.

His name was Kaelen. He was the eldest son’s closest aide, and was famous within the family for being arrogant and ruthless.

“Sir Kaelen. Thank you for coming all this way.”

Kaelen replied with only a slight lift of his lips. His voice was extremely polite, but the ridicule contained within it could not be hidden.

“It was no trouble at all. How could we turn a blind eye when the ‘young master’ himself visited the family to request support for an ‘astronomical anomaly’ that might occur in this far-flung frontier?”

Kaelen emphasized ‘young master.’ It was a clear attitude of mocking me, the illegitimate son.

“I also heard that the villagers are trembling in fear. I was told that there is great concern for the lord’s health. Sir Lionel Darkest was particularly concerned and dispatched me and my soldiers to… ‘observe’ the situation, and to offer what little help we can if an ‘abnormal phenomenon’ really does occur.” His tone, emphasizing the words ‘observe’ and ‘abnormal phenomenon,’ was dripping with ridicule. It was not an attitude of concern for a disaster like the eclipse. It was an attitude that I was the mad one, and the problem was the things that would happen because of me, the madman.

‘…Of course.’

An absurd delusion. An unbelievable doomsday theory. His human punching bag of a half-brother, who made such crazy claims, requested troops from the family. There was no way Lionel would miss such an opportunity. Nevertheless, I extended my hand to Kaelen.

“Whatever it is, I’m counting on you.” “…….?” Kaelen looked at my outstretched hand with a bewildered face.

As if his eyes were saying, ‘You’re not usually like this, are you?’ He had a point.

Previously, when it came to family matters, I was inferior and servile to a fault due to my illegitimate son complex. But now, I’m equipped with the values of a modern person, you see? So what if I’m an illegitimate son. They came here to mock me? That doesn’t matter either.

When monsters are lunging at you to eat you on sight, you think you can stand by and not cut them down? Whether they laugh at me now or not, the fact that they have become my forces does not change.

So I’m counting on you.
Cut down the monsters, if only so you don’t die.

“Quite an… impressive preparation you’ve made, Sir Darkest.” Kaelen, who reluctantly took my hand, cleared his throat and looked around.

“It’s as if… the end of the world is really coming. No. Perhaps the end has already swept through. Haha.”

The subordinates laughed along with their superior’s ridicule. I just smiled back without a word. Let’s see who laughs last.

“The world will turn black the moment the sun reaches its zenith today. I look forward to it, young master.”

Kaelen sneered and led his soldiers to take their positions near the wall. They began to chat as if they were on a picnic, or openly point their fingers at me and laugh. Time began to flow slowly. The villagers’ initial tension also disappeared, and they began to grumble one by one.

“What is this. The sun is high in the sky and nothing is happening.”
“Exactly. We just ruined a day’s farming for nothing because of the lord.”
“Tsk, tsk, he should just give up now. Isn’t he ashamed in front of those family knights?”

Grandma Ellara shouted openly.

“Hey, lord! Stop it already! The sun is shining so brightly, how is the world supposed to turn black!!”

I could feel that their irritation had reached its peak. I looked up at the sky. The sun was slightly, just slightly off from the zenith.

“…Soon.” I answered softly.

Despite my confident answer, all that came back was even more ridicule. Kaelen burst out laughing openly.

“Hahaha! Soon? Young master, you have a truly great imagination! On such a clear day, what on earth…!” Kaelen’s words were cut off in an instant. A moment. Really without any warning. The color of the world began to change. The bright sunlight that had been shining down instantly lost its power. As if a giant hand had begun to cover the sun, the bright sky began to darken rapidly.

“…Huh?”

At first, everyone had a bewildered expression. They might have thought that simply a cloud had covered the sun. Everyone stared at the sky.
There wasn’t a single cloud in the sky. The darkness spread at an unbelievable speed. The sky, which had been shining blue just a moment ago, turned an ominous gray, and finally, a deep ink black.

“M-My goodness…”

A sound that was neither a sigh nor a scream erupted from someone’s mouth.

The murmuring noise disappeared as if it were a lie.
The sound of laughter was no longer heard.
All that surrounded them was a suffocating silence and the rapidly spreading darkness.

“The… the sun.”

It’s disappearing. As if a giant monster was swallowing it, a black shadow began to encroach on the sun from the center of the sky. A perfect circular shadow. It was too perfect and ominously black to be the moon. As the light disappeared, the temperature dropped rapidly. The air, which had been warm just a moment ago, grew cold, and a chilling cold seeped into the skin.
An unknown wind blew from somewhere, kicking up dust, and the goats tied up in the corner of the fief began to cry out anxiously.

“Th-This… what… on earth…”

Kaelen’s voice trembled slightly. His arrogant and mocking expression was gone, replaced by a look of shock and disbelief. His subordinate knights also had pale, drained faces, staring blankly at the sky. The villagers were already terrified. Some collapsed and muttered prayers, while others screamed and tried to flee to their homes. Grandma Ellara’s mouth was agape, unable to move, and even Anya, who was hiding behind a tree, was watching this bizarre scene with wide eyes. And finally.

“……..”

In the thick silence, the last sliver of the sun’s light disappeared behind the black shadow. The world was completely plunged into darkness. A pitch-black darkness that was unbelievable for broad daylight. It was an absolute darkness, with no stars or moon visible because it was daytime. The familiar scenery of Seorigol was gone, and only the faint outlines of objects could barely be distinguished. The Solar Eclipse. The beginning of all disasters, which I had seen tiredly during my 999 regressions. That. Became reality.

—Guooooooo…!

Something’s roar could be heard from far away. The low-pitched roar began to slowly surround Seorigol like a rising tide. I slowly drew my sword in the darkness.What laid ahead was a clear picture of hell.

Thump, thump, thump. My heart was pounding like crazy, but it wasn’t just because of fear. On the contrary, I even felt a strange sense of relief. At least, it was the world that was crazy, not me.