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“Yox-sama, what do you think is the result?”

“Who knows…” (Yox)

The place we are guarding is the meeting room inside the Grand Church of Mejis.

The Pope-sama is currently having a debate about the future policies with the Archbishops supporting the Yugura Church in the nations.

Depending on the results of that, we holy knights will be taking arms and will enforce justice under the name of the Yugura Church.

Even my subordinates who wouldn’t hesitate to throw away their lives fighting devils would have their thoughts regarding fighting humans.

This is already the third time we are having this exchange, but I don’t feel like scolding them for this.

“Even though they would have all unanimously agreed with the decision of the Pope-sama if it had been in the past… The time for the debates has been lengthening lately.”

“Refrain from saying exactly what you think. It wouldn’t be strange for someone to be listening from somewhere.” (Yox)

This must be due to the influence of the resident of Yugura’s planet.

He took the stance of a new faction along with the Purple Demon Lord who has a deep connection with Mejis.

The Pope-sama is not getting involved too much as long as he has the Demon Lords in control and we can keep an eye on their actions.

But that action must be vexing for the people whose core are the teachings of the Yugura Church.

The people who are involved with the situation can believe the new theory that the Hero Yugura created the Demon Lords. But hearing about it is not the end of it for the ones not on the know.

I can’t believe it, I don’t want to believe it, I must not believe it; there’s individual differences, but they probably fear their faith in the Yugura Church that they have supported until now would be shaken.

For those types of people, the actions of the resident of Yugura’s planet must be nothing but heretical.

They wished for him to do outstanding feats like the Hero Yugura, and to take out the Demon Lords from the root.

But he ended up cooperating with Demon Lords, and are currently getting reports about actions that they find hard to make sense of.

It is to the point that there’s even people who say that he is a wicked being that’s lying about being a resident of Yugura’s planet.

“Ah, looks like they are done.”

I direct my gaze there, and I see influential people from the Yugura Church coming out one after the other from the door of the meeting room.

There’s the Pope-sama among them, but he seems to be awfully tired.

He didn’t look that tired even when the Purple Demon Lord showed up in Taizu though…

“Yox, do you have some time?”

“—Omsam-sama, is something the matter?” (Yox)

Archbishop Omsam is the one who has been left in charge of the Gahne branch, but he has recently returned to Mejis.

With the fact that the present king of Gahne is one of the Demon Lords -the Gold Demon Lord- being spread, it has become a civil war with no military force.

Even if the Gahne King tried to repel them, there’s signs of people who desire political influence, seeking to use the Yugura Church’s power. And so, the Pope-sama called Omsam-sama back to Mejis.

“It is about what has been decided in the meeting just now. How about discussing the details while having a meal?” (Omsam)

“Understood. Then, I shall head there after instructing my subordinates.” (Yox)

He has called me, the captain of the holy knights, so it must mean that.

I finish giving the afternoon instructions to my subordinates, and head to a restaurant in Mejis together with Archbishop Omsam.

There’s private rooms in this establishment, and it is often used by political figures to have private talks.

We followed that example and were guided to a private room, and we began eating the food that was already prepared.

“So, what is it you want to discuss?” (Yox)

“The plan to corner the group of Raheight that kidnapped Seraes is progressing. It seems like the resident of Yugura’s planet is preparing to head to Serende.” (Omsam)

The Former Archbishop Seraes went out of control by his own will, but there’s people who still think that he was caught in some sort of conspiracy.

Omsam-sama is in charge of Gahne and Seraes was in charge of Kuama which are neighboring countries, so they must have had a decent degree of exchanges.

From what I have heard, the demon called Nektohal is trying to complete resurrection magic in Serende.

And so, we as the Yugura Church ended up cooperating with them in order to prevent new Demon Lords from being born.

Looks like I will be able to swing my sword free from thoughts for a while if our objectives are the same.

“So it is okay for us holy knights to just seize the bases in Serende, right?” (Yox)

“That’s right. But that’s simply the mission within the sphere of what we have agreed with the resident of Yugura’s planet.” (Omsam)

“…So there’s something else?” (Yox)

“I want you to secure Seraes. The problems that happened with the Yugura Church must be resolved by us of the Yugura Church.” (Omsam)

“That’s…” (Yox)

It is not like I don’t understand the meaning of that.

I heard that Seraes is currently with Raheight and his group.

Securing Seraes means that us holy knights have to head to the base that the resident of Yugura’s planet will be attacking.

Moreover, sooner than them.

“The resident of Yugura’s planet has told us how to manufacture the key that will get through the stealth magic of Tsudwali. We are already manufacturing the key. After calculating how much time it will take to complete the key and the traveling time, you holy knights should be able to get around 3 days of spare time to move freely compared to the resident of Yugura’s planet.” (Omsam)

“So you are telling us to steal the march on the resident of Yugura’s planet within that time?” (Yox)

“That’s a horrible way of putting it. We will be simply wrapping up our problem first. If the resident of Yugura’s planet encounters Seraes, he will most likely be dying on the spot. Our standing would be gone if that happened. We of the Yugura Church have to judge his sins ourselves.” (Omsam)

The Yugura Church wants to settle the problems of the Yugura Church themselves -I can understand what Omsam-sama is trying to say here.

If Seraes is dealt with by the resident of Yugura’s planet, there will be people who will be dissatisfied by this result, and the burdens will remain around the Pope-sama.

There will most likely be people who will say that Seraes was caught in the schemes of the resident of Yugura’s planet.

I imagine the developments awaiting slightly in the future.

It wouldn’t be that difficult to refuse here. The Pope-sama most likely wouldn’t think positively about this.

This might be a personal request of Omsam-sama.

It should be possible to retract the request of Omsam-sama if I were to consult with the Pope-sama.

But will Omsam-sama give up with that?

He would surely speak to some other holy knight instead.

“…Understood. Then, let’s proceed with the preparations to depart.” (Yox)

It is because I have spoken in person with the resident of Yugura’s planet that I think it is okay to trust in his skills.

But the other holy knights end up believing the justice of the Yugura Church more.

The safest choice would be for me to accept this mission as the one with the most skill in Mejis.

◇◇

I stare at the sky while being shaken by the carriage.

Even though we are heading to the decisive battle, the sky is so peaceful it doesn’t really put me in the mood.

We could have taken the option of heading there with the Daruagestia of Blue or the devils of Purple if it had been just a few people, but the knights of Taizu will be heading to Serende with us this time around.

We will have the knights of Taizu be on the ready around the national borders to enclose Nektohal and his group with certainty.

There’s obviously the option of us heading to Serende ahead of them, but as long as we have offered cooperation with the other nations, gathering our footing is an important action.

That said, traveling in a carriage takes time compared to flying.

The warhorses of Taizu are incomparable in speed to carriages, but compared to flying in the sky…

“You are just staring at the sky the whole time.”

“I am honestly scared with the speed of this carriage.”

I say slow, but that’s compared to flying in the sky.

The horses are monstrous too, so right now we are going fast like a bicycle going at the speed of a car.

This is not the speed of a carriage. I don’t have the confidence to come out alive if I were to fall.

“It is okay, Shishou! Wolfe will catch you even if you fall!” (Wolfe)

“I am happy to hear that, but I would be more grateful if you were to keep an eye so that I don’t fall in the first place.”

“Ooh, makes sense!” (Wolfe)

“Right? That’s why I am holding him like this the whole time without letting go, you know?” (Purple)

There’s also one other reason why I am watching the sky the whole time. In order to avert my gaze from Purple who is by my side.

We couldn’t bring Dyuvuleori with us to Torin because he was undergoing treatment, but we are going full power this time around.

If Dyuvuleori is coming, it can’t be avoided that Purple would be coming too.

By the way, this carriage also has Ilias and Wolfe, and Dyuvuleori is driving it.

“I feel like we would both fall instead.”

“That doesn’t sound bad? I am sure you would fall while protecting me, so I will wrap you in a devil with that assumption, okay?” (Purple)

“As I said, don’t talk about falling. Haakudoku falling at the carriage there hit me pretty hard mentally.”

Haakudoku is riding the other carriage.

There’s Rakura, Mix, Melia, and Masetta-san in the other carriage.

I could tell even from afar that Haakudoku was excited, most likely because he was moved by how fast the speed of the carriage was going using the warhorses of Taizu, but he fell just a moment ago, most likely because they hit a pebble or something.

Haakudoku stretched his right arm devil on the spot, wrapping it around the carriage, and avoided smashing himself on the ground, but the scream at that time reached all the way here.

By the way, Ekdoik is soaring the sky together with Blue.

Melia is making a slightly sad face thanks to that.

“Kutou can do the same, you know?” (Purple)

“Don’t underestimate my reflexes when ordering Kutou. I am confident I would have bounced 3 times by the time I order Kutou.”

“I am fine with adding the function to automatically protect your body, but do you not want to?” (Purple)

“Automation can lead to unexpected actions.”

What was proposed before was for Kutou to react whenever a projectile is shot and have it automatically defend.

We tried testing it out, but Mix got an impressive counter on her when she jumped at me from behind as a greeting, so we decided against it.

We had Kutou hold a certain degree of will, but it is not like it is that intelligent.

It acts mostly by reflex rather than thought, so ordering him ‘do this when this happens’ is the limit.

Flexibility might be created if we add a lot of orders, but the specs of Kutou are not so high as to remember that many orders.

Kutou apparently would be able to put up a good fight even against a Great Devil class, but with the commander being a complete novice, there’s not much to be done.

“That’s true, I guess? It would be troubling if you were to get reckless thinking you can fight, right?” (Purple)

“That’s how it is. I personally am really grateful that you increased the capacity of Kutou.”

Kutou could only hide a few small things, but this guy has been strengthened in some way or another, and it can carry around 10 kilograms of luggage now.

What’s especially wonderful is that the weight is being reduced by the magic of Kutou itself, so the burden of the person carrying Kutou is also only 1/10th of it.

“I am happy that you are happy, but I would have wanted to increase the abilities suitable for battle, you know?” (Purple)

“Improvements suitable for my mettle are the best. I will leave all the fighting to you guys, so counting on you.”

“I am impressed by your manliness most of the time, but your manliness in this front is questionable.” (Ilias)

The carriages are currently crossing Gahne.

I am worried about how Gold is doing, but the person herself says there’s no issues, so it should be alright to observe for a while more.

Well, I have been told the details through Marito to some degree anyways.

“Worried about the Gold Demon Lord?” (Ilias)

“A bit. It is to a degree comparable to me worrying about the safety of Marito because you are leaving Taizu for a while, Ilias. It would be great if she is doing fine.”

“I see. Then, there’s nothing to worry about.” (Ilias)

The power of the Demon Lords given by Yugura Nariya goes beyond the laws of this world, to the point that I would like to call them cheats.

Within those, the Ruling given to Gold excels in domestic affairs.

Normally, if people were to learn that the king is a Demon Lord, revolts and migrations would happen, and it wouldn’t be possible to manage the country properly.

And yet, it has been mitigated to just planning against the king, so I can easily imagine just how much Gold must be doing behind the scenes.

“But I miss that tail.”

“Shishou, here’s Wolfe’s tail! Go ahead!” (Wolfe)

“That’s some really easy to tell competitiveness there…”

Wolfe’s tail doesn’t lose to hers, but what’s missing here is the fact that I don’t feel like teasing Wolfe.

The tail of Gold spurs my sadism with her personality added to it.

“Speaking of which, you grew ears and a tail in Torin, right? I would have liked seeing it too, you know?” (Purple)

“There’s a lot of black wolfkins in Taizu. It is basically those ears and tail.”

“We are of different colors, but matching with Shishou!” (Wolfe)

I can feel the growth of Wolfe from being able to be happy about this.

A black tail and black ears should be an appearance that reminds Wolfe of her painful past.

Yet, Wolfe can say ‘what’s more important’ and be happy about matching.

“I wonder what appearance I would have taken.” (Ilias)

“You might have unexpectedly stayed the same.”

“Why?” (Ilias)

“…Because you have strong mana resistance.”

This is a joke that has no need to be brought out, but gorillas have no tails.

—–

Author: The 3rd chapter of the manga is planned to be published in April. The 1st and 2nd chapter have already been published, so you should be able to read it without issues.

It would feel weird to just advertise the manga, so I am thinking of presenting you with a special illustration of Hitaki Yuu-san for the announcement of the 2nd volume.

That’s a nice tail.

I will be showing the rough design of Rakura in the next chapter~.

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