SWNOVELS
Side Story Chapter 158
“D-Did you say to open the gates?” Duke Tremblin stammered.
Even Valmont, the one who the order had been directed to, was staring at Iceline, jaw agape. “Your Majesty, why would you suddenly ask us to do that...?”
Tremblin turned to see what Iceline was looking at and immediately froze. A beautiful silver-haired woman stood there—Lilith Aphrodite, the Silver-Eyed Ghost Sword. However, most people here knew who was in her mind right now.
‘Did His Majesty ask her to do it?’ The quick-witted Tremblin instantly figured out what was going on, but why? He had to hold his questions in; it wasn’t right to question his superior’s orders during battle. That was punishable by execution. Military law was absolute, and Tremblin knew what to do in times like this.
“...Her Majesty has given you an order, Valmont,” Trembin said.
“O-Okay.” Valmont came to his senses and ran to the castle gate, cutting down the undead in his way.
“Open the gates!” he shouted.
The people manning the ramparts, which included Cain, despite his injuries, immediately reacted.
“O-Open the gates?” Cain boggled at Valmont.
“The Queen Consort orders you!”
“Y-Your Grace.” The staff officers anxiously clustered around Cain; the order was too shocking to simply obey.
“...It’s definitely Valmont, not some demon playing tricks. If Valmont was being controlled, I would have been able to feel the wicked energy in him, but there’s no trace of it,” Cain said.
“Then...?”
“Open the gates,” Cain commanded.
The imperial order was delivered. The soldiers standing by the castle gates started to work the pulleys.
“Turn them!”
The tightly-shut gates slowly opened. The monsters from the north noticed first, the thick smell of human flesh stimulating their instincts. Some ogres stopped and flared their nostrils even as they fended off the undead’s attacks.
The monsters in the rear went on a rampage, ignoring the undead despite their endless recovery. The monsters were already starving, so they ran toward the gate in a thunderous avalanche of flesh. The bigger problem was that the undead reacted the same way.
-Are the humans crazy? Why would they open up a path for us to kill them?
-...I don’t know what they’re thinking, but we should stop focusing on the Demon Spirit’s spear right now. Our original goal should be our priority. Don’t tell me that you believe that a weapon matters more than a home?
-But we can’t just leave Lugia like this. What are we supposed to do if someone snatches it while we’re in the middle of the battle? Just watch him run away?
-How can you have such little trust in your colleagues, Aere? You can store Lugia in your subspace, then.
-What? Can I really?
-Yeah, you wouldn’t think about stealing it unless you want to get slaughtered by the other seven of us. Besides, you don’t use weapons to fight anyway, so I don’t think you would be all that scary with the spear. You just need a fine addition to your collection, don’t you?
-Oh. It hurts my pride to hear that I’m not scary. Are you underestimating me because I specialize in using mana? I’m Aeremang, the ninth strongest demon!
-Alright. Let’s divide up the tasks first.
The demon responsible for negotiating between the other demons was Altheon. He had mystical white eyes that matched his white hair, and wore sharp, elegant silver glasses.
-Urus and I will take the castle gate. Credos, Perchilin, Tshchary, you guys will handle the death knights and the other undead. Judging from their outstanding level of demonic power, I think they’re part of the legacy left by the man who annihilated the Demon Spirit.
-Then what about us?
Aeremang pointed at himself and the remaining two demons.
-Those people.
-Those people...?
-Handle those humans who killed Terbion.
Aeremang and the two other demons grinned.
-This is why we should leave all the planning to Altheon. He knows what each of us wants the best.
-If you’re going to do it, go. Don’t let your guard down—you’ve all seen what happened to Terbion. f(r)eeweb(n)ovel
-Wait.
-...Aere, do you have something else to say?
Aeremang grinned from ear to ear, his flapping wings keeping his form aloft.
-Don’t say later that I’m being too greedy or something. Let’s make things clear before we start anything. We can take trophies if we’ve earned them, right?
-Yeah, you don’t need to bother checking that with me again.
-All of you heard that, yes? So everyone agrees?
Aeremang looked around at the eclectic gathering of demons and then took off into the sky and shot towards the humans.
-Hey, hey! Play with me too! I’ve been watching you guys for a while and you two look the tastiest!
Selim and Kireua found themselves in the demon’s sights.
* * *
Meanwhile, Lilith had a lot of complaints for Joshua.
‘Did you really have to do this? You could have intervened at the start.’
-No, there is something I have to check first.
Lilith frowned. ‘How much power do you have left? You said that overusing your ability would drastically increase the time needed to melt the ice boulder.’
-I went through all that trouble to annihilate the Demon Spirit, so I won’t allow the him to be revive. Don’t worry. What you’re concerned about won’t come true.
Due to a lack of power, Joshua had trouble communicating with Lilith but had miraculously recovered some of his power thanks to Evergrant’s destruction. Evergrant had been the first Ninth Circle lich on the continent, so Joshua had had to pay a high price for forming and maintaining such a contract.
When that lich had gone to his eternal death, Joshua was able to retrieve most of the demonic power he had used to make their contract. If Evergrant had been destroyed due to an foreign influences, Joshua, as the other party of the contract, would also have suffered, but because Evergrant had been destroyed for breaching the contract, many things became possible.
Lilith sighed. ‘Just tell me about what you want to verify.’
-I have two theories.
‘You have my undivided attention. I assume that this is about Prince Kireua, since people can’t just change like that all of a sudden.’
Joshua didn’t refute her.
-One is that Kireua ended up getting eaten by the three Evil Sins' powers.
‘I was thinking the same thing, but you sound awfully nonchalant about such a horrible theory.’ Lilith narrowed her eyes.
-The second theory is more problematic. The three Evil Sins' powers could have formed an alliance with a new soul inside Kireua, rather than Kireua himself.
‘...Huh?’ Lilith’s head went blank for a moment while she struggled to comprehend what Joshua meant. Then her lips began to tremble and her silver eyes gradually widened. ‘W-W-Wait—a new soul in Prince Kireua? Are you saying...’
-Aden von Agnus, my father and the Dark God. Had he driven out Kireua’s soul and taken over his body, it would explain why Kireua is acting that way.
“Oh, god,” Lilith exclaimed in shock, forgetting that that was the conversation just between her and Joshua in her head.
‘Then he opened the gates because...?’ Lilith trailed off.
-Whichever theory it may be, he or they would want to see whether or not I’ve actually used up my power, just like you said.
If Joshua could join the fight at any time, he wouldn’t stand by and watch Avalon fall into a crisis.
‘Th-That’s why you voluntarily put your people at risk? What— That makes you no different from Prince Kireua!’ Lilith said.
-There is one definitive difference.
‘Definitive... difference?’
-Even if the worst comes to pass, I have the power to protect my citizens and I have reliable colleagues who can help me to do so.
‘Where do you get this preposterous confi—!’
Lilith stopped halfway through when a memory came to mind. It was just like the Paladins’ recent invasion. When the Paladins had taken over the gates and infiltrated the Palace, not a single person could be seen in the streets of Arcadia because Icarus, the Heaven’s Mind, had seen it coming and evacuated everyone.
‘Has she also doing the same now...?’ Lilith wondered. Come to think of it, Icarus, Avalon’s brains, was nowhere to be seen despite the urgency of the battle.
Lilith’s thoughts began to settle.
‘At first glance, you seem to be reckless, but you always have a plan. It’s incredible.’
The man deserved respect. No one else like Joshua could ever be found in the entire history of the continent. Would a man like Joshua Sanders be born in the future? Lilith couldn’t help but shake her head. She couldn’t even imagine it.
-It seems that he’s about to make a move.
Lilith quickly turned, barely fast enough to see a demon over a meter tall charging the princes.
Selim responded first. He swung his spear fiercely; his mana was so powerful that it distorted the space it passed through, exploding the demons in its path.
-I have great eyes!
Aeremang burst into cheerful laughter, but Kireua's response caught him by surprise. The prince suddenly released demonic power that surprised even the demons.
-W-Wait. Is this... the Evil Sin’s power?
Lilith and Joshua watched intently.
-Let’s go.
Lilith quickly stood up. ‘Alright. We need to take care of that demon first, right?’ contemporary romance
-No.
‘...What?’
-You have to attack Kireua first, not the demon.