Demon King of the Royal Class-Chapter 433

Adriana’s physical condition was still far superior to that of an average person, allowing her to quickly reach the Bronze Gate Bridge.

However, the sun was setting, and Dybun had said she had to part ways with Loyar before nightfall. She didn’t know why, but it was clear she needed to meet Loyar before nightfall.

Before the Rotary Club had settled in its current location, they had lived for a long time under the Bronze Gate Bridge, one of the many large bridges in the capital.

Now that the candy-selling beggars were gone, the Bronze Gate Bridge had regained its status as a proper promenade, and people were starting to frequent it again.

Adriana could see the long passage that led under the bridge and into the depths below. There were no signs prohibiting entry, and when the Rotary Club had occupied it, the presence of beggars deterred people from entering.

Even with the beggars gone, the deep, dark sewer, gaping like a black maw, naturally evoked fear in people. No one willingly ventured into such a place.

Adriana wondered what her unnie was doing in a place like that and whether everyone at the Rotary Club knew about it.

Adriana walked toward the sewer, taking a path different from the many people out for a stroll.

With the departure of the Rotary Club members, the makeshift shacks made up of cobbled-together planks had been dismantled. The sewer, which had once been filled with beggars vomiting from cheap alcohol, was now clean, as if those sewer rats had never been there.

The members of the Rotary Club had lived in this place for quite some time. Even with the urgency of the situation, Adriana wondered how they had endured the sweltering summers and the bone-chilling winters in such a place. It was hot in summer and cold in winter. Those with nowhere else to go must have huddled together to endure both the heat and the cold.

Loyar was the one they all trusted and relied on. Life was already harsh as a beggar, and when thugs threatened and belittled them as beggars, Loyar had always protected the club members.

Eventually, people became too afraid of Loyar to mess with the Rotary Club members.

Adriana found herself deep in the sewer, where there was no light, only pitch-black darkness. Surrounded by darkness, Adriana summoned a sphere of light and slowly walked deeper into the sewer.

The sewer did not travel in a straight path. Although the passage was long and vast, there were branches along the way, and Adriana had no idea which direction would lead her to Loyar.

She was astonished to discover such a massive underground waterway beneath the capital. It was something she had never even considered existed.

A long and vast sewer network. Loyar was there within it, somewhere. What could she possibly be doing in such a place? Worried about getting lost, Adriana decided to keep moving forward. She would be able to retrace her steps if she wanted to return to the surface.

The sphere of light was not bright enough to illuminate the entirety of the expansive sewer network.

Time passed while she walked through the sewer network, and Adriana grew increasingly anxious. She had entered the sewer network near sunset, and it would soon be night.

She needed to find Loyar quickly. Judging by Dybun’s expression, there was clearly a connection between nightfall and Loyar.

How long had she been walking?

—Adriana?

A distant voice echoed, reaching her from somewhere in the sewer. It was unmistakably Loyar’s voice.

“Unnie?” Adriana called out, sensing movement in the distance.

“Adriana, why are you here...?”

A figure approached, illuminated by the sphere of light Adriana had conjured.

Thanks to Adriana’s constant care and grooming, Loyar, now looking neat and tidy, was walking toward her.

“How did you know to come here?” Loyar asked, gently touching Adriana’s face, unable to hide her curiosity.

“A bunch of soldiers came to the club. I don’t know what’s going on, but... Mr. Dybun said you’d be here if I came,” Adriana explained.

“Dybun...? How did he...? And what’s this about soldiers?” Loyar tilted her head, seemingly confused by what she was hearing.

“I don’t know. But Mr. Dybun told me... to tell you never to return to the club,” Adriana continued.

“Never return? And what about the soldiers? What’s happening with them?”

“I don’t know. Ellen... you know Ellen, right? She brought a lot of heavily-armed soldiers to the headquarters and was asking the club members a lot of questions. So Mr. Dybun sent me out through a secret passage in the club’s basement and told me to deliver this message...”

Adriana didn’t understand what was going on, but it was Loyar who seemed even more perplexed by the situation.

“A secret passage? Why would there be one in the headquarters?”

“... You didn’t know?”

Adriana wanted to shout, “How could you not know, unniee?!” despite the urgency of the situation.

“And... after delivering the message, I was told to part ways with you quickly... before nightfall...”

At those words, Loyar’s expression stiffened. It was as if everything that had been unclear suddenly made sense.

“Ah... those guys... They knew everything all along... didn’t they...”

Adriana could sense a mix of emotions from Loyar’s expression—helplessness, bewilderment, and an inexplicable surge of affection. Although she didn’t understand the situation, she felt a certain intensity.

Adriana took a deep breath and rubbed her face a few times. She noticed a glimmer of moisture in Loyar’s eyes.

Just as Dybun had done, Loyar now grasped Adriana’s shoulders.

“Alright, Adriana. I can’t explain everything in detail, but I understand what needs to be done. So, as Dybun said, leave this place quickly. And don’t return to the club.”

“Unnie, what’s going on? What’s... what’s happening?” Adriana trembled, gripped by an unknown fear.

Loyar shook her head at Adriana’s question. “Adriana, you mustn’t know. It’s better if you don’t know about these things. Not knowing—it’s better for you.”

“Unnie... I’m scared. Are we... Are we never going to see each other again?” Adriana’s voice trembled as she faced the possibility of losing someone she had just begun to care for, without even knowing why.

She remembered how Olivia had almost been sacrificed, taken away by the Nameless Monastery for reasons unknown to her.

Now, once again, she faced the prospect of never seeing Loyar or the people she had grown attached to. Tears welled up in Adriana’s eyes.

Loyar’s eyes hardened, as if she were trying to suppress some boiling emotion.

“Go quickly! I don’t have time to babysit a child like you!”

“U-unnie...”

Adriana took a few steps back, startled by Loyar’s anger, something she had never seen before.

“Go... go quickly... Night is coming... When night falls... I won’t recognize you...”

What was it about the night? Adriana didn’t understand what Loyar was saying.

Something terrifying was about to happen. With the chain of events already set in motion, the only thing Adriana could do was run away—run away from all of this and from Loyar, who would change with the night.

Adriana watched as Loyar’s expression—Loyar, who had been shouting at her to leave—twisted into a look of despair.

“Damn it...”

It seemed she had sensed something.

From the darkness behind them, a quiet voice echoed through the sewer.

—There you are.

Someone stepped into the circle of white light Adriana had conjured.

—Ahjumma.

Ellen Artorius, clad in the cloak of the Sun and wielding the sword of the Moon, was slowly approaching them.

Loyar stared at the approaching Ellen with wide eyes.

Adriana could see it too. Ellen was surrounded by an aura like a blue haze, and the Moon’s Sacred Sword, Lament, was burning as if with a blue flame.

“Sword... Swordmaster?” Adriana muttered in disbelief.

Loyar was equally shocked.“You... You monster... When did you reach that level...?”

“I have many questions. There are things I never tried to understand, things I thought were strange but never asked about... I’m going to ask about them now,” Ellen said as she looked at Loyar, who had knocked her down countless times before.

“So,” she continued, “I want you to answer honestly.”

Though she seemed prepared for a fight, Ellen stood there while maintaining her aura blade and armor, demonstrating that she wouldn’t strike first. Loyar silently watched Ellen.

Loyar had suspected that the growth rate of the monster facing her not only surpassed that of ordinary people, but even geniuses. Yet, to think she had already become a Swordmaster... And judging by her eyes and demeanor, she seemed to have reached a certain conclusion.

The hero’s sister, Ellen Artorius...

Could she even escape if she wanted to? No. Loyar’s instincts told her that escape was impossible—not because of Ellen’s skills, but because the time was drawing near.

Loyar addressed the one who had already transcended humanity, the one who was precious to her lord. “Hey, black-haired kid.”

“Defeat me.”

“...?”

“You must defeat me.”

Ellen furrowed her brow at Loyar’s strange words. Loyar grabbed Adriana’s shoulders while she was still in a daze.

And then—

Whip!

“U-unnie!”

Loyar threw Adriana directly at Ellen. Startled, Ellen dismissed Lament and caught Adriana.

Loyar knew that her lord had gone far away on a dangerous mission, but she had not been able to accompany him.

Born with a fate that plunged her into madness, unable to distinguish friend from foe on the night of the full moon, she couldn’t follow Baalier.

Would her cursed fate ultimately become something that would curse her lord as well?

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Ellen didn’t understand what Loyar was saying. She only set Adriana down, whom she had caught in surprise, and resummoned Lament.

“Unnie... just... Why? And Ellen, why are you...”

“Step back,” Ellen said.

Ellen silently watched Loyar.

The night of the full moon was approaching.

Crack. Crackle...

Growl... Grrr...

Loyar’s snout elongated, and white fur began to sprout all over her body. The sight made Adriana’s face turn pale, and Ellen gritted her teeth.

“Lycanthrope...”

The white beast that had appeared during the Demon King’s assault—a lycanthrope.

There was no greater evidence than this.

After this long journey, piecing together countless past events, Ellen finally reached a clear answer.

“...”

Tears rolled down Ellen’s cheeks.

“U-Unnie...?”

Adriana, who was witnessing Loyar’s transformation into a lycanthrope, understood what she had been told.

It was now clear why Loyar occasionally disappeared for days at a time. That night was the night of the full moon.

The being Adriana had come to care for and rely on was not human.

Crack. Crackle...

Growl...

Ellen, who was seeing Loyar transforming into a white beast, didn’t bother to wipe away her tears as she steeled her gaze.

“This... this can’t be... This can’t be happening... W-Why.... Why...”

Adriana, overwhelmed by fear and shock, began to tremble uncontrollably, tears streaming down her face without her realizing it.

‘Defeat me...’

Ellen understood what those words meant.

“Senior, step back.”

It meant she didn’t want Adriana to get hurt.

The person who had always beaten her and had once tried to kill her. Ellen Artorius now understood the murderous intent from back then.

But why?

Some questions were answered, but those answers only led to more questions.

Growl...

The low growling of the white beast echoed through the sewer, low and ominous. Ellen steadied her breathing as she faced the white beast that had revealed its true form, a form it could no longer hide.

The white beast had lost its reason.

“Ahjumma...”

The Hound of Irine.

No... The great river of Irine, and the white wolf of that river.

“This will be very different from before.”

Swordmaster Ellen Artorius pointed her sword at the white lycanthrope crouching in front of her, ready to pounce.