Side Story Chapter 65

Side Story Chapter 65

Kireua and Anna lost all words as soon as they entered the castle. Unlike the outside, there was a human inside—no, a demon that looked like a human.

“Is that... There’s no way, right?” Anna nervously asked.

The demon was standing alone in the wide lobby, holding something round that was dripping with blood, to say nothing about the corpses scattered around the lobby.

“I hyped myself up to chop off the enemy leader’s head myself, but it was all for nothing,” Anna mumbled, disappointed.

The demon was holding the head of Marquess Turtler, the leader of the western rebels and the one who had manifested the authority of the Black Tortoise.

“You’re finally back.”

“...You knew that we'd return?” Kireua asked.

“Of course,” the demon instantly replied. “I didn’t have a single doubt that you’d return.”

“Why?”

“You must want to know about the power inside you.”

Kireua was slightly shocked because it was obvious who the demon was referring to.

‘Coal,’ Kireua called out, just in case.

Coal still didn’t answer Kireua.

Only the demon in front of Kireua and a handful of other people could give Kireua the answer to this phenomenon.

“It’s in an awakening state after absorbing a significant amount of demonic power,” the demon explained.

“An awakening state...?”

“A demon king is sealed in each of the Seven Evil Sins’ authorities. You may have expected this, but your power is one of those authorities.”

Anna spun to look at Kireua. Although she had assumed that his authority was demonic, she hadn’t expected it to be the power of a demon king, one of the highest-ranking demons.

“I-Is that true?” Anna asked.

“...I don’t know,” Kireua mumbled.

“Answer me, Prince. Don’t you know what happened to the cardinal’s daughter in Hubalt after she manifested one of the Evil Sins’ authorities?!” Anna shouted.

Most people already knew the story of Lilith Aphrodite becoming a fugitive in spite of her position as the Moons Gate’s leader and the daughter of Cardinal Erman, the most likely candidate for the next pope.

After she had been branded as public enemy, the pope’s faction was torn to pieces. Lilith Aphrodite had once been praised as a saint, but she now was a witch. Where Erman had been praised as a sage ruler, he was now imprisoned in a dungeon along with the numerous priests and paladins that followed him.

Of course, most of those priests and paladins had changed their minds and joined different sides because even the God’s Knight and the White Lion had been defeated by the Four Paladins. The fall of the old guard and the rise of the new resulted in the creation of a new faction named the “neo-pope” faction.

“Kireua Sanders. The son of the god slayer that killed us demons’ god. Taught by Ulabis the Flame Emperor, one of the Nine Stars. Born from Charle di Pontier, the Third Queen Consort of the Avalon Empire...”

“What?” Kireua tilted his head. “You must have done your homework on me—and in such a short time, demon.”

“...Anna bel Grace. One of the Three North Stars. The adopted daughter of the blood of the Imperial Family of Hubalt. And the witch that returned to Avalon and joined the rebels to kill the Second Queen Consort,” the demon continued.

Anna’s eyes widened.

“...Anna?” Kireua looked at her.

Anna quickly shook her head. “I-It’s a misunderstanding. It’s not my goal anymore!”

“‘Anymore’?”

“It happened before I met you, Your Highness. While the Emperor was away, the Second Queen Consort was the leader of the Avalon Empire in all but name, and I wanted to return to my homeland. Carmen von Agnus, the leader of the northern rebels, thought that their priority should be to eliminate the Second Queen Consort. Carmen von Agnus and I temporarily allied to achieve our own goals. That’s all,” Anna explained.

“...Can anyone in the Palace do that?” Lilith blankly asked. “The person they’re supposed to be guarding is the Martial God, the most powerful person on the continent.”

“Who knows? They might have a chance now.”

“I already knew this, but you really are too mischievous. The Imperial Knights don’t know about your state, so who would dare to challenge you?”

Joshua shrugged nonchalantly. “But you look like you have something else to say to me.”

Lilith flinched and then let out a sigh. “As the head of an information guild, I thought I was quite proficient in hiding my thoughts.”

“It might have worked on other people, but not me.”

“...Yeah, yeah, you’re great. Anyway, like you said, there’s something I want to ask.”

“What is it?”

“You’re the only human who ever annihilated the Demon Spirit, the god of demons.”

Joshua turned to look at her. “This sounds quite important.”

“It’s very important for me.”

“So?”

Lilith hesitated for a bit before gathering her resolve. “...The Evil Sins’ authorities are the demon kings’ powers, but can they be artificially induced to manifest in specific people?”

Joshua gave her a sharp look. “...Well, I haven’t thought about that until now.”

“Is that so?”

“You think that it wasn’t a coincidence that you manifested the authority of a demon king.”

“Yes, I’m certain,” Lilith answered.

“In other words, you’re considering the possibility of someone in Hubalt being behind the manifestation of your authority?”

Lilith nodded. If it was true, the matter couldn’t be taken lightly.

“Can you tell me which demon king’s power you've manifested?”

“It’s—”

The moment Lilith was about to answer, Joshua held up his hand.

“...Wait.”

Lilith gave him a puzzled look.

“...It looks like the people with answers to our question have come all the way over here.”

Lilith's eyes widened. As she was a skilled swordswoman well past Class A, she also detected the presence that Joshua had just sensed.

“Be honest with me. You still have all your power, don’t you?” Lilith narrowed her eyes.

“Detecting presences is a matter of physical senses, not power. So sensing those people’s energies is a piece of cake.”

“...I have to give credit for your annoying perfectness,” Lilith said, shaking her head.

Numerous people wearing white revealed themselves around the mansion.

Temples existed everywhere on the continent, including Avalon... but not here.

Cain was the first one to recognize the people’s identities. “What business could the priests and paladins of Hubalt possibly have in the outskirts of Arcadia?”