Chapter 255
Chapter 255
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 255
Chapter Title: The Method of Distinguishing Good and Evil (3)
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There were five rulers in the world commonly called "hell." They were known as the Great Demons.
Over a thousand years had passed since they were sealed away after the War in Heaven and vanished from sight.
Stories of them lingered only as traces in myths. Few in the material world knew of them.
The Crimson Archduke Tyban.
The scale-clad Empress Sadarkelia.
The Nightmare Mumto.
The Seven-Crowned Yekaset.
The Vermin King Urkasia.
These Great Demons had grown so overwhelmingly powerful in their true forms that they attained divinity and became conceptual entities. Each ruled over destruction, corruption, death, hatred, and pollution.
The prophecies and apocalypses handled in the deepest recesses of the Pantheon Church mentioned their future. When the end of the world arrived, they would rise again and burn the material world.
To be honest, back when he was Feizashi, he had leaned toward believing in those apocalypses. In his final years, consumed by hatred, he had searched for the sealed sites of the Great Demons hidden across the world and dimensions, researching ways to unseal them.
No one knew when the prophesied doom would come, but one certain condition was the revival of the Great Demons. So, wouldn't reviving them artificially bring about the world's end?
In conclusion, after reviving Tyban, the other Great Demons were freed by various factions. Regardless of the process.
And Feizashi, the summoner of Tyban and the one with the most prominent achievements of his time, had used schemes and political maneuvering to contact heretical organizations worldwide and extract information.
After the world was completely destroyed, an internecine war among the Great Demons was all but inevitable. It was preparatory work for that. To ensure Tyban's victory, he needed to learn how to reseal the Great Demons.
In that process, he naturally mastered the seals from the War in Heaven era and their unsealing methods. He had never actually used them, nor had a way to, but they became "known spells" nonetheless.
Thus, recreating them was not difficult. It was still just a hypothesis, but the fact that it was "possible" was chilling beyond measure.
So Fernandez set off for Paltennoia that very day. With a single horse and light armor. It was no longer time to orchestrate schemes from the shadows.
What he hadn't anticipated was this.
"Benefactor? Benefactor!! Where are you going!!"
Deep in the night, just as he was about to leave the outskirts of Vurang City, a horse came galloping after him. He had noticed the tail since the pursuit began, but he hadn't realized the pursuer was Kirhas until she drew near.
"Kirhas?"
"Benefactor! Wait a moment. Huff, pant... Just wait. Where are you headed?"
Kirhas looked at him with anxious eyes. It had only been a day since they spent the night together, but when she visited his room in the middle of the night, it was empty—stripped of all his armor and gear.
Until now, Fernandez had always shared his destination and grand strategy with her when traveling together. Even when parting briefly, he left clear instructions on where to go and what to do.
That was partly because he trusted her, but also because his strategist assumed their intricate coordination in building a meticulous board of play.
But this sudden action—especially from a lover he'd just spent one night with—had Kirhas frantically spurring her horse to chase him.
Fernandez reined in his horse and waited for her approach. Under the dimly risen moon, her silhouette soon sharpened into view.
"Did something happen?"
"How did you know which way I was going?"
"Piel told me?"
Ah, that woman. Fernandez gave a wry smile. Information-reflex independents. The so-called prophets. They didn't just see the future.
They could see the "past" and the "present." Their information directionality had no bias, and the same principle applied to the flow of time reflecting indeterminate information.
Don't read the future, he had said, so she was peeking at the present. Fernandez smiled bitterly as he looked at Kirhas.
"Is that all?"
"She told me to follow you. Is something urgent?"
"Yes. But you..."
Fernandez trailed off mid-sentence. If Piel could see the present, that meant unrestricted remote communication. One-way reception, but still twice as good as now, when he had to send messengers for orders.
Piel wasn't foolish. Her original body was the Archangel of Wisdom. If she had restored even half her innate abilities, she could be a huge help going forward.
"I'm heading back to the capital. Will you come with me?"
"Don't say it like that."
At his words, Kirhas, who had been watching him anxiously, suddenly beamed brightly. Clop, clop. She slowly urged her horse to his side and said softly.
"I told you last time. Don't ask for my will. Please, just give me your orders."
"Come with me."
"Yes, Benefactor."
* * *
Unless leading a great army on the march, the road from Vurang City to Paltennoia was neither treacherous nor long. If the path had been rugged and the journey extended, Duke Sephor would never have mobilized his forces so easily.
Thus, they could travel comfortably along Duke Sephor's advance route. Naturally, that included the mountain where Duke Sephor had been toppled.
"Uh..."
It should have been there. A mountain that burned in early summer couldn't recover in just one or two months. It should have been a scorched wasteland of ashes, or at least a barren, landslide-prone slope stripped of trees even if rains had washed it away.
"Flowers...?"
"Impressive."
Gazing at a mountainside blanketed in full-bloom flower graves under the midday summer sun created a stunning vista. Fernandez's bewilderment quickly faded.
He was a man trained to assess situations and analyze principles first in any moment. Moreover, the heart of a Religiosa Demonica didn't startle easily.
So, he raised his voice toward the flower graves.
"Isn't it a bit much?"
"Haha!"
A clear laugh rang out from afar. Soon, with a rattling sound, a carriage emerged from amid the flowers.
The carriage was piled high with flowers. Most were blooms impossible to see in this season or region—and they were fresh. No, not just fresh; they were living plants rooted right on the carriage.
From their midst, Freya in a white dress shouted loudly.
"Doesn't it inspire awe! Worship if you like! This is the power of great nature!"
"Great nature? It's divine power."
"It's the work of the Goddess of spring, beauty, flowers, new life, and all other lovely things!!"
Freya swung her arms wildly as she shouted. Clop, clop. The carriage drew near slowly. Abel sat in the driver's seat, her face complex as she sat quietly.
She hadn't pulled or loosened the reins, yet the horses stopped precisely in front of Fernandez. They weren't trained mounts. Terror filled their eyes.
The horses were submitting out of instinctive fear toward the being now leading them. It was the presence of a dragon.
"Quite the flashy entrance."
"Did you think the Goddess of Spring would appear ordinarily? Behold, Lindburm! I told you! That man would definitely show up at this pass!"
"How could you be so sure?"
"Criminals return to the scene of the crime!"
"...Where did you hear that?"
"In that dreadful monastery, the only leisure was reading street romances from the markets! The monks lent them, so I passed the time that way!"
Freya cackled noisily. Abel's expression grew ever more complicated as she watched her, then softened into a gentle smile as she turned to Fernandez.
"I heard the rumors too. You've been through a lot."
"Nothing worth calling hardship. Glad to see you're well."
"I haven't faced great trials either. The journey won't be short, so wouldn't a carriage like this be more comfortable than riding horseback?"
"May I take the reins?"
"I'd appreciate that."
Abel smiled warmly and stepped aside. From the moment she appeared, Kirhas had been flinching with a guilty look. Abel's gaze turned softly to her.
"Kirhas. It's been a while. You must have suffered, but well done."
"I slept with Benefactor!"
"......?"
"......!"
"......??"
For a moment, the wind stilled. Everyone except Kirhas had to replay what they just heard.
Fernandez was adept at assessing situations and analyzing phenomena, and the heart of a Religiosa Demonica didn't rattle easily...
But not this time. He stared blankly, fumbling to gather his fragmented thoughts. Time has stopped. If it's stopped anyway, skipping a few hours would be nice.
-Hahaha!! This is why chastity matters, you fool!
Feizashi nearly split his sides laughing and writhing. Fortunately, only Fernandez could hear it.
And the unfortunate part was that, unlike Fernandez who at least had Feizashi, everyone else was frozen, hearing only the white noise of a quiet summer morning.
The wind blew again.
* * *
Abel acted as if she hadn't heard a thing. With a serene expression and somehow stiffened body, she stepped aside. Yielding space in the narrow driver's seat didn't create much room, but she managed just enough for one person.
Then she patted the seat beside her.
"Sit."
"...It's a bit cramped."
"Sit."
"Understood."
The dragon's presence began to blaze. The horses nearly seized up in rigidity. Fernandez carefully sat beside her. His keen sense of smell caught Abel's unique scent.
Kirhas silently climbed into the back of the carriage without a word. The tangled flowers made it as cushy as a sofa.
Clop, clop.
The carriage traveled the mountain pass in silence for a while. Aside from the wind, scarcely a sound could be heard.
-I need to invent a silence spell. Oh, already named it. It's my signature spell. It'd shut up gods, dragons, and inquisitors alike. 'Kirhas slept with that guy.' How's that?
'Please shut up.'
-This spell won't silence spirits.
'Please, I'm begging you, shut up.'
-'Fernandez's please shut up.'
'Not answering.'
-'Fernandez's sulk.'
'......'
Feizashi kept needling endlessly from the side. Breaking the awkward silence, a tentative voice sounded. It was Freya's. Abel and Fernandez perked their ears almost simultaneously, staring fixedly ahead.
"Um... the mood is weird! Right, Kirhas. Say something!"
"W-What should I say?"
"Anything! Oh, right. Do you know how Lindburm and I got here? We crossed half the Empire by land without a coin to our name!"
"How?"
Freya puffed out her chest proudly and shouted.
"I sold flowers!! Sold heaps of fresh blooms to noble daughters and ladies for travel funds! The goddess is rich now! Unlike northern kids, the humans here tossed coins generously for the flowers' value!"
It's like money duplicating itself! Freya burst into laughter saying that. Fernandez briefly thought it was like paying admission for a novel spectacle.
"So, does that mean you impregnated her?"
"......!"
"......"
"......?"
"Um... no! No new life stirs in you! Hmm! You lacked effort, Fernandez!"
The air grew even heavier at Freya's shout. Fernandez quickly crossed himself and pulled out his rosary from his bosom.
-Just so you know, that's not for times like this.
'Prayer doesn't care about context or origin, Feizashi. Unlike you, I'm a priest. Sincerity is what matters most. Ever cast a divine spell? I have.'
Uncharacteristically, Fernandez rattled off his retort and closed his eyes quietly. Watching him briefly, Abel murmured in a chill voice.
"We'll have to talk later."
If time was going to stop or slow anyway, skipping a few hours would be preferable. Fernandez prayed earnestly for that. To any god, any words. Desperately.
But as always, the gods didn't answer, and time flowed equally for all.