NOVEL NEXT Chapter 239
After a while.
Lucius woke up from a deep slumber.
Unfortunately, this time there was nothing special like meeting someone or learning something from a dream.
“Good job, Lucius.”
As soon as he opened his eyes, he was greeted by his master, Sorceress Bel.
Sitting like a corpse in the cockpit, she slowly opened her eyes and greeted Lucius.
“Thanks to you, for now… we were able to defeat the Hero of Light.”
The sorceress’s voice was eerily calm.
It was such a chilling tone that it was hard to believe it was the voice of a master who usually spoke with ease.
“Master, are you angry?”
“…A little.”
A little? Not at all.
Lucius felt frightened about what might have angered his master.
Although they had defeated the Hero of Light…
What if his body wasn’t satisfactory, or if the awakening of the Holy Sword was unsatisfactory enough to make his master angry?
“I’m sorry. I’m lacking….”
“What about?”
Look here.
Isn’t she really angry?
With a stiff voice and a scowl, Lucius felt like he was about to die.
“I’m sorry for not being able to satisfy you….”
“You seem to be misunderstanding something; it’s not like that at all. Your body was perfect.”
“…Huh?”
Something.
Lucius didn’t know how to express the mix of pride and confusion swelling up inside him.
His body was perfect.
Yet, his master seemed dissatisfied.
“Is there something I don’t know…?”
“The Pope was the traitor, the Demon King, and he stole the Holy Sword of Light.”
“…….”
Lucius quickly began to think.
Combining the countless stories his master had told until now, he reached one conclusion.
“Wait, did the Pope, who was a Demon King, escape with the Holy Sword of Light from the Hero of Light that you struggled to defeat?”
“200 points for Bel.”
“…Goodness.”
While he was glad to receive a score, more than that, he was concerned about the completely low-pressure state of the sorceress.
“Master, should we pursue? We can use the Spirit Device to chase after them.”
“The opponent is also a Spirit Device user. You can think of it as having inherited the power Arpe used.”
“…You said the Pope was a Demon King? But is he using the Holy Sword so freely?”
“There are various reasons. I’ll explain, but first, will you take me outside?”
“Ah, understood.”
Lucius carefully took the sorceress’s hand as she extended it.
“…!!”
He could tell how drained her magical power was, making her look lifeless.
“Master, should I give you some magic?”
“Just a little will do. A day’s worth is enough.”
It seemed she had even less magic than when Lucius first met her, and she didn’t refuse the magic he offered.
“Ugh….”
That master.
The one who insisted on being fully prepared in any situation and never took magic from Lucius.
Even when happily accepting Goblin’s magic stones, if he secretly infused his magic into them, she quickly noticed and scolded him fiercely.
“…Sigh.”
Now she accepted the magic flowing from Lucius without hesitation, letting out a cold sigh of anger.
“First, take me down to the ground, no, take me to that castle over there.”
“I’ll get you there right away.”
Lucius pulled the sorceress out of the cockpit, and while holding her, leaped out of the Spirit Device and landed at the castle.
“This place is…?”
“…How should I put this? It’s complicated to explain, and many things are awkward, and it’s difficult to speak the truth to you….”
The sorceress scratched her head and pointed ahead.
“This is where my true body… is sleeping.”
“Your true body?”
“Yes.”
The sorceress took a deep breath to calm her anger.
“It’s also the body I’ll be living in for my lifetime.”
“Then….”
“It was impossible in the past. But now it is possible. Unlike 500 years ago, technology has progressed in many ways.”
“Are you talking about Belselphia?”
“That and other things.”
The sorceress tapped her temple with her index finger.
“I’ll talk as we go. I hope my body is safe.”
“…Huh?”
“If someone pulls a fast one during the battle, we’re done for. It would be too late to rush over now, so let’s just walk leisurely. I don’t want to be panting while running.”
Step, step.
The sorceress walked calmly.
It seemed she needed time to organize her thoughts, and Lucius quietly followed her down the castle corridors.
“You defeated the Hero Arpe using your body. She was a tough opponent, but she couldn’t win against us.”
“If anything, it should be that she lost to you, right?”
“Your body combined with my techniques. Don’t keep taking yourself out of the equation; it’ll make me angry.”
“I’m sorry.”
Lucius acknowledged his mistake.
Though he had been distracted by clones and had become a bit dulled to his master, making an error was unavoidable.
It was because of the clones.
When he met the clones again, he wouldn’t go easy on them.
“Anyway, Arpe has been defeated. After defeating her, we talked briefly before returning through the spatial gap, and suddenly the Pope appeared from behind.”
“The Pope…?”
“Yeah. Want to see his face?”
The master extended her hand forward.
“…!!”
The scene visible to Lucius was truly horrifying.
The Hero of Light, Arpe, had her solar plexus pierced by the divine power’s sword, and from behind, the Pope swiftly seized her Holy Sword for himself.
“What is this….”
“I’m surprised too. There are more than a couple of things to think about, but I can say a few things for sure.”
Even while using magic to replay the scene, the sorceress’s voice boiled with anger.
“… Don’t make me rewatch it. I don’t want to see Arpe die again.”
“Arpe… is she…?”
“Leberced Arpe. The Empress of the Empire 500 years ago. And she was a hero; I traveled with her.”
“…You were her disciple.”
“…In a way.”
Lucius bowed his head low.
“My condolences.”
“Thank you. Arpe will thank you too. Anyway, since she’s a hero, remember her for what you saw. I really don’t want to replay it.”
The death of a disciple.
For the sorceress, Arpe was undoubtedly a cherished person.
Before even thinking about her former disciple status, Lucius had no intention of saying something like, “but she was an enemy” to his master, who was mourning for someone important.
“Is there anything you’re curious about?”
“About the Pope’s face.”
“Ah. Well, he looked like an old man when we saw him. He was disguised. Probably originally some young rascal.”
“Why does he resemble ‘Celcius’ so much?”
“…….”
The sorceress’s steps suddenly halted.
Was it hard to answer, or was she unsure of how to respond?
“It’s okay, Master. If it’s something I’m not supposed to know, I won’t pry.”
“…500 years ago.”
The sorceress carefully opened her mouth.
“Who was the most handsome man in the world?”
“……Huh?”
That was somewhat of an uncomfortable question.
“Uh, um, …the hero from 500 years ago?”
“The Demon King.”
“…….”
“Demon King Belphegor. Celcius copied his face. I’m finally revealing the truth now. Huh.”
“Is it okay for a spirit to do that? After all, he’s a Demon King?”
“His face is really handsome. If someone misunderstands that he copied the Demon King’s face for his own, that’s perfectly fine.”
“Why?”
“Because he’s handsome.”
The sorceress let out a small laugh.
That laugh only made Lucius feel more uncomfortable.
Under the sea.
Amidst the backdrop of the blue ocean.
The image of Celcius, in a man’s form, alongside the sorceress dressed in a gown, floated to mind.
“Asydia tried to summon the Demon King to this land, right? They probably tried to make him look similar in human form. And they really struggled but managed to catch a ‘man’ with a similar face to insert the Demon King. Just one thing.”
“One thing?”
“…The Demon King just wasn’t what they thought he was.”
Step.
The two arrived at the basement before they knew it.
“Demon King Lucifer. Summoned into a body similar to that of the Demon King by Asydia, killed the Pope, and pretended to be him. That’s what I’m predicting.”
“But he was using divine power.”
“Don’t tell the others, especially Yan and the Order of the Goddess.”
The sorceress lowered her voice.
“Lucifer is a Fallen Angel.”
“……Huh?”
“He was the Archangel of the Celestial Realm but fell and was exiled to the Demon World.”
Unimaginable, shocking identity!
A Demon King who was an angel, and the leader of the archangels!
“Is it such a shocking story?”
“Of course! It’s a story I’ve never heard before.”
“Really…? Well, so don’t tell anyone, okay? Got it?”
“Yes…!”
The weight of the moment was different.
Only now did pieces begin to fit into place.
The reason the Demon King Lucifer wielded divine power.
Because he was a Fallen Angel.
“I don’t know why the Moon Goddess lets even a Demon King use divine power, but I guess I can find out later. From now on… I’ll also be ‘serious.'”
“Serious…?”
“Yeah. I’ll show you.”
Creeeak.
The door opened.
Like a shrine, a vast worship hall akin to a garden praising the gods.
In the center, a woman in a glass coffin lay.
“Don’t tell me….”
“This is my true body. Come closer to see. But don’t touch the glass coffin.”
“Ah.”
Lucius looked.
A woman with red hair.
With the kind of beauty that was both youthful and sufficiently mature, reminiscent of a sunset.
The mature woman he had seen when the sorceress lent him her body long ago.
And.
The one he had met when awakening the Spirit Device.
The one he had crazily confessed to and disappeared amidst the light alongside the sunset.
“Asydia Bel.”
The sorceress spoke calmly as she placed her hand on the glass coffin.
“That will be my name as I live in this body going forward.”
Somewhat, the expression was odd, but then again, it was just the way the master communicated or expressed herself that was unusual.
“…This may be my last greeting in this body. Please take care of me going forward, my hero?”
“…Yes.”
Swoosh.
As the red magic sparkled, the hair of the girl who had lost her heart turned white, and something red that flowed from her chest filled the woman’s body.
Swoosh.
A red flower made of mana bloomed within the woman’s coffin.
Not just any flower, this flower seemed to announce the woman’s death and new birth.
“…….”
Drip.
Tears flowed from the woman’s eyes.
Perhaps it was because she had kept her eyes shut for so long, or maybe it was because the soul settled into the body of the flesh, but
the woman smiled gently as she slowly opened her glowing red eyes, like jewels.
Swish.
The glass coffin that had covered the woman dissolved like mist, and she rose from her body.
She.
“……Ah, ah. …Um. Voice check.”
With a voice that felt like it might ball up, or sounded locked away.
“……Daddy.”
She laughed as she uttered those words.
“…Then.”
The woman.
Asydia Bel reached out her fist toward Lucius.
“Please take care of me going forward, my hero?”