Volume 1 - CH 4.2

While spectating the agony and screaming of that father, Vannessia exchanged small reminiscent talks with the Archbishop she had met after a long time. Then suddenly, one student caught her eye. It was a girl about ten years old.

“What is the matter, Little Rattle-sama?”

“Only that girl is not throwing the stone properly. She is just pretending.”

“Oh… To be noticed like that. As expected… but well, she is indeed a deplorable girl. We will give her a severe punishment too.”

“It’s what a n*****y child does, you know. It’s nothing to be upset about, Archbishop sama.”

“Ohhh Saintess-sama, how merciful…”

With the Archbishop following behind, Vannessia quietly headed towards that small girl who was fake throwing the stone.

“There’s no problem whatsoever. I’ll teach that girl the correct way to throw a stone later, to her whole body ♥.”

After the foolish apostate met his death, Vannessia was taken to the noble room to have tea with the Archbishop.

The main topic of conversation was the defeat at Fort Krall.

“What… You are saying that the Demon King and the Seven Great Demon Generals were such heinous monsters…?”

“Yeah. I also did not expect it to be like this in even my wildest dreams.”

To the Archbishop, who was terrified to hear the story, Vannessia nodded with a serious face.

“The former Demon King never stood on the front line in the war against our men, nor did he let the Demon Generals take command.”

“That’s right. Hence, in these thousand years, there were no records of the Demon King and the Demon Generals left at all.”

“It seems that they appeared on the battlefield in the earlier eras, though, but all the records left behind were just absurd. I thought that they were just exaggerations and distorted descriptions— a foil that tends to happen in history books…”

“Apparently, everything it said was, in fact, completely true…”

“Yeah. In all these millennia, the human race was only fighting with miscellaneous soldiers of the Demon King’s army. We were just being cruelly played by the former Demon King.”

“If we try to guess the reason they hadn’t appeared, it would perhaps be to devote their main force against the Heavenly Emperor’s Chosen one or to simply preserve their strength.”

“The probability of this assumption being true is quite high.”

The two exchanged their assumptions and sighed deeply at various dark conclusions they got at.

The Archbishop and the Saintess did not even bother sipping that black tea presented to them and let it cool down. [TL note: Black tea might be something Royal to them]

“Moreover, from Saintess-sama’s description, Kengo, the current Demon King, uses his Seven Great Demon Generals quite strategically and plans on crushing us with all his might…?”

“I think he is probably the most cowardly one amongst all the previous Demon Kings.”

While recalling the meeting with Kengo, Vannessia frankly stated.

The Archbishop did not believe in such an assumption, but Vannessia had a feeling that ‘that’ would actually not be that far away from reality. She was confident in her own insight.

The Demon King, Kengo, most probably hated war and was afraid to wage them.

Hence, he called for peace and non-aggression treaties.

When Vannessia refused his demands, he released her generals and soldiers without anger or retaliation, escorting them with due respect. The matter was peacefully and quietly settled.

He was indeed weak and cowardly, unlike any Demon King before him. However, it was because of that cowardice that she wouldn’t hesitate to go to any lengths when it came to war. She was sure that he’ll be throwing his subordinate generals into the front line in the future.

“Can we, the human race, really win…?” The Archbishop asked.

There was a hint of sternness in his voice.

He was probably hoping, like any other mortal, that the Heavenly Emperor would send down an angel to help them.

“I understand your desire to seek the Heavenly Emperor for help. However, the Lord only helps those who help themselves. We should do what we can at this moment to help ourselves,” Vannessia replied.

Vannessia did not blame the old man for his cowardice but only reprimanded him softly.

“And I have an idea.”

“Oh…!? What kind of idea?”

The Archbishop’s voice switched in an instant. The thing he could truly rely on was the Saintess that was beside him rather than the Heavenly Emperor Looking from afar. The expectation towards that ‘white maiden’ was clearer than the so-called envoy of the Heavenly Emperor who was yet to come.

Vannessia was disappointed in the head of the Church for his lack of faith. It made her resolve to be stricter in observing the Church under her supervision in future.

Sighing, she took a sip from her rather lukewarm cup and then answered.

“We will invite a Brave.”

The Archbishop’s face immediately changed as he listened.

Vannessia, on the other hand, had a clear expression.

“You do not seem to sit well with this decision, Archbishop-sama?”

“… To be honest, I’m not in favour of joining forces with them.”

“But their abilities are nonetheless extraordinary, don’t you agree?” Vannessia continued, insisting with a clear face.

According to the legend throughout the human world, long ago, the Emperor created a humanoid biological weapon to kill and punish the Demon King.

This superhuman created was the strongest in all humankind, a ‘hero.’ Those known as ‘Braves’ today were just their descendants.

However, not everyone with the blood of that hero had his superpowers. There was a very low probability that they would inherit the powers of their ancestors. Only those who acquire a certain percentage of their ancestral power, which naturally varies from person to person, will reach the realm of superhuman.

“──Of course, I also understand that. I do not doubt the abilities the brave inherited.”

“It is their ‘personality’ that you are doubting… or is that what the Archbishop sama wants to say, right?”

“That is exactly so.”

This old man, who usually goes against Vannessia, asserted firmly.

The braves were an obtrusive entity for those in power.

“They are a bunch of arrogant, lawless outlaws drowning in their power! They even ignore the orders of His Majesty, the King, and His Holiness, the Pope! Even if I were to punish them for their lawlessness and conceit, there is no way to hand out the punishment because no one else can compete with them in their field. In addition, they even have a tendency to disrespect clergy and royalty. It’s only the aristocrats that manage these fools who appreciate the Braves, who play a childish and selfish game of justice. It is quite clear as day that they do not understand what social order is!”

The Archbishop immediately stood up from his seat and started breathing heavily ‘Zeye~ Zeye~’, his shoulders moving up and down.

In the old days, there might have been a problem with either of the heroes.

Vannessia was mostly in favour with the Archbishop’s opinion.”

“There are so-called exceptions that exist everywhere in this world.”

She rebutted still with her clear face.

“Do you know the person called the ‘Red Hero’?”

“Umu, I apologize for the lack of information on my end.”

Vannessia proceeded to explain to the Archbishop.

Certainly, it would be outrageous to ask for any help from an arrogant and irreverent outlaw like a Brave.

Even as a last resort, they should be opposed, but many types of people fit the word.

If we looked for them, there were some great and appropriate ones too.

As they retreated from Fort Krall to Maikaichta, Vannessia had thought.

On the way, she had sent out instructions to gather information on as many Braves as possible in the area and conduct background checks on each one of them.

Thus, the one to receive the white flag was the young man named Ares, the Red Hero.

Many heroes were greedy, and when they lent their mighty power, they would ask for exorbitant compensation in the form of treasure, beautiful women, or some other privileges.

Naturally, they would only accept requests from royalty, nobility, and wealthy merchants.

There was even a story about how a winter village gathered up all its wealth to ask for the help of a Brave. But in doing so, it went bankrupt and died off.

However, it was said that the ‘Red Hero’ never asked for any payment.