Chapter 565 – Intermission ~ the Hero of the Beast Kingdom ~
By the time the evil king of beasts met his new negative.
Somewhere in the Beast Kingdom, two humans were meeting someone they had been looking for so long.
“…Awesome… I thought that one day someone would find this place… But I didn’t expect it to be a human and not an elf.”
An elf man wearing a robe gave compliments to the humans who came looking for him.
He stares at the people sitting across from him, but for some reason, his haggard eyes seem to have no interest in them.
After fixing his glasses, the gray-haired elf pounded boredly on the table and asked the humans who came to visit him.
“Therefore. For the first-time visitors here, what business did you come to?”
“…You are the Hero of the Elves and the Hero who was called the Sage who knew everything in this world. Are you Laplace?”
The voice of a human woman wearing a robe, answering questions with questions.
Hearing his own name, the male elf snorted as if he was a little dumbfounded and looked at the woman in front of him.
“Hot. Didn’t you come to know everything? Did I hear you were looking for me that much?”
“…I’m sorry if I offended you. You look much younger than I expected…”
“There’s nothing more foolish than trying to figure out an elf’s age by its appearance. I think you know enough about that…”
“Yes. I had to find Laplace-sama somehow, so I just asked for confirmation.”
While smiling at her, she takes off the hood she was wearing and reveals her face.
Black hair with a strangely beautiful luster that feels cozy.
Clarisse, a senior nun of her Goddess Cult, bowed her head, placing her hand on her chest as she stood exposing her own face.
“My name is Clarice, who was a candidate for a saint of the Goddess Church in the human kingdom. This is Paul, who was the bishop of the Goddess Church. Come on, Paul. Say hello.”
“Ah, ah, ah… Hello, how are you…”
A beautiful woman who introduces herself as a candidate for a saint, and a man who seems to have lost his mind.
Laplace looked at the unique combination with interest for a while, but Laplace looked away as if interest soon disappeared.
“They are candidates and bishops of the Goddess Church… You must have been more amazing than I thought. So, what happened to me?”
“Laplace-sama, I came here because I wanted to entrust you with a request.”
“Request? Hmm… What kind of request is it?”
The elf asks what it is, but doesn’t make eye contact with Clarisse as if he’s not interested at all.
Looking at the figure of the elf, Clarisse broke out in a cold sweat as if she was a little nervous.
Laplace. The hero of the elves who saved the Beast Kingdom from destruction by a monster 200 years ago.
Now, when asked to choose the best warrior in the Kingdom of Beasts, it was definitely him that the elves pointed out.
Although his ability is a bit heinous to be called a hero, he is a brave man with such a certain ability that he has heard of his name even in the human kingdom.
However, Clarisse’s nervousness wasn’t simply because he was a hero with great feats.
“…I want you to deal with the saintess and the evil divine beast in the human kingdom.”
Laplace’s cold eyes pierce Clarisse, who spoke of the request.
At that cold gaze, Clarisse flinched nervously.
Laplace, seeing Clarisse’s tense appearance, let out a light sigh and turned his head.
“It is a refusal. Even if it’s a monster, it’s an assassination of a saint. It’s a request worthy of a wild dream.”
“There is no need to kill the saintess. However, if you try to deal with the divine beast, the saintess will surely step in…”
“In the end, isn’t it the same as having to deal with the Goddess Church? There are no elves who believe in the Goddess Cult, but there are no elves who dare to pretend. To even go to the kingdom of humans? It’s too troublesome a request to accept.”
Laplace waved his hand as if the story was over and rejected Clarisse’s request.
Laplace looked coldly at the human priest who had brought him the absurd request, laughing as if he was laughing.
“And the target to be killed is a Shinsoo… Don’t humans know what a Shinsoo is?”
“…I know. They are transcendent beings whose souls have risen to the next level and grasped the truth of the world…”
“You know that, but you ask me to kill the Shinsoo? The person who was said to be a candidate for sainthood is spouting things that are too thoughtless.”
Laplace treats Clarisse in a slightly rude manner, with his legs crossed and arms across the chair.
Showing an attitude as if admonishing him, Laplace shook his head at the humans who came to him as if to give up.
“To think that a divine beast has visited the human kingdom where the concentration of Eserga is low. It’s great luck that won’t happen again. I don’t know what you’re thinking, but don’t be greedy and just get along well.”
“…I’m not asking you this because I’m greedy. Laplace-sama must have sensed the unusual energy that happened a few months ago, right?”
In an instant, Laplace’s body stiffened as he shook his head.
Laplace’s eyes, which had lost interest in the people in front of him, regained strength as if interest had returned.
Laplace looked away as if he was not interested, then looked back at Clarisse as if he had brought up an interesting story.
Nodding his head, Laplace began to show interest in Clarisse again.
“…Go ahead.”
“Even we didn’t know it at first… But that ominous energy that happened a few months ago. Reflecting on it, I thought it might be Teser’s energy.”
“Yes. Even the magic tools I had were measured that way.”
“As a result of sharing opinions while looking for Laplace-nim, we estimate that the energy was probably the energy of the divine beast. That ominous and evil energy… It felt similar to the ominous spirit of the Shinsoo we encountered.”
“Hmm… You felt that kind of energy from Shinsoo?”
At Clarisse’s words, Laplace tilted his head as if he didn’t understand.
Giving a confident look, Clarisse nodded towards Laplace.
“Yeah. So, we are speculating that perhaps the identity of the divine beast was actually a monster. Maybe… The monster, through some kind of something, has risen like a divine beast…”
“…Hmm. A monster pretending to be a divine beast…?”
Laplace listens to Clarisse with his hand on his chin as if listening to a funny story.
While explaining what they had seen and experienced, Paul, who was next to Clarisse, turned pale…
By the time Clarisse finished explaining the divine beast’s impression, Paul covered his face and began to tremble in fear.
“Heh, hehe…! Ma, demon lord… That’s the demon lord…! Ugh…!”
“…Sorry. Paul, from that day on, his mind was sick…”
“Huh…! The Demon King, my, my Clea…! Ugh…!”
Clarisse patted Paul as if comforting him, and Paul sobbed as if he had lost his mind.
Looking at Paul like that, Laplace felt a bitter feeling in a corner of his heart.
You’re the devil What kind of delusion could a man called a priest be caught in?
Still, a bishop would be a high-ranking post in its own right. To think that a human being in such a position was so broken that he could not come to his senses.
What kind of aura did that sacred beast possess, so that human beings called priests of the Goddess Church could look so confident?
Seeing Laplace’s curious gaze at Paul and Clarisse, Clarice continued to speak, determined to drive the final wedge.
“Paul… His holy woman, who was his lover, was stolen by that monster. The pain of losing the woman you loved… If you’re Laplace, can’t you understand that feeling?”
At Clarisse’s words, murder appears in Laplace’s eyes.
Laplace frowns and glares at Clarisse with cold eyes, as if very displeased.
Breaking into a cold sweat at Laplace’s gaze, Clarice averted Laplace’s eyes as if she had no face.
“…Another nickname for me. You should know…”
“…Yeah. Obviously, the nickname of high treason is…”
“You know that, but you say that? What a brave nun you are.”
Laplace, who had been silently thinking for a while, staring at Clarisse.
Clarisse kept his head down, ignoring Laplace’s gaze.
“…Tsk. My case is completely different from the man there named Paul. What do you understand?”
While messing with her hair, I take my life as if I had become Laplace.
She is the existence of divine beasts that she presumes to be monsters, and a saintess of the goddess religion who fell for such monsters.
Although it is obviously an unbelievable story, a human who lives a short life has spent years visiting himself to tell such a story.
As if they were their last hope, young clerics who came to them without any certainty.
Looking at the two humans, who were nothing short of newborn babies compared to himself, Laplace sighed and continued his thoughts while patting the table for a while.
“…If you accept the request, what price do you intend to give me?”
Laplace asks Clarisse about the price, as if he wants to hear it.
Clarisse gave an expression of relief as if she felt relieved by Laplace’s words, then she released the thing from her neck and held it out to Laplace.
“This is the holy relic of the Goddess Church that I brought while leaving the capital. Apparently, Laplace-sama… Was looking for something that could handle the soul, right? This relic is such a thing.”
“…Tsk. You really seem to have taken a hard look at me…”
Laplace sighed, as if asking if he would offer such a price if he did.
After thinking about it for a while, Laplace sighed as if he couldn’t help it and looked at Clarisse.
“…If that Shinsoo doesn’t match my thoughts, I’ll step down right away. Are those conditions okay?”
“Yeah. Perhaps, if you see it for yourself, you will know how evil it is. To the point where I can’t just leave such an evil being alone.”
“I don’t really believe it… But if you say it that way, fine.”
Laplace nodded his head as if accepting a request, then snapped his fingers as if calling someone.
Then, behind Laplace, who was empty, a female elf with a pale complexion and copper-colored skin appeared on the spot.
“I will go to the human kingdom. Get ready to move.”
“Yeah. Okay. Master.”
A female elf who answered insipidly with a voice that showed no emotion.
Glancing at the elf with pity, Laplace let out a light sigh.
“…Call me older brother, not Master.”
“Yeah. Master.”
In Laplace’s expression, the feeling of pity grew even more.
