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Volume 8, Chapter 25

 

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Translator: Manga0205
Editor: Weasalopes

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The Black Knight stood in front of Elarc’s crumbling main gate that had lost its shape.

　When the people that were passing nearby spotted the Black Knight, they would wave their hands with smiling faces.

　The gate was no longer fulfilling its defensive role, but this was a place that had a strong protection more than anywhere else. The solidest gate that the Black Knight, who no one knew where she came from, protected.

　Then again, the person herself had no intention of protecting it. It’s just that she just happened to be here, and merely just happened to cut down those that tried to pass through this place with hostility.

　She could leave this sort of place whenever she wanted.

「……」

　Silently, the Black Knight looked up at the sky.

　The first thing that she saw since she woke up, was this blue sky.

　She saw the blue sky that she knew wouldn’t change at all right now as something very beautiful, felt anger at the Alva that dyed it black, and turned bloodlust towards the troops that scorched the sky with smoke and flames that covered the earth.

　Destroying them, the blue sky that returned to normal, was still beautiful.

　Today as well, she spent her time looking up at the sky like this. She didn’t have anything else to do.

　No, there should have been something, but she was unable to remember what it was.

　Even the feeling of impatience that she had at the beginning, it gradually faded.

　She didn’t really get it, but there was only a sense of loss in her chest.

　As for just what it was that she had lost, she didn’t even know what it was.

　She would obtain a moment of exaltation if she were to fight, but what would remain after that was a lethargy that was worse than before the fight.

　While she was like that, the Black Knight understood.

　That she had nothing. She lost her meaning to live, therefore she was empty.

　Thinking “in that case”, the Black Knight decided to stop in this town.

　Since any place would be the same anyway no matter where she went, this place where the smell of war was strong might be better since she could obtain exaltation, even if that feeling was only temporary.

　And speaking of smell, that group of two with that blond haired man and black haired woman that she met not long ago.

　The two of them were completely different, but the both of them had nostalgic smells……she felt that they gave off that sort of presence.

　She also felt that the man had a presence that pissed her off a bit, but she didn’t know why she felt like that.

　Well, no matter what the reason was, it had nothing to do with the Black Knight who had lost her willpower.

「……Hey, did ya hear?」

「Yeah, the revival ritual, right?」

　They were people of the town that had stopped nearby and had a whispered conversation.

　The surroundings of the Black Knight, who had half turned into an ornament for the spot, had been used as a place to meet up, maybe because she gave them a sense of relief.

　The Black Knight gave an ear to the conversation of those people of the town for some reason.

　These past few days, she had been hearing nothing but rumors about the 「revival ritual」.

　It seemed to be about a technique that could revive a life that had been lost, but if there were something like that, people that could die would surely vanish from this world. The Black Knight couldn’t decide on whether that would be good or not.

　And then, in those rumors, it seemed that there was also some unnecessary information as well.

「Does that mean that Princess Narika has been acknowledged by the Gods?」

「Yeah, it’s that kinda story. I don’t know the truth to it though……」

「But wait a sec, didn’t Altluwand not acknowledge Princess Narika?」

　The conversation between those people that continued to whisper, it concluded with the usual flow it went into.

「If there really is a revival ritual……」

「Yeah……」

　There were several points and keywords to the conversations.

　The revival ritual. And then, Altluwand.

　If she remembered correctly, was Altluwand a sacred treasure that was enshrined somewhere in this country?

　She had heard that it was the sacred treasure that the hero of this country, the one called the Great Sage Teria, had possessed.

　She hadn’t seen it directly, but since it’s called a sacred treasure, it probably chooses the one to wield it.

　And then, Narika, the First Princess, wasn’t chosen as its owner……so it seems.

　It seems that in this country, there is a Second Princess that has gone missing that is said to be the second coming of the Great Sage Teria, but after thinking about how it seemed that Altluwand was still somewhere in this town, she might not have been chosen either.

　And then, in this country that worshipped the God of Light Raidolg, it seemed that the fact that they weren’t chosen by Altluwand was something big.

「Plus……you know. When it comes to Narika-sama……」

「I know right……」

　Gossip that could be heard from a different place was about Princess Narika.

　From what she heard, she was a selfish person that was left uncontrolled, and there weren’t really any good stories about her.

　In this country that didn’t have a prince, for the next era, it would be First Princess Narika if they were going by the succession order, and it was rumored that it would be Second Princess Eltrinde if they were going by popularity.

　As for the name of Third Princess Celis, it seems that it almost never came up until this disturbance happened.

　Third Princess Celis was a princess born with animal ears, which were a characteristic of Beastmen.

　The fact that a child possessing animal ears was born even though both the King and Queen were Humans was strange, and it seems that the Queen who was suspected of infidelity had desperately denied it, but the Black Knight heard that in the end, her relationship with the King had worsened with that.

　After that, despite the fact that that characteristic would appear if Beastman blood entered the bloodline in the past was established and that it was also known that there really was someone that possessed the same animal ears as Celis among the royalty several generations ago, the relationship between the King and Queen was unchanged, and even Celis’s situation remained low.

　Repairing a relationship that had broken once was extremely difficult.

　Of course, on the surface, Celis was widely presented as the legitimate Third Princess.
　However, the treatment of Celis whose existence couldn’t be blessed at one point had remained the same.

　And then, how it was said that the King had changed seemed to have happened around that time.

　His behaviour on the surface was the same, but something was different.

　The King’s view towards mankind other than Humans, it seems that there were some that said that it had clearly changed.

　Even after leaving that for later, there was gossip that started with 「Come to think of it……」.

　If Third Princess Celis hadn’t been born……no, at the very least, if she was born with a Human appearance, it wouldn’t have turned out like this, would it? There were also those that thought in that way, and that couldn’t be helped.

　However, at the same time, there were also voices that criticized the people of the royal family that didn’t defend Celis.

　First Princess Narika clearly held disdain for Celis, and even the Queen found Celis to be someone hard to deal with and kept her distance from her.

　Second Princess Eltrinde was the only one to worry about Celis, but that caused her to be given the hard shoulder by Narika, and she ended up having to bustle about in subjugation missions in various places due to the instigated King’s orders.

　Now that it turned out like this, even the retainers that remained in the royal palace couldn’t publicly ally themselves with Celis.

　The fact that Celis, who found it hard to stay in the royal palace, ended up frequently going to the Temple of Light was reasonable.

　It seemed that the Celis of those days was an extremely introverted young girl. She hardly responded even when she was talked to, and it was said that she even had a part of her that was afraid of getting involved with people.

　That Celis ended up having a relationship with the St. Altlis Kingdom’s Second Princess Elia that could be called that of close friends, and that became a temporary bridge for diplomacy.

　With that as the impetus, the King, although it was little by little, seemed to end up talking to Celis.

　Thinking that the relationship between the King and Celis would also be repaired with this, the retainers were surely also relieved.

　Yet, why did it turn out like this?

　Stories that buried the blank space up until it turned into this situation that there was no turning back from, there existed nothing but irresponsible rumors.

　In a certain rumor, it was said that the King, who had looked down on the other members of mankind at point point, had not returned to normal and turned the other races into slaves and abused them until he was convicted by Princess Celis, and continued to perform actions that should be feared.

　In a certain rumor, it was narrated that First Princess Narika had taken advantage of a weakness of the King’s and continued to break the King with suspicious medicine and magic, and ultimately, Third Princess Celis had no choice but to destroy the King who had turned into a madman.

　In a certain rumor, it was whispered that everything was the work of the Mazoku, and that a revived Demon King Shuklous, or maybe Demon King Vermudol, was manipulating the King.

　──Or maybe, everything was Third Princess Celis’s strategy, is what some were also narrating. That this was revenge.

　No matter what the rumor was, it was spoken as if it were the truth, yet none of them had any proof.

　Even the facts that the people of the royal family, who were the people in question, had spoken out were different. As for what was correct or not, there was no way that the outsiders would know.

　……Well, no matter which ones were the 「facts」, none of it mattered to the Black Knight.

　She had no intention of getting involved with such troublesome dissension.

　As long as she could look up at the sky like this today as well……that was fine.

　While thinking such a thing, the Black Knight spaced out and continued to gaze at the sky.

 

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