Children of the Holy Emperor - Chapter 405



Only Noblemtl

405. Head Tower (3)

Roman trudged back to the cave they had made into a makeshift gathering place.

Originally, I was planning to go to Bertrand Street to gather information and put on a puppet show.

But amidst the wave of those gorgeous ‘fairies’, I couldn’t bring myself to take out my old dolls. It was as if it were clearly showing the gap between the current prosperity and myself.

As he entered the cave so feebly, [Sowing], who was rolling around on the floor, turned around and asked him.

“What are they all, doll?”

Roman absentmindedly glanced at the mushrooms covering the old man’s face.

Although it was a hasty measure, it was still a temporary body. The old man’s body had been rapidly deteriorating since becoming the Demon King’s vessel.

‘I guess I’ll have to prepare a new bowl soon.’

With that thought in his heart, Romain answered politely to the high-ranking demon lord who was lying on the floor without any hesitation.

“My poor dolls, Lord of Disease. Have you not seen me mend them here every day?”

“Well, I did see it. As you said, it was so ugly that I didn’t know those rags could be called ‘dolls’.”

At his scathing assessment, Romain looked down at his hand puppets again.

“… … .”

Even from a subjective point of view, his dolls were not in very good condition.

It is already difficult to tell the original color because it is worn here and there, and you can see traces of patchwork where the sewing was done with poor craftsmanship.

The Fire Demon King doll, which was originally supposed to be red, is now indistinguishable from the gray warrior doll. If things continued like this, even if a puppet show were to be performed, it would be difficult to see any meaningful results.

Since the [form] that should be the basis of the salt image has collapsed to this extent, no matter how much you charm people with the power of your voice, there will inevitably be a limit to constructing the salt image barrier.

“They’re tattered. They look like dolls aimed at a specific target. Maybe they were damaged by the [backlash] of the curse?”

Surprisingly, the high-ranking demon king’s keen eyes immediately detected the traces of unnatural power that had damaged the rag dolls.

“It looks like you were trying to cast a cursed flame barrier against a target that was no match for you, doll. Who on earth were you trying to harm with those flimsy tools?”

“… … .”

Several months ago, there was an incident where the presence of the Holy Spirit, who guards the zodiac, temporarily weakened.

At that time, Romain did not miss the opportunity and went to the busiest street in the capital to properly deploy [Flame Barrier]. This was to inflict a fatal blow on his arch-enemy.

However, if you try to attack an opponent who is alive and causing ideology with a flame, it is natural that a [backlash] will occur.

The dolls that were unable to completely kill the enemy began to be damaged by the recoil. Without even being able to perform a few extremes, they were badly damaged as if they had been hit head-on by hundreds of years of time.

‘But there is one thing that we have come to know for sure. The fact that both the warrior and the fire demon king, the two dolls, have backlashed means that they still exist in this world.’

The generational change is not over yet. His arch-rival has not yet become the Fire Lord.

Ah, what a blessing it is!

‘And the Fire Demon King who survived until the end, without forgetting his grudge, must still be wandering this Delcross dimension chasing my soul.’

This fact had also been confirmed directly not long ago. It was the day when Romain clumsily created a soul terminal and infiltrated the palace.

At that time, when the soul’s defenses were weakened due to imitating the imperfect secret art, didn’t the Fire Demon Lord immediately pursue him and enter the human body he had taken over?

-Is that you? Is it you, the little bastard, who made such a petty attack on me?

As Romain thought back on that time for a moment, he suddenly felt a sense of wonder.

Now that I think about it, I was so shocked by losing my terminal that I didn’t even notice it at the time, but didn’t the Fire Lord seem to recognize me at all?

-Oh, is that you? You’ve become so insignificant that I almost didn’t recognize you! Where did you suddenly appear when you couldn’t even die!

-What? You little punk? Do you know me? What is your identity?

no way.

‘You don’t remember me? I was just attacked by someone, and you’ve been tracking down the attacker by following the traces of the remaining flames?’

But how could that be? How could the Fire Lord not remember the Dream King who so perfectly tricked him and made him lose everything?

‘Or does that mean that I am completely separated from the puppeteer and am no longer the [Dream King] that I am chasing?’

Stick-!

Perhaps because he was so engrossed in his imperfect memories, a sharp pain suddenly appeared in his head. Romain distorted his face hidden behind his half-mask.

One day, he was unexpectedly separated from the puppeteer, and part of Romain’s memory was irreparably damaged.

Because of that, he now couldn’t clearly remember what kind of ending he, the warrior, and the Fire Demon King had in the end.

‘but…….’

At least I know this fact for sure. If we leave them alone like this, the ‘Hero’ and the ‘Fire Lord’ will become deeply entrenched as obstacles that will continuously threaten the safety of Romain in the future.

‘So, even if we can’t finish them off right away, we have to start eliminating them little by little and steadily from now on… ‘

Romain, who had been deep in thought, suddenly noticed the old man who had been staring at him silently until then and took a deep breath.

The gaze of an absolute being that can crush a human soul in an instant. That terrifying gaze is seriously scanning me as if observing me!

“… … !”

It was clear that he had momentarily lost his mind due to the shock he received from the zodiac. He pretended to listen to the high-ranking demon king’s questions and then got lost in his own thoughts!

“… I’m sorry, Sojong. It’s nothing serious. I was just trying to get rid of the enemy of the prince I serve from afar.”

Romain quickly rounded up the words.

“It is nothing more than a trivial human affair, and is not something the great Lord of Diseases should be concerned about.”

An imperfect memory and the presence of an enemy who could threaten one’s safety at any time.

It would be a problem if these great weaknesses were discovered by the high-ranking Demon King. The moment he showed even the slightest opening, he would grab him, tear him to pieces, and immediately join the real puppeteer.

“Static? A prince you serve? What? Is that a strong man?”

“I wasn’t that strong, so I just tried to use my hands from a distance.”

“Really? But why did it fail?”

“I am truly ashamed. However, the only trick this lowly puppet can pull off to avoid the eyes of the Holy Emperor is this clumsy flame barrier. I was too concerned about his reaction to prepare properly.”

“Hmm… … .”

It wasn’t a completely convincing explanation, but fortunately Sowing didn’t seem to care much.

“Yeah, I don’t care about your trivial circumstances. But the more I think about it, the less funny it becomes! Isn’t it like a doll playing with a doll? Hehehehe!”

“… … .”

It was a rude remark that touched a sore spot, but who would dare to question that high-ranking demon lord?

Instead, Romain decided to pull himself together and seek the advice of the Supreme Being on the matter at hand.

“Your Majesty, there is something I wish to discuss with you.”

About the fairy craze that is sweeping the Rue Bertrand.

* * *

“Yeah. A fairy? In the Holy Empire that has been clinging to flimsy scriptures for the past thousand years? Well, when you live long enough, all sorts of things happen.”

After hearing Romain’s explanation, the old man looked into space with a strange expression.

“I bet there was a lot of opposition from the Orthodox Church. Anyway, it sounds like a lot of fun! I wish I could see that strange sight with my own eyes!”

Of course, it was an impossible dream. As long as the Holy Spirit’s [Grace] surrounded the zodiac, there was no way the devil could dare approach it.

“Anyway, it’s not bad news for us, doll. The more the human mental defenses against [evil] weaken, the easier it will be for my sect to encroach on the continent! Won’t the invasion accelerate even more?”

The blind faith enforced by the collective consciousness has a much greater impact on the unconscious defenses of the soul than one might expect.

This will be an even more important issue for high-ranking demon lords, who must prioritize dimensional mental invasion due to causal constraints.

But now, the Guardian of Delcross is completely ignoring such advantages and is bringing beings whose boundaries between good and evil are unclear into the scope of perception one by one, thereby breaking down the vigilance of humans.

That was why Romain was confused. He was not only preparing for the full-scale invasion that was coming, but he was also weakening the defenses of the humans!

“… Then what on earth is the purpose of the Guardian of Delcross doing such a thing?”

“Well, doll. How could I know his complicated mind?”

The old man scratched his emptying scalp with a grumpy expression.

“But, isn’t it obvious? He’s probably trying to do the same thing you did. Using the collective consciousness of the Zodiac humans, he’s working to spread a new ‘image’ of ‘fairies’ throughout this dimension.”

“Are you saying that we should give up the defense that blind faith in God gives us, and accept the uncertain existence of ‘fairies’? Why? Isn’t that completely useless?”

“Well, each fairy is different.”

Sowing, who had responded like that, suddenly burst into an unpleasant laughter as if he had some kind of thought.

“But doll, do you know that? When the Guardian of Delcross first came to power, he went on a rampage, determined to wipe out every single demon on the continent. He was so obsessed with capturing and killing demons that he used any tool he could get his hands on, without any hesitation.”

There have even been countless instances where the Holy Spirit himself has invaded the Demon World. How can a human, and even one who is supposedly the representative of the Lord, do something so crazy!

The confusion that the high-ranking demon lords felt at that time was indescribable.

“He even has a fairly powerful demon under his command! I was so surprised when I first saw him.”

At those words, Romaine looked at Sojong in surprise.

“… Devil… Yo? Is that true?”

“That’s right. Why would this body talk nonsense to you?”

The old man, who had been observing the hardened expression of the romaine with amusement, continued speaking.

“So who knows? Maybe-”

The old man’s playful eyes deepened in an unusual way.

“This time, it may be that the Guardian of Delcross has been dealt a more powerful blow than before.”

* * *

“This is lemon pie.”

[Wow! Lemon pie!]

“This is a bear meat cutlet.”

[Wow! This is my favorite bear meat!]

As Sungjin throws the chopped food onto the glass bowl, a flash of red flames burns them up.

Sir Robert, who had been quietly watching the scene from the side, adjusted his flat glasses and made a serious face.

“That’s the ‘Fire Fairy’ who’s been a hot topic these days. It feels like the fairy’s flame is touching your hand. Does it feel hot or anything?”

“Oh, it’s okay, Sir Robert.”

Seongjin was originally unharmed by the Demon King’s flames. However, the feeling of extreme heat was clearly conveyed.

But recently, the temperature felt from him has dropped significantly compared to before. This is because the Demon King has been constantly trying to control the heat.

-My beautiful glass plate!

Because he had no physical form for a while, the Demon King had a hard time adjusting his suddenly acquired flame body to the external environment. As a result, he ended up rendering several expensive plates unusable for a while.

But in the end, it was a problem that time would solve.

Now he’s found the right temperature to quickly burn food, while still maintaining the integrity of the pot.

So now, I am sitting in a polyhedral glass bowl that the craftsmen made with all their passion and effort, and eating food comfortably from Seongjin.

“Eww! It’s hot! My fingers are getting blisters!”

So, that means that it was entirely the Demon King’s intention. It’s like the situation where Lord Haven put his hand on the flames, got burned, and jumped up and down in an ugly way.

“Then why are you trying to touch her without permission?”

“Yes? But Your Majesty! Princess Amelia and the other knights were all fine, weren’t they?”

Lord Haven put his burned finger in his mouth and frowned.

“You’re really going too far! It seems like the Fire Fairy only hates me!”

“That’s because you always act so rudely. Stop whining and go to Senator Ninnias and get treatment, Lord Haven.”

So, an unusually peaceful afternoon was passing by.