Chapter 130
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 130
Chapter Title: The Egg's Demise
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“We saved Bercefe! We believe we have a right to this as well!”
Upon arriving at the academy, Aint had used Count Bercefe’s authority to take a portal to Bercefe, only to be met with an unexpected situation.
It was one thing to be confronted by a giant, three-meter-tall egg.
- *No doubt about it. That’s Decarabia’s egg, alright.*
- *How in the world did they get their hands on this?*
- *Is that nouveau riche bastard competent, or are the Vile Breeds just a bunch of morons?*
- *No, in this case, does that make Kimaris the moron?*
The egg was real, and Aint was ready to destroy it at any moment.
“So you’re Aint Armian. I am Alvy Galliano, just an old man in retirement.”
“Hello, Aint. This isn’t just some old retired man; this is His Eminence Cardinal Alvy, an Archmage.”
The problem, however, was that there were people protecting the egg.
“Impossible! Absolutely not!”
They were neither Vile Breeds nor demonic beasts. On the contrary, they were the ones who had wiped out the demonic beasts and saved Bercefe.
They were known to the world as the priests of the Dragon God Cult.
The one at the forefront, casting a grand spell to prevent anyone from approaching the egg, was one of the cult’s five cardinals, a man known as an Archmage.
“Your Eminence, please.”
The one beside him, trying to dissuade him, was the cult’s Saint.
Aint couldn’t comprehend what was happening.
Why was a cardinal of the cult preventing him from destroying a demon’s egg?
“It’s a simple situation.”
Pernyan, who had led Aint here, summarized the circumstances.
“So you’re saying we should study the egg instead of destroying it?”
“Yes. It’s not an entirely unreasonable argument. If they study the demon’s egg and find a weakness, it’s a net gain.”
And the cult had the ability to do so.
After all, the magic they created, called ‘Sacred Fire,’ and their holy water were effective against demons and demonic beasts.
- *Nonsense! That thing is practically a clone of Decarabia! Studying a demonic beast is one thing, but studying a demon is entirely different!*
- *Demons can never be controlled! This will surely lead to disaster!*
- *We have to stop those madmen right now!*
- *There was a guy just like them a thousand years ago! He ended up having his soul and body stolen, becoming a lich…*
Gardner flew into a rage upon hearing the situation.
“So, Senior, do you agree with them?”
“I don’t think it’s an entirely baseless idea. The cult is certainly competent. But my gut tells me this is different from an ordinary demonic beast. There’s a risk of a ‘what if’ scenario.”
“We have to destroy it.”
“Is that your Armian intuition?”
“That thing is dangerous. Its demonic energy is more sinister and chilling than any I’ve felt before. It’s no mere demonic beast. Andromalius… it feels similar to Andromalius.”
There was an essential, albeit indescribable, difference between the demonic energy of a demonic beast and that of a demon.
- *It must be destroyed!*
Even without that, Aint had no intention of ignoring Gardner’s warning.
“My thoughts exactly.”
“Then you also think it should be destroyed, Senior?”
“Of course, it would be great if we could gain something from studying it. But I was the one who found it. The demonic beasts were encircling it as if to protect it. This is no trivial monster.”
Pernyan knew this was not a demonic beast’s egg, but a demon’s.
No matter how well the Dragon God Cult managed it, what if, by some slim chance, a demon descended?
If a problem erupted from within the cult, the situation would become even more severe. Pernyan did not want that.
The reason he hadn’t been able to resolve the situation before Aint’s arrival was that his opponent was Cardinal Alvy, an Archmage.
When an Archmage was stubbornly set on a course of action, there was little anyone could do.
Unless Aint Armian was here.
“Leave it to me from here.”
Without waiting for Aint’s reply, Pernyan strode forward.
He stepped between the opposing Margrave and Cardinal Alvy.
“What is it?”
“What is the matter?”
“Your Eminence, Cardinal Alvy. I was the one who personally brought this egg here. Therefore, I believe I have the greatest claim to it. Do you not agree?”
“Of course, I acknowledge your claim is significant. However, I believe the cult has also made a great contribution to this matter. And I am not saying we intend to take it unconditionally.”
“I know you have no ill intentions, Your Eminence.”
Pernyan nodded and pulled Aint forward.
“But it is also true that the egg is incredibly ominous. I felt it, as did the Margrave and the Mercenary King.”
“…”
“Even you, Your Eminence, must have felt it, though you haven’t said so. Most importantly, the Armian, the sworn enemy of demons, has said that the egg must be destroyed at once.”
“…Aint Armian?”
Even a cardinal could not ignore the weight of the Armian name when it came to demons and demonic beasts.
This was especially true for Aint Armian, who had begun to gain renown since the Continental Academic Conference.
“Is that true, young man? Do you believe this must be destroyed?”
“Of course. That is no mere demonic beast. Attempting to study it could inadvertently cause a much greater problem.”
*Hmm*, Cardinal Alvy grunted at Aint’s firm words.
“However, what Your Eminence says is not wrong either. So how about this?”
“Speak.”
“We make one last attempt to destroy the egg. If we fail, we will follow your wishes, Your Eminence.”
“An attempt? I heard you already failed.”
“We were simply waiting. We have not yet tried with the power of an Armian.”
At those words, Cardinal Alvy’s gaze flickered to Aint. A brief moment of deliberation crossed his face.
Logically, it was unlikely for a mere academy student to succeed where two Royal Knights had failed, but the fact that he was an Armian gave him pause.
“Does the Margrave share this opinion?”
“That’s right. I was waiting for Aint Armian from the beginning.”
With the Margrave taking such a firm stance, Cardinal Alvy could not object further.
“…Very well.”
The cardinal finally nodded.
He was able to push aside his lingering anxiety by reminding himself that Aint Armian had not yet reached the level of an absolute master.
*It will be fine. At most, he’ll only manage a scratch.*
That egg had to come into the possession of the Dragon God Cult. It had to be studied. It *must* be studied.
Dangerous?
Of course, he agreed on that point. But this egg was worth taking such a risk.
Especially now that a demon, not just Vile Breeds, had been summoned, war was inevitable.
Studying the egg to learn about demons would be a crucial weapon to win that war.
As they say, knowledge is power.
Knowing even a little about demons versus knowing nothing at all would make a world of difference.
“Then, let us begin.”
As a pure white aura, feeling inherently sacred, filled the space, the anxiety began to creep back.
*No, it’ll be fine. After all, it’s something that the Margrave and the Mercenary King couldn’t break even with their full strength. No matter if he’s an Armian, his level is still low.*
That was, of course, only in comparison to a Royal Knight or an Archmage.
And finally, a slash of a caliber unthinkable from a mere student struck the egg.
*Wait a minute. The one who killed Andromalius was…*
A moment too late, Cardinal Alvy recalled the battle between Andromalius and Aint, which he had seen through His Holiness the Pope.
────!
A brilliant white light enveloped the world.
A formidable shockwave shook the surroundings.
And then.
*No, surely not…!*
Leaving Cardinal Alvy and the cult’s priests to their dread.
*Craaaack—*
The egg split in half.
Vile demonic energy surged toward the sky, but the sacred light pierced through the darkness.
It devoured the demonic energy, absorbing it directly into the sword.
“…It’s done!”
Realizing the demon’s egg was truly destroyed, Pernyan clenched his fist.
The Margrave, who had been displeased with having the ominous egg in Bercefe’s territory for so long, nodded his head.
“…It actually worked. What in the world kind of power is the Armian’s secret art?”
The Mercenary King, wrapped in bandages, let out a hollow laugh at the success of Aint, who was far weaker than him.
“…N-No…!”
Cardinal Alvy and the priests of the cult cried out in despair.
This was the moment the demonic threat that had coiled in northern Bercefe was completely eliminated.
***
*Click—*
The scissors snipped a stray branch of the bonsai tree.
“Defeated? He’s dead?”
At the bald man’s question, the shadow bowed its head even lower.
“Yes. It is said he could not withstand the combined assault of the Mercenary King and the Margrave of Bercefe, and his head was taken.”
“But why?”
Another small branch fell.
“All he had to do was sit still, gather demonic beasts, and use them as sacrifices to summon Decarabia.”
Humans called the north a demonic land and paid it little attention. As long as he had kept a low profile, it was a plan that could not have failed.
“A reconnaissance team from Bercefe took the egg, sir.”
“The Bercefe bastards came all the way up to the demonic lands?”
“No, sir.”
The shadow elaborated.
He explained how the egg had been moved further south to summon Decarabia sooner.
“It was guarded by about a thousand demonic beasts, but they were reportedly annihilated by the White Lion Knights.”
“The White Lion Knights? No matter how skilled they are, they shouldn’t be able to defeat a thousand demonic beasts on hell-blighted land.”
Of course, the White Lion Knights were among the most renowned knights on the continent.
But the land around Decarabia’s egg would have been corrupted by demonic energy, turned into a hellscape.
It would continuously drain the stamina and mana of any living creature that wasn’t a demonic beast or a demon, while conversely supplying the demonic beasts and demons with demonic energy.
An overwhelming number of demonic beasts on their home turf couldn’t defeat a mere thirty knights?
It was a laughable situation.
“Well…”
“Enough. It’s already happened. So, due to some idiotic mistake, the egg was stolen, and to retrieve it, he led an army south and was defeated. Is that correct?”
“…Yes, that is correct.”
*Hehehe*, the man burst into laughter.
“To think a so-called demon, even after regaining his full power, would have his head taken by just two humans.”
It was the height of humiliation.
“What about the demonic beasts?”
“Over half of the ten-thousand-strong demonic army was killed.”
“And Bercefe’s losses were nil?”
“The first wall was said to have been on the verge of falling.”
“A demon personally leads a ten-thousand-strong army south and fails to even capture a single fortress! How is that any different from nil!”
What a moron, unworthy of the name demon. The man growled, his anger erupting.
“And in a place where Aint Armian wasn’t even present!”
The man’s剪snips grew rougher. All the branches of the bonsai were cut away.
He didn’t stop until only the stump of the bonsai remained.
“Halt all activities for the time being. Lay low and wait for the right time.”
“Yes, sir.”
A demon, not just a demonic beast, had been revealed to the world. For a while, the entire continent would be on high alert for demons and demonic beasts.
It would be foolish to be the nail that sticks out and gets hammered down.
“Failure, failure, failure, failure. No, was this one not a failure but an idiot’s deviation? In any case, I can’t even begin to guess how long the grand undertaking will take now.”
The man sighed.
In the meantime, the shadow quietly vanished.
“Still, it’s not all bad.”
With the fool dead, he no longer had to keep an eye on Aint, who was poking around Prasia under the guise of cooperation.
No, this was an opportunity.
“Well, shall we go?”
The man cleared away the ruined bonsai and donned his leather armor. He tucked a book inside and, grabbing his weapon, headed out.
“You idiots! It’s time to work!”
“Not today, boss.”
“What do you mean?”
“Aint Armian left.”
“What?”
He left? Why all of a sudden?
Just when he had finally decided on a course of action and was about to offer his full support?
*Don’t tell me he went to Bercefe?*
“Where to?”
“Don’t know. Seeing as he left by ship, maybe he went back to the academy.”
The man’s face fell in dismay.
“Then what about the work we’ve been doing?”
“He sent word through the Ink-Black Spear Mercenary Group. Said he might be back soon.”
“He’ll be back soon?”
So there was still a chance.
There was no other choice.
He decided to wait for the next opportunity.