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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Yuziro
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Maligos, reduced to a severed head, stared at Jekkiel with a vacant expression.
‘Who is this guy, really?’
Of course, he knew exactly who Jekkiel was.
Vampire Lord, former Sin of Pride… it wasn’t like he was clueless about those titles.
‘To think he would treat me like this…!’
Maligos had hesitated to hand over the map, and Jekkiel, without a second thought, had chopped him up like a piece of meat.
Why he was still alive after being dismembered was beyond him.
And frankly, he was no longer curious about why Jekkiel was so absurdly strong.
What he was curious about was the sheer determination, the unwavering conviction that drove Jekkiel to such lengths.
‘What kind of thought process does he have?’
How could anyone think of dismembering someone to interrogate them…?
“Is this the other half of the map?”
“…Yes.”
“This is the other half?”
Jekkiel casually waved the other half of the map in front of Maligos’s face.
“It is, truly.”
Even Maligos wouldn’t dare lie in his current state.
The moment Jekkiel uttered the words ‘You may die,’ he knew it was over.
‘We were so close to achieving our goal…’
Regret and frustration gnawed at him, but it was done.
Hoping it was all a dream was simply delusional.
No, even if it were a dream, this was too much.
This would be a nightmare of epic proportions.
Jekkiel carefully examined both halves of the map he had received from Maligos.
He had assumed they would fit together seamlessly, but that wasn’t the case.
They simply didn’t align.
Maligos, noticing Jekkiel’s confusion, snuck a peek at the maps in his hand, quickly averting his gaze when Jekkiel turned to look at him.
“How do you read this?”
Jekkiel held the two maps directly in front of Maligos’s face.
“If… if I assist you, will you spare me?”
“I’ll consider it.”
It wasn’t a straightforward answer, but Maligos would take what he could get.
He stared intently at the maps.
‘I have to memorize this. Memorize it perfectly!’
He had to survive, whatever it took.
He would use the map etched in his memory to obtain Lepista’s Wand.
That was the new plan forming in his mind.
However.
“……?”
Invisible question marks appeared above Maligos’s head.
What was this?
He couldn’t make heads or tails of it.
“Well…”
“Don’t waste my time. Remember who your life depends on.”
“No, no. I truly don’t understand. Please, try a different arrangement.”
Following Maligos’s instructions, Jekkiel tried every possible combination, flipping the maps upside down, rotating them left and right…
But even after exhausting all options, Maligos couldn’t decipher the maps.
“…I don’t understand.”
Jekkiel sighed, raising his scythe.
Malygos hurriedly spoke, desperate to stop him.
“W-wait! I truly don’t know! We never intended to decipher the maps ourselves.”
“Oh?”
“We were going to entrust the deciphering to someone else. Naturally.”
Jekkiel’s sigh grew longer.
“Then you’ll have to tell me who you entrusted it to. You’re testing my patience.”
“The Sin of Envy! The Sin of Envy!”
“The Sin of Envy?”
“Yes!”
Jekkiel’s expression shifted slightly.
This was the same Jekkiel who had faced down several Dragon Lords without flinching…
“…Do you enjoy being stabbed in the back?”
“No… No, sir. There’s a reason we reached out to Vivian.”
Maligos calmly explained his reasoning.
“Vivian isn’t interested in Lepista’s Wand because she finds it uninteresting. Also, the Lamias made this map.”
“Is that so?”
They created the map for something they had no interest in… The Lamias truly were masters at making money.
“So your plan was to have Vivian decipher it and then excavate Lepista’s Wand?”
“Precisely.”
“And now that plan has fallen apart.”
“……”
He was furious.
There was no mocking tone in Jekkiel’s voice, which somehow made it even more infuriating.
He spoke as if he was stating a simple fact, like “The sun has risen.”
“You must have discussed it with Vivian before going through with this plan.”
“Y-yes, that’s right.”
“What did Vivian require in exchange for deciphering the map?”
Jekkiel had a good reason for asking these questions.
Vivian.
That cunning, treacherous snake.
While others demanded specific things that aligned with their tastes, Vivian was different.
The Sin of Envy constantly observed the shifting tides of the Demon Realm.
She considered who would benefit from what, and what she needed to acquire to minimize her own envy.
That was why her demands were always… unusual.
She often requested rare or valuable items that could take days, even years, to acquire.
One needed to be prepared beforehand; otherwise, it would be impossible to meet her demands.
“Well… she only told us to bring the map to her once we had it.”
“Is that so?”
“Oh, but she did mention one thing…”
“And that is?”
“Something… sublime. She said she wanted to see something sublime.”
Something sublime.
Something sublime…
Jekkiel nodded.
He didn’t need to ponder this for long.
He had heard enough from Maligos.
He pointed his sharp scythe at Maligos’s neck.
“Eek!”
“One last thing. As I said before, do not harm the Harpies on this hill. Recall all your Dragonkin and never interfere again.”
“Y-yes, sir!”
Like a butcher handing over a cut of meat, Jekkiel tossed Maligos’s head and body to a nearby Red Dragon.
“Deliver him to Regita in this state. He’ll be whole again by then.”
He then turned his gaze towards the Blue Dragons.
“How much time is left until the end of the semester… Well, I’ll let you all finish by today.”
The Blue Dragons, their faces even more downcast than Maligos’s, whimpered.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
“Christine, you need some rest.”
“Mmm…”
“We can’t go to Peltir Hill ourselves, can we?”
Christine let out a deep sigh.
“Artel.”
“Yes, Christine.”
“If all we can do is pray, then pray we must.”
Though Artel hated to see Christine like this… she couldn’t help but worry.
Lately, Christine had stopped sleeping.
And she barely ate.
She didn’t even touch her favorite apples anymore.
That alone spoke volumes about her current state.
The only thing she did was gaze out the window towards Peltir Hill, yearning for her fiancé.
“I’ll inquire about our communication network. Perhaps there’s a way to contact the Harpies.”
“No. We can’t. It might hinder him.”
Though Christine dismissed Artel’s suggestion firmly, she was the one who wanted to contact Jekkiel the most.
Waiting blindly was torture.
When she was consumed by hatred and plotting her revenge, she had been able to endure.
The burning desire to exact revenge had kept her going.
But now that it had morphed into worry… time seemed to crawl by at an agonizing pace.
Even the slightest noise, like a servant accidentally breaking a glass, made her heart skip a beat.
Would everything be alright?
“Even after becoming his fiancée, he still worries me.”
“Christine, please don’t push yourself too hard.”
Christine’s worried expression was too much for Artel to bear.
She moved closer to Christine and gently nudged her arm with her elbow – something you should never do unless you want to be executed – and whispered,
“You are the Sin of Pride, remember?”
“How can I not worry?”
“Isn’t it customary for the man to offer something sweet after a dangerous endeavor?”
Something sweet.
Christine unconsciously touched her left ring finger.
She then shook her head vigorously.
“I shouldn’t be thinking about such things. Right now, we must pray for his safe return.”
“Christine, you’ll make yourself sick! Just relax a little!”
“Mmm…”
And that’s when it happened.
Boom!
The door swung open with a loud crash.
It was a rude gesture, but no one dared to complain.
The one who had barged in was the very person they had all been waiting for.
“Jekkiel!”
“…Jekkiel?”
Thump, thump, thump—
Jekkiel strode towards Christine.
It didn’t take him long to close the distance between them.
Though Christine had much to ask and say, Jekkiel spoke first.
“Christine, I would like to take you somewhere. Alone.”
“…Excuse me?”
Oh my.
Artel nudged Christine’s side again.
– This was grounds for execution, truly.
– And whispered,
“See? I told you!”
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[Is the sublime thing he wants to show envy him having sex with christine???? idk man kinda sus]
when snu snu
“How could anyone think of dismembering someone to interrogate them…?”
Lol. This guys really a demon, right?