Demon King of the Royal Class-Chapter 603

Sabioleen Tana gazed at Ellen with sorrowful eyes.

Further words were useless, which meant only one option remained.

“I don’t want to hurt you,” Sabioleen Tana said softly.

“I feel the same way,” Ellen replied.

Their exchange revealed their mutual belief in their own superiority. It might have seemed like a childish contest of pride, but given their status as two of the continent’s strongest, it was more than just pride.

Who was stronger, Ellen Artorius or Sabioleen Tana?

They stood in silence, each measuring the other’s strength.

‘Am I stronger? Is she?’

“Ellen...” Heinrich called out, his voice tinged with nervousness.

Getting to the bottom of the Empire’s secrets was crucial, but the idea of Sabioleen Tana and Ellen clashing swords was absurd.

“It’s okay. I won’t kill her,” Ellen said with a hint of arrogance, drawing a subtle smile from Sabioleen Tana, and a worried look from Heinrich.

“You sure know how to provoke me,” Tana remarked.

“It’s not a provocation, just a fact,” Ellen replied calmly.

“If you don’t step aside now...”

Wooong...

Blue mana began to pulse around Ellen’s body.

“You’ll get hurt,” she warned.

She wasn’t going to use her sword.

Somehow, her words sounded almost endearing, which made Tana sigh.

“You’re not going to use your relics?”

The Void Sword Lament, and the Cloak of the Sun, Lapelt. She was slightly surprised that Ellen was ready to face her without either.

“I don’t need them,” Ellen insisted.

“I doubt that,” Tana replied with a frown. She didn’t seem to believe Ellen could touch her without the unfair power of her holy relics.

She had intended to stop Ellen, but Ellen’s audacity to face her without relics genuinely angered Sabioleen Tana.

“I’ll make you eat those words,” Tana said, tossing aside the umbrella she was holding.

“If you don’t step back now...”

Kurrung!

The mana storm emanating from Sabioleen Tana’s body blew away the accumulated snow around her in an instant. Her hair, tossed about by the magical shockwave, settled back into place.

She fixed her sharp gaze on Ellen. “I’ll make sure you can’t get out of bed until winter is over.”

“Go ahead, try,” Ellen challenged.

“You really...”

Thud!

In an instant, Sabioleen Tana was right in front of Ellen.

“... never back down!”

Clang!

“...!”

With a single punch, Ellen was sent flying, crashing through a tree on the side of the road and landing awkwardly on the ground behind it.

Heinrich and Ludwig, except for Louise, were swept away by the aftermath and rolled on the ground.

“Stop being so unnecessarily arrogant,” Sabioleen Tana said, walking toward Ellen, who was buried in the forest.

“Summon your relics.”

Regardless of her reasons for being there, provoking the pride of someone at the top was never wise.

Sabioleen Tana was genuinely angered by Ellen’s arrogance in trying to face her on equal terms, without even using her relics.

Suddenly, something flew out from behind the fallen tree.

‘Snow...?’ Tana thought.

A snowball came flying toward her, and Sabioleen Tana dodged it with a simple tilt of her head.

“Are you trying to play games with me?” Tana’s anger flared for a moment, but then she saw Ellen crouching low in the cloud of dust and snow.

A spinning kick...

Crash!

“Ugh!”

Sabioleen Tana blocked the kick with her upper arm, but the force of the blow, augmented by Mana Reinforcement, pushed her several steps back.

“I told you, I don’t need them,” Ellen said calmly, charging toward Sabioleen Tana, who had been knocked back.

Though neither intended to kill the other, their emotions were about to turn the fight serious.

—Stop!

A familiar voice to both of them ordered from afar, abruptly halting the fight.

“Vertus...”

“Your Majesty...”

The emperor was approaching, making his way through the falling snow.

***

Vertus suddenly appeared and stopped the brawl between humanity’s two strongest individuals.

Without any explanation or justification, he had brought them into the research building with him, bypassing the strict security. They were now seated in the lobby of the research building.

Ellen and Sabioleen Tana sat there silently, staring at the table.

“I told you to persuade Ellen to turn back if she tried to enter, not to start a fight, Dame Tana.”

“I apologize, Your Majesty,” Sabioleen Tana said, holding back her excuse that the warrior girl would not back down with mere persuasion.

Vertus looked at the silent Ellen. Ellen, too, was staring intently at the table, her lips tightly shut.

“You didn’t have to go that far as well... Well, I suppose you didn’t exactly come here with good intentions,” Vertus said, looking around at the group in the lobby.

It wasn’t just Ellen; Ludwig, Heinrich, and even Louise von Schwartz, a princess of a vassal state, were all present. After glancing at them, Vertus turned back to Ellen.

“Do you really need to know?” he said.

The emperor was echoing what Sabioleen Tana had said earlier.

“I’ll tell you this now,” he continued. “Even if you tell me to stop what I’m doing, I’m going to continue with this, and nothing will change.”

Ellen remained silent.

“Knowing the truth will only cause more problems for you.”

Though he had let them into the magic department’s research building, Vertus had no intention of letting their opinions sway him, regardless of what Ellen or anyone else said.

“I need to know,” Ellen said softly, her voice steady. “Whatever it is, I have a duty to understand what is going on.”

It wasn’t about having a right to know; it was about responsibility.

Vertus smiled bitterly.

“If it’s not all bad, then I want to understand more. What exactly is being done, and why is it necessary? I need to know.”

Seeing Ellen’s unwavering resolve, Vertus had no choice but to relent. “Alright.”

He glanced at someone other than Ellen. “Perhaps it’s for the best.”

Louise couldn’t fathom why Vertus had looked at her when he said that.

“Let me tell you all one thing,” Vertus continued, addressing everyone. “I didn’t kill Rowen.” 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

“What?”

Just when they thought they had reached the end of the mystery, Vertus’s words shattered their assumptions.

“I know it’s hard to believe, but it’s the truth.”

Ellen’s journey to this research building had been a series of coincidences. The theft of the remains from beneath the temple of the Order of the Holy Knights had nothing to do with the Empire.

Ludwig’s eyes widened in shock. “Wait... Then who... who killed the priestess?”

They had come this far, pursuing Rowen’s death, but if Vertus wasn’t involved, the mystery was far from solved.

Who had killed Rowen?

“I don’t know,” Vertus insisted.

Whether he truly didn’t know or was pretending, no one could tell.

***

“An emergency meeting?”

“Yes, the five popes have urgent matters to discuss. They’re gathered at the Great Temple of Alse.”

Illeion Volten had left the Order of the Holy Knights’ main temple and arrived at the Great Temple of Alse.

Among the Five Great Orders, the Great Temple of Alse was the only one with a Great Temple within the Imperial City.

The main temple of the Order of the Holy Knights was where the military power of the Five Great Orders was concentrated, so aside from the pope of the Alse Order, the other four popes usually resided in their respective temples, where they held more influence.

Traditionally, meetings of the popes were held at the main temple of the Order of the Holy Knights due to its symbolic significance. However, the fact that this emergency meeting was being held at the Great Temple of Alse left Illeion Volten uneasy.

Was there a specific reason for summoning him there? But as the Commander of the Order of the Holy Knights, he was subordinate to the popes, and had no choice but to go where he was summoned.

Given all that was going on, he was already overwhelmed with tasks, and not knowing why the popes had called this meeting added to his unease.

Due to the emergency nature of the meeting, there were no formalities or attendants. Despite the decline in the Alse Order’s influence, the Great Temple of Alse was still imposing, and no passersby dared to question it.

Illeion Volten arrived alone and entered the temple.

As he headed to the meeting room on the highest floor...

‘They’ve sent everyone away...’ he thought.

As soon as he reached the upper floors, devoid of priests or holy knights, Illeion Volten felt a chill down his spine.

What were they discussing? What were they plotting? What was he to do if something happened?

With his mind full of countless worries, Illeion Volten opened the door to the meeting room, neither too hastily nor too cautiously.

Just like any other meeting room, there was a round in the middle. Naturally, the five popes were seated there, staring at Illeion Volten with stern expressions as he entered.

The five popes were all there, but Illeion Volten completely forgot to pay his respects. His focus was on something else completely.

In a space that should have been reserved only for the five popes, one more person was there. A person sitting in a chair, smiling at him.

Illeion Volten, who was not easily flustered, turned pale.

“Illeion Volten.”

“You... you...!”

“It’s been three years, I think.”

The Demon King Reinhart sat there nonchalantly in his human guise.

Reinhart gestured with his chin toward the chair in front of Illeion Volten.

“What are you doing? Sit down,” he said.

His tone was arrogant, as if he were the master of the place.

***

The Death Knights we had raised, and the chimera-homunculus undead the Empire was creating... We had both moved in the same direction.

We needed to replenish the Death Knight ranks, and for that, we needed corpses. At that point, though, we hadn’t known that the Empire was doing something similar.

After replenishing the Death Knights from the Tomb of the Saints, I had begun my own investigation into what the Empire was doing. There was always a concern that the Order of the Holy Knights might inadvertently discover what the Empire was up to while investigating the incident.

After hearing the truth from Vertus, we discussed it briefly.

“They’re already investigating. We’re being cautious, but who knows what might happen,” Vertus had said.

Naturally, the Order of the Holy Knights would try to investigate the incident which had occurred under their noses.

There had been no reason to hide or cover up the scene. What would it matter if they found out it was my doing?

Somehow, though, the investigations had veered in an unexpected direction, and now the Empire’s secret was under threat of being exposed.

We were the ones who had caused the incident, but it was the Empire that was implicated. My actions might have triggered an unexpected butterfly effect, leading to the Empire taking the blame. There was nothing I could do about it, though, so I’d decided to stay at the Temple and watch the situation unfold.

Then Archbishop Rowen had died.

Like Ellen, I didn’t believe the claim that the refugees had killed Rowen.

Archbishop Rowen, who had been purifying diseases in the refugee camp while under Ludwig’s protection, was dead. There had to be something more to it.

At that point, I already knew most of the hidden truths, unlike Ellen, who was just starting her investigation.

The death of Archbishop Rowen was in no way an ordinary matter.

Naturally, the first person I went to was Vertus, having quickly arranged a meeting through Sarkegar.

Vertus was already aware of the matter.

“It wasn’t you?”

“Yes, it wasn’t us,” Vertus confirmed.

The Empire wasn’t responsible for the incident at the temple.

“We did consider whether to step in or not, though.”

“You considered...?”

“She’s an inquisitor, you see.”

Of course, Vertus knew things I didn’t.

“I only found out yesterday as well, but it seems she approached Ludwig intentionally. Since she couldn’t enter the Temple herself, she tried to find a way somehow... I’m just as surprised.”

Rowen was an inquisitor, and was investigating the incident.

After discovering that things might be happening in the Temple, she had intentionally approached Ludwig. An inquisitor, trying to uncover forbidden truths through Ludwig.

But she had suddenly died, and Vertus was just as taken aback by that.

The Empire had been at the top of my list of suspects for who had killed Rowen. Rowen was an inquisitor who was investigating the incident, and if she already had the Temple in her sights, the Empire had every reason to silence her. But the Empire wasn’t the culprit.

“I don’t know the exact reason for it, but it might be a purge.”

“What? A purge?”

It was an unexpected statement.

“Listen carefully, Reinhart.”

The story Vertus told was long, but the heart of the matter was simple: the leaders of the Church of the Five Great Gods could be plotting something. Specifically, the popes of the Five Orders.

I was dumbfounded by what Vertus said.

“What nonsense is this...? They’re... preparing to side with me?”

“Probably.”

From Vertus’s perspective, it was betrayal. From mine, it looked like a defection or surrender.

“I don’t know which side the dead priestess was on, but now that things have been set into motion, they can’t be stopped.”

“...”

“There might be a split between the Five Orders and the Order of the Holy Knights. There might be something like a civil war between the two factions. That would complicate things even more.”

“Then... What should be done?”

“It needs to be stopped. Until the Gate incident is over, no one can be allowed to shed blood over this.”

That was something Vertus couldn’t do. It was something only I could do.

“Do you even know what you’re saying?”

At my question, Vertus flashed a bitter smile. “How could I not?”

“...”

There was nothing I could say.