Salvation Through Delusion C78

Chapter 78

“Someone tried to take water outside the walls, paid with gold, and you simply let them go?”

Yan hurled the accusation at the guard dragged before him, his voice reverberating through the room.

“If they had this gold in the first place, would they have needed to toil for water as forced labor? You basically released a suspicious intruder!”

The guard paled, stammering in defense.

“B-but the one who paid the gold was a relative of the blacksmith. She seemed in danger, so I thought naturally he’d help her, so I—”

“A relative? Why would a relative hand over such a large sum?”

If she had a wealthy relative, she would have borrowed money long before. Which meant the relative was a fake. Yan instantly sensed the thieves he sought were the very people the blacksmith had been with.

“Bring the blacksmith. Immediately.”

His expression brimmed with irritation, but not yet true fury. It was merely a petty theft—that was all he expected. But the moment the blacksmith opened her mouth, the situation turned dire.

“Th-they said… they were heading to Crystal Lake.”

Crash!

Yan shot to his feet so violently that his chair toppled backward. Everyone stared in shock, but Yan saw nothing—his mind was consumed.

Why Crystal Lake of all places? Dorgo had explicitly ordered that no one must ever be allowed near it!

“Send soldiers—at once! Immediately!”

The closer they came to the lake, the more animal carcasses they encountered. And when they reached a barren land where even grass and trees had withered, a towering palisade rose before them like a wall. One glance at the impossibly high wooden spikes confirmed it—whatever was poisoning the water lay beyond this barrier.

“Why the Crystal Lake of all places…?”

Tyroc murmured under his breath as he gazed up at the wooden wall. Its height—and sharp, unforgiving tops—made it clear that scaling it would be nearly impossible.

“Reinforcements will arrive in two or three days.”

I cast him a look, silently asking, Reinforcements for what?

He did not glance away from the wall as he answered slowly.

“You don’t need to go inside.”

“I do. I have to enter if I’m going to find the key.”

“After everything is dealt with, you can go.”

Dealt with? What did he expect to find inside? And if it was dangerous… ah. He was trying to keep me out. Touching, yes—but if we had leisure to wait for reinforcements, we wouldn’t have been marching nonstop to get here.

“I’ll look for myself. If it seems too dangerous, I’ll step out.”

I rejected the kindness as politely as I could and surveyed the watchtowers along the barrier. The blacksmith had said security was strict. What on earth were they hiding inside? If they built this kind of structure and cast black magic strong enough to cloak an enormous region in illusion…

“I promise I won’t cause trouble.”

He didn’t respond outwardly, but now I knew—his silence meant consent. If he disliked something, he spoke plainly.

“Before anything, we need to figure out how to get in.”

A ladder? Perhaps we could climb once it grew dark. While I weighed possibilities, Tyroc simply began walking—straight toward the gate.

“Ah? Why are you going that way?”

“That’s the door.”

I KNOW that. The issue was the guards and the watchtower above—

Surprised, I started after him, but he stopped me.

“Come to the gate in thirty minutes.”

What? This wasn’t a date at Exit 8 of Myeongdong Station before going for kalguksu.

But thirty minutes later, I realized entering Crystal Lake was infinitely easier than getting lunch.

Tyroc had subdued every guard in the vicinity and was standing casually by the gate, waiting.

“You’re late.”

“…I’m right on time.”

“Ah, I must have finished too quickly.”

He gave a smooth, wicked grin—the kind that probably ruined people. I greeted it with a deadpan stare.

“This is no time for jokes.”

He only chuckled faintly and stepped aside.

“Go in.”

“What if there are soldiers inside—”

“There aren’t.”

He checked that too? Did his Sword Master power return? Skepticism rose, but his voice dropped into a calm register.

“Every one of them was afraid to enter.”

“Why?”

“They said simply… it gave them chills.”

I stepped inside. Ascending a shallow slope, I immediately understood their fear. Tyroc came to stand beside me.

“What do you see?”

“A blue lake. You?”

“A completely dried lakebed.”

But that wasn’t what mattered.

“There are bodies piled up. Too many to count.”

What should have been a clear, shimmering lake had become a basin coated in blackened, dried blood. A literal lake of blood. Why? Who had killed these people? And who were they?

“…Slaves, most likely.”

Tyroc made his assessment, but their identities didn’t matter to me.

What mattered was that the same hand had killed all of them.

Every corpse had its throat half-severed—explaining the sheer volume of blood covering the lakebed.

Not monsters. Not an accident. A mass killing by human hands.

The same cold, heavy weight that had grown inside me in the forest now pressed once more against my chest. Not shock. Not horror. Just a heaviness… and anger.

Tyroc said nothing, simply waiting beside me. When I finally looked at him, he asked quietly:

“Can you find the key?”

“I have to.”

This was Borhumi territory. The culprit could be Zab. Or that man called Dorgo. Tyroc turned toward the lake again.

“Are you sure you can walk through that?”

Only then did I understand—he was asking if I could traverse the field of bodies.

Ah. Right. I was a “noble young master.” But right now, I didn’t want to pretend to be Rue.

“Of course.”

Compared to the corpses I’d seen before, this was nothing. But just as I was about to step forward, he stopped me.

“Wait.”

He knelt, pressed his ear to the ground. I blinked, confused.

Moments later, he rose and spoke evenly:

“Soldiers are coming.”

“What, after us?”

He nodded.

“The blacksmith was captured faster than expected. It seems Yan isn’t just a greedy fool skimming money.”

True. Their pursuit was swift. We didn’t know how much time we had, but it wasn’t much. The logical choice was to withdraw for now. If the soldiers saw us here, they’d know we were after something.

My mind understood this—yet my feet did not move. My lips refused to part. I stood frozen, and Tyroc said simply:

“You find the key.”

“Now? What about you?”

“I’ll hold them off.”

“What if there are a lot of them?”

He flicked a glance to the side, answered lightly:

“There aren’t.”

Was that confidence or certainty? I bit back the urge to ask. Instead, I stared uneasily at the sword he drew.

“Your Sword Master power still isn’t back, correct?”

“I don’t need that to stop them.”

How could I search while he fought alone? My silence must have been obvious, for he smiled again.

“You look like you want to kiss me.”

“What nonsense are you spouting?!”

My shout only delighted him further.

Even now, in a situation like this, he found ways to torment his enemy. No wonder Dr. Kim had spent years trembling at the mention of his name.

His victorious smirk only deepened. Irritated, I snapped:

“I’m not grateful at all.”

“All right.”

“…”

“Search however you like.”

You are in no position to say that so casually! I bit down my frustration and looked again toward the lake.

Even if he allowed it, finding the key now would be impossible. We should withdraw—

Then something caught my eye.

A faint hollow in the distance.

Through the light mist, I had assumed the entire lake was dry. But far off, barely visible in a corner, was a small pool. Almost impossible to notice unless one stared very closely.

Strangely, even inside the mist, the water shimmered a vivid blue—exactly the color of Borhumi’s divine beast.

“Forty minutes—no, thirty. Just thirty minutes.”

Without waiting for Tyroc’s reaction, I sprinted toward it.