Chapter 182
Chapter 182
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 182
Chapter Title: Spoiled Food - 3
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The moment those words reached her ears, a terrifying aura emanated from Idria's body.
Rustle.
Something fell to the ground.
They were the mountain birds that had been hiding in the dense trees.
They were already crushed to death by the sheer pressure before they could even fly away.
Idria said with boiling eyes.
"You're not Batole."
"Hmm. Well. Not sure how to answer that."
"Where are my children? What have you done to them?"
"To put it plainly, I kidnapped them."
Idria moved to swing her hand.
But before she could unleash her power, Acteon spoke.
"Ah. I figured out how to answer. I am Batole."
"......!"
"At least this body is Batole's."
"What the hell does that mean......"
"No need to overthink it. Batole ate spoiled food."
Idria understood instantly.
Batole could absorb the memories of what he devoured and transform into its appearance.
The 'spoiled food' he mentioned must be what turned Batole strange.
"But who the hell are you? There was no monster like you among Batole's meals."
"Well, he looked like a perfectly normal young man on the outside."
"......"
"That's why you let your guard down and allowed the meal."
In other words, he let himself be eaten on purpose.
Deliberately devoured by Batole to take over his body.
And then stayed by her side as the Finger of Deceit to monitor Idria.
'Monitor me?'
She realized it soon enough.
"You're in league with Bellosian. He sent you to spy on me through Batole's eyes!"
"Correct."
"You bastard."
"But the fact that this body is Batole's remains unchanged. So, you gonna kill me?"
"Urk."
"Now that you're calm, let's get to the main point."
He continued in a leisurely voice.
I sat on a rock, shaking my leg.
'Trail. Show me again.'
[No. There's no secret, I told you.]
'......'
[I said there's none.]
The fact that he switched to polite speech meant my expression must look pretty fierce right now.
Anyway, he eventually brought up the screen.
[Selection condition: 'Secret between Idria and Sobius.']
[No related secrets found. Cannot view.]
Idria, who had said to wait a moment while she called her minions, had gone completely silent.
Naturally, I checked the secrets of Sobius, Firensha, Batole, and Sabak, led by Sobius.
But none of them had any secrets related to this incident.
It had already been an hour of this.
'Wait. Maybe?'
I asked Trail again.
'This time, show me the secret between Idria and Bellosian.'
[Ah, sure.]
But it was no use.
[Selection condition: 'Secret between Idria and Bellosian.']
[No related secrets found. Cannot view.]
Ah, seriously.
Neril said.
"Looks like she's not coming."
"......"
"Cheer up, Maide. What hero gets bummed out just because the Demon King stood him up?"
"It's just annoying how things are getting tangled."
"I get that, but."
"Even if Idria doesn't show, I still need to figure out 'why' she's not coming."
Whether it's a simple change of heart or some unavoidable circumstance—I need to confirm.
I have to know the reason to prepare accordingly.
That's when Risel spoke.
"Even if there was an unavoidable circumstance, no contact at all is too much. She could reach out anytime with a communication orb or spatial authority if she wanted."
"You can't expect human common sense or manners from that Demon King."
"True, but still. Anyway, we could've just eaten dinner earlier."
Her attempt to lighten the mood was so obvious that I just laughed.
The others laughed along.
Jenia was nodding sincerely, though.
Risel, pleased with everyone's softened expressions, grinned and continued.
"Actually, I think I can mimic Serad's recipe."
"Impressive."
"Yeah. Of course, I'm still lacking a lot. Next time, I'll definitely pry it out of him."
That banquet food was definitely top-notch.
Aside from the somewhat heavy topics that came up.
Like Bellosian's authority.
Or another of Impellium's party members......
......
Ah!
I jumped to my feet.
"W-What's wrong?"
"Risel! You're brilliant."
"Ah...... It's nothing. I just don't want to lose to anyone when it comes to cooking."
"No. That's not what I meant. It means you have a knack for hitting the core out of nowhere."
"Uh, um. Thanks?"
True to form, she wondered if it was praise but thanked me anyway.
I shouted at Trail.
'Acteon. Show me the secret between Acteon Oscal and Idria.'
[Acteon......]
'Impellium's former party member. Remember how Impellium's face stiffened when that name came up?'
[Of course.]
The expression on Impellium's face back then was disgust.
It wasn't even that when we talked about Bellosian.
And besides.
I recalled my previous conversation with Impellium.
'Impellium probably killed Acteon.'
[What?]
'That's why he broke his immortality, lost his power, and that's why......'
'Bellosian and Adin killed him?]
I nodded.
Impellium wouldn't have killed Acteon for no reason.
Acteon must have committed an unforgivable sin against him.
Perhaps...... No, he definitely betrayed Impellium.
A betrayal so massive that Adin's seemed trivial.
'Bellosian is sleeping in the special chamber, right? So it couldn't have been him.'
[So Acteon?]
'Yeah. Nothing to lose by checking.'
[Alright. One moment.]
Tap.
The screen appeared again.
[Used Eye of Omniscience.]
[Current Eye of Omniscience level is 5. Viewable secret rank: S-rank.]
[Selection condition: 'Secret between Idria and Acteon Oscal.']
[Secret rank: A-rank. Viewing.]
It was a scene that made me want to rub my eyes.
Idria was at the starting line.
Acteon urged her on.
"Hurry up."
"Maide could see this scene. Well, technically Bion."
"Who knows. They might not even know my name?"
"......?"
"To see secrets, you need both parties' names."
Idria didn't ask, 'How do you know that?'
It would be weirder if someone connected to Bellosian didn't know.
Instead, she asked something else.
"Isn't your name Batole? Can't you see the secret with that?"
"Sobius is Padania, Firensha is Serein, Sabak is Hairen. But my position is entirely different."
"......"
"When I'm out front, I'm not Batole. Meaning, the secret between you and me can't be viewed with the name Batole."
"Then what name can it be viewed with?"
Acteon grinned at the question.
"Trying to dig a shallow trap. You're suddenly all in on helping Maide now."
"......"
"But who you need to help is Kaild. Quit whining and open the spatial prison Maide made."
"I can't. A small hole, maybe, but not big enough for him to escape......"
"I'll help, so shut up and open it. I hate repeating myself."
Idria bit her lip.
As the Demon King of Deceit, obeying such petty orders was humiliating.
But with this man holding her children's whereabouts, she had no choice.
In the end, she thrust her hand into empty space with all her might.
Crackle.
But she had to settle for barely making one hole.
Acteon latched onto it.
"Now. On three, we pull together?"
"......"
"Stiff one, aren't you. One, two, three."
Riiip.
The space tore completely.
And out leaped some mad bastard.
"Kuaaaak."
Kaild Wake.
He writhed on the ground.
If I compare to his usual image, he really looked like a cockroach.
"Wh-who? Idria?"
"......"
"Heh. So you finally came to your senses and decided to help me."
"Shut up."
"Yeah. As if you could abandon me now. I'll generously forget what happened. Next time, be more careful......"
Thwack.
Idria kicked him in the solar plexus.
Kaild flew through the air and tumbled pathetically.
Acteon rubbed his forehead.
"Even borrowing a tenth of Bellosian's power, and he's like that."
"......"
"Well, I get it since part of his soul was erased."
"That enough? Give my children back."
"Can't give them back. But I can let you meet them."
Acteon walked over and grabbed Kaild by the hair.
Then, dragging him, he said to Idria.
"Let's go to the special chamber. Your kids are there too."
Snap.
The screen vanished.
I was silent for a while.
Then Neril spoke.
"You saw that, right?"
"Yeah. Come to think of it, you can move in the stopped world now too."
"Not just me."
Neril nodded toward Adwin.
He brushed his bangs and said.
"Kek. What a masterpiece. So that's how the 'Frozen World' works."
"Come back while I'm being nice."
"Yes. Sorry."
"Maide, what did you see?"
I calmly explained the scene from the Eye of Omniscience.
Everyone's faces turned pale.
Serein said with a sigh.
"What, are they onions over there? Layers just keep coming no matter how many you peel."
"This should be the last layer. Impellium's party had four members including himself."
"Such comforting words."
"Anyway, Acteon kidnapped Idria's fingers. And used them to blackmail her into breaking Kaild out."
Offense let out a groan.
"Acteon was wearing Adin's face?"
"Yeah."
"That means......"
"Yeah."
Obviously, Adin hadn't been resurrected or anything.
Last time, Idria said she fed Adin's corpse to Batole.
From my pre-regression memories, Batole could absorb the memories and 'face' of what he devoured.
In other words.
"The third Finger of Deceit, Batole. That guy was Acteon."
"What the actual hell."
"I don't know when Batole and Acteon became the same person."
Jenia sighed.
"Anyway, Kaild, who we went to such lengths to restrain, is free now?"
"Yeah."
"Why is that bastard so tenacious? Ugh, just die already!"
To make refined Jenia curse like that, a hundred times worse than Serein.
Kaild really was something.
[That impressed?]
I comforted her.
"I'm bummed too, but complaining won't help."
"True."
"Besides, the bigger problem than Kaild is that even Idria, our sacrificial lamb to boost our fame to the heavens, got dragged away."
I swallowed hard and continued.
"To the special chamber."
Whoooosh.
A cold wind brushed between us.
The special chamber itself meant Bellosian.
Why was I trying to raise my fame even higher using Idria?
To kill Bellosian's 'main body' trapped in the special chamber.
In other words, with my current insufficient fame, I couldn't storm the special chamber.
Acteon had taken Kaild and Idria to the safest shelter in the world.
'What now.'
I pondered briefly and said.
"Let's head back to the capital."
"Huh?"
"Let's think about it somewhere close to the special chamber. That way, we can execute the plan immediately once we make one."
"Ah, okay."
Jenia summoned Agril.
We quickly climbed on its back and flew to the capital.
I looked up at the sky and thought.
'Acteon Oscal.'
What does he want?
Adin betrayed Impellium to become a god, to be loved by all.
Then why did Acteon betray Impellium?