It’s Not an Anomaly, I’m Just Too Strong (2)

The passengers on the Jakerocco that Amira, Alec, and Yona had been riding had changed.

The Jakerocco, now carrying all three plus Alebiang, was racing down the main road with Barikian tightly bound and dangling from its stinger tip.

“So a rebellion occurred and it was successful, is that it?”

“It seems that way.”

Alebiang analyzed the current situation, recombining the confession extracted from Barikian.

Of course, Barikian had initially insisted that he would rather die than confess, but after Alebiang whispered something to him, he started to answer questions obediently.

Barikian, a prairie lizardman.

The name of the tribe he belonged to was the Prairie Gilled Tribe.

Unlike the Azrami tribe, which passes down its surname, the entire tribe’s name was Prairie Gilled.

It was the Prairie Gilled Tribe that had produced the previous emperor.

In this Katus Empire, where seven tribes take turns occupying the emperor’s position, the Prairie Gilled Tribe was second to none in terms of belligerence. As a result, during the reign of the Prairie Gilled Tribe, the council composed of other tribal chiefs had to endure great hardships due to this bellicosity.

One of these was friction with the Kapatia Empire.

The Katus Empire borders the great desert known as the Land of Death to the south, and the Kanser Sea.

Although it borders the desert, it has the Katusio River, making the area very fertile, and fishing is also active due to the Kanser Sea.

The Katus Empire under the Prairie Gilled regime had consistently been on bad terms with the Kapatia Empire.

The Katus Empire, composed of not only the mainland but also various puppet states including Fulpus, Baka, Talpa, and Hircus to the north, dreamed of occupying the Emporusia Republic. As the ports of Kapatia and Emporusia serve as the hubs of trade in this northern continent, their goal was to occupy up to the port of Emporusia.

Thus, they continuously caused friction with the Kapatia Empire, and although it didn’t lead to a full-scale war, local conflicts occurred incessantly. And there were several instances where it almost led to a full-scale war—

Fortunately, in the midst of this, the Prairie Gilled regime ended and the regime of the Azrami tribe, who are snake people, began.

“In other words, they’re saying that if they had pushed a little more, they could have occupied up to the Emporusia Republic. I’m not sure how they planned to deal with the checks from the Orc Alliance and the Dwarf Kingdom though.”

Alebiang, who had been thinking about something after hearing Barikian’s words, slowly explained this while looking at Amira.

“Princess Amira, is there anything wrong with my explanation?”

“W-Well—”

Amira had a troubled expression.

Seeing Amira like this, Alebiang also looked perplexed.

It wasn’t incomprehensible.

Although Amira was a member of the imperial family, her rank was far removed, and in the Katus Empire where there was no imperial succession, she probably just spent her time comfortably traveling here and there without any royal struggles. What meaning would there be in asking such a person questions on a national scale?

“So the conclusion is this. The current imperial family, the snake people, are weak and unsatisfactory, let’s make our Prairie Gilled Tribe great again. Right? And they want to have a go at Kapatia.”

“That’s probably it. And it seems they haven’t succeeded yet.”

Alebiang glanced at Barikian dangling near the Jakerocco’s tail and then looked back at Yona.

From her perspective, it seemed the rebellion hadn’t succeeded yet. But it must be very close to success.

“Anyway, for now, we have no choice but to get to Esima quickly. And there’s a very high probability that he will be there.”

“You mean the Archduke?”

“Yes, the Demon Archduke. I have a rough guess as to which one it is, but I’ll let you know when I’m more certain. If my current thoughts are correct… well, it might be easier than we expect.”

Alebiang adjusted her glasses and smiled faintly.

“Pretty one, everything will move for your sake.”

Yona frowned at Alebiang’s words.

“You’re being ridiculous. Nothing’s going right, what nonsense are you talking about?”

Alebiang had no response to that.

【I don’t understand why you’re going this far.】

In the small room, a dark red flame was burning brightly.

However, no heat could be felt, and the flickering flame, as if without substance, burned brilliantly without burning anything.

“Reason? There’s no such thing. How many things in this world happen without reason?”

Ceres picked up the box placed in front of her and held it up to the flame.

The dark brown box was tightly closed, and it was sealed with a yellow-dyed cloth, giving an ominous feeling.

【It’s fine with me either way. But I never promised to accept your proposal.】

“It doesn’t matter either way.”

Ceres showed no sign of caring about the voice coming from the flames.

Rather, as if it didn’t matter at all, she picked up a small knife placed beside her and started to cut through the yellow cloth sealing the box.

The knife is too sharp for such flimsy cloth to withstand.

The cloth, torn with soft sounds as she moved, soon broke helplessly and rolled onto the floor, and Ceres opened the lid of the box without hesitation.

• • Kuoooo…

    As soon as the box was opened, a dark energy rose fully from within.

    As this energy, which looked like black smoke, rose vigorously, Ceres frowned and blew it away with a puff.

“Do you know how much trouble I went through to gather this?”

【I have no need to know such things.】

“It’s over a thousand, you know.”

Ceres unhesitatingly put her hand into the box and pulled out what was inside.

What she held in her hand was a pitch-black glass bead.

As soon as it was taken out, something inside the glass bead was wriggling and moving.

“There’s the grudge of over a thousand people accumulated here.”

【Yes, I can feel it just by looking. It’s a high-quality item.】

“You want this, don’t you?”

The flame danced, swaying.

But the voice that had been coming from within it until now had stopped speaking and was saying nothing.

“I know you want it. I can gladly hand over this much. I brought it to hand over in the first place.”

Ceres pushed the glass bead back into the box.

The box, filled with very thick cotton wool, held the glass bead firmly to prevent it from breaking, and Ceres checked that the bead was well-seated before closing the lid.

“It’s hard to find a grudge as powerful as this. It’s the grudge of those who died unfairly, resentfully, grievously— and in the most humiliating way. You should know that it’s not easy to gather such pure grudges without any context, right? Isn’t that so?”

Ceres put the box down on the floor.

The box placed in front of her, sitting cross-legged, was shimmering in the flickering dark red flame, calmly receiving its light.

“It’s not a difficult story.”

Ceres rested her chin on her hand and glared at the flame.

This should be enough to win ‘him’ over, but despite that, ‘his’ consistent silence was not to her liking.

The number of remaining Demon Archdukes is now five.

Berbaria had attached himself to Yona, and Damian had been killed by Yona.

The remaining five Demon Archdukes, as far as she knew, were not in the Kapatia Empire.

One or two are in the Katus Empire, and then in the Orc Alliance and the Dwarf country, and the last one is in the Fairy country.

And the Archduke in that Fairy country is the strongest among the Demon Archdukes.

She has come here to recruit that Archduke into her plan.

Ceres, who had created the plausibility of the false accusation of being a demon follower due to her resemblance to the apostate, had scraped together these grudges to use like this.

Ceres pushed the box towards where the flame was.

The box slid smoothly as if it had wheels, moving towards the flickering flame.

“So, it’s not difficult. Then why can’t you answer? Don’t tell me—”

Ceres’s eyes curved like a full moon.

An expression that couldn’t be seen as a benevolent smile even as a joke.

The smile that bloomed on her face, if one had to name it, should rightly be called a sneer.

“Don’t tell me, you’re scared? Are you scared because you think you can’t do it?”

【You’re babbling too freely with that open mouth of yours. Should I rip it apart to make you shut up?】

“That’s why I’m telling you to answer. You’ve been doing well until now anyway, isn’t it unfair that this little thing is trying to interfere?”

【Priest. Don’t try to cover it up with such clumsy lies. I am not so foolish as to be unable to see through one like you just because I am far away. Do you think I don’t know that you have other ulterior motives?】

“Other ulterior motives—”

Ceres smiled faintly again.

Other ulterior motives— why wouldn’t there be such things?

Of course there are, but there’s no reason to reveal them here and now.

“You’re the same, aren’t you? Your ulterior motives are elsewhere too. Let’s try to align our interests, us who have ulterior motives.”

【…You’re honest. Good.】

A hand stretched out from the flame.

A hand that could barely be called a hand, with no flesh to be found, just bones remaining—

It reached out and swiftly took the box.

“Alright, then the contract is established. Right?”

【That is correct. I shall accept that proposal of yours.】

“Good.”

Ceres stood up.

Then she stretched widely and stared quietly at the flame.

“The Saint of the demon realm must be killed. Don’t kill the body, just suck out the soul. I have use for the body, you see.”

The flame flickered greatly and then slowly disappeared.

As the flame vanished, the room sank into darkness, and only Ceres’s eyes glinted within it.

“—Alebiang, I’m sorry, but it’s too late for things to go your way.”