Chapter 152
Chapter 152
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 152
Chapter Title: Barging In
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“Prime Minister, if I may speak out of turn.”
Elnor opened her mouth in a voice devoid of any ups and downs, having listened to the entire story.
Even after hearing that her existence had triggered chaos on a global scale, she showed no particularly intense reaction.
“I understand that you’re claiming this whole situation was sparked by me.”
“...”
The moment he heard the word ‘claiming,’ the prime minister’s lips twisted.
Her tone was flat, but the implication was clear: ‘That’s just your opinion.’ It dismissed everything outright.
Moral condemnation like that wouldn’t have any effect on her.
Her next words followed the same vein.
“But what does that have to do with my relationship with Dawood?”
For the first time, the smile vanished from Sullivan’s face.
“...You do realize the severity of the situation, don’t you, Duchess Tristan?”
The prime minister continued in a voice stiff with tension.
“Anyone connected to demons is an enemy of the entire continent. Not just the demon worshippers, but every human involved as well.”
“I know.”
Elnor turned her head slightly as she replied.
“So what?”
“...”
“This isn’t something that’s been decided yet. It’s not for you to dictate what I should or shouldn’t do. That’s for me and Dawood to decide. Not a third party.”
She no longer even used the honorific ‘Your Excellency.’
Her words were calm, but her expression—scattering red glints from her eyes—was more emotionless than usual. As if she were deliberately suppressing something.
“...Well, Duchess Tristan.”
Sullivan responded in a voice that had grown equally icy.
“I’m convinced that your very existence poses a potential threat to this man, so I don’t think it’s unreasonable.”
“...”
“You know that too, don’t you?”
Sullivan’s golden eyes sank deeply as he spoke.
“This man could get swept up in something terrible because of you. Something very, very dangerous.”
Elnor froze.
This was one thing she couldn’t refute.
After biting her lip hard enough to draw blood for a moment, she continued.
“...That’s only if what you’re saying is true.”
“Only fools need to crash headfirst into something to tell truth from lies, Duchess Tristan. But think what you will. However...”
A cold sneer followed.
“It does make you look ugly.”
Elnor’s eyebrow twitched.
“Denying clear facts about yourself like that. Don’t you realize your desire to monopolize this man is greed beyond your station?”
His deeply sunken golden eyes gleamed with malice.
“And yet you can’t do a thing for him. Even after seeing him sacrificed for you time and again, you cling to that greed. It’s pathetic. Are you advertising that you grew up unloved or something?”
A gaze like coldly burning flames, chillingly intense, pierced into Elnor.
“I understand. Given your background, no one was around to teach you proper boundaries. How pitiful.”
Just listening made chills run down my spine.
The coldness the prime minister was directing at Elnor was laced with that level of hostility.
“Still, shouldn’t you know when and where to throw your little tantrums? Even someone as dense as you.”
“...”
Even though the words weren’t aimed at me, cold sweat poured from my entire body.
“...Hah.”
In the meantime, Elnor closed her eyes and let out a deep sigh.
She just sat there quietly.
No words, just quiet.
Even after hearing all that, she seemed almost serene.
“...Well.”
A calm voice followed.
“One thing is clear now, Your Excellency.”
“What’s that?”
“That you absolutely must be eliminated.”
A venomous smile crept onto Elnor’s face as she spoke.
The moment I saw it.
A freezing sensation crawled up my entire body.
That was the expression she wore right before swinging her sword at an enemy.
And then.
A ‘gray aura’ surged from her body.
[System Message]
[ Target ‘Elnor’ rages! ]
[ Target ‘Elnor’s’ corruption level exceeds 200%. ]
She hadn’t been reacting mildly because she wasn’t angry.
It had been the calm before the storm.
Her rage had reached its critical point, condensed inside her, ready to erupt!
I shot up from my seat without time to plan or anything. All I could think was that I had to stop this somehow!
Especially considering what had happened the last time Elnor went berserk!
“...So vulgar, as expected.”
Along with those words.
“You only know how to swing a sword when things don’t go your way, don’t you?”
[System Message]
[ ‘Seal of the Fallen Heavens’ reacts! ]
[ Target ‘Sullivan’ is detected drawing upon =Removed object= energy! ]
A ‘golden aura’ began to envelop Sullivan’s body as well.
‘As I thought...!’
This guy was deeply involved with demons somehow.
That was the telltale sign of a demon using its ‘authority’!
I immediately equipped the Soul Linker. Kalliban’s dumbfounded voice echoed from within right away.
[Uh, what? Why wake me up so suddenly again?]
‘Shut up and give me your mana. It’s urgent!’
I couldn’t let two demons clash in the heart of Elpante. That would blow the entire scenario to hell!
[Wait, two demons? Can you even stop that?!]
‘I don’t know. If I can’t, we die!’
As I replied, I frantically checked every available option.
What I could do here...!
[System Message]
[ ‘Ally of Survival’ rule activates! ]
[ Target ‘Eliya’ sensitively reacts to your crisis. ]
[ Target’s stats greatly increase! ]
[ Target awakens ‘Eyes of Truth’! ]
“...?”
What now?
As I wondered and stared at the sudden window in front of me.
“Hiya—”
From the entrance of the hall.
“I knew barging in was the right call. What a mess, huh?”
Along with that voice.
A ‘flash’ shot forward.
●
Eliya Chrisanax’s growth graph in the game was, even accounting for her being the protagonist, legitimately a bit insane.
The one-shot-that-could-blow-away-a-mountain-line I thought when I first met her wasn’t exaggeration at all.
Of course, even so.
This was too much.
-!
-!
If you judged by sound alone, no scene could be more anticlimactic. It was just Eliya bonking Elnor and Sullivan on the backs of their heads, pow pow.
“...”
And the moment I saw it.
A sensation like every hair on my body standing on end swept over me.
Not just the fact that both Elnor and Sullivan hadn’t even reacted to the speed—but the truly ridiculous part was elsewhere.
“...Right now.”
Faynol’s dumbfounded voice came through.
He’d been trying to intervene with mana surging through his body, clearly aiming to prevent the demons from clashing.
“Did she just ‘knock out’ two demon vessels... by hitting them?”
“...”
Yeah.
If I wasn’t seeing things wrong, the scene matched exactly.
Elnor and Sullivan, mid-demon authority activation, had both collapsed limply.
Unconscious in one hit.
She’d subdued those two with bare-fisted back-of-the-head strikes.
“Teaaacherrr—!”
As that thought crossed my mind, Eliya bounded over to me, calling out.
She grabbed my hand and shook it up and down wildly, beaming with joy at seeing me.
‘...Did the kid’s personality change?’
No, thinking about it.
Considering her original character, this was normal.
She’d just gotten all gloomy and dragged into messes because of me.
“How’ve you been? Wow, it’s been forever!”
Staring at Eliya’s radiant smile on her dumbfounded face, I finally managed a question.
“...How did you just do that?”
“Hm? Do what?”
“How’d you knock out both of them in one hit...?”
At my words, Eliya tilted her head with a puzzled look.
“Well...”
She scratched her head, looking unsure how to explain.
“How do I put it? To hit without hurting them, you gotta use bare fists... but subduing people like that isn’t easy, right? Especially the Duchess—she seemed like she wouldn’t even get a scratch.”
“...Right?”
“So I hit inside. That demon fragment thing, you know?”
It came out so casually.
“...”
“...”
“...”
A heavy silence descended.
Me, Faynol, even Kalliban—who chattered through every situation inside the Soul Linker—all shut our mouths.
No.
What did she just say?
She ‘hit’ the demon fragment?
“...What?”
I barely broke the long silence.
But Eliya just grinned innocently and replied nonchalantly.
“Lately, I’ve been seeing everything so clearly. Even that ‘person inside the person’ demon fragment thing.”
Come to think of it, the system window earlier mentioned awakening the Eyes of Truth.
Looking closely now, she was wearing something like an eyepatch.
“So, I could see the person inside, and I just tried hitting it?”
Eliya grinned as she continued.
“It worked!”
“...”
“She loved it when I tried it on Liru a few times. People with those fragments must feel it super intensely when hit directly there.”
“...”
Forcing my frozen brain to process her words.
She’d struck the ‘vessel’ to directly damage the demon fragment inside.
That’s why people who could tank a bomb hit went down from a single smack to the head.
‘...How?’
It didn’t make sense.
Eliya was saying it casually.
But this was a power unprecedented in the entire world setting.
Only equal demons, archangels, or heroes with holy swords could suppress demon power.
That was the rule. Like a law baked into the game system.
And yet.
What was that just now?
In a game, I’d call it a bug. But this was reality—no bugs here.
What the hell is this girl?
Saintess.
What did you do to mod this kid?!
“...So, what do you think?”
Eliya looked at me as she said it.
“It’s the ability I trained hard for your sake, Teacher.”
“Huh?”
The moment our eyes met.
“...”
I instinctively stepped back.
I didn’t know why, but it felt like I had to.
“...Good work. It’s ridiculously broken.”
“Right?”
Eliya beamed.
And then.
“From now on, I’ll protect you.”
With those words.
She gripped my hand tightly.
Like she’d never let me go anywhere.
“From now on, even if these bad girls try to threaten you, Teacher. I’ll protect you. That’s why I trained so hard.”
“...”
“So.”
But as her head turned toward me, that vibe vanished without a trace.
Eliya smiled brightly again.
“You can’t leave my side, okay?”
“...”
“Or those violent girls might do something awful to you—”
As she said that, she lifted my hand and hooked it under her chin.
“Yeah, promise. We’ll always stick together.”
Then, with a big grin, she continued.
“So I can always protect you, Teacher. Got it?”
Watching her say it with eyes practically gleaming.
It was nice she wanted to protect me.
“...”
So why the chills down my spine?
How to put it.
[...This is a sign of obsession, right?]
“...”
[You woke me up just to show your little sister corrupted by you?]
“...”
No.
Don’t talk nonsense.
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