The Escort Knight Who Is Obsessed by the Villainess Wants to Escape - Chapter 167

As soon as I arrived in the afterlife, I saw a woman wearing a white dress.

Moreover, she had long, wavy black hair.

She resembled Eliza.

I ran after her without thinking.

But I couldn’t reach her.

Every time I followed her, she seemed to get farther away.

“Where did she go…?”

Before long, the woman’s figure completely disappeared.

Like a mirage.

It felt as if I had seen something that wasn’t really there.

“Where is this…?”

The landscape changed abruptly.

Before I knew it, my surroundings were entirely different.

I had left the foggy riverside.

The grass on the ground was gone, replaced by sand and small pebbles.

A barren land full of yellow.

It was a rocky desert with jagged rocks scattered everywhere.

No matter where I looked, the woman I saw earlier was nowhere to be found.

‘Is it really Eliza?’

The long, wavy black hair.

That was the only similarity, but somehow she gave off a similar vibe to Eliza.

“Phew…”

I sighed and continued walking.

Where I was didn’t really matter much.

Since I didn’t know Eliza’s location, I had to keep moving through this world.

Until I found her.

Fortunately, I wasn’t thirsty.

I wasn’t hungry either.

I had to exert myself every time I moved, and I was tired, but it was manageable.

The sky was there, but there was no sun. No moon or clouds either.

Just an endless, pitch-black sky.

There were many stars, though.

It shouldn’t have been bright, but I didn’t feel like it was dark.

Maybe because there were so many stars.

It was a strange place.

I walked around, observing the endless desert.

I kept walking, and walking.

In my mind, I had only one goal: to find Eliza.

After walking for a while, I stopped at a certain point.

‘…What is that? A bird?’

On the steep cliff of a large mountain.

Several birds were flapping their wings and flying.

Even from a distance, they were quite large.

‘What kind of bird is bigger than a person?’

From the way they looked, they seemed like eagles, but much larger than any eagle I knew.

‘Should I avoid them?’

Since coming here, aside from the woman, this was the first living creature I had seen.

I was somewhat glad, but also a bit fearful.

‘Of all things, it’s not a human but a beast. What should I do? They won’t attack me, will they?’

I decided to approach.

I needed some kind of clue.

And the way the eagles circled or stayed over a particular point seemed to suggest something was there.

As I cautiously approached, the eagles’ behavior became clearer.

The several eagles were fiercely attacking the mountainside.

They pecked and clawed at it.

I was wondering what was going on when I realized they weren’t attacking the mountain itself.

They were attacking a person tied to the cliff.

The person, whose limbs were stretched out, had his wrists and ankles bound by chains.

He was covered in horrific wounds from the eagles.

Blood was pouring from his body, and his skin was torn.

“Who… Wait a minute. That person?”

As I got closer, I recognized him.

A middle-aged man.

Someone I knew.

“Barak?”

Eliza’s biological father.

Barak di Bevel.

I climbed the steep mountainside.

There were no proper paths, so I had to scale the cliffs.

I grabbed the protruding rocks, stepped on them, and steadily climbed up.

Fortunately, the eagles had no interest in me.

They were focused on attacking Barak.

Thanks to that, I was able to reach the height of Barak without much difficulty.

Even though I was cut by sharp claws and torn by their beaks, Barak didn’t make a sound.

He just muttered weakly.

“I’m sorry… I’m sorry…”

His voice, crushed by guilt, was utterly powerless.

The sight of him in such a pathetic state was truly awful.

It felt strange.

I didn’t know the reason why Eliza had been abandoned in such a bad environment.

No matter how reasonable or significant the reason, I couldn’t empathize with him.

He was a detestable and loathsome human, but seeing him so powerless like this stirred a tiny bit of sympathy.

Just a little bit.

“I’m sorry… It’s all my fault, all my fault…”

I sat down on a protruding rock next to him, angled to face the sky, which made it possible.

“Hmm.”

It’s not exactly what I wanted, but this is the first person I’ve seen since coming here.

The woman from earlier is too far away, so she’s out of the picture.

‘Should I try talking to him?’

I might seem crazy, but if I can just snap out of it, it might be helpful.

He must have been here longer than I have.

He might know something, maybe.

‘I’ll just give it a try.’

I made a quick decision and shooed the eagles away with my hands.

“Hey, hey. Go away.”

A few of them tilted their heads and looked at me.

They observed with wide eyes.

“I have something to talk about with this guy, so move aside.”

“Bip bip?”

“What… you’re making cute sounds despite how you look?”

“Bip?”

“Even if you’re cute, no. Stay out of the way.”

“Bip!”

As I waved my arm, one of them tried to sit on my arm, thinking I was playing with it.

I swung my arm around wildly.

“I’m not playing with you, so go away!”

After being scolded, it became dejected and flew up into the sky.

It circled above me, not seeming to give up on Barak completely.

“Grand Duke. Can you hear me?”

“Sorry…”

“Hey.”

“I’m sorry…”

“Your Grace.”

“…….”

He slowly lifted his head, his eyes still dull.

He blinked, lifting his eyelids, and stared up at the sky while scanning the surroundings.

“Your Grace. Are you starting to come to your senses?”

I snapped my fingers and called again.

He slowly turned to look at me.

His face was pale.

His unkempt beard was thick.

“…Judas?”

“Do you remember?”

“How did you get here… wait, could it be…?”

I shrugged.

“What would be the reason for someone to be in the afterlife?”

“Th-That…! Why did that happen? What about… Eliza? Is she safe?”

I learned one thing.

He doesn’t know Eliza is dead.

It wasn’t exactly a lie to find this out.

It just felt awkward to say that Eliza was dead.

I avoided eye contact and simply looked away.

“Ah…”

Barak sighed.

“But I’m not dead. It was a lie that I died. I came to take the lady.”

“…?”

He looked at me as if I was speaking nonsense.

I know it’s hard to believe.

To be honest, I don’t feel the reality of it either.

But whether it feels real or not, the task I have to do doesn’t change.

That’s enough motivation to act.

“I don’t really want to explain in detail, but anyway, you don’t know that the lady came… here?”

“No, not at all… I’ve been like this all along.”

As I listened more, Barak told me that when he arrived in the afterlife, he found his children.

Cain, Levi, Jezebel, Achan, and Sarah.

They were all out of their minds.

They had lost their lives unjustly and gone insane.

For some reason, Narcissa wasn’t among them.

Anyway, seeing his crazed family, he felt guilty and tied himself to a rocky mountain, where he was tortured by eagles.

“Hm… so there’s no clue after all…”

“Is it really possible to bring Eliza back?”

“Maybe. Could you help me?”

It’s better to have someone with me than to do it alone.

If necessary, we could split up and search.

Barak hesitated for a moment before answering.

“Do I have the right to…?”

Suddenly, the suppressed irritation surged up inside me.

I clenched my teeth and spat out the words.

“Let’s cut the crap.”

“……”

“Right, ‘the right’? Is it important to have the right when saving your own daughter?”

“……”

“What’s different about wearing that expression like you’ve taken on all the hardships and sins by yourself? Does that make the situation any better? If that feeling isn’t hypocrisy, you should be nodding, not sulking…”

Even without Barak, the situation is a headache.

The afterlife is vast, too vast to even guess the end.

I have to find Eliza in that place, with no clues.

And finding her is just the beginning.

Taking her is a separate problem.

Even after bringing her back, it won’t be easy.

It will require sacrifices.

Mine. Or Eliza’s.

No matter whose memories we sacrifice, the end won’t be as happy as I wish.

There are still more elements of despair.

What if I take Eliza, and too much time has passed in the world?

What if it’s far in the future, to the point where all of humanity and life are doomed?

Then what would I do?

I walked as if nothing had happened and treated Barak as normally as I could.

However, it is an environment and situation where it is hard to stay sane.

Even so, I endured because I had to.

I ignored the uncertain future and focused on what I had to do right now.

Because right now, I’m the only one Eliza has.

“Sigh… No, it’s fine. It’s strange that I, the one asking for help, am getting angry. I’ll try to handle it myself.”

“No. No, you’re right…”

Barak hurriedly stopped me with words as I tried to leave.

“I’ll help you. No, let me help you… Please.”

I let out a deep sigh and responded.

“Understood.”

“…But, I know it’s shameless of me.”

“Yes?”

“Could you untie these chains? I… I can’t untie them myself…”

“……”

I couldn’t help but chuckle.

Honestly, it was absurd.

Realizing how embarrassing the situation was, he avoided making eye contact with me.

I grabbed the chains and tore them off with my hands.

Once the restraints were removed, he rolled down the rocky mountain.

He soon disappeared from sight and appeared down below.

It seemed like he had used teleportation.

‘Can magic be used here too?’

As I slid down the cliff, he was moving his body around.

It seemed like he was stiff from being tied up for so long.

His worn-out skin had already healed.

Seeing me look curious, he explained.

“This place is like that. If you want, you can get hurt or recover. You can’t die or live though… By the way, did you say you didn’t die?”

“Yes.”

“I don’t know how that’s possible… But you need to be careful. Anyway, you’re someone who didn’t die, so if you get hurt here, who knows what might happen.”

That was a reasonable point.

“Understood. …But, could I get some clothes?”

“Umm…”

Barak was naked.

And it seems that while the soul can heal the body, it cannot create clothes.

He cleared his throat and looked around.

As if looking for something to cover his body.

I couldn’t help but chuckle again as I watched him.

‘He really does everything.’