59 – aka wheel – 59
“A poison I developed. If you don’t want to fall victim to ‘Max Force’, get out of here!”
… … Sounds like a really dangerous drug, right?
“aunt! Please stop it!”
Rose, who was panicking behind Pi, quickly hugged Pi.
“Ro, Rosé?!”
“That person is not a monster, he is my pet!”
“what?! is that?! Ha, but that’s a monster no matter who sees it! Even my body is shaking!”
“… … You do too much.”
I said so and transformed into human form.
Only then did Pi slowly put down the scary medicine he was holding in his hand.
“uh? That look… ?”
“… Do you know what this looks like?”
“Kafka! Kafka, the best writer in the demon realm, right!”
Kafka comes out here?
“Your book really impressed me! [Demon, the process of struggle for rank] is how well the understanding of the demon realm is… … ! It must have been a demon.”
A pie that makes a cute sound like a girl fan in front of an idol while reciting the name of a book that I do not remember.
“If you can look like that, you’ll come like that a long time ago. Why did you come and surprise me with the look of a monster? I was just nervous! really.”
Pie, who put the medicine bottle in her waist again, collapsed onto the bed.
“uh… … . It’s resolved, right?”
And, beside the pie, Rosé asked carefully as if bewildered. Patting Rosé’s hair, Pie grinned.
“of course! If it’s that ‘Kafka’, there’s nothing to worry about, right? Our Rose has really great summons.”
“lol… … . is that so?”
“Well then~ But… … . did you dye it? Our Rosé suits her with black hair that resembles her mother.”
“lol… … .”
Then, in an instant, she returns to her aunt mode and is loving Rose a lot.
The situation seems to have been sorted out, and I asked Pie, who was sitting on a chair in the corner of the room and stroking Rosé’s head.
“Do you know about the previous situation?”
“hmm? Did the bandits come? At first, I was going to go out, but I felt the other people’s magic and I fell asleep thinking it would be all right.”
… … Could this guy really be the Pie that was the warrior party?
“Then those bandits were targeting you?”
“… yes? me?”
Pi’s hand that was stroking Rosé stops.
“Is there any need to target me? Being a duke is an honorary position, so I have only a small amount of territory and have never been involved in politics.”
I wondered if it was okay for the duke to wander around alone like this, but was it okay because it was an honorary position?
“Then, it looks like you’re coming from Sumonia. May I ask what you’ve been doing?”
Then, I thought, there must be a reason why she is here now.
“I went because I heard that I could get the fruit of the World Tree. The elves in Delinia, where I live, treat me like a traitor, so it’s hard to get the fruit.”
“But I like my aunt!”
“Yeah yeah~ I like our rosé too.”
“lol… … .”
It is the fruit of the world tree. Apparently, Paimon was using the staff of the World Tree to sell the fruit separately.
“So, did you get the fruit?”
“no. They said the seller was vacant. So I was leaving empty-handed.”
“Right.”
Is it anyway
“Why do you need the fruit of the World Tree?”
“uh… … . It’s a bit difficult to say.”
If so, did he become a target for the purpose of obtaining the fruit?
“After hearing the story, if I think it is reasonable, I am willing to sell it to you.”
Pi’s eyes widen after hearing my story.
“yes? The fruit of the world tree? Isn’t that like a fruit on the street? Even if you are Kafka-sama, isn’t that a bit difficult?”
In other words, do you want to show evidence?
“Rosé, show me that.”
“yes? is that? ah! That!”
After answering that, Rosé took out the ‘Wand of the World Tree’ from her pocket.
“Is this right?”
“This, this!”
Pie’s jaw dropped when he saw the ‘Wand of the World Tree’ in Rosé’s hand.
“Three, branches of the World Tree… … ! A treasure that makes the world tree bear fruit… ! Rosé! Where did you get this from?”
“yes? Gregory-sama bought it for you?”
The wand of the World Tree held in the hand of the thin white rose. At the end of it, there were already small green fruits.
“Hey, did you buy this? Where the hell did you get these things from!”
The way she asked me in bewilderment resembled Rosé.
After all, is he a person who is no different from Rosé’s ancestors? I felt like I was about to laugh.
“I got it from a friend I know. So, can I ask what you are trying to do with this?”
“… … I can’t help it. If that’s the only way.”
Pie sighed and hugged Rose again and started talking.
“Actually, His Majesty’s condition is getting worse and worse. He was a child I loved since I was little… … Seeing her in pain made me unable to stay still.”
It’s an elf, so it’s possible. To call her the child who petted the emperor of the empire. Once again, she remembered her age.
“… What are those eyes?”
“It is nothing.”
are you reading this?
“Anyway, so I tried all kinds of elixirs here and there, and the doctors, including myself, checked the pulse… … I couldn’t figure out why.”
The emperor said he was starting to get thinner. The Emperor who was so haggard that he couldn’t find the prestige of being called the Emperor of Iron Blood in the past.
When the medicines in the empire couldn’t cure her, she remembered the fruit of the World Tree that Lily gave to the hero during the war against disaster in the past.
“Ras, who was the hero at the time, that bastard had similar symptoms to the current emperor.”
Chew… … . No, since he impregnated his older sister and ran away, it would be rather noble to express it to that extent.
“At that time, my sister gave the bastard the fruit of the world tree. And the boy’s condition got better and better. Perhaps the fruit of the world tree could cure the emperor? I just thought so.”
After hearing Pi’s story, I was able to roughly understand the current situation.
A disease suffered by the hero Lars in the past.
If so, I knew for sure what the cause was, no one else but me.
“There must be purple spots on the emperor’s body.”
“… … yes?”
“Hunger and thirst cycles become more frequent, wounds regenerate slowly, and stamina must gradually decrease.”
“wait for a sec. maybe you… … .”
“okay.”
Pie was looking at me with trembling pupils as I was recounting the symptoms of the emperor.
“I know why the emperor is like that.”
“How do you… … .”
It was a natural question. I had no contact with the emperor at all, and I wasn’t there when the hero, Lars, fell ill.
Even so, why do you know? That’s what she’s asking me.
“Because I am Gregory Jones.”
If I told you that I was a gamer who dealt with disasters together with you, and that I was a person who had saved this world, you wouldn’t understand, so I replied as usual.
“What does that mean?”
Are you saying you’re the culprit? A question with a question called.
What do you mean? I told her the reason that was clearer than any other reason.
“It sounds like you and I are enemies.”
disease suffered by the emperor.
It was Amon’s curse.
* * *
“… therefore. Are you saying that what the emperor is suffering from is not a disease but a curse?”
“Yes, it is not an ordinary curse, but a curse imposed by the Great Devil. It was only natural that medicine couldn’t cure it.”
The reason why the past hero Lars ate the fruit of the World Tree and recovered was because it was the fruit of the ‘World Tree’.
This is because the world tree itself was a deity worshiped by a tribe.
There is no way that the fruit from such an existence would be ineffective against the curse.
“In the early days, it would have been possible to maintain the status quo by being consecrated by the high priests and angels of the temple… … If the symptoms I mentioned are still manifesting, then using the ‘fruit of the world tree’ would be the most certain.”
“Is that so? ha, that’s good Can you curse me?”
Pie breathed a sigh of relief. But she was far from relieved.
“However, there is something you should know.”
“What I need to know. Is it?”
I nodded and explained Amon’s curse.
“Amon’s Curse must cause the target to either come in direct contact or consume the curse. In other words, someone cast Amon’s curse near the emperor.”
Amon’s curse is nothing short of poison. His curse, which exists in form, is colorless and odorless and unrecognizable to halfway people.
“In other words, there is a demon worshiper in the imperial palace attached to the great demon named Amon, and that demon worshiper is aiming for the emperor?”
“Accurate.”
I knew that Amon was trying to establish a bridgehead in the human realm, but I never imagined that there would be an assassination of the emperor in the process.
“Perhaps it would be better to treat the emperor and investigate the emperor’s aides with the high-ranking priests of the Celestial Church.”
If he became a high priest, he would be able to find traces of curses or Amon.
“… … thanks for the advice By the way, wouldn’t it be free? Kafka… No, Gregory Jones is also a demon.”
To ask the devil for free is to have the angel steal. As the saying goes, demons never give anything for free.
And it was a saying that applies to me now too.
Because now I’m a devil
“Aren’t you Rose’s aunt? You can’t pay too much for it.”
Upon hearing my words, Rosé’s expression brightened. It seemed that she, too, was worried about her aunt Pie.
“What I would like to ask of you is rather a very simple and trivial request. If you do this, I can just give you the fruit of the World Tree. Are you okay, Rose?”
“yes! I want to help my aunt. I just want to give it to you, but… … I know that Gregory-sama is not saying this with a bad idea!”
… … admirable! You grew up well. Rosé!
“Then I will listen. What is that request?”
The request was really, really insignificant.
“Rosé’s friend is on this ship right now.”
“… You mean friend?”
Hearing my words, Pi tilts his head. Rosé, who was sitting next to him, also seemed puzzled as to why the story was being told.
“Yes, you can say that I am best friends with Rosé now. Pi von Euglia. You just need to be a close friend of that child, a person who supports them from behind.”
“Is that so? It shouldn’t be difficult. Are you really going to make it?”
“Nothing. not enough.”
Pai, realizing that my request was not a big deal, nodded.
“great. As Rosé’s friend, there’s no reason I can’t do it. What is the child’s name?”
“Priscilla.”
“… … yes?”
“Priscilla and Heinbern.”
As if it was nothing, I told her Priscilla’s full name clearly.
“Oh, coincidentally, she is also a member of the imperial family.”
Pie on Euglia in my voice mixed with a little laughter.
The expression of the imperial duke Peony Gong (芍藥公) became fierce.
“… … yes?”
advance into politics.
Let’s do that from now on.