Chapter 142

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The Grand Sanctuary was slowly coming into view.

After crossing that enormous lake teeming with monstrous creatures on nothing but a raft, I supposed this could truly be called a remarkable achievement.

“……Mr. Aiden, what do you think about a woman who drinks occasionally?”

“…….”

……And yet, despite achieving something like that, this had been the state I was stuck in for a while now.

I was completely surrounded by women, receiving bundle after bundle of questions whose intentions I couldn’t even begin to guess.

As someone who made a living with words, I had always been extremely sensitive about my own tone and atmosphere.

If I let my tongue slip, I might not even last a month before being found as a corpse. Even if I had been nothing more than a mediocre con artist, deceiving others was a profession that clearly carried that level of risk.

“As long as she doesn’t get dead drunk and swing a bottle at me, I think it’s fine— But why are you asking me that?”

“Hmm, I see—”

So drinking wasn’t a major demerit. Yes—

……Watching Noel clench her fist with that kind of energy, I grabbed my head.

“…….”

From the start, she didn’t even pretend to respond to my counterquestion. Instead, she began scrutinizing my usual alcohol tolerance, and the pounding headache that had been knocking around inside my skull since earlier only intensified.

Well, since she drank herself, I could understand why she might ask something like that.

But the problem was that I kept becoming painfully aware of how light my own mouth was—starting with the question of why she was even asking something like that right now, and continuing with the fact that I was answering her so readily.

……Why was everyone so curious about my opinion?

I thought that to myself, but I knew the reason perfectly well.

Even questions I would normally brush off vaguely and amicably, I had been answering each and every one with complete sincerity.

It was easy to forget with all the chaos constantly swirling around us, but under the pretext of copying skills, I had accumulated goodwill from all sorts of women. It wasn’t for nothing that people around me called me a swallow riding the tide.

Reputation management was one thing, but human emotions were unpredictable by nature. If I let something slip carelessly, no one knew what might happen.

“Then what do you think about someone asking you to drink together properly?”

“I refuse. It’s not just once or twice that I’ve had to force a smile every time I saw Dame Noel offering me a drink—”

Before the words could continue, I struck my own jaw. Even to myself, it felt like a bold decision.

……Come to think of it, I felt like I had done something similar earlier too, but judging by Noel’s face, which had already gone pale, if I said anything more, something huge—something truly disastrous—felt like it would happen.

Since I was someone who usually made sure to speak without hurting anyone in a general sense, the fact that I had bluntly expressed dislike probably made the damage even worse…….

For a moment, mixed emotions crossed the faces of the people huddled around me, looking as if they were waiting for their turn.

While Noel went “Hmm—” and stroked her chin, as if receiving a baton, Katya stepped forward to the forefront.

“……Then,”

After pondering for quite a while, she finally opened her mouth, hesitantly.

“……What do you think about polygamy?”

……This time, I had no choice but to strike my own jaw even before answering.

“…….”

……No.

No. No. No.

No matter how light my tongue had become, at this point it was only natural for my breath to catch in my throat.

Polygamy, my foot. Even if there were countries on the continent with lenient laws, in most nations, merely bringing it up would be enough to get one buried alive socially.

“That’s true for most countries.”

“…….”

“Though for royalty, there are countries that allow it.”

“There are.”

As Katya fidgeted beside me with an expectant look and said that, even the Pontiff, who had been watching this exchange with detached interest from the side, added a remark of his own.

“I have no such intention.”

The moment I cut it off cleanly like that, both Katya and the Pontiff twisted the corners of their lips at the same time.

Seeing how similar their expressions were, I almost thought again that they really were mother and daughter—no, that wasn’t the point.

……Why was this person reacting like that……?

I could understand Katya, since she was the one who had asked the question in the first place, but why was the Pontiff……?

“…….”

Even so, watching the expressions of the two of them crumple right in front of me made my mouth move recklessly again.

“Still, I have no intention of making any of you unhappy. I’ll try to find a way for all of us to be happy toge—”

I didn’t strike my jaw this time, but instead I felt, in real time, as though I might faint.

Of course, it was something I had thought about before. I had always resolved to take responsibility to the end for the people I had recklessly stirred up.

But I had never once intended to blurt it out so proudly in front of everyone like this. It made me want to tear my hair out…….

As Katya and the Pontiff stood there for a moment with their faces lighting up brightly, Morrigan, unable to hold back any longer, stepped forward and opened her mouth in a tone that seemed uncharacteristically unfamiliar.

“-Then, have you ever thought about wanting to become happy yourself?”

“…….”

“If nothing comes to mind, I, I could somehow help you with that…….”

“…….”

The moment those words slipped out, I finally lost all restraint and began clawing at my head.

Honestly, it made me newly aware of how impressive Noel had been for managing to choose her words somehow in this kind of situation. As for me, I couldn’t control this mouth that kept rambling however it pleased even if my life depended on it.

Please.

Please let me get out of this.

Anything is fine, so let some other incident happen already…….

As I mulled over that hellish thought, it felt certain that there was some ill-tempered god who never listened to my usual prayers but was quick to answer this sort of thing.

“……Hm?”

It probably started with Noel letting out that small sound, as if she had noticed something strange.

Snapping back to my senses at that brief utterance, I quickly looked around. After everything I had gone through, it was safe to say my ability to sense danger had sharpened.

“……What is this.”

I muttered that in a low voice.

The Grand Sanctuary now visible before my eyes was originally located at the highest elevation. It was supposed to be unaffected by this insane rise in sea level that had swallowed the entire island.

The reason we had come all the way here was to somehow get the people here off the island. In any case, this was the only place that could offer immediate help.

And the sight of the Grand Sanctuary that revealed itself before us—

—From top to bottom, there wasn’t a single part left intact. It was completely destroyed.

▣

With things like this, we couldn’t ask for help, nor could we evacuate people from the island.

“-What is this supposed to be.”

I asked that while looking at Bailey, who was sitting sullenly beneath the loosely bound restraints. She glanced around briefly without offering any additional comment.

“……It wasn’t me.”

The words that followed were, no matter how I thought about it, difficult to take positively.

Leaving me frowning, Bailey let out a small snort and added,

“You already have some idea, don’t you? I carried out most of the little schemes here and there, but I wasn’t the only one who knew the entire schedule of this succession ceremony and prepared everything from start to finish.”

“…….”

That was true.

From the very beginning, the one I had been most wary of was the existence of a traitor within the Holy Crown Kingdom.

“From what I heard from that side, this was supposed to be the ‘final phase’…… It seems they moved it along rather quickly. Perhaps they were satisfied with something.”

“Satisfied?”

“It seems you gave them confidence that it wouldn’t matter if things were pushed forward while you were in contact with them.”

Twisting the corner of her lips, Bailey continued meaningfully.

“From the very beginning, every incident so far wasn’t just my doing. That side also orchestrated them to test you.”

“…….”

From start to finish, her words were incomprehensible.

But there was at least one thing I could clearly understand.

The scenario Act II: Desecration had advanced straight into its final phase.

……No, even so.

Even if a traitor had been plotting something, it was a fact I had confirmed with my own eyes that the Grand Sanctuary had still been intact just half a day ago.

For it to be reduced to nothing but ruins in that short span of time felt excessive, no matter how I looked at it.

I wondered if bombs had been planted in advance, but if something like that had existed, Noel or Katya—who had thoroughly searched the area after receiving my request—couldn’t have possibly failed to find them.

And that meant—

Among those cooperating with the traitor, there was someone capable of producing power on the level of a calamity all by himself.

From within the wreckage of the shattered Grand Sanctuary, I saw someone rising to his feet.

A man who perfectly satisfied the plausibility of this incident—destroying such a massive structure in so short a time.

As the sun slowly began to set, the enormous greatsword slung across the man’s back scattered a crimson glow into the surroundings.

Everyone present knew who it was.

“……the Completed One.”

Beside me, I heard Noel grind her teeth as she muttered that.

Since he was the man who had once handed her defeat, it was only natural that she remembered him more vividly than anyone.

“Yo, you’re here.”

But as if Noel didn’t even exist in his sight, Magnus met my gaze directly and spoke.

Hanging on his lips was a savage smile that made no attempt to hide his battle lust.

“……This.”

Facing the strongest Holy Knight, I replied calmly.

“Was this your doing?”

“Ah, don’t worry. No one inside died. I just smashed up the entire building.”

“…….”

“I was told to kill them all too, if you didn’t intend to fight.”

……The worst possible answer.

He had just admitted that he carried this out under someone’s orders.

There were endless things I could have asked—why a monster of his caliber was cooperating with a traitor seeking to overturn an entire nation, what his objective was, and so on.

But one thing was certain.

From this moment on—

I had to fight this monster.

In terms of pure combat strength, he stood above Lionhearted and Deathwish. An ultra-class calamity who could realistically attempt to overthrow a nation on his own.

And Magnus looked as though he had been desperately hoping for exactly this. The hand gripping his greatsword twitched as if he could barely contain himself.

“……Mister.”

The problem was—

As I had keenly realized earlier, my mouth was in an unbelievably loose state right now.

“I’m not in a very good mood.”

“Hm?”

“Get ready to be beaten to death.”

“…….”

“…….”

I could feel the stunned stares from those around me, but this time, I didn’t even blink.

Because I meant it.