Like a Third-Rate Novel

Crash!!

The sound of something breaking echoed loudly in the large space.

After that, several more loud sounds of collisions and objects breaking, followed by the sound of someone catching their breath.

“Ah… detestable! Detestable! Detestable!”

A woman’s scream full of madness.

The negative emotions contained in that voice—not just madness but jealousy and hatred—made the surrounding air tremble.

The hateful girl who took away her love.

So she took everything from her in return.

Took away her blessing, took away her voice, bound her will.

Took away her family, took away her friends, took away her place to be, causing her suffering.

…After tormenting and tormenting her like that, she tried to get revenge for stealing her love by making her connect with a worthless, shabby, despicable person.

Yes. Everything was going so well.

It was going so well…!

“Why! Why are you smiling! Why do you have such a happy face!”

Everything began to go wrong.

The flower bud that had been withering more and more under curses was regaining its strength and trying to bloom into a beautiful flower again.

“You shouldn’t smile! You shouldn’t be happy!! Aaaaaaaah!!”

She had been soothing her love-deprived heart by watching that suffering, pointing fingers, and mocking.

But all of that went wrong.

“It’s because of you! It’s because of you!!”

A small light that suddenly appeared beside the object of her hatred.

Led by that light, the girl who escaped from suffering began to regain what she had lost.

Her voice, her family, her friends, her place.

And the will to regain everything and be happy again.

“I lost the plaything that was comforting the pain of my lost love!! Now I have to feel this painful heart again!!”

She naturally tried to eliminate the interference.

She tried to make the stupid clown fight, but for some reason, the power she gave to the clown weakened and failed.

She sent out a large number of magical beasts, but they still stubbornly survived and failed.

What about taking direct action like she did when she took away family and friends?

She had already tried that.

But her power didn’t work at all on the interferer.

It was very bewildering.

Although the degree varies depending on conditions, her power should work at least a little.

With that, she was able to separate the family from the hateful woman.

As long as they were beings of this world, her power should work on them.

That wasn’t the only problem.

Just by contacting the interferer, the influence of her power gradually decreased.

The hateful woman slowly regained what was taken from her, and the power bestowed on the clown was gradually chipped away.

The interferer even felt like a source of some kind of plague.

“If only you weren’t here!! If only you weren’t here!!”

She couldn’t take direct action.

She had failed to eliminate him several times.

She needed a way to eliminate him for sure.

As she pondered, one thought came to her.

“Yes… that exists…”

She remembered.

She had an enormous number of pawns she could use.

“I don’t know how long it will work using a being that’s already dead and gone… but it should have some effect, right?”

So she hoped it would help.

To go along with her lies and pull him down…

“The World Tree Church?”

Julius raised his eyebrows at the name his half-sister mentioned.

The World Tree Church.

Honestly, it wasn’t a particularly welcome name for the Palaginya royal family.

The kingdom does recognize the World Tree Church as the state religion, but that was only in the early days of the nation’s founding.

The church has changed too much now.

Various atrocities using the church’s power are the norm, along with unconditional rejection of other faiths.

Even the current hatred toward demi-humans was instigated by the church more than 20 years ago and has now become established.

‘Even the one who vanquished the Demon King 400 years ago was a demi-human.’

Back then, the demi-human race, which was praised, has now become so difficult to live with dignity due to the church’s behind-the-scenes machinations.

Well, this probably has nothing to do with the current story… thinking that, Julius put aside his thoughts and looked at his half-sister.

His half-sister, Princess Yuril, opened her mouth.

“The church’s movements are suspicious.”

“Those guys being suspicious isn’t something new.”

“Please look at this.”

Julius took what Yuril handed to him.

It was something like a proclamation written on elegant, high-quality paper.

Julius read the text written on the paper.

“When a black demon in the blessed land breaks the seal of the sealed Demon King and the world is stained in darkness, a warrior shining in silver will appear, shake off the demon’s interference, be bound to the red priestess he loves, defeat the demon, and seal the Demon King again, then the world will be peaceful again… what is this?”

“What does it look like to you?”

“Did some rich person write a third-rate novel on this expensive paper?”

Looking at Julius, who spoke with a bewildered expression, Yuril sighed and said:

“That paper is a proclamation that the church is distributing in each city.”

“……Huh?”

The bewildered expression on Julius’s face changed to one of disbelief.

“The Demon King was completely annihilated more than four hundred years ago. Breaking the Demon King’s seal… what seal exists to break?”

The Demon King had been sealed before.

However, the unsealed Demon King was completely annihilated in a battle with a party led by a demi-human.

Moreover, two of the members who participated in that party were Founding Queen Olivia and War God Kallidos.

Queen Olivia founded this Palaginya Kingdom and gave a speech when she ascended to the throne as queen.

That speech is still preserved by the Palaginya royal family, and its contents are famous enough to be included in various history books.

That speech clearly mentions the complete annihilation of the Demon King.

And for the next 400 years, the name “Demon King” was buried as a mere historical existence.

But now they’re saying that the Demon King wasn’t actually annihilated and that the seal will be broken?

Isn’t this directly picking a fight with the Palaginya royal family?

“They’re not just distributing proclamations, but also gathering people and giving speeches.”

“Has the church collectively gone mad?”

“That’s why I’m saying this… I heard that a few days ago, the church came looking for you, Julius.”

Hearing those words, Julius thought.

Come to think of it, two days ago, someone from the church did come looking for Prince Julius.

“Did you hear anything from them?”

“Ah… about that, Sister.”

Yes. They certainly did come.

But Julius didn’t meet them.

Or rather, perhaps it would be more accurate to say he couldn’t meet them.

However, he was reluctant to tell his half-sister about it.

Julius looked at Jess’s face, who was standing beside him, while sweating nervously.

Jess also had a tense face and was sweating.

“I… didn’t meet them.”

“I see. May I ask why?”

“Well… that is…”

Yes, honestly, it was hard to say.

How could he say that, as a member of the royal family, he went out for a brief escapade with his guard knight?

“I… just didn’t want to meet them, so I refused.”

“Is that so…”

Yuril, who had been looking at Julius’s face with narrowed eyes, turned her head.

Feeling like he had barely gotten away with it, Julius inwardly sighed with relief.

“Sister, does Father know about this proclamation?”

“Yes. A report was already submitted this morning.”

“What did Father say?”

“Naturally, he plans to protest directly to the church.”

Well, that makes sense.

This is practically a direct challenge to the authority of the royal family.

He knew that the church was going out of control, but he didn’t expect them to bring such stale bait and challenge the authority of the state.

“Luna and Aine are away, but you and I will attend the meeting.”

“Is that so? When is it?”

“Tonight, after dinner, Father said he would summon the archbishop of the royal capital church.”

“T-Tonight?”

“Yes. Given the nature of the issue.”

Julius’s head, which had relaxed while enjoying the festival for two days, began to hurt again.

Yuril rose from her seat with a slight smile.

“Then Julius, I’ll excuse myself first to prepare. And please moderate your outings.”

“Archbishop Marconi is entering!”

In the audience hall of the palace. A bearded man sat on the throne with a solemn expression.

His expression remained solemn and expressionless, but anger resided in his eyes.

His name was Gallarus Oldin Palaginya.

He was the king who ruled this Palaginya Kingdom.

Beside him sat Queen Selveria Lir Palaginya with a hardened expression, and the prince and princess were also seated nearby.

In addition, various officials, including the prime minister and the grand general, were in the audience hall with stiff expressions.

“It’s been a while, Your Majesty Gallarus.”

“Archbishop Marconi. It’s been a while.”

A middle-aged man in priestly robes with a long white beard entered the audience hall and paid his respects.

Although King Gallarus returned the greeting, anger still resided in his eyes.

“Then let’s get straight to the point. Archbishop, do you have anything to say about this paper?”

“Ah, so Your Majesty has seen it too!”

Although anger was contained in King Gallarus’s voice, the archbishop brightened up when he saw the paper the king was holding.

“Since Your Majesty has also seen it, this conversation will be quicker! This is a crisis beyond the kingdom, for the entire world, Your Majesty!!”

“……”

Does the archbishop properly recognize the problem with this paper?

The king unconsciously frowned.

“I am delighted to be talking about this divine revelation in Gransen, the blessed land!”

“…Did you say divine revelation?”

“Yes! What is written here is a divine revelation bestowed by the World Tree Yggdrasil!!”

This content, like a third-rate novel, is a divine revelation?

A deep wrinkle settled between the brows of King Gallarus, whose mood worsened.

“This is undoubtedly a divine revelation from Lord Yggdrasil warning us to prepare for the revival of the Demon King! So we conducted a thorough investigation in Gransen, known as the blessed land!”

“……”

“And since the investigation results have come in, I was just about to request Your Majesty’s cooperation for crisis management!”

“Cooperation? What cooperation do you want me to provide?”

Archbishop Marconi spread his arms and said:

“The church has investigated and identified the figures mentioned in the divine revelation! We ask that you protect Warrior Allen Ludwig and Priestess Riel Ignis, and execute the demon Kyo Wentos!”

At the archbishop’s words, everyone present grimaced.