Chapter 59 - Declaration
Yafenon.
That nation, which had recently launched a preemptive attack on Iser, was now under an unexpected assault.
"Stop them all!" "Do not let them cross this wall!" "Fire the cannons!"
In Rakara, the southern city where Yafenon kept countless magical weapons.
From atop the defensive wall, cannonballs, propelled by exploding gunpowder, flew towards a single spot.
Boom! Kwaang! Kwaaaang!
An enormous shockwave erupted at the point of impact.
Hwaak!
But the dust cloud was instantly pushed away and scattered by a sudden gust of wind.
"Baluum Hanera."
Standing there was a single blue-haired woman in a robe.
As Yuru, the great mage of the hero's party, raised her hand and shouted, a massive blue wall was created.
"Prakesus."
She pointed her index finger, and the blue wall advanced and collided directly with the defensive wall that had fired the cannons.
"Uwaaak!"
The soldiers on the shaking wall, as if from an earthquake, tangled with each other and fell. One of them barely got up and shouted,
"Ev-everyone, be careful..."
His cry was cut short.
Yuru, who had climbed the stairs of the blue wall to the top of the defensive wall, immediately sent a blade of wind that blew off the head of the soldier who had just spoken.
"Where is Astrape?"
Yuru asked the soldiers who were crawling on the ground after being knocked back.
"I-I don't know!"
"Why are you asking us that...?"
"What the hell are you doing this for?!"
The great mage of the Blue Tower, a member of the hero's party.
That was the Yuru that was known to the continent.
"Didn't you hear about Marfain?"
But that was all just a phantom of the past.
"I don't really like wasting time."
A cold chill filled Yuru's eyes. The soldiers, terrified, got up and began to run away.
"Gehanna Manus."
From the ground on their path, hands drenched in red blood shot up.
"U-Ugh!" "Kwaaaah!"
The hands grabbed them and dragged them underground. Those who resisted had their joints broken.
A scene of pandemonium.
Yuru, who had created this spectacle, rode the wind and entered the wall.
"M-monster!" "Run!"
As soon as people saw her, they scattered in every direction.
Praise and adulation.
That used to follow her everywhere. But now, only screams and cries were pouring out, as if to blame her.
'This is what my brother wants.'
Revenge.
He harbored ill will towards the world. The only way she could be forgiven was to join in that malice.
'Astrape.'
For him, she couldn't be weak either. She was already strong, but not strong enough.
She decided to take what she couldn't have before out of fear of being noticed.
The first thing she intended to get her hands on was Astrape.
It was the 'Staff of Lightning.'
An artifact that could instantly convert the mana gathered in the body into lightning to cast spells. All she knew was that it was sleeping in the armory of some nation.
If so, she had no choice but to open the most likely place.
Kwaaaang!
Racing through the city with acceleration magic, she finally found a building that looked like an armory and broke down the wall.
And she found it.
'A ring?'
An artifact embedded with a red gem.
'Astrape is...'
It wasn't there.
Her efforts were in vain.
'But this is.'
It was a demon artifact that could store demonic energy.
'Why is something like this here?'
Waaaaah!
There was no time to ponder. Yuru heard the shouts of the knights rushing in and fled the building. She took the ring with her.
'If only this can be of help to my brother.'
Yuru pushed off the ground and launched herself into the air.
"Astrape, you say?"
In the Demon King's office, Cardine tilted his head after hearing Clay's question.
"I apologize. I've never heard of it."
"That's to be expected. It's a divine artifact."
A divine artifact.
While objects that generally assist their users are called artifacts, this was on a different level.
No, to be precise, it was of a different rank.
"Divine artifacts are objects created by the influence of gods, or made by the gods themselves."
Since humans often hid them for their own benefit, the location of divine artifacts was usually completely hidden.
Due to various circumstances, they were sometimes in places no one knew about at all.
Cardine's face showed bewilderment at Clay's explanation.
"These must be objects that could change the course of a war, so why weren't they known before?"
"Because no one brought them out."
Furthermore, the Holy Kingdom Alliance even restricted mentioning them, claiming it could cause conflict between nations.
"The alliance wasn't united either, it seems."
Hearing that, Cardine gulped.
Clay let out a hollow laugh.
"Everyone was only thinking about the world after the hero killed the Demon King. They tried to maximize their gains and minimize their losses. Helping the hero was also a political decision."
Clay's eyes stared down at the floor.
"The hero was merely used as a focal point for them to make the world go according to their plan."
It was a self-deprecating remark, but Clay didn't smile.
"Whatever the case, there are many things in the wealth that humans have accumulated that we can use."
"Really?"
"Yes."
Just because humans possessed them didn't mean that only humans could use them.
"Elheim was the only peculiar one from the start. Other gods don't necessarily crave only human faith. Therefore, the users of divine artifacts could also be diverse."
"Well, that's not wrong."
At that moment, someone intervened in their conversation.
"As a former hero, you seem to have seen and heard a lot."
"Athanasia."
Clay's gaze turned to the door.
The person who had just entered was Athanasia, the ancient god who had recently joined his ranks.
"Is Barungenia livable?"
"Well, so-so."
Athanasia sat on the edge of Clay's office desk. Seeing this, Cardine raised his eyebrows.
"What are you doing?!"
"Hmm?"
"Even if the Demon King brought you into Barungenia, such disrespect…"
"It's fine, Cardine."
Clay raised his hand to stop Cardine.
"She's not as rude as she looks."
Then he looked at Athanasia again.
She subtly lifted the part of her body that was sitting on the desk.
"Ahem."
Athanasia cleared her throat and moved away from the desk, meeting Clay's gaze.
"I came in because I heard you talking about divine artifacts, but do you have to be so awkward?"
"Seeing that you heard us talking about divine artifacts, it seems you had your ear to the door."
"No…!"
Athanasia's face turned red, and she sputtered in excitement before shaking her head.
"I wasn't trying to listen. The new guy you brought in was bickering with your sword, so I came to tell you about it, and I overheard it."
"It seems Shiltnaro and Selimia are getting closer."
"You call this getting closer?"
Athanasia made a disgusted face.
"Hah, anyway, don't add more noisy things. It's getting hard for me to sleep."
"I didn't save you for you to sleep."
"!"
Athanasia let out a groan and her eyes widened, changing the subject.
"Ah, right! To continue what we were talking about, there might be a divine artifact in Yafenon that you can use."
"A divine artifact I can use?"
Clay tilted his head.
"You mean the Ring of Ruanyac?"
"Right, the Ring of Ruanyac… huh?"
Athanasia looked surprised.
"You, you know about it?"
"I do."
"Really?"
"And that the battle-axe the King of Yafenon uses is the Primal Prayer."
"The Primal Prayer is there too?"
She muttered blankly.
"Why is that there?"
"I hope you'll be of more help next time."
Cardine, who had been watching their commotion, asked,
"Um, may I ask what the Primal Prayer is?"
"That's also one of the divine artifacts. Since it is revered by humans, it would be more correct to call it a holy relic."
Originally, he had planned to take the Primal Prayer, the holy relic of Yafenon, with Beatrice. It hadn't been executed yet because of Nael's appearance and the series of urgent matters that followed.
"If the King of Yafenon has it, it must be very important. It will be in the royal palace, so it doesn't seem easy to take it."
"If it were in the royal palace, that would be true."
But Yafenon was a barbaric nation.
Although they had introduced cannons and such with Krata's support, they were fundamentally a group that preferred close-quarters combat.
Their leader, the king, was required to have a virtue that set him apart from other nations.
"If a problem piles up in the nation, the king himself steps forward to handle it. That is Yafenon's way of solving problems."
It was a kind of ritual performed under the premise that the strongest person in Yafenon was the king.
As the problems grew, the King of Yafenon would come to the forefront.
"So, all we have to do is wait for the right time."
He would be able to encounter Utor at the right moment.
"I understand, Demon King."
Cardine immediately accepted his directive and asked,
"Then what should I prepare in advance?"
"Soundproof Athanasia's room."
"Soundproof… pardon?"
Cardine's voice rose in a blank expression. But Clay replied with a serious face.
"Not getting enough sleep can lead to a big problem in our fighting strength. I'm counting on you."
"Ah…"
"Right!"
Athanasia's face brightened as she stood in front of Cardine.
"That serious Demon King isn't joking. Hurry up."
"Oh, yes."
As Cardine was pushed out by her, he held his breath.
'In this regard, he shows a strange mercy.'
Cardine walked out of the office, unable to bring himself to call it humane.
"Rakara was attacked…"
On the way back from Hanumayer to Iser via airship, Tia blankly chewed over the information Selbaro had given her.
The message Selbaro's informant from Hanumayer had sent via carrier pigeon contained truly bizarre information.
Namely, that Yuru had attacked Rakara.
And that she was looking for something in the process.
'Yuru, what are you looking for?'
Yuru was already officially designated as an enemy of the Holy Kingdom Alliance. In a way, they were in the same position, but Yuru was acting on her own, making it too risky for Tia to try and contact her.
'If she deals a blow to the Holy Kingdom Alliance, it's not a bad thing for me.'
But given that she was already preparing for war with Yafenon, Yuru's actions were not a good sign.
'They'll prepare for it.'
The tension in Yafenon would have also increased. Tia sighed and looked out of the airship.
She was confused, but she remembered what she wanted to do.
'Clay…'
It was not a thought she was having as the Emperor of Iser.
'I won't leave you in another hell.'
Her golden hair fluttered, filled with divine power.