Chapter 105
Chapter 105
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 105
Chapter Title: Ending It All!
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“To put it simply, the Republic is already done for. There’s no chance of recovery.”
Mr. Robert, upon hearing my words, didn’t hesitate or show any sign of deep concern. He simply agreed to take us to meet the Provost and led Roca and me along.
“The Republic is in a total state of chaos right now,” he explained.
“I’m just the director of a bureau, but that makes me the second-in-command of the Republic at the moment. Everyone above me has fled through the gates to the Empire—all except for one Provost.”
“Then why didn’t you run away, mister?”
Roca cut in with her question. He seemed annoyed at being called “mister” and pulled out a cigarette, clamping it between his teeth. Only after exhaling a puff of smoke did he continue.
“There’s nothing left for me here anyway, even if I don’t run.”
He truly seemed irritated, even blowing a cloud of smoke in Roca’s direction.
Roca scooped a handful of salt from the mortar she was carrying and purified the incoming smoke. She thumped her tail against the floor in annoyance, then conjured another handful of salt and sprinkled it on Mr. Robert.
“That young lady’s got some fire in her. I used to have a wife with a temper just like yours.”
It seemed to have worked. This time, Mr. Robert blew his smoke off to the side where no one was. His eyes took on a distant look, as if lost in reminiscence.
“My family—my wife and kids—went off with the neighbors’ wives and children to see the flowers in the Kaldelan Mountains. They were invited to some estate owned by a Lady Catherine or whatever her name was. They insisted on taking the kids for a picnic, and that’s when disaster struck. They went missing, but I know. They’re probably dead.”
“Ah... I’m sorry.”
“But getting it off my chest like this... it feels a bit lighter.”
He shook his head vigorously, as if trying to shake off some invisible weight.
“That damn woman. Even in life, she made my days hell, and now in death, she won’t leave me alone. Why does she have to torment my heart like this...”
After a brief silence, he continued.
“I thought I’d clawed my way up from the gutter so no one could look down on me anymore, but I was wrong. The Demon King... Grimudo... he looked down on all of us. We weren’t even worth considering to him. Once he got what he wanted, he had no intention of letting any of us live.”
“Who in this world could escape that man’s contempt?”
I let out a sigh.
“It’s merely a matter of distance—far or near.”
As we kept walking and sprinkling salt, a massive building came into view. It was enormous, yet utterly empty. A place that must have once bustled with life now exuded a cold desolation, merely from a few days without human touch. This colossal abandoned structure had once been the heart of the Citadel Republic—the Citadel Parliament.
“Not that it matters much, with all the councilors having fled.”
Its former masters were gone now—all but the one Provost—yet even he didn’t occupy the entire vast building alone.
The small meeting rooms, once filled with chairs and furniture, stood barren. Blankets were spread across the marble floors, where patients groaned in agony. Priests in robes dashed through the corridors.
“Those people...”
“They serve the Celestial God Aldehir. The Church once excommunicated the Republic, so there are no dioceses stationed within its borders now. Of course, talks were underway to rebuild the Valles Diocese, but before any decision could be made... boom! You can guess the rest.”
Was it easier to remove something than to put it back? If so, that meant not even a high priest from the Triad Faith was in the city.
There might be a few ordinary priests or monks, but they alone couldn’t hope to manage this crisis.
“Mind if I borrow some of that salt?”
Mr. Robert grabbed a handful and scattered it around the meeting hall. As the salt hit the ground, the volcanic ash particles drifting through the air were purified and vanished. That’s the beauty of a miracle.
Since I created it, I could freely define what counted as contamination.
Of course, that didn’t mean I could just label a person as filth, sprinkle salt, and purify them. I’d tried it once on Grimudo, but it only neutralized his black aura’s corrosive power without harming him.
Even without that, Grimudo was overwhelmingly strong, so it amounted to nothing. It had a slight effect on the Blood God Atorize, but didn’t touch his core essence.
“Cough! Hack! Whew, finally I can breathe. Thank you. Are you a priest, by any chance?”
A priest who’d been hacking away approached us. Pointing to the patients lying around, he spoke.
The symptoms varied: some lay with rashes from the ash irritating their skin, others gasped as if on the verge of suffocation, some clutched their eyes in pain, and others muttered only about sore throats. There were far too many patients.
“Then lend us a hand. The Church of another dimension will reward you later.”
“Cardinal, these people came to slay the Phoenix.”
“What? Sorry, I’ve been hearing so many loud explosions lately that my ears aren’t what they used to be.”
That made sense. What I’d volunteered for was utterly absurd, after all.
He hadn’t misheard. That was exactly why we’d come.
A cardinal, though? I wondered if I’d heard wrong.
Mr. Robert nodded beside me, confirming the man’s rank. The Aldehir Church was known as the most open of the continent’s five great denominations, but I never imagined I’d meet someone of cardinal rank like this.
“You plan to slay the Phoenix...? What’s your strategy?”
“I intend to use a miracle that can only be invoked three times in a lifetime.”
“A miracle... you mean borrowing the power of a god? But even divine power...”
The man, who introduced himself as Cardinal Omen of the Aldehir Church, hesitated before continuing.
“Not to sound irreverent, but aren’t you underestimating the Phoenix a bit too much?”
“It’s no easy task, but it’s the only way. These people can’t all evacuate to the Empire through the gates.”
If there were another option, I wouldn’t have brought Roca here. But the gates weren’t viable.
They connected this place to the capital and Grantera. The larger the gate, the exponentially more magic stones it consumed—that was why they were so narrow, barely wide enough for a single carriage. People had to line up single-file to pass through. No one who built them had anticipated the entire population of Citadel Republic fleeing to the Empire.
And with ships unable to evacuate everyone either, a single gate was out of the question.
“Even if we evacuate, cough, it won’t matter.”
Just then, a voice like a groan came from a corner. The man’s body was so badly burned black that his features were indistinguishable at first glance. He was in that dire a state.
“When the volcano erupts... it’ll be over for everyone. Whether we die now or a little later... hack! That’s all it is. The end... the end is right upon us.”
“That’s Thomas William from the Land Development Bureau,” Mr. Robert murmured, explaining who he was. “He used to scout land for development and hunt for mineral veins, but as a hobby, he studied volcanoes—specifically Kaldelan Volcano. An odd fellow. He volunteered as a guide, took a bunch of Masters into the volcano, and came back looking like a well-done steak. Divine power is the only thing keeping him alive now.”
As he spoke, his throat seemed parched, and he called for water. I pointed at the floor and invoked a miracle. Lucky this was the first floor—otherwise, it would’ve punched straight through to the level below, spilling water everywhere.
“Spring water... spring water...”
“Clean water! It’s clean water!”
Amid the murmurs, a spring burst through the marble floor. Thomas leaned in to drink directly from it but was stopped by an Aldehir priest.
Instead, the priest fetched a ladle, filled it, and held it to his lips.
“Good heavens!”
“How is that even possible?”
As his Adam’s apple bobbed and the water slid down his throat, the blackened skin began reverting to its natural pallor. The smell of charred flesh faded from his body. The soot already caked on him remained, but he no longer needed divine power to sustain him.
“Pah! Now I feel alive.”
Only moments later did he realize the spring’s effect and leaped to his feet.
“Not just feeling alive... I’m really alive! I survived!”
Mr. Robert’s gaze shifted as he watched Thomas hopping about.
“To bring back someone on the brink of death... you’re clearly not just talking big about the Phoenix without substance. I had no idea your divine power was this potent. Are you the pope of some small sect? If so, I apologize for my rudeness until now. No, I apologize.”
“Formalities aren’t important right now. Rather...”
I turned to Thomas and spoke.
“Mr. Thomas?”
“Y-yes, Priest. I don’t even know how to thank you...”
“I’ll accept your gratitude in spirit. But more importantly, I’d like to hear the rest of what you were saying earlier.”
He was the volcano expert, after all—I had to ask.
“What did you mean when you said everything ends if the volcano erupts?”
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