135. I Hate Doing Group Projects Alone
135. I Hate Doing Group Projects Alone
[Who the hell are you!]
An unknown figure had just assassinated Belphegor's Demon Archbishop, who had only revealed himself moments before.
Even if he was a fledgling Demon Archbishop, he was still a Demon-touched under the protection of a Great Demon.
In particular, the authority of the Great Demon Belphegor was Dominion — there were only a handful of individuals on the entire continent capable of enduring it.
Even someone possessing the skills of a top-tier Expert would be reduced to a mere puppet under the authority of Dominion.
[It's not something you lot would know...]
A distorted voice crackled.
The security measures in place to ensure the meeting's confidentiality proved regrettable at this moment.
During conferences between Demon Archbishops, the only identifiable detail about a participant was roughly whose subordinate he was based on where he appeared — all other information was strictly classified, even among themselves.
Since race, gender, height, appearance, voice, location, and all other details were undisclosed, the intruder couldn't identify the Demon Archbishops, but by the same token, the Demon Archbishops couldn't identify the intruder either.
[Looks like you've been doing a lot of disposing lately? Seeing how you keep throwing people away in the Empire, it seems like you've got human resources overflowing. So I figured I'd help you out a bit. If you're that eager to chew people up and spit them out, I'll do the spitting for you.]
Throwing people away in the Empire.
It seemed to refer to the recent attacks on the Academy.
[Gluttony and Sloth just died. You're next, so feel free to look forward to it.]
[You bastard... who the hell are you to-!]
[I said you don't need to know, but fine... if you're that curious, I'll tell you... I am...]
The intruder stopped speaking there and vanished.
After his departure, the state of the meeting room was utterly wretched.
No one wanted to believe what the intruder had said.
[Even Gluttony...?!]
It was difficult to dismiss as nonsense the claim that Belphegor's Demon Archbishop, who hadn't attended the current meeting, had been specifically singled out and assassinated.
Since they all kept their bases secret from one another, there was no way to verify the truth, but the words of the person who had just slaughtered Belphegor's Demon Archbishop in an instant carried credibility.
Chaos spread.
No matter how much the Demon Church's doctrine preached that if you fought hard for the Great Demons and died, you'd gain eternal life in the hell of the Great Demon you served, dying a dog's death was out of the question.
The terrorism against the Academy had turned what had once been feared possibilities into reality.
With no significant results achieved, only repeated failures, they had merely succeeded in highlighting the Demon Church's existence.
[Was there nothing about this in Lord Satan's prophecy? Before we attack the Academy again, how about we deal with that first!]
Breaking the thick, settled silence, Leviathan's Demon Archbishop roared.
[We'll have to stop here for today. I need to change the location of my hideout again.]
[...I'll take my leave as well, then.]
One by one, they left the conference hall after Leviathan's Demon Archbishop.
Left alone in the now-empty hall, Satan's Archbishop stood stock-still, ruminating over what had just transpired.
[A Master moved.]
He muttered to himself.
Had there been such a prophecy among those he had seen?
Satan's prophecies had always come true without fail until now.
The rise and fall of the Demon Church, everything he had experienced — it had all been according to Satan's prophecies.
But something had gone off course.
It had been off course ever since the first attack on the Academy went awry.
He could feel, with certainty, that something had changed from that moment.
According to the original prophecy, during the first act of terror, the Great Demon Belphegor would descend upon the Academy, and through his authority, everyone there would become slaves.
Naturally, the Empire wouldn't crumble from that alone.
The manifested Belphegor and those under his dominion would be suppressed by the Empire's Greatest Sword and the Holy Knights, but that would mark the beginning of the total collapse.
Countless talents meant to shoulder the Empire's future would perish, and the Empire would fall into despair and begin to fracture.
Taking advantage of the chaos and suffering as humans, stupidly, began to fight among themselves even with the Demon Church, their common enemy, right in front of them, the Demon-touched would be scattered more widely.
Starting from there, the Great Demons were meant to descend upon the mortal realm in sequence and turn this continent into hell, but the prophecy had deviated greatly.
And even now, it was steadily continuing to warp further off course.
[Yes, Lord Satan. I will devise a countermeasure.]
After a long moment of deliberation, Satan's Archbishop bowed deeply, as if he had heard someone's voice.
[Master of the Five Kingdom Alliance... I'll remember this.]
He repeated the words the one who had attacked them had said as he vanished.
The last phantom left behind disappeared, and silence alone circled the conference hall.
—————————————
After the Demon Archbishop died, the hideout fell with an ease that was almost anticlimactic.
The disappearance of the Demon Archbishop who had served as the focal point was a major factor, but because they were in hiding, the number of combat-capable personnel wasn't very large.
There were a few Demon-touched or demons present, but they were quickly subdued.
The Demon Church's strength lay in having many ordinary believers such as these, making camouflage easy, but when combat broke out, they were utterly useless.
Ordinary believers clad in black robes like sacks were being bound in rows like dried fish and dragged off miserably.
Even though they all wore loose robes, their gaunt frames were visible, showing how harsh their lives had been.
"It ended smoothly."
"Looks like everything's wrapped up, so let's head back."
A Holy Knight approached and bowed.
"We'll take care of the finishing touches. Since they are believers who were with the Bishops, they said the Holy See will be sending personnel. Shadow-nim, thank you for always working for the sake of humanity."
"Yeah."
Naturally, since I was acting as a Master, my body was clad in Squite's black armor.
Since they asked me to leave the cleanup to them, I could just leave it and go.
I grabbed Emy's shoulder and moved with her to the location where Belphegor's Demon Archbishop had been.
"It was a relief that it wasn't a Great Demon with no particular weaknesses."
"More than that... what bothers me more is that another one was created right after we killed Belphegor's Demon Archbishop."
The fact that another Demon Archbishop of Belphegor had been created so quickly was unsettling.
A Demon Archbishop shouldn't be able to appear in this world that easily as far as I knew — what was going on?
"I know that a Demon Archbishop isn't something that can be created so easily... I don't know. If we keep tracking the remaining Bishops, a clue will turn up eventually."
"Are you going to keep going? Didn't you say this one was just a warning?"
"If we do it once and then show no sign of anything after, they'll just think it was a bluff. Conveniently, we took out the two most suspicious locations in one go, so we need to find the others too. That was the condition I set with Wendy, wasn't it? To find all the Demon Archbishops."
When we moved, just as before, we saw Holy Knights binding up and transporting ordinary believers like dried fish, along with Casey.
"Mister, is it over there too?"
"Yeah. No issues on your end?"
"Yep. It was the first time I'd channeled that much holy power into a sword — it was pretty good, actually?"
We left the rest of the cleanup to the Church folks on this side, and the three of us returned right away.
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As soon as the work was finished, I sent Emy back to the Academy first.
"I'm going alone??"
"The work's not over yet... I'll call you out again next time, so cut me some slack."
"Ugh..."
"Right. If you go to the capital, you'll have to be investigated too, and since you're wandering around in a coat with perception-inhibiting magic on it, getting investigated isn't exactly good for you either. Just wait quietly."
Beside the disappointed Emy, Casey, who had tagged along, puffed out her chest proudly and spoke.
She'd said exactly what I wanted to say.
But she'd missed one thing.
"Casey, you too."
"Me too?"
"Your investigation is over, isn't it? I'll be back within the day, so wait for me in advance."
I left the two of them behind at the Academy and headed back to the capital alone.
I had to report that it was finished.
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"It's already over?"
When I returned after clearing out two hideouts in about two days, the Saintess blinked.
"No matter how you slice it... you already found and routed two hideouts with Demon Archbishops in them?"
No matter how you sliced it, time was still a factor. Quickly locating and defeating hideouts situated somewhere in completely different regions far from the capital was truly a remarkable thing.
The Saintess seemed surprised at first, but soon smiled sassily, as if she understood.
"Hoho, I was a little surprised, but there was a reason you were so confident. Here, let me praise you."
"I told you not to hug me out of nowhere...!!"
Before I knew it, Carmel had embraced me again.
It wasn't that I was letting it happen on purpose — I simply couldn't avoid it.
Even though I'd reached the realm of a superhuman, I couldn't react to this woman's movements.
It seemed to be due to the Saintess's traits.
I'd endured even the authorities of Great Demons, yet against her, I was always a complete mess.
I endured the wave of sleep paralysis washing over me, somehow shook her off, and caught my breath.
"Haaah... haaah... That stuff's enough, so you remember what we talked about!"
"Yes, yes, the Demon Church search party composed of people who don't possess holy power? I'll make sure to report it properly to His Holiness the Pope, so don't worry."
"Those bastards may have seemed invisible, but they used that cover to grow in scale. Their forces are probably larger than what the Holy See has grasped."
I'd mentioned it, but I didn't think they'd actually discover any proper hideouts.
The continent was vast, and there were limits to the personnel that could be dispatched.
If they really holed up in some uncharted territory, there'd be no way to find them.
Even so, if I established basic search protocols, it would be sufficient to help suppress the expansion of their forces going forward.
"Having heard about the previous incident, McIntosh-nim has proposed that a Summit be convened as soon as possible."
The Summit.
A conference where Masters gathered under the auspices of Saint McIntosh and the Pope.
It was an extremely valuable occasion where Masters scattered all across the continent gathered in one place... but naturally, there had never been a single instance where all of them had assembled.
For the Empire, usually only one Director went as the representative; the Sword Saint never attended because she found the Director unpleasant; the Wandering Master didn't attend either — so four were already absent to begin with.
A few others acting as representatives of their respective nations did attend, so it came to be known as the Summit, since it was essentially the heads of various nations conferring.
It had finally come.
I'd been waiting for this.
"This works out perfectly. The remaining Demon Archbishops should be dealt with by the others for a change."
"Hoho, it won't be easy, you know?"
I hadn't stirred things up for nothing — I intended to prod the other Masters into proactively attacking the Demon Church as well.
I'd already killed three Demon Archbishops on my own; it'd be nice if the other Masters could handle the rest.
I knew things absolutely wouldn't go the way I wanted, but that's what I wished would happen.
'Well, I've already dragged one into it.'
When I left the Demon Archbishops' conference hall, I'd used the name 'Hynes,' the Master of the Five Kingdom Alliance, in my stead.
They'd have no choice but to immediately think of Hynes as the culprit who attacked them.
To Hynes, who'd get the blame pinned on him... I wasn't sorry.
If I could incite them properly, it seemed possible that the Masters might be moved to act personally to protect their own nations.
"While you were away, the treatment of the Headmaster and the Academy has been decided."
Carmel brought up a rather sensitive matter.
It seemed the decision on how to handle the Headmaster, who had failed to properly protect the Academy, had been made.
"What, is he getting the death penalty?"
"It's not something that severe. On the grounds that preparations against demons in general had been neglected up until now, his assets will be seized and distributed as compensation to the victims of this incident... and additional Church forces will be stationed at the Academy to stand guard, they say."
As expected, there was no direct punishment for the Headmaster.
That man had too many past achievements, and there probably wasn't anyone suitable to replace him even if he were ousted over this.
"Church forces, so... Holy Knights and Inquisitors are being reinforced?"
"Yes, and one Bishop will be going as well."
Additional Church forces coming to the Academy was a welcome development.
Those bastards didn't seem to have given up on the Academy yet, so it seemed wise to prepare for contingencies.
They kept planting informants in the Academy and trying to create Demon-touched there.
Even just two Inquisitors and six Holy Knights would have enough capability to cover the entire Academy.
Holy Knights, Inquisitors, and even a Bishop coming...
No, wait. A Bishop?
"A Bishop is coming?"
"It's already decided, so there's nothing I can do about it~"
One of those blockheaded, stuck-up fossils was coming?