CH 93

“Ah.”

Thesilid recognized them at first sight and let out a small sigh.

And the opponents also ‘warmly’ welcomed the nostalgic Thesilid.

As follows.

“You, you, you are……!”

“Wahhhh…!”

“H-he’s alive….”

“How……?!”

The Knights of the Pillar of Light could not be more obvious.

[‘The World-building God’ is interested.]

[‘The Scales that Judges the Soul’ eye shines in anticipation.]

Thesilid turned to me.

“I have a favor to ask of you, Ellet.”

“What do want me to do?”

He smiled softly and drew his lips close to my ear.

“──.”

All I heard was a simple favor.

“……What?”

I looked at him with eyes that didn’t hide how dumbfounded I was and before he could listen to my answer he moved toward The Knights of the Pillar of Light.

Thesilid greeted them with his habitual smile that was somewhat different from before.

“Hello, Captain Gadville, Vice-Captain Lecto.”

For some reason, I felt like the prelude to a sweet potato symphony had started.

✠

Captain Gadville, lacks the qualities of a leader but is a narcissist.

Vice-captain of Lecto, has a lot of inferiority to Thesilid as the same tanker.

The two leading figures of the Order of the Pillar of Light never forgot what had happened fifteen days ago.

Inside a class-A dungeon discovered near Greenwell Village, called ‘Atelier of the Sculptor’, they met a man equivalent to the apex of evil.

The power of the dungeon increased with a single of his gesture, he had the ability to Burst a dungeon. He used dark-type transcendental magic that activated without casting or chanting, a presence that made people feel like they had to kneel and bow their heads.

The black-haired man seemed to be the embodiment of a Demon God.

The Knights, who had been overwhelmed, did not dare raise their heads to look at his face.

Shivering in that state, they heard the dungeon owner, the “Demon Sculptor,” bow to the man.

-I can’t believe the first place ‘Chaos and Evil’ would award with his presence would be my territory! To honor the glory, I will create and dedicate a work with the fresh ingredients that came in today!

The Knights, referred to as fresh ingredients, trembled. Whether they lived or not was already out of the question. It was a matter of how they would die, and looking at the ‘workpieces’ decorating this dungeon, they could intuit that their death would be terrifying.

The spirit of the Knights was completely defeated.

They squatted down, making unspeakable sounds like beasts, slapping their faces, hurting themselves, or leaking filth between their legs.

– How you dare to do this in the presence of ‘Chaos and Evil’!

Just when the demon sculptor revealed his true nature in anger.

– It would be better to choose the materials before using them.

The voice of the man called ‘Chaos and Evil’, seemed to shake their souls. It was an unbelievably beautiful voice for an evil being.

-Do you want to live?

The Knights realized that the man was speaking to them.

They reflexively raised their heads, but the man’s face was not visible because he wore a dark-colored mask. There was, however, a feeling of decadency and beauty to the point of being awful.

He offered a deal.

-If you hand that over to me, I will spare you.

In the direction his graceful fingertips pointed to, was the Thesilid argent.

In an instant, a vibrant comfort rose in the eyes of the Knights. It was an honest and crude glimmer of hope.

Taking advantage of their hesitation, ‘Chaos and Evil’, Reed, spoke encouraging words. In a very playful tone.

-Is it too much to give it away? Then it wouldn’t be bad to sell it.

Clink. Gold coins matching the number of people rolled on the floor.

-Oh my, ‘Chaos and Evil’. Good ingredients should be paid their price! That’s a great idea!

The moment they heard the demon sculptor’s flattery, the knights’ eyes flashed with sharpness.

A contract is absolute to a Demon, and a ‘deal’ is the most basic and simple type of contract, tantamount to a symbolic meaning. In other words, if they picked up the gold coins and handed over the Thesilid, the life of the Knights was guaranteed.

So, what did they choose to do?

– I-I’m sorry.

– Pl-please, Thesilid.

-Only you! All you have to do is sacrifice!

-It’s better than everyone dying!

Hope turned into madness.

They turned away from Thesilid’s fragile sea-blue eyes and obeyed the demands of evil. With their own hands, they dragged their comrade and offered him to the demon.

The hands of ‘Chaos and Evil’ raked into the silver hair of Thesilid, who was kneeling on the floor.

-Lent me a studio. I want to draw a picture.

Susususu.

‘Chaos and Evil’ walked into the room while grabbing his hair. Thesilid’s body, which had forgotten to resist due to the shock, was dragged along.

Through the gap in the door of the studio that had not been closed, they could see the man drawing his picture. As a result, red splashed in the atelier, and the sound of the ‘canvas’ tearing apart reverberated in the air.

The Knights turned a blind eye to it.

– ‘Chaos and Evil’ seems to be excited, so don’t disturb him and get lost.

Shortly after, a Burst Gate opened in the dungeon. The knights were also dumped outside of the dungeon mixed with the pouring beasts.

The ferocious monsters were engulfed in a destructive instinct, but somehow they did not attack the Knights right next to them. It was only later that they found out that it was because of the existence of the gold coin they dearly held in exchange for selling a companion.

Greenwall Village would be devastated, swept away by a black avalanche.

They had no intention of worrying about other people’s lives at a time when they barely survived themselves.

– E-Everyone, return!

The Knights broke their teleport stones and fled to the Vatican.

Captain Gadville and Vice-Captain Lecto were under investigation. They couldn’t directly reveal the fact that they had abandoned a companion and returned with their lives alone.

The fact that they had signed a contract with the Demon would be judged as heresy and heresy judgment was worse than death. 

They had finally survived, how could they walk into hell with their own mouths?

So they thought.

‘Those who survive must live.’

Matching their opinions with all the other knights, they put everything on Thesilid.

They testified that he believed in the power of the Holy Sword and caused a Burst after entering the dungeon by himself.

There was not even a feeble clamor in their conscience. Since Thesilid sacrificed to save the lives of the knights, wouldn’t it be better to build up one more good deed until the end?

Rationalizing in that way, what they were doing seemed to be a legitimate action that followed Thesilid’s legacy.

And that’s how it went.

The denomination did not believe it at first, but the dead did not speak, and the closed dungeon left no evidence.

The investigation was over, and Thesilid’s funeral was held. The Knights did not have to attend the funeral because they were given a new mission that had to be dealt with urgently.

Everything went smoothly.

It can be said that ‘Strict Order and Goodwill’ provided forgiveness for the suffering knights.

It felt like they could make a fresh start and live on.

They were determined to live a good life, even the portion of Thesilid, who was sublimely sacrificed.

But there was one problem.

‘Coins……the Gold coins were never thrown away!’

No matter how much they tried to throw away the tokens of the transaction they received from selling Thesilid, the coins always returned to them.

It felt like having a nightmare they couldn’t shake off every day.

Around the time when their nerves became extremely sensitive because the place they were dispatched for a mission was a crazy village.

Something that shouldn’t have happened, happened right before their eyes.

“Hello, Captain Gadville, Vice-Captain Lecto.”

“……!”

He was alive

Thesilid Argent.

‘How?’

‘Why?’

Captain Gadville and Vice-Captain Lecto felt their heads empty.

Regardless of their state of panic, Thesilid’s calm voice kept ringing in their ears.

“Nice to see you again.”

“N-Nice?”

Captain Gadville asked back with a pale face.

“When I opened my eyes, I was alone, deep in the mountains. I couldn’t remember what happened after entering the dungeon, so I blamed myself a lot, wondering if I was the only one who survived. I am glad that everyone is safe.”

“Memory……you don’t remember?”

The same dull light of hope they had in the dungeon dwelled in his eyes.

“Yes. However, it’s slowly coming back. Do not worry too much.”

He immediately fell into despair.

Cold sweat ran down the bodies of all the knights.

General Gadville thought.

‘It’s a big deal. The day he regains his memory and returns to the Vatican…… Everything we did will be revealed!’

Vice-Captain Lecto also thought about it.

‘If it goes like this, we can’t escape heresy judgment! We’ll be tortured to death in jail! I’m going to die!’

So, the thoughts of the two ended up as one.

‘I must not let Thesilid Argent alive!’

Once is difficult, twice is easy, and just in time, this dungeon was perfect for killing stigmata. 

Because it was a dungeon of plague where a person could not even breathe without the ability to heal.

✠

<Look at how ugly their bloodthirsty is. It’s scary.>

“I know, right.”

<They got their eyes open to kill, these dogs.>

I was watching from a little distance as the Knights surrounded Thesilid.

The atmosphere was sharp enough to immediately draw a sword at someone’s signal. However, the knights were still trying to smile, contorting their faces as they firmly believed that they were hiding their true intentions well.

<What are you going to do?>

“For now, I’d like to try doing what Thesilid asked me to do.”

<Huh…….>

I understand her laugh because that’s how I feel in my heart.

Agnes changed the question.

<Then what about those knights?>

“The knights.”

I grinned.

“I can do whatever I want.”