Chapter 161
Chapter 161
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 161
Chapter Title: First Trial (3)
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“Oh, so you must be Eliya Chrisanax and her attendant, Dawood Campbell. Nice to meet you. I’m Lana Ray Delvium!”
Let me tell you about this person named Lana Ray Delvium.
She’s the protagonist of Sera’s DLC—the one some people call Eliya’s little sister.
A female student with sporty black hair that barely covers her neck, and a single ahoge sticking up from the top that really stands out.
As you can see, even when facing off against me and Eliya—her rivals in this competition—she doesn’t act hostile or guarded at all. Instead, she just casually introduces herself peacefully.
And her most important trait?
This girl is immortal.
“What the hell does that mean?”
“That’s exactly what I mean.”
Most situations I’ve been through so far point to the same conclusion, but Savior Rising’s main story has a difficulty level that even the developers couldn’t complain about if users lynched them for it.
And the DLC [Conquest of the Holy Kingdom] is content set to an even more brutal difficulty than Sera’s main story. The entire internet community exploded when it first launched.
They had no choice but to give the protagonist—this girl—a cheat-like ability just to clear the story smoothly.
“Y-Yeah, that’s right. I don’t die even if I die!”
“...”
Eliya was completely speechless at Lana, who said it with a bright, cheerful smile.
“I’ve heard since I was little that I have an overload of holy power. So I can’t feel pain, and even if my body gets completely shredded, it regenerates right away!”
“...”
“It’s a blessing to have this constitution. Thanks to it, I can use my body for all sorts of research for the Holy Kingdom!”
“...That’s.”
A blessing?
You could see the words bubbling up in Eliya’s throat.
She couldn’t bring herself to say something so harsh to a girl who didn’t change her expression at all—even upon admitting her country had performed biological experiments on her—and just called it fortunate.
We already knew the Holy Kingdom—and especially the Pope—were scum behind their facade of benevolence, so set that aside.
...Her blessed constitution is real enough.
Among priests, there are occasional people born with such insane holy power that, beyond just wielding it for miracles or blessings, they gain ‘special abilities.’
Trishia, the priest in the hero party, is the closest example. Her holy power overload lets her visually perceive others’ emotions.
The ultimate maximization of that holy power nature created the homunculi: Yuria and Lucien Grayhauncher, the saintess and the scapegoat.
Their ‘traits’ don’t get revealed until later chapters, but no one disputes how terrifyingly powerful they are.
Especially the little sister possessed by the White Devil.
“...By the way, where’s your attendant?”
“That’s...”
Eliya asked upon seeing Lana all alone, and the girl scratched her chin with a troubled look before speaking.
“...I don’t have one!”
“...Pardon?”
Eliya’s voice was twice as baffled as before.
Hero candidate and attendant—that’s the core foundation of this selection process. So what did she mean she didn’t even have that?
“I tried to clear the dungeon by myself midway through, and we got separated!”
“...Aren’t you supposed to reach the dungeon’s deepest part with your attendant for the record to count?”
“There was a rule like that?!”
“...”
Eliya must have realized it by now.
Lana’s second most important trait.
She’s an idiot.
The kind of straightforward, hot-blooded, brutally simple idiot that anyone can see coming from a mile away.
To a serious degree.
“Wow, Dawood and Eliya, you guys are good people. I almost charged straight to the depths without even knowing that.”
“...”
“You saved me from wasting my effort, so I’ll help you with anything! Just leave it to me!”
“Um, you do know we’re competing against each other in this selection, right...?”
Eliya said it in a voice that sounded like she had a headache.
“It’s fine!”
“...”
“I was taught to repay favors. Principles between people come before competition!”
Dazzling.
Truly blindingly upright and righteous spirit.
No wonder she’s a hero candidate.
“...”
Eliya shot me a look that said, What the hell are we supposed to do with someone like this? How do you plan to exploit her?
And this time, I agreed.
No matter how necessary it is, doing something bad to this girl would keep me up at night with guilt...!
[...You’re thinking that, but you’ll still do it, huh. How are you gonna trick her?]
A voice came from the Soul Linker.
I sighed and denied it.
‘No. I have a conscience too. How could I trick a girl like this without a second thought?’
[You do...?]
‘...’
I fell silent for a moment, then replied.
‘Anyway, I’m not gonna trick her.’
[You’re finally trying to act human—]
‘But I will do something scummy.’
[...]
When did I say I’d backstab or scam her?
With someone like this, just go straight at it fair and square.
She even offered to grant any request herself. So this follows naturally.
[Hey, I knew you were gonna do something scummy from the start, but this is a bit much... You’re gonna make her hate you to strengthen Eliya?]
‘Our relationship won’t sour.’
Lana, well.
It’s impossible to earn her hatred in the first place.
It feels like the emotional circuits for ‘anger’ or ‘hatred’ were just deleted entirely. No matter how much of a trash the other person is, she just laughs it off with a shrug.
[...Huh? Then who’s threatening your life? That’s what strengthens Eliya, right?]
‘If I do something scummy to this girl, there’s definitely one guy who’ll come charging at me with gritted teeth.’
An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.
Anyone who tries to screw me over, I screw back just the same.
Simple logic.
“...”
Of course.
This’ll probably scrape the bottom of my humanity.
Sorry.
Sorry, Lana...!
“Lana, then... could I ask you for one favor?”
I suppressed the guilt and opened my mouth with a smile.
“Yes, anything at all!”
Anything.
Anything.
Yeah. You said it perfectly.
●
Utrad Han-Chaiga frowned slightly as he sipped the red tea in his cup.
For a warrior’s life, such sweet drinks and pastries weren’t exactly welcome, but he’d heard they were common culture in the Holy Kingdom and Empire.
He’d been dispatched to represent the Tribal Alliance in the hero selection precisely because he had the flexibility to respect such traditions.
But.
“...What did you just say, Archbishop Luminol?”
“I’m saying, won’t you join hands with us to keep the Empire’s candidate in check?”
“...”
“To be precise, just limited to that student named Dawood.”
Utrad swept a hand near his eyes, feeling almost dizzy.
He’d noticed from the angel incident earlier that the Holy Kingdom side was intensely wary of that Dawood fellow, but he hadn’t expected such a blatant approach.
“...I appreciate the direct approach without metaphors or hints, Archbishop Luminol. It’s the Tribal Alliance way.”
Utrad sighed and responded.
“But for something like this, I at least need to hear the reason. Why go so far to antagonize that student?”
“For personal reasons, I just don’t like him.”
“...”
A real personal reason.
As Utrad sat there stunned, Archbishop Luminol rattled on rapidly.
“Blasphemous, promiscuous, utterly devoid of dignity—you can scour him with your eyes and find none—yet disgustingly worming his way into the ‘Divinity Faculty.’ I can’t stand that hypocrisy and pretense.”
“...May I ask the basis for that judgment?”
“You can just tell by looking, Chieftain Utrad. Lowly humans can’t hide their stench.”
Ah, right.
This guy was a severe classist.
For a baron’s son, at best a viscount’s, looking down on Dawood was as natural as breathing.
“Well, beyond personal reasons...”
As he thought that, the archbishop continued.
“The Empire boasts the strongest power among the three hegemonies. Our Holy Kingdom and the Tribal Alliance counter them with ‘religious authority’ and ‘technological prowess,’ respectively.”
Archbishop Luminol continued calmly.
“If they even take the ‘hero’ legitimacy... we’d be candles in the wind. The balance upholding the entire continent would shatter.”
Yeah. Logically, it made sense.
But.
“...Even if you check them, what does the Holy Kingdom gain? That Dawood is just a candidate’s attendant.”
He could at least understand targeting Eliya instead.
It was highly unusual to fixate on the attendant this much instead of the hero candidate herself.
“It’s what His Holiness the Pope desires. I merely follow his command.”
“...”
Utrad’s eyes narrowed.
He knew well of the sly fox sitting in the Grand Temple.
He hadn’t realized that figure was investing this much attention in a single student named Dawood Campbell.
“If you help us check that man, we’ll promise a solid alliance through our authority after the hero selection. We’ll provide whatever you desire.”
“...You speak as if the Holy Sword’s owner is already decided.”
“We have someone who will definitely pass the Holy Sword’s trial.”
A very faint, human smile crossed the archbishop’s face as he said it.
“She’s a bit slow on the uptake... but strong, warm, and above all, braver than anyone.”
It was an expression blending pride and warmth—rare for a politician who’d risen this high.
“...She’s also my precious daughter.”
“...”
You didn’t have to say that much.
Sudden daughter bragging.
Luminol Ray Delvium.
Father of Lana Ray Delvium, the Holy Kingdom’s hero candidate this time.
This man was, blatantly, a doting father.
“A-Archbishop!”
As those words slipped out.
Someone burst through the door of the meeting room where Utrad and Luminol sat. Judging by the attire, a Holy Kingdom figure.
Luminol’s face stiffened slightly.
This was a place with near-summit authority—such rudeness was unacceptable unless it was urgent.
They’d definitely be reprimanded later unless—
“Your daughter, right now, right now...!”
“...Right now?”
“She’s being used as a ‘shield’ by Dawood Campbell!”
“...”
“...”
A heavy silence descended on the meeting room.
●
Seras Evatriche stared sullenly at the other person.
She’d been suddenly summoned, only to find two people she’d never imagined in the room.
First off.
...The Empire’s Prime Minister?
Sullivan Axion Petronus.
What business did this workaholic handling state affairs have here?
For her, who hated everyone in the Empire, his presence soured her face on sight.
But there was an even more absurd one.
“...What are you doing here?”
Honestly, since infiltrating Elpante, things had felt a bit sloppy and drawn out, but fundamentally, she was still an assassin obeying the Pope’s orders.
She was deeply conflicted about killing Dawood Campbell, but her desire for the Holy Kingdom’s peace and benefit remained unchanged.
In that regard.
“Your name was, uh...”
“Hans.”
“...”
What an insincere alias.
What the hell were the Holy Kingdom’s intelligence folks thinking, giving this guy that identity?
“Well, saying ‘Flame Wheel’ wouldn’t mean anything to people on this continent, right? So just lump it as Hans.”
“...I don’t care about that crap.”
Seras rubbed her throbbing temple and spoke.
“What’s a hero candidate doing during the selection? His Holiness went out of his way to launder your identity.”
The man called Flame Wheel—or Hans—grinned.
“Wow, that kid being Pope still doesn’t sink in every time I hear it. Feels like yesterday he was starving in the slums.”
“...”
He looked barely into his early twenties, casually calling the Pope a kid.
But Seras vaguely knew.
The man before her eyes took human form but was a monster bordering on demigod territory.
“Well, to answer your question.”
He didn’t look it at all from his laid-back reply.
“My goal isn’t the hero selection. I came to protect the guy holding the ‘Key to the World.’”
“...What are you—”
“You dragged your feet on handling it sloppily, so I got dispatched?”
“What?”
“A Grand Assassin like you should have no trouble sticking a knife in that Dawood punk, so why stall like this?”
“...”
Talker continued with a deep sigh.
“If you’d just conveniently left that Dawood guy half-dead, things wouldn’t have dragged to this ‘flow of events.’ He wouldn’t have joined the hero selection. I wouldn’t have to protect him. That’s why the kid Pope and our boss aligned interests and sent me?”
“...What are you talking about.”
“The kid doesn’t want that guy dead right now either. Our boss doesn’t. Hell, even that guy himself doesn’t.”
Talker glanced at the prime minister, who sat with eyes closed, head bowed in silence.
“Right, ‘Sealed Devil’?”
“...”
The Empire’s prime minister raised his head with a sigh.
“...Call me by that name one more time, and the cooperation ends, Word Sorcerer. Don’t forget this is a temporary alliance.”
Sullivan lifted his head as he spoke.
His golden eyes brimmed with glittering killing intent.
“...I know what you did to that man in the ‘Previous World.’ There’s no rule saying you won’t in this ‘World’ either.”
“Hmm.”
“You and your pathetic visionary. Someday, you’ll have to step away from that man’s side. For Dawood’s sake.”
“Oho.”
“Or I’ll kill you both.”
The words dripped with cold menace.
But Talker just chuckled and replied.
“You’re too much. You’re the one who first contacted the kid Pope for help and sent the distress signal, right?”
“...”
Seras’s expression grew even stranger.
The Empire’s prime minister.
One of the continent’s most powerful statesmen.
Had reached out to an enemy nation’s leadership—fiercely competing for hegemony—just for one guy?
As she thought that, the prime minister spoke in a subdued voice.
“...Today is the ‘First Branch Point,’ so it’s unavoidable.”
Everyone was gathered here.
The vessels of the devils.
And the man they all harbored their ‘long-cherished wishes’ toward.
And among them.
The root cause twisting everything from this seat.
“Violet. No, Seras Evatriche. Do you know the name Yuria Grayhauncher?”
“...”
What’s Violet?
Anyway, question asked, so answer.
“...Homunculus. The scapegoat side among the saintess and scapegoat—keys to His Holiness’s Paradise Plan. Why that one?”
“She’s here today.”
“...?”
She could be.
So what—
“And today.”
Seras thought that.
Sullivan continued flatly.
“That woman causes Dawood Campbell to die.”
As if.
He already knew from ‘experience.’
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