121 – Lion of the Church, Saint
Mercenary Leos, full name Leos Greitus, is a beastman.
The blood of beast-humans was so strong that in most cases of mixed-blood beast-humans, it could be said that beast-humans were born.
Although some of the characteristics of the opposite bloodline are present, for the most part, it is safe to say that they are the same as pure beastmen.
Leos was a mixed race, born to a Renard father and an elf mother, a particularly warlike race among beastmen and wolf beastmen.
In addition, he was a beastman who inherited his father’s blood even more and looked closer to a beast, rather than showing some of the characteristics of a beast.
Well, in the case of his younger sister, unlike Leo, he inherited his mother’s blood more strongly in that he had beast ears and a tail.
Anyway, because he was such a Leos, people around him never thought of him as a mixed-race beastman.
…Well, because his face didn’t change much from his childhood even as he grew up, he ended up covering it with a helmet.
Anyway, Leos, who was born with the talent to become a great warrior because he inherited his father’s blood, received harsh training from his father from his childhood.
When the Demon King attacked, he was only in his early teens when he was sent into combat.
Well… As the war situation improved with the advent of the warriors several years after the raid, the places for the mercenaries to go out gradually decreased.
After hearing the news that the Demon King had fallen, Leos and his father, who returned to their hometown, heard about the disappearance of his mother, Leivinia.
It was clear that Leivinia left the village and went somewhere, but her whereabouts after that were unclear.
There was also talk that she might have been caught up in the war.
In the end, Leos and his father left the village again, leaving only his younger sister in their hometown.
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In search of his wife and mother, the two dispersed and collected information.
While collecting information and working as a mercenary, Leos met Cheyney through a nomination request.
Leos readily accepted the request, thinking that if he followed Cheyney around, he would be able to go to slightly dangerous places.
As expected, Chainy traveled to various places to collect materials, and Leos served as Chainy’s escort while collecting information in his spare time.
But I couldn’t hear any information about her mother anywhere, and I was half giving up…
I never dreamed that information would come to my ears in a place like this.
“…That’s right. It certainly matches what I heard from Mr. Leivinia.”
Leivinia followed along on the journey to subdue the demon lord.
I knew that it was for the sake of my young son who threw himself into the fight against the Demon King’s army.
I didn’t know that the son was Leos.
“Where is your mother?”
“Where the Demon King’s Castle was. Because he became a sacrifice for the sealing technique, it could not be moved.”
The Demon King’s Castle was managed by a management organization created with investments from each country after the Demon King was sealed.
Allied forces, including wizard troops, are stationed here to respond as soon as the Demon King is resurrected.
And in that management organization, she was strictly protecting Leivinia, who was used as a sacrifice for the sealing art and lost her consciousness.
“Damn it…!”
Leos clenched his fists and glared at the statue in front of him.
A bronze statue of a hero with his sword raised and an image of inspiring everyone.
And slightly behind it, there is a statue of a warrior who appears to be praying with both hands raised.
Those two warriors are the ones who betrayed Cheyney by her side and put her mother in danger.
The sound of teeth grinding came from inside the helmet.
Looking at that, Cheyney lowered her head.
…It looks familiar.
When he hurriedly returned to the empire and revealed the whole truth, the palace was filled with anger toward the warriors who deceived everyone and ran away.
The heroes… Sihyeon and Eri deceived everyone by saying that Chae-eun was waiting inside the Demon King’s Castle before the final battle with the Demon King.
And, before charging in, they sent the soldiers away, saying that they would be the only ones going from here on out.
…After that, no one knows the truth.
However, as the results show, they probably lied by saying that they defeated the Demon King after using Leivinia as a sacrifice and using the sacred sealing technique to seal the Demon King.
They lied to the soldiers waiting for them, saying that Leivinia and Chae-eun had died during the battle.
They even cried out fake tears, saying that there wasn’t even a body left.
After returning, he pretended to be sad about Chae-eun’s death and said that he wanted to return quickly.
The emperor understood that they were shocked by Chae-eun’s death, so he canceled all schedules such as parades and banquets and hastened to bring them back.
I took the gold and silver treasures that the emperor gave me and ran away to my original world.
In a way, it was natural for people to resent and hate them.
There were even suggestions to call them back and punish them.
…Well, in the first place, I didn’t have the magic power to call them back, and even if I did have magic power, it’s a funny story that I only used it to punish them.
“What kind of technique is the sacred sealing technique in the first place?”
Hearing Leos’ voice, Chainy raised his head.
“…It’s a type of sacred magic. It’s a technique that binds the opponent’s mind, body, and everything to subspace.”
“If that’s the case, it’s not strange to misunderstand that the Demon King has disappeared.”
“Yes. But when the seal is released, it will come back as is.”
“…Isn’t there a possibility that the Demon King has already died in subspace?”
Chaney shook his head at Leos’ words.
“It’s impossible. Subspace is a space where everything is stopped. The Demon King’s body and mind are still frozen… Perhaps it feels like he just woke up from a short sleep?”
In fact, Cheyney also suffered from a sealing spell and spent several days in an alien space, but she has no memory of it.
I just woke up and had a strange feeling as if several days had passed.
… Well, just like Cheney’s body was sloppy due to his body being suspended, if he is a demon king who has been suspended for nearly 10 years… He may suffer some muscle loss.
“Sacrifice… So what is her mother’s condition…?”
“All magical power and its source… So, the soul escaped and became a medium to seal the Demon King. When the seal is released, the soul will return, but…”
Although it is said that the management institution is providing life-sustaining treatment to Leibinia, her body has been weakened as she has not been able to eat or move for literally 10 years.
I had no idea how long it would take to become completely healthy.
“I see…”
Leos looked at the statue of a woman wearing a robe behind her.
That is probably Mother Leivinia.
She was wearing the hood of her robe, so her face wasn’t properly visible, but I felt nostalgic for some reason.
It was that time.
I heard someone running panting.
“Chaney! You’re here!”
It was a man wearing the uniform of an imperial administrator.
He looked at Chaney, lowered her head slightly, and then opened her mouth.
“Your Majesty is looking for you, Cheyney!”
“Huh? What on earth is going on?”
“For more details, I think it would be better to speak directly.”
The manager who delivered the message took the lead, and Cheyney followed suit.
Leos said as he followed him.
“What’s going on?”
“I don’t know. You said you would talk with the heads of each country about your future policy…”
“It’s a magic tower?”
Cheyney opened her mouth blankly at the emperor’s words.
The emperor nodded.
“As you probably know, there are currently four Magic Towers.”
“Yes… Now that I think about it, another place opened not long ago.”
Three years ago, a green magic tower was created following the existing red magic tower, blue magic tower, and black magic tower.
I don’t know anything other than what I heard that the green magic tower’s magic tower lord is a young man.
The emperor continued speaking.
“Actually, we are currently building another magic tower… The existing magic tower owners recommended you as the magic tower owner for the new magic tower.”
“Those people…”
When Cheyny comes to this world, she is the one who can be said to be her teacher who taught her her magic.
Chaney looked like he missed him when he heard that the Red, Blue, and Black Magic Tower owners had recommended him.
“Personally, I think it’s not a bad offer.”
“…Yes?”
“Actually, if you think about what you want to do from now on… It would be better to have some level of status and power.”
“Ah…”
Chaney’s purpose.
Preparing for the resurrection of the Demon King, finding a way to completely defeat him.
Of the original three warriors, two ran away and he was left alone.
In this situation, if the Demon King were to be resurrected without any measures taken, it was certain that he would be defeated.
That’s why I’ve been building up my strength to prepare for the Demon King.
We have further trained our magic and manufactured various magic potions and magic tools.
And the same goes for the empire.
In preparation for the return of the Demon King in the near future, we have rebuilt our military power and ordered and supported each country to respond.
In fact, many countries cooperated with the empire and lent their power.
However, there were many countries where this was not the case.
The first is when the leadership changes due to reasons such as the death of the leader during war or the country suffering devastating damage.
In that case, I did not believe the idea that the Demon King would come back at all.
No, rather, I thought the empire was making false claims in order to regain control of the continent.
Compared to the empire, its voice was small, but the number of such small countries was quite large and the empire could not deal with them one by one.
This is because the empire was also struggling to deal with damage caused by the war and support neighboring countries.
The second is if you do not believe in the wizard called Cheyney.
Two out of three warriors lied, received their reward, and ran away.
The magic power used when they returned to their original world was not the magic power of the Empire alone.
Most of the empire’s magic power had already been used to summon them, and although it recovered little by little, it was not enough to bring them back.
So, he received magic power from a neighboring country, and used that magic power to bring back two warriors.
However, when it was said that the Demon King would be resurrected in the future, the countries that willingly used their magical power to send the warriors back were shocked.
As a result, their impression and trust in the warrior was close to the worst.
The aftermath hit Cheyney, who was left alone.
Of course, Cheyney regained some of his credibility by developing and distributing various magical tools and potions after that, but it was far from enough.
So, Chainy rises to the position of lord of a magic tower.
Having a high status and power in this world is also connected to the issue of trust.
“It seems that the other magic tower owners thought it would be helpful to Miss Cheney.”
“Those people…”
“The name of the magic tower is…The white magic tower.”
White Magic Tower.
It’s a name that doesn’t go well with Chaney, whose hair color and clothes are all black, but that’s not a bad thing.
“The White Magic Tower is currently being built in the northern part of this continent.”
“The North? I know monsters are still active there…”
“Recently, it was said that a small country was developing its territory with the cooperation of indigenous people.”
Cheney also remembers passing through the northern territory when the war was in full swing.
It was not the territory where demons lived, but it was an area adjacent to it.
Maybe that’s why the monsters were very active, and above all, the climate was very cold and harsh, and the terrain was rough.
To think of opening up a place like that would be a really brave thing to do.
“The White Magic Tower is an important place that will serve as a watchtower to watch over the land of monsters along with the purification of the demon energy that has spread to the north. If you were to be the owner of such a place, it would be a position that most heads of countries would not be able to look straight at.”
“That’s right.”
We have gathered all the materials, and now we have to prepare for the devil in earnest.
Then, thinking that having status and power is not a bad thing, Cheney nodded his head.
While we were talking like that, someone knocked on the door of the throne room.
Hearing the sound, the emperor gave permission and the guards came in.
“Excuse me. A messenger has arrived from the World Tree Church.”
“Ah, it looks like we arrived just in time.”
World Tree Church.
The group, which was originally a small denomination called Yggdrasil Church, was now called a church as its power increased after the war.
The power of the World Tree Church, which had now grown to have believers in almost every country on this continent, was at a level that could not be ignored.
When the messenger of the World Tree Church entered, the eyes of everyone in the throne room gathered.
The messenger of the World Tree Church was a beautiful woman who appeared to be in her early 20s.
After entering her throne room, she looked around her.
She then looked for a moment at Leos, who was standing behind Cheney, and then she shifted her gaze to Cheney, then to the Emperor.
She bowed her waist, showed her courtesy, and opened her mouth.
“I meet your Majesty the Emperor. My name is Velia, and I hold the position of ‘saint’ of the time at the World Tree Church.”
Velia attracts the attention of everyone in the throne room with her perfect appearance.
But Cheyney felt an uneasy feeling about Velia.
“She will guide you to the new magic tower.”
Hearing the emperor’s words, Velia smiled and looked at Cheyney.