Chapter 101
They were going to force it on me one way or another — make me eat it or smear it on me. It wasn’t just one or two people. By some trick or other they’d managed to get half a dozen or more priests to pour the bright red liquid over me from every direction. No matter how I moved, using ordinary avoidance I couldn’t stop it from splashing onto me.
Horus’s power burned and purified the beasts with light — so what on earth was this Storyborg thing?
Life is real combat. I drew my sword and shouted quickly.
“Open!”
[Approved]
Whoooosh……
Wind blew.
The wind formed a light protective barrier around me like a shield and deflected every drop of liquid thrown my way. The priests who’d rushed at me and ended up splashed with the red fluid themselves were flung back by the gusts and screamed as they tumbled.
Crash! Thud! Kerthump!
“Argh!” “Ugh!” “Kyaaa!”
They rolled and thrashed on the floor like fish out of water. I sent those idiots — limbs flailing like debris in a typhoon — flying far away, and ground my teeth as I stepped up in front of Kronen. Kronen, too, was being buffeted by the wind and barely breathing.
“What on earth are you doing, Priest Kronen?”
“Pfft, ack, let go of me…! Damn it, Princess, stop with your weird little tricks—!”
He had been more subtle earlier, so this sudden, blunt approach felt odd. If Kronen truly wanted me to ingest that liquid, he’d have staged something more plausible — a forced banquet, a masked drink slipped into my cup, anything that would make me eat it unknowingly. Once you attend a banquet, it’s basically impossible to avoid sampling things. …Though I’m shameless enough that if something felt off I could just clutch my stomach and flop on the floor without eating anything.
Still — presenting the cup right before the offering and even mobilizing all the priests? If it failed, how would he deal with the aftermath?
People who had assumed the offering was complete because the chanting stopped and the bright light had flashed in and out started rushing into the room once things turned chaotic.
“Are you all right?!” “Hey, hey! Are you okay?!”
What they saw was me, smiling and holding Kronen by the collar. People gaped at the priests sprawled and soaked in that red liquid like crumpled paper bags. I wanted to be startled too…
With the priests lying there soaked in a blood-like red fluid, the whole scene had a strangely criminal atmosphere.
I pondered what to do about Kronen with his eyes gone wild. Wasn’t he fine a moment ago? Why did he suddenly snap like that? Was it because I had splashed that red brew back at him?
-This man has a seed of Chernobog planted in him, Contractor! ⊙△⊙
“Seed?”
-Yes! When this seed grows, it will seize the person’s body and consume their reason. It seems the Chernobog contractor planted the seed himself to ensure they obey his orders!
“So that’s why he wasn’t acting cool and slick like usual…”
-Because you sprayed the brew back earlier, the seed sprouted quickly and stole even more of his reason in that short time!
“If we leave the seed unchecked?”
-He’ll die! ( ‾́ ◡ ‾́ ) No — he’ll become a puppet of Chernobog’s contractor, living without any thought! (´-﹏-`；)
“I want to kill him too… but if I spare him I can root out who’s behind this…”
-Well, better to make him worse off than dead, right? (๑ӦㅅӦ๑) Hmm. With your power, I think you can purify a seed that small. Give him a hard whack on the nape for me!
“Nice! That’s the most beautiful and brilliant thing you’ve said so far!”
I drew the emoticon sword wrapped with cloth around its hilt and smacked Kronen’s nape — the man had been babbling nonsense.
“Gah—!”
Kronen howled and collapsed writhing. People nearby flinched.
“Priest Kronen!”
“Princess Titania, what is this—?”
“Quiet, all of you! Priest Kronen labored so hard to successfully conduct the offering that his body weakened and he was invaded by a dark spirit!”
Whatever you call it — invasion, possession — I’d accept any excuse so I could legally keep pounding that jerk’s nape.
A would-be purifier? Fine — taste purification.
SPLAT!
“Argh!”
Kronen writhed again. He squirmed like a caterpillar.
“Fortunately! Priest Kronen had been running around searching for my lost sword and at last returned it to me during today’s offering!”
“Gah—!”
His screams provided a suitable dramatic accompaniment. Beautiful.
“With the faithful power of this sword, we can heal Priest Kronen!”
“But—he looks like he’s in terrible pain…! And what about the other priests who fell to the floor—!”
Maybe the wind had an aggressive edge. Or perhaps Storyborg’s power, like Horus’s, included an attribute that attacked the taint.
Looking at the priests writhing on the floor like mosquitoes after insecticide, I made an approving sound. When I turned my head, I saw the crowd that had rushed over to check on me.
Liciancious had her eyes wide, Remein looked uncharacteristically stunned, and Debby was — hmm — calmly pulling a snack from her bosom to nibble on. Even amid the chaos she was unbothered. I raised my voice confidently.
“Beasts have invaded this city! The priests said that successfully performing the offering would overcome it! The priests worked hard to make that happen… and in the process they purified some of the taint that had accumulated in this city, but some of that purified taint entered the priests who were already drained of energy!”
To bolster my claim I used a little visual effect.
‘Shine!’
Twinkle!
Twinkle!
Flash!
The holy light spread and people’s expressions softened. After all, it mirrored the flash from the just-completed offering, so the story seemed plausible.
I learned something in the palace.
Make your voice big, and you’re halfway there.
Start the agitation first, and you win half the argument.
I couldn’t say here, “Those priests went mad and attacked me.” Why would priests assault royalty? Certainly not during a holy offering. I’d be torn apart with counteraccusations, and the offering I’d just completed might be dismissed. I couldn’t just go around roughing up priests from a temple that had served the southern part of the realm my whole life as if I were an outsider.
So no matter how dire the situation, arguing “Those people aren’t that bad — what I’m doing is helping them!” was the only way.
Even the emperor couldn’t argue against the absurd claim that the sword had spoken to me (which was true)!
“Therefore, I will use this sacred sword to aid the priests!”
Ah — the fragment of the barrier had been implanted. Fantastic. When I hit Flux it had been agonizing. Even though the goal there was healing, my arms trembled more the more I swung the sword. Now power overflowed through me.
I could go around beating people up all day if I wanted! Thrilling! Thank you, 45th administrator Poda. I’m slightly unsettled by the insinuation that I’d been scammed, but with the power you gave I’m beating up villains with gusto!
“B-but do you really have to… hit him?!”
Someone muttered hesitantly as I thwacked Kronen’s nape with a touch of malice. I replied sincerely.
“The sword needs contact… I could stab some other part of his body, but—”
“No, no! Princess, do whatever you wish!”
The asker recoiled in alarm. I landed one final, strong smack on Kronen’s nape.
Gagh—!
Kronen let out a pitiful final cry and writhed on the floor. Perfect. The rest of the priests, who’d been about to give him some uncertain concoction or treatment, would now get a proper purification — by force of steel… or whatever. Just as Kronen, who’d been down, retched black fluid from his mouth. It was a tarry, sticky blackness. The crowd murmured.
“My goodness, what is that!”
“So the Princess’s story was true…”
“Look at that black stuff. Disgusting.”
The timing was absurdly convenient… but all the same I felt delighted. I declared in a solemn voice:
“We must bring the touch of purification to the priests as well.”
Of course, nobody stopped me.
