A Gate is open somewhere around here.
The demons denied that fact vehemently, but Frondier wasn’t listening anymore.
'This is nice. I might be able to wrap up my deal with Bael without much fuss.'
The demons of Agoris are looking for a way back to the Demon Realm.
But to be exact, if they can just return to the Demon Realm, the method won’t matter to them at all.
If a Gate is open right now, what good is it to know the method? The proper order would be to flap their wings immediately and rush the Gate.
'It’ll be too much to learn exactly where the Gate is...'
No matter how great their resentment and anger toward Astaroth, they won’t tell Frondier the Gate’s location. They know full well what kind of situation that would lead to.
They’re not completely dull. They’ll know what magic knocked them down.
That magic required Frondier not to lift a finger, and now they can’t move an inch because of a black substance unrelated to the magic they were hit with.
There’s at least one other human here besides Frondier who can subdue them in an instant. They know well how dangerous it would be for two such strong people to learn the Gate’s location.
'I could notify Bael right away, but...'
Even without the exact location, if he simply reports that a Gate is open, Bael will move at once. He’ll scatter his entire forces to search for the Gate that must have opened somewhere on the continent.
But there’s no guarantee they’ll find it, and in the worst case, the Gate might not have opened on this continent at all.
“...I’ll be satisfied with this for now.”
Sssk.
Frondier released Heukcheon.
The three demons, suddenly freed, were flustered.
They neither attacked Frondier nor ran away, standing there awkwardly and glancing at one another.
“You can go back now.”
“...Truly?”
“Yeah. I promised I’d spare you if you answered.”
Even so, the demons couldn’t bring themselves to leave. They sidled backward bit by bit, but they couldn’t quite turn their backs and fly off.
At that, Frondier sighed.
“I said go. At that speed, a turtle would beat you.”
“You’re not planning to attack us from behind, are you?”
“Have you done nothing but get tricked your whole lives.”
It’s not exactly wrong. They’re demons—deceiving and being deceived is their daily lot.
But from Frondier’s position of overwhelming power, there was no reason to attack from behind.
“Right, and tell Astaroth this if you meet him. That your predecessor was much better.”
“I told you, we’re Asta—”
Thmp!
Heukcheon suddenly blocked the demon’s mouth.
The demon was about to protest—then went cold in the face.
“You owe me one life.”
“...”
The demon nodded, cold sweat streaming down.
“Even if you’re not Astaroth’s subordinates, you might run into him on the road. Pass it on then.”
In truth, they were certainly Astaroth’s subordinates, but Frondier had no interest in forcing them to acknowledge it.
They would surely go to Astaroth. Now that they knew a bomb was planted in their bodies, they might even steel themselves for death and lunge at him.
'And the fact that Astaroth sent his subordinates to me means, of course, that he intends to hear their report once they return.'
“Then off you go.”
Frondier waved his hand.
Only then did the demons depart, looking a bit sheepish.
Frondier had just saved them by covering a mouth that was about to get its owner killed. Attacking from behind after that would be hard to imagine.
Just one thing.
He watched the three fly off in a line for a moment, then tossed out a comment.
“So it’s that direction, huh?”
“...!”
***
Aside from the demons’ sudden ambush, the road to the capital was very smooth.
It was such a straight shot with nothing on it that the only real danger was unconsciously speeding.
As they neared the capital, small villages and farms occasionally came into view, and soon the buildings they saw began to climb in height.
“Let’s see, so this mark here means the capital, right?”
Frondier checked the map he’d brought. Of course, the contents were in the workshop, but if he wanted to confirm things with the others, a physical map was essential.
Frondier scratched his head.
“This map is way too rough. Sure, maybe there’s nothing in the middle, but where exactly does the capital start?”
The map he was looking at wasn’t as detailed as the one he originally knew. It existed only to reach the capital. Things around it were indicated with hand-drawn pictures.
“Ah, if it’s that, there’s an easy tell.”
Carla spoke from the back seat.
“An easy tell?”
“As I said before, Palma’s capital is in the middle of a battle to determine the most beautiful woman in Palma. So there’s a symbol you can see as you approach, and we should be seeing it about now...”
Carla leaned a bit to check straight ahead.
Then she pointed with her finger.
“Ah, that.”
At her words, everyone looked ahead. They all followed the direction Carla pointed.
Frondier spoke first.
“What is that.”
What they saw was a statue.
A single statue, massive enough to dwarf the surrounding buildings. The closer they got, the higher the heads of those inside the car tilted.
Carla said,
“The two factions each put up a statue of the person they support at opposite ends of the city.”
“...Then that’s the face of either Hera or Aphrodite?”
“No, it’s one of the two people upon whom the two goddesses bestowed their divine power.”
Now that he thought about it, the two goddesses had each chosen a woman, claiming she had the greatest beauty.
Frondier scrutinized the statue’s face.
“...Then that person must look just like the statue.”
“Not perfectly, but they’ll have made it as similar as possible. Otherwise, it would be denying the appearance chosen by a god.”
“Hm...”
Frondier looked closely at the statue’s face. One of the two humans said to possess the greatest beauty in Palma’s capital.
“Hm...?”
Frondier tilted his head. The others did too.
Then Frondier looked at Carla.
“Hm?”
“W-why are you looking at me?”
Feeling an inexplicable pressure, Carla pulled her face back.
It wasn’t just Frondier looking at her; everyone in the car was checking the statue and Carla’s face back and forth.
In truth, Elodie was experiencing something similar in the vehicle behind them.
In the end, staring at the statue, Frondier let the words slip out.
“Have the people in the capital never been to Atlas?”
“Right?”
Arald chimed in.
At that, Carla couldn’t bring herself to ask and lowered her head.
“Senior, Frondier-senior.”
Pielot’s voice came from above.
“I see a huge statue.”
“Yeah, we see it too. They say she’s one of the two greatest beauties in Palma’s capital.”
“Hoo.”
Then, after a brief silence—
“She’s less beautiful than the Principal.”
Pielot stated, with great conviction, what the others had refrained from saying.
***
Passing through the capital turned out to be far easier than Frondier had feared.
For one, Frondier and Elodie had clear identities as teachers of Atlas, and more than that, Carla was Atlas’s Principal.
Riri’s lack of a clear identity caused some trouble, but the Principal’s influence was far stronger.
From the moment they passed the gate, Frondier’s group could truly relax.
“Wow. All the buildings are so tall. That one looks like an entire wall is glass.”
Selena looked around with sparkling eyes.
They decided to take a casual look around the area.
Frondier had considered having everyone split up to grasp the city’s atmosphere and situation. But since no one was inclined to move separately, the whole group simply strolled leisurely through the capital.
'...No heat here so far. I wondered if Antero had pulled some annoying stunt, but maybe not.'
The story of Hera and Aphrodite clashing over beauty.
In fact, Frondier knew a story very similar to the situation in Palma’s capital.
And he had a powerful hunch that what was unfolding here was an adaptation of the story he knew.
'Let’s see—was it the story of Paris’s Golden Apple?'
There was no need to explain the original myth in detail, but he knew the current situation was very similar to it.
More than anything, in the original, this was the spark of the Trojan War—hardly something to be taken lightly.
Even so, there were quite a few differences between the Golden Apple story and Palma’s current state. The most obvious was that originally “Athena” should also be involved, and that there was a clearly designated human, “Paris,” who would choose one of the three goddesses.
'The reason Athena isn’t here—could it be because of Carla?'
Unlike the original myth, giving Carla the curse of petrification had been tantamount to Athena granting her divine power.
So since Athena had already bestowed ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ divine power upon Carla, there was a good chance she couldn’t participate in a duel, limited to the capital of Palma, to declare that the woman who received her divine power had the most beautiful appearance.
'Honestly, if Carla had received ordinary divine power from Athena and had been in Palma’s capital, I feel like she would’ve won easily.'
Even without Frondier going out of his way to check, the capital was in a state of intense factional conflict as Carla had said.
There were no actual brawls breaking out, but the appeals and photos of the followers of each faction circulated everywhere. Walk a little and you could spot all kinds of posters pasted on the walls.
Because of that, Frondier could confirm the two women’s faces even before meeting them in person.
After checking them, tilting his head, and walking a few steps, Frondier finally stopped.
“W-what? Don’t stop all of a sudden—gave me a scare.”
Riri spoke, a little flustered, from behind.
Frondier looked around, then asked Carla,
“Does the capital sell ‘masks’ by any chance?”
“Masks? What kind of masks?”
Uh-oh, are they not called masks on this continent? Or do they not exist?
Frondier thought for a moment, then spoke again.
“I mean, something that can cover your face, or make you look like someone else. Wouldn’t they sell something like that? Black market or whatever.”
“Ah, if that’s what you mean... But why?”
When Carla asked, Frondier glanced over the whole group.
Then he pointed one by one as he called names.
“Elodie, Carla, Riri, Selena.”
The four named women each showed their own puzzled expressions.
Frondier spoke without inflection.
“Cover your faces when you’re out.”
