Shadow Monarch: Heroines Could Hear My Thoughts?!

Chapter 56- Right And Wrong (Part 2)

After thinking about it, Elise whispered to Rin secretly.

"We should follow her for now. But, be careful."

Rin flinched at the mere feeling of Elise's breath tickling his ear out of nowhere. But, he composed himself and nodded at her.

After that, the two of them followed Maria while keeping an eye on their surrounding. The weird thing is that they didn't leave the treasury at all and instead walked to another part of the room they didn't see before. Here, there were no shelves at all and instead, right there, stood a pedestal made out of marble.

On top of the pedestal was what looked like a golden key. The key was three times the size of an average man's fist and had weird engravings on it that Rin didn't quite understand. The other weird thing about it is the broken chain attached to the upper of the key. All in all, the key looked really unique.

"What's that?"

"Hehe! Just watch! It's something neither of you has seen before. Or maybe you have seen it before." Her eyes looked at Elise meaningfully before she picked up the key.

After that, she closed her eyes and seemingly channeled her mana into the key. Instantly, the engravings on the key started lighting up slowly until the whole key was covered in a warm white light.

After that, Maria took a deep breath and extended the key in the air as if she just shoved it inside some kind of invisible keyhole Elise and Rin couldn't see.

After that, she twisted it ever-so-slowly until it turned 90 degrees to the right. The movement looked simple but the outcome was far from that. The moment the key turned to the right, it made a clicking sound and everything around it changed drastically.

A weird portal appeared there, it was barely the size of Rin's body. Comparing it to a dungeon portal, this one was, as mentioned before, smaller and also way darker than the other portal. Besides that, Rin felt a heavy feeling when he looked at it which made him unconsciously want to get away from it.

"Amazing, isn't it?" Maria asked with an energetic smile.

"What's that, Maria? What are you doing?" Her sister asked with a wary look on her gorgeous face.

"Don't be like that, big sister. I just wanted to show Rin the condition I had for him to get the dagger. It's a good deal and it won't even be something dangerous or threatening for his life."

"So what you want is inside that portal?"

"Pretty much. See, big sister? Rin is way quicker to catch on than you. Is he really smarter?"

"No." Rin and Elise replied at the same time.

"Hey! It's ok if I deny that but you shouldn't have denied it too!" Rin looked to the side with a sulking look.

"..."

"Fine, fine. I get it." He shook his head with a sigh before he focused on Maria again.

"Fine. A deal is a deal. Let's go."

"Aren't you scared that I might do something bad to you?" Maria questioned him with an incomprehensible smile.

"Heeh? You will? I mean, if you want to do so, go ahead. But, I don't think you are that type of person, to begin with. Although you are quite the oddball."

Maria's eyes widened for a moment before she returned to normal and chuckled.

"Rin is really such an interesting person. I really like you!"

'What is she on about? Man, let's just focus on the matter at hand for now.'

"Fufufu!" Laughing again, Maria walked toward the portal and went inside.

"Follow me." She said before completely vanishing inside.

"Let's go, Elise." He said.

However, the latter didn't move and looked down at the ground the whole time. He understood that she must've been deep in thought.

"Elise? Is everything ok?" He asked with a concerned look.

"Nothing."

"It's not nothing… You have something troubling you?"

"No… It's not…"

"You don't have to hold it in. We are friends, aren't we? You can rely on me."

"..."

His words hit a weird string in Elise's heart. Her whole life, she lived with the idea that she must not let herself trust another person no matter what. Because of her trauma, she believed that the only trustworthy person in this entire world is Elise herself and no one else. So, she worked to make herself the most perfect version she could reach.

She tried to learn everything that she thought she needed for the future. Her whole being despised the thought of being weak enough to need someone else's help. However, at this moment, she actually hesitated from refusing his proposition.

'What's wrong with me? Get a hold of yourself, Elise.' She thought to herself before her expression returned to neutral.

"It's really nothing."

Then, she started walking toward the portal under Rin's confused gaze. But, before she entered it, she looked back and said.

"Thanks for your concern." and then vanished inside.

Rin, being left alone, sighed and scratched the back of his head a few times. After that, he clicked his tongue.

"Tsk! Showing such a face… You are really playing around, Elise." He murmured with a troubled look before following after them.

When he came out of the other side of the portal, the place was unbelievably dark. Rin was sure that his vision was good in the dark because of his powers but this place was so dark that he couldn't even see his own hands.

"I will light it up in a second. Be careful, the sight you will see isn't quite the pleasant one." Maria warned them before she lit up an old torch.

The sudden light made Rin squint his eyes. However, the next second, his whole being froze in his place at the sight he saw.

Elise had the same reaction as Rin as she didn't quite understand how to react to the sigh.

In front of them was a long tunnel that extended seemingly to no end. The place was old, dusty, and humid. The air here was heavy and stinky as if this room didn't get aired in at least 200 years.

But, this wasn't the thing that made them freeze with shock. On each side of the tunnel, rows, and rows of creatures that resembled humans were chained to the wall.

Their arms, legs, and necks were completely shackled in thick chains that looked hard to break. Their bodies were incredibly skinny, weak and so stinky that it made Rin almost throw up. Another thing that horrified Rin was that even though they were in such a horrible and inhuman state… they were all alive.

How did he know that? Well, each and every one of them had his eyes open and looked around. But, he could clearly see it with his own eyes.

'They are all… blind?'

Dry blood that turned into a layer of brown paint from how old it was covered their bodies from head to toe.

"Welcome to the 'Hall Of The Damned'," Maria said.

"What the hell is this, Maria? What is this place? Where did you send us?" Elise asked one question after the other with an agitated look.

Even though she had a good tolerance toward gory sights but this was just too much for any person to look at. The scene was a straight scene from hell itself.

"Calm down, big sister. I will explain what this place is in a second."

"As both of you already know. The humans and the demons didn't get along for the longest time. Wars ensued between both parties again and again as they butchered each other relentlessly. However, by far, the most important war that was also the reason for the end of the demon race and the rise of the human race was the 'Blood Moon Massacre'. At the time, the human race was able to eradicate most of the demons, and the ones that didn't die ended up being imprisoned inside this place."

"Wait… do you mean that these were demons? And they have been here for.."

"Almost 250 years now if my calculations are right."

Taking a look around him again, Rin could see more and more how broken these creatures were. Even though they heard their voices, they didn't react at all. Their blind eyes looked blank and empty as they were devoid of any possible emotions. No anger, no hatred, no sadness, and no regret. They were empty shells of their old selves.

"That leads us to the condition I want to set for you, Rin."

"What is it?"

"Kill one of these demons and the dagger is yours," Maria replied with a wide smile.

"Are you serious?" Rin's face turned extremely serious.

"100%. Just stab one of them in the heart and then you can consider that dagger your own. I won't ask for anything else. So, will you do it?"

(A//N: Hard choice indeed.)

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