Chapter 299: Deepening Mystery

“I suddenly felt the reactions from all six of you disappear…”

“I heard about it from Ryo and rushed over to help.”

Ryo and Hugh explained what had happened.

Of course, they were now outside of Baudelin.

Since there was no telling what might happen in the city again…

“We started looking around the area where the six of you disappeared… after about ten seconds, you all suddenly reappeared.”

Ryo recalled and explained.

Then he smiled and said,

“I’m glad you all are okay…”

Somehow, all six of them were embarrassed by those honest words.

After that, Niels and Etho took the lead in explaining to Hugh what had happened.

“In other words, the small countries mission is already…”

“Yes. Probably annihilated…”

In response to Hugh’s question, Niels nodded while frowning.

That hurt Ryo’s heart.

After all, compared to the Imperial and Union missions, he felt a relative sense of camaraderie with the small countries mission.

One-sidedly, of course.

That’s why in Schulz, his first Ice Wall was cast to protect the small countries mission.

After several other confirmations, Hugh bowed to Niels and the other five.

“I’m sorry. It was my error of judgment.”

“Eh? Grand Master?”

Niels started, and the other five tilted their heads as well.

“I didn’t imagine there would be such a monster, and it was my mistake to let the six of you enter on your own.”

“No, that’s… No one knew that there would be such an entity, and in the first place, that was… probably an opponent nobody could win against.”

Etho answered Hugh’s words.

“Grand Master was there too, we once met a Fiend during the request in Kona village previously. The entity this time was on par with that Fiend, or perhaps even stronger than it.” (TLN: Shall translate魔人

as Fiend for now, given its strong denial of being a Demon Lord)

When Niels said so, Etho and Amon nodded in agreement.

The three from Room 11, who had never seen a Fiend before, were surprised.

However, Harold was the only one with a visibly pained expression on his face.

Of course.

Harold was on the receiving end of a condition caused by a ‘Rupture Spirit Curse’ from a Fiend……

He couldn’t remain composed.

After finishing the report, the six from ‘Room 10’ and ‘Room 11’ were instructed by Hugh to “Take a break for now”.

“Phew~, I’m glad you all came back safely. There’s no other way but to celebrate with a coffee party. Ah, but it’s already night and we won’t be able to sleep…”

While saying that in a good mood, Ryo made an ice coffee grinder and was about to put coffee beans in it.

He was really happy that the six of them returned safely.

Etho decided to ask Ryo, who was in a good mood preparing a coffee party, what had been on his mind.

“Ryo, there’s one thing I want to ask you in detail.”

“What is it, Etho?”

He quickly ground the beans in the mill, put them in an ice French press with hot water, and turned the ice hourglass upside down. Ryo then turned to Etho.

“That ‘priest’-like being was really surprised and impressed by the word ‘fallen’… or rather, ‘the concept of fallen’. He wanted to know more in detail about how we knew about ‘fallen’.”

“Ah……”

Hearing Etho’s question, Ryo placed his finger to his temple and thought.

Certainly, he remembered explaining to Etho that ‘fallen was when something holy becomes evil’.

But that wasn’t really accurate…

“Hmm… Etho, do you know about the existence of angels?”

“Of course. Ones who are by God’s side and enforce God’s will.”

The role of ‘Angels’ on ‘Phi’ seemed to be the same as the role of ‘Angels’ on Earth.

Strictly speaking, though not always true, but basically when ‘angels’ are mentioned on Earth, they are beings that appear in Christianity, Judaism, or Islam.

Since these three essentially believe in the same ‘god’, the existence of angels and the role they play are almost the same.

In other words, they exist between God and man and are spiritually positioned between God and man.

And the word ‘angel’ seldom appears in other polytheistic religions…

Ryo, who graduated as a Western history major (although he took a month off from school), was very knowledgeable in that area.

“Yes, that’s true of angels. Hmm, I’d like you to listen without getting angry… What would happen if an angel left God and started doing evil?”

“Ha……”

Priest Etho and Priest Zeke were at a loss for words at Ryo’s question.

It was like being hit on the head from behind.

By the way, during that time, the rest of the muscle-brain quartet… Niels, Amon, Harold, and Gowan sat quietly listening.

……He looked like he was listening, but Ryo knew that Niels only cared about the coffee.

Etho and Zeke also came to their senses around the time the brewed coffee was divided to the muscle-brain group.

“That is impossible. An angel cannot exist apart from God…”

The priest Zeke said so while frowning.

Yes, Ryo had predicted that a priest would say so.

That’s why, when he explained it to Etho before, he blurted it out.

“I see. That might explain that ‘priest’-like existence… But that entity said he wasn’t an angel…”

While frowning, Priest Etho nodded slightly and said so.

Ryo was a little surprised at that answer.

From that, he understood that the influence of the ‘priest’-like entity was so great that it changed the way Etho thought about it as a priest.

“It means to fall from heaven, fallen. Originally, it was not a word used for humans. It is a word for spiritual beings in Heaven. To be honest, I don’t know if we humans can do anything to an entity like an angel.”

Ryo honestly answered.

In his head, he was thinking of Michael (pseudonym) who he met in the white room when he was reincarnated.

Clearly different from humans.

A being from a different dimension.

So far, he has encountered beings that were overwhelmingly different from humans, such as dragons and griffons, Akuma and Fiends.

But even so, they were probably … ‘creatures’.

However, Michael (pseudonym), who called himself “something like an angel”, was probably not a ‘creature’.

‘Spiritual Being’ was probably the closest term.

In the first place, they are not opponents with whom humans can compete against…

But…….

Yes, but.

Would something called a ‘Spiritual being’ bother to intervene in the human world?

Even if the entity was a ‘spiritual being’, he could understand if the entity was an Angel.

It may be possible they would intervene in the human world to carry out the will of God in this world.

However, for a Fallen Angel to intervene… Ryo couldn’t figure out why.

If this was Earth, then there would be the existence of Devils/Akuma as an adversary to God.

Many of these Devils are said to be fallen angels.

All sorts of conflicts go on between God, angels, and devils with humans in between … that was an easy concept to understand.

However, on ‘Phi’, Ryo felt that the ‘Devil/Akuma’ didn’t seem to be that kind of existence.

Of course, the only ‘Devil/Akuma’ Ryo knew was Leonor.

Leonor is an existence that is hostile to gods and angels?

That felt strange.

Furthermore, the entity they met in Baudelin called themselves “not an angel”.

Some are not angels.

Some are Fallen Angels.

Are those two entities fighting?n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Is that why he let Etho and the others go to the Western Countries?

They don’t seem to be on friendly terms, but…

The more he thought about it, the less he understood…

It was another moment where the number of mysteries that Ryo could not solve increased.

The next day.

“Hey, Ryo. Can’t you do something about this …?”

Niels asked Ryo, who was walking by his side.

Hearing that, Etho, Amon, Harold, Zeke, and Gowan nodded with wry smiles.

“It would be a problem if everyone disappeared, so it can’t be helped.”

Ryo nodded vigorously and answered.

Chains of ice were wrapped around the six people’s waists.

And that chain was connected to the ice chain that Ryo wore around his waist.

It seemed that Ryo thought up a plan to keep the six of them from disappearing…

“But, with this, Ryo will just disappear with us, right?”

“Crap!”

Ryo suddenly realized what Niels pointed out.

“I-I’ll think of another way…”

“No, you don’t have to think about it…”

Ryo started to think, and Niels replied with a sigh.

“I’ve got a good idea! Let’s chain the whole envoy together with chains of ice!”

“Yeah, don’t do that.”

While that happened, the Kingdom mission was aiming for the last country of the corridor countries, the ‘Sufouh Kingdom’.

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