Book 10: Chapter 17

On this day, the world began to undergo a great change just as how Reina predicted.

It was just like a large wave crushing a sand castle. 

Or perhaps like the wind blowing through a pile of leaves… A strong, powerful force. 

It all started at St. Altlis Kingdom. 

The wind blew towards the kingdom that was twisted and corrupted like no other because of its pure arrogance. 

「W-What is the meaning of this…?!」 

The throne chamber of St. Altlis’s royal capital castle. 

The king was currently granting an audience when suddenly light began gathering in the room. 

It was clear that it was light belonging to Transfer Magic, but no one in the room was capable of knowing that. 

And then when the transported people appeared from the Transfer Magic, the king was the first to react.  

「You’re… that boy Elia was concerned over… Baron Stagius’s son. What’s the meaning of this?」 

「Your Majesty! Please step back! Anyone suddenly showing up in the throne chamber is sure to be up to no-」 

「Silence. It’s fine.」 

Unable to defy the king’s order, the Imperial Guards grew quiet and stood still. 

On the other hand, a bead of sweat began dropping down the king’s face that was doing its best to remain composed. 

「Kain. I ask you… who might this person beside you be?」 

The king made sure to ask in a respectful manner. 

The aura emanating from the person filled the room with a pressure that demanded respect. 

And most of all… their appearance had a pure, grand air about it that had appeared in the legends countless times. 

It was clear who that person was from the very first glance. 

This is St. Altlis Kingdom’s castle. And that person was worthy of being master of that castle. 

But the reason the king asked for their identity despite that was that he found the situation all too unbelievable. 

「…There is no need to ask Kain, my dear child. I am Philia. The God of Life Philia. I have come here today to offer guidance.」 

「Huh…? Wait, no… P-Philia-sama…?」 

The God of Life Philia. 

Even if many had gazed upon her statue and offered prayer to her in the St. Altlis Temple, not even the head priest had ever personally met her before, let alone the king. 

In fact, the head priest found himself speechless with his mouth open in shock, and many of the knights found themselves kneeling down in prayer. 

「Danger is approaching.」 

「Are you talking about the Demon King…!」 

As the head priest shouted out what he suspected she might be talking about, Philia let out a small sigh. 

This twistedness was brought about by none other than Philia. 

Their idiocy was also yet another product of the corruption Philia had designed. 

「An evil known as Wentus is on the verge of reviving.」 

That’s it, and then… 

Philia must designate a new enemy for them to defeat and repeat the cycle of what she’s done in the past. 

It was not something Philia had prepared, but rather the Demon God. 

And then humanity must be directed towards the path demonstrated by the Demon King. 

Philia laughed at herself for her complete idiocy. 

「That being is none other than the root of true evil. Unless all the races… both humanity and Mazoku and all people of this world join hands together, it cannot be defeated.」 

「Wentus…?! W-What could that be…?! But… are we truly to join hands with the Mazoku…?」 

It was a response she had expected. 

At this rate, the leaders of this stiffly congealed St. Altlis Kingdom would divide into two factions, the 「Mazoku Acceptance Faction」 and the 「Mazoku Rejection Faction.」 

But that wouldn’t do at all. That’s why Philia must take control of them. 

Philia did not wish to speak these words, but she had to. 

「It is time for the holy crusade. You must toss aside any grudges or allegiances you may have held. Your concepts of enemies and allies are all but a thing of the past now. All races must join together as fellow members of humanity in order to take on this war… otherwise victory will never be won. Or would you prefer to throw away your duty as members of humanity and allow Wentas’s schemes to succeed?」 

「U-Urgh… Of course, not! It is just as you say…!」 

Philia nodded as the king fell prostrate and then turned a stern gaze towards the head priest who still seemed to have doubts about all this. 

「Then abolish the foolish Demi-Human Rejection Argument by the end of today. Under the name of Philia, I refuse to accept the circulation of such a thing. Understood?」 

「Y-Yes… However, that mentality was naturally born among the citizens, it will prove difficult to simply completely erase it…」 

「Those that cling to their preconceptions even while knowing them to be false are nothing but fools.」 

「It’s almost like looking in a mirror,」 Philia thought to herself. 

This foolishness was Philia’s foolishness. 

「Head Priest. Do as Philia-sama says.」 

「…Of course.」 

The head priest glared at Kain as he replied with frustration, and then excused himself from the throne chamber with a 「Then I’ll see to the preparations right away.」 

It appeared that the man might still cause some trouble, but now that he no longer had the greatest shield at his back, a god, there was nothing else he could do. 

「…If I may, Philia-sama, who might that other girl be…?」 

「She is the Mazoku Ein. She and Kain are an example of a human and Mazoku that have become friends despite any preconceived boundaries.」 

「Goodness…」 

「I have also made terrible mistakes. Starting with this upcoming crisis, I have realized that I need to completely restructure the races of this world.」 

After looking at Kain and Ein with a fascinated expression, the king responded to Philia’s words in a display of absolute submission. 

「…As you say. It is both our duty and our honor to follow the path the Gods have laid out for us.」 

As a single human being, the king himself felt a certain way towards all of this. 

It is not as if his way of thinking would completely change from this encounter, and it was not as if he was a man that was perfectly in the right. 

However, more than all of that, he was the king. 

As so, even if he were to stray from the righteous path, it would be for the sake of his country, and for the sake of the worshipped God of Life Philia. That was the one thing he could not make a mistake on. 

Today, St. Altlis Kingdom’s way of being has greatly changed. 

「……」 

That was exactly why Philia’s heart was far from at rest. 

She had directly interfered with humanity countless times in the past. 

However, their understanding of her words would be twisted each time and lead to another form of chaos. 

That wasn’t happening this time, at least, as of right now. When she thought about why that was the case, the only conclusion she was able to come to was the existence of the Demon King Vermudol. 

St. Altlis Kingdom was well aware that Vermudol had not only unified the Mazoku and gained a friendly relationship with the Jiol Forest Kingdom, but also that he had formed relationships with the Canal Kingdom and the Cylas Empire as well. When the king of St. Altlis Kingdom, Ardiel, learned of this, there was no doubt that he had begun to feel a sense of danger. 

The things that set St. Altlis Kingdom apart from the other countries were their military might, and above all their accomplishment of being the country that bore the Hero that saved the world. 

Since they held the key to protecting the world in case it were to come face with another threat, they were able to receive protection for the Altlis Temple and maintain industries such as the Edius Adventurer Academy. They essentially had the appeal of providing the world with another Hero. 

However, the policies born from the Demon King Vermudol and the friendly relationships the Zadark Kingdom were forming were in complete contradiction to St. Altlis Kingdom’s.  

Even so, the existence of Mazoku such as Goblins, Beastia, Ogres, and Alvas strengthened St. Altlis Kingdom’s image as one of justice. 

However, now that the God of Life Philia they worshipped has ordered them to join hands with the Mazoku, St. Altlis Kingdom will have to follow along with this new course of history. 

Otherwise, everything St. Altlis Kingdom stood for will be deemed as heresy and Ardiel will forever be marked down for the rest of history as a foolish king. There was no way he would possibly take that risk. 

In other words, all of this was caused by the existence of the Demon King Vermudol. 

「Philia-sama… Please excuse me, but…」 

「What is it, king?」 

Philia responded to the king who spoke out timidly. 

It was only natural for the king to display this modest behavior when faced with Philia, an individual demanding of the highest respect. However, the fact that Ein was standing behind her acting as if this situation wasn’t any big deal whatsoever somewhat killed the tension that should have been in the air. 

It wasn’t that strange for Ein to be acting this way, considering that the God of Life was of no subject of worship whatsoever for the Mazoku, but King Ardiel could not help but direct his gaze towards her direction. 

「That Mazoku woman over there… Oh, I mean, Lady Ein, was it?」 

「You got a problem or something?」 

「Not exactly, perse… I had heard that you and Kain are on good terms, but…」 

「Yes?」 

Philia was beginning to get the gist of what he was trying to ask, but she purposely held her tongue and allowed him to continue. 

「I-I was wondering how far exactly your relationship extended to. It could be that humanity and Mazoku will be developing rather deep bonds with each other in the future, but…」 

「Tch.」 

Ein’s click of her tongue that echoed throughout the throne chamber answered any doubts. 

Kain appeared to be a little flustered, but Ein showed no attempt to hide her displeasure. 

「H-Hey now, Ein. I’m not asking you to put a smile on your face, but you could at least, you know, just for a little longer…」 

「Just shut up, you enemy to women. It’s all because you couldn’t hurry up and make your decision already that we had to suffer this kind of misunderstanding.」 

「Um, well… I can’t deny that, but you don’t have to be that upset about this…」 

It seemed that they were exchanging quips towards each other, but King Ardiel wasn’t sure if they were keeping their voices down out of recognition of the current mood in the room or not. 

But in either case, the people in the throne chamber were surprised that the two of them were clearly interacting with each other like good friends who have gotten to know each other well. 

And that was only natural. 

A human and a Mazoku woman were friends… or possibly even more than that. 

It was something thought to be only a dream by countless people in the past. 

And there was not a single one of those people would have ever thought they’d seen an example of it firsthand. 

Seeing this relationship with the Mazoku they were supposed to defeat right in front of them felt like it was a show of telling them that their idea of what was right in the world was completely incorrect. 

Regardless of whether or not they were able to accept it, the shock they received from this was immeasurable. 

A small smile crept onto Philia’s face seeing these humans react this way. 

「…Unfortunately, it looks like their relationship has not gone that far. But as you can see, they have developed a friendship lasting several years… I’m sure you all can understand exactly what that means.」 

「…Yes. However, that’s not what’s important here.」 

「And what is?」 

Ardiel shifted his eyes to Kain in response to Philia’s question and slowly opened his mouth with hesitation. 

「It might not be right of me to mention such a matter considering the atmosphere right now and the fact that we’re in your presence, but…」 

「I do not mind.」 

「Well… you see… My daughter- I mean, this kingdom’s Third Princess Elia… um… How should I say this? She is very close to Kain here. The prospect of them getting engaged is well within question, so if these two truly have that kind of relationship, then…」 

Seeing that Ardiel’s eyes signified that he had a sense of duty to mention this even though it was hard for him to, Philia let out a long sigh and turned to Kain. 

「Wait, no, it’s not like that. I’ve been through a lot with Princess Elia and we’re good friends, but…」 

「I’ve said this again and again, but you’re the only one who thinks that way. How about you count how many male friends and female friends you have right now.」 

…I see. It’s no wonder that he felt that they might be in a relationship. 

This was a good demonstration for the potential of how well Mazoku and humanity could get along with each other, but Philia definitely could understand Ardiel’s worry for his beloved daughter after being shown such a display. 

「…At the very least, they don’t seem to be in that kind of relationship. I believe the rest can be left between the persons in question.」 

「I-I see. Well if you wish to demonstrate their bond to the rest of the world as a symbol of the Mazoku and humanity’s friendship, then I have no objections…」 

「That’s not it. But speaking of a symbol of Mazoku and humanity’s friendship… why not enter diplomatic relationships with Zadark Kingdom?」 

That’s right, history will no doubt take a great turn from something like that. 

Plus… regardless of what the relationship between men and women might be, a god has no right to interfere with something like that. Such matters will resolve on their own. 

…That’s right, just like how 「that person「 was once there. 

Philia spoke to herself while thinking about that. It was probably all planned by the Demon God, but this truly was an entertaining fate. 

She was excited to watch over what would happen… No doubt the Demon God would not sit idly by this. 

In fact, right now she’s probably…