episode_0029

“So to summarize―”

The older brother of King Pavé, Praline was originally the heir to the throne of the Ken tribe.

However, due to differences in talent, he lost the right to succeed to Faber and from then on, he felt inferior.

Praline was deprived of his position as king by the demon-worshipping Ken tribe due to his lack of military power, so he slowly took away the Ken tribe’s mind and body that pursued martial arts and trained them, and slowly wrapped up his going to war in alliance with the Demon tribe as a meaningless death.

Originally, that inferiority complex wouldn’t have been a problem, but unfortunately, it became a variable because of me.

From the 1st to the 5th generations, excluding the 6th Demon King (the 6th generation was excluded because it did not have the Four Heavenly Kings in the first place), one of the positions of the Four Heavenly Kings went to the King of the Dogs, and this was an act that proved the strong bond between the Demon Tribe and the Dog Tribe, and it was a symbol of royal authority.

However, the Four Heavenly Kings, who were supposed to be Fabbe’s seat, went to me, and in the tug-of-war that Fabbe had been politically trying to maintain the number of warriors, the power of the King of Heaven was completely drained.

Because of that, most of the Ken clan members who had become lethargic because the thoughts that Praline had secretly implanted in them were already deeply embedded in their heads, either sympathized with Praline and gave up their positions as warriors, or those who did not give up their positions as warriors began to slack off on their training.

The warriors’ muscles were weak, their senses were weak, and their minds were weak, but it had only been a few months, so Fabre had plenty of time to recover.

And unfortunately, if the accident hadn’t happened.

Someone impersonating Abel brutally murdered most of the Ken tribe’s warriors. The weakened warriors died without even being able to fight back properly, and the Ken tribe collapsed beyond recovery.

It is assumed that someone was after Praline, because the artifact hanging around Praline’s neck was a very powerful protective artifact that had been passed down through generations in the Dog King’s family, as revealed in the conversation with the Dog King. (Pave was surprised once by the fact that her brother had stolen it without permission, and twice by the fact that it was almost destroyed.)

Whatever the reason for targeting Praline, most of the warriors happened to be nearby. Well, the fate of the warriors who abandoned their training because Fabbe had completely lost political power is well known.

“That was the sum total of my opinions, now it’s Leah’s turn!”

Oh right. We became close friends after being locked up in prison, and we decided to call each other by our first names. I was able to clear up the misunderstanding that Fabé had approached me for political reasons.

Anyway, to get back to the story, it seemed like the Libra Goddess wanted to have Abel completely under her control.

This is just a guess without any evidence, but considering the considerable effort the Goddess has put into Abel since the time of Noah, there must be another reason for it, rather than just to neatly end Pangea. Of course, I can bet my fingers that it’s a stupid reason.

That’s why the goddess must have intended to kidnap me from the beginning. Originally, I was supposed to be an enemy of Abel and out of reach, so I was a great hostage and a device to make him accept his fate of death without avoiding it…

Now that he’s with Abel, isn’t he slowly raising the stakes for rebellion? Solving the heart problem and the lifespan problem, and then releasing the leash? That’s probably what he’s thinking.

Originally, they were going to kidnap me from the temple, but Abel came earlier than expected and got in the way. Perhaps, the goddess made a contract with Praline to reduce the power of the Ken Tribe, plant a spy in the Four Heavenly Kings to prevent any possible rebellion, and secure me to take control of Abel.

For now, our investigation ends here. There may be more details, but we can only find out if we escape, whether we dig into it or not.

“So let’s put our heads together and come up with a way to escape, with my IQ being 100 and your IQ being 100, making a total of 200.”

“Wow!”

Fabio brought his forehead against mine.

“No, really, let’s not fight…”

Fabbe had such an innocent look in his eyes, as if he didn’t care what was wrong. It was enough to make me think, “Just do something about it.”

“Yeah. Well… If it’s convenient for you, just stay that way. The problem is those iron bars and the guard. And I don’t know how to get out… Pave, do you know the way here?”

“Of course I know!”

Fortunately, if we can solve the problem of the iron bars and guards, then escaping won’t be a big problem.

“…Ah.”

Come to think of it, there’s no way to solve that. Faber can’t properly draw out his power because he’s wearing a magic sealing ball, and I don’t have any power to begin with.

Just when I was thinking, “Is there really no way?” I heard a loud, ear-splitting sound along with a flapping sound.

“Oh my noble one!!!!”

“This voice… Mino?! How… No, first of all, be quiet!”

After covering Mino’s mouth, which looked like it had been boiled in a train car, and calming him down, he examined Mino.

You turned into a bat and sneaked in!

“The Four Heavenly Kings? How did they know we were kidnapped…”

“Ah, King of the Bears. That is a valid question. Your Majesty, in case you were harmed by a noble person, you cast a spell on me in advance so that I would know if a noble person was in danger.”

‘hmm?’

Was it a coincidence that the King of the Dogs felt a moment of hesitation at that point?

It was buried as it was, as we all know now, because Fabbe was not a deep thinker.

‘It seems true that he’s trying to protect Leah and me, so let’s move on.’

“First, you have to get out of here. Outside… No, first, move your body to a safe place.”

“Then we have to escape… but can’t you turn us into bats?”

“No, that won’t work.”

The words of refusal came out firmly. Then how do I open the iron bars?

“The guard had the key. However, I…”

“I know, I’m weak to symbols.”

Because we can’t turn Mino into ashes. The guard outside is an angel even if he’s disguised as a dog.

“I’m confident I can win. If only you release this magic seal!”

Oh, by the way, there was a fave, right? I forgot because you always acted so foolishly in front of me.

“Then… Put your hand here for a moment, leader of the Kyeon tribe.”

When Pave reached out his hand without any hesitation, Mino quickly grabbed his hand.

‘…I -Per- am even this selfish?’

Fortunately, I soon split my finger with my nail to draw blood and put that blood into the crack in the magic seal, and the seal was released with a clicking sound, so I could put my suspicions about Mino to rest.

“This is no different from eating cold stew to me!”

“Okay, I understand. Let’s get away from Fabien.”

“?”

For a moment, Mino raised a hook above his head, but honestly, you’re a suspicious bunch, so I can’t ask you to keep your distance from Fabbe, right?

“Big, big. Get off, because soon Pave will subdue the guard.”

“You really have insight. I see.”

Fortunately, I managed to muddle through. Neither Pave nor Mino noticed what I was saying.

-Kigggg …

-Snap!

The moment the conversation stopped, a creepy sound was heard all over my body and the iron bars became very concave. Even though the person who actually did it had a blank expression as usual.

“Oh, no.”

My original plan was to call the guard and then knock him out to get the key? But the bars just bent…?

“Wait a minute, the guard is coming-”

“What?”

“Do you dare to escape! In the name of the Goddess of Scales, you wicked people, do not take a single step- squelch.”

The guard noticed our escape and came running in a hurry. He had no intention of hiding his divine powers, as he had his wings and halo exposed.

“Get out of here, idiot!”

And with just one punch, the angel turned into an angel-shaped donut.

And then I realized.

Ah, I shouldn’t be bothered by Fabien.

“Okay, let’s go, Woof!”

*****

Hmm, that’s weird.

Should I look for the noble one, whose return is so late?

A question crossed Mino’s mind as he finished taking care of the patient.

The moment I got up from my seat, thinking, “Should I look it up?” a familiar feeling took over my whole body.

[Be quiet. Mino, don’t let anyone hear you and immediately turn around and sneak into the orange-roofed house you see.]

An absolute command that can only be used by one person.

The Demon King, that’s him.

Without a shred of suspicion, Mino went straight to the old house with the orange roof, opened the window, and landed inside.

“Did you find me?”

After bowing his head and greeting politely, Mino glanced up.

The living room, as you can see from the outside, is old and unmaintained, so even though it is daytime, no sunlight reaches it except behind Mino’s back.

Abel was sitting cross-legged on the old sofa, and only a little light was shining on him, but Mino could tell with his own eyes that it was Abel, judging by his black hair and blue eyes, and the strangely tight cloak that was wrapped around his body.

“Why are you here even though you went to heaven? Oh, of course I don’t doubt it at all.”

“Ah…”

He seemed taken aback for a moment and then continued speaking.

“Right now, Leah has been kidnapped along with the Dog King. The culprit is the Dog King’s blood relative. There’s only one, so I don’t need to explain who it is, right? The location is the basement of the Dog King’s palace. And there will be several angels there because they’re in collusion with the angels. I order you to go and rescue them right now. …And don’t reveal that I’m involved.”

“Your Excellency…! How dare you… …Wait a minute, why don’t you come forward yourself?”

“That’s— Whew! Whew! Ugh… Go get some water on time? Is my anger funny?”

“Okay, I understand.”

After hearing those words, Mino lowered his head and began flying straight to the palace of the Ken Tribe.

Perhaps because the situation was so urgent, Mino’s doubts arose a little late.

Something felt like the Demon King was forcibly expelling him at the end, and his voice tone went up quite a bit after he coughed.

But Mino shook his head and quickly brushed away his doubts. There was no time to have such doubts in this critical situation.