Lord could not believe the sight in front of him. The atmosphere had completely changed. The previous air of wonder and hope had given way to the dark and depressing sight before him.
From the shattered sword in the air flowed black, sickly and horrifying blackness, some like ash, others like a viscous liquid. In stark contrast to the sword’s former glow, a darkness darker than the darkest recesses of the night now covered the sword. The Doctor was not in a good mood. One of his worst predictions had come true. All this time, the darkness had been lurking in the sword, and the Lord had selfishly kept it as a keepsake from his brother. And it was unlike anything Lloyd had ever seen before. Was that thing regenerating? It was constantly being erased by magic, only to regenerate again soon after. But as Lloyd examined it carefully with his gift, he realized that this endless cycle of destruction and regeneration was slowly being broken. And it wasn’t magic that was winning. Who knows… what calamities would have befallen the city of Fluere if he hadn’t noticed this thing on the sword? To say he was not afraid would be a lie.
“Is this part of darkness? How could it be? He shouldn’t be able to survived here!.” the Lord asked, marveling at the sight before him.
Dr. Lloyd frowned. Obviously, the idiot in front of him who called himself ‘Lord’ was still unaware of the catastrophe he had brought upon his family and his city, so he raised his voice and spoke sarcastically, “What is that in front of you, my Lord? Well, I thought you would already know. The answer is simple: what you are looking at is a huge greed…”
Lloyd’s face showed signs of mild irritation. The Lord did not understand.
“Greed? Of what exactly?” he asked in a curious tone.
The Doctor finished examining the infirmity in front of him and put that fake, sarcastic smile back on his face.
“Ah, you still don’t get it?”
He raised his hand and simply pointed to the Lord himself.
“Your…”
The Lord could not hide his surprise. “Mine?” he asked.
The Doctor continued with a slight chuckle. “Yes, what you see is your creation. Whose else would it be? You brought the thing that killed your brother all the way to your bedroom in your house and hung it as a souvenir because you succumbed to your personal desires. What you see now will cost you the life of the child you wanted so badly to have, perhaps even your wife.”
The Doctor was really disappointed. Was this the wise, wonderfully well-meaning administrator he had heard about? All Lloyd saw in front of him was a pathetic man whose greed and selfish ambition had cost him his wife and child their lives.
“I-did I do it? No. Not because of me,” the Lord denied.
“Besides, how was I to know that such a curse lurked inside you? It’s not my fault. No, it’s not… it’s not my fault,”
Like his weak denials, Lord’s voice was getting lower and lower. He was denying the facts like a child. After all, he couldn’t accept it. He… couldn’t. The one who had brought this curse on his wife and child. How could he accept such a thing?
Would he be a murderer now of his wife and child?
Every time he looked at the dark thing he now saw before him, it was like a knife in his heart. ‘Have I been hiding something like this all this time? What have I done?’ The Lord fell to his knees for the first time in a very long time. But he was not a high noble, a clansman, a king, or an emperor. No, it wasn’t the Doctor either. It was himself—his own stupidity.
Meanwhile, Lloyd destroyed the sword infected by this darkness with a snap of his fingers. He doesn’t plan to keep it this thing alive any longer. Lloyd’s power was like a part of the magic that protected the city. Maybe Because of that, the darkness was gone instantly; there was nothing left but dust anymore.
The Lord was also at his limit. His mind was in turmoil. Slowly, the images of the death of his child and his beloved wife flashed through his mind. He was filled with great regret and remorse, but the unknown voice he heard brought him back to reality.
‘Are you really going to give up like this?’ the voice asked.
Roland was startled. Who was this voice in his head? This voice he didn’t recognize, speaking to him? What was that? Was he now going mad because of his sins? Just as he was thinking this, he heard the voice once more.
‘Are you just going to give up without even trying to fight, without even trying your best?
Again, that voice… but this time, it was different. The voice sounded as if it didn’t want to see him in this state; a subtle sadness could be detected in its tone. Although Roland didn’t know who this voice belonged to, he realized one thing: That voice he heard… It was right.
Since when had he become so pathetic? Perhaps the months, no years of stress had turned him into a weaker and weaker man. Roland wasn’t like that. He couldn’t be like that. Roland was responsible for the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. He wasn’t going to give up.
Lloyd looked pitifully at the slumped man in front of him, but soon, he raised his head as if he were someone else and looked Lloyd steadfastly in the eye.
Lloyd watched the collapsed man in front of him with pitiful eyes. Soon, however, the collapsed man looked up as if he were someone else and stared resolutely into Lloyd’s eyes.
Contrary to what the Doctor had predicted, those weak eyes were suddenly ablaze with fire and looking at him confidently.‘ Oh, interesting,’ Lloyd said, surprised. It was an unexpected change. Maybe it was these unyielding eyes that he saw. Perhaps it was the reason for his “gift” in the first place. Who knows?
Roland shook himself out of his miserable state, rose to his feet, and stood in front of the Doctor, looking him in the eye and continuing in a determined tone. Strangely enough, his words were not very noble.
“I need your help to overcome this situation. So, please lend your help to me.”
After all the verbal insults and accusations Lloyd had hurled at Roland, it really surprised Lloyd that he could abandon his honor and ask for help.
“What makes you think I’m capable of taking care of this, my lord?” Lloyd decided to test him one last time to see if he had indeed become a confident person or not.
Lord didn’t hesitate.“Because you are the only person I can ask for it.” Dr. Lloyd’s words held deep meaning but also desperation.
He had always blamed fate for his ordeal, but now he realized that blaming someone else or himself was not going to change things. Roland was now reacting to the situation in a completely different way because of the voice he had heard for a brief moment.
‘What has happened to him all of a sudden?’ thought Lloyd, as he witnessed this unexpected change in Roland with surprise. ‘I see,’ he said, glancing at the window.
Then, turning back to the Lord, he spoke. “Well, about your request, I’m afraid I can’t help you as a doctor.”
The Lord was deeply disappointed, but the words he heard afterward brought him back to his senses.
“But,” said Lloyd, “if medicine is not the answer, maybe witchcraft or mysticism is. Haha, I know you may not believe it, but I’m not just a doctor,” he said sheepishly.
Lloyd’s words filled Roland with hope, but the second part of the sentence…Lord didn’t want to comment on the obvious.
“Allow me to ask you a small question, my lord,” he said.
Roland was surprised but nodded and told him to continue.
“Well, although this question will affect my approach to your child’s curse, my question is more about finding out what kind of person you are.”
“In the practice of mysticism and witchcraft, unlike medicine, you don’t just throw something you find on the ground into a cauldron, and suddenly a miraculous cure appears. In these rituals or spells I’m going to do, you may have to give something in return. Sometimes, it’s precious jewels, rare materials, or something like that. But When it comes to saving someone who is going to die, we’re getting to the limit of witchcraft and mysticism. So you’re not going to like it in the future. We may have to make great sacrifices…sacrifices you may regret…Are you ready for that?”
It was not an easy question. But Roland had already made up his mind. He extended his hand to Dr. Lloyd without hesitation and spoke.
“I’m not going to sit by and watch things happen anymore. I’m ready for whatever happens.”
Roland at least seemed determined. He believed in the abilities of the man in front of him.
Lloyd shook the outstretched hand and spoke. “I hope you won’t regret these decisions in the future, my Lord, because there is no going back on what we have done.”
Roland’s answer was short and straightforward but, at the same time, clear and powerful.
“I will not. I will be relying on you for our future cooperation.”
Lloyd nodded. What he would ask of him in the future was not what an honorable city lord would want to do. Time will tell. Would the Lord curse him for the deal he had made or pray for him?
Before Roland left, he requested Lloyd.
“I want all this talk, the cursing of the child, the presence of the darkness, and what we will do in the future to stay in this room.”
“Oh, let me guess, you don’t want Helen to know about this, do you?”Lloyd chuckled.
Lord didn’t answer. He just continued to stare at the Doctor with a steady gaze.
“All right, all right. I won’t tell anyone about this, including Helen, even though she has the right to know, so don’t worry. How could I, anyway? If someone from the church or the temple finds out about what we talk, both of our heads will fly in the air, haha. And that wouldn’t be very nice to tell you the truth,” Lloyd said.
Seeing that the two were on the same page, Roland spoke up.
“Excuse me then.” Thinking that there was no reason for him to stay anymore, he left the room where he was a guest.
Left alone in the room, Lloyd sighed deeply. Then, taking a book from his bookshelf, he went to his favorite (and only) window, where he could see almost everywhere in the city of Fluere.
“It’s not very nice to give copies,” Lloyd said, directing his words towards the young woman with long golden hair and a beautiful face and skin.
She did not respond. Nevertheless, Lloyd continued.
“It’s interesting, isn’t it, that two people can see each other as soul mates, and yet two answers that mean the same thing can be so different… Well, if not exactly the opposite, the path you will walk will certainly be different. Who knows, maybe this difference is what attracts people to each other, what is not in us and what we desperately seek in others.”
He didn’t wait for an answer and started reading his book in this beautiful landscape because no matter what happened, what he was going to do was now certain, and he would have busy but fun days ahead.
‘I can’t wait,’ Lloyd said.
On the other hand, although he did not speak, the eyes of the woman next to him, looking out, seemed to say more than words could say.
Both were gone silently lost in their own thoughts.
