Divine Emissary's lover?"
The man reacted to Chereli and Shez's voices.
"Oh, no..."
Tesilid, who was elated to be back in the Human Realm after three painstaking months, finally snapped back to reality. Only then did he realize that there was a huge crowd surrounding the gate he had left and that their attention was entirely focused on him.
Looking a little embarrassed, he grabbed his shirt at the front to hide the Dream Demon's Harness strapped beneath, yet all that did was widen the tear on the other side to reveal the leather straps across his back. His awkward movements alleviated the tension a little bit, so Marchioness Lecandro maintained a level of skepticism as she cautiously approached this shockingly beautiful man.
"Are you... the second prince?"
"No. I'm Tesilid Argente, the master of the holy sword."
"But your expressionless response... So, it is you, Your Highness. I thought perhaps you were a demon in disguise."
"That would be a horrible misunderstanding." Tesilid summoned the holy sword to prove his identity, which instantly brought relief to the crowd.
Marchioness Lecandro's face hardened once more as she asked, "Can you please explain what happened?"
The fact that Tesilid appeared in place of the boss was quite strange indeed. He pondered about how he should reply for a moment, but decided to tell the truth as is.
"I accidentally entered the Black Market of Joy, so I killed Marchioness Gibrelte while I was there. The boss has been subjugated, so there is nothing to worry about."
To prove how he defeated the boss, Tesilid performed another demonstration, although this time he showed the crowd a different weapon than his holy sword.
Swoosh.
More than ten aura blades suddenly lined up behind Tesilid, to everyone's utter surprise.
"H-He's an aura master!"
"I didn't know His Highness was an aura master!"
"I awakened the ability a few days ago. By the way, I'm Sir Tesilid, not a prince," he replied with a gentle smile.
Unbeknownst to him, the kind expression looked like an act of seduction to those standing close to Tesilid because of the harness. Thankfully, the guards' stunned admiration was able to overcome the effect of the harness.
"A-A hero! A hero of this kingdom!"
"His Highness returned as an aura master!"
"Wow! Hip hip hooray, Prince Reminick!"
"I said it's Sir Tesilid..."
That was how the threat to the Vinchester Kingdom was handled, rather uneventfully.
Tesilid sighed at the crowd's resistance to call him by his preferred name and decided to give up on correcting everyone, then shared an important piece of information with Marchioness Lecandro.
"Is the respiratory disease from the smoke spreading very quickly?"
"Yes, that's correct. We are at a loss of what to do."
"You should be able to receive the treatment medicine from the Duchy of Heathfenrir. The Divine Emissary had been preparing for this disaster in advance."
"Oh, I see! What a relief. Thank you for that critical information, Your Highness."
While Marchioness Lecandro ordered a knight to report the current situation to Queen Laviosa and Princess Celesteed, Tesilid closed the dungeon that no longer served a purpose.
That's when Marchioness Lecandro jolted and asked, "Don't you have other colleagues with you?"
"No. I was separated from everyone for a long time."
The obvious implication was that Tesilid had defeated an SS-class boss alone and without a healer. While she didn't think a prince and the master of the holy sword would lie about his accomplishments, Marchioness Lecandro was surprised by another implication in his statement.
He was alone without the Divine Emissary? It was strange to think that they were separated when the two always seemed to come in a pair. The prince wasn't even dressed properly at the moment, so Marchioness Lecandro asked about the Divine Emissary in case something happened between the two.
"Then what happened to Her Eminence?"
"Allie..." In fact, Tesilid had just taken a teleportation stone out, his handsome face painted with genuine excitement. The smile was amplified by the effects of the harness, which erupted a wave of gasps when Tesilid added, "I'm about to go meet her now."
â
â¬Â«System» Transported to the region of Gehenid, the capital of Ragneif Republic of Magic. Time zone has changed to the local time.â
â¬Â«System» Warning. Walpurgis Night has begun. The Demon Realm Effect has been applied to the entire city.â
â¬Â«System» Warning. You are unable to use the teleportation stone.â
The shrieks of those in suffering pierced my ears the moment I stepped into the new region. Gehenid was the birthplace of magic engineering, well known for retaining the most advanced civilization in the Continent of Serentra. However, the city had been devastated by the dungeon burst. The human civilization that had been built up for hundreds of years was crushed in an instant as groups of demons continued to raze buildings and tear people to pieces while fire crept through the city. From where I stood, I could not see a single surviving human.
"Divine Retribution."
I purged all of the demons I could see with the naked eye, turning them to dust in an instant.
"My goodness... I can't believe this happened to the city."
"Are there no survivors?"
My colleagues who teleported with me were also taking in the terrible scene before us. Ephael and Hestio couldn't hide the shock of seeing the ruined city, but Ash remained comparatively calm, true to form for an ex-assassin.
He took his mask off and placed it in his pocket as he said, "I guess I don't need to cover my face." He didn't need to be concerned about being a wanted criminal here, yet he wasn't one bit happy about it.
"Sister..." called a shy voice, someone who had officially joined the Silver Citadel knight division as of today. Needless to say, it was Hilde.
I was worried that she might be frightened by the amount of destruction before us, but that wasn't the case. Instead, she pointed out a very important observation.
"I don't think the boss has arrived yet."
"Yes, you're right. Over eighty percent of the demon forces must be defeated for the boss to appear."
"Then should we enter the dungeon ourselves?"
"It would be nice if we could battle inside the dungeon to minimize further damage, but that won't work, unfortunately. You know how the entrance to a dungeon burst gets denied over time? Well, the speed of that is accelerated during the Walpurgis Night."
By now, everyone seemed to be aware of what needed to be done, but just to be sure everyone was on the same page, I explained our next steps aloud.
"Silver Citadel, we will kill the demon forces and call forth the boss."
Rumble!
A booming explosion occurred the moment I gave my order, followed by a series of flames erupting nearby.
"Wh-What is that? What is going on?"
Our supporter jumped at the noise, which was my signal to give him a word of encouragement. Placing a gentle grip on his shoulder, I reminded him, "Don't worry, Hestio. The force I sent here in advance is just doing his job."
"The force you sent here?"
"I sent Moriphys Marcellion here before I went to Feronsa to help. I had to because this is a matter of crisis in his own nation."
Only then did Ash and Ephael recall his existence and shouted, "Oh, that's right. I forgot about that mad mage."
"I remember him. You had him locked up in a mirror."
Hestio smirked as he remarked, "I can't believe he was kept alive."
"Did you think I killed him?"
"I'm not talking about you. I'm talking about Tesilid. He should've done something to that freak."
Putting an end to the trivial conversation, I said, "The Chimera Researcher seems to be taking care of the demons in the nine o'clock direction, so I'll go in the two o'clock direction. The four of you, get rid of every demon you see in this area."
"Got it, Division Commander!"
"Yes, big Sis."
"Be careful, sister."
"See you later, Ailette."
I had divided our group unevenlyâa team of four and a team of oneâbut no one had an issue with this allocation of power.
"See you later."
With that, I left my colleagues to their task. I started off with a slow walk, but soon ran faster and faster, bolting through a narrow alley to reach a road. The skeleton soldiers who were exchanging their bones with body parts they collected from the humans they had killed took a break and looked in my direction.
Clatter?
I gave them a smile and replied, "Divine Retribution." I showered demons in all directions with my divine power as I charged forward.
Clatter, clatter...!
They tried to flee, but managed only a few steps before I reduced them to ash.