episode_0016

Since dominating the continent completely, there was practically nothing that posed a threat to the evil spirits.

Even if they were of different species, Adel, who eventually became the Dragon Lord, Mari, who possessed the World Tree, saints and holy maidens, couldn’t stop the talents from the evil spirits.

Of course, they were hiding very well in various places, so it was still in progress to find them.

“Evil spirit! I’ve ascended as the Dragon Lord this time!”

While we were attending a banquet, she seemed to have overwhelmingly defeated other dragons as the Dragon Lord.

The Dragon Lord, ruler and idol of all dragons.

The strongest, most excellent, and at the same time, a being who receives immense respect from everyone.

We call that the Dragon Lord.

“Congratulations, you must have really worked hard.”

“I also wanted to go to the banquet with everyone, but due to issues on the Black Dragon’s side, it was suddenly moved up… It was supposed to be held about 180 years later, so, I kind of rushed it!”

Don’t look at me as if asking, “Did I do well?” while saying that.

Lately, I’ve been wondering if something is wrong with my head, whether I really did well or not.

Is this some kind of brainwashing or something?

“It seems like everyone is busy today.”

After the banquet ended, everyone seemed busy cleaning up after the war and receiving various tributes from other countries.

Well, most of it was the results obtained after the war, so it seemed to take quite a while just to handle those things.

“But Abel fortunately has the Holy Maiden as a hostage, so it’s not difficult to gain absolute control over the Sacred Empire. The Archbishop said that he would kneel down if necessary to preserve the life of the Holy Maiden.”

I’m starting to feel sorry for the Sacred Empire more and more.

I was told not to treat them so harshly after the banquet, and Abel knew that, so maybe he stopped at this point.

If it were originally the evil spirits, hostages and threats were basic, and if necessary, they would have even made his family kill themselves with their own hands.

Hmm.

Come to think of it, it seems a bit lenient.

“Adele, don’t you have anything to do?”

“Yeah! Unless force is needed, I don’t have much to do, right?”

When I think about it, Cecilia was the one managing the money among us.

Thinking about each of us doing our own tasks, Adele might be the most relaxed officer here.

“Caesar said he tortured the informant and found good information! He said we need to take the Holy Maiden to enter the treasure vault. So he’s going to take her there?”

“…Allow it, anyway, Rebecca came prepared for this level too.”

“The evil spirit is cold-hearted. Normally in such situations, wouldn’t you worry about being tortured or something?”

“At least you guys are first to me.”

It’s just the difference between first and second place.

If the first priority wants to take the second priority with them, I don’t see any reason to stop them.

That makes me seem like a total bystander, a hypocrite… but those words might fit more than I thought.

“But I’m glad there’s someone to drink tea with.”

Of course, Adele seemed to have a rather childish taste, so she was drinking cocoa instead of enjoying tea.

It was quite miraculous that she, who was usually so active, was sitting quietly.

“Evil spirit, evil spirit! I’m bored!”

Of course, that didn’t last long either.

“In that case, I should take a walk for a while.”

“Really? Then I’ll get ready quickly!”

The evil spirit, beyond that, had never ridden a dragon in her life.

And that dragon was none other than the first half-dragon to ascend to the position of Lord.

A tremendous opponent from the first experience.

“It’s the first time I’ve ridden you.”

“That’s right, it hasn’t even been a month since the evil spirit came down here, right?”

“…Come to think of it, that’s true.”

Then you conquered one empire in a short time and slaughtered many people.

The more I delve into it, the more I think that “organization” is a more appropriate word than “denomination.”

Slaughter, torture, human experiments, war at every turn.

Gotham City must be cleaner and more honest than here.

“Evil spirit, how about it? Are you okay?”

She momentarily transformed into a dragon’s form and carried me, flying high into the sky.

We ascended to the high sky without any safety devices, but it felt like my emotions had dulled, only sensing the height.

Perhaps because there was no chance of dying even if we fell, I didn’t feel any fear.

I don’t feel dizzy or tense, or any such emotions.

“We’re about to reach the Sacred Empire… Why not take a look inside the treasure vault while we’re here!”

So you came here on purpose.

It won’t take long before we reach the Sacred Empire directly.

No wonder everything around us passed by quickly.

“It seems an enormous dragon flew here at an immeasurable speed. It turns out to be an evil spirit.”

Caesar politely stepped outside and greeted me.

Beside him stood Rebecca, looking completely unfazed.

After my gift, Caesar had become quite gentlemanly, and I thought Rebecca might probe something even if she didn’t torture, considering she was hosting my guest.

But it seemed not.

“Did you find out anything?”

“As soon as Rebecca joined us, she knew the way to the treasure vault. It’s as if she heard it from someone.”

If she heard, it must have been from Lucia.

Given her divine nature, we must have known about such information to some extent.

“Since you’ve come this far, why not take a look at the items from the treasure vault before leaving.”

“Sure! I want to see them!”

Adele seemed filled with anticipation, and since there were many treasures, we should take a look.

Even if I forget a few things, I remember most of the good-looking ones.

“I heard that chessboard was brought here recently.”

“The chessboard? Oh, the one Abel keeps in the vault? You… brought it here?”

Abel was hoarding it all for himself.

Even so, he was supposed to share with others; I’ll have to talk to him later.

“By the way, I’m curious about what the evil spirit did to Marie. Recently, her underwater operations have expanded.”

“Weren’t you supposed to keep her real name secret?”

“I think the evil spirit is starting to catch on.”

Well, she caught on a bit faster than I thought, working underwater.

I don’t know exactly what’s going on, but most issues can be resolved by sending workers down below.

“What’s this? It’s so fascinating!”

“That’s the Holy Sword left by Victor, who was once the Pope. It’s said to have the property of burning demons.”

“So, weren’t the bombs made by the evil spirit and Therasia not very useful?”

“While our bombs could be distributed to different places, the Holy Sword can’t be given to multiple locations simultaneously. Moreover, being a divine relic, it has rarely been used in practice.”

Although those bombs could have been active in various places, they couldn’t really be used effectively.

Except for Therasia, who used divine blood as a material, no one else could make them, and obtaining the materials was impossible.

Furthermore, most of the items she made went into wars, making it difficult to utilize them properly.

At that time, although she made thousands, there were barely a hundred left now.

“By the way, have you found out anything else?”

“Well… First, I found out that the recent rebel activities are intensifying. Fortunately, there’s news that one of the spies has infiltrated, so we plan to track him down and deal with him soon. Other than that, information is still scarce.”

They are rebels.

No matter how much they call themselves a secret organization, in the end, they dominated the continent, and their influence covered the entire continent.

Naturally, now, rather than a secret organization, it felt more like an immensely huge organization dominating the continent.

Although it was a sect.

So, naturally, it was not at all strange for a rebel army opposing the tyranny of the evil cult to arise.

According to Abel, in reality, it felt more like the last gasp of the defeated countries.

“Do not give false hope.”

“If that is what the evil god desires, so be it.”

“Adele, have you seen enough?”

“Yes! There were so many amazing things.”

Well, there were indeed many amazing things.

Starting from the Holy Sword of the first Pope, to various other miraculous items, she had been collecting them all.

It was a place suitable for Adele, who was curious and lively.

“Well, let’s go somewhere else now.”

“Hmm… Where should we go?”

She transformed back into the form of a dragon and floated into the air before speaking.

“Let’s go see Cecilia this time.”

“Cecilia went to manage the money flowing in the slums with Ryu!”

“Then let’s go there.”

But the slums were not just one or two places.

So, when they flew over, it seemed like it was a slum area within the empire.

From the slums deliberately left by Beatrice, where significant crimes such as drug trafficking, money laundering, prostitution, and contract killings took place, rather than stopping these crimes, they were being nurtured and expanded from behind.

“This is not a pleasant sight to behold.”

“…The smell here is not great. The mixture of various odors has been bothering me for a while… Ugh…”

Indeed, dragons must be reptiles.

Their sense of smell seems to be quite keen.

The nauseating stench that permeated the air in various places had significantly soured my mood as well.

“Well, it’s been a while, kids.”

Guided by Adele, as I entered further inside, I saw Ryu preparing medicine and Cecilia organizing documents.

Cecilia, who usually didn’t show any clear actions, seemed slightly flustered upon my sudden entrance.

Perhaps she had been mentally preparing herself to face me until now.

“It’s been a while, what are you talking about? It felt like we were at a banquet together just yesterday…. Ahem… I’ve been working on medicine, so maybe my sense of time has gone awry again.”

“We did attend a banquet together yesterday. I just wanted to say that.”

“Well, suit yourself. But why have you come here? There’s nothing special to see in this slum area. Even though I’m surrounded by beautiful women, dealing with this cheap stuff… Oh, stop, stop. Don’t look at me like that.”

He chuckled as he spoke.

Enjoying such pointless jokes was his thing.

“Since you’ve come all this way, I can’t let you leave empty-handed. Hey! Take Cecilia with you. The underground market finances should be more or less settled by now.”

“Aren’t you coming too?”

“My work is mostly at night… I have no desire to get involved in those matters. So, I have no intention of getting further involved. Take both of them with you.”

“Then let it be so.”

Since the work is mostly at night, it means we can’t go right now.

No wonder everyone seems busy this week; they even said they wouldn’t have dinner together.

Cecilia seems busy, so it might have been unnecessary for her to come out…

“I’m… fine.”

A voice heard for the first time not as a TV announcer but in person.

Cecilia opened her mouth properly for the first time.

“Oh, I see. Then let’s go together.”

I was also slightly taken aback by the unexpected situation.

Her voice was really nice. Although she didn’t speak much, seeing her face turn red made me not probe further.

Still, it would be dangerous for an ordinary human like Cecilia to ride Adele.

“Since the Black Tower is nearby, go through that way…”

“Ryu, prepare the carriage.”

Cecilia added another word as if all the things she hadn’t said in front of me were just illusions.

That Cecilia!

Ah, have I finally become comfortable? Have I become more familiar now?

“Let’s… take the carriage.”

When speaking to me, she still stumbled and spoke less, but…

The act of speaking itself was a very satisfying development for me.

“Well, let’s keep doing that then.”

So we leisurely rode the carriage back to the Evil Spirit Church.

It was late at night, but I was resting.

And thus, the day came to an end.

“…A rebellion has broken out?”

Of course, I had no idea what would unfold the next day, not even in my dreams.