Chapter 49
He channeled divine power into his fingernail and dragged it down.
Droplets of blood welled up, revealing sharply split skin.
There, without a second thought, Ian applied the Stone of Protection.
―Huuuung!
The stone emitted a light and seeped into his body.
Ian closed his eyes.
The binding seal Lekia had engraved over his heart was born of his magic.
Being a force of a different nature, there were limits to blocking it with divine power alone, so this arrival was timely.
Of course, since it was unknown what reaction it might have with the divine power in his body, he would test it first. Once its safety was confirmed…
He would give it to Delonas immediately.
Then, he would be able to have a truthful conversation with her.
“Now, since time is short, shall we talk?”
Ian spread his hands.
Archion, already rotted away, consumed by the temple.
An emperor and his favored second prince, who were busy not resisting but cooperating with that rotten temple to receive holy water.
Amidst this, a meeting was taking place between Crown Prince Aldenas, who wished to normalize Archion, and the Pope who held the only key to doing so.
Their immediate objectives differed slightly, but their shared goal was one:
To cut out the rotten temple and imperial family of Archion and build a new nation.
To that end, the two men talked, and soon after,
They clasped hands.
***
The first thing Ian did after the Crown Prince donned his mask again and departed was…
―Thump!
To cut off the ears of those who had dared to listen to Delonas’s moans and pleasure themselves, and then to stab a sword through their necks and twist it.
How dare they.
Even while inside the tent, Ian, who could perceive his surroundings through the flow of divine power, had known these priests dared to shake their c***s while listening to her sounds.
He had wanted to behead them on the spot, but knowing the Crown Prince was coming personally, he had held and calmed her instead.
For now, just focus on the pleasure.
“Hoo…”
Having finished the cleanup, he threw down the bloodied sword and returned to the tent.
His surroundings had already been appropriately staged by the Crown Prince’s assassination squad, filled with traces of magical fire and destruction.
Of course, the priests had been cut down with swords coated in poison magic, the type commonly used in Beakin.
And then.
After dressing Delonas and carrying her out, he used magic to burn the tent to ashes.
As if they had been attacked by Beakin remnants.
And then, mounting a horse, he headed toward a nearby temple.
As if he had barely survived the ambush, he rode the horse hard, with Delonas—still unconscious—bound to his back with cloth.
“Is this woman the one from the rumors…?”
The remaining temples were either rotted to a similar degree or places touched by Lekia’s influence. As all the accompanying priests and paladins had died, and only the rumored ‘thing’ was carried on the Pope’s back, some priests expressed doubt.
I want to tell the truth.
That I saved her because she is the noblest on the continent, a person so radiant she cannot even be compared to you all.
But perhaps the stone was not yet fully blocking the seal, for along with a fierce pain in his heart, his mouth went numb. So, he barely managed to reply.
“…Because she has not yet paid her due penance.”
It was absurd to speak of penance for one who had committed no crime, but he said it.
“Ah, indeed, that must be it.”
The priests whose eyes glittered at this were only those excited by the ‘opportunity’ to take the princess for themselves, more than by the death of their fellow priests.
Thus, it ended without further questioning.
***
Delonas opened her eyes.
She was flustered to realize this was a provincial temple and that she had been essentially unconscious from exhaustion.
Of course, no one told her this directly.
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