A whole week has passed.
During this not-so-short period, the Empire was rife with commotion. First, there was a truly bizarre incident at the execution ground.
It was truly strange. No one was being executed, and in the end, nobody was executed, yet all the princesses and the Emperor, along with many citizens of the Empire, stood there.
Most citizens were genuinely confused, but on the other hand, they considered it a blessing. It’s not every day that one can see all the princesses and the Emperor at once.
Even now, the seating at the execution ground was quite crowded.
It was because the Emperor was sitting cross-legged at the center of it all.
For reasons unknown, he seemed to be waiting for someone there. Thanks to this, the number of citizens wishing to make a wish at the location became truly uncountable.
And now…
The First Princess was being escorted by quite a few soldiers. It was time for her to head north.
“…Well, it’s not bad visiting the capital after a long time.”
“The capital where the First Princess resides felt really reassuring.”
“Being in the north will be even more reassuring. It’s a place where demons run amok.”
As she thought about why she was in the capital, Ideu felt a tick in her mind as if something was cut off.
Something was puffing up in her head, but it remained indistinct. It felt like a film abruptly cut in the middle.
What is it?
What on earth was it?
There seemed to be an important reason for her to have come to the capital, but Ideu couldn’t remember it at all.
“…Well, I’m just going.”
Then, Ideu’s henchman spoke up.
“Uh? But are you returning alone?”
“What do you mean by that?”
“I thought you said you would definitely return with someone….”
“Me? Isn’t there anyone here?”
However, the truly ridiculous thing happened in the next moment. Even the henchman seemed to have a look on his face as if he couldn’t comprehend what she had just said.
“Wasn’t it? I must have misspoken….”
Without any thought, Ideu smacked the back of her henchman’s head with the hilt of her sword. It wasn’t the first time her henchman was acting embarrassingly.
Ideu quietly boarded the carriage heading north.
“Saintess, it’s time for breakfast.”
Meanwhile, the Imperial Holy Temple greeted the morning.
Solana’s prayer came to an end thanks to the approaching priest.
The Empire’s radiant smile, the Third Princess Solana slowly lifted her eyelids. At that moment, the priest could only be astonished.
Because Solana was shedding tears.
“I-I’m so, so sorry.”
The priest instinctively bowed his head. It wasn’t just anyone, it was the Third Princess crying. It was not something to be taken lightly…
However, Solana didn’t seem to care about it at all. No, to be precise, she seemed to have no time to think about it.
“…?”
Wiping her cheeks, Solana expressed her confusion.
…Why was I crying?
“How strange. How strange….”
It was such a bizarre occurrence that she couldn’t help but mutter it out loud.
Anyway, wiping away her tears, Solana asked the priest.
“…Is it already breakfast time?”
“Yes. It would be regrettable if you skip it. After all, you are responsible for the Empire’s smile….”
“Hmm….”
Solana hesitated.
It wasn’t that she didn’t want to eat.
It was just that, even after praying all morning, it felt like she hadn’t prayed at all.
“What… kind of prayer was I usually doing?”
“Excuse me?”
“No, there was a prayer I always did….”
The phrase about the prayer she always did was not entirely accurate.
Solana had that one prayer. She had done only that one for her entire life, and suddenly forgetting it felt odd.
She couldn’t recall what that prayer was.
In the end, it was similar to not having done any prayers at all, despite praying all morning.
This frustration was not resolved at all.
But thinking about it wouldn’t help her remember.
“Just bring the meal over here.”
“Yes. Understood.”
Once the priest left, Solana began to pray again.
She didn’t know what prayer she should say.
But for some reason, it felt like something she had to do.
The Second Princess Hedera was focusing on her duties as usual.
[ Tower Master ─ Hedera ]
The nameplate on her desk was gleaming brightly.
Before long, Tether gently knocked and entered. The princess simply nodded quietly.
“Come in.”
Tether entered with utmost courtesy.
“You look busy today as well.”
Tether greeted her as a matter of course.
However, the expression itself was not an exaggeration, as there was a mountain of documents piled up on Hedera’s work desk.
“Yeah. There are still a lot of things the Magic Tower has to do….”
Immediately, Hedera added a comment.
“Still, this Magic Tower has grown tremendously compared to before, right? It was practically in a ‘forgotten’ state.”
Using telekinesis, Hedera sent several documents towards Tether.
Indeed, Tether could only nod in agreement.
It was essentially an empty Magic Tower with just a name left, having completely lost its essence, and moreover, Hedera had been abandoned in the Celestial Realm.
Now, it seemed to be running well with some actual results.
“It’s the result of our insane efforts. Hmm… that must be the case.”
Hedera suddenly trailed off.
“…I can’t remember what efforts I made.”
“Hey, what are you talking about? Thanks to your hard work, all of this is possible. Probably….”
Yet even Tether trailed off, realizing it would be highly disrespectful to continue.
A moment of silence lingered.
“….”
The one who had brought the Magic Tower to this position surely existed, but it was hard to recall.
Eventually, Hedera shook her head.
“…Well, if I keep worrying about something that’s hard to recall, it becomes a waste of time.”
“That’s right. Hmm, but I feel like something is coming back to me….”
“More importantly, what was it you wanted to report?”
“Oh. That’s about….”
Tether began to politely report.
The contents of the report were solely about the Magic Tower.
Arcne was standing there in a daze.
She is a Demon. Among them, she was granted the title of Goddess and worked in the Demon Realm.
But when she regained her senses, she found herself standing in the execution ground of some continent. She had never felt discomfort in her head like this before. It was bizarre.
“…”
So now, Arcne was wandering through the back alley of the continental capital. She couldn’t make sense of why she was there, but she felt that if she wandered a bit, something might come to mind.
“…Who are you? Huh? Oh, a fisherman…!”
Whoosh—!
In the back alley, Arcne immediately bound the human she encountered into a cocoon with spider silk.
“Disgusting.”
Normally, she would have killed him right away.
Arcne naturally harbored a disgust for humans, and her thorough nature left no witnesses.
However.
Arcne suddenly glanced intently at the human.
Disgusting. Truly revolting…
Strangely, she hesitated to kill him. It felt like she had a tremendous interest in something that had a similar structure.
But that couldn’t be true.
“…I guess it was just the overwhelming disgust that piqued my interest?”
As Arcne was murmuring this, someone spoke.
“What are you looking at so intently?”
As Arcne quickly lifted her head and spotted the source of the voice, the figure flicked their finger.
As soon as that happened, all of Arcne’s threads unraveled, and the human walked out of the alley in a daze.
Arcne had no choice but to show courtesy.
“…I see the Demon Lord.”
Then, Demon Lord Valetta smiled and spoke.
“You never had a hobby of observing humans. You might have had a hobby of killing them, though.”
“I agree. It’s strange, isn’t it?”
“I want to know what you were thinking.”
Arcne spoke.
“I thought something was strange.”
“What part?”
“Humans are endlessly disgusting beings… and yet, I hesitated to kill. Why did I hesitate? That’s what’s strange.”
Then the Demon Lord smiled.
“I came all the way here just to show you that. Let’s walk together for a bit on the way back to the Demon Realm.”
Arcne simply nodded in response.
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