The Lord Who Levels Up by Devouring - LLD Chapter 103: The Forgotten Truth (1) (Part 1)

Among the six Monarchs who serve the Emperor, one was the Monarch of Darkness.

The Allied Forces referred to the Monarch of Darkness as [The One Never Seen].

Quite literally, no one had ever observed them.

It was because the Monarch of Darkness erased all perception and memory of their existence. One would forget having seen them—or even knowing they existed.

That was why they were called the Monarch of Darkness.

It wasn’t because they wielded some power over literal darkness.

It was closer to the darkness in Dark Merchant Group—a darkness of the unknown.
In fact, the “darkness” here was a metaphor, a stand-in for the Hidden From Knowledge.

There never was a Dark Merchant Group in the Allied Forces to begin with.

After all, I had already uncovered the true name behind that group—the Worshippers of the Corrupted Soul.

In the Allied Forces, the term “darkness” referred to only one thing: the Monarch of Darkness.

No one could figure out who they were, where they acted, what they had done, or what kind of abilities they possessed.

Except for one thing.

The Monarch of Darkness possessed a power called Oblivion, which erased any cognition of them the moment someone tried to think of them.

And that ability, surprisingly—

“Even erased Ian’s memory.”

Ian, who had once stood toe-to-toe with the Monarch of the Abyss.

Even he could not resist the power of Oblivion.

Thankfully, Ian still retained the awareness that a Monarch of Darkness existed.
If he hadn’t, both I and the Allied Forces would’ve believed there were only five Monarchs.

At any rate, there was no usable intel on who the Monarch of Darkness was.

The moment anyone even thought, “Who is the Monarch of Darkness?”, every related incident, situation, individual, and piece of information would vanish from their memory.

An uncontrollable, ever-present variable.

In my previous life, I had a duty to uncover the Monarch’s identity.

I pursued the investigation thoroughly—but every time, I failed.

Every time, I reached a conclusion—only to forget it.

The One Never Seen.

The darkness surrounding the Monarch of Darkness could never be pierced.

But the Allied Forces’ Archmage, Iliana, once said:

“A being that cannot be observed cannot exist in this world.”

She argued that observation was essential for existence.

“It’s not that the Monarch of Darkness can’t be observed at all.”

“We just can’t observe their essence clearly.”

And so, Iliana called them:

The Being of Observational Uncertainty.

In other words, while a complete observation was impossible, partial observation was still feasible.

Thanks to her insight, I thought of a clever workaround.

A reverse approach.

Rather than asking “Who is the Monarch of Darkness?”, I asked:

“Who isn’t the Monarch of Darkness?”

Asking “who they are” triggered Oblivion.
But asking “who they’re not” did not.

So, what if I systematically eliminated all the people they couldn’t be?

Even if I couldn’t pin them down entirely, I might still reach a usable degree of understanding.

Based on that hypothesis, I gathered what little information I could.

And I succeeded. Here’s what I found:

1. The Monarch of Darkness is not invisible.

Meaning—they have a physical form.

This confirmed they were a tangible being—someone you could see and touch.

2. The Monarch of Darkness is not a machine.

They were a thinking, acting entity with self-awareness.

3. The Monarch of Darkness is not weak.

Obviously.

The Emperor recognized only six Monarchs—not based on loyalty or fear—but merit.

A being granted the title Monarch could not possibly be weak.

The very fact this knowledge remained in my memory indicated that this Monarch wasn’t just strong—they were likely the strongest among all six.

Which led me to the next, natural question:

If the Monarch of Darkness was that powerful, could they actually be the Emperor in disguise?

Even within the Special Forces, this theory caused debate.

The Monarch of Frost, the witch who took Ian’s left arm, had already exceeded expectations.

But a Monarch stronger than Serapia?

Only one person fit that description.

The Emperor.

It seemed plausible.

The Emperor could have moved under a false identity, erasing people’s memories to maintain secrecy.

A very rational hypothesis.

But the conclusion I reached was this:

4. The Monarch of Darkness is not the Emperor.

I couldn’t recall why I was sure of this.

The memory was gone—lost to Oblivion.

Maybe the Monarch never appeared during the Emperor’s final battle.

I could only guess.

But this knowledge must have come from my regression.

One thing was certain:

The Emperor and the Monarch of Darkness were not the same person.

That was everything I had uncovered.

Everything else remained cloaked in Darkness—in the Unknown.

So, if the Monarch of Darkness was involved with the Battenberg Kingdom, then whatever was happening in the capital right now…

…I wouldn’t know.

“…No wonder.”

It all made sense now.

From the royal summons to the social gatherings.

There was no way I should have been completely unaware of all of it.

Even the reason I forgot about my father’s will for a while—it was probably due to this.

“The Monarch of Darkness… was interfering.”

A power so potent that even Ian couldn’t resist it.

Now I understood:

Player’s Will [EX] didn’t offer perfect immunity to mental manipulation.

It only reset one’s mind once it exceeded its limits.

Looking at it that way—

“…So that’s why.”

Even though I knew there were six Monarchs serving the Emperor…

…I could only ever recall five.

The Monarch of Frost, the Monarch of Beasts, the Monarch of the Undead, the Monarch of the Abyss, and the Monarch of Death.

Only five ever came to mind.

Translatin_Otaku

•