Ch.278Encounter (1)

**[Finally, at last, I’ve reached here]**

‘….Huh?’

Simultaneously with an ominously sinister voice resonating from the corpse, something like purple smoke begins to seep out from Delil’s suddenly twitching body.

A voice containing vast amounts of information—incomprehensible even to a high-ranking person like myself—flows into my ears, and the overwhelming volume of information numbs my senses, my brain, my brain, my brain—

“—Hnngh!”

I deliberately dull my senses while taking a sharp breath. I turn my consciousness inward to avoid focusing on anything too striking.

While intentionally letting the pressure flooding through my five senses wash over me, I utilize the filter function installed in my helmet to suppress and filter out most of the excess information, leaving only the essentials.

Naturally, the helmet creaks under the strain of controlling and managing output beyond its latent capacity, but it manages to somewhat mitigate the flow by simply allowing only a portion of the information through.

Still, there was no way to prevent the throbbing headache and the sense of my consciousness drifting away.

Gluttony (Gula), greed for food, the most primal and fundamental desire.

The origin of eating, devouring, consuming. The predation of countless mouths. A mountain of delicacies, primitive cooking with bones still attached roasting over a campfire, and simultaneously stale bread crawling with maggots.

Countless pieces of information—despite being filtered—lead my mind into a hazy realm, impossible to completely reject.

But— the rank and status of a high-ranking official is no mere decoration.

I grit my teeth and stare directly at the opponent. I firmly endure the turbulent imagery and forcibly suppress my crumbling composure.

Only after going through this entire process could I finally face that “Gluttony,” while quietly suppressing my still slightly trembling heart and soul.

Beelzebub, the demon lord of the Seven Deadly Sins symbolizing “Gluttony.” This demon, known by countless titles and names, worshipped across various faiths, took the form of a massive, plump fly.

The apex of demons—with a lower body made of writhing maggots devouring something resembling a corpse, and an upper body composed of buzzing, ceaselessly moving swarms of flies.

This powerful demon-lord, marked by countless continuities, was looking at me with compound eyes that showed a different appearance on each facet.

“….What do you want?”

I ask without acknowledging. I question without directly looking. When I pose my question to this demon lord—whose gap in power remains unbridgeable even for someone of my high rank—the demon lord opens its “mouth” softly and speaks in dozens of languages simultaneously.

Blasphemous, disgusting, hissing, violent, sacred, nauseating, gentle, fierce, and, and….

As the helmet’s noise-canceling technology struggles with the imperceptible flow, my face contorts in response to the intent piercing my mind.

**[What I want is only one thing, my lovely (unfilial) son.]**

“What is that…!! After trying to kill me so many times, you have the nerve to talk about being unfilial?”

The disgusting demon lord’s voice overlaps with ‘Bella de Alzar’s’ voice. Sound fails to function as sound, and the voice that gradually breaks down my mind continues to whisper.

And in this atmosphere, the demon lord suddenly reveals an “human-like” emotion and speaks to me softly.

**[I’m truly curious, my son. Why do you think that I, who loves my only blood relative the most, would try to kill you?]**

“What? The one who’s been causing chaos in the village non-stop and created Delil to attack me is asking why I think they tried to kill me?”

**[Hmm, how curious. If I had truly wanted to kill you… wouldn’t I have had plenty of opportunities?]**

“….What?”

After hearing its words—despite coming from a demon lord known as the greatest liar among demons who should never be trusted—something began to resonate in my mind.

No, after hearing those words, what I had vaguely sensed all along became clearly imprinted in my mind the moment that demon verbalized it.

Certainly… thinking carefully, the demon’s behavior until now had been strange.

Despite having numerous opportunities to kill or pressure me, it not only avoided such chances but rather sent its subordinates in sequential waves, allowing my devouring ability to be fully exercised.

During the basilisk incident, it could have easily killed me by simply assigning a cultist assassin, and there were almost no machinations targeting the village I was obligated to protect.

While there had been several external attacks, the “Gluttony” itself never attempted any internal sabotage, which was most telling.

What particularly made me suspicious was the sequential deployment. If it had unleashed all its forces from the beginning, it would have been enough to kill me, but instead, it sent attackers in order from weakest to strongest….

‘….Huff.’

To think that beneath what I believed to be malicious intent, there actually existed a friendly purpose. Honestly speaking, how could I possibly believe such nonsense?

“Right, I shouldn’t die. You need to lead me down the path of becoming your follower.”

**[….Heh heh.]**

While it’s generally taboo to lump all cultists together given their various types, there is nevertheless one commonality among all cultists.

Namely, corruption must always occur by one’s own will.

Even if it’s coercion through death threats, the essence is the direct consent expressed by the one being corrupted.

The ownership of a soul is impossible for any transcendent being, with few exceptions, so considering this, all of its schemes must have been intended to make me corrupt myself willingly.

And… around that time.

**[If that is your will, as a mother, I truly have no recourse.]**

To that disgusting abomination speaking in a genuinely mournful voice as if it were the protagonist of some tragedy, I snapped and shouted:

“Stop talking nonsense! What do you mean you have no recourse! You just failed because of your own incompetence! You’re not even my real parent, so what do you mean ‘mother’!”

**[Real parent? I am…]**

“—Yes, you directly gave birth to me. By stealing the body of my birth mother, Bella de Alzar!”

Indeed, looking back, every claim this creature made was fundamentally inconsistent.

The body that gave birth to me wasn’t even its own but ‘Bella de Alzar’s.’ The person who actually raised me as a real mother was my nanny, who now works as the head maid.

As this creature, who had hidden its face without any qualification as a parent, spoke so detestably, it suddenly raised the corner of its mouth to an abnormal degree after seeing my outburst….

**[….There seems to be some misunderstanding.]**

At those words, spoken as if mocking what anyone would consider evil thoughts, I could hardly maintain my composure.

“Misunderstanding? A misunderstanding?”

**[Yes, you clearly stated that I stole your birth mother’s body to give birth to you, correct?]**

The corners of its mouth stretched to its cheekbones, and its eyes filled with derision. Mockery, scorn, pity, and sympathy—all manner of emotions flashed through her eyes before she opened her smiling mouth and….

**[That was wrong from the beginning.]**

“….What?”

For a moment, I thought she was speaking nonsense, but now she looked at me with a gaze somewhere between condescension and contempt as she spoke.

**[I have been Bella from the very beginning.]**

“….From the beginning?”

**[Yes, from the beginning. From the moment the woman named Bella was first born until now, ‘Beelzebub’ has been Bella without change.]**

“….What?”

A conclusion that completely overturned my initial calculations. The revelation that all of this had happened before anything even began. As my mind was thrown into confusion—

**[Ah, yes. This phrase would suit you better. I am your mother.]**

Her finishing blow drove something deep into my already unstable heart.