"I do not know either. I just feel it should not be this way. The young nobles of today are addicted to pleasure, addicted to their own desires, becoming more degenerate day by day. Watching my peers become fat and bloated, watching them play wantonly, I just feel that is not the life I want."
"But what kind of life I specifically want, I do not know myself, so I can only live this confused life."
"You are unwilling to sink into this with them, yet you do not know where your future path should lead. Would you like to hear the stories I experienced in my last universe? The stories of the heroes I fought or met."
"...Heroes from other universes? I would really like to hear what kind of stories they have."
Caelus opened the book. Vaguely, Omacido always felt that between the flipping pages, many blurry shadows seemed to flash by.
"This is the story of a knight named Lancelot..."
After listening to this first hero story, Omacido shook his head and said, "Regardless of the reason, falling for the monarch's consort is already a great act of disloyalty, and as a knight, without loyalty, one is nothing."
Caelus nodded without saying anything, simply turned the page and began to tell the story of Lancelot's monarch, King Arthur.
After listening to the magnificent life of King Arthur, Omacido said, "She cared too much for others and ignored the coldness and rationality that a monarch should have. Her charisma did indeed attract enough knights for her, but it also sowed the seeds for the later destruction of the country."
Subsequently, Caelus continued to tell the stories of the Heroic Spirits who participated in the Holy Grail War in the previous world, the Conqueror King Iskandar, the Hero King Gilgamesh, Diarmuid, and Bluebeard Gilles de Rais.
After listening to these stories, Omacido did not make any comments like before, but remained silent.
Those hero stories were indeed magnificent and truly wonderful, but he felt that they were still not the life he longed for.
Caelus closed the book, then looked at the still very confused Omacido and said, "Sitting here forever, the answer will not simply appear on its own. Since you do not know what kind of life you truly want, why not set out on a journey and discover the life you are truly craving while traveling."
"But I am the eldest son of the family, the heir..."
"Does your family have only one heir? Or is it that none of your siblings can manage the family? Did you not say earlier that the noble youths of your age have already sunk into indulgence? Then how do they manage their families?"
"..."
Omacido was now absolutely certain that the young man beside him was a daemon from the Subspace. He was tempting him, twisting his mind, but why could he not refuse him?
I, I truly do not want to sink into indulgence, I do not want to become a fat pig like those guys.
I want to go to a wider world, a broader expanse...
Freedom, I crave freedom.
But do I really have the ability to pursue freedom? The world outside symbolizes freedom without constraints, but it also symbolizes uncontrollable danger.
Caelus watched as his thoughts began to descend into chaos again, watching the other person constantly questioning himself, wandering in a spiral of contradiction, and he interrupted his thoughts, saying, "Look up and take a look."
Omacido looked up in confusion, seeing the usual blue sky and white clouds, feeling that nothing was wrong.
Of course, those blue skies and white clouds were created using technology.
"What is behind that blue sky?"
"It is the endless starry sky. It symbolizes countless worlds, places never touched, the unknown, the distant shore. Are you craving a magnificent, never ending adventure? Do you want to go to that endless starry sky? To begin a romantic and grand adventure?"
"I do."
"Then what are you hesitating for?"
"I'm afraid I lack the strength. I'm afraid I will fall on the road at the very beginning of this journey."
"I have power, but power comes with a price. Are you willing to accept this power?"
"What is the price?"
"You must constantly maintain your own existence. If you are not careful, you will be swallowed by nothingness, your own existence consumed. It will be a complete disappearance, and even the traces you leave behind will be erased."
"...Is that all?"
Omacido's originally grave expression suddenly changed. This could be called a price? He had originally thought the price of that power was corruption by Chaos, the degradation of the mind, but now he was being told the price was merely having one's existence swallowed and dying without pain?
In other worlds, this might be called a price, but in this Warhammer world where you cannot even rest in peace after death, this does not count as much of a price at all.
"Please grant me the power."
Omacido felt that he had been completely corrupted and degraded by the daemon from another world in front of him, but he no longer cared. He craved freedom, he craved a grand adventure, he craved an epic saga that would never end.
He no longer wanted to have his soul bound by gravity. He did not want to rot and decay in this place like his peers, nor did he want to live a life like the lower classes, a life where you could see the end at a glance.
They are the same. The lower class lives a life of daily labor, a life where you can see the end from the beginning.
And they, the nobles, live lives that are equally meaningless, filled with decadence and rot.
Although one side is indulging and the other is suffering, in his eyes, it is equally hollow and empty.
Caelus nodded, and then a pitch black rift opened behind him, from which many grey, gel like fluids emerged.
Those grey, gel like fluids clung to Omacido, causing his body to visibly stiffen. Then, a massive, indescribable power began to reshape his body and soul.
His originally yellow skin gradually lost its color, becoming pale. His short, fiery red hair, which looked like the sun, also gradually lost its color, turning greyish white. His pair of bright, clear emerald eyes now became incredibly dull.
Omacido looked at his greyish white hands and smiled. He, who had always been stern, revealed a look of genuine joy for the first time.
The tight formal wear that had been meant to accentuate his figure began to loosen and become disheveled.
Omacido gave off an inexplicable, ethereal feeling, as if he might fade away of all color at any moment, becoming pure and transparent.
"Sir, how should I address myself?"
"Whatever you like."
"I understand. Names have no meaning, they are merely how others perceive us. It is enough for us to remember ourselves. Thank you for your guidance. Although others might see this entirely as corruption by Chaos, I am willing."
"Good. I wish you success in your future adventures. Before you leave, please tell me how to get to the Underhive."
"...Although it might be disrespectful, I would like to ask, Sir, did you go to such great lengths to guide me, grant me power, and help me embark on a journey of free adventure, just to get me to answer how to get to the Underhive?"
"Fifty-fifty."
"Wait a moment, I will go home and bring the blueprints of this city."
(To be continued.)