Side Story Chapter 47
While Kireua was infiltrating the rebel headquarters in the west, things were happening in the far northern reaches of Avalon.
“…It’s done now.”
-What are you doing?!
“Can’t you tell? I’m mimicking you,” Joshua nonchalantly replied to the Demon Spirit’s question.
Since Joshua had woken up earlier than he had planned, he decided to separate his soul just like the Demon Spirit had done in the past.
“I had a good reason, but I’ve been too inattentive to other people. After meeting the woman from the Agnus family, which I’d forgotten about, I have a strong feeling that I should help them.”
-You’re nuts. Only gods can separate their souls, so how could a human like you do it?
“Do you still don’t get it?” Joshua asked.
-What?
“I didn’t spend the past two decades just trying to annihilate you. I’ve been absorbing all your power,” Joshua said.
-…You’re more wicked than a demon. I should burn you to death in hellfire and feed your remains to a monster!
The Demon Spirit was already aware of what was happening, but Joshua confirmed it. The Demon Spirit cursed him again and again, but Joshua slowly closed his eyes, grinning. His body was still trapped in this giant ice boulder, and he couldn’t take a step out of this place until the Demon Spirit was completely exterminated. However, that didn’t apply to Joshua’s soul.
The sky shook fiercely as Joshua’s mana made its presence known.
Once Joshua split his consciousness into two, the consciousness in the ice boulder was left dormant.
“…That body looks good,” Joshua murmured.
Not long after he closed his eyes, Joshua found a corpse buried in the snow. It belonged to one of the rebels who had been swept away in the avalanche Joshua had created. Although creating a new body was difficult even for Joshua, he could certainly give recreating a body a try.
“Carmen von Agnus, you gave me a great present.” After successfully pulling a part of his soul outside the ice boulder, Joshua’s smile deepened. “Now, where shall I send my new body first?”
* * *
Kireua sprinted across the hallway. Every step he took moved him a great distance. Thanks to some unexpected help, he could escape easily. The aforementioned help was dangling by his waist.
“L-Let go of me now! My hair is all messed up!” Anna shouted.
“No, they’ll catch up very quickly if we slow down.”
“Are you serious right now…?! I'm as old as your aunt! My skirt is going to turn upside down!”
“You said that we’re in a relationship where we can overcome the limits of age and nationalities,” Kireua casually riposted.
“That only applies when you and I start a family!” Anna shrieked.
However, Kireua had no intention of letting go of Anna. Even at that moment, the number of soldiers and knights blocking Kireua and Anna’s path was increasing.
“It’s the Second Prince! Stop him! Stop him with your life!”
“C-Ceiling! He’s running on the ceiling!”
“What in the world…!”
The way Kireua bypassed them was very clever. He didn’t risk going into a fight where he was outnumbered. Instead, he moved like an assassin and traveled across the ceiling as naturally as if he was running on the ground.
“Ahhhhhhh!”
“Stop screaming; you won’t fall down! By the way, what was that earlier?” Kireua asked.
“Wh-What earlier?” Anna stammered, unable to pull herself together.
“The thing about His Majesty’s return!”
“You really believed that? I was lying, obviously!”
Kireua frowned. “What? You were lying?”
“What better method is there to scare the rebels than mentioning Joshua Sanders? We have to get out of here first! By the way, do you know what I saw on the underground floor?” Anna asked.
Kireua’s frown deepened as he ran, but he didn’t stop looking for an escape route. The stair wasn’t an option since the first and second floors were filled with soldiers and knights.
“…Is the window the only way out of here?” Kireua murmured.
“What?! Wa-Wait! We’re on the third floor—are you seriously going to jump out of the window with me in your arms?”
Kireua clicked his tongue. “What other choice do I have?”
He had to join the national army in the west, where Cain was, and deliver all the information he had seen and heard here. Although he could try to assassinate Turtler in spite of the risks, there was no way of alerting the national army about the existence of demonkin if something bad happened to Kireua.
‘Above all, he said that he was the Demon King of Gluttony.’ Kireua’s arms unconsciously tensed, heedless of Anna’s shrieking.
Although Kireua had initially thought that ending this civil war was going to be easy, too many variables were cropping up. In this case, it was better to ask her for help rather than agonizing on his own. She happened to be Kireua’s other teacher—the woman also called the Heaven’s Mind.
“Hold on tight. We’re going to jump,” Kireua warned Anna.
“Waiiiiiiit! Aaaaaaaah!” Anna broke into tears.
Kireua pulled Anna close and jumped through the third-floor window.
* * *
The winds of change were also blowing in the Imperial Palace of the Avalon Empire.
“We’ve received a report that the princes worked together and exterminated the southern rebel army. On top of that, we received an additional report that Dargo rane Suspen, the head of the southern rebel army, was executed on the spot.”
“Wooowwww!”
Numerous nobles were inside the council chamber; they were all the nobles that supported Joshua Sanders as the emperor.
“They are His Majesty’s sons indeed! I’m really proud of them. At this rate, the civil war will be over in no time!”
“It hasn’t been long since the Second Prince returned to Avalon, so I didn’t know he would play such a brilliant role in this civil war.”
“Shouldn’t we delay choosing the next heir to the throne, then?”
“No, we should strike while the iron is hot. We need to unify the chain of command and consolidate power—then we need to quell this rebellion at once!”
“Then which of the princes should become His Majesty’s heir?”
“Mmmm…”
No one could answer that question because all of the nobles in this room genuinely cared about Avalon. Up until now, they had believed that the First Prince would be perfect for the next emperor, but the situation had changed. The Second Prince, whom people had thought left the country due to his inability, proved himself.
“I believe it’s not a matter we can argue about,” one of the nobles said, drawing a thick silence upon the council chamber.
It was the Imperial Family’s right to decide the heir to the throne, so everyone’s heads turned in the same direction. Right below the empty throne sitting on the highest platform, four chairs were lined up. Although two of them were empty like the throne, the remaining two seats were occupied.
“What do you think, Your Majesty?”
One of them was the only Queen Consort in the Palace. The beautiful woman with dark blue hair was a Class 7 mage, formerly one of the Seven Mages and the Royal Chief Wizard of Avalon before her marriage. Anyone who met her for the fist time would have thought that she was in her thirties.
“Queen Consort Iceline?”
Iceline zin Rebrecca—or rather, Iceline Sanders quietly looked around the council chamber. Everyone thought that she would support the First Prince, her biological son, but her answer upset everyone's expectations.
“I want to vote for the Second Prince,” Iceline said.
“Excuse me?”
Just as expected, the nobles reacted sharply. Regardless, Iceline didn’t pay much heed to them.
“Selim takes after his father… Hmm, excuse me. Selim takes after His Majesty the most, so he has a childish side. I’m saying this as his mother, so I hope it doesn’t cause any misunderstandings.”
“Mmm…” Most of the nobles nodded in agreement, unexpectedly.
Joshua Sanders was undoubtedly the legend of Avalon and a monarch beyond reproach. Nevertheless, Iceline had more than enough right to say such things about the Emperor.
“Compared to Selim, Kireua is a replica of his mother. I believe that the perfect combination of His Majesty’s martial prowess, Queen Consort Charles’s political expertise, and the other Queen Consort’s exceptional intelligence is found in the Second Prince,” Iceline explained.
“I-If Her Majesty Iceline says so…”
“On top of that, all of you and I might go through the same suffering once Selim ascends the throne.”
“Pardon? What do you mean…?”
“Leaving home without saying anything, making trouble first and thinking later… Ah, of course, all of you would have to clean up the aftermath, wouldn’t you? And that isn’t all.” Iceline began to tick her fingers off with a violence that belied the pent-up anger hidden beneath her habitually frosty, expressionless face. “...He never says ‘I love you’ to his wife. His knight served him all his life, but he let him remain a bachelor even when that very knight is already over sixty. Our children probably don’t even remember what their father looks like. He’s utterly heartless, and…”
The nobles broke into cold sweats. They didn't know what to do.
Sersiarin couldn’t stand the air and awkwardly attempted to calm down her sister-in-law.
“I-I think we heard enough, Your Majesty.”
However, Iceline was snorting in anger now. “Gosh… the more I think about it, the angrier I get. Sersiarin, am I the bad guy here?”
“N-No, not at all…”
A long time had passed. The quiet, shyly smiling woman was gone.
Sersiarin looked away from Iceline, who kept on grumbling, and smiled stiffly at the nobles. “So… let’s get back to the main topic. I myself recently received a letter from Her Majesty Charles that she’s in support of the First Prince.”
The nobles began to stir. Two out of three votes had been cast, so only the Second Queen Consort still had to make a vote. However, some of the nobles looked faintly afraid for some reason.
“We… should go ask her in person, right?”
“Who will go? She must be busy as a bee, so we might be interrupting her…”
None of the nobles volunteered. Even Iceline and Serciarin quietly nodded in understanding. Everyone in the room was hesitating on what to do next.
“Then can I cast that vote?”
All heads turned at once.
The door to the council chamber was wide open, and a person wearing a robe was standing therein. The odd thing was that the nearby knights were also staring at the robed person in disbelief.
“Who are you? How dare you walk into this sacred chamber with a hood over your head?!”
“This is not a place for such discourtesy—!”
“What are the Imperial Knights doing? If an outsider is in the Palace, they should have reported it to Her Majesty immediately!”
The person’s shoulders rose and fell underneath the robe. “I told them to. Am I not allowed?”
“What a nutjob…”
“Wa-Wait.” Iceline sprang up from her seat, her lip trembling with uncontrollable emotion.
She wasn’t the only one. Serciarin was covering her mouth and struggling to hold back choked tears. Even if everyone in the world had forgotten that voice, these two women would never be able to forget the man to whom it belonged.
“...It can’t be, right? Say something, please,” Iceline begged, her eyes wet with welling tears.
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