I swallowed hard.
The others seemed to be having the same thought.
Chris's face grew stiff.
"The God's Mirror only reacts to Arch Demon Kings or higher... So does that mean an Arch Demon King actually came here?"
"I'm afraid that's the only conclusion we can draw."
"But why? Which Arch Demon King?"
I had no answer to that question either.
Suddenly, memories from before my regression flashed through my mind.
'Chris said he wanted revenge.'
But he had never once mentioned that his target was the Deception Demon King.
All I knew was that the subjugation had failed.
Naturally, I had assumed the Deception Demon King—the target of that failed subjugation—was the object of his vengeance.
But apparently not.
Originally, the Deception Demon King had tried to kill Creed right in front of Chris's eyes.
So before the regression, Chris and the Deception Demon King must have come all the way here together.
'What if an Arch Demon King was with his brother at that time...'
The Arch Demon King might have killed the Deception Demon King.
It was obvious the Deception Demon King—whose grand climax had been ruined—would have lashed out at him in rage.
And then kidnapped the brother.
If my reasoning was correct, then Chris's true target for revenge was some Arch Demon King, just like Rennel's.
Of course, this was all just speculation.
And without evidence, it would remain mere conjecture forever.
But then Rennel spoke up unexpectedly.
"There's still hope."
"Huh?"
"Pardon?"
"Let's try repairing the God's Mirror."
I blinked at her words.
But Chris seemed to grasp her meaning immediately, his face lighting up.
"R-right. We might be able to uncover what happened here."
"What do you mean?"
"The God's Mirror distinguishes between humans and Demon Kings, but it also has a function to record the scenes it reflects. It stores the revealed truths to show to those in high positions."
"So that means..."
"Yes. If the face of the Arch Demon King who kidnapped Creed was captured in it..."
His eyes burned fiercely as he continued.
"We might be able to identify the Arch Demon King."
"Will a mirror that's been shattered and glued back together still function properly?"
"..."
"Well, it's worth a shot. We don't have any other leads anyway."
"Yes..."
"So who can repair it? Do you know a skilled artisan?"
Rennel shook her head as she replied.
"If it could be fixed by human hands, would it truly be a divine treasure?"
"If human hands can't do it, should we borrow a Demon King's?"
"Haha. That's hilarious."
"Good to know."
"I was being sarcastic! It means the person closest to the gods among humans has to repair it. Someone of high standing in the church."
"For example?"
"At least an archbishop. No, for a divine treasure, probably a cardinal."
I fell silent for a moment before speaking up.
"In that case, let's ask someone even higher. To be sure."
"Higher than a cardinal? You don't mean... the Pope?"
"No. Someone even higher than that."
Rennel made a bizarre face and uttered that word she'd been saying a lot lately.
"You're insane."
Chris provided the correct answer instead.
"The Saintess."
Perfect timing.
I had to meet that old connection anyway.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Before the regression, the fact that the Saintess joined our party was something worthy of shock and awe.
It wasn't because our party lacked anything; it was simply that her position as the Saintess was unparalleled on the continent.
Just think about how no famous party ever had an emperor or the Pope joining them.
In fact, considering she was respected even more than them in certain ways, it was all the more astonishing.
The impossible had become possible thanks to the Saintess's revelation.
Revelation.
It referred to the divine voice granted only to Saintesses throughout history.
Just as it had played a decisive role in pinpointing the Deception Demon King's location before, the Saintess's revelations served as a guiding scripture and compass for all humanity.
One day before the regression, we received a sudden summons from the Papal Court through the guild... or rather, an order.
The official reason was to commend us in person for slaying multiple Demon Kings.
I had wanted to refuse, annoyed at wasting time meant for Demon King hunts on such frivolity, but the insistence of the other party members (especially Rennel) made us go to the Papal Court.
That was where we met the Saintess for the first time.
"Hello. So you're that famous Demon King hunter party."
Though summoned by the Papal Court, no one had expected to actually see the Saintess, so the party members' jaws dropped.
They were trembling so much that I had no choice but to handle the communication myself.
Me, with my quad wrangle's garbled voices and inability to even see the other person's face—an utterly abysmal setup for conversation.
I focused all my concentration on understanding the Saintess's words.
Fortunately, no one interrupted our talk, so it proceeded fairly normally.
"Pleased to meet you. I'm Dai-il Magnus."
"I'm the Saintess. Not giving my name is..."
"I know. No Saintess in history has ever had one. Giving a human-made name to someone chosen by God would be blasphemy."
I stated it matter-of-factly, and the Saintess replied.
"Exactly. Pretty ridiculous reason, huh?"
I had no idea what expression to make at that.
I glanced at the other party members for reference, only to be reminded anew that I couldn't read their faces.
Soon, the Saintess (I couldn't see it, but it felt like) waved her hand dismissively and changed the subject.
"Ever since I failed in Bardrin territory, I've been praying to God nonstop. Wondering if someone as powerless and pathetic as me deserves to remain the Saintess."
"You mean the failure in Bardrin territory? With the Disease Demon King?"
"Yes. And then God gave me this revelation."
"..."
"There is an adventurer party roaming the land, slaying Demon Kings. Join them and fight together."
The Saintess (again, I couldn't see, but it felt like) looked straight at me and pleaded earnestly.
"Please let me join your party. That's why I had you invited here today."
"..."
"I've already gotten permission from the Pope and all the high-and-mighty folks. You just need to agree."
...
We requested a week to decide.
I won't go into the heated debates that raged in our party during that week.
I supported it purely because I thought the Saintess's abilities would help in subjugating the Erosion Demon King.
There was some opposition, but support won out overwhelmingly, so she joined our party.
When we met again, I informed her of the decision.
Her first reaction was this.
"Adventurers camp out a lot, right?"
"We avoid it as much as possible, but sometimes we have no choice..."
"So what do you do for cooking then?"
"We just eat simple dried foods like jerky..."
"That's no good. From now on, I'll handle the cooking. I've always wanted to try it for real."
I couldn't ask why the Saintess wanted to cook.
Her next question left me speechless.
"How many frying pans should I pack?"
I couldn't see it due to the quad wrangle back then, but Rennel later told me the Saintess's eyes were sparkling like the Milky Way when she asked that.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
We were en route to where the Saintess was.
With our group larger now, we rented a long-distance carriage and driver.
Rennel kept peering out the carriage window, letting out exclamations of awe.
"Wow. Whoa. So this is the pinnacle of civilization."
"That's a bit grandiose for describing a carriage."
"But is this really okay? Splurging like this?"
Her question gave me a strange sense of déjà vu.
Even before the regression, Rennel's standards for luxury were ridiculously low.
"What was the biggest luxury of your life?"
"The egg I ate on my twelfth birthday."
"..."
"Don't look at me like that. Save when you can. Life's unpredictable."
Before or after the regression, Rennel always talked about living a life adored by everyone.
I figured her dream was one she'd struggle to achieve her whole life.
People who rarely eat meat savor it the most.
Then Chris asked.
"Miss Rennel, is this your first time traveling by carriage?"
"Yes."
"Then how did you travel until now? You went around guilds in various regions taking requests, right?"
"People have legs."
"...I see. I didn't realize."
Judging it pointless to ask further, he turned to me.
"Anyway, thank you so much. I'll definitely repay the carriage rental fee later."
"No need. You might not even have the means by then."
"Pardon? Our family is better off than you might think."
"That's assuming things go well when you get home."
"Once we repair the God's Mirror and identify the Demon King who took my brother, I'll stop by. I need to explain everything to my father anyway."
I wondered if that would go as planned.
From what I remembered before the regression, your father had some pretty scathing words for you after the mission failure.
As I stayed silent, Chris changed the subject.
"By the way, about our destination—why are we stopping in Bardrin? Is there something you need to see there?"
"We're not stopping. That's the final destination."
"Pardon? Aren't we going to meet the Saintess?"
"Correct."
"Then we should obviously head to the Papal Court..."
"She's not there."
At my firm declaration, their eyes widened.
I recalled the memories from before the regression.
We had met the Saintess after her failure in Bardrin territory.
But I already knew about that failure, so there was no reason to waste time.
Just as I had foreseen and prevented Chris's Deception Demon King subjugation failure, this time I planned to get ahead and meet the Saintess first.
"A plague should be ravaging Bardrin territory right now. The Saintess is out there to heal it."
"I've heard nothing about that."
"No reason you would know her schedule. Even so, she's got some serious influence."
"If that's the case, Dai-il, you have even less reason to know. Actually, aren't you being a bit too casual calling her 'the Saintess'?"
He had a fair point. I had been properly deferential when we first met her.
But after years of experiencing her antics, I just couldn't see her as some lofty figure anymore.
Then Rennel spoke up with a serious expression.
"She's got a point."
"Fine, fine. I'll use honorifics with the Saintess from now on. For the time being."
"Why just for now? And I wasn't talking about that."
"Huh?"
"Her schedule. Timing- and location-wise, it lines up pretty well."
She rummaged through her luggage and unrolled a scroll.
It was a map of the entire continent.
Rennel pointed to several territories with her finger.
"Started here in Dain territory. Then Goren territory. Next..."
After marking several territories, her finger came to rest at the last one.
"This year, it's exactly Bardrin territory's turn."
"What do you mean, Miss Rennel?"
"Huh?"
"Pardon?"
"No, Sir Chris, aren't you the rising star of the Radiant Knights Order? Surely you're well-versed in major Demon Kings..."
"Sorry. I'm terrible at memorization."
That was putting it too kindly—self-praise, really.
If you compiled all his ignorant remarks from before the regression, you could make a bestselling humor book.
The Radiant Knights Order that once called this guy their rising star... was it really okay like this?
"My brother covered for my shortcomings. 'Rising star' and all that just bundles us twins together."
"But the famous one is just you, Sir Chris."
"That's because I'm better-looking than my brother."
This was Chris—saying something like that with his own mouth and not seeing the problem.
Rennel replied incredulously.
"You're twins."
"Twins don't all look exactly alike."
"They do. Identical twins, as the scholars call it."
"What's identical?"
"It's still just a theory, but..."
Rennel trailed off and turned to me.
"Anyway, Dai-il. What I'm getting at is..."
Wise of her to realize dragging out a conversation with Chris was exhausting.
"It's about time for the Disease Demon King to show up again."
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