NOVEL NEXT Chapter 221
The urgent fire was extinguished. Lucius created numerous buildings using the Holy Sword of the Earth, and people quickly found spaces to shelter from the wind and rain.
As for the aftermath?
“They’ll figure it out,” Lucius said, sinking into a chair with a cynical voice.
Sweat poured down his forehead as he expended a lot of energy creating the buildings.
“I wish there was something inside. A stove would be great. Though it wasn’t visible before, I included everything.”
Lucius pointed to the three Holy Swords beside him.
“I laid heating cables with the Holy Flame Sword so that warmth can circulate in every house, and I made arrangements for air circulation with the Holy Wind Sword. All that’s needed are floor coverings and furniture. Moreover.”
Lucius gestured to Liriez’s temporarily vacant spot.
“If the Water Hero fills the underground aqueducts I’ve made with water, then at least within this system, it’ll automatically purify the water.”
In just a day.
Lucius created a city in one day.
In fact, it was a miracle created by all the Holy Swords, except for the Sword of Light and Illusion, combined efforts, and it would be the ideal method for using the Holy Swords that the great gods who created them coveted.
Warm fire for humans.
Clean water that never runs dry for humans.
Fresh wind for humans.
Walls to block out the cold for humans.
“The light inside the buildings and furniture should be left to the people moving in. That’s what magic is for, right?”
“Lucius. Are you a bit annoyed?”
“Yes. I’m a little annoyed. Even after doing all this, I was quite irritated by the people of the Empire who wanted even more.”
At Lucius’s grim expression, Rosmas, Droniel, and Yan stiffened too.
“But.”
Lucius smirked slightly.
“Still, there were people who were happy. That’s enough for me.”
Heroes are fools.
But even if they are fools, using their strength for others isn’t strange or embarrassing.
Those who expect more than miracles from a hero who performs miracles out of goodwill, those who call such a hero a ‘fool’ are the real trash.
“I will immediately deploy the Bride Ship as soon as Liriez returns. Destination: Papal Office.”
The Pope has summoned us.
The Saintess also received a revelation saying, “May the Goddess of the Crescent Moon guide the hero to the Pope.”
With the urgent fire of the Empire extinguished, our next destination is the Papal Office.
One Demon God.
Two Heroes.
Three women.
Four Witches (Clones).
Loaded with five Holy Swords.
“Well then, Captain?”
“…Bride Ship, set sail.”
Full speed ahead to the Papal Office.
*
How much time has passed?
How many days have gone by since I was brought here?
I don’t know.
It isn’t that my memory is fuzzy; I simply forgot to count from half the way.
No wonder.
Eat. Do. Eat. Do. Eat. Do.
As if trying to compensate for a 500-year separation, even meal times have come and gone endlessly.
Snore, snore.
The white-haired girl in pajamas lying next to me looked like an angel while she slept.
Just… except this angel had held onto me stubbornly for 24 hours, day and night, until she was satisfied, she wouldn’t be any different from a real angel.
None other than the hero with the Holy Sword of Light, Leberced Arpe.
“…….”
And over there, the reflection of myself in the mirror wasn’t any different from the Sorceress of Crimson Lotus.
She resembled Bel from my memories, but there was one key difference.
The Holy Sword.
I currently had a Holy Sword attached to me.
The Holy Sword prevented me from using any magic.
To be precise, the moment I tried to use magic, I’d need the sword’s permission to manipulate my mana.
It’s like having a switch in the middle of a mana circuit.
It’s complicated to explain, but simply put, I currently have a collar around my neck.
A collar that wouldn’t let me move more than 2 meters away from this woman, Leberced Arpe.
A red thread of mana, which serves as the collar, connected my pinky finger to Arpe’s pinky finger.
‘I’m losing it.’
I can’t escape.
I can’t help but want to escape, but I can’t.
No, there’s a way to escape, but I can’t recklessly do so now.
Because the moment I do, the ‘light’ of this world will vanish.
“Hey, Lux.”
I lightly tapped the Holy Sword that hung underneath me with my hand.
“You’re running around like this. Is this okay?”
[I’m not sure what you’re saying, but I don’t get it.]
The sword communicated its intent directly.
Correction.
Not a sword.
A Spirit Device.
Lux.
Light.
[I prioritize my master, Arpe’s will.]
“And if Arpe gets upset, will you just erase all the light in this world?”
[If you do that, try to escape. You have the audacity to vanish after making a girl cry for 500 years.]
“Why does a Spirit Device side with a human?”
The Holy Sword hanging underneath me was not just any sword, but a Spirit Device transformed into the shape of a sword.
…The details are chillingly similar to the man I wrote 500 years ago, ‘Bel-kun.’
[I’m not siding with the trash of a man who made a girl cry for 500 years.]
“And you’d still do that even if it means taking away the light from all the people in the world?”
[Even if there’s a global blackout, some will survive. Even if 99% of humanity perishes, people stubbornly survive.]
“So my bondage is more important than the lives of everyone on the planet?”
[That’s how much you matter to my master. Bel-kun.]
“Grrr.”
Light Spirit Device mocking the great Demon Lord Belphegor like this.
“Hey. I used to be your master too.”
[The ownership has shifted. The current master is Leberced Arpe.]
“Wow, that’s really something. Do you really mean it?”
[I repeat, after making a girl cry for 500 years… ]
“Sigh.”
This conversation just keeps repeating.
From the start, this Spirit Device had no intention of siding with me.
The sudden loss of the Great Demon Lord Belphegor.
Knowing that my heart was pierced and killed by the Holy Wind Sword, this Spirit Device was still siding with Arpe while refusing to engage in a deep conversation with me.
“Yeah. I truly apologize. I had no way to come to the Intermediate Realm for 500 years, so I was just wasting time in the Demon World.”
[Knowing you’re sorry, why did you do such a thing?]
“…….”
I was breathless.
Despite being an undead, I was forced to move like a real, living human because of the Holy Sword of Light, and it genuinely perplexes me.
Currently.
I am no longer undead.
Because of the Holy Sword of Light, I have become a living human.
The moment the Holy Sword of Light is removed, I will revert to a normal undead, but I cannot pull out the Holy Sword by myself.
In the end.
This sword must be pulled out by Arpe.
Arpe herself must retrieve the Holy Sword of Light from my body.
And she must recognize that.
That the Bel-kun from 500 years ago, as well as the great Demon Lord Belphegor who sought to dominate the world, have all come to an end.
“I wonder when Arpe will wake up.”
[It’s been 500 years. It wouldn’t be strange even if she sleeps for a whole day.]
“No, how long has it actually been?”
[I won’t answer that. I’m not a naïve AI who’d fall for leading questions.]
“Sigh.”
Such a formidable opponent.
“Hey. I’m in a really important situation right now. The Demon King Satan is charging toward the Empire wielding a Holy Sword, and the Empire could face destruction.”
[Isn’t the former Empress of that Empire right next to you?]
“Don’t give me some non-answer. I’m talking about the people in the Arpe Empire right now.”
[It’s hard to believe those are the words of the great Demon Lord Belphegor who said he’d destroy the Empire no matter what.]
500 years ago.
I was trying to destroy the Empire.
I was simply pondering if there was a way to change the rotten nature of humanity in the Empire, but I missed the timing.
I effectively won against the Human Alliance and, while dealing with the inept Emperor and thinking about how to handle the continent, I got taken down by the Wind Hero.
[Do you think the present Empire is any different? The Empire should have perished 500 years ago. If not for someone’s sudden death, the Arpe Empire would have been eternally vanished.]
“Who do you think revived that Arpe Empire?”
[Yes. It is Master Arpe. But if you had thoroughly destroyed the Arpe Empire, Master would have respected your choice because Master chose you over the Empire.]
The princess chose the destruction of the nation for the love of a man.
To the Empire, the princess would only appear as a traitor, and she would be marked as a betrayer in human history.
However, as I died.
As I suddenly vanished, Arpe was perceived as having returned to reclaim the Holy Sword for reconstructing the Empire.
[Indeed. You handed over the Holy Sword of the Earth that you borrowed from that useless Emperor, briefly became the Empress, and announced victory to the entire Empire before leaving, didn’t you?]
“Boric? That was a legitimate trophy obtained through just victory.”
[That was my mistake. I sincerely apologize.]
It was almost like bowing down, but somehow it feels like this conversation has progressed a little.
“So then just tell me this. What has become of the Empire now?”
[…….]
“I’ll change the question. Are the people of the Empire… safe?”
[It’s hard to answer quantitatively, and qualitatively as well, but based on my independent judgment:]
Lux paused for a moment.
[You need not take action. The world is safe enough that you can continue to enjoy a long-awaited reunion with Master Arpe for 500 years here.]
“…What’s wrong with being more specific?”
[What’s the point of finding out? You should just.]
Lux laughed at me.
[Just set up the Holy Sword and have a fun time with Master Arpe.]
“Until when?”
[Until the world is in danger, equivalent to the emergence of the great Demon Lord Belphegor.]
“…….”]