Chapter 58: True Suffering

Chapter 58. True Suffering

King Aldric looked toward the royal harvesting area. "How are the results?"

One of the chief attendants hurried forward. He bowed deeply.

"There is nothing particularly strange about the monsters, Your Majesty."

Garr blinked.

The chief continued, "The only unusual finding is that several species have evolved beyond their expected tiers. We found a significant number of B-tier monsters that would normally be classified as D or C tier."

The king frowned. "Do you know why?"

"Based on our preliminary examination, the hunting ground has been neglected for a considerable period. The enclosed environment created severe competition for limited resources. Only the strongest monsters survived long enough to reproduce."

He gestured toward the harvesting facility.

"We believe the population adapted naturally. Their mana cores became denser over generations, forcing several species to evolve."

"And their bodies?"

"Normal, Your Majesty."

Of course they were.

I kept my expression carefully blank.

The failed experiments had reverted after death.

The grotesque mutations weren’t true evolution.

They’d occurred because their cores had rejected my Forbidden Energy.

My energy had entered.

Their natural mana had resisted.

Neither side had integrated properly, so the two forces had collided inside the core and gone completely berserk.

The result?

Temporary mutation.

Overgrown limbs.

Malformed armor.

Extra fangs.

All the wonderfully horrifying mistakes I’d witnessed.

But once the monster died, my Forbidden Energy lost its anchor and dissipated. The pressure vanished. Its core settled back toward its original structure, and the temporary alterations disappeared.

Which meant the corpses looked normal again.

The successful specimen, however...

That should be different.

"Impossible!" Garr snapped.

Several nobles jumped.

The chief attendant stared at him.

Before Garr could continue, another worker came running from the harvesting area.

"Your Majesty!" He bowed. "We did discover one additional anomaly."

There it was.

My beautiful little research problem.

"We found an A-tier Ironmaw Direwolf among the final transported specimens."

The king’s eyebrows rose. "Was it mutated?"

"Not exactly, Your Majesty. Its physical structure appears completely stable. It is simply... considerably stronger than the others."

’YES!’ I almost smiled.

Stable physical structure.

Stable core.

Complete integration.

My successful evolution had persisted after death.

Oh, that was gorgeous.

The chief nodded thoughtfully.

"That still supports our preliminary conclusion, Your Majesty. Severe competition inside an enclosed environment can occasionally produce exceptional individuals. The expected range here should be approximately D to B tier, but finding one A-tier specimen isn’t impossible after such prolonged neglect."

Garr stared at him.

Then at me.

Then back at the chief.

His mouth opened.

Closed.

Opened again.

He looked approximately three seconds away from accusing the entire royal staff of participating in an elaborate conspiracy against him.

Instead, he clenched his jaw. "The corpses."

The chief frowned.

"Can we inspect them together?" Garr demanded. "We killed a lot of monsters in there. Perhaps some of the corpses haven’t been examined yet."

I tilted my head. "You mean I killed a lot of monsters in there"

His eyes snapped toward me.

I smiled. "Since what the rest of you were doing was trying to kill me."

A wave of murmurs swept through the nobles.

Darius moved immediately. "We were merely testing our abilities against one another." He gave me a tight smile. "We didn’t tell Rey about our plan, so perhaps he misunderstood our intentions."

Misunderstood.

Right.

The poisoned dagger had been an affectionate greeting.

Darius gestured toward himself and Raven. "Besides, look at us. Raven and I are in worse condition than Rey."

Annoyingly...

He was right.

I glanced around.

Elia looked shaken but relatively unharmed.

Garr was exhausted rather than seriously injured.

I hurt everywhere, but Abyssal Reinforcement had spared me from major damage.

Meanwhile, Darius looked like he’d been beaten with a holy frying pan.

And Raven?

His cloak had practically surrendered.

King Aldric rubbed his temple. "Fine." He sighed. "We’ll inspect the corpses."

Apparently, when the king inspected dead monsters, everyone also inspected dead monsters.

Nobles followed.

Officials followed.

My wives followed.

Several healers followed because they clearly didn’t trust any of us not to collapse.

We crossed into the harvesting courtyard.

The smell hit first.

Blood.

Fur.

Earth.

Dozens upon dozens of corpses had been arranged across large stone platforms rather than stacked carelessly. Boars occupied one section. Direwolves another. Smaller monsters were organized farther down.

And there...

My eyes locked onto it immediately.

My A-tier Ironmaw Direwolf.

’There you are,’ I thought.

It lay on its side, enormous even in death.

Its armor remained beautifully symmetrical. Its claws were longer than those of the B-tier specimens, but proportionate. The dark ridges along its shoulders were smooth and naturally integrated.

No grotesque swelling, unstable limbs or deformation.

My successful evolution.

And somewhere inside that magnificent corpse was its core.

My researcher brain screamed.

’Take it!’

No.

’TAKE IT!’

Absolutely not.

’JUST ONE LITTLE CORE.’

I stared at it.

I wanted that core so badly it physically hurt.

Forget the bruises.

Forget Garr’s ultimate attack.

This was the real suffering.

The king walked between the corpses while the chief explained their findings.

"No abnormal forms," Aldric eventually said.

"None, Your Majesty."

Garr looked increasingly haunted.

I folded my arms. "Well..." I let my gaze travel across the perfectly normal corpses. "Maybe the one going mad isn’t me."

Garr looked like he wanted to eat me alive.

Unfortunately for him, doing so in front of the king would significantly damage his argument that he was mentally stable.

So he shut his mouth.

Smartest thing he’d done all afternoon.

The whispers around us changed.

Earlier, they’d been whispering about me.

Now?

Their eyes kept drifting toward Garr.

To Raven.

Then Darius.

Ah... The tables had turned.

King Aldric apparently noticed it too. "I think Sir Garr should undergo a thorough examination."

Garr stiffened.

I nearly bit my tongue.

The king continued, completely serious. "Sir Raven as well. His old injury may have worsened during the hunt. Sir Darius should also be examined."

I lowered my head slightly.

Don’t laugh.

Don’t.

"Rey and Saintess Elia should be given rooms to rest and change."

My shoulders twitched.

The king thought Garr might actually be losing his mind.

Ha! Eat that!

After all that effort to prove I was the unstable cursed lunatic, Garr had unleashed a fortress-breaking ultimate skill at his own teammates and returned claiming he’d seen mutant monsters that no longer existed.

This banquet was getting better by the minute.

"And you, Rey."

I straightened. "Yes, Your Majesty?"

King Aldric gestured toward the enormous collection.

"You killed a remarkable number of monsters. The bracelet records confirm most of these belong to you."

Darius’s jaw tightened.

"I promised rewards according to contribution," the king continued. "I’ll arrange an appropriate payment."

Then he paused.

"Unless you’d prefer something else."

Oh?

"Lady Nia seemed rather interested in the kingdom’s ores earlier."

Behind me, Nia’s ears perked instantly.

The king smiled. "I could provide rare ores too."

My heart beat faster.

Not because of the ores.

My gaze betrayed me.

Just for an instant.

Toward the A-tier direwolf.

My beautiful, successful, stable, evolved monster core.

My entire researcher soul fell to its knees.

’Ask for it... Please...’

If I requested that specific monster immediately after Garr accused me of mutating it, I might as well wear a sign around my neck saying "YES, HELLO, THIS IS MY SECRET ILLEGAL RESEARCH PROJECT."

Absolutely not.

My jaw tightened.

The core was right there.

Probably holding answers to months of research.

Maybe years.

I could compare its post-evolution structure against ordinary B-tier cores.

Analyze the mana channels.

Determine exactly why this attempt had succeeded.

Calculate the integration ratio.

Possibly reproduce the result.

My fingers actually twitched. "Thank you, Your Majesty," I said. The words scraped their way out of my throat. "Additional ores would be... good."

The pain... It hurt my heart more than the betrayal ever did.

King Aldric looked pleased. "Excellent. Come to my study after you’ve rested. You can select what would be most useful to your estate."

I bowed.

"Your generosity is appreciated, Your Majesty."

My voice remained perfectly calm.

Elegant.

Respectful.

Inside?

I was dying.

Forget the curse.

Forget Raven’s poison.

Forget three SSS-rank heroes trying to murder me.

This was true suffering.

I straightened and gave my glorious A-tier specimen one final longing glance.

The corpse stared back with dead eyes.

Its core remained inside its chest.

So close.

So scientifically valuable.

So painfully unavailable.

My researcher instinct screamed one last time.

And I forced myself to walk away.

Sometimes being an evil genius required sacrifice.

Apparently, today that sacrifice was mine.