579
Chapter 579
The Ghost Mansion, which was once the research lab of the Archmage Hoshgar.
Since two liches took over the mansion, it had been filled with a gloomy atmosphere, but recently it's been full of noisy sounds.
"You damn lich! Let me go!"
Anastasia, the Third Princess of the Demon Realm who was still in cat form, screamed loudly while dangling in the air, held by Richmond.
Richmond shook his head while looking at Anastasia.
"Why do you keep trying to escape when you have nowhere to go?"
Anastasia growled and threatened Richmond.
"You damned lich! If this was the Demon Realm, you wouldn't even dare to look me in the eye...!"
At that moment, a magical gag appeared in the air and blocked Anastasia's mouth.
It was Elizabeth, who had cast the spell while reading through dozens of magic books stacked beside her.
She turned her head and spoke while looking at the struggling Anastasia through her glasses.
"Asha, we are guests here. Wouldn't it be better to show some manners?"
The Three Princesses summoned from the Demon Realm were currently staying at Hoshgar Mansion in Baranaon.
After Zeke made a contract with Mephistopheles, the lord of Pandemonium and adoptive father of the princesses, they remained in the mortal realm as a kind of communication channel.
However, Anastasia, who had suffered great humiliation from Zeke, tried every possible way to escape whenever she got the chance.
Even though she would get caught by Richmond every time she managed to escape, she never gave up.
Just then, the mansion door opened and Yekaterina entered carrying a sword, drenched in sweat.
Elizabeth snapped her fingers again, and a cool water bottle appeared in front of Yekaterina.
She grabbed the water bottle with familiarity, drank it, and took a deep breath.
"PHEW."
She put her sword down against the wall and shook her head while looking at Anastasia struggling in the air.
"Caught again, I see."
Yekaterina clicked her tongue while watching the struggling Anastasia with disdain.
In response to Yekaterina's reaction, Anastasia violently shook her head at Elizabeth as if she had something to say. Though it probably wasn't worth hearing, Elizabeth removed the gag, and Anastasia immediately shouted at Yekaterina.
"Damn it! I could have escaped this time! You muscle-headed fool! You told the lich!"
The three princesses had been rivals while in the Demon Realm, so they had never stayed together for this long before.
Yekaterina shrugged her shoulders and said.
"Well, I don't know anything about that."
Anastasia trembled with anger at her attitude.
And these days, Yekaterina lived for the pleasure of teasing Anastasia like this.
But then.
TZTZTZTZ!
A portal opened on one side of the mansion.
Elizabeth and Yekaterina showed cautious expressions at the suddenly created portal.
Then when Zeke emerged from the portal, they instead showed tense expressions.
Anastasia, still dangling from Richmond's hand, finally closed her mouth and shrunk her ears and tail when she saw Zeke coming out of the portal.
Zeke, who had emerged from the portal, opened his mouth while looking at the Three Princesses and Richmond.
"You all seem to be getting along quite well."
At those words, Richmond shook his head as if to say 'what nonsense' and spoke.
"Master, please don't say that. No master has such troublesome servants. Even Vane, despite being a lich, has fallen ill from these witches' torment... OWW!"
Anastasia seized the opportunity to scratch Richmond's hand.
After escaping his grasp, Anastasia landed lightly on the floor and swiftly hid behind the sofa.
Richmond clicked his tongue while rubbing his hand.
"Look at this. Wouldn't it be better to send me to the battlefield with Bane? Fighting monster beasts would be better than this."
In response to Richmond's complaint-filled words, Elizabeth spoke with an elegant laugh.
"Hoho, someone might think we've been discourteous. You should be careful with words that could cause such misunderstandings."
Richmond flinched at Elizabeth's elegant but pointed words.
Though they appeared delicate, the Three Princesses were top-tier demons of the Demon Realm.
As a lich, Richmond couldn't help but be instinctively intimidated by their presence.
Zeke waved his hand at Richmond as if telling him to go rest.
Only then did Richmond leave for the underground laboratory with a somewhat relieved expression.
After Richmond left, Zeke spoke to the Three Princesses.
"I have something to say, so all of you sit down."
Elizabeth closed her book and maintained an elegant posture in her seat, while Yekaterina casually sat down anywhere.
Anastasia glared at Zeke while hiding behind the sofa.
After the three princesses settled, Zeke sat on the sofa and took out tea from his inventory.
"Would you like a cup?"
Elizabeth raised her hand in agreement, while Yekaterina asked for alcohol instead.
Zeke poured tea for Elizabeth and handed Yekaterina a whole bottle of high-proof liquor.
He placed a cookie on a plate and set it on the floor for the hiding Anastasia.
Elizabeth drank her tea elegantly, while Yekaterina downed the liquor in one go.
"Hmm, not bad alcohol. Humans are quite capable."
Though wary of Zeke, Anastasia couldn't resist the temptation and came out from behind the sofa, holding the cookie with her front paws and eating it.
After quietly drinking his tea, Zeke spoke to the princesses.
"I'd like you to contact Mephistopheles."
Elizabeth smiled gently and replied.
"What message would you like to convey to father?"
Zeke put down his teacup and answered.
"Tell him I will attend the Demon Lord Council."
At that moment, all three princesses, including Elizabeth, Yekaterina, and Anastasia, turned pale at his words.
The Demon Lord Council.
It was a gathering only for the highest-ranking fallen constellations who existed at the peak of the demon realm.
It was nonsensical for Zeke, a human, to attend such a meeting.
Anastasia, who came to her senses, shouted in a high voice with cookie crumbs all over her whiskers.
"Y-you're joking! How dare a mere human say they'll go there? Ha, ridiculous!"
As a proud demon, Anastasia felt insulted by Zeke.
Yekaterina, sitting opposite, felt the same way.
She glared at Zeke with burning eyes.
Among the three, only Elizabeth maintained a serious expression as she continued speaking.
"...Honored guest. I don't think you're someone who would make such statements carelessly. Perhaps you've acquired the qualifications to attend the Demon Lord Council?"
At Elizabeth's words, the other two princesses' expressions twisted further.
"That's insane nonsense! A human can't possibly have such qualifications!"
"Even if father chose you, that's still..."
Elizabeth suddenly released her aura toward the two princesses' violent reactions.
Her pupils turned black as she emitted the chilling killing intent unique to demons.
"Can't you two think for just a moment."
Though her tone was elegant, the energy behind it was not.
Yekaterina and Anastasia flinched and closed their mouths at Elizabeth's eerie threat.
Zeke slowly spoke while looking at Elizabeth and the other princesses.
"I found the soul of the Arrogant Savior."
Their expressions changed at his words.
The constellation who first created Babel, which was the demon realm itself.
The Arrogant Savior was a being of a different caliber even compared to other demon lords.
Yekaterina spoke to Zeke with an incredulous expression.
"N-no way... you, a human, actually obtained... the Arrogant Savior's soul?"
"You don't seem to believe it."
"No, rather, believing that would be more..."
"I'll show you proof."
Zeke snapped his fingers with an indifferent expression.
A sword appeared before Yekaterina.
It was the green sword that sealed Arataso.
Suddenly, blue energy rippled from the green sword and something emerged.
TZTZTZTZ!
Arataso appeared along with green energy blooming in all directions.
THUD!
Although Arataso originally had the form of a centaur, this time his appearance was different.
A demon realm knight in green armor stood with a demon realm horse whose body was glowing emerald.
It was exactly the appearance of the first Battalion Commander of Morning Star, the former knight order of the Arrogant Savior.
As Zeke inherited the authority of the Arrogant Savior, Arataso also regained his original sealed power.
Elizabeth spoke while looking at Arataso.
"The most loyal sword of the Arrogant Savior..."
At that moment, green light erupted from Arataso's eyes.
Soon, the color of the green light began to change.
WOOOONG!
Golden energy mixed with red resembling dawn's light burst forth from Arataso's eyes and entire body.
It meant he had broken free from his position as a subordinate of 'Clear Green Wish' and returned to being a subordinate of the Arrogant Savior.
Arataso, who regained his name and power, knelt on one knee and prostrated himself before Zeke.
[I greet the great successor of the Arrogant Savior.]
Zeke grinned while looking at Arataso and said.
"Now you've become my subordinate without any doubt, Arataso."
[I had a feeling this would happen.]
Seeing the exchange between Zeke and Arataso, the three princesses had to believe his words.
'He really inherited the Arrogant Savior's soul.'
Elizabeth realized Zeke had far surpassed human limitations.
She immediately stood up and knelt before Zeke.
"I greet the great lord."
Her action startled Yekaterina and Anastasia.
The quick-witted Elizabeth addressing the human Zeke as lord meant she acknowledged his position.
Though less intellectually skilled than Elizabeth, Yekaterina excelled at judging situations.
She too quickly came down and bowed to Zeke.
Only Anastasia remained frozen, unable to act either way, just glaring at him with wary eyes.
Zeke smirked at the three princesses.
"Seems my words have been proven now."
He turned to look at Anastasia and snapped his fingers.
Instantly, Anastasia's cat form returned to normal.
"T-the curse is broken!"
Anastasia, who had been turned into a cat by Nabu's story power, couldn't return to her original form with any magic.
Yet with just a gesture from Zeke, she returned to normal. Through this, Anastasia could clearly feel his power had reached a different level.
Zeke spoke to Anastasia.
"Open the gate to Mephistopheles. I'll meet him directly to discuss attending the Demon Lord Council."
Elizabeth responded with cold sweat.
"My lord. I apologize, but opening a path to father is impossible with just our three powers. We'll send a message, so please wait a moment."
Summoning and manifesting a powerful soul like Mephistopheles would consume enormous karma.
Creating a direct path to him would surely exceed causality and face karmic sanctions.
Zeke shook his head.
"I'll handle the karma and causality. Just open the path."
As Mephistopheles' avatars, the three princesses could open dimensional coordinates directly connecting to him.
After considering, Elizabeth nodded.
"Come here and take my hand."
Yekaterina and Anastasia complied, approaching to hold hands.
WOOOONG!
As the three princesses joined hands and raised their energy, the surroundings vibrated as a gate to another dimension began forming.
Zeke's eyes gleamed as he watched the dimensional gate leading to Mephistopheles.