CHAPTER177…………………………………………
The Witch of Tartarus (1)
Under the sunlight, her bright blonde hair shimmered, and her ocean-like eyes smiled.
Compared to three years ago, she looked even more agile, and her height had grown by nearly a handspan.
“Kalion.”
My own voice calling his name felt strangely unfamiliar.
“Lord Sion.”
Above all, that smiling face looked freer than ever.
Like a white bird, completely unbound.
Perhaps this was the brightest expression I had ever seen on Kalion’s face.
But when he saw me, the corners of his eyes subtly reddened.
“You… you…!”
“Lord Sion, it’s been a while.”
“You… you’re alive…”
Ever since Kalion had been exiled under Abamama’s command,
I had scoured beyond the borders for him, but his whereabouts remained unknown.
Not a single one of his close friends had received any contact from him.
Yet now, at this moment, Kalion was undeniably standing before my eyes.
And Ares, momentarily lost for words, suddenly shouted.
“You! You’re alive and well!”
“Ah, long time no see.”
“Long time no see?! You’re alive!”
Ares raised his voice as if he might go mad wanting to grab Kalion by the collar.
But perhaps because others were present, he restrained himself, merely brushing back his bangs.
“Why are you here all of a sudden? And who are those guys behind you?!”
“This is… hmm, the Echidna mercenary group traveling with me.”
“What?!”
“I’m currently the vice-captain there.”
“And what’s with calling me a ‘fly’ like that…!”
“You never know. Maybe the rumors about you being the captain are false.”
“Hey!”
Ah, now I realized.
How much I had longed for this moment.
Watching these two clash, me scolding them, and then returning to Persen Palace—that moment.
“…Kalion, Ares.”
The two who had been growling at each other looked at me simultaneously.
Both of them wore expressions of sudden emotion.
I too felt my throat tighten.
I was overjoyed that the three of us were reunited.
Until arriving here, I hadn’t imagined things would go so smoothly.
So I smiled wholeheartedly.
“First, both of you take one hit from me each.”
“…!”
“…?!”
They looked at me in bewilderment.
Didn’t they even anticipate this?
‘After causing me so much heartache all this time?’
As black particles began to flow from my hand, both of them stepped back.
“After you two left like that… I was really hurt, you know.”
“L-Lord Sion.”
“One went outside Tartarus and cut off contact, the other left for the battlefield without telling me.”
“Sion, that’s something we should’ve talked about—”
“But it’s true that I missed you so much, isn’t it?”
I smiled warmly at them again.
Clack!
The black particles in my hand solidified and transformed into a long black royal scepter, like a mace.
I lifted it like a morning star and grinned.
“So, take one clean hit and it’s over.”
Thwack!
On patches of still-frozen ground, the sharp sound of the strike rang out crystal clear.
I could hear Glauco, who had hurriedly followed us, clicking his tongue.
“Serves them right.”
Exactly what I meant.
Kalion and the mercenary group were guided to Styx Castle.
As soon as we arrived, the two of them quietly expressed their complaints.
“Ha. My shoulder almost broke just now.”
“To be punched in the stomach right after seeing Lord Sion.”
I smiled gently at them.
“Be grateful I didn’t hit your heads too. Don’t whine.”
“….”
“….”
Immediately, the demon commander and the human mercenary vice-captain, former princes both, lowered their heads.
Looking at Kalion’s current state was shocking enough.
‘Joining a mercenary group is surprising enough, but of all places, Echidna?’
Wasn’t that the group involved in the Veled District incident?
Moreover… familiar faces were among his companions.
I stopped when I noticed those hidden under blue hoods.
“…Wait. Who’s that woman?”
“She’s the captain of Echidna.”
Kalion nodded toward the tallest woman in response to my question.
“Andvari.”
“…It’s been a while, Princess of Tartarus.”
She had been the human tailor of Madame Clotho’s salon.
Madame had been worried sick when she suddenly disappeared!
‘I thought she might have left in haste because her homeland had fallen.’
But it turned out she was leading a mercenary group?
I couldn’t believe it.
“You… how…! What courage do you have to even—”
She had attempted an explosion in Veled, which had led to Kalion’s exile.
Yet here she was, brazenly making uniforms for my academy.
Kalion quickly interposed himself between Andvari and me.
“Lord Sion, please forgive her for now.”
“But!”
“I was the one who knew her identity and still commissioned her. And this person gave me my position.”
“Ugh…”
I glared at Andvari over my shoulder.
But she calmly accepted my resentful gaze, revealing no hostility at all.
“…Hah, fine. We’ll talk about that later.”
Because there were more urgent matters right now.
After Ares’ group captured and interrogated them,
It turned out the ones causing a ruckus here were, regrettably, just small fry.
‘Not a single capital priest among them.’
In other words, none of them had any useful information.
Yet those who had been caught were all shouting the same thing.
“Drive out the demons! Our country fell because of them!”
“The last High Saint of this land has spoken!”
“Only by driving out the demons can we be saved!”
If the last High Saint referred to Aramene,
‘So she’s still alive too.’
And surely, some of her power remained even after the possession by the first.
Otherwise, even the Akidalian people wouldn’t have become fanatics.
Ares clicked his tongue at the shouting mob.
“Hey, Haemon. Lock them all in the underground prison.”
“Yes, Captain!”
As Haemon rushed forward, those being led away caused another commotion.
“Hey, you’re Akidalians too! We’re trying to save you!”
“No, we’ve already agreed to pay taxes to the demon lands.”
“Are you all insane?!”
“What are we supposed to do just because you saved us first?!”
“There will be a demon extermination battle soon!”
At that final shout, the surrounding area fell eerily silent.
I approached the one who had yelled with Ares, Kalion, and Minte.
“Hey, you.”
“…Witch of Tartarus—!”
“What do you mean by a demon extermination battle?”
“….”
The man trembled but kept his lips sealed defiantly.
Someone so brainwashed by the new religion was hopeless, and torturing him for information would take too long.
‘Ah, I didn’t want to use this power.’
Though I had absorbed the first’s power, using it caused severe pain in my body.
But after hearing that strange claim, I had no choice.
I closed my eyes slowly and stared directly at the trembling man.
Filling my voice with all the ‘charisma’ that forced obedience.
『Answer me properly right now.』
“…!”
『I know exactly what you just said.』
The moment I finished, the trembling man began babbling like a floodgate had opened.
“The… the last High Saint said! Halkion must join forces with other human kingdoms! The demons must be driven out of the continent!”
“Hah.”
“That’s the will of the gods!”
I rolled my eyes and smiled cynically.
The voice of a god I’d never heard in my life would hardly sound like this.
“…I see.”
So they intend to come for me again, with war.
Aramene.
And Talos… you too.
