“…Ugh!”
Ha… Ha…
I woke up.
Familiar ceiling.
Saintess Nea of the Empire gripped her cold heart and surveyed her surroundings.
A fluffy bed and blue magical stones scattered everywhere to aid in healing.
Each magical stone contained the power of Lily Elbrite, healing her.
Nea instinctively felt a sense of rejection but undeniably recognized it as the Empire’s mansion.
“What the hell happened…”
Chop chop chop chop chop.
“…A lizard?”
It’s a lizard.
Seeing that stupid lizard devouring only meat brought back memories of what had happened until now.
Certainly, Lily Elbrite had moved to punish the heretics, but that damn lizard emanated coldness and froze her.
How dare this body, the Saintess of the Empire…
Suddenly!
“Urrrk.”
Swish.
As soon as she got out of bed, Sre wrapped its bear-like arms around the piled-up meat, growling.
It was clearly on high alert as if saying it would never give up its meat.
Seeing that, Nea felt a mix of disbelief, but Sre’s round eyes remained utterly serious.
“W-What are you going to do… mere creature…”
“Urrrk.”
“The price for touching me will not be light…”
You little creature.
Swish.
Nea’s hand moved towards Sre’s eyes without it noticing.
In the past, she had been caught off-guard, but Nea had many techniques to kill her opponents without revealing any movements.
A prime example would be the technique that gives powerful buffs to break down the opponent’s body.
A technique that Nea used very effectively, particularly against beings mindlessly focused on meat.
Nea’s buff directed itself towards Sre, who was foolishly munching on meat.
“? A-choo!”
Fwoosh!!!
With a single sneeze, the buff was blown away.
“?! What the…?”
“Grgr…”
“D-Do you think I’ll back down just because of that…?”
“Grgrgrgr…!”
Coldness radiated from Sre’s body.
It wasn’t intentional, but rather a natural release of coldness due to its anger.
While the damage was minimal, it was enough to make Nea step back.
Once frozen, a body remembers the extreme cold.
“Back off…”
“Grgrr?”
“…This time, I’ll let it slide. You stupid lizard…”
“Grgrgrr…”
“…You, dragon.”
Tch.
Nea clicked her tongue and smashed the door, escaping out of the room.
He broke the door and rushed out of the room.
For a moment, Sre stared at the spot where she had disappeared, then buried his head back into the mountain of meat on his plate.
■
While Sre was indulging in the meat of sheep and lamb, I received a message from Esther just as I was nearly done with Nea’s treatment.
“Duke Huangyeol wants to see you.”
What could possibly make the one who was stalling through Esther and Nea want to see me now?
Even Nea was likely attached on purpose.
Had Nea completed her tasks? Or was it really that her business was done?
“…Is this it?”
I arrived at the entrance of the place the Duke had told me about.
A grand imperial door, adorned in gold and red.
I had already activated my fourth state just in case and had completed all my protections.
What’s important is my state of mind.
‘…No matter how I see it, the future looks grim.’
I have doubts.
Could I really stand there quietly in front of Duke Huangyeol, a Celestial Being?
During the siege war, I burst his arm while wearing the casket, but he spouted nonsense, and in the end, I took a step back.
Part of it was to avoid using the casket of succession, but his words had quite the impact on me.
“Celestials protect humans,” such nonsense.
I was confused back then and needed to sort things out, but what about now?
“……”
I don’t know. So let’s just go in.
I can’t destroy the guy in this current state anyway, and if things go awry, I can just resurrect him.
Even without resurrection, being a Celestial, he’d probably come back to life on his own.
Creeeak…
The door opens.
As I stepped inside through the open door, a smirk escaped me.
What am I doing?
“What am I doing here?”
“It was all for you. Was it uncomfortable?”
The Audience Room where I meet the Emperor of the Empire.
Shimmering golden pillars stood in alignment, and a magical barrier hung in the sky, with a long platinum carpet laid down the center.
And at the end of the carpet was a high throne.
On the throne sat two figures.
“Huh?”
One was the former Magic Lord Karia, now a dim-witted fool, standing there blankly.
The other was a small boy sitting right in the middle of the throne.
He seemed to be around ten years old.
With golden hair and golden eyes, he resembled Duke Robelian, but he was not a Celestial.
Other than the aura that emerged when he spoke, he was pure human.
The boy, dressed in a platinum uniform, spoke in a youthful voice that echoed.
“I felt you were uncomfortable around Celestials. With this, wouldn’t you be able to talk to me without discomfort?”
“Can’t we have a conversation without discomfort?”
“That’s a big wish. Do you think I can’t touch a body like that?”
“Hostages are useless to me.”
“Even if the hostage dies or gets hurt, as long as the soul is intact, I have enough power to bring them back.”
“If they possess enough power to annihilate the soul, there’s no need to take hostages.”
“Well, I’m not here to fight in the first place.”
“Maybe it could turn into a fight.”
“Just to clarify, this boy is neither my child nor one of my blood. He is the Emperor’s child… you could say he is my distant cousin.”
“That doesn’t count as a consideration, you know?”
“A brother from the Celestial Race, huh? If I find more reasons to kill, that won’t be a reason not to.”
The boy smiles even wider.
…Such an annoyingly charming face.
“Is that so? Then go ahead and kill me.”
“……”
“Why can’t you? If it doesn’t count as consideration, it should be easy to kill me, right? We were enemies after all.”
“If you want to.”
Clang.
I pull out my hammer.
Whoosh! As the White Guardian and Holy Healing infused within me, I gripped the hammer and leaped toward the boy.
“…!”
Karia, who was standing there blankly, unleashed violet mana and erected a violet shield the moment she saw me jump.
A hexagonal magical shield formed by entwined mana.
Kaah… Bang!!
The collision between the shield and the hammer was a victory for the hammer.
The magic infused with Holy Healing dispelled the shield and struck the boy’s head.
I didn’t just hit him.
“…Didn’t I say hostages are useless?”
“I told you, I’m not here to fight today.”
Swoosh.
“Let’s keep it at this level.”
I put away the hammer and pulled out my unique weapon, the staff.
The boy was awkwardly seated on the Broken Throne.
The reason he wasn’t hurt despite being struck by a hammer imbued with Holy Power is that I am currently in the fourth form, the path of the Saintess.
Because it’s Holy Healing that heals everything, I could hit him as much as I want without any problem.
But my purpose isn’t to attack.
Thud.
The tip of the staff touched the boy’s chest.
“?!”
I drew out something embedded in his body, intertwining it with the Holy Healing that seeped into him.
The thing resisted fiercely, emitting a golden light, but it was futile.
Holy Healing had firmly bound him, and in my current state as a Saintess, he could do nothing to me with just willpower.
“Cough, cough!”
The boy and Duke Huangyeol were separated.
“Ah…? Huh?”
“W-What is this! Where am I…”
“Let’s take a look.”
“Ugh?”
I floated the fallen royal boy into the air for observation.
Fortunately, he was completely separated without any issues.
Everything is in a completely separated state without any issues.
Other than the fact that Duke Huangyeol resides here, he is a pure human.
The boy blinked his eyes and pointed at me, shouting.
“L-Lily Elbrite!”
“Do you know me?”
“How did you invade the Empire! My father said he would severely punish you!”
“Is that so?”
“I wonder how he plans to punish me?”
“Well, the Empire’s swords… Magic Lord!”
“Ah?”
Karia tilted her head and looked at the boy.
Though her eyes seemed blank, the violet light that contained mana was definitely focusing on him.
“I command you as the Crown Prince! Restrain the criminal immediately!”
“…?”
“What are you doing?! Restrain her already!”
“……”
“Are you not doing it?”
“Ugh…!”
The boy was furious, but Karia didn’t move an inch.
It’s not that hard to guess why Karia isn’t moving.
She’s become an idiot, and since Duke Huangyeol is using his power, she’s obviously just following him.
Karia followed the Crown Prince because there was the will of Duke Huangyeol within him, and she didn’t need to listen to the Crown Prince’s orders.
“What are you doing! I said restrain her right now?! Do you think I’m a joke…?”
“Ah.”
Thunk.
The Crown Prince fell asleep right there, under Karia’s magic.
She paused for a moment as if to listen to a command and then opened a violet portal in midair.
Whoooosh…
A golden sword emerged from the portal.
“Are you not thinking of returning to the main body?”
─I don’t want to end up like Ruslan. My head is precious, you know.
“Ruslan? Is that the name of that child?”
─Yes. He’s the child who will become the next Emperor. Despite his appearance, his intellect is extraordinary, and he’ll be a great help to the Empire.
“Why don’t you do it yourself?”
─Is there a reason for me to?
The sword gives a little twitch.
─The Empire moves not by me, but by the Emperor. That way is far more efficient for the Empire to become the best.
“Efficiency… Is this also an efficient matter?”
─Absolutely. Isn’t the result this conversation?
Even though they’re enemies with enough hatred to kill each other, they are peacefully engaging in conversation.
It’s the scene I envisioned, but at the same time, it was also the picture Duke Huangyeol desired.
“Well, that’s good. What I want is also efficiency. I’ll ask directly.”
I came all this way because of that efficiency.
To prepare for the impending disaster.
“What’s the Empire’s plan to confront the disaster?”
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