Chapter 197
Chapter 197
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 197
Chapter Title: The Final Trial
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Luminol Archbishop's days lately had rarely started off on a pleasant note.
If he traced the cause, it always led back to one guy.
‘...That damn bastard...’
Recalling the human he had seen at the hero selection trials not long ago, he furrowed his already crumpled brow even deeper.
Dawood Campbell.
A name that had been having a tremendous impact on plummeting the quality of his life these days.
With paperwork piled up like a mountain right in front of him, he could hardly focus.
‘Where the hell did such an absurd guy even crawl out from...’
He had known the man was under the Pope's close watch, but he hadn't realized he was this bizarre.
That nauseating survivability, where he seemed like he'd claw his way back from death no matter when or how you tried to shove him into it—it was ridiculous every time he saw it.
‘...The final trial is coming up soon...’
In truth, it hardly qualified as a trial.
It was simply handing the holy sword to those who had proven their ‘qualification’ in the previous trials, once each.
Ironically, this made it undoubtedly the most dangerous of all the trials.
The holy sword.
The weapon hailed as the most powerful holy relic in human history.
It was the item the first hero had used to seal the demons’ ‘true bodies’ in the void realm, and it was an extremely perilous object that could claim the life of anyone unworthy just by touching it.
“...”
That meant he had to hand that thing to Lana at least once, too.
No matter how his daughter had that unique constitution where she absolutely could not die, as a father, he didn't want to see her suffer even that much.
“Father, are you in?”
As those thoughts crossed his mind, a cheerful voice rang out from beyond the office door.
It was a voice that even made Luminol Archbishop unwittingly form a faint smile.
His daughter. The meaning of his life. The purpose that drove him to make the world a little better.
“Come in, Lana—”
Luminol Archbishop's greeting froze midway.
“Mm, is this good now, Mr. Dawood? You said you wanted a private audience with my father, so I brought you here...”
“Yeah. Thanks, Lana.”
“You promised to buy me one of those super popular giant cakes from the saint's district later. No backing out!”
“As many as you want.”
His daughter was something else, even if she was his own.
How could she so casually introduce the man who had put him in such a state?
As Luminol Archbishop trembled with rage at the thought, Lana left the office, and the man strode right up to him.
He pulled out a chair from across the desk without permission and plopped down like he owned the place.
Not a shred of respect or manners.
“Nice to meet you, Archbishop Luminol.”
“...Give me one reason why I shouldn't smite you with an offensive miracle right here.”
“This is a confession I got from the assassins you sent after me. I recorded it all.”
“...”
“The client is you. You infiltrated the hero selection trials with assassination in mind. Things would blow up if this got out, right?”
“...”
He picked up the crystal in disbelief.
It was real.
The assassins, eyes glazed over, spilling everything—the plan, the commission, even the ‘evidence.’
“...”
Luminol Archbishop's face drained of color.
How?
They were all trained pros. They'd sooner bite their tongues and kill themselves than spill something like this.
As Luminol Archbishop thought that, his eyes suddenly caught something.
The white glow in their eyes.
Unfocused, yet the ‘yearning’ toward the target was crystal clear.
As if they had been enchanted.
“...”
They were men the Papal State's archbishop would trust with important tasks.
Men who could shrug off most mental magic. And the gear they were given was top-of-the-line.
“...You.”
And yet, if he could reduce them to this...
“Did you use a demon's power?”
“Who knows?”
“...”
The Pope had warned him this guy might do something like that.
But only that he ‘might.’ Not that he could wield it this freely and effortlessly! That was beyond even his expectations!
‘...Monster...!’
No one in recorded history had ever been able to ‘control’ another demon's power like this.
If there had been, it would have upended history entirely!
“I just came to ‘talk.’”
“I have nothing to say to you—”
“You do.”
Dawood cut off Luminol Archbishop's words cold.
“If you don't want your precious daughter to hear every dirty little secret of yours laid bare.”
“...”
“And sending assassins after me isn't all you've done. To climb that high, you've probably done plenty of filthy things to silence people. That's just how the Papal State works, right?”
For Luminol Archbishop, those were words that made his body stiffen in tension.
“...You. How much do you know?”
“Who knows?”
Dawood replied indifferently.
Still utterly nonchalant.
“Won't it depend on your attitude from here on out?”
“...”
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And watching that scene were two souls.
Souls inside the Soul Linker rarely crossed paths, but when the occasion arose, they could ‘meet’ like this.
Like now—seeing Dawood Campbell turn Luminol Archbishop's face deathly pale, they exchanged slightly worried glances. That much was possible.
Using blackmail to seize the advantage. It was a tactic the man had pulled several times before.
But this time...
The ‘flavor’ was a bit different.
“...What's going on?”
Valkasus ran a hand through his hair, his voice laced with unease as he asked.
It was their first time meeting like this in the mental world, but they both seemed to know exactly what topic would come up the moment they saw each other.
“Boy King, let's just be straight with each other for once.”
In fact, the topic Kaliban brought up with a sigh matched his expectations closely.
“Was that guy rotten to that degree?”
“...”
Valkasus didn't answer, furrowing his brow.
His gaze fixed on Luminol Archbishop, sweating bullets.
And on Dawood Campbell, watching impassively.
“...”
They spent most of their time dormant inside the Soul Linker, so they didn't know everything, but they had a rough grasp of recent events with the man.
He'd asked the Gray Devil for the Seal of the Otherworld, and his racial value was drifting further from human.
‘...He who saved my kingdom. He who promised to fulfill my wish.’
He still remembered.
The day he was first ‘taken in.’
The day he vowed to save his people and complete the vengeance Valkasus himself couldn't.
What had he said to him then?
“...”
He had said they were alike.
That because they were alike, he wanted to show him kindness.
For someone with that mindset...
For someone so human...
To change into that now...
It stirred no pleasant feelings in him.
“Threatening him with his daughter to make him talk? Even if the guy's scum, isn't that method too much?”
“...”
“Putting aside what's happening now, just think about what he did to that Tatiana woman.”
“...Priestess Tatiana committed undeniable evils. That's certain.”
“Then all the more reason he shouldn't turn into the same kind of monster.”
“...”
“From what I see, he's not much different from that side now.”
As Valkasus fell silent, Kaliban continued in a somber tone.
“That guy's changing faster than I thought.”
The words dropped bluntly.
“He always looks at events in big chunks. Plans everything based on the outcomes first, then charges ahead without regard for anything to make it happen.”
“...He's always been like that.”
“But he used to hold to a minimum line.”
Kaliban shot back sharply at Valkasus's words.
“What I'm saying is his mindset's shifting to ‘whatever it takes’ as long as he achieves it.”
“...So what do you propose?”
He was already aware of it himself.
And yet, he was the one pushing forward with it.
“It's the trap of good intentions.”
Valkasus sighed deeply.
“He's surely convinced himself that such self-destructive sacrifice is good for him, too.”
What an idiot of a man.
Trying to save everyone else while letting himself get buried in the process—what was that about?
Because he was someone who'd been described as ‘like him,’ he could feel it all the more clearly.
As one who had watched all his subjects given funeral rites before his eyes, he instantly understood ‘why’ he went that far.
It was almost frightening.
At some point...
That man had definitely lost someone right in front of him.
A trauma lodged deep in his heart, deep in his mind's roots, defining his very behavior.
If that was the reason, no words would bend his stubbornness.
“No, there is a way.”
As Valkasus thought that, Kaliban's words fell again.
“We just have to hold him to his own words.”
“...Hm? What do you mean?”
At that, a sly smile spread across Kaliban's face.
“He said it to Eliya once, too. That if he ever seems to cross the line, she should snap him out of it.”
“...”
“What we need to do is create that trigger.”
“...”
Maybe it was his imagination.
But he somehow looked delighted.
As if no one was happier at the prospect of tormenting Dawood Campbell.
“...So, what's the plan?”
“Honestly, he's been frustrating lately.”
Getting tossed around by women he can't handle.
Yet dismissing them as incomplete and dangerous while trying to protect them.
Not caring how much he himself gets hurt or broken in the process.
So.
It was time to show him one thing.
“In my view, just putting ourselves in their shoes is enough.”
“...What does that mean?”
“Make him realize that others hate seeing him get hurt just as much as he wants to protect them.”
Those words followed.
“Show him how much the women ‘love’ him.”
“...”
“That he doesn't always have to handle everything alone.”
The words sounded plausible enough.
But they gave nothing but a bad feeling.
“You just need to do one thing.”
“What?”
“Contact the demon vessels I mention. One of them is, uh...”
Kaliban paused, recalling someone, and chuckled.
“...She might not be in her right mind from guilt right now. But with your alchemy, you can reach her even as a spirit.”
Yeah, that should be possible somehow.
While dormant in the Soul Linker without communicating with Dawood, his alchemy had grown even stronger than before.
Now he could transmit thoughts to spirits independently, without going through ‘him.’
The problem was...
Why do this at all?
“Leave it to me, no worries.”
That was all the grinning response he got.
“...You. Not sure how you'll take this.”
Valkasus narrowed his eyes and spoke.
“But somehow, aren't you starting to resemble him?”
“...”
“The twisted ideas, the slyness peeking through that smile—you're exactly like him right now...”
Kaliban's expression hardened rapidly.
As if he'd heard the gravest insult.
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