Soudouki Chapter 185

Chapter 185 – Demon King’s Descent

「HIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIH!」

Satsuki’s entrance was far faster than expected. The church leadership screamed and trembled.

No matter what this was just too fast.

Was the physical ability of beastman race truly this superior?

They were convinced that beastman race was truly demon just as they  thought, while at the same time the fact that they were within the grasp  of that demonic hand dropped them into a panicked fear.

「To try to run by yourself at this point, that’s just too selfish nya!」

「It’s exactly as you say.」

「Your holiness!?」

They never even dreamed that the pope himself who stood on the top of  the church side would agree with the enemy. The leaders were yelling in  confusion.

The pope looked down on the leaders with a cold gaze.

「The old-fashioned group have to be eliminated in order for the  religion to survive. Forgive me but there is no option to surrender for  all of us here.」

「You’re so cheeky for an old man nya.」

「Oi oi, I’m still not so old to be called an old man.」

Even though this would be his last moment, or perhaps because this  would be his last moment that the pope became extremely fixated with his  own appearance.

「――But you are at your sixty nya?」

「My age is still 58–!」

「It’s the age for starting to get bothered about age but you’re already an old man nya.」

「N-nuguu!」

The leaders gave sidelong glance to that comedy skit while secretly  trying to get away, but the cat-eared race’s elites who had finally  caught up blocked their way.

「Don’t act even more unsightly than this.」

「W-wait! We surrender! We surrender so please at least spare our lives!」

「That’s right! The church will recognize King Baldr’s authority as  king! He should have made a promise to allow everyone the freedom of  religion!」

「――That’s a promise before the battle broke out nya.」

If they accepted Baldr’s ultimatum, Baldr wouldn’t touch the church’s territory and religion.

Although that would only be in exchange of the orb of sealing that only the pope knew about.

It seemed that the pope hadn’t disclosed any secret to the church’s leadership.

「Don’t make us waste too much time nya.」

「I won’t refuse getting killed at this point but……beast girl, it’ll be better if you quickly run away from here you know?」

「You have guts trying to intimidate me……nya?」

Satsuki’s sixth sense, or perhaps the sharp five senses that were  only possessed by King’s Gate warned Satsuki of the terrifying and eerie  thing behind the pope.

「You……what did you do nya?」

「It will be troublesome if we get chased into the underground passage. So I destroyed it along with this hall of worship.」

The leaders screamed hearing the words that the pope casually said.

「Your holiness……what in the world did you do!」

「No! I don’t want to die! I can’t die here!」

「No no, dying is exactly our duty to the god.」

「You’re mad!」

「S-save me! I’ll do anything!」

The men had abandoned any care about what others might think about  them. They started claiming that they would even betray the church if it  meant they would be saved. Satsuki didn’t pay any attention to them.

「――What about the orb of sealing nya?」

「Of course I had entrusted them to a trusted confidante and told him  to run away. You won’t make it in time even if you give chase now. Let  me tell you just one thing. The orb of sealing isn’t here from the  start. Or rather I don’t even know where it might be located. The only  thing left behind in our church is the spell to liberate the orb.」

「Do you know that spell nya?」

「Stop trying to ask that from me, beast girl.」

Hmph, Satsuki scoffed.

If she used King’s Gate, it wouldn’t be that difficult to move faster than the pope could perceive and render him unconscious.

However just before Satsuki could move to sever the pope’s  consciousness, Satsuki’s instinct, no, intuition told her to not do  that.

「Everyone, hurry and run nya!」

「I-is that alright my lady?」

「Talk later nya!」

Satsuki retreated in full speed. The elites of the cat-eared race followed after her in hurry.

It didn’t even take them two seconds to do that.

「D-don’t leave me behind!」

One church leader sensitively guessed what was going to happen and shrieked.

However Satsuki and others didn’t even react to that begging. The  pope laughed weakly and closed his eyes before his last moment.

(――I have no regret. I lived a life that won’t shame me in front of god. Though it veered greatly from proper human path.)

The tragedy of Soldividian would surely drive a wedge into the souls of Europa believers all over the continent.

No matter how great of a statesman Baldr became, something like a  dynasty that would be loved by the populace for eternity couldn’t  possibly exist.

What protected the heart of the people wasn’t reality but fantasy.

The state of soul that god ought to save existed only within the  heart of the populace that couldn’t be protected with the grim political  dynamics.

(King of beast Baldr――enjoy this prosperity in your generation. Our faith will surely fill this land everywhere once more.)

The gunpowder that was stored underground exploded with a thunderous sound.

That tremendous blast destroyed not only the supreme hall of worship,  but also the underground escape path without a trace. It would be  impossible for Satsuki and her men to pursue the pope’s man from there.

After that the fanatical holy knights somehow continued to resist  but, they were suppressed in less than two hours and the battle of  Soldividian ended.

But――

.

「He got us. I knew that he planned to die from the start but, that pope resolved himself too quickly.」

Baldr gritted his teeth in frustration. There wasn’t any sign of happiness for his ally’s victory at all in his expression.

.

Gairose ran.

He was picked from an orphanage to be the pope’s shadow and he had served him for long until now.

His steel like body that had reached his thirty now had been polished without any slacking off.

His ability as assassin was in the first or second place within the church.

His loyalty toward the church and his devotion toward the pope were  without compare. He felt extreme sorrow that he had to run away from  Soldividian on his own.

「Your holiness……I will definitely accomplish my role!」

He had to pass the message that the pope entrusted to him at the end  no matter what. After he accomplished his mission, he intended to target  Baldr’s life even if it was impossible.

Gairose who didn’t possess any holy relic wouldn’t be any match against King’s Gate overwhelming physical ability.

But he had no other way than that in order to fulfill his loyalty toward the church and the pope.

「The first princess of Answerer Kingdom Ekaterina……I pray that she  will be someone who can be entrusted with his holiness the pope’s last  will……」

.

Going back to several months ago before the allied army that was under Baldr’s command attacked Soldividian.

One princess suddenly got fever and wandered between the boundary of life and death.

In Answerer royal family that had the tendency of male chauvinism, a  princess’s rank of succession was low and their only use was for  political marriage.

However Princess Ekaterina whose body had been weak by birth couldn’t even be used for that political marriage.

「Hmph, it will be more convenient if she die rather than this.」

「That’s not something to say to your own blood related sister.」

The king chided the crown prince’s grumbling, but it was clear from his tone that he himself didn’t seriously think like that.

Ekaterina had been completely a burden for Answerer royal family since her birth until this very day.

The treatment that Ekaterina was receiving had only kept worsening at  the present situation where the pressure from the allied army under  Baldr’s command was strengthening.

Their true feeling was that they didn’t give any damn to this princess who failed to die like she was supposed to.

『……Bothersome voices』

The princess said those words as though she was speaking to herself. Her eyes opened wide.

『Don’t tell me, I became a girl?』

「Hmph, looks like she narrowly escaped death again.」

The crown prince laughed with displeasure seeing Ekaterina regained her consciousness.

「If she’s going to die anyway it won’t make any difference whether she do it now or a bit later.」

.

『――Short lived flower already is, yet the mountain’s wind of spring impatiently scatter it away』

.

「Hm?」

「Giving up before your time to die arrive is the conclusion of the foolish you know, elder brother?」

「What are……you saying?」

The crown prince was clearly feeling overwhelmed by Ekaterina.

By the princess who still couldn’t even get up from the bed.

Something like this had never happened even once until now.

He questioned whether the person in front of his eyes was really Ekaterina.

The crown prince felt like it was him who was the weakling who got  his life or death under the control of someone else. He ran out of the  room in order to shake off that feeling.

「My my, really, what is the matter with elder brother? Ekaterina is lonely.」

「You have――changed greatly Ekaterina.」

「Your majesty (Honorable father), I wonder what do you think about me?」

「I thought that you are a sickly weak woman who have given up on living from the start.」

「Perhaps that is so. But the true me is more selfish.」

The selfish and haughty him was being sealed in a weak body.

But he felt that seal had been completely released right now.

Even if he only had a lifespan that would end in one more year,  Ekaterina was filled to the brim with the willpower to keep fighting  until death came for her.

This girl is dangerous――

The instinct of the king who had struggled through the power struggle  within the palace told him that Ekaterina was a dangerous opponent.

However what could possibly a sickly girl who might die anytime could possibly do?

.

『After all I’m the son-in-law of the demon king of the sixth heaven.』

.

Once he had to give up the unification of the whole country because of his lifespan.

He was reborn because of some kind of karma, so he surely had to aim for it no matter what.

Ekaterina laughed joyfully from the bottom of her heart.

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