I Obtained the Final Boss' Power

Chapter 84 : Seal of Truth (1)

Seal of Truth (1)

Elaine hadn't done anything suspicious since arriving at the academy.

Enrolling while hiding her identity looked suspicious enough, but aside from that, there was nothing else she'd done to attract attention.

She was merely following His Highness the Crown Prince's orders: enroll and observe the academy's atmosphere.

Besides, only three days had passed, so there wasn't much to keep an eye on.

Since there hadn't been any notable changes at the academy, she simply acted like a student, quietly blending in.

She hadn't even made any suspicious remarks aloud.

With this much caution, getting exposed should have been impossible.

"Kidnapping?"

Yet now, she found herself tied to a chair, captured by a boy.

Elaine questioned the boy who had bound her.

"Who are you? Stop messing around and untie me right now."

Judging by his uniform, the boy seemed to be a fellow freshman like her.

Despite the circumstances, Elaine didn't give any reaction like, 'Has my cover been blown?' and instead played dumb.

She couldn't be certain her identity had been discovered yet.

"Can you explain why you're doing this...?"

"How is His Highness the Crown Prince doing?"

Just as she was about to protest again, the boy spoke.

"What?"

Upon hearing a very familiar phrase come out of Louis's mouth, Elaine's face hardened.

"I'm curious where and what he's been doing for the four years since his deposition. Since you're a Saber, you'd know, right?"

"......"

When Louis pressed further, Elaine jolted in shock.

There was no doubt; this boy knew she was a Saber directly under His Highness the Crown Prince.

"Nervous, are you?"

At Louis's brief question, Elaine swallowed and spoke.

"Who are you really? How did you know...?"

She had hidden herself thoroughly.

She hadn't engaged in any suspicious activity and had acted like a plain student, so how had he seen through her disguise?

"Even if you'd used magic or a magitech device to identify fingerprints or blood, it wouldn't have worked."

Looking like a sixteen-year-old, she was registered as Elaine, a first-year at the academy, not as a Saber mage under the Crown Prince.

How on earth had he recognized her, when she'd completely reinvented herself as someone else?

"Honestly, it wasn't easy tracking you down. Even when I pushed my ears and nose to their limits for two days after enrollment, nothing turned up."

At that point, he'd truly thought there were no individuals connected to the Crown Prince at the academy.

"But, while there was no certainty, there were several suspicious candidates. Among the many students, there always seem to be a few that look out of place."

The common factor was that these candidates muttered strange things privately.

Plenty of people monologued to themselves when alone, but Louis's monstrous hearing picked up every word.

He'd compiled a list of the people who made the most suggestive comments.

Naturally, Elaine was one of them.

"Of course, finding the real one among those candidates wasn't easy. Our Rio secretly tasted a drop of each of their blood, and said none of them matched."

"Rio?"

At Elaine's question, a girl walked out from beside Louis.

Upon seeing the girl with striking black and red hair, Elaine's temper flared.

She was the wretch who had cut Elaine's hand recently and fled.

"Rio, you've had this one's blood, haven't you?"

"Yeah. I secretly cut her hand and tasted it, but it didn't have the flavor of a royal or a Saber."

By touching blood with her tongue, Rio could identify a person's lineage.

Those who had fought in bloody battles could also be recognized this way.

One of the Sabers killed by Louis four years ago was Garce.

During that battle, Rio sensed something inside Garce.

She realized something like a seed was growing inside his body.

"The seed of the demon... Was it the Great Devil's gift that every Saber carries within their bodies? I could sense the seed that had permeated you all."

Especially by licking their blood, she could identify it clearly.

But after licking Elaine's blood, strangely, Rio hadn't been able to sense the seed.

"Even Rio's blood test didn't work, which was mind-boggling. If it hadn't been for this person's help, we'd have been stuck."

"This person?"

Now, someone else walked forward from behind Louis.

As the silhouette drew nearer and became clear, Elaine was horrified.

"Nice to meet you for the first ti— No, it's good to see you again. Elaine, the Saber mage. Do you remember me?"

"Princess...!"

Estelle, the Crown Prince's younger sister and Imperial Princess.

Seeing her, Elaine's eyes widened.

"Why... why are you here?"

Sabers like Elaine had always been wary of Estelle.

As a member of the royal family, Estelle possessed the 'Mind's Eye,' an ability that could see another's talents and strength.

Thanks to that, the seeds of the demon inside the Sabers must have been visible to her.

No matter what disguise they took, before the Mind's Eye, it would have been useless—even relics borrowed from the casino wouldn't have helped.

That's why they had hoped the Princess would never appear!

"You want to know why I'm here? Obviously, I came to catch all of you."

"Are you saying that's why you slipped out of the Imperial Palace in secret?"

"Yes. It was difficult to convince His Majesty, but eventually he gave me permission."

It was a crisis—she'd never imagined the Princess herself would move in person.

Estelle's Mind's Eye was a power every demonkin coveted, making her a constant target for them.

Estelle had taken the risk and sneaked here in secret.

"You came here knowingly, despite the dangers? All to capture just me?"

"To be precise, to catch my brother. I only managed to get you, but having you means catching my brother just got easier, right?"

"Nonsense! Do you think a wretch like you could ever catch him?"

Elaine threatened, vowing to protect the Crown Prince at all costs.

In the past, Estelle might have cowered before the intimidation.

As a Saber, Elaine had also played a part in bullying Estelle.

"Sure, catching him won't be easy. Since my brother's contract with the Great Devil is gone, my Mind's Eye recognizes him as a normal human. But since you all still have the seed, it's easy to catch you."

Actually, Estelle had wondered about that since first sensing their seeds.

"It's obvious you became strong enough to protect the royal family only thanks to that seed. But something was odd. When I viewed your bodies with the Mind's Eye, they always looked unstable."

The bodies of the Sabers bearing the demon's seed looked unnaturally inflated.

Outwardly, they appeared as majestic adults, but inside, they seemed like children.

Almost like chicks that hadn't grown into chickens—their bodies just puffed up.

"That seed of the demon isn't just for enhancing talent. It forcibly accelerates the growth of your bodies as well."

"......."

"Elaine, before your disguise, you looked about thirty, but how old are you really?"

Truth be told, they weren't adults.

They weren't battle-hardened veterans who'd earned their place as royal guardians.

They were just kids whose strength and bodies had grown thanks to the demon's seed.

'So that's why Garce acted so disgracefully back then.'

Hearing everything, Louis finally understood past events.

With a tone suited to talking to a child, he addressed Elaine:

"Anyhow, was your name Elaine? From now on, if you don't want things to get bloody, you'd better answer our questions."

Before that, Louis took a lens out of his pocket and fitted it over his eye.

"Young master, what's that?"

"It's a gift from Director Ferus. It's a new model magitech device."

After putting the mysterious device on his eye, Louis asked directly:

"What is the Crown Prince doing now?"

"You think I'm going to tell you?"

Elaine set her jaw and remained stubbornly silent, refusing to compromise her beliefs.

"Do you want to see bloodshed?"

"Do as you please. I'll never talk."

"So you really admire that dog of a Crown Prince, huh?"

At Louis's words, Elaine's face flushed scarlet.

Dog? Who'd he just call that?

"How dare you insult His Highness the Crown Prince!"

"What Crown Prince? The bastard who was deposed years ago? We should just call him that Orbel bastard."

"Silence! Don't you know what kind of man he is?"

"I know well. He whined about being weak, made a contract with a demon, and sacrificed innocent people—total idiot, really."

"Why you... ngh!"

As Elaine tried to raise her voice, Rio slapped her across the face.

Still, Elaine only tasted her own blood from her lips and didn't lose her resolve.

"Did you say he sacrificed innocent people? That's a lie! They all deserved to die!"

"Like who?"

What crime had they committed?

"For committing fraud before His Highness. For daring to dig into His Highness's affairs. For not agreeing with his will."

"......."

"And even those who didn't hide us when His Highness fled after being deposed. And those incompetent trash who tried to defend him and failed!"

Louis had once checked the records of the Crown Prince's escape in the 7th Legion.

Every time he was found, all nearby people were dead, so there were no witnesses.

At first, it seemed like an aggressive cover-up strategy, but in truth, they were just killing anyone they didn't like along the way.

'No, there was a witness.'

A child who'd seen his father killed by a Saber right before his eyes.

He was just a child and didn't know which way they'd gone, but apparently, the killers said:

[Why did we kill your father? Because he was no help to His Highness the Crown Prince!]

The father had been a defender of the Crown Prince.

He tried to plead Orbel's case but still couldn't win a pardon for him.

His efforts resulted not in reward, but in beheading.

'Even most villains would at least say "sorry" to a child they left behind...'

When Louis, Silia, and the other 7th Legion command staff first heard that account, they were struck speechless.

"So the people sacrificed to the Great Devil were the same?"

"Yes! For the future Emperor of this country, they should gladly be sacrificed. Isn't it a glorious thing?"

As expected, she was no different from Garce, whom they'd killed and consumed back then.

He had always wondered why they acted that way, but as Estelle said, if the real person inside was a child...

It made sense. The younger they were, the easier they were to brainwash.

"Young master, I don't think we can talk sense into her."

"I agree. I've dealt with Sabers in the past—they don't think of anyone but my brother as even human."

Even Rio and Estelle set clear boundaries, wearing expressions of shock.

So Louis knew what he had to do.

"I told you, didn't I? Things are about to get bloody."

With that, Louis turned and shouted:

"How much longer?"

A woman approached from behind.

Talia... actually, Silia in disguise as a staff member, was carrying something as she walked up.

"Thankfully, everything's ready. Sorry I was late, I had to get this in a real hurry."

What she held was a seal radiating heat.

"That's... the 7th Legion's stigma...!"

Elaine, once affiliated with the Imperial Court, recognized it at a glance.

She could picture in her mind exactly what would happen next.

"Here, say hello."

Louis introduced the seal as if presenting a friend.

"It's called the Seal of Truth."

"N-no, get that away from me!!"

Elaine knew exactly what would happen if it was branded on her.

She thrashed, trying to escape, but Silia grabbed her head and wouldn't let go.

At that moment, Silia said to Louis:

"Louis, turn around for a second."

"Huh? Why?"

"We have to take her clothes off."

The stigma had to be branded on bare skin.

Louis immediately averted his eyes in understanding, and the sound of fabric tearing filled the air.

At the same time, there was a sizzling sound as flesh was seared, and a cry of pain rang out.

****

"Damn it! Son of a—!"

In a secluded forest on the edge of the academy city, the sound of someone being beaten echoed.

There, Alio Refilica, the freshman representative, and Selion Refilica, the second-year representative, were taking out their anger on somebody.

The two brothers, consumed by rage, vented their frustration on talented but economically disadvantaged students.

"Argh...!"

"Please, stop!!"

The students cried out in pain.

Ordinarily, the Refilica brothers would have relished this sight, but today, even this didn't help them cool their anger.

"That damned girl!!"

Selion recalled the black-haired girl.

She'd humiliated his younger brother, and even before him, she'd stoked his anger with her foolishness.

Normally, he'd have treated her just like these kids, but he couldn't.

A mysterious woman and some mercenaries had suddenly appeared, blocked his path, and publicly humiliated him.

No wonder his rage wouldn't die down.

"Brother, are you alright?"

"I'm fine. I just didn't want to look pathetic in front of you."

"Who were that woman and the mercenaries who beat you up?"

"Who knows?"

Selion, who felt even more questions than answers, paused his beating and took a break.

As he sat by a tree, a bird flew down and perched on his shoulder.

[Hello, guys. Have you been well?]

Surprisingly, the bird spoke with the voice of a person.

The bird was actually a spirit acting as a communication conduit, and the familiar voice shocked the two brothers.

[Big brother Shalio!]

[What's the occasion for suddenly contacting us...]

[I have good news.]

Their eldest brother, Shalio, whose face had been ruined during his academy days and who had become an invalid, spoke up.

His words brought smiles to Alio and Selion's faces.

[Do you know what state our family is in now?]

"Well... in the aftermath of the Crown Prince's deposition four years ago, our family suffered too."

"Especially since you inherited the club His Highness left behind at the academy."

His Majesty had decided to erase everything related to the Crown Prince.

The Refilica family had been among those even marginally connected to the Crown Prince's plotting.

[But if you just do as I say from now on, the family can regain its former strength.]

With that, Shalio designated a person.

[Her name is Elaine—she'll appear before you as a freshman. Follow her lead carefully.]

-------------= Clacky's Corner -------------=

Why am I not surprised?

【ദ്ദി(⩌ᴗ⩌)】