258. School Festival (4)
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Anyone who knows Archduke Tristan’s general reputation will have quite a few questions about his recent move.
Because the general evaluation of Gideon is that he is a ‘model student’ of the aristocracy of the Empire, who does not stand out, manages all schedules tightly, and always maintains a fair and strict attitude even towards his subordinates.
So, most humans wouldn’t come up with a sentence roughly similar to his appearance, where the imperial palace’s Harvest Festival is inclusive and he doesn’t have a nose job even though all kinds of important events have passed.
This human, where the hell are you doing these days?
“…That’s true.”
And then, Marquis Bogart, who actually witnessed the answer, looked at the other person with a puzzled look.
The Archduke Tristan he remembers – Gideon is an image of a strict swordsman who is always expressionless but always sharp.
But, what is this situation?
A beard that remains unshaven and rough, a trainee’s uniform that has turned into something resembling a rug that would be a pity to call it clothes, and an old black sword whose handle is all worn out no matter how many times you’ve swung it.
At first glance, the atmosphere that had been sharpened to the point of reminiscent of a blade has become quite soft now.
To be precise, it should be said that it is a feeling of becoming ‘detached’ in everything.
It would be more accurate to say that this is a wandering swordsman rather than a country’s grand duke.
…There are many questions as to why he showed up at the Elfante school festival in this way.
“…What have you been doing all this time, Archduke Tristan?”
“I did my job.”
Even the blunt way of responding to his words.
Before, I would have looked at her with disgust before going on her way.
The head of the Council of Elders and a giant of the pro-emperor faction. Can’t get along
“…It was a coincidence that we met like this, would you like to sit down and watch the presentation together?”
But right now, it’s an atmosphere where we can talk a little more.
Thinking so, Bogart offered a seat next to him, but Gideon didn’t even answer, just asking a question.
“Where is Doud Campbell?”
“…”
Hmm.
There is no place for this name to fall out anywhere.
“…Do you have any business? You must be busy right now.”
“Yes.”
Gideon answered briefly.
“…I came to say thanks. Finally everything is ready.”
Comfort, peace of mind, and determination.
That’s a full voice.
It exudes an attitude like a human who is about to achieve the biggest task of his life.
‘…I don’t know, but I don’t know.’
Perhaps even a great achievement has been achieved recently.
“Ah, in that case, you should be together even more.”
In that case, it would probably be quite interesting to see Gideon.
As the Marquis Bogart recalled that thought, he pointed his finger at Dowd Campbell’s image on the big screen.
“Would you like to see it together?”
It’s an achievement that a man the size of Archduke Tristan would feel relieved about. Must be great
That’s why I’m more curious.
“Because that man is making a presentation that will usher in a new era.”
The topic that Doud Campbell will speak out is if he realizes how insignificant his achievements are.
It was a bit of a bad taste expectation, wondering what kind of reaction this man would have.
●
There is no one who saw what was in front of him and immediately understood what it was.
What rose from the box Daud opened was seemingly just a few different ‘smoke’ rising up in a lump.
“…What is that?”
“Well…”
In the audience, only such questions were sporadically raised.
Unlike the grandiose topic I just talked about, only ugly smoke was sneaking up into the venue.
However, there are some in this place.
Those who have a very good sense, who have reached the limit of some kind of achievement, who have studied demonology, and who are faithful priests. Those types of people.
I was feeling uneasiness that my whole body froze.
“…Dean?”
Somewhere, a student from the Faculty of Priesthood muttered something like that.
Dean Walter jumps up from his seat. His trembling hands barely grasped the dharma instrument.
His expression was bluish.
“…Stop it.”
“Yes?”
At the words that came out like moaning, the student replied in a puzzled way.
The only thing you’d expect from Professor Walter, who was always talking incomprehensibly, was the least bit unexpected.
“That must be stopped!”
On the one side, such shouting burst out.
On the other side, Saint Lucien was also seizing the rosario convulsively without realizing it.
In my hardened head, the first words that instinctively came out were the following.
“Yuria, bow your head.”
“…Sister?”
“You can’t look at that…!”
Besides that.
Even at the moment when a similar kind of reaction erupted here and there, Daud calmly continued.
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“The exorcism department proudly announces.”
Continued.
A certain vague anxiety that only a very small number of people feel.
It materialized very dramatically and fell.
“A global deterrent, in other words.”
In its worst form.
“The public enemy of the world.”
The Red Magi, the Purple Magi, and the Gray Devil Magi.
The most important thing is the last one.
With the box open, the smoke slowly rising from the inside is mixed in one place.
Dug into the heart of Doud Campbell.
To be precise, into the seal embedded there.
The Seal of Fallen is shining. The light particles spread out as if permeating thinly and scattered around Dowd Campbell’s body.
And then.
After that.
“…Ah-“
Someone opened his mouth slightly.
“Ah-….”
However, the ‘scream’ that formed inside could not come out.
Instead, all I could do was the cold exhaled breath of a human on the brink of death.
And then, from that feeble breath.
Everyone in the venue was betrayed by their own bodies.
“…!”
“Ah…”
“Ah… Heh…”
A nobleman, a researcher, a successful businessman, and a retired general.
The people who participated in the Elfante School Art Festival, who care more about body shape and face than anyone else, collapse on the spot. It crawls on the floor like an animal.
No one dared to raise their head.
No one dared to stand on their own two feet.
The Source of Fear.
The fact that you are facing such an indescribable existence that deprives you of control over your body just by encountering it is engraved all over your body.
Such a terrifying sensation pushes away the reason they have built up over a lifetime and screams.
All sorts of emotions that are hard to describe come out in a torrent, but if you reduce and reduce them and condense the things that make up the source into words, it will probably be as follows.
-Run away immediately.
What is in front of me is not something I can resist.
One of the many abilities that have been lost while adapting to changes in the environment since the establishment of civilization and since humans no longer easily suffer from the fear of death.
Instinctive sense of crisis.
And now.
For everyone in this room, there was a result in front of them that evoked emotions from before the establishment of civilization.
[Public enemies around the world]
Overwhelming presence enough to be given such a grandiose title.
Some were thinking that they wanted to gouge out their eyes, some were trying to escape this venue by moving their unwilling bodies somehow, and some were just lying around and shedding tears without being able to do anything.
However, even after going through all those actions, everyone came to the same conclusion.
They cannot escape.
From “That” They have in front of them.
“…Hoo-wook- Hoo-wook-“
Lucien let out a rough breath and closed her eyes tightly.
I know it clearly in my head.
The one over there is ‘Dowd Campbell’. He is the kind of man she knows, very stuffy and perverted, but somehow attracted to him.
But.
The body reacts. Not so.
‘Mr. Daud…!’
She pushed her eyes up as if in prayer.
For some reason, she did not understand even as a real woman who was behaving like that. However, she must have acted out of a desire to help him somehow.
And what was in Lucien’s field of view.
“…”
It will probably be a very strange experience.
Looking at Dawood with one eye, he looked familiar. Academy uniform. Eyes that always have a hateful smile. Mouths that say strange things.
But, cut that figure exactly in half.
If you see what is put into the other ‘sight’.
What’s there.
-Jet black, jet black.
Though he wears a sword and takes the form of Dowd Campbell.
That ‘essence’.
Death.
Destroyer of the world.
“Ah…”
Lucien, who lost strength in her legs, also fell down on the spot.
“Ah, ah… Hah…”
Holding her head while shedding tears.
He doesn’t even know what he saw. Screams seem to echo in my ears. That, that, the hell-!
“-So that’s it. A being like this.”
And.
At some point.
Like a lie, all the pressure is gone.
“…”
“…”
In the messy venue, silence fell so loud you could hear someone breathing.
It was clear that they did not even clearly recognize what they had just seen and what they were here with.
Above it, Doud Campbell’s voice fell softly.
“Either way, if it can fall to ‘the one who opens the fight first’. What will happen?”
Have committed such a thing.
He continued talking casually.
“Doesn’t that sound like a pretty cool deterrent?”
The thing hanging on that face was, without a doubt, the face of the “Human” Dowd Campbell.
Just like when he first stepped onto the podium, he had such a gentle and peaceful face that even looked natural.
“…”
“…”
However, no one could accept it the same way as before.
That expression is like that.
If you want.
Because it seemed like you could bring out ‘something like this’ at any time.
●
Marquis Bogart smiled and looked at Gideon, who was wide-eyed in the seat next to him.
Not in the same place, but all I saw on the screen.
There is no way this person wouldn’t know.
What Dowd Campbell just showed me will have an ‘influence’ on the world.
What kind of butterfly effect will cause the internal affairs of the empire.
‘…The reaction was wrong.’
It’s probably frozen for a while and won’t move.
So, I guess I should congratulate myself in the meantime.
“Congratulations on finally entering the ‘evolution’ phase.”
The target is that man who is still smiling single-single on the screen.
Although it was predicted from the time I received the Seal of Fallen from the gray devil.
Finally, the ‘achievements’ are being revealed in earnest.
“…The last seat in the seven seats of power that are still vacant will soon be yours.”
The Marquis Bogart muttered, sipping the wine in the glass.
“-Black Devil.”
In the future.
The name the other person will be called.
●
That Bogart honestly seems like planning a suicide plan. One that’ll raise the name of Daud while simultaneously getting rid of Daud’s enemies so that he can rule the empire smoothly. Annoying for sure, but definitely THE hype man.
Not so unexpected, Dawd is playing with all the demons and puts that power inside his body. It was impossible for it not to affect him physically. More annoying is that Bogart, who seems to know everything: from his mother, what the Empress and the Prime Minister want to do, the assassination of Nicholas or what was going to happen in the presentation now. What a desire to have his head cut off.