Hey guys, sorry about the huge delay. I was sick for a week starting the 31st of December and I still have a cough. That’s my excuse as well as the fact that my other half of the soul took up time to do his stuff. Well enough about me. Here’s the next chapter. Enjoy.

The Preceding Hero and the Cardinal

「So it was, the 『Witch of Time’s』……Probability magic……Fate Manipulation!」

While his body was soaked with fresh blood that was pouring out from both arms, Zephyr laughed with a cracked voice.

「My attack, had reached you……and, if you received that attack and were unharmed, I could still understand that……However, to make it as if it had never happened……Ku, kaka……So you’re truly able to 『defeat even God』……It’s not uncommon, for you to be called the enemy of God……」

Zephyr is probably the only human being that could possibly have these kinds of thoughts while having the extreme situation of having lost both arms. Rather, having crossed that line, it seems like one could even question if Zephyr could even called a human being.

But,

「Almost but not quite.」

Zephyr’s deduction was cut down.

「That situation, Zephyr, defending against your attack, it was impossible even if I were to manipulate fate. The events that happened would invariably converge. ……Fate is something that will always exist in the future.」

And then, in response to Yuu’s words, Zephyr quickly looked up at Yuu.

「The past……the cause of the event, ……So you distorted……the cause and effect……!?」

The principle of causality. Just how many people would live on recognizing those words.

And then, if they strongly recognized them, they would get entangled by the chains of cause and effect.

「Well, that’s exactly what I “cut”. ……『Al』 isn’t a weapon meant to cut any and all objects. Cutting up time, cutting up space, it’s a weapon meant to kill the 『Demon Lord』.」

Destroying a cause that happened in the past, a power that could control even fate.

Doing something like that, it’s already the same as God.

「……You not knowing about it was inevitable, Zephyr. This power was only awakened because 『Al』 was provoked by the Demon Lord. ……Because of that, I can “never again” save Olivia……」

Putting away the Sacred Sword, in the middle of the white armor turning into light and dispersing, Yuu’s eyes were looking at someone that wasn’t Zephyr.

「……Kukaka. Save Her Highness, huh.」

Zephyr moved to be face up.

「Going backwards to the past……Were you planning on borrowing the power of the 『Witch of Time』?」

Yuu shook his head at Zephyr’s words.

「I gave up the moment I noticed the true nature of this 『power』. I……can no longer return to the past.」

Unable to shake off the past.

Unable to look back in the past.

Yuu lived captured by the past.

◇

「Zephyr was dealt with a three-ply seal and was transported to Luxeria. In the end, it seems he showed an eerie smile.」

「…………I see.」

The day after the fight with Zephyr was finished, starting with the warehouse that the kidnappers used, disassembly work of warehouses that had no plans of being used was started. Even though it was right after what happened yesterday, that’s an amazing reaction speed.

Well, for Vodan-shi, since it was the place where his own son was kidnapped, there’s no way that action could be a mistake.

While listening to the sounds of the dismantling work, I looked at the sea as it became dusk.

「And the kidnappers?」

「Including the ones in Oltaine, it seems all of them have been arrested.」

「Oltaine? There were some even over there?」

Port Town Oltaine is where the head of the Centaurs, Eri-san, and the others went.

「Yes, though, it would seem that Oltaine was a decoy……」

「A decoy?」

「Yes. The scale was large, and there seemed to be many slaves, but most of them were slaves meant for labor……and it seems that the slaves that would sell for a high price were all gathered in Be Io.」

In the middle, Jean said those words ambiguously as if it was hard for him to say them. It seems that Jean, who was formerly an aristocrat and should have been estranged to such a thing, took me into consideration.

「Do you think they intended to abandon Oltaine from the start?」

「If I had to say, it was probably did so for both.」

Pulling a lute out from who knows where, Jean started to play humming a tune.

「……With this development, doesn’t it seem like a large organization was involved and backing them?」

「There’s probably one involved.」

When I said that half-jokingly, Jean affirmed it as if it were really a matter of course.

「This is my own personal opinion but……Recently, it seems that the Church is doing some secret maneuvers behind the scenes. If I were told that this was their deed, I would obediently accept it.」

「Oi oi, the Church……Right now, isn’t that kid, erm……dammit, I forgot his name. Wasn’t that Pope-chan doing his best at it?」

When I asked that, Jean bitterly smiled.

「Well. Cardinal Greneel was reinstated, and the Church became his once again.」

「Greneel……So it was the bastard from that time.」

Cardinal Greneel. Three years ago, he was the Cardinal that used the still immature Pope as a puppet and manipulated the Church as he pleased.

He was the kind of guy that talked about a Human Supremacy Principle and unfairly oppressed Demi-humans.

「That’s right. The man that blamed you. Although he lost his standing once, he tenaciously crawled back up.」

Although he said it as if it were nothing, Jean’s mouth displayed a smile that looked like it was full of self-mockery.

「Did Sylvia do nothing about it?」

「She did. There’s no way she’d do nothing about it.」

Jean stopped playing the lute and glared at me as if he were blaming me.

「But that guy, when he crawled up to the front stage, immediately, he questioned Her Majesty about the death of Amaterasu, and then, treating you who should have saved the world as an “enemy of God” that let Amaterasu die, he shamelessly questioned Her Majesty about your whereabouts…….」

There, Jean took in a deep breathe, and slowly let it out.

「The glorious seat of the Cardinal was also looked down upon by the Hero that looked down upon God. In order to at least oppose that man that raved such, I wrote the story of you and the princess……or something like that.」

And so, with the conversation done, just like a minstrel, Jean sung a tale.

It was a love story where a boy that you could find anywhere had fought to the bitter end for a girl that he had fallen in love with at first sight.