Chapter 381: Demon King’s Factor

“Ryo, I’ll treat you first.”

Etho said, drinking the magic potion that Ryo had, and chanted.

“”

As a result, his missing left arm was regenerated and the wound on his side was also repaired.

“Your skill in healing is still amazing no matter how many times I look at it.”

Etho smiled wryly at Ryo’s murmur.

When Ryo finished recovering, he turned to Merlin and bowed.

“Thank you, Merlin-san.”

“Hm?”

But Merlin didn’t understand why he thanked him.

“I made it thanks to Merlin-san buying me time.”

“I see, it was for that. I told you that if you left, there was a possibility that the Akuma would come and mess with the six of them again. I was worried about that, and sure enough, he showed up. And once again between the West Dungeon and the Holy Capital.”

“That’s because…”

“The West Dungeon is where I reside. And the Akuma has always kept away from the Holy Capital.”

(Is there something holy in the Holy Capital? Well… if the Pope or the person behind him is a Fallen, I don’t think there would be anything holy there. Or, even if they had Fallen, there is still something… an element that the Akuma don’t want to get close to?)

Ryo thought to himself.

“You’re right… that Akuma, Jean-Jacques, always appears when Ryo is not around…”

Etho nodded as he remembered.

“Probably because Leonor told him not to touch me.”

“The other Akuma you mentioned.”

Ryo guessed and Amon nodded.

“That Leonor too… she’s not protecting Ryo, right?”

“Of course not. She wants to kill me. Well, rather than just killing me, she wants to fight at full strength, defeat me, and have fun in the process of killing me, something like that.”

“O-oh… I can’t understand such sentiment.”

Niels shook his head in response to Ryo’s explanation.

Not only Niels but the other six too… even Merlin was shaking his head as well.

Of course, Ryo didn’t understand either.

“Jean-Jacques gave us a lot of valuable information.”

Zeke returned to the topic.

“I didn’t think that our delegation would be invited for that reason…”

Harold whispered.

That said, for Harold, the situation could be called a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Due to his immature actions, he contracted the ‘Rupture Spirit Curse’ and was given a place on the delegation to the Western Countries because his condition would lead to his death otherwise.

The Demon King’s blood, which can break the Rupture Spirit Curse, was stored in the Western Church and became Harold’s hope.

In the end, all of the stored Demon Lord’s blood were lost, so they searched for the Demon Lord themselves, found her, had her share her blood, and the spirit curse was lifted…

In reality, the reason the delegation was invited from the Central Countries was to collect their Fragments of God…

If they came from far away, even if they were killed, the ‘balance of the region’ would not be disrupted.

Such an incredibly outrageous reason.

“However, there are still some mysteries that remain unsolved.”

When Ryo said that, the other seven people all looked at him.

“First, the Demon King’s blood that Harold was supposed to have dripped on his forehead. Apparently, it was stored in the first vault, so why did they attack all four vaults?”

“Yeah, you have a point.”

Etho nodded at Ryo’s words.

“Why is the Theocracy negotiating so seriously with the Central Countries if they’re going to kill us all anyway?’’

“I guess only very few people know of the conspiracy? to collect the Fragments of God.”

Niels answered Ryo with his arms crossed.

“And finally, Merlin-san.”

“Hmm? Me?”

Ryo turned to Merlin and said, and Merlin asked in surprise.

“The reason why Merlin isn’t sleeping.”

“Ah… now that you mention it.”

Ryo said and Niels nodded.

“I think it probably has a different meaning from the word ‘sleep’ for us humans. Jean-Jacques said earlier that the Akuma Leonor is still weak because she just woke up… am I right?’’

“Well, I guess so.”

Merlin answered Ryo’s question with a small nod.

“We, Spellno… humans call us Djinns, but we call our race Spellno. Spellno should go to sleep at least once every thousand years. If we don’t, our strength will decrease immensely.’’

“Your strength will decrease…”

Zeke muttered at Merlin’s explanation.

“Isn’t it the same for humans that you can’t show your full potential if you don’t get enough sleep? Well, just think of it as something worse than that. The ideal would be to sleep for 500 years and stay awake for 500 years. I have not slept for several thousand years… so I am in a terrible state.’’

Merlin said with a wry smile.

“Is the reason Merlin-san is awake all that time related to the Demon Lord’s army?”

Merlin’s eyes widened a little at Etho’s question.

“…Well, I guess so.”

It seemed to be something difficult to reveal.

“Wasn’t Merlin-san’s role to keep the Demon Lord’s army from going too far out of control?”

Surprisingly, Amon got to the point.

“Why… do you think so?”

Merlin asked, frowning slightly.

His expression looked like it was between being troubled and smiling wryly.

“I just somewhat made a guess… The power of the Demon Lord that we hear about in legends is tremendous. Even the monsters that follow him are quite strong, such as the centaurs. If such monsters follow the Demon Lord, I feel like the Western Countries should have perished many times over.”

Amon stated.

Hearing that, Merlin smiled bitterly.

“Yes, I think it was on the brink of getting destroyed many times… The thing called ‘Demon Lord’s Factor’ is surprisingly troublesome.”

The Demon Lord’s Factor is something that exists naturally in many monsters, and when the Demon Lord raises an army, they are forced to follow the Demon Lord’s army, something like a ‘compulsion’ or a ‘curse’.

“Even if the Demon Lord doesn’t will it, the Demon Lord’s Factor can begin to take effect.”

“What…”

Ryo was speechless at Merlin’s explanation.

The other six people were also speechless.

“Once the Demon Lord’s Factor is excited, it will remain excited for a while. Once they absorb a certain amount of God Fragments, it will then return to its base state over time…”

“God Fragments… That’s why the Demon Lord’s army has no choice but to collide with humans…”

Ryo nodded in response to Merlin’s explanation.

“Yes. It can’t be helped… it’s something God intended, so there’s nothing we can do about it… But from a human’s point of view, they’re not going to just give up their lives, right? However, monsters are also affected by the Demon Lord’s Factor. They can’t go against it. That’s why someone has to keep the balance.’’

“And that’s Merlin-san.”

“Yeah. We, Spellno, are not implanted with the Demon Lord’s Factor. That is why we can maintain our composure even when the Demon Lord’s Factor is excited.”

“That’s why you were always by the Demon Lord’s side as a staff member. You were there to prevent the Demon Lord’s army from going too far out of control and killing too many humans… I read in the records that at the end of each war, you were always there when the cease-fire treaty was signed.”

Etho supplemented Merlin’s explanation.

Etho and Zeke had read records on that area in the Holy Capital’s specialized library.

“If I were to meet God someday, I would definitely want to ask him. Why did he create something like the Demon Lord’s Factor?”

Merlin said, shaking his head over and over again.

The group parted ways with Merlin and arrived at the entrance to the Holy Capital.

“There are only 20 days left until the Pope’s inauguration.”

When Zeke said that, Harold and Gowan nodded.

“Let’s do what we can do one at a time. In the first place, there’s no guarantee that we can defeat the opponent, especially if they are strong enough to desire the Fragments of God.”

“Well… in the first place, the battle just now was already beyond the scope of my understanding.”

Hearing Ryo’s words, Niels looked at Ryo and claimed.

Then he continued to ask.

“At the end, Ryo’s left arm was sliced off. What were you planning to do if the battle had continued like that?”

“Ah… I don’t know. Perhaps switch to magic battle? Or maybe I could make a left arm out of ice and continue the sword fight.”

“As if that’s possible!”

“Why not? I’ve just never attempted it?”

“Hey…”

Niels retorted Ryo’s random answer.

“After all… even if I asked you to replace me, Niels, you wouldn’t right?”

“Oh, of course. I would never swap in. That was far beyond my league!”

Niels even more briskly rejected Ryo’s question.

Etho and Amon smiled bitterly upon hearing that.

And Ryo sighed.

“Well, I somehow managed to finish the fight without getting my head cut off. That said, I still have a long way to go in terms of combat.”

“A long way to go even at that level…”

Amon muttered at Ryo’s words.

“Eventually, it will become an aerial battle, a completely three-dimensional battle.”

“What the heck are you training towards, Ryo…”

Niels muttered at Ryo’s random prediction of the future.

What Ryo is aiming for… no one knows…

Of course, that includes Ryo too.

((And that’s what happened, we went through a lot of trouble))

((Y-yeah… it looked crazy))

Ryo could sense His Majesty the King’s discomposure.

((Abel, if something happened, you can always consult me, okay? I’m still the premier duke after all!))

((It’s nothing… I was just watching the battle with the Akuma earlier through Soul Resonance…))

((Ah, that’s why. It was an interesting sight, wasn’t it?))

((How should I put it… it was an amazing battle in a realm I had not experienced))

That was Abel’s honest impression.

Abel is a swordsman.

Therefore, he could be called an expert in close combat.

Even as a close combat expert… that speed was completely beyond imagination.

((Fighting in that speed range…))

((Huh? Hasn’t Abel ever had a mock battle with Sera? A sword fight with Sera with her ‘Wind Equip’ should be in that speed range?))

((Yeah, I’ve never had one, and I never will…))

Abel swore to himself.

And that naturally led Ryo to think of something.

(Come to think of it, I haven’t seen Sera recently.)

Forest in the west of the Kingdom.

“I’m back.”

“Welcome back, Baba-sama.”

Sera was the first to greet Baba when she returned from an official trip to the royal capital.

From there, she could see the training ground built in the village but found many collapsed elves.

They were probably defeated by Sera.

“Sera… shouldn’t it be fine for you to deliver it to the royal capital instead of me? Officially, you are the next representative of this Western Forest. Even in the royal capital, you won’t be treated roughly… I tire of traveling back and forth between here and the royal capital.”

“No, I’ll leave that to you, Baba-sama.”

Sarah stubbornly refused.

Baba knew the reason why.

“It’s probably because Ryo isn’t in the royal capital anyway.”

“As expected of Baba-sama, you can see through everything.”

Baba said while shaking her head and Sera answered with a simple smile.

“The royal capital without Ryo is worthless.”

“No, don’t say that…”

Sara declared and Baba sighed.

“He joined the delegation to the Western Countries. There’s nothing we can do about it.”

“Ryo is also the premier duke, so he should just let his subordinates do that. Instead, it would be much more meaningful to go and visit the delicious restaurants in the royal capital.”

“I don’t think so…”

As expected, Baba could not agree with Sera’s words and objected.

“It’s something called noblesse oblige. It can’t be helped, it’s the responsibility of an aristocrat.”

“Of course I’m joking. Ryo is very serious after all. It’s great that he’s fulfilling his role properly. Although I want to meet Ryo… I also wonder what kind of souvenir he’ll bring back for me. I’m looking forward to it.”

“How should I put it… I feel like I can understand why Ryo and Sera get along so well.”

Baba sighed and murmured when Sera said those words happily.

Seeing Baba like that, Sera continued.

“Well, I think that my training of everyone here improves the Kingdom’s defense capabilities, right? I think this way we can contribute more to the country. So, I’ll leave the next trip to the royal capital to Baba-sama as well.”

“Sigh…”

Baba found it hard to argue with Sera’s words.

Since what she said wasn’t wrong…

Although it wasn’t right even if her argument wasn’t wrong…

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