Chapter 91
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 91
Chapter Title: Can't You Understand?
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Can't you understand?
To sum up Julius's feelings in a single word right now, it was this.
'Too scary.'
No, did this even make sense?
No matter how noble the bloodline, if a cardinal from the Holy See personally visited to inform you that one of your own kin had been branded a heretic, the typical response was predetermined.
Panic.
Denial.
And immediate submission.
Even if they didn't drop to their knees, at the very least they'd bow their head and scramble to arrange a negotiation to avoid staining the family's honor.
That was the way of the nobility.
The fact held true even for the emperor of the empire.
No, especially so.
The higher one's status, the more they dreaded any blemish on their exalted lineage.
That was why religion and nobility had always treaded carefully around each other, respecting unspoken boundaries.
It was the unwritten rule of this continent.
Yet Agram Argent... he was smiling.
Without a single excuse or explanation, as if he were genuinely enjoying himself.
What on earth was there to smile about?
It wasn't a sociable smile or a mocking one.
It was the laugh of something crawling out from the depths of hell, stepping into the world for the first time and anticipating the bloody festival to come with eager delight.
That kind of laugh.
'...I want to go home.'
His body trembled uncontrollably, to the point where he could almost feel the embrace of his long-departed mother.
Was it right to hold out any longer here?
His pride as a cardinal of the Holy See, his ambition to become the next pope—they all felt like luxuries in this moment.
But such thoughts were fleeting.
"So."
Agram asked calmly.
"What do you intend to do?"
"...Pardon? Pardon me?"
The atmosphere had already been completely seized.
Yet as if granting him a chance to speak, Agram opened his mouth first, and all Julius could do was swallow hard.
If he hesitated again here, it wouldn't be fear—it would be flight.
A noble's bastard son had enslaved a demon.
Ignoring that fact would be an unacceptable choice for a cardinal.
"W-Well..."
Julius forced his mouth open.
"Naturally... we're seeking to reclaim that demon slave owned by young Master Lucas Argent at the Holy See... Would that be acceptable?"
It was a plea.
Not for justification or righteousness, but a desperate question to save his skin.
Yet he held on until the end.
No matter what, a family like Argent wouldn't upend everything for a mere bastard child.
...They couldn't!
Repeating it to himself over and over, Julius squeezed his eyes shut.
And then.
"See to it."
"...Pardon?"
The permission came so calmly.
"When a cardinal of the Church of the Goddess comes in person, the least we can do is grant that much."
"Ah, ah...!"
Julius's face lit up with relief.
"Th-Thank you, Lord Argent!"
It felt like the stone crushing his chest had finally lifted.
But he didn't yet realize.
This permission was no act of mercy—it was mere entertainment.
"Th-Then we'll swiftly go to Lucas Argent and immediately take that demon slave—!"
"However."
Julius, who had been scrambling to his feet, froze at Agram's low voice.
It was tossed out like a musing to himself.
But its resonance was unmistakable.
"How exactly do you plan to take that female demon from Lucas?"
"...Pardon?"
When Julius first heard the question, he couldn't grasp its meaning at all.
How to take her?
Obviously, by the standard procedure: bind the demon who had ventured out of the demon realm and escort her under restraint.
Just follow the formalities.
Under the authority of the Holy See, under the pretext of 'reclaiming a dangerous entity.'
First, transport her to the Holy See.
Record it officially as a subject secured during heresy suppression.
Demons were inherently perilous beings unfit for this world.
Citing their robust vitality, physical prowess, and uncontrolled mana reactions, affix sealing shackles, enclose in a sack engraved with mana-suppression runes, and transport with all external contact severed.
That was the procedure for the official records.
The story the Holy See could present to the world ended there.
But afterward came the 'deal' with Walter Argent.
Once beyond the Holy See's surveillance, at an opportune moment, append a 'scheduled for disposal' document to the records, erasing all traces.
Then repackage it once more, far more meticulously.
To outsiders, mere experimental material. Or unnamed cargo.
Impossible for anyone to identify as a demon.
Thus, through unofficial channels known to none, hand it over to Walter Argent as if nothing had happened.
That was Julius's plan for disposing of Lucas Argent's demon slave.
Yet.
At some point, the smile had vanished from Lord Agram's face.
Very quietly.
As if it had never been there at all.
Feeling his mouth go dry, Julius stared at him.
Only then did Agram's gaze pierce straight through Julius.
"You surely don't intend to forcibly seize an Argent slave, do you?"
"...P-Pardon?"
"Cardinal Julius."
The family head continued evenly.
"You must know how House Argent rose from its beginnings in a certain trade to where it stands today."
"O-Of course!"
Julius nodded hurriedly.
"It started as a small slave trader and gradually expanded into the mighty Argent House it is now!"
House Argent.
The ones who gripped the continent's underworld.
And their largest market was human goods—slaves.
Not mere buying and selling.
A systematized industry: training slave hunters, building distribution networks, calculating supply and demand for allocation.
A name any who needed slaves anywhere on the continent inevitably passed through.
Argent.
Thus, in this house—be it family head, heir, or even a bastard—no one took their ownership of slaves lightly.
There were laws of trade, family pride, and above all—
"Argent slaves move only by Argent methods."
At those words, Julius could only slump back into his seat.
"Bastard or not, Lucas Argent is still half an heir to Argent blood."
Agram continued.
"Our house law states: Since we began with slaves, a slave's life and disposal belong solely to its master's authority."
Be it the possession of a worthless bastard or a filthy, lowly demon slave.
As long as it was an Argent slave, ownership resided entirely with its Argent master.
This house even had a tradition of resolving power struggles among heirs through Proxy Blood Fate with slaves at the forefront.
Slaves were more than mere property.
They were an extension of the master's power, bloodline, and a means to prove the house's authority.
Thus, no matter the Holy See, not even kin could touch that domain lightly—and if an outside organization did so directly?
It was a problem beyond heresy suppression.
A direct challenge to House Argent, kings of the underworld.
"But just moments ago, you said we could take her..."
Julius said in a trembling voice.
"You may take her."
Agram nodded. And added,
"So long as it's by our house's method."
Our house's method.
Julius knew what that entailed.
Within Argent, there was only one way to seize a slave's ownership.
Proxy Blood Fate.
A rite of right transference sealed in blood, possible only among blood kin.
An outsider had no option from the start.
Even if, by some miracle, an outsider were granted eligibility, a cardinal of the Holy See pitting himself against a dark house's bastard over a slave?
The optics were disastrous.
Moreover, the Church of the Goddess outwardly championed this world's 'justice.'
Owning slaves was taboo for cardinals, indeed all devotees.
Julius wanted to clutch his head.
'What kind of wordplay is this...!'
No escape hatch, a family logic perfectly woven from start to finish.
This wasn't negotiation.
Not persuasion, certainly not compromise.
Just shoving the rules in your face and making you flail within them.
'No way... is he setting this up to protect Lucas Argent? That bastard?'
It didn't add up.
Agram Argent was known for handling even his legitimate heirs without mercy or tears.
For him to orchestrate all this for a bastard?
Julius exhaled like a man cornered on a cliff's edge.
Yet his thoughts were only half right—the other half utterly wrong.
Lucas Argent was a special existence.
But not one to be protected.
"Still can't understand?"
"...Pardon?"
When he looked up again, Agram's face was creased in a frown.
As if puzzled why such a lowly creature still sat there.
Open contempt, as if a cardinal couldn't even follow this logic.
Yet he was enjoying the situation itself.
Entertainment.
So he gave the answer slowly, cruelly, to his foe who hadn't yet read the board.
"Proxy Blood Fate can be invoked by anyone bearing Argent blood."
"Yes, you explained that earlier..."
"Bastard or legitimate heir."
Agram cut him off.
"Even if the one holding that female demon is the bastard, and the one trying to take her is a legitimate heir—Proxy Blood Fate still stands."
"...Ah!"
The final piece clicked into place in Julius's mind.
Agram wasn't protecting Lucas.
He had merely placed him on the stage.