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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Mod7
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Elizabetta and Rue entered the bedroom and found Edanant lying in bed, his body battered and bruised. The sight of him, looking more like a patient in critical condition than a returning hero, shocked the villainess and the Luinong. They gasped and sank to their knees.
His face was swollen.
Plaster casts encased his arms and legs.
And his entire body was covered in bandages and medicinal salves, a patchwork of injuries.
He had clearly barely survived.
Edanant, his breathing labored, managed a weak greeting. Rue burst into tears, throwing herself onto the bed and clinging to him.
“Waaaaah! Edan, don’t die! I’ll save you! I’ll ask God to heal you!”
“I’m not dying.”
‘Though I almost crossed the River Styx just now.’
Edanant gently wiped away Rue’s tears and snot with a handkerchief. The handkerchief quickly became soaked.
“Are you really okay? I need to ask Father to send the Imperial physician!”
“I’m… I’m alright. It’s not that serious.”
When he had first arrived back at the Hohenberc marquisate, he had only been exhausted. The bruises and injuries covering his body were from Ludmilla and Zebeline.
‘I nearly died…’
‘To think I’d be beaten to a pulp by the Red Dragon and the White Dragon…’
He shuddered, remembering the horrifying scene. He had barely escaped with his life.
Bellatiel, bent over, squeezing milk from her breasts into a glass. Ludmilla and Zebeline, their faces contorted with rage, unleashing a storm of fire and lightning.
Edanant shuddered at the memory, his face pale. If he had been even a moment slower, he would have been decapitated.
‘If I had died like that… Bellatiel would have been free. Was that her plan all along? She seemed suspicious from the moment she started squeezing milk from her breasts when I asked for a glass of milk.’
As expected of the One True God’s adopted daughter, she was incredibly cunning and devious.
‘To think she’d try to use Ludmilla and Zebeline to finish me off…’
‘I can’t let this stand.’
‘I need to prepare a list of humiliating commands for that iron-willed seraph.’
-Butt-writing.
-A lewd pole dance.
-Drawing on her breasts…
Edanant suddenly burst into laughter. Elizabetta and Rue looked at him with concern. They assumed that, on top of his physical injuries, he had also suffered a head injury.
“How are things in the Imperial Capital?”
The Sanctuary had fallen, so the Holy Kingdom must be in an uproar. The Valtarian Empire would undoubtedly be on high alert as well. Even if they didn’t know the full story, they would have heard that an unprecedented incident had occurred at the Sanctuary.
Edanant, wary of the potential repercussions, asked Elizabetta, who had arrived courtesy of Ludmilla’s express delivery service.
“Father declared a state of emergency and tightened security. If Ludmilla hadn’t helped, I wouldn’t have been able to leave the capital.”
“…I see.”
Despite returning home and finally being able to rest, he couldn’t relax. He felt as if he were sitting on a bed of nails. It wouldn’t be long before the news that he had devastated the Sanctuary spread across the continent.
The Calamity of War.
Edanant von Hohenberc.
Ilkeron Nebiakus and Cirel Veillard undoubtedly knew his true identity. It was only a matter of time before it became common knowledge among the Holy Knights.
His father,
His household and its staff,
The citizens of his marquisate,
What would become of them?
The Valtarian Empire, a devout follower of the Earth Mother and an ally of the Gael Holy Kingdom, would surely not tolerate the one responsible for the Sanctuary’s destruction. They might mobilize their entire army and attack the Hohenberc marquisate.
‘If that happens… my peaceful life will be over.’
His father, still clinging to the last of his hair follicles.
The loyal staff who had served the Hohenberc family for generations.
The Luinongs, who had become a part of his family and the marquisate.
Edanant thought of his loved ones and looked at Elizabetta. Noticing his gaze, Elizabetta blushed and turned away. The memory of their shared kiss, their farewell before his departure, flashed through her mind.
“W-Why, why are you looking at me like that? It’s embarrassing…!”
“My, my. Such a blushing bride.”
‘I’ve returned safely.’
‘Though I was nearly beaten to death by the Red Dragon and the White Dragon.’
Edanant chuckled, reaching out to stroke Elizabetta’s hair. Startled by his sudden gesture, Elizabetta flinched, but she didn’t pull away. Instead, she leaned into his touch, accepting the warmth of his hand.
His fingers gently combed through her soft, golden hair, like a farmer tending to a field of ripe wheat.
He then traced the curve of her cheek, his touch tender and affectionate. Elizabetta blushed even deeper, her emerald eyes sparkling.
“It’s good to see you again, Your Highness.”
“Of course! It was an Imperial order! If you had been even a little later, you would have faced severe punishment!”
“I’ve fulfilled my mission, so I believe I deserve a reward.”
“A r-reward? W-Well, if that’s what Edanant desires…”
Could the notorious villainess truly be this adorable?
Her flustered reaction, her eyes shimmering like emeralds, was utterly captivating.
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Driwaine Castle.
The frontline against the encroaching gray, a symbol of the world’s end.
A military stronghold, once the dividing line between the human and demon realms.
Driwaine Castle, where countless soldiers had gathered to repel the Demon King’s army, had fallen into ruin, consumed by the ominous gray spreading from the Demon Realm. The Holy Kingdom had ordered a full retreat before the encroaching gray could consume the castle.
Now, it was a desolate and empty place.
Yet, for some reason, countless Holy Kingdom personnel were stationed along the castle walls.
“You have arrived.”
A group of strikingly beautiful maidens arrived in the desolate land. Dressed in pure white robes, they were the prospective Saintesses of the Holy Kingdom.
The role of a prospective Saintess was to serve as a vessel for the One True God. But why were these valuable assets deployed to the front lines, guarding the castle walls like ordinary soldiers?
The answer lay beyond the horizon, shrouded in dark clouds.
“Gael.”
A young man with flowing black hair approached Driwaine Castle with a light step. He casually uttered the sacred name of the One True God, his gaze sweeping over the forty or so prospective Saintesses.
Maximilian Argon Hohenberc.
The Hero of the Ages.
The great Hero chosen by the Earth Mother.
The key players who had united to defeat the Demon King of Death had finally reunited. However, Gael and Maximilian, their gazes locked in a silent battle of wills, stood on opposing sides.
“The encroaching gray, which had been greedily consuming the Demon Realm, has finally stopped spreading.”
Maximilian spoke.
A prospective Saintess with flowing red hair stepped forward and replied.
“The Calamity of Famine has been released from its seal. That is why the world’s end has been postponed. After all, every time an Innocent Calamity is freed, my power weakens.”
The Sanctuary had been destroyed.
Countless followers, including the Holy Kingdom’s soldiers, had perished.
Destruction. Chaos.
Fear and dread.
The world’s end, recognizing these as manifestations of evil, had granted a reprieve. It had judged that worthy adversaries to the One True God, who sought to paint the world with faith and goodness, had emerged.
“But countless lives have been sacrificed! What meaning is there in a victory achieved through such carnage? We should have stopped the Calamity of Tyranny and the Calamity of Famine! They are the ultimate evils that threaten humanity’s peace and prosperity!”
“And so you intended to place the entire burden on War… on Edan?”
“Maximilian, why do you defend Edanant so fiercely? I’ve wanted to ask you this for a long time. The Edanant you see now is not the brother you knew! It’s nothing more than a foreign soul controlling his body!”
“…”
‘I don’t understand.’
Why,
Why do you defend that outsider?
Maximilian couldn’t possibly be unaware that a foreign soul had taken over his brother’s body.
‘He knows.’
And yet, he continued to protect Edanant, alongside Beatrice.
Gael, unable to comprehend why they defended the outsider so vehemently, lashed out in a frustrated voice. It was a desperate plea, directed at Maximilian, who seemed bewitched by the outsider.
“Edan has done more than anyone.”
“What?”
“Despite being a foreign soul, despite having no connection to this world, he fought tirelessly and saved countless lives during the war.”
“…”
From the outsider’s perspective, the world was nothing more than an artificial creation, a fictional construct born from an author’s imagination.
A world crafted by a writer’s pen.
A narrative unfolding within those written pages.
Yet, Edanant had prioritized saving lives, even in that hopeless situation.
Tens of thousands.
No.
Perhaps even hundreds of thousands.
Edanant’s actions, saving even those destined to die, had astonished the Saintess Party. That’s why, having fought alongside him and witnessed his heroism firsthand, the Saintess Party had come to respect Edanant as a true comrade and a hero.
“I ask you, One True God.”
He drew his sword.
It was the holy sword bestowed upon him by the very being he now questioned.
“While Edan was saving countless lives… what were you doing?”
As soon as Maximilian’s words faded, the sky turned black.
It was an omen, heralding the return of the Calamity of Death from its eternal slumber.
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