Chương 238: Family Matters

"I am sorry to inform you of this, Your Majesty, but… The situation is quickly getting out of hand! These various tapes and crystals are popping out all over the place, and they seem to be getting more and more numerous! The equipment required to view them has even begun to simply… Appear alongside them! And some even appear with the images playing in a loop until someone watches the full thing!" There was an awkward cough, followed by several seconds of silence, only broken by a sigh.

"Tell me… Do you think we are nearing another Nightmare Plague situation? It has been… nearly two years since we had to struggle with this insidious curse. We are still reeling from the impact in certain sectors. We can not afford a disaster on the same scale""Your Majesty, thanks to the efforts of Sir Nebulo and Sir Bombidour, another Nightmare Plague is unlikely to happen–Especially since we have identified that this method of spreading is far inferior this time around.

Although the curse itself seems to have gotten stronger, it isn't enough to bypass Sir Bombidour's barrier… Unfortunately, while technically inferior, this new method it has of propagating is completely unpredictable and seemingly unstoppable""The number of people with the capabilities to remove a seed of nightmare from a person is limited to less than ten. They can not be everywhere, and we can not ask for assistance from our allies. They are similarly short-handed in this matter""Mmh…

And here I was hoping that the damned monstrous mercenary Beliol Azt Mastras had hired was gone for good… How was this old bastard even able to control this vile entity?"

"Regardless… You are dismissed for now. Continue monitoring the situation as closely as possible. I want to make it clear that I am doing everything in my power to ease the situation, even if not much can be done… If he has arrived, tell Sir Nebulo to come in when you leave" Sitting upon a grandiose throne of gold, Algo Irmandelt Rootriska, King of Rootriska, sighed as he readjusted the ornate crown upon his head.

It had been a long time since he had risen to this position, but he still retained the same youthfulness he had had back then. His eyes remained focused. Alas, his usual jovial attitude had to be reduced due to the current situation. He hadn't expected the Nightmare Plague to return, especially since the efforts of he and his subjects had been extraordinary.

A person or creature bearing the vile curse that could spread nightmares couldn't exist within his borders, at least not without remaining hidden away from people. Somehow, it had found a new way to pop out, and in a very unusual manner as well. It felt like he was dealing with the encroaching invasion of a Great Realm–Well, another one, since those things were also messing around lately. The last two to three years had been especially tiresome.

It was like the world itself was trying to push for something to happen–It was like the world wanted things to move on the continent, but of course, the established powers were unwilling to budge, no matter what. Algo Irmandelt Rootriska couldn't afford to let himself be pushed around by circumstances. He had only recently managed to bring Rootriska, Heldinot, Malkazert, and the reborn Beelmart together into a powerful alliance.

He was personally married to a Malkazertian princess, and one of his sons was married to a Heldinotian princess, while he had established a strong mutually beneficial bond with Beelmart. Together, it wouldn't be exaggerated to say that they were the strongest force on the entire continent. They had always stood a notch above the rest on their own, so united, they were the undisputed rulers, with only the old Aestherian Republic perhaps being capable of standing against them… That would never happen, though.

Aesther had long grown complacent and become a den for corruption. The republic was weak and fragmented. Even with their supposedly incredible army and firepower, they did not feel like a credible threat at all. Algo Irmandelt Rootriska would certainly love to have a better relationship with them, but they were hostile to monarchies, despite the fact that switching out of monarchy had been the worst decision of their nation's entire history.

"I suppose I should help the old royal bloodline take back its throne, would be the best for everyone involved…" His reveries of an even stronger alliance were cut short as the gates to his throne room were pushed open, and a man with a cane stepped inside.

"Your Majesty""No need for the formalities, Leton. I needed to talk to you about a few things… About the return of the nightmares, but mostly about the fact that you've been hiding a lot from me" Leton Nebulo was blatantly accused of keeping secrets by his very own king, but he didn't show any reaction. His light-coloured purple eyes stared up at the king sitting on the throne without wavering.

"What is it that I have been hiding from you, My King?"

"Please, I wasn't mistaken for a battering ram as a baby, Leton. One would have to be blind or willfully ignorant not to understand what is going on at this point–Let's begin with the most recent stuff… The tapes, crystals, and whatever else… Don't you think it odd that a lot of them are about your sister, who has gone missing over twenty years ago at this point?" Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

"I did notice this, but some seemed to relate to other people as well""Let's not play on the exceptions, I know your sister–Mara–Had a very special eye colour… A 'purple out of this world' they say, a deep, dark shade of purple that onlookers can't help but describe as odd. As though it was a shade that did not exist… And what do a lot of the creatures in these crystals and tapes have?"

"I doubt this is a coincidence, especially when I have received reports that some of the tapes, in particular, straight up have her as a ghost or undead creature in a very human form–What the hell is up with your sister?

Furthermore, Balayal Azt Mastras described the creature her father had hired to spread the Nightmare Plague as having eyes of that exact colour""Digging deeper, I found out that the description of this monster could be traced all the way back to Tolten–The city where you currently live, and where your sister used to live before vanishing without a trace… She used to perform in a clown costume, and a monstrous clown popped up a while after the monster… None of this is a coincidence, is it?"

"It would be an unusual set of coincidences, indeed" The king rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"You are way too smart not to have noticed this much earlier than anyone else, Leton, and I know that you were very close with your sister. Just tell me what's going on. Are you-""I apologise for my rudeness, Your Majesty, but this is Nebulo business. I won't lie to you. Mara and the monster you speak of are indeed one and the same, that is without the shadow of a doubt.

However, there is no point in anyone knowing about her identity""I knew it was her from the moment I first heard about the eyes, but even without that… I know her well enough to know how she operates. All others who have tried to get in her way are dead or were unable to stop her. My sister will not be brought down like a savage beast. It is my responsibility to deal with her.

This is a family matter""Leton, she has killed countless at this point, and this is only counting what we know for certain she had a hand in! Your sister is a threat to several countries–No, she's a continental threat at this point! What is to say that this vile plague of hers will not keep on growing stronger until even the Bombidour won't be able to do anything about it?"

"With all due respect, Your Majesty… You always had an antagonistic relationship with your father, you never knew your mother, and you were an only child, raised by quickly succeeding maids. I do not mean to insult you, but you do not know the gravity of family matters like this one" The king wanted to say something, but held it back. He had never seen Leton Nebulo with such a look in his eyes–This was seriousness on a level that was difficult to grasp even for the dignified ruler of a country.

"... Your Majesty, you know that I do my best to support Rootriska. I may not be a worshipper of the Divine Feather, but I intend on defending this country even if it comes at a cost to myself. Nonetheless, the matter of my sister will stay between her and me. If anyone else gets involved, I can not guarantee that I'll be able to save them from Mara" The king exhaled strongly, taking off his crown as he leaned back in the throne.

"With the way you speak of her, it makes it sound like your sister is the damned Monster Queen… She isn't, right?"

"Obviously not, she's way worse… She's the greatest sister anyone could ask for, but she might just be the worst person I know" Ah shit! Why does this keep blowing up?! Since when does food blow up?! I had been attempting to use rarer and more unusual ingredients in my recipes for a little while now.

All started when I thought about using the new kinds of meat I had acquired from my time in the Northern Wildlands, until now, while I could get some interesting-sounding curses from my recipes, their strength was always so low that it seemed like a waste of time to actually use them in a fight.

Why cast a weak curse when I could just throw another punch? The cost in negative energy didn't seem to be worth the trouble. Thus, I figured that the weakness of the curses was mostly due to the fact that I was using very basic ingredients. I needed to upgrade and think more like a craftsman. My technical talent might be great, but even a genius blacksmith couldn't do much with just a lump of regular steel. Unfortunately, my idea blew up in my face–Several times.

For reasons I couldn't quite fathom just yet, every attempt I made to cook something using superior ingredients resulted in me getting splattered with those very ingredients. What am I missing? Should I try adding more negative emotions to the mix? Would that stabilise the whole thing, or is there something about these ingredients that I don't understand? As far as I am aware, beast and monster meat could be cooked by a regular chef without a problem, unless it was abundantly rich in energy or something like that.

The meat I was using shouldn't have just specificities, so what was the big deal? The reason why wasn't showing up inside my mind, so I had to call it quits with The Kitchen for today. I checked into the Dreamscape, seeing that the number of ongoing trials had increased. The agent was still wrestling with the pre-final trial, whilst the others had yet to get to this point for now. I wasn't a very big fan of this, though.

To infest these people, a bunch of videos featuring me had been used, and this went directly against my attempt at laying low, but I couldn't do anything about it. I had no control over what was happening, and neither did I even know why it was happening in the first place. Well, I guess this is getting me closer to fully unlocking the 'Nightmare Form', at least. I left the Dreamscape and returned to the real world, where I had been sitting on the edge of my bed.

Xlown had taken this occasion to put her head on my lap–It definitely wasn't very comfortable since my thighs were just steel with perhaps a few soft bits of flesh growing here and there, but Xlown didn't seem to mind.

"Co–Come on, Girly Pop. Leou wants to se–see me today" It seemed like I might have scored myself a new mission, and if possible, I wanted to bring Xlown with me. Leaving her alone here when she was being hunted down did not sit right with me. As for Mari… She wasn't being hunted down, and it was better to leave her access to a workshop. I wonder what Leou and the organisation have in stock for me this time…