novelraw Chapter 107 : Chapter 107
Chapter 107 : Chapter 107
Chapter : 107
If he hadn't escaped by blasting through the wall, he would have been caught.
Adric, the paladin with his face covered by a black mask, finally caught his breath.
“Hoo…”
Even Benaya wasn't particularly keen on killing someone young enough to be his son.
But for Adric, a heretic inquisitor and a paladin under Benaya, insubordination was unthinkable.
Benaya's order was the Pope's order. Adric suppressed his reluctance to follow the Pope's command and moved.
In any case, he was an experienced heretic inquisitor, and he thought assassinating a novice would be an easy task.
He hadn't expected him to suddenly wake up and dodge.
After the plan went awry once, things became uncontrollably tangled.
“The plan?”
“It failed.”
Even a skilled magician takes 30 seconds to cast a spell.
However, Theo used magic in the blink of an eye and attacked Adric without hesitation.
The speed of his spellcasting was so fast that it could be compared to Evan, who was called the greatest magician on the continent.
If it had been a sparring session instead of an ambush, he would have genuinely admired his speed.
Defeating a magician who unleashed an overwhelming amount of magic in a confined space was a difficult task even for a seasoned swordsman.
As long as he couldn't take his life with the first attack, it was impossible for Adric to take Theo's life.
“To fail to handle such an easy task.”
A disappointed reprimand poured down.
The source was not Benaya, but Caelus Levian.
At the Pope's reprimand, Adric almost let out a smirk.
He wouldn't mind hearing it from Benaya, but he didn't want to hear it from the Pope.
Wasn't it Caelus Levian who had failed to properly educate his own son, causing this mess?
And to think he was reprimanded for failing to do a dirty deed he was ordered to do, how could it not be amusing?
“Adric Seiron, you seem to be eager to die.”
Benaya, who had read the blatant disrespect, did not hide his killing intent.
For a paladin who followed the Pope to dare to laugh at the Pope, it was a grave sin worthy of a hundred deaths and a thousand burials.
“That's enough, Nevera.”
The one who stopped Benaya was none other than the insulted party himself, Caelus Levian.
He said with a generous smile.
“Adric Seiron.”
“...Yes.”
The title ‘Your Holiness,’ which had naturally followed Caelus all his life, was nowhere to be found.
Ferdiel Levian presented all sorts of evidence as if he had been waiting for this very moment.
The Pope's corruption and injustice, evidence and witnesses of the dirty deeds he had committed to gain the Pope's power.
With undeniably perfect evidence, the Pope's image and reputation began to crack day by day.
He was no longer the saint who led the revival of the declining Church with a gentle smile, Caelus Amadeus Levian.
Until now, he had somehow managed to prevent it from being on people's lips, but he could not go against the storm.
Unless an unexpected event that overturned everything, such as his son's evidence being false, occurred, Caelus Levian's downfall was a foregone conclusion.
“Speak.”
Therefore, Caelus Levian would never be called His Holiness the Pope again.
Unless a miracle where the world was destroyed six times and born seven times occurred.
“Are you confident you can handle the consequences?”
The Pope grabbed Adric's neck with one hand.
Caelus's hand on his neck tightened, and Adric tried to resist, but in the face of Benaya's violent killing intent, all that was allowed was a slight struggle.
“You must be, right?”
The benevolent smile was gone, and Caelus's eyes glinted with killing intent.
In the end, without even being able to put up a proper resistance, Adric's body went limp.
Caelus carelessly dropped Adric and wiped his hand with a handkerchief.
Then he threw the handkerchief on top of Adric's body and said.
“Burn him.”
Disposing of a heretic inquisitor was not difficult.
Heretic inquisitors confirmed their life or death by sending regular letters to the Sword of Doctrine.
If a letter did not arrive, the Sword of Doctrine would erase his name from the list of heretic inquisitors. There was no funeral, no burial.
A life that could die at any time, a death that no one would question.
That was the life of a heretic inquisitor.
“Because of your incompetence, I’m suffering all sorts of humiliation.”
At the Pope's reprimand, Benaya knelt.
“I will repay you with my life.”
Yes, this is how I like it, so obedient.
The Pope once again smiled benevolently and patted Benaya's head.
Benaya bowed his head as if even that was a great honor.
“Yes, your life is mine.”
From the moment he swore his oath, all of Benaya's life belonged to Caelus Levian.
It was an oath that would not fade even if Caelus Levian were to transform into a completely different being.
“Since the ring was stolen, there's only one way left.”
Although there were some concerns, Caelus, cornered, had no intention of ending things like this.
“If I can't have it, it's better for it to disappear.”
And, as luck would have it, there was a good tool to use as the foundation for destruction right in front of him.
The problems were Lucian with his Holy Sword and the few magicians who could use teleportation magic.
“I can just find a way.”
He would tie their feet and scatter darkness on the holy ground of light.
“I just thought of a suitable human for the first sacrifice.”
“Who should I bring.”
“Theo Lisitoel.”
Yes, that child would be the most suitable human to meet destruction first.
“That child would be the best.”
The Pope smiled ecstatically, as if he were genuinely pleased.
* * *
“What?!”
And somehow, the target of the kidnapping who had learned about Caelus's scheme was here.
I had just tracked the assassin with the magic that was attached to him.
Following the assassin led me to the Pope and Benaya, which was expected.
But I never thought I would become the sacrifice used to summon the demon that would fuse with Benaya's body.
I sprawled on the bed.
“Well, I’m screwed!”
I can't think of a way to escape when Benaya is determined to kidnap me!
And what's with the magic cutting off just as the two of them were about to discuss the execution date?
It seemed the magic had broken because the body of the one who cast it, ‘Adric Seiron,’ had completely changed as he died.
“...”
My mind calmed down at the naturally flowing thoughts.
《Theo?》
“Haa. This is driving me crazy.”
This was the third time I had seen someone die.
The first was... my father, and the second was the lord of Belmir.
This is the third.
Unlike the two deaths that had occurred right in front of me, the third was just a glimpse through magic, but someone had died nonetheless.
But instead of being flustered, I felt a sense of disappointment that the magic had been cut off because of his death.
...I feel like I'm becoming a monster.
I glanced at my hands to see if there was any blood on them, but they were fine.
《The situation is different.》
Albedo said, as if he had read my thoughts. The demon's ability shouldn't work on me, though.
《It was a human who tried to kill you.》
“It was the same with the lord of Belmir.”
That man would have killed me if he could have controlled the demon.
It's no different. I'm becoming desensitized to death.
No matter how evil they are, I don't want to become desensitized to death....
《Theo.》
At Albedo's call, I punched my cheek with a smack! to get a grip.
Ouch! Tears welled up in my eyes, but thanks to that, my sinking emotions quickly returned.
“I need to share this information with Fel and sunbae right away.”
This was not information I could keep to myself.
More than anything, even if he was an assassin who had aimed for my life, I had to prevent him from being carelessly thrown into the river!
“Adric Seiron will be another piece of evidence.”
When I reached out to Albedo, he quickly climbed onto my hand and onto my shoulder.
“It'll be quite a sight to see how distorted the Pope's expression will be when Adric Seiron, who he thought he had completely disposed of, returns.”
《Don't overdo it.》
“Thanks for your concern.”
I should get some beef jerky for Albedo.
I intentionally put a smile on my face and left the room.
* * *
“Adric Seiron, you say.”
Fel, who had been briefed on the entire situation, frowned.
“Since when were you tracking him?”
“Well… there was no guarantee that I could track the assassin for sure.”
Theo subtly avoided Fel's gaze.
If he had boasted about tracking him and failed, it would have been embarrassing, so he had just waited until he was certain.
Not unable to understand his feelings, Fel did not blame him any further and wrote down Adric Seiron's name.
“I'll order Tan to retrieve Seiron's body before they burn it.”
“Will he be able to snatch the body from Benaya?”
“There's an accomplice among the cleaners who do the cleanup. It was a good idea to keep the identity of the cleaner accomplice as secret as possible.”
“Then what about the kidnapping plan?”
At Theo's question, even Fel could not easily answer and fell silent.
Putting him in a sub-space where he could be most perfectly protected had many restrictions.
He couldn't just put Theo in a sub-space for his whole life and not let him sleep.
Even if Tan and Fel took turns protecting him, if Benaya came at them with all his might, their protection would be breached.
“I wish I could cause a natural disaster to deal with Benaya. Of all people, he's after the Young Master.”
“He's after me because it's me.”
It would be rather difficult to find a more suitable sacrifice than Theo.
He was the one who had fired the signal for the Pope's downfall, and also the son of the one the Pope considered his lifelong nemesis.
Unable to refute the irrefutable words, Fel tore at his hair.
“Young Master, this seems like a truly hopeless situation… do you have a plan?”
“I do have one thing that comes to mind….”
Theo put his hand in his pocket.
Albedo had moved from his shoulder to inside his pocket when he entered Fel's room.
Albedo, who was forcibly pulled out of the pocket by his tail, struggled like an ordinary lizard.
《What are you doing!!》
“Benaya used a stand-in to screw us over once.”
Theo used magic.
The magic that Albedo had taught him, the one he had used usefully several times before.
“Then isn't it the unwritten rule to return the favor?”
An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. Let’s see you get fooled by a stand-in as convincing as the real thing.
Hehehe, Theo's lips curled into a sinister smile.
“Wow… Young Master, you really looked like a villain. I'm serious.”
“Not at all.”
That wasn't a compliment, Fel barely managed to hold back the words he wanted to say.
In front of his eyes stood two Theos.