Chapter: 166
“Oh, this isn’t right.”
The Priest stood there with a dazed expression, staring blankly at the messy situation unfolding around him.
“My plan… this wasn’t it!”
The plan of the Minor God was quite simple.
Using the little causality he had and the remaining magical energy in the Necromancer’s body, he intended to activate a frighteningly majestic black magic.
A monstrous hellfire would erupt, spewing magical energy out and scaring the villagers out of their wits.
At that moment, a ominous voice would proclaim, “You pathetic human bugs! You’ll all die in a terrible curse!” The terrified villagers would scream, and the Duke’s party would draw their swords.
Then, that malevolent voice would point to one of the Duke’s party members, exclaiming, “Ah, it’s no fun just killing you all like this. I’ll spare all of you if you sacrifice that one over there! If you refuse, I’ll turn you all into Undead and ensure you can never rest!”
Of course, the villagers would shout for an outsider to be offered up. Just as they were ready to pounce on the Duke in a frenzy to survive…
The devout Priest would step forward and shout, “You demon! Take me instead!”
The ominous voice would reply as if it had been waiting, “Hoho! I never expected to find such a strong believer here! Very well! If you willingly become a sacrifice, I’ll be satisfied with that!”
The faithful believer would smile kindly at the Duke (it was important to subtly reveal a trembling hand) and leap into the fiery abyss to become a sacrifice.
Inside the not-at-all-hot dazzling light, he would scream, “Kraaaah!” while waiting for ‘Blink’ to activate. Shortly thereafter, he would disappear as if his body was turning to ash and would be transported quite far away.
The ominous voice would then erupt into a chilling laugh and proclaim, “See? You humans are nothing but selfish and ugly beings! The miserable death of the Priest will become your crime and will be remembered forever! Kha-ha-ha!” and then poof! Vanish in the flames!
After all, demons often commit all sorts of bizarre acts for their own amusement, so nobody would raise an eyebrow at such statements left behind.
Even if the demon vanished, the Duke would still stay in the village for a few more days for investigation. Thus, the Priest hurried to the village before the Duke departed.
As he made his way to the village, it began to snow again, and the once-green grass started to wither. Unsurprisingly, the monsters that had disappeared would reappear, causing the villagers to scream about the demon’s curse!
At this moment, injured and covered in burns, the Priest would return to the village, showing an object that resembled a divine relic and claiming he barely survived thanks to a miracle. Following this, he would smile benignly, expressing relief that everyone was alive. Then, simultaneously…
The villagers would yell, “It’s all that old man’s fault! We must kill him to lift the demon’s curse!” and attack the Priest!
The villagers’ inhumane behavior would spark sympathy for the old man, leading the Minor God smoothly into the Duke’s party, guiding him to the Duke’s House!
During the journey to the Duke’s House, he would repeatedly perform various ‘sacrificial acts’ so that by the time they arrived, he would be treated as a benefactor, sneaking into the heart of the Empire!
“Such grand plans of mine…?”
“Yes! I will be the sacrifice!”
Rather than trembling in fear at being named a sacrifice, one of the Duke’s party members proudly raised his hand, shouting he would willingly become the offering.
“Eh…? R-Really?”
“Th-Thank you…”
“Uh, um, thank you.”
In response to the confident sacrifice (Lian), the villagers appeared bewildered, as if winded, and slowly began to part ways.
“…Is this a dream?”
“I think it might be a dream…”
The unrealistic yet confident stance of the sacrifice left the Duke’s party members dumbfounded, merely watching Lian’s silhouette walking through the parted crowd like some sort of miracle.
“Is he going to a performance or something…?”
“B-But, he’s exuding such a terrifying aura…?”
“Or maybe he’s just… insane…?”
Perhaps it was due to the fact that he immediately shouted “Yes! Sounds good!” when named a sacrifice; the villagers, who first panicked at the sight of flames rising like a mountain, now began murmuring in dazed confusion.
“This isn’t the scene I wanted!”
The Priest clenched his fists, feeling like his beautifully crafted stage had turned into a child’s game gone awry.
“Damn! Of all the crazy people to choose from! If this continues, my plan will completely fall apart!”
In truth, it was already half a mess, but he wasn’t about to give up easily.
“How much causality did I use here?!”
Though the amount was less than what could be found under a fingernail, to the Minor God, even that was too precious. Clearing his throat lightly, he dashed through the gathering crowd and grabbed Lian.
“Hey, young man! Get a grip! If you die fooled by the demon, you’ll be eternally trapped in hell!”
The urgency of his tone must have been great because look at him! The Priest, who had been using formal speech even when talking to kids, had dropped all pretenses! Can you grasp how serious the situation is now!?
Whether it was due to the urgency in his voice or not, a sense of fear began to spread among the villagers.
“W-Wait, is he really a demon?”
“Yikes! L-Let me out of here!”
“Priest! Please release him immediately! We need to sacrifice him!”
Subtly leaking magical energy to heighten emotions helped create the atmosphere he desired among the crowd.
Charging forth to directly attack the ominous flames was the Duke, who, hearing the word ‘sacrifice’, hurriedly turned back and shouted fiercely at the dazed knights.
“What are you all doing? We must rescue the son-in-law… I mean, the savior of the Duke’s House!”
“Gah…!”
It wasn’t just the knights who started trembling at the Duke’s voice; everyone around them felt a chill.
“Just now, he definitely said son-in-law. I heard it…!”
Lian shook off the Priest’s hand holding onto his arm, his face pale, before dashing forward like a madman. He even summoned the Magic Sword and ran for real.
“Lian! Where are you… w-wait… where are you going?!”
“Huh…? Noah, when did you get here?!”
Noah chased after Lian, who was sprinting like a beast. Exhausted and panting, tears were practically welling up in Noah’s eyes. Each step Lian took made dents in the earth, as he poured everything he had, including his magical energy, into his sprint.
“T-They said if we don’t offer a sacrifice, we all die. So, we have no choice…”
Lian rolled his eyes, maintaining his composure amidst the chaos. Managing his expression to tell a lie was more challenging than it seemed.
“Gargandoa doesn’t have any attack magic other than that teleportation spell, right?”
[Yeah, it’s all about that flashy appearance and defense—… that creepy voice magic and that teleportation spell are all there is to it. He’s just an empty shell, all show and no substance.]
The Magic Sword, once excited to fight against strong foes when that magic first activated, now sounded thoroughly disappointed.
“The condition to activate that teleportation magic is just to step inside? There aren’t any other terms?”
[There’s the condition that only the designated sacrifice can enter, but it doesn’t matter since you’re already identified as that. Even if you weren’t, you could easily break through a defense spell of that level.]
“What if the spell gets disrupted then?!”
The ‘teleportation magic’ appearing before Lian, who was on the brink of a forced marriage ending, felt like it was his salvation.
“If I can just break the flow a bit, the forced marriage event will end!”
Even if he got teleported away and later caught up and rejoined his group, it would interrupt the forced marriage event’s progression, making it a win-win situation.
Unbeknownst to Noah, who seemed concerned with a pale face, Lian felt an overwhelming guilt inside, not knowing how to express his true thoughts.
“I want to tell you there’s no need to worry, but…! How do I explain this forced marriage event?!”
After the magic activated and until the event concluded, he wanted to stay out of sight, planning to show his face at least once before leaving the Duke’s House.
“I just need to avoid work for about a month with the Duke’s people, and I’ll send a letter after escaping, letting them know I’m alive!”
Lian, shaking off the last remnant of his guilt to survive, took off so quickly that even Noah couldn’t keep up.
“Brother! Brother!”
“Iris!”
The distressed voices of Iris and Jess calling out to Lian from afar made him resolutely choose to keep moving forward without looking back.
“Sorry, guys! I’ll write to you later!”
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