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Episode 8:
She Who Was Summoned
SEVERAL DAYS AFTER THE DINNER PARTY, WE rode in Duke Capell’s coach to the duke’s old castle.
“I’m so disappointed. I thought my sisters would be among the ones who would ride with us,” I murmured.
“Yeah,” Rick replied in a tone that made me think he meant something else.
Huh? Did Rick know my sisters? I supposed he must, since they were his relatives too. Considering how my sisters had wound up, Rick must have had a heck of a time with them.
Today, we were riding in a regular six-passenger coach rather than the high-speed one, since we were traveling within the duke’s lands. This meant that Rick and Noel were sitting across from me and, sitting next to me, I had my lady’s maid Vio and…
Е ň ǔm̄ а
“Are you talking about your elder sisters, Lady Yul? They must be such wonderful people.” Cordelia was sitting in such a way next to me that she was clamped onto my arm.
At some point after she had protected me from her father, she had started calling me by my nickname; however, she was starting to seem a bit too much like Shelly. I hoped she wouldn’t end up being as excitable as her. I prayed from the bottom of my heart that she would stay the way I knew her: pure and relatively serious.
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“Why, yes! My elder sisters are so wonderful and cute!”
“Really? I am so looking forward to getting to meet them, then!”
As Cordelia and I chatted with smiles on our faces, Rick went from wearing that somewhat odd expression to sighing with a frown on his face. “I wish I could be as carefree as you.”
The cramped coach was tolerable, but Rick and Noel both had seemed on edge ever since they learned that our destination was the castle Callisto was borrowing from Duke Capell.
Еň üm á .і̌ d
It was because they were worried about me, right? It wasn’t because I was smiling nonstop, right?
But I couldn’t help it. Not only was I going to get to see my sweet sisters again, I just couldn’t help getting the biggest smile on my face whenever I started plotting how best to punish Callisto. Maybe I was starting to veer a little too close to inhuman these days?
Fear. Not. I’m. Still. Fine. (I think.)
And then, some time later…
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“I can see the castle now, Lady Yul.”
“Thank you, Vio.” I leaned toward Vio, wearing a most calm and humanlike smile on my face, to peer out the expensive glass windows. The old castle was far from the capital of the duke’s territory. Through clearings in the forest, I could see that it was small and stood on the shore of a pretty lake. That might make you imagine it would be a nice retreat in summer to escape the heat, but since this was Cordelia’s first time coming here too, I had to imagine that maintaining it must have been troublesome.
Ěňu ma
There were reeds taller than me all along the shore and so many weeds around the castle that it looked like a certain famous prairie. The castle itself was also covered in vines and seemed more abandoned than merely old.
If they were so rich, why didn’t they do something about it?
“Prince Ludoric, Lady Yulucia, thank you for coming all this way.”
Waiting for us in front of the old castle was Duchess Isabella Capell with several lady’s maids in tow. Behind her was Callisto, our host, who looked like he had come out to greet us as well, but his mouth was opening and closing like a fish deprived of oxygen and no words actually came out before he finally sank into silence.
“Mother!”
“Oh, Cordelia. I see you came along with Prince Ludoric. Did you get to chat much along the way?”
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“No, I spoke with Lady Yul.”
“That simply won’t do. Don’t be so shy around him. You must talk to His Highness.”
“But Mother…”
Cordelia and her mother had seemed so close when we’d first met, but perhaps that was simply how Cordelia had been brainwashed to be. The second she deviated even slightly from the script, they became unable to communicate at all.
Rick sighed as he stepped forward. “I believe that we were invited here by the archbishop?” he asked, the exact question I’d been thinking.
Duchess Isabella smiled shamelessly. “This is our castle, which our house has provided the funds for. I just decided to welcome you all on Archbishop Callisto’s behalf.”
Е̃nù.m а
“I see. Then do you know what exactly we’re going to be doing here?”
“Ho ho ho. That will have to wait until you see it with your own eyes. But first, let us have a bite to eat.”
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“Fine.”
I didn’t really care either way, but it felt like the duchess was looking down on me. She seemed to have conflicted feelings about something. Perhaps if I gave her just a little more time, she would be ripe and ready to eat?
“Then let us be—”
“Come, Lady Yulucia! This way!” Callisto had finally stepped up to interrupt the duchess and take it upon himself to volunteer as our guide with gusto. “Come along, everyone. Lady Cordelia, you as well.”
W eb̂ ṅ о̂ vël Еnů m̄а̂
“All right,” I said as I took Cordelia’s hand and started walking. Rick was immediately at my side and Noel was several steps behind giving orders to the mercenaries.
Everyone’s so serious, I thought carefully just as…
“Princess!” I heard a strangely familiar voice as we were being guided to the main hall.
I wasn’t sure if this could actually be considered a main hall or not. It seemed like the kind of place where soirees would have been held in the past, but for some reason there was a big magic-circle-looking thing here that some wizard-looking people were preparing. What was this all about? It resembled a summoning circle, but there was something different about it.
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A young man weaved through the ring of people working on it to come running over toward us. “Oh, fair princess. You are even more beautiful than I remember.”
“It’s nice to see you again, Sir Alfio.”
Е n̄û m̆ а̂. і̄ d
Here he was. Alfio, the (self-proclaimed) Hero of Sigoules. I was reluctant to even address him by his name from the way he was looking at me; furthermore, I refused to address him as Hero when no one from the Sigoules royal family had recognized him as such. In the Holy Kingdom, Hero was just as important a title as Saint, so it wasn’t good enough for just Callisto to call him that.
When Alfio reached me, he knelt and proceeded to try to kiss the back of my hand.
“How dare you treat our kingdom’s princess with such familiarity?” Rick said in an oppressive tone as he grabbed Alfio’s hand and stared down at him.
“Who are you?” Alfio asked sullenly from below.
“I’m Ludoric of Talitelud. Don’t tell me you haven’t heard of me.”
Alfio had indeed recognized the prince’s name, judging from how he backed down. Despite his disgruntled expression, he bowed his head for form’s sake. “Please forgive me. Truly. I am not a noble, nor am I from this kingdom.”
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Yikes, check out that awful attitude.
It wasn’t all that unusual for someone who had money, spellcraft, and sword skills to act this way—for someone so confident in their abilities to be bizarrely hostile toward someone with political power. However, this time he was out of his league. One of the paladins already had his hand on the grip of his sword for not only having an attitude toward the prince, but for the level of disrespect that had crossed into insolence. Fortunately for Alfio, Rick held up a hand to stop the paladin.
“What’s your name?” Rick asked.
“I am Alfio. I am known as the Hero in Sigoules.”
Not only did Rick grimace at how Alfio introduced himself as the “Hero,” but the paladins did as well.
“I see. I haven’t heard any mention of you from my aunt, who is the Queen of Sigoules, but no matter. You may go. Return to your work.”
Еn̆ ũ m а̄_
Wow! He got rid of him in a single stroke!
He was, after all, only a (self-professed) Hero (temporary title). Perhaps it was different elsewhere, but here you needed to have at least awoken and been blessed by the elementals before anyone would even recognize you.
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“Please excuse me.” Alfio’s face had gone past bright red and into a darkish color as he left.
The other members of the party of Heroes followed after him with worried expressions. My sisters were among them. Big Sister Adeline gave me such an incredible glare that I returned it with my most radiant smile. She looked startled as she retreated.
Ooh, I just couldn’t take it! Big Sister Adeline was simply the cutest!
“Noel,” Rick said with a grim look on his face as he watched them.
W̄е bn о̀vе ľ Е̄ nu m̌а̊
“Yes, Your Highness.” Noel came forward and now I had both Rick and Noel on either side of me for protection.
What was that all about? Were the two of them so close now that they could basically read each other’s minds? I much preferred this to how prickly they’d been before, yet I still couldn’t believe how in sync they were now. How was this possible?
Boys were such an enigma.
“Yulucia. Do not permit that man to approach you so easily,” Rick said, sounding like my dad.
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“I’m sorry, Big Brother Ludoric. I will be more careful. Though, I must say, I don’t often get to see this side of you. Acting with such authority. You were just like a prince from a storybook. It was marvelous.”
Cordelia blushed as she nodded in agreement.
Еn̈ u m̃а̀
He was now so mature compared to the neighborhood bully he had been as a kid. I smiled up at him, yet he looked away with a frown. “Just what kind of person do you think I am?”
Rick had looked all the way away, so I tried peeking at him. He gave me a light poke in the head. Were his ears a bit red too?
“Must you poke me like that?” Not that it had hurt or anything, but I puffed up my cheeks a bit to show I didn’t like it. Noel gently stroked the back of my head.
“What are you doing?” Was he trying to comfort me? I looked back at him in confusion and Noel pulled back his hand with a blush on his face.
“Nothing, sorry.”
Oh dear. Don’t you know that I actually do like people giving me this kind of attention?
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Rick and Noel were so cool, but there was something adorable about them as well. And they were quite different from a certain someone from the Demon Realm.
Which was good and all, but I heard some kind of gushing behind us and I knew that Bri had possibly been possessed by something wicked again.
“Prince Ludoric, please accept my apologies for being unable to receive you when you arrived.”
Duchess Isabella and Callisto guided us to what appeared to be a dining room, where Duke Capell welcomed us in. He had been busy getting things ready.
“I apologize for the current state of the castle and that we could not prepare a place with more space. Unfortunately, not everyone will be able to fit into this room, so I will have to ask that your attendants enjoy our hospitality in another parlor. Of course, we have prepared meals for the soldiers as well.”
Rick looked somewhat suspicious about all of this as he replied, “Have you? Thank you for being so considerate.”
Ĕn u m а.
Duke Capell hadn’t said anything particularly strange. It was pretty typical for guards and soldiers and the like to eat in a different location since they couldn’t possibly host everyone at once.
Though that usually only applied when you trusted your host.
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At any rate, why was it that Duke Capell refused to make eye contact with me? He spoke solely to Rick and didn’t even spare a glance my way. And even if he did meet my gaze for a split second, he looked away immediately. That must have really hurt his neck, snapping his head away like that.
How could he treat me this way after we had such a lovely conversation before?
“Is this not cramped?” I blurted out.
“Uh, do excuse us. We prepared this all in such great haste that we haven’t finished with the upholstery yet. Please forgive the state of things.” He was dripping with sweat as he replied. It seemed that even he was bothered by the situation and thus was unable to ignore my question.
Е̃n̂.ûmá .і̆ ď
Don’t worry. If I were to start poking fun at you, it wouldn’t be about that.
It wasn’t that big for a room to eat in, but if they just moved the boxy things containing magic of unknown origin that were scattered all over the room, it would be pretty big. Still, I had a feeling that even if I continued to point things out, the sweaty Duke Capell would act even more erratically than he already was, so I decided to drop the matter.
“And Cordelia. I want you to come with me,” Duchess Isabella said in a cold voice.
“But Mother—!” It was clear Cordelia wished to remain by my side, but her mother was trying to call her back because Cordelia hadn’t talked to Rick yet.
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“I thought I raised you better than this. If you refuse to listen to what I say, then perhaps it is time for you to leave. You should always do as I say.”
“Yes, Mother.” Cordelia bit her bottom lip and dropped her head at her mother’s cold tone that bordered on annoyance.
Е́nùmа . і̀ ď
“Isabella, there is no need to be so harsh with her,” Duke Capell interjected.
“She’s turning out this way because you keep being so lenient with her. I shall have to double down on her education from now on. I need her to behave today.”
Duke Capell sympathized with his daughter, but his wife remained firm. Cordelia’s eyes were wide with shock as she leaned closer to her father.
“Yulucia,” Rick whispered in my ear after a brief exchange with Mr. Bear.
“Yes?” I whispered back.
“Originally, Lord Barnabas was supposed to join us for this meal; however, I’m having Noel join us in his stead.”
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“I don’t mind, but why?”
Rick furrowed his brow a little. “Since we have no idea what will happen, Lord Barnabas wants to rally the mercenaries so that they’ll be ready to act on a moment’s notice.”
Ah, so that’s how it is. Rick and Mr. Bear were thinking that Duke Capell might try something here. However, unlike his wife, I sensed no such drive in him.
I sat down in the seat one of the Capell servants showed me to as the meal began.
In the end, it was just me, Rick, and Noel in this room. Vio and my attendants were all taken elsewhere to eat. Just in case, I had warned my attendants to get everyone in my retinue out if something happened, so I wasn’t too worried. Everyone was going to be okay, right?
In any case, no point in dwelling on that!
Ẅ_éb̃ ň о̀v ẽ l̃ Е n u m̌ а̃
“Big Sister Adeline? Wrinkling your brow like that is ruining your pretty face.”
“Is this some kind of joke? What gives the likes of you the right to call me ‘Big Sister’?”
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Aww! Big Sister Adeline was so delightful!!! Duke Capell had actually gone and invited Big Sister Adeline and Big Sister Aureline to dine with us! The rest of the party of Heroes (lol) wasn’t here, but since Duke Capell had invited their littlest sister, he had been obligated to invite them too, even though they had run away from home. Also, since they had once been the daughters of a duke, they were probably already acquainted with him.
Sitting across from me at the big table was Big Sister Adeline, who glared at me with the most adorable expression, like she was ready to jump down my throat. Next to her was Big Sister Aureline, who kept fidgeting nervously. I must say, she still didn’t look tasty at all.
“Forgive me, Big Sister. I am just so happy to finally see you again, I can hardly contain myself.”
“Are you seriously…?”
E̊n̂ū m̃а ..і̃d
Hm? I’d done an admirable thing and apologized, yet for some reason, she was glaring at me even harder than before.
“Oh, that reminds me, I hear you two have joined up with those people. Are they feeding you properly? I am very worried about how my noble sisters are faring among their kind.”
“Hmph. He may seem a bit unreliable, but he knows a lot of things and has many licenses for both spellcraft and farming. You of all people have no need to be concerned about us.” Big Sister Adeline turned her face away.
“My! Is that so? That’s splendid. I feared he only had eyes for children, so that is most reassuring to hear. And Father will stop worrying so much if this means that you two have found a husband as well.”
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“Why, you—!” Big Sister Adeline slammed her hand on the table as she rose to her feet.
Oh, dear.
È_n úm_а̊ . іd
They must have seen him try to kiss my hand two times and get blocked now. If he had some good points beyond that, then why was she so mad? There was pretty much no hope of finding a family willing to marry them to their sons in the Holy Kingdom, so I’d thought this was a good thing.
“P-please, just stop, Yulucia!” Big Sister Aureline warned me as she tried to calm her sister.
“Whatever do you mean?”
How unusual. It was rare for her to speak directly to me like this. For some reason, Big Sister Aureline’s gaze jumped from me to the person sitting next to me. I glanced and…
“Yulucia.” Rick had been silently listening to my loving conversation with my sisters, but now he let out a long sigh as he massaged his brow. “Just drop it already. I understand you’re happy to finally see them again, but you have a habit of being too…candid when you get excited like this.”
“Oh.” Too candid? I had no idea I was acting that way. Was that why Duke Capell had started avoiding me as well?
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“Adeline, it’s nice to see you again.”
“It’s nice to see you as well, Prince Ludoric.”
Rick had this look in his eye like he must have been thinking about things that had happened long ago as Big Sister Adeline met his gaze. She looked like a pouting child holding back tears.
I glanced at Big Sister Aureline questioningly. I could almost imagine her shrieking from the way she looked away from me. Surely I wasn’t deserving of such fear.
I wanted to ask what their history was, so I stared at her more intensely. She glanced at the two of them and frantically shook her head as a warning for me to stay silent.
Hmm. Since they were relatives close in age, I imagined that Rick and my sisters were something like childhood friends. However, there was this eddy of emotions that told me there was something more.
Ŵ.еb̆ n о́ v̂е̂ľ Е n u̇m̂a
Which reminded me, Rick had been engaged at one time. Could Big Sister Adeline have been his betrothed? She must have done something pretty awful to make the royal family annul an engagement to someone from a duke’s family.
“A-anyway, let us eat!” Duke Capell suddenly shouted, unable to withstand the heavy atmosphere any longer. He started giving directions to the chamberlains.
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Well, that was fine. Everyone had something they were dealing with.
Still, how did I even go about beginning to describe this scene?
Duke Capell was prattling on in an attempt to soothe the mood while beside him, his wife ignored him. Rick was being his usual self and eating in sullen silence. Big Sister Adeline hadn’t tried to take a single bite. Big Sister Aureline fidgeted as she ate out of despair. And in case you were wondering, Callisto had been here the whole time as well, but he was still being a wallflower.
I wondered why that was? I had some ideas, but I had a feeling that the cause of this shift in his personality must have been pretty big. Surely it wasn’t something I’d done. Despite how I may act on occasion, back in the Demon Realm I’d been the best at reading the room, so I decided to drink only water and not touch my food at all.
Еn̈ǔ mӑ_. і d̄
“Oh my. Is the food not to the tastes of a lady as noble as yourself, Lady Yulucia?” Duchess Isabella looked at me and asked.
“Mother, please don’t.”
“Quiet, Cordelia. I am asking out of concern.”
But why? Had she been looking for a chance to criticize me?
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“Duke Capell, who is he?”
What do you know? Rick got the jump on her.
Wеb̊ňо v̆ е̌l Е̇n̂um̂ ȧ
They had forced out the paladins guarding Rick and instead we had this stranger of a man seated at the table with us. He even had people who looked like his attendants waiting behind him.
“Ah, I completely forgot. Please accept my apologies.” Based on how flustered he was now, Duke Capell really had just forgotten to introduce this man because of the previous conversation. “This is Lord Caudle, whom I invited here from Telthed so that he could offer us his technical guidance for conducting the upcoming ritual.”
The introduction made him sound like someone who went door-to-door trying to scam people. The large man—who was all angles, like a boulder—stood up and bowed without smiling. “My name is Caudle Dlehn. I have heard much about you all. I beg your forgiveness in advance if I say something disrespectful due to being a country bumpkin devoted to his studies.”
He was a researcher? He looked more like a soldier or even someone nonhuman to me.
“Are all of the men in Telthed as muscular as you are, Lord Caudle?” I asked.
Caudle was at a loss for words for a moment before he finally averted his gaze from my stare and smiled as he finally answered, “The weak are looked down upon with disdain in the Military Country.”
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The Military Country of Telthed. Talitelud was called “the Holy Kingdom” and Sigoules was known as “the Nation of Agriculture,” but those weren’t their official names. Although Talitelud took pride in being the Holy Kingdom, we never introduced ourselves as such to those of other countries, and we never called the Kingdom of Sigoules “the Nation of Agriculture” to someone from Sigoules either. Some soldiers from Telthed may have called their own country by what it was known as among themselves, but never with someone from another country. That didn’t necessarily mean that this man wasn’t actually from Telthed, but it didn’t seem like he’d said that because he was a soldier either. Did this mean I had permission to poke fun at him?
“So that’s why you became stronger than any human?” I asked with a friendly grin on my face.
Caudle looked at me with shock. But let’s be serious, Caudle and those guys who were probably his attendants were clearly not human. And they weren’t beings from the Ethereal World like us demons or elementals either.
So what were they, then? We did have creatures called monstrosities that had once been animals that had absorbed too much mana and then formed mana stones in their hearts. They were rarely spotted here in the Holy Kingdom, though. I had never seen one for myself, but I got the sense that maybe these guys were something like monstrosities that had taken human form.
Caudle sunk into contemplative silence, so Rick did his princely duty by starting a conversation with Duke Capell.
“By the way, Archbishop Callisto had mentioned something about using Yulucia’s magic for the sake of the Goddess. Just what exactly does that entail?”
W̌ ė ḃ n̊ ӧv̇ ѐ l̃ _Е̃ n̂ ŭ m à
Rick’s tone came off more like he was demanding an explanation rather than asking a simple question, so despite looking somewhat relieved, Duke Capell sounded like he was reading lines off a script as he replied, “I am offering the archbishop my support because I was so deeply moved by his ideals. His aim is to create a site for the advent of the Goddess Kostor or even one of her servants, even if it is only for a short while, so that he may speak with her about how best to guide the people of this world.”
“Is that even possible?”
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“Even that is only the first step. Our goal is ultimately to communicate with the Goddess, and by doing so, the Holy Kingdom of Talitelud will be able to surpass even the Land of Faith to the south and become the true land of the Goddess!” Duke Capell told us in a fit of zealous passion.
The Land of Faith—I had heard of it before. It was the country at the southernmost part of the continent we lived on. They were known for their religious atmosphere just as Talitelud was, but the people worshipped their queen and revered her as a goddess. The World of Light had countries that were similar in that respect too.
Talitelud was different on a fundamental level in both the shape of its government and religion, yet for some reason Duke Capell felt this weird rivalry with the Land of Faith.
In any case, this all hinged on whether the goddess they all believed in actually existed or not.
W ě b n̄оv̄ е l̄ Ёn um̆ ӓ
“So, then, someone such as yourself was in Telthed to research that?” I asked Caudle.
He knitted his brows as he gave me a curt answer. “That’s right.”
It sure must be tough for non-humans to live in a human world. Perhaps he was keeping it a secret that he was only pretending to be a human? I definitely sympathized with how difficult that was.
I smiled at him encouragingly, hoping to communicate that I supported him even if I might not be able to help him. For some reason, Caudle’s attendants started fidgeting and he looked away from me with a grimace. Why?!
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“L-Lady Yulucia, if the food is not to your taste, then perhaps you would like something to drink instead?” Duchess Isabella suddenly cut in, speaking rather quickly.
Why would she ask that? I didn’t need to drink, but since I hadn’t touched the food, perhaps it would be considered rude if I refused something to drink too.
Еnü ma
“Isabella?” Duke Capell said.
“Lord Caudle has brought an unusual kind of drink from Telthed for us to enjoy. Perhaps Lady Yulucia would like the chance to try it as well.”
“Is that so?”
Duke Capell seemed ignorant about it. The duchess sure was a sinful woman, accepting a present from a man without her husband even knowing.
Duchess Isabella gave an order to a lady’s maid and several bottles were brought out. It must have been pretty delicious, considering how they poured glasses for not just me, but everyone else as well.
It was a strange shade of orange. And I could see something sparkling in there. What could it be?
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“A toast to the futures of Talitelud and Telthed!” Duke Capell said as he raised his glass up.
Oh, my. I know what this is.
“Something wrong, Yulucia?”
“Oh, no, it’s just so delicious.” It actually did have a flavor to me, you see. The bittersweetness of evil intentions.
However, this was…
I suddenly made a choking noise and Rick jumped up from his seat. “Yulucia?!”
W е b̂ n о̀ṽ ӗl̇ É nû m а̂
But then he staggered and clutched at his forehead. Noel, having noticed something was strange, also started to move, but the two of them collapsed.
My sisters and Cordelia both lost consciousness. That was when my attendants kicked down the door and came rushing in from the adjacent room.
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Oh, my.
“Lady Yulucia!”
“Mistress! Fanny, teleport her out!”
“N-no, don’t—”
Ŵеb nŏ v ӗ l̆ Ѐn um̆ â
“Mistress’s magic is unstable!”
I was so relieved that the four of them hadn’t drunk that much of it. “Manifest Light.” Light spread out from me, enveloping those who had fainted, and I was pretty sure I managed to neutralize it.
“Please…”
I couldn’t believe how strong it had been. I would have to leave the rest to them to handle things.
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***
“How dare you humans!”
Ẁ ё b́.n̊о̊v е̃ l Е̌ń ū m̀ а̂
Just as Tina was about to unleash her wrath upon those who had harmed her beloved mistress, Nia grabbed her shoulder and Absorbed the power.
“Let me go, Nia!”
“Tina, you can’t do this! Did you forget what Lady Yulucia told us to do?!”
“Argh!”
Yulucia had given the four arch demons an order beforehand. It was not limited to this occasion only, but any time that Yulucia was incapacitated: They were to first ensure the safety of the humans she knew.
It had only been a warning so that the attendants didn’t go on a rampage if a problem occurred when Yulucia was unable to act due to her ties of obligation as a human. Nevertheless, the arch demons tried as faithfully as they could to obey.
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If the arch demons followed their instincts and let loose, Yulucia’s human friends would die. It wasn’t a matter of whether they could protect the humans or not, but the fact that humans were unable to withstand the miasma the arch demons emitted when they released their powers. It would likely corrupt not just their flesh, but their very souls.
Noah took charge. “The three of you, listen close. We are to follow Mistress’s command and first guarantee the safety of the humans she cares about. Seeing as how Vio and the other maids have passed out too, the ones in the other rooms are probably all asleep as well. We are to find them and dump them outside the castle. Fanny, you help me get them out.”
“Okay!”
Fanny was able to keep her composure since she had her orders; however, deep down, Noah was infuriated enough to speak more casually than usual.
“B-but what about Mistress?” Tina asked.
“We cannot teleport her in her current state. Her inner magic is out of control and we’re not strong enough to move her safely,” Noah said.
Е̃ ň ůmȧ . і d̂
“What are we going to do, then?!”
“Nia will use her power to keep her magic contained until she stabilizes again. Tina, you protect them both in the meantime.”
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“All right.”
Their roles having been decided, Noah took Ludoric and Noel onto his shoulders and Fanny picked up Yulucia’s sisters, and then they carried their charges outside the room.
“Are you okay, Nia?”
“I’m hanging in there.”
W еbn о v̌ ё l̇ _Еń u.m а̃
It was just Tina and Nia now, working on suppressing Yulucia’s magic. On the opposite side of the room, though, the remaining humans began to act.
“Wh-what’s going on?!” Duke Capell’s eyes popped wide open with panic at the sight of his fainted guests.
“Lady Yulucia’s attendants have taken the prince? How irritating.”
“Isabella?!”
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The duke whirled around to face his wife, who was gently cradling their daughter Cordelia in her arms as she stared with cold eyes at the golden girl.
“Is Cordelia all right?! Was that drink your doing?!”
Е n̆um̆ à .і d_
“Why are you in such a panic? Cordelia is only sleeping. I had planned to get them all unconscious, but it seems that Lady Yulucia had prepared for such an event. She’s truly an infuriating girl, what with how saintly she is.”
“Are you mad?! What are you planning to do about this situation?!”
Yulucia had cast some kind of light just before she passed out. Assuming it was a spell that could cure poison, that meant Isabella had actually poisoned everyone.
As her husband floundered, attempting to comprehend the situation, Isabella gave him a frigid smile devoid of any warmth. “All I have done is help you. You want her magic, don’t you?”
“Isabella…”
The duke’s original plan had been to construct a spellcraft device that could protect their country. House Capell was descended from the royal family. If something happened to the royal family, it was their house’s duty to guide the citizens in their stead. It was also their duty to rectify any mistakes the royal family made.
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The existing royal family was softhearted. This was all well and good during times of peace, but Talitelud was located in the center of the waterways and many countries currently had their sights set on their fertile lands, such as the Land of Faith to the south. And so, Duke Capell had proposed making a device that could use spellcraft to make summoning circles and elemental magic more stable. If they could do that, then they could reliably borrow the power of higher beings like gods and elementals.
The Holy Kingdom was a nation where the influence of the divine was strong and, even though the duke thought he could use that to his advantage, the royal family rejected his methods and he’d had to abandon his plans. There remained some nobles who agreed with his methods, though. House Cowell had been the first on that list, and even though the next head of the house, Albertine, had been prideful, Duke Capell thought her virtuous nature befitting a noble was worthy of respect.
However, the values of House Cowell had changed completely once Forte, who had been the second prince at the time, married into their family. Forte pushed Albertine aside and became duke himself. He believed the best way to protect the country was to cooperate and support the neighboring countries, so he began focusing his efforts into diplomacy and had the support of the royal family for that.
That was when House Capell and House Cowell became politically at odds and House Cowell’s opinions began to be favored. And after Albertine’s death, House Cowell lost all but their name and was effectively dissolved. Forte was elevated to grand duke and the rift between the two houses grew even deeper.
The king had most likely done it out of a desire to protect his son and granddaughter, though restoring the title of grand duke was also the royal family’s way of strengthening the protection of the country.
While the remaining four ducal families were all branch families of royal blood, now, hundreds of years later, they had been demoted to being the royal family’s vassals. It was only proper for vassals to devote their lives to the royal family, but the current king was too kindhearted to willingly send his vassals to extremely dangerous places. This was probably why Forte had been named grand duke: so that his own son could take on the duty and bear the burden himself.
Е̄n um̀а̀
Still, this was exactly why Duke Capell felt that the pride of the dukes who had devoted their lives to serving their country had been sullied and why he had decided to resume his plans in secret. Duke Capell believed that this plan theoretically should be possible. However, the spellcraft notation of the device had proved extremely difficult and he was faced with another obstacle: They had no good prospects for a source of vast amounts of magic.
Thankfully, his second wife Isabella was able to solve both problems. She was from a family that served House Capell from the shadows and she used her connections to introduce her husband to Archbishop Callisto, who had been cast away to the Kingdom of Sigoules, and Caudle, the researcher from Telthed. Callisto appreciated the duke’s ideas and promised the cooperation of the Church of Kostor. Caudle used his knowledge to help with the spellcraft notation and taught the duke how to obtain a large quantity of magic. Both men were peculiar and of dubious character, but without any other allies to call upon, Duke Capell decided to trust them and proceeded with his plans.
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According to Caudle, magic had inherent qualities, and he said that pure magic without any attributes like fire or water would be best. With Callisto’s help, they gathered people who could use holy magic and were thus able to acquire magic with a high purity. Unfortunately, it had not been enough for what they needed. Isabella came through for her troubled husband again by telling him about a certain person.
If they had Yulucia, who was called the Saint for her deep well of non-elemental magic, they would be able to acquire hundreds of people’s worth of pure magic. Duke Capell resented having to turn to that man’s daughter for help, but making her involuntarily use her magic was a way to get revenge against Forte for neglecting Albertine, and the royal family as well. It was with that in mind that the duke accepted his wife’s suggestion.
And yet, how had they wound up in this situation?
“Dear, would you hurry up and accept reality already? No matter how this played out, you were going to make an enemy of the royal family and the grand duke once this all went public.”
Еn.ūm а
“How dare you!”
The plan had been to install a device in the castle that passively absorbed the magic of anyone inside of it. They were going to put Yulucia at its center and steal her magic without her knowing. However, Isabella and Caudle did not think that would be enough and instead thought that it would be more effective to wring it out of her while she was unconscious.
Stealing Yulucia’s magic alone should have been enough to acquire close to the minimal required value. This was why they had spiked her drink. The poison hadn’t just put her to sleep; the duke believed they must have used a dangerous concoction that would make it easier to unleash her magic too.
Prince Ludoric hadn’t been part of the original plan, but now that he had gotten involved, House Capell was certain to earn the ire of both the grand duke’s house and the royal family. The duke had gone ahead with this plan only because he had Talitelud’s best interests at heart. He had never intended to make an enemy of the royal family and divide their kingdom.
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“What this means is that you just need to depose the current opportunistic royal family and become king yourself,” his wife continued.
“Do you know what you’re saying?!”
Ë ñu m̊ a
“You carried this plan out in secret because you want to protect the kingdom. You of all people must know what must be done for the sake of the kingdom.” Isabella’s pretty smile and sweet sigh made the duke feel utterly bewildered, like he couldn’t think straight any longer. “Prince Ludoric is here as well. If you think becoming king yourself is unreasonable, then we could have him marry our Cordelia and name him king instead.”
The duke was speechless.
Isabella had mentioned wanting Ludoric to marry into their family for some time now. But then what would become of Duke Capell’s two sons?
That had been one of the reasons he had dismissed the idea, but now his mind felt numb and he couldn’t think deeply about what she was saying. The only thing he was capable of doing was holding his beloved sleeping daughter close.
“Very well, then,” Isabella said. “I shall take control of this situation. First, we must secure the prince, whom Lady Yulucia’s attendants have taken. And I want someone to move my husband and Cordelia to the annex.”
“Yes, my lady!”
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Several people silently set about following her orders. Isabella looked around the room for confirmation. She had already replaced their household servants with those versed in working from the shadows some years back, and now they all bowed their heads to her in unison.
“Good.” Isabella nodded with satisfaction at their response.
Although she was a citizen of the Holy Kingdom, she didn’t believe in the existence of the gods. She did know that beings with enough power to be considered gods existed: the elementals revered as local gods, and demons. It would be greatly beneficial to them if they could borrow and use even a fragment of their power. This was why Isabella had agreed with her husband’s ideas, even though she herself didn’t believe in the gods.
However, her ultimate goal was quite different from his.
As his second wife, Isabella had been in a position to unify those who served House Capell from the shadows. Now, her father, older brother, and little brother all served her. They were all loyal to House Capell and showed an understanding of Isabella’s intentions, believing it to be the best for the family. They did what was asked of them for Isabella’s plans, even if it meant deceiving the duke himself.
“Uh, um, Duchess Isabella? What is going on?”
Е.ñ u m̂ а
“Oh, Archbishop Callisto.” Isabella turned to find the archbishop looking unruffled due to his inability to comprehend what had just happened. Pious adherent that he was, he hadn’t consumed any of the poisoned alcohol.
Callisto had been supported by a former cardinal who was now retired. That was how he had gotten exiled to another country instead of excommunicated after the incident he had caused. Nevertheless, Isabella thought his ideas would be useful to her plan, and so had helped him come back to the kingdom.
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Unfortunately, he was an incompetent man, but his devotion to his ideologies and clout within the church were not to be underestimated, which was why Isabella smiled at him even though he was a nuisance she could not get rid of.
“There isn’t a problem at all, Your Grace. With this, we shall pave the way for the advent of our goddess. Just relax for now while we take care of some things.”
“I-I see.”
Callisto was worried about the unconscious Yulucia. He likely believed her to be the genuine Saint, but all their problems would go away with the advent of a being with the power of a god. Even if they made enemies of the royal family and the country wound up divided, any fuss the nobles who supported the royals might kick up would die down before long if they had the support of the Church of Kostor.
Ё n̊u̇mӑ
“Isabella.”
There was one other person there, who approached her now: Caudle, the researcher from Telthed. She knew what he really was.
He hadn’t revealed the truth to her, but it was through her secret connections that he had gotten in contact with her. Thinking she could use them, she hadn’t bothered to investigate. Caudle was likely trying to use her as well, but she knew she would be the one who would end up on top. And while building their relationship as coconspirators, Isabella had concluded from both her thoughts as a noble and as someone who worked from the shadows that if Talitelud joined forces in secret with the enemies of humanity while being pro-humanity, they would be in a stronger position among all of the human nations.
“What is it, Caudle?”
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“Our preparations are coming along. Do not allow the Saint’s attendants to interfere.”
“Very well.”
Е̊n̊ ŭm а . і̄ d̀
***
“What happened?”
Ludoric awoke thanks to Yulucia’s holy magic managing to neutralize the poison. He sat up while clutching his dizzy head.
“Are you awake now?”
“You…”
Ludoric surveyed the unfamiliar forest he was now in. He instantly found the members of Yulucia’s staff who had been in a different room, including Barnabas and Vio, along with the boy who had spoken to him, Yulucia’s butler. He was the one who’d laid them all down on the ground here.
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The butler looked somewhat annoyed as he looked over his shoulder, making Ludoric inch back a bit. Yulucia’s attendants had sworn absolute loyalty to her alone and were only ostensibly respectful to Ludoric because he was a prince. The butler cast his cold gaze at Ludoric and Noel every opportunity he got. Since Yulucia’s other attendants were girls, Ludoric didn’t interact with them much, but her butler seemed to always be closely watching him, and he felt a bit uncomfortable around him.
“Wh-where’s Lucia?” Noel was the next to awaken, and that was the first thing out of his mouth even as he gripped his forehead.
Ludoric looked around in a panic. “That’s right. Where’s Yulucia?!”
He didn’t see her anywhere. The last thing he remembered was how he’d suddenly felt so sleepy and on the verge of passing out.
“What happened?! Why isn’t Yulucia here?!” Ludoric lashed out like he might actually grab the boy’s neck.
The butler, who was the same height as him, was completely unperturbed and looked back at him with a frigid gaze. “You were poisoned by House Capell. Lady Yulucia is in no state to be safely moved at the moment, so I have left her personal knight and lady’s maid to protect her.”
Е̃n̊û.m̈а. îd̂
“What?!” Ludoric was stunned by the butler’s dispassionate explanation. Protect Yulucia. That was the entire reason he had demanded to come along on this trip, so what was he doing?
“We have to get to her.” Noel staggered in the direction of the girl he loved, but the unfeeling voice of the butler stopped him.
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“And just what are you going to do to help her in that sorry state? My mistress cast a spell with her holy magic just before she fell unconscious, but I believe she is best left where she is for now.”
“Then why the hell did you leave her side?!” In his rage, Ludoric grabbed the butler’s arm, but his fury evaporated in the face of the frigid bloodlust emanating from the boy.
“Those were Lady Yulucia’s orders: If something happened, I was to ensure the safety of everyone else first. Believe me, if it weren’t for her command, I would not have left her side.”
“Argh!”
W̊ ѐb n̄ о̆.vе̃l Е ñ u m̆а
The butler’s tone implied that it was their ineptitude that was inconveniencing him now, and all Ludoric could do was glare in response.
“What’s your name?”
“Noah.”
As the two of them glared at one another, a petite maid with silver hair appeared, carrying a few other maids on her shoulders. She laid them down on the ground and called out to them without noticing the mood.
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“Noah, this is the last of them! I left the other hum—people at the other place!”
“Thanks, Fanny. Now we can return to Mistress’s side.”
Е n ũmа̊
“Okay!”
“I’m co—” Before Noel could finish that statement, Noah held up a hand in front of him and looked down at the tottering boy.
“You stay here to protect these people. That’s part of your job, isn’t it? We will protect Lady Yulucia with our lives.”
“Come on, Noah!”
Noah nodded at Fanny and she ran ahead, Noah quickly following after her. Both Ludoric and Noel were stunned by Yulucia’s attendants’ physical abilities—they were gone in a flash.
“Damn it!” Ludoric punched a tree trunk, frustrated to be left behind.
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Noel hung his head for a moment, but snapped up again with a strong determination in his eyes as he looked straight ahead. “I’m going. I don’t care what anyone says—she’s the one I want to protect.”
“Yeah. I feel the same way.”
Noel’s words helped Ludoric remember what he was capable of and he too turned toward the road. However, Noah had been right that someone needed to stay here to protect everyone who was still unconscious. Abandoning them felt like losing to Noah and that just didn’t sit right with him.
“Noel, can you heal them with spellcraft?”
“Hmm, I don’t know if my holy magic will be enough.”
Just then, a voice interrupted their conversation. “Go.”
Е̃ nu ḿа̊. ï d
Vio was the third to awaken. She staggered toward them, reaching out her hand to them. “Manifest Light.”
“Miss Vio!”
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“You…”
Vio had cast a holy magic spell on the two of them, purging the lingering poison from their bodies. “I’ll do what I can to take care of everyone here. So please, go to Lady Yul. I know I should not be asking such a thing of two nobles such as you, but I beg you!”
“I understand. We feel the same way,” Rick said.
“Yeah, just leave it to us. I swear that we’ll save Lucia!” Noel added.
Ẅѐb̀ n̄ о̂ v е l̆ Ên̆ umǎ
The two boys gave Vio a firm nod. They understood her desperate wish for the girl’s safety. But then…
“There he is!”
“There’s Prince Ludoric!”
The boys turned toward the voices. Was it the guards who had been taken elsewhere? Had they also woken up and come in search of them?
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“Prince Ludoric.”
“I know.”
Wеb n оv̌ě l̂ Е̄ n ū m̃ а
No, these were not their guards. They were dressed like butlers, and from the way they approached with swords drawn, the boys determined in an instant that these two men were enemies.
“Get him!”
“Don’t hurt the prince!”
And they weren’t ordinary butlers either. It was clear from their movements that these men had trained for battle. Noel stepped protectively in front of Ludoric. Neither boy had a weapon since they had been in the middle of a meal. Noel had a hidden knife, but he figured that engaging these two men with that would be dangerous and opted to start casting a spell instead.
But that was when Ludoric rushed forward. “Raaaaaaaah!!!”
He moved with such speed that you wouldn’t have thought he had just been poisoned. He caught a butler off guard and threw his fist directly into his face. One man flew backward into the other, knocking him over.
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“Your Highness? I can’t believe you’re so strong,” Noel exclaimed.
“I don’t know where that came from.”
It was not the kind of strength a boy would ordinarily possess. Ludoric felt like he had some kind of warm light in his hand and took a look. His fist hurt from punching a man with such strength, but…
“Are you all right, Your Highness?”
“Yeah. It hurt more when that guy Noah grabbed my arm.”
“I know. He cares a lot about Lucia too.”
Ŵ е b̌ nо̇ v̈е̂ l. E n̆ ŭ ma
There was a slight bruise on Ludoric’s arm now. Assuming it was the proof of Noah’s feelings for his mistress, Ludoric believed that he was deriving strength from Noah’s feelings too.
“Noel, you don’t have to keep being so polite and using titles for me anymore.”
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“Okay. Let’s go, Ludoric.”
The two boys starting running for the sake of a girl, all the while keeping their feelings locked away in their hearts.
***
“Nia, what’s happening?!”
We b̄ no vė l Е ṅ u mа̃
“Just need to hang on…”
Beads of sweat were forming on Nia’s brow as she tried to keep Yulucia’s magic under control. Since she was a demon, Nia didn’t normally sweat even in her vessel’s body. However, it was no easy feat using her power as an arch demon to absorb Yulucia’s power into herself. Since she was an ethereal being, the burden of the task was manifesting from her imagination as sweat.
“I think it’s time you stopped this already,” Isabella spoke, trying to persuade them.
“You!” Tina was instantly filled with rage.
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Nia desperately tried to hold her back. “Tina! Control your magic!”
“Nngh!”
W_е̃bn о̀ vе̊l Ê ń umа̃
If Tina gave into her rage and unleashed her power as an arch demon, it would have a bad effect on Yulucia. Tina understood this and so held herself back.
Isabella had felt a momentary fear of the girl, but managed to elegantly smile at her anyway. “Such futility. You’re only going to bring about that girl’s demise!”
“What—” Just as Tina started to speak again…
“Hey, stop!”
“Nia?!”
Nia was usually so easygoing, but now she looked suddenly panicked as Tina turned back to her. That was when the carpet covering the entire room suddenly lit up.
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No, it wasn’t the carpet. Underneath it was a geometric pattern covered with some kind of writing, and that was what was actually glowing.
“Mistreeess!” Tina’s voice rang out.
The geometric pattern of light centralized on the unconscious Yulucia. And its shape was…
“A summoning circle?!”
Realizing what it truly was, Tina immediately infused her fist with magic and brought it down onto the ground. She may have been holding back, but she still possessed the strength of an arch demon. Even though the floor was made of stone, her fist pierced all the way to the lower level—or at least, that was what should have happened.
Krak!
Е n u m̂а́ .і̃ d
Tina gasped.
“Tina!”
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The punch flung Tina’s body back.
“Don’t! I can’t keep Lady Yulucia’s magic held back!” Nia shrieked as she desperately tried to maintain control. They had just gotten Yulucia’s powers to start calming down, but just as that light began to glow, they started acting up again.
Tina’s fist must have been repelled, because Yulucia’s magic was being absorbed by the entire floor. Destroying the summoning circle at this point to make it stop would require a power stronger than Yulucia’s.
“Lady Yulucia!”
Ӗ n̂u̇ ma . і̄ d
“Mistress!!!”
The summoning circle glowed even brighter now and Yulucia began to float into the air, throwing Nia back when she tried to keep her pinned down.
“Ha ha ha ha ha! This is the end! Come, unknown god of another world! Receive not just this magic, but take this girl as a sacrificial offering as well!” Isabella cackled with rapture.
And that was when it all started.
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“So it’s begun.”
After beginning the ritual, Caudle shuddered at the massive amounts of magic being channeled into it, and turned his attention to the source of the power: Saint Yulucia. The girl had not been formally titled yet because of her age, but she really did have a wellspring of powerful magic hidden inside her that made her worthy of it.
Ẁ е̇ b̈ ǹ о́ ṽ е ĺ Ѐn̊ù mа
The original plan had been to have Callisto gather children who could use the holy magic of the Church of Kostor and then steal their pure magic. That was why he had taken the risk of crossing into the Holy Kingdom and proceeded carefully with this plan.
It was all for the sake of…
“Oh, Daemon King, with this, I shall grant your dearest wish.”
Caudle was the Daemon King’s trusted confidant and one of the top-ranking officers of his army, a daemon general. Originally, he’d had no intention of reaching out to the Holy Kingdom, since they were essentially the enemies of all daemons. He had instead worked in the expansive Kingdom of Sigoules to kidnap hundreds of children and drain them of their magic. Then he took the place of a noble from Telthed to develop weapons and spells for absorbing magic for the Daemon Army. However, he clashed with the vampires in Telthed who had also been operating from the shadows, and while he had attempted to eliminate them, he realized he needed a new plan when he started running out of undercover spies.
And that was when he came into contact with the black operatives of House Capell of the Holy Kingdom. They wanted the weapon technology that Caudle had developed and a means of collecting magic too. His covert operatives all pretended to go along with their schemes, and after hearing the reports about what their true goal was, Caudle realized that he could use them, so he proposed to provide them with the technique for the notation of a magic circle that could be used to summon a powerful being.
The daemons being enemies of the people of the Holy Kingdom had not been the thing that prevented Caudle from conducting his operations there—it was because he had no connections that would enable him to penetrate the inner circles of the deeply religious humans. But that was when their connections led the daemons to the greatest connection of all: a duke.
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Caudle had been overseeing their giant summoning circle in the Daemon Lands when he heard about this development from his undercover subordinates. Caudle then decided to go undercover himself into the Holy Kingdom of Talitelud in order to harvest the highest quality of magic.
That was when he heard the rumors.
There was a heavenly child beloved by the gods who, despite her tender age, offered herself as a sacrifice in order to save other children and then went on to heal dozens of dying children. Saint Yulucia.
He had heard all kinds of rumors. All kinds of praise. Even if half of them were just talk, a person capable of wielding that much magic must be a source of supreme magic.
The Daemon King needed an immense quantity of magic to make his wish come true. However, there was a limit to how long the magic they gathered could be stored. At some point, the magic would slowly start to diminish.
They needed it immediately. Vast quantities of magic with a high purity. And the one person capable of providing it lived in the Holy Kingdom, which was their enemy.
Wе̇ b̈ṅ ӧ v еl Е n u m ӓ
And that person was the Saint, of all people—the sworn enemy of daemons.
Unlike the riffraff in other countries who were called saints just because they could use holy magic, this girl was the true Saint of the Holy Kingdom, said to possess powers that surpassed the generations of Saints recorded in even daemon history—even the very first Saint herself.
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And the evidence was that she alone had been able to see through their perfect human disguises.
Perhaps it was out of her compassion as the Saint or her naivety as a princess of a grand duke, but she hadn’t revealed the truth about Caudle and his men. Instead, she looked at them with such gentleness in her eyes that Caudle gasped in admiration while simultaneously feeling a rush of extreme fear.
This girl—Yulucia—was the real deal. And if the true Saint was now here, that meant that there was likely a true Hero out there somewhere, not the fake that Callisto had brought along. The Saint in the legends passed down by the daemons described her as a wielder of powerful magic who led the Hero to victory with her compassionate heart. The Hero was basically immortal so long as the Saint was by his side, and he had managed to strike down all of their enemies.
Caudle was a warrior too. He would have loved the opportunity to face Yulucia’s chosen Hero in battle; however, her saintly compassion and immaturity had made her careless. It was ironic, then, that her magic was not going to be used for the sake of her fellow humans, but for the daemons instead.
Ŵ е b n̊ ӧv̌ е̌ l Е̌ñ u̇ḿӓ
“Keep your wits about you.”
“Yes, sir!” three of Caudle’s men responded in unison.
What must have been Yulucia’s pure saintly magic was making her whole body shine golden now, and that golden magic was being channeled through the magic circle and funneled to the Daemon Lands. The amount of magic was far more than they could have ever predicted, eliciting a screeching sound from the magic circle they had engraved into the castle.
What she possessed was equal to the amount of magic that had taken Caudle and the Daemon King a decade to gather. Forcibly extracting it from the unconscious Yulucia, reaching down to draw out the power sleeping within the depths of her very soul, would likely end up killing the girl.
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“I’m sorry.” Caudle prayed not as a daemon general, but as another living being of the world, for the departed soul of this golden girl who had looked at them with such tenderness in her eyes even though she knew they weren’t human.
But then…
Ёǹüm а̀ .i d
Kreeeeeee!!!
The magic circle surpassed its limit and cracked apart, erupting in a golden light that absorbed Yulucia.
What had happened? What was this phenomenon?
“Tina! Help me!”
“I know!”
At Nia’s urgent shriek, Tina tried her hardest to control her mistress’s magic despite her injured right arm. However—
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They gasped.
Even two arch demons using all of their strength wasn’t enough to contain it, and the two of them were knocked back by the eruption of power.
The two of them just barely managed to survive. They groaned weakly.
“Nia.”
“I can’t believe it.”
They broke out into a cold sweat. Their expressions were deadly serious, the kind that was hard to imagine compared to their usual attitudes.
Ӗnu m.а̄.í d
“Did they draw out her true self?”
The graceful body of a petite leopard.
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A long, thick tail several times larger than her body.
Giant bat wings, each spanning dozens of meters wide.
Her whole body was covered in golden fur, and when her crimson eyes, glistening like fresh blood, found the weak creatures within her vicinity, she let out a roar that could reach the heavens.
This was the enemy of all living things. A god of the Demon Realm even more powerful than an arch demon. A demon with a voracious appetite that would bring calamity to the world and devour all.
Е̊ṅu m̆ а . і̊ d́
Having been released from the shackles of her human heart and human body, the Beast—the Golden Beast—had now materialized in this world.
Rooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooar!!!
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