Everyone was at a loss for words.
Belphegor, who had repeated the chant until Frondier came.
In other words, Belphegor had known that Frondier would reach Yggdrasil. Even if he did not know when.
[It’s a tedious job, but there’s nothing else to do here.]
Just how many times had he repeated it. Belphegor himself probably didn’t know.
But Belphegor spoke as if it were nothing special.
It was surely a plain and boring task, something tedious where absolutely nothing happened right away.
However, it seemed to pose no problem for the slothful king.
“...Belphegor, are you saying you were waiting for me to come here?”
Frondier asked.
He did not fully understand what kind of situation this was right now. However, Belphegor appearing at this timing. Satan’s face twisting because of him.
This was clearly a variable.
[That’s right. I’ve been waiting for you day and night, Frondier.]
“...Why? Belphegor, what are you scheming?”
There was no doubt that Belphegor was a new variable, but it was equally certain that he too was Frondier’s enemy.
The time they had traded blows in the very middle of Manggot was as vivid as if it had been yesterday. In the end, Frondier had won, and Belphegor, having lost, had fallen from the seat of Sloth.
Such a Belphegor had no reason to help Frondier. If anything, it would be normal for him to be consumed by resentment.
[Frondier. This is Nastrond. It’s an even more wretched place than Helheim. So I don’t know the situation over there very well.]
Belphegor said.
[So, what I mean is, is it going well?]
“...What?”
[You decided you were going to save humans, didn’t you.]
At those words, Frondier blinked for a moment and recalled his last conversation with Belphegor.
─If you’ve decided to save humans, then carry it through to the end.
─That way, I can come back later to eat their souls again, can’t I.
It seemed that that battle being as vivid as yesterday was not only the case for Frondier.
Belphegor asked again.
[Is it going well? Are humans still beings who ought to go on living, to you?]
“......”
Frondier could not answer right away.
Even after winning the war against Manggot, he had gone through many hardships to reach this point.
And most of those had been movements to save humans,
and the result had always been.
“...That’s right.”
Frondier answered.
As he answered, he thought.
As expected, Belphegor was a demon. To dare to ask such a question.
[Heh heh.]
Belphegor let out a short laugh.
[Frondier. I am a demon. Because I’m a demon, there is only malice. Therefore, everything I do is nothing more than an evil deed.]
“I’m well aware.”
Frondier replied, and another short laugh from Belphegor followed.
[And I, such a demon, to you,]
Only his voice could be heard, but Belphegor’s smile was thicker now than ever.
[will make you an offer you can’t refuse.]
When Belphegor said that, the one who shouted was Satan.
[Belphegor! What are you thinking! Frondier must die here! That is the will of both demons and gods. You know that too!]
[No, that’s what “you people” think. Satan. You demons really have the habit of carelessly attaching the word “everyone.”]
Belphegor cut him off in one stroke.
Then he spoke.
[Have you forgotten why I never tried to become a king?]
[...What are you bluffing about now. It was just because it was a hassle.]
Hahaha. Belphegor laughed out loud.
[Right. It was a hassle. The process of dyeing the thoughts of everyone under me into one.]
[......!]
[How is it, now that you’ve become a king, Satan. Isn’t it a hassle. All those who possess thought each have their own thoughts. How does it feel to shout at such people that “we move forward with the same thought.” To spew out, as if it were your true feelings, a lie that you yourself do not even believe.]
[...You bastard... To talk about the duty of a king like that...!]
For the first time in a while, Satan wore a face befitting his epithet.
As if used to that, Belphegor showed no particular reaction and addressed Frondier again.
[Now then, shall we begin?]
“...I don’t know what you’re talking about. What’s this offer I can’t refuse supposed to be? I’ll listen to it first and then decide.”
[You said you wanted to save Atjie.]
“...!”
[Frondier, once a soul is sucked into Yggdrasil, it’s not easy to maintain your own will. It just drifts and drifts like a river. In your case you could endure for a while, but that won’t last long either. In that state, do you think you could find Atjie’s soul?]
This was the fact Satan had been hiding.
Even if he managed to obtain the chance to save Atjie, he would end up unable to use that chance properly.
Demons are not demons because they grant human wishes and eat souls.
They are demons precisely because they do not even properly grant those wishes.
Belphegor spoke.
[That bastard Satan is a con artist. Don’t trust him. Even his name sounds exactly like a swindler’s. I have a better way. You don’t need to die, and you don’t need to get sucked into Yggdrasil. So your consciousness will stay clear, and it’s a fantastic way to save Atjie much more reliably. How about it.]
Belphegor spoke with lines that sounded even more like a con artist’s than Satan’s.
[There’s no way such a method exists...!]
Even Satan shouted in disbelief.
However, from Frondier’s position, whatever it was, he had no choice but to hear it out.
“...What is it. This method you’re talking about.”
[Will you try it?]
“Tell me the method first.”
[Ah, don’t worry. It’s the same thing anyway.]
“...The same thing?”
Trying it and telling him the method were the same thing?
Belphegor’s words were hard to understand.
After that, Belphegor said something strange again.
[Ah, ahem. Just a moment. I need to clear my throat for this one.]
“What?”
Frondier had no idea what was going on. In the meantime he heard Belphegor’s coughing and throat-clearing.
And then,
[...Belphegor, demon of Sloth, hereby begins a contract.]
Belphegor, unlike his usual self, lowered his voice and uttered some bizarre words.
[The target is Frondier de Roach.]
At that, Frondier’s eyes flew wide open.
Now he understood.
A way to cross over to another world without dying, without using Yggdrasil.
It was something Frondier had already seen several times.
In the Imperial Palace, and on the continent of Agoris.
Demon summoning. It was simply being reversed.
Belphegor was trying to call Frondier, as a demon.
Satan shouted.
[That’s impossible! Frondier is human! You’re trying to perform a demon summoning on a human! Have you gone insane, Belphegor!]
[Don’t ask a demon if he’s insane, it’s hard to answer.]
[And a summoning needs a medium! And for someone ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) of Frondier’s caliber, an ordinary medium won’t cut it! Unless you have something like a Dragon Heart!]
Just as Satan said, there were two problems with this contract.
One was that Frondier was not a demon.
And another was that demon summoning required a medium of that magnitude.
[Frondier, how about it.]
Belphegor said.
[I can resolve one of the two.]
“...!”
[For the other one, you figure something out.]
Figure something out, he said.
Of those two, which one did Frondier have to resolve.
[The hint is right in front of your eyes.]
‘What kind of bullshit...’
Grumbling like that, Frondier’s brain was still working fast.
From all the past he had gone through, he pulled out every means that could solve this problem.
─Aside from the bat wings, it’s almost identical to a human from head to toe. Its blood is red too. It gives me this unpleasant feeling, you know.
─Lord Frondier, don’t you know how you killed the souls of Helheim. “The power of demons” won’t be so different from that.
─From a demon’s point of view, a human who makes a contract at the price of their own soul is actually scarier. Ordinary humans don’t have that level of resolve. A soul that makes such a contract is more likely to be noble. Even if they receive such a soul as payment, clumsy demons can’t swallow it.
─The goal is to corrupt that soul,
“...I see.”
Realizing it, Frondier lifted his head.
The hint was right before his eyes.
And right before his eyes.
was Satan.
“It has to be corrupted.”
[......!]
In contracts with humans, demons aim for human corruption. Because they cannot swallow a noble soul.
However, if a soul, even after being corrupted, was still one they could not swallow.
‘Then how do you corrupt it?’
Belphegor had said.
─I am Sloth. A demon of the Seven Deadly Sins, one who stands opposite the gods.
─Because I’m a demon, there is only malice.
As if in response to that thought,
Flaash!
something in Frondier’s arms gave off light.
What Frondier took out was a circular ring.
‘What is that...?’
Satan did not know what it was.
Something that did not exist even within Satan’s knowledge. Yet even to Satan’s own eyes, it was a crystal containing a sinister aura.
It was the Golden Apple.
‘...Right, that’s it.’
Frondier grasped the crystal,
Sploosh!
and plunged it into the river.
Kwoooooosh─!
In that instant, the Golden Apple began to absorb the river while emitting an enormous light.
The aura of death swirling around Yggdrasil.
The water that was originally supposed to flow into the tree was being devoured by the Golden Apple.
“That’s right, eat.”
Frondier pulled up the corners of his mouth in a daring grin.
Whatever this thing’s true nature was,
even if it devoured all of this and tried to become something, it no longer mattered.
No, if anything, it was the opposite.
Frondier knew what this Golden Apple would eventually become.
“You’ll become me.”
All the water in the river dried up,
and the circular ring, now incomparably black, cleanly blackened instead.
Frondier swallowed it.
[...Hmm.]
Upon seeing that, Belphegor just said one short phrase.
[Not bad.]
Kwoooooosh!!
A ferocious aura surged up from Frondier’s body.
“Kh, ugh, aaaaagh...!!”
Frondier writhed in pain as if his entire body were being pierced through.
“Belphegor...! If you tell me now that it won’t work, I’ll kill you!”
[Haha, I’d like to see that sight too, but I’ll save it for next time.]
After saying that, Belphegor began the chant again.
[This contract is a contract to summon the demon, Frondier de Roach.]
The first problem had been solved.
Then the second.
[As a medium,]
that part was Belphegor’s share.
[I will use Nidhogg’s Dragon Heart.]
[What...!]
Satan cried out in shock.
[Are you saying you killed that dragon...!]
He had killed Nastrond’s dragon, Nidhogg. For Satan, who knew what that simple statement meant, it was nothing but a shock.
Belphegor paid that no particular heed and spoke to Frondier.
[Frondier, do you know the phrase “a demon’s whisper”?]
A demon’s whisper.
One who overcomes it is a hero, one who is bewitched by it is human,
and one who entrusts their sin to the demon.
That one is also a demon.
[Frondier, you called yourself a fake.]
Belphegor said, laughing.
[Come back as the real thing.]
