Chapter: 542
The process of transferring the Evil God’s seal went much smoother than expected.
Erginius mentioned that the being had weakened significantly since being sealed, to the point where it couldn’t even muster a struggle.
“If it weren’t crucial to our plan, I would have erased its existence.”
Erginius looked at the seal with regret but didn’t actually do anything about it.
“Lady Allen. Apostle of God. Please imbue the seal with energy.”
“How would you expect me to understand that? Can’t this loser wizard explain properly?”
“All you need to do is infuse it with divinity.”
Ah, is that all? Then you could have said that sooner! If you had, I wouldn’t have to deal with this weird misunderstanding.
As I followed his instructions and infused the seal with divine energy, I felt something wriggling inside, but not long after, the entity within was neutralized. The divine energy of Lord Jushin must have been pressing down on it.
Thinking that should be enough, I stepped back, only for the perverted apostle to make a sound like huff and place his hands on the seal.
“Get out of here and die. No, I don’t even want your corpse around, so just bury your head in that seal and disappear. Erase yourself from this world, please.”
Seeing his expression, I couldn’t help but display genuine contempt, but the perverted apostle merely thanked me for the inspiration and suffered no damage himself.
Eww! I really hate that! Why is that jerk only acting like this toward me? If he’s a pervert, then he should be sharing that with others too!
“Lady Allen was right. The Evil God’s energy is just scattered; there’s nothing unusual in the dungeon.”
While I was hurling insults at the perverted apostle, Erginius nodded as if he figured something out.
“Over a long time, it seems to have become an isolated environment.”
Hmm. I don’t really know, but that means there’s no problem, right?
Hah. Thank goodness. If anything strange had happened in the dungeon, my heart would’ve skipped a beat.
Having perfectly achieved our goal, we exited the still-chaotic dungeon city and returned once again to the Arts Church.
Under Erginius’s judgment, there wasn’t a better place to store the Evil God’s seal for the time being.
“Lucy. You’re bad.”
And it was there that I realized I had taken her teacher away from Frey.
Oh, right. Frey mentioned she was going to learn something from the Sword Saint, didn’t she?
Bringing even the head of the Kent family, she really prepared well.
“Sorry. I forgot what I said because the idiot swordsman is so sloppy. Take him back. I don’t need that old perverted woman anymore.”
“…Lady Allen. Isn’t that a bit too much?”
“Right. Lucy is really bad.”
“What’s it to you? Did I say something wrong?”
As I dealt with Frey and the Sword Saint’s grievances while trying to shrug it off, I grabbed Frey, whose face was turning pale next to me.
“F-Frey. It seems the Sword Saint has business with you, so we should leave for a bit.”
“But Lucy just said—”
“Still, you know.”
Kent’s head must have had a complicated expression as he forcibly hugged Frey, who was flailing. It seems he knows how the Sword Saint feels about Benedict.
Hmm.
“Stupid papa.”
“Huh? What’s wrong, Lucy?”
“Play with the stupid swordsman and the pervert beside him. It’s so embarrassing to see the shoddy ones grumble like that; I think I need to shut them up.”
Either way, since we already got help, and for our party member Frey to get stronger, it seems better to throw Benedict into the mix for a while.
Look, the moment I said that, joy was dancing on Yuden’s face. A disgusting woman aiming for a married man, huh?
“…Huh?”
“What? You don’t want to grant your cute daughter’s request? You said you love Lucy; was that just empty talk?”
“No, that’s not it.”
“Enough. No, it’s fine. Stupid father. Just do as you please. I can’t force anything on my dumb father, who might swallow me whole with that big mouth, you know?”
“I never once said I wouldn’t do it! I will! What can’t I do for our cute daughter and her friends?!”
The moment his title changed, Benedict, who was in shock, looked at me while his forehead glistened with cold sweat, and I couldn’t help but grin.
“You really are a stupid, stupid papa♡ Do I really have to say it in long sentences?♡”
“I’m sorry! Lucy! I’ll be careful next time!”
After releasing a sigh of relief, I threw Benedict into them and stepped onto the magic circle for teleportation to escape from this den of perverts in the Arts Church as quickly as possible.
‘Hey, Grandpa. While I was training, I remembered you said you received enlightenment after consulting the God of Martial Arts last time, right?’
[Actually, I was just thinking about when to bring that up. Haven’t we had too much to deal with so far?]
‘Was there some sort of progress?’
[There was. Look forward to it. What you want to learn is a martial art greater than you think.]
Whoooa! For Grandpa, a hero from the mythological era, to declare that the martial art is that impressive!
If you say it with that confidence, I really can’t help but get my hopes up?!
If I build up my expectations and they fall short, I’ll be so disappointed!
[But first, I need to finish what needs to be done. We still have plenty to prepare for.]
‘…Please don’t hit me with reality right now.’
Feeling suddenly lifted only to be dragged back down, I returned to the academy street with a sigh. There were still many things I had to do.
*
The Duke of Burrow, the lord of the Burrow territory, prided himself on experiencing all kinds of things in his life.
Starting from the power struggles after securing the dukedom, to wars with foreign nations, battles for S-grade dungeon conquests, marriage, the funeral of his beloved son, days spent like a corpse,
And in addition to that, he had lost his physical form to the Dark Evil God not long ago, leading him to believe that no one had lived a more colorful life than he had.
That’s why the duke was confident that he wouldn’t be surprised by anything trivial.
If Lord Jushin descended upon the world again, he thought he’d just nod his head.
However, that was just the duke’s delusion.
He was completely unaware that he had found himself in the eye of a storm, convinced that he was fine just because he was experiencing peace amidst the chaos.
“Yes. I indeed pledged that I would assist you in whatever you do, as I owe you a debt from last time.”
The debt the Duke owed Lucy Allen was far more than just being saved.
She had prevented the Burrow family from becoming a historical crime.
She saved his son, who had been twisted due to his mistakes, from hell.
She blocked the people of the Burrow territory from being sacrificed to the Evil God.
She presented the Burrow territory, which had been tainted by darkness and could never be restored, with its original cleanliness.
Most astonishing was the fact that, despite giving such salvation, Lucy never asked for any reward.
Even if it were a situation where he should nod his head and dedicate his life to her, Lucy was not boasting about her merits but rather trying to hide herself.
She sent her subordinates to keep her existence below the surface.
Could Lucy Allen know? That such actions would only solidify her standing in the eyes of others.
That day—the day when Karia, whom he thought was dead, came and told him to not speak and just smiled. From that day on, the Duke of Burrow vowed to cooperate with Lucy no matter what she did.
Even if the moment came when he had to risk his family, he resolved to follow her will.
Not simply to repay a favor, but to help Lucy Allen, the savior by that name, guide the world in a better direction, just as his son had done, restoring those lost in darkness back to the light.
However.
“I didn’t expect my stomach to hurt instead of my neck.”
Turning his gaze toward the sheet of paper before him, the duke unintentionally let out a deep sigh.
There, the names of those who would be attending the meeting at the Burrow dukedom today were written.
At the very top were the two queens of the kingdom.
Even without entering the royal family, they would be called noble blood, and these two had become some of the few whom the duke had to bow before in this country.
Then next was the duke of Partlan, who carried with him all sorts of strange rumors.
Despite being misunderstood as a ruler of the underworld due to his fearsome appearance, the duke knew that Partlan was actually an ordinary person, but still, he was a duke after all.
No one could approach him with an easy mindset.
And below that were Benedikt Allen, the hero with Soladin’s fang, and Count Arteia, who amassed wealth through maritime trade and controls a quarter of the distribution in the Kingdom of Soladin.
Though title-wise, he was one rank below the duke, their authority and reputation were so high that the duke couldn’t dare act recklessly.
If they were to be invited as guests, the duke would definitely have to observe formalities.
Up to this point, the names were enough to give the duke a stomachache, but today’s guests didn’t stop there.
The saintess of Jushin Church and the highest-renowned woman on the continent, Phoebe.
The greatest swordsman on the continent, an undisputed master.
The apostle of the Arts Church, a massive religious group that even the Jushin Church couldn’t dare confront.
The one told in legends to be the sharpest fang and another lord of the forest.
On top of that, Karia, who had made the duke’s heart flutter several times before.
“…I have to face all of these people at once?”
Imagining the long conference room filled with those faces, the duke felt his lifespan shortening.
“And what’s that supposed to mean, I can’t do it?”
Regardless, he had no intention of rejecting this offer.
“Karia. You should know what I’m thinking. Do you think I would refuse?”
“No, not at all.”
“Then why are you asking?”
The duke was fully committed to keeping his promise.
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