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Side Story Chapter 67

“B-But it’s said that His Majesty Joshua Sanders has already die…” Grimman closed his mouth and stopped talking.

Joshua narrowed his eyes. “Other countries think I’m dead, huh?”

“Cough, cough. Excuse me. You were away from your throne for too long. ”

“It’s fine. Well, yeah. How else could Hermons have thought to play gangster in my country if they knew I was here?”

Grimman frowned; ‘Hermon’ was the derogatory term for Hermes’s priests. The ‘-mon’ in Hermon came from ‘monster’, which meant that they were Hermes’s pet monsters.

“…Of course, that doesn’t completely answer my question.”

“Huh?” Joshua tilted his head.

“Among the evil demons, some of them are capable of copying a person’s appearance. So could it be…?”

Before Grimman could finish speaking, sharp icicles were created in the air, surrounding the paladins. It was at least a Class 5 magic spell, but even more threateningly. none of them heard the mage chanting.

“Th-This is a very high magic spell…!”

“An ice mage in Avalon that is at least of the sixth circle…”

“Wait…”

Iceline took off her hood. As her robe fluttered down, her beautiful appearance and ice-blue eyes were revealed. The paladins and priests gasped.

“I-I knew it…!”

“I’m already annoyed because you people are interrupting my picnic with my wives. It’s been a long time since I did this, but you want to treat me as the Demon Spirit’s minion?” Joshua asked, frowning.

Grimman’s hands trembled faintly. Things were turning bad. The mage was obviously Iceline Sanders, the First Queen Consort of the Avalon Empire.

Obviously, Grimman wasn’t concerned about this incident turning into an international issue because that was exactly what the Hubalt Empire wanted. Avalon was a tiger without fangs—but it became a different story if those fangs grew back.

“I see the Hermons got pretty big-headed while I was away,” Joshua remarked, cracking his knuckles.

“Wa-Wait!” Grimman hastily shouted, having run out of options.

“What?”

“Th-There is no way humans can use demonic power unless they’re demons! I’m an archbishop of the Hermes Temple—my concern is for the sake of the continent, so I beg you for your understanding, Your Majesty!”

Joshua raised an eyebrow. “You haven’t heard that I can use demonic power?”

“I-I have, but I heard that very long ago… And although I’ve lived for a long time, I never met someone who could use demonic power in person.”

A grin spread on Joshua’s face. It was pretty annoying to see Grimman trying to nitpick everything Joshua said, but he decided to play along this time.

“Then watch and see for yourself.”

“Pardon…?”

A black mass floated above Joshua’s head and then moved to his right hand.

“My demonic power in one hand,” he began.

And before Grimman could respond, a fist-sized white mass popped up on top of Joshua’s left palm.

“D-Divine power!” the archbishop shouted. Given his position, he recognized it immediately.

“My divine power in my other hand,” Joshua finished.

“H-How is this possible…?”

“I’m not a priest, but I can use divine power. So I think the fact that I can use demonic power isn’t very surprising.” Joshua shrugged and then grabbed one of the icicles from the air and pointed the tip at Grimman’s neck. The archbishop’s breath caught.

“You accused and continually disrespected an emperor… You don’t really have an excuse to stop me from killing you, do you?”

Grimman shivered helplessly and threw himself to the ground. “P-Please forgive my discourtesy!”

“Don’t look up. It’s uncomfortable to look into the eyes of an old man who’s going to die any minute now.”

“O-Okay.”

“What are you doing?” Joshua turned to look at the paladins and priests.

The paladins and priests had been exchanging anxious glances, but they quickly made a decision after Joshua spoke to them.

“Please forgive us!”

“Please grant us mercy!”

Joshua gave their prostrate forms a pleased look.

“I’ll forgive you.”

“Th-Thank you!”

Some of the paladins tilted their heads, confused; they hadn’t thought they would be forgiven this easily. Joshua was as infamous as he was popular.

“But what will you people give me?” Joshua asked.

“Excuse me?”

“Hmm? You aren’t going to walk away after just saying you’re sorry, are you? You’re the believers of merciful Hermes.”

The zealots flinched.

“Woah—you people would probably just say sorry after killing an innocent person,” Joshua said sarcastically.

“H-How can you make such a comparison—”

“What are you talking about? You people were trying to do something worse just now. Well over tens of thousands of people would perish in war, but you tried to start one. I was terrified, you know? A gang of paladins pointing fingers at a small number of people, threatening to start a war. Gosh, it was so scary that I couldn’t speak properly.”

Grimman was on the verge of swearing, but he just barely held it back. Although he wanted to ask Joshua what he had been doing until now, he would never say it out loud.

A silence fell upon the area.

“So how will you compensate for my mental damage?” Joshua said with a little smile.

* * *

Beelzebub was the king of infinite undead that possessed the power of Gluttony, one of the Seven Evil Sins’ powers.

“Grrrr.”

On top of that mountain, inside Marquess Turtler’s castle, were many corpses. It was obvious who was behind this massacre, given that various kinds of undead were newly born from those corpses.

The corpses wearing infantryman’s gear became skeletons.

The headless knights turned into dullahans. The corpse exuding an especially strong energy of death was Turtler.

-Huff… huff…

The newly resurrected death knight breathed loudly through his black helmet, but Turtler’s return wasn’t the only problem.

A loud thrumming shook the air. The clear form of a black tortoise was formed behind the death knight, but the tortoise was also an undead; half of its shell had already decayed away.

“Th-That’s possible…?” Anna mumbled, her voice trembling.

If it was possible to make an authority into an undead, the continent would become a paradise for black mages when they reappeared. Black mages would not only be able to turn the enemies they killed into their allies but also preserve their full power.

“Stay back.” Kireua gestured to Anna.

“A-Are you really going to fight them?”

“I should try.”

“Ask for help around the continent! The undead are everyone’s enemies. I don’t know about other countries, but the Hubalt Empire would surely step in since they call themselves the holy empire!” Anna shrieked.

Kireua didn’t even give it a second of thought and shook his head. Since he had studied in the Thran Kingdom, he knew better than anyone what kind of tyrants strong countries were and the tragedies that befell weaker countries. Although Avalon wasn’t as weak as Thran, there was no denying that Avalon had become significantly weaker. There was no telling what demands the Hubalt Empire would make in return for their help.

“If I retreat now, the whole western region will turn into the Demon Realm,” Kireua said.

“What? Turn into the Demon Realm?”

“Yeah, the Seven Evil Sins’ powers have the ability to turn a certain region into an environment similar to the Demon Realm.”

Kireua released his energy.

“It would have been better if you had yielded,” Beelzebub muttered with a crooked grin. “You won’t be able to endure a single attack from my knight here.”

Beelzebub’s ability was outstanding on the battlefield, but he wasn’t invincible. The moment he used up all of his demonic power, he wouldn’t be able to maintain his undead anymore.

‘…Wait, how do I know these facts?’ Kireua wondered.

-Grrrrr!

The death knight—formerly Turtler before his death—held up his sword and roared like a general commanding his army to march. All the undead inside the castle advanced on Kireua simultaneously.

The prince’s muscles tensed. The priority of a battle was clear.

‘Eliminate the leader first.’

He had only one chance before he got completely surrounded.

An enormous, raging storm suddenly sprang up around Kireua and Anna.

“Your Highness! I don’t know what you’re trying to do, but do it quickly!” Anna shouted.

The storm had been created by Anna’s elemental spirit magic. It created a curtain of wind that separated the undead from Kireua, but ten of the undead had already slipped in and were approaching him.

-Krrrr!

A dullahan, one of those ten undead, was about to strike Kireua’s head with his sword.

Just then, Kireua leaped high in the air. A Kireua’s aura rose up from his sword like tongues of flame, and he thrust it outward.

“Ahhhhhh!” Kireua shouted.

The death knight was visibly confused. When their swords clashed, a loud and unpleasant assailed their ears. It was a battle of aura now, not strength.

“Mmm…” Kireua grunted. The rebound he could feel through his hand was very strong.

He failed to accomplish his goal. Hundreds of undead were about to trap him..

‘If His Majesty were here… how would he have fought?’ Kireua wondered.

One of Turtler’s titles was “Impenetrable Shield”, so would it be too arrogant to hope to end this fight with one strike?

‘…No, not at all. I’m Joshua Sanders’s son.’ Kireua’s grip unconsciously tightened around his sword.

Annihilate the demons and recover the west as well as the north… Joshua Sanders’s son should be able to do that, although Kireua was still not particularly interested in the throne.

‘The children’s reputation is also the parents’. I’ll never allow my mother to be insulted for giving birth to a half-wit son with no ambition.’

-Are you a half-wit, Kireua?

Kireua’s eyes widened upon hearing the voice inside his mind. ‘Coal…?’

-I’m back!

‘Y-You come back now?’

-Did you miss me, Kireua?

Kireua froze for a moment, his sword still locked against the dullahan’s, but he quickly broke into a grin.

‘Yeah, I’ve missed you so freaking much.’