Chapter 408 – Deciphering

000

If Eustes agrees, a contract of oath between Ishtal and Eustes is drawn up.

The red pen that moved by itself clarified the terms of the transaction between the two.

Eustes handed over the Crystal of Perfection to Ishtar.

In return, to receive an antidote that can detoxify the poison that is eroding Cleon’s body.

If the oath is violated and the false antidote is given, Ishtal’s soul will be torn to pieces by the oath’s effect, making it weaker than ordinary demons – no, even miscellaneous monsters roaming around.

When the contract was completed, it burned itself, and on the backs of Eustes and Ishtal’s hands, the pattern of the pentagram, the proof of the contract, was engraved.

“Whoops. Isn’t that cool? It’s proof of a contract with the devil.”

“It’s the worst.”

Eustes nervously replies to Ishtal’s teasing words.

Then, as if to appease Eustes, Merca was talking.

“…It will disappear once the transaction is completed.”

“I hope so… So? How do you get the crystals out?”

At Eustes’ words, when Lanz glanced down at the scalpel she was holding, Eustes, who looked at him, shrank back as if he was a little frightened.

Although he was prepared, if he had to cut open the stomach and take out the crystal from the intestines, it was a matter that could not help but be tense.

“It’s you, not me, who pulls it out. Eustes. If you’re aware of the crystal’s existence, you’ll be able to pull it out.”

“…”

At Ishtal’s words, Eustes quietly puts his hand on his chest.

And- inside yourself.

The existence of a small crystal that could not be felt before, felt in a place near the heart.

If I stretch out my invisible hand towards that place. With the feeling of it being held in my hand, it slowly separates from my heart.

It was a bit of a tickling sensation, but it wasn’t accompanied by any pain.

And- slowly, slowly, feel it moving out of your body.

Eventually, the part that divides the boundary between the inside and outside of oneself.

In other words, in the part of the ‘skin’, it slowly rose in the shape of an octahedron while emitting white light.

It was the same size as Eustes’ black body when he became a woman, and it was a crystal of magical power compressed to such a high concentration that it could be felt that it was slowly generating magic while emitting light on its own.

As soon as they saw it, those around them who had enough knowledge about magic exclaimed in exclamation.

“…I never thought there would be such a high concentration of magic crystals in the world…”

“…Are you alright Miss Justina?”

When Merca, seeing that the crystals had completely drained from her body, asked such a question, Eustes slowly opened her eyes and exhaled heavily.

“Uh, yes. It’s still such a big discomfort… Ah, but. I can feel the decrease in the amount of magic regeneration…”

“It’s good if your body doesn’t have any problems… Now then, Ishtar. You too, take out the ‘antidote’.”

At Merka’s commanding tone, Ishtal snaps her fingers as she sighs.

Then, a small passage in the subspace opened on her other hand her, and a bottle containing a slick liquid fell onto her hand her.

“This is the antidote that can remove Cleon’s poison.”

The liquid was light brown in color and contained in a small common bottle.

“Well, then… Cadley? Will you, as the head of this transaction, exchange items for both sides?”

“…Great.”

In this place, Cadley, who must remain neutral the most, accepts a decision from Eustes and an antidote from Ishtal.

Pass each other’s hands

“Ugh…!”

In the next moment, Eusthes suddenly felt the magic draining from his body, and his body became heavy.

Perhaps, the cause was that the connection between himself and the crystal of perfection was completely cut off.

However, at the same time, as if tickling Eustes’ body, scorching heat ran through him from head to toe.

“Haa… Kuh…!”

“Are you okay!? Justina!”

When Merca grabbed her by the shoulder, I could tell that a slight change was taking place in Eustes’ body of hers.

Her hair grew longer, and her eyelashes were much denser than before.

Her arms and legs she became thinner, and areas like her breasts, hips, and thighs swelled up, as if pushing up the clothes she was wearing.

‘Your body has become more feminine…?’

Merca looks at Eusthes like that, and she turns her attention to Ishtal.

“It’s because the decision to be perfect is gone, and you can’t go back to being a man anymore. Eustes’ body only fixed ‘possibility as a woman’. That’s good, because he still had a little bit of a manly side to live as a woman. Ah, From now on, you should really call me Justina, not Eustes.”

“Me, because I don’t care about me… Quickly get Cleon…”

Justina, who raised her voice a little, handed over the antidote she had received in her trembling hands to Merca.

Merca nodded her head, and as she did, she opened the cap of her antidote and put it into her own mouth-

As she was, she approached Cleon, opened his mouth her, and forced it through her throat her.

Cadley, who looked at it, immediately talked to the bartender.

“If the antidote works, the blood flow will return to normal. Before you bleed any further, bring something to stop the bleeding.”

“Okay. Mr. Cadley.”

When the bartender heads to Adamant’s warehouse with quick steps, Ishtal gets up from her chair and stands on the ground.

She gazes at the crystal she holds in her hand, then raises the corner of her mouth her.

“Then, I’ll go. I don’t want Cleon to get up and fight again. Thank you, Justina. Thanks to you, our long-cherished wish will come true.”

“…Ishtal…!”

With a tone that mocked Justina until the very end, he opened her passage of her and turned it over.

Justina somehow slowed her breathing, staggering as she couldn’t adjust to her changed body her, causing her to slump on the side of the bar.

Of course, not only that, but the fact that her magical energy was depleted and all energy was drained from her body and her was probably the cause.

However, Justina speaks.

“…Never, I will not let you go your way. I will… Take responsibility and block your ambitions.”

“With that body? Ahhaha! All you can do now is just quietly live with that body. Justina. She has lost even the power she barely gained… What on earth can you do?”

The next moment, a dimensional passage opens beneath her feet, and demonic wings extend from behind Ishtal’s back her, grasping the crystal in her hand her.

Then, the crystal of perfection touched by her magic her changes from pure white to black and is absorbed into her.

“…Whoops… It’s not bad. As it is, I don’t mind using this power to blow up this place… But it’s okay to be relieved. I have no intention of wasting the power of the decision on you who would be destroyed if left alone.”

Well, if you survive, see you again.

As Ishtal’s body disappears, Justina’s mind her disappears as if sinking into darkness.

‘I need to see Cleon get up safely… I guess…’

In the end, Justina collapses on the floor as if exhausted, while Cadley watches silently.

And, when the bartender brings tools for hemostasis and treatment, he talks to the young man in the bird’s beak mask, who was not very helpful earlier.

“…Seal Cleon’s wounds, and take steps to make him rise.”

“I understand. Mr. Cadley.”

At her command her, Lanz took her needle her in his hand without questioning a single thing.

With quick hand movements, he deploys a healing spell on Cleon’s widened body and, in addition, begins to seal his wounds.

Whether Ishtal’s antidote really worked, Cleon’s body his, which had not shown any change no matter how much he added the power of recovery, began to return to his complexion his.

“…Do you really have any knowledge of medicine?”

As Merca talks while looking at Lanz treating Cleon, Lanz mutters nonchalantly.

“It’s just knowledge I’ve gained from studying muscles. Don’t talk to me more than that. It takes concentration to put this man’s steel-fibre muscles back together and put them together.”

“… I’m not sure if he’s competent or perverted.”

“This guy is a competent pervert. Merca investigator. Rather, it would be better to lay the guy down there somewhere.”

When Cadley answers Merca’s question, she points to Justina, who is leaning on a table in the bar.

“…That’s right. It was all thanks to her that we were able to save Cleon.”

“—Well, if you go outside the store, the assassins will be targeting you again, but…”

It took an instant for Cadley to say that.

Thud! When a shaking sounds like shaking the whole store, everyone in it staggers and almost falls.

“…Is it an earthquake?”

“It’s pretty short for an earthquake. It’s like something exploded.”

In the middle of the assassins’ words, each looking for the cause of the shaking, the elevator leading to Adamant moved, and an assassin rushed in in a hurry.

“——It’s a big deal! Cadley-sama!”

“What else is this time?”

If Cadley, who had begun to grow tired of the strange events that attacked one after another, said so, the assassin would speak.

“The royal capital… The royal capital is burning…!”

“──”

Not only the assassins who heard the story, but also the faces of Cadley and Merca hardened.

While they hang out with Ishtar underground, on the surface – the royal capital and the kingdom’s people.

They were crying and suffering in the tragedy that occurred when the existence they treated as evil really became evil.

001

“Haha…”

Blood oozes from under the torn arm armor.

It is said that Arondite’s holy magic heals the wounds of her master, but since she is originally a holy sword specialized in combat, her recovery power her is still inferior to the recovery magic of the clergy, compared to the speed and amount of recovery.

Eventually, her accumulated damage and her exhaustion drive her.

Right now, among the heroes in the kingdom, Aruru Tromeia is said to have the most outstanding skills.

Driven and driven, I put my back on the wall, and stood up again with staggered legs.

Looking at such Aruru is Princess Amelia, who carelessly looks at her with her unscathed her.

“You’re boring, Aruru. Did you touch me?”

In a way, it was almost a mockery of her, but Aruru quietly wiped the blood from the wound around her eye and held her arondite with both of her hands.

Originally, when the fight lasted this long, Aruru would have had to make her fight even more advantageous, with several fragments of broken Arondite floating around.

But- Amelia knows Aruru well.

“Arondite is an excellent holy sword. It has power that is effective in 1:1 as well as 1:1 battles, and the more you fight, the higher the risk. If added together, I thought it would be a really annoying enemy…”

The next moment, when Amelia’s hand is swung around, her black plant stem her shoots out like a spear, aiming at Aruru’s abdomen her.

Aruru momentarily twisted her body her, and it pierced her own stomach, but as it grazed her side her, she felt her blood her gushing once more.

“To protect those who run away… Use the holy sword for defense. And when the fragments are created, desperately try to manipulate them to trap me… Are you willing to win? Aruru.”

“…Amelia, the princess…”

After the battle between the two begins, Amelia talks as if for some reason she is fed up with Aruru who doesn’t attack her at all.

“Even if you touch me like that, I have no intention of looking at you. Gradually, it seems that I have driven it to the point where it is good to eat… If I get your power, I will be able to create more of these stems. Then, you will be able to absorb a lot of life force and mana enough to cure Cleon.”

“…Please, Princess Amelia… Cleon will be all right. Before the people of the royal capital look at you worse-“

Aruru must have been thinking about Amelia.

Beyond this, if Amelia attacks the people of her capital and absorbs their powers her, the people of her capital her will really think of her as a witch or a demon.

And that’s not all.

Right now, this situation must have reached the ears of the kingdom’s nobles.

Now the knights weren’t coming this way to evacuate them to safety…

By any chance, if a strong man like Drake returns here.

And- if Princess Amelia and the Knights of the Kingdom, who had obtained such strong power right now, would face each other head on.

The fight will not stop until either side is dead, and in the meantime, the capital will be devastated and many casualties will occur.

That’s a definite story, no matter which side wins.

So, for now, you’ll need to calm Amelia down and hide her somewhere behind her.

Even if he was sent back to the Tower of Confinement, what awaited him was trial and punishment—perhaps, execution.

However, the current Amelia could not understand Aruru’s thoughts of her.

“The eyes that see me… Before it gets worse!?Haha!! Kingdom Aruru! You really don’t know anything!? In this royal capital- among the people of the people, no one sees me as a human! Even though I asked for help, You should have seen him rejected, mocked as a devil and a witch!”

Aruru covers her own head, exclaiming that she is fed up with the shackles of her loathsome fate her.

“What is the confined princess! What is the Saint Princess!! In a well-organized frame, you and I are just trying to use me!! Aurelia and His Highness Cassius!!”

“Aww…!”

Princess Amelia said that if there was anything she could do for herself, she would gladly sacrifice herself.

However, she is betrayed and betrayed again, and her planted doubts her lead to pain, pain leads to despair, and despair leads to anger.

Anger blossomed into hatred, and she was completely twisted.

“… But. Cleon and Ruba are different. Those two look at me as I am. They’re not Saint Princesses, they’re princesses imprisoned in Chaldearis…- Devils, witches… They’re not from the blood of a traitor.” As ‘Amelia’.”

Amelia looks at Aruru with a terrifying expression.

“But… That Cleon is about to lose his life trying to protect me. Is this world… Really a right world? Just because he was with me to protect someone, I get caught up in the useless political battles of nobles ..Really being targeted by assassins?…I can say for sure that the kingdom will never be an ideal country.It is only because it has won over the invader empire that it has been able to be in the position of a victim on this continent..That they had no cause or justice!”

As Amelia raised her hands, huge plant stems burst out from behind her.

“It’s better for such a kingdom to perish! That way, it will create a much better future for humans! I won’t be bound by anyone anymore, and I’ll live only for the people I love…! If you get in the way, then you . The kingdom too!”

And, if the wriggling stalks are about to come rushing in like waves, aiming for Aruru sooner or later-

“Heaven, Pillar…!”

The next moment, a black-haired maid suddenly jumped out of the air, spinning around in the air, cutting off the stems aiming at Aruru.

As she landed staggering with the sound of her heels popping, she already had scars all over her body.

Both Aruru and Amelia widen their eyes at the sight of her appearing between them.

“…Lubera…”

Amelia called her name her.

It was a warm voice, quite different from when he called Aruru or other characters.

Ruba, who was breathing heavily, turned to Amelia at the voice her calling her.

A clicking sound came from the Barisada in my hand.

“Lubera, that wound… Of course, you’re injured. I was trying to protect me… I was attacked by assassins… Just wait a little bit, I’ll treat you right away. Just like Cleon —”

“Amelia.”

As if interrupting Amelia, Rubera opens her mouth.

And, seeing her get into her battle stance her, Amelia shakes her head in silence.

“…I don’t like it… I don’t want to fight Ruba… Ruba is as precious as Cleon, my…”

“…Amelia. I, too, value you… That’s why I have to stop you now… It’s okay. I, too, will be punished together.”

At Rubera’s words, Amelia staggered back, taking a step or two, and she backed away.

Then, she clenched her teeth once more before she screamed loudly.

“──I hate it!!!”

Once again, when the stems rise from the ground and aim at Rubera and Aruru.

This time, Aruru swung her sword and defended the stems with a crystal barrier to protect Rubera.

“Aruru-nim. You’ve been beaten pretty badly.”

“… I couldn’t attack Amelia.”

“…”

In response to Aruru’s answer her, Ruba nodded her head knowingly.

And, her eyes were directed to the black crystal flower on Amelia’s head her.

‘That’s… I guess that’s what made Amelia weird.’

As Lubera, who is connected to Amelia by the closest imprint, she knew the cause of Amelia’s abnormal situation with her.

Apparently, it came from the wound on her chest.

“Until her Cleon returns, she must frame her.”

“…I know. But when the knight comes-“

At Aruru’s words, Ruba shut her mouth for a moment.

“…Then, it would be better to subdue them.”

“—Are you serious?”

Ruba nods her head at Aruru’s question, and returns her barisada to the scabbard.

It was the posture of Iajutsu.

“Of course. I am always sincere.”

In the next moment, she sees the stalks of her magical power rushing at her.

When the combined action of the island shattered them, Amelia’s cry could be heard.

“You, too, be prepared.”

“…”

Looking at Rubera like that, Aruru slowly gets up and nods her head.

The clothes she is wearing now are evidence of her oath to protect her her precious things her.

Even though she couldn’t protect Cleon-now, what she had to protect was simple and clear.

This royal road, and the people.

Above all-

On the verge of collapsing, Amelia.

The hero and the magic swordsman aimed at Amelia with the holy sword and magic sword each held in her hand.

They had a reason to sever the fate that bound Amelia.