Chapter 193: The Island Loved by the Stars (4)
Morning Inphedral, Administrative Duke.
Aurelia, Chief Librarian of the Holy See and Cardinal.
Woooooooooo━.
Amidst the subtle hum of the airship’s magic engine, the two women locked eyes.
Cain, almost feeling like he was watching two sworn enemies about to clash, chuckled softly and pulled up a chair to sit.
He then casually made the sign of the cross in the air.
Aurelia, surprised to see Cain behaving so formally, widened her eyes for a moment before following suit, making the sign of the cross and bowing her head.
“How is Caterina doing?”
At Cain’s question, she readily nodded.
“Yes, she is well. Although, she is going through a difficult time.”
“A difficult time, you say?”
Aurelia glanced towards the west before answering.
Pure White Demon King, Oleciren.
It was the direction of Airian, where the Demon King lived and ruled from the highest throne.
“She is constantly troubled, wondering if she should stay by the hero’s side, or go and confront the Demon King who has emerged in this era.”
The hero slays the Demon King.
And since the Demon King had already appeared, the hero must go and slay the Demon King.
Aurelia’s eyes narrowed.
She scanned Cain from head to toe and asked directly.
“I am not good with roundabout words, so I will ask directly.”
“Please do.”
“Why are you here? And why are you trying to go to the Mytilene auction house?”
“…….”
“You must deal with the Demon King. That is why the holy sword, ‘Summer’, chose you as its hero. If you lack the strength, our Holy See will gladly offer our lives.”
Cain gave a wry smile.
It was a smile too heavy for a boy who had just turned seventeen.
At that moment, Morning Inphedral, who had been listening quietly, intervened.
“What is this, a threat? Telling a child to go die?”
Flick━.
Aurelia turned her head with a sharp glare, sharp enough to draw blood if it were a blade, and shot it at Morning Inphedral.
Morning Inphedral shrugged and turned her gaze to the window of the airship.
“Oh my, how scary. This undying fiend is so afraid of the Cardinal~”
Her trailing, sarcastic tone was top-notch.
Cain felt like clapping his hands in admiration.
Although she acted innocent on the inside, when it came to the Holy See, the empire’s longtime rival and current potential enemy, she didn’t back down one bit.
“Tsk.”
Aurelia clicked her tongue at Morning Inphedral and turned her head to look out the opposite window. Cain, who had expected her to lash out like before, shrugged.
“Why~ Why don’t you call me a fiend again and say I’m going against the will of ‘light’.”
Morning Inphedral, from behind Aurelia, continued to provoke her with a dragging tone.
[‘Winter’ concludes that the people of the Empire must be a little crazy.]
[‘Summer’ asks Cain if he’s going to abandon him. He says he’s going crazy with both the Holy See and the Empire.]
“Duke Inphedral.”
“What.”
Morning Inphedral was Morning Inphedral.
Not only was there no reason for a Duke to yield to a Cardinal, but they were also both top figures of their respective nations.
However, from the moment she had to abandon her own prepared airship and board the white airship of the Holy See, Morning Inphedral had considered this a battle of nerves and was ready to bite and tear like a fighting dog.
Since she was called a fiend, she was prepared to become a real one.
“You fiendish woman.”
Aurelia’s eyes gleamed.
Or, more precisely, they gleamed with madness.
If Morning Inphedral was a fiend.
“Oh my. Look at the loose tongue on this fanatic.”
Aurelia was a fanatic.
Caught between their exquisite combination, Cain shook his head in resignation.
“How rude.”
“How ill-mannered.”
“A fiend who prolongs her life with wicked magic, forsaking the will of ‘light’.”
“Always harping on about the will of ‘light’, yet you are nothing but fanatics who weren’t chosen by ‘Summer’.”
The gazes of the two women, who had been fixed on the passing clouds and the blue sky outside the other windows, snapped back.
And they met each other’s eyes.
“…….”
“…….”
The disgust and anger towards each other, rising to their chins, turned their faces red.
But if they went any further, they were afraid of what kind of spectacle they would make in front of the hero present.
And neither of them had said anything wrong.
With only their faces flushed red, the two remained silent. It seemed they were both holding onto the last shred of their dignity.
Slide━.
Cain placed the teacups prepared on the table in front of them.
It was quite something that neither of them had even thought about drinking tea despite being together for a while.
“I suppose it’s only right that I answer your questions first.”
Both of them turned to Cain at the same time.
Cain refilled his teacup with the now lukewarm tea and opened his mouth.
“Your Eminence, you asked why I am on an airship with Morning Inphedral, heading to an auction house instead of slaying the Demon King, Oleciren. And I believe this is the question the Holy See has.”
“That is correct. Originally, as soon as you obtained ‘Summer’, we should have escorted you to the Holy See…….”
Aurelia glanced at Morning Inphedral.
Morning Inphedral picked up where she left off, sneering.
“But Cain’s head was too big for that, wasn’t it? If he were a clueless boy, you would have taken him to educate him and use him as a weapon against the Demon King.”
“We would merely provide the hero with the appropriate education and guidance he needs.”
“According to the taste of the Holy See.”
Morning Inphedral retorted.
“According to the will of ‘light’.”
Aurelia didn’t back down an inch.
Humans have two eyes.
In other words, they perceive things through two viewpoints.
‘And so is the truth.’
Only when viewed from both perspectives does the truth reveal its true form.
Cain was satisfied that both representatives of the Holy See and the Empire were present.
‘Abel went straight to the Holy See.’
They didn’t mistreat him.
To be precise, it was the Holy See that showered Abel with hospitality and scattered flowers in his path.
‘And a blessing.’
Abel, the hero, had said that the strange silver spider with hundreds of legs engraved on his chest was definitely a blessing from the Holy See.
But now he knew it was the work of ‘Commons’, not the Holy See.
This meant that their influence within the Holy See was considerable.
He smelled it.
It was a sweet tea aroma, but the base ingredients must have been lacking, as the finish was not quite ripe.
Slurp━.
Cain sipped his tea and, moistening his lips that were about to dry, continued.
“If we kill the Demon King, will everything end?”
“…….”
Aurelia froze.
She seemed flustered, unsure of Cain’s intentions in saying such a thing.
“Oh my.”
Morning Inphedral, finding this interesting, crossed her legs and leaned back into her chair.
“He’s asking if the dangers of this world will end if we kill Oleciren.”
“……Yes. The Demon King, who will bring about the end of an era, is but one. If we slay Oleciren, it will end.”
“Are you aware that there is another Demon King beyond the Great Wall to the east?”
The being that the current Lord East Johnny-Walker went to defeat, only to return with his memories lost.
If that wasn’t a Demon King, what was it?
‘Thanks to Master, things have calmed down a bit at the Great Wall.’
After Johnny-Walker’s return, the ‘Irregulars’ that used to appear occasionally disappeared, and only ordinary monsters came running.
At first, he was suspicious, but as it continued, Cain became certain.
Johnny-Walker’s return, seemingly defeated, was no mere coincidence.
And the one who created the Irregulars was the nameless ‘Demon King’ residing in the East.
“……?”
Aurelia, naturally unaware of such circumstances, widened her eyes.
Cain, as if it were nothing, took another sip of his tea and, moistening his lips that were about to dry, continued.
“And currently, most of the 1st Order Paladins are dispatched to the southern border of the human world. To deal with the unidentified ‘phoenixes’ rising from the south.”
“How do you know that…….”
Tap.
Cain lifted ‘Summer’ from his waist and placed it horizontally on the empty table. He then tapped it with his finger.
“I am the hero, am I not?”
[‘Summer’ grumbles that Cain only uses him when it’s convenient, but then says it’s actually fun to be used so effectively.]
As Cain tapped twice, Summer flashed twice.
Aurelia’s eyes widened at the sight of the two seemingly communicating. She leaned back in her chair in surprise and exclaimed.
“Could it be that you can communicate with the Sacred Treasures of the Four Seasons?!”
Even Morning Inphedral’s eyes widened at this intriguing fact.
Shrug━.
Cain simply shrugged without a word.
It was troublesome to explain everything, and it felt like a waste to deny it.
So he left it to their imagination. Cardinal Aurelia wiggled her fingers, using holy power to right her chair and sat back down.
“My, my, all things are by the will of ‘light’…….”
She continued to make the sign of the cross.
At the same time, her eyes were glued to the holy sword, ‘Summer’, unable to look away.
The reason Caterina was the Saintess was because of her ability to communicate with the Holy Crown.
The reason a hero was a hero was because they could wield the holy sword.
The fact that the hero could communicate with the holy sword meant that he was essentially on the same level as the Saintess.
Aurelia was surprised to realize that Cain was more suited to being the hero than she had thought, and she was afraid of what he might say.
The one who walks with the sacred treasure.
The saint is unusually well right now, but the previous saint was absorbed in the Holy Crown and lost her emotions.
They became mere machines, reciting the future prophecies of the Holy Crown.
However, Caterina hadn’t lost herself despite being with the Holy Crown, and the hero wasn’t just someone who pulled out the sword, but someone who walked with it.
“Oh, light.”
Aurelia closed her eyes for a moment and prayed.
She had just realized that a season that had never been before, and would never be again, was upon them.
“There are already two Demon Kings. Perhaps even three.”
Cain was thinking of the Demon Kings in the east and west, as well as the other Demon King that Abel had defeated.
“If there are three, there could be four.”
Aurelia said, clutching her head. Throughout history, there had been four Demon Kings.
If it wasn’t just one, then two could become four.
If there were four beings who could bring about the end of the world, what were the people living in that world supposed to do?
“And the true enemy lies behind the Demon King.”
Cain added with a light chuckle. At his words, both women stared directly into his eyes.
What was the hero with violet eyes trying to say?
Who was the true enemy lurking behind the Demon King?
“Humans.”
“Ah.”
Morning Inphedral nodded her head involuntarily.
“…….”
Aurelia, on the other hand, frowned. What Cain said was obvious.
“When the enemy is gone, humanity’s enemy will be humanity itself. What awaits then is not the ruin of the Demon King, but the end of humanity.”
“……That seems a bit too far-fetched. If we can’t even defeat the Demon King now, there is no ‘next’.”
Aurelia cut him off sharply.
What was the point of talking about the future when they couldn’t even solve the problem in front of them?
“Commons.”
“……!”
“They are the end I envision. They are the ones who will bring about the most common end.”
Morning Inphedral finally nodded, as if she understood Cain.
“As expected, you had another reason for going to Mytilene, didn’t you?”
“Isn’t it obvious?”
“I like this hero. He’s got a dark side hidden beneath the surface.”
“You’re one to talk.”
They chuckled, facing each other. Meanwhile, Aurelia, her face stiff, didn’t know what to say.
She was a Cardinal, but she had never even considered such a problem.
Always working with documents and information, she looked out the window in frustration.
The airship was now passing over the southern coastline of the empire, and in the distance, a small island came into view.
It was the island where the Mytilene auction house was located.
Cain also looked in that direction and said,
“Don’t worry, I’m not saying I won’t kill the Demon King.”
“…….”
“Not yet.”
“Not yet…… All things are by the light.”
Aurelia nodded and made the sign of the cross.
It hadn’t even been a year since Cain became the hero.
Realizing that she had been too hasty, she decided to observe Cain for the time being.
However, she didn’t realize that Cain’s time flowed faster than the approaching seasons, and the Mytilene auction house drew closer.
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