Chapter 172

“I am terribly sorry for being late! I got delayed trying to catch a cat that escaped from the witch café… Huh?”

I had returned.

“Why is everyone sitting around like this? And why are my companions tied up?”

And I was immediately restrained.

It took a fair amount of time to properly grasp the situation.

After listening to Vice-Chairman Kravec’s explanation and Karzos’s impassioned demand for the death penalty, I roughly understood how things had come to this.

Because Ha Yeri’s identity had been compromised, Moon Ah-rin and I, who were with her, had been lined up on the pyre like a string of sausages.

As a note, because this was a witch trial, there was no defense counsel.

The verdict was also strictly binary: acquittal or execution.

“Waaah, it wasn’t me! This is all this person’s fault! I was just dragged along here…!”

“Silence! How dare you betray the demon race and side with humanity? I will send both of you black mages to the netherworld together!”

Karzos bellowed a sharp reprimand over Moon Ah-rin’s weeping.

With his mouth ripped wide to his ears, he looked ecstatic to finally eliminate me, a thorn in his side that he had grown utterly sick of.

On the other hand, I couldn’t bring myself to face them.

For humans to enter the Council was a feat impossible without the cooperation of an existing member like me.

No matter how callous demons could be, the sense of betrayal must be immense.

Even though I was meeting my end like this, while I wore the mask, I had been their companion and brother-in-arms.

“Mm, as expected, he really is the trash of all trash.”

“I believed in you! I knew that one day, Lord Patel would cause a massive scene!”

…Or not?

Unexpectedly, the atmosphere around the Seat of Flame wasn’t all that grave.

Come to think of it, the succubi and witches had also been trying to side with humans.

To those who lacked the sheer audacity to smuggle humans into the Council themselves, my actions apparently looked like a major, dopamine-inducing rebellion.

Well, whatever. I never expected anything from those folks whose outlook on life was permanently blissful anyway.

But what about Flauros and Velada?

The two of them shared a particularly deep bond with me, a relationship that was still ongoing even now while we stayed at the orphanage.

Surely they would shield me, even if it meant charging forward and declaring war on the other seats right this instant.

“M-My Patel…!”

“I never dreamed you would step onto the pyre voluntarily before I could even put you on it. It’s like a premium ingredient diving into the fire pit on its own.”

“Eek! You kept nagging about hooking him by the nose, and that’s why my contractor drifted further away and ended up going astray like that!”

“Don’t pin the blame on me.”

…Or not?

They didn’t seem to have any intention of saving me at all…

“Since a soul burned by the fire of the fallen cannot cross the river of the netherworld and must reincarnate, it’s actually for the best to wash and reuse him cleanly this time.”

“That is true, but…”

“Since we have the affection of the time we’ve spent together, I’ll share a bit of him with you once we find Patel again.”

“You’re giving me some!?”

“We’ll have to live together in the future anyway. According to the witches’ spells, you can split a soul by striking it with an axe.”

Rather, using my death as a catalyst, the two Archdukes had fully reconciled, shifting from a couple using separate rooms back to sleeping in the same bed.

See? You really can’t trust a single demon in this world.

Siding with humanity was the right choice, no matter how many hundreds of times I thought about it.

As I looked up at the sky and sighed, Kravec approached me, leaning on his staff.

Though he was Trishy’s Familiar, as the fair and impartial moderator within the Council, he was more furious than anyone else in this room.

“Patel, I believe you must have had your reasons.”

Even so, the reason he still harbored some goodwill toward me was likely because my contributions to the demons so far had been substantial.

Putting aside the fact that I repeatedly put on a mask every weekend, went to a shopping mall, shouted “Log out!” and vanished, that is.

I had successfully integrated the witches and succubi into the mainstream demon society, and I had prevented the Archduke’s legacy from being stolen by humans in the Sea of Decay.

Above all, the fact that the fiery-tempered Flauros was sitting quietly over there right now could be considered my achievement, so from his perspective, he seemed to want to grant me one last chance.

“The preparations to summon the next Archduke are already complete. You had better be prudent with your answer.”

“…”

“Were you deceived by them? If not, is this truly betrayal?”

What should I say?

Just as I was agonizing over it, I felt a vibration on my wrist.

A message had arrived from Ha Yeri via my smartwatch.

Although both my arms were bound to a cross and I couldn’t read the screen, this was fortunately an invention that condensed the very essence of the Bureau’s technology.

Not only was it resilient enough to remain undamaged in most extreme environments, but it also included a massive number of features added for user convenience.

Particularly of late, the ratio of disabled individuals who suffered injuries while carrying out missions within the Special Unit had been on the rise, leading to a user-accessibility update.

It allowed users to read messages in braille through a sensor located on the area touching the back of the hand.

For Ha Yeri, an ability user who couldn’t employ Channel or telepathy, this was the only way to secretly give me instructions.

I closed my eyes and mentally decoded her message as the smartwatch communicated it to me.

『⠕⠗⠊⠮⠀⠍⠳⠱⠐⠗⠀⠅⠕⠾』

『⠅⠊⠬⠮⠀⠧⠪⠱⠕⠀⠎⠳⠒⠛⠅⠳⠮⠀⠞⠣⠰⠟⠐⠗⠀⠅⠕⠾』

Ah.

So that’s what it was.

I don’t know how to read braille.

Attempting to communicate in an unlearned script was inherently impossible.

It couldn’t be helped.

I resolved to simply proceed with my original plan.

Using that crystal ball, I would alter the direction of the witch’s mirror, which was currently illuminating the location of the nameless Archduke.

Then, before I could be locked away in a basement like a loser, I would descend Mala-nim here—the Outer God who had abandoned me and fled.

Of course, a sacrifice was required for that process.

Originally, I had intended to throw Karzos or the other demons onto the pyre, but given the circumstances, that method was off the table.

Plans must always remain flexible.

As the Apostle of the Outer God, I was fully prepared for a situation like this.

Beneath my robe, I summoned a massive swarm of tentacles.

If the standard numbered tentacles had their existences extinguished by having their souls burned, I wouldn’t be able to use them until I tracked them down and enslaved them again, but there was one exception.

It was none other than the corpses of the tentacles with whom I had reached a dramatic reconciliation after defeating the Archduke of Necromancy not long ago.

‘Kkiiieeek! Kiek!’

‘Shh, this is a good thing for you too. Didn’t you hear what the Archduke of Flames said earlier? Once you reincarnate, you can be reborn with a cleaner body than what you have now.’

‘Kkiieeeeeeeek!!!!’

For the 101st tentacle, which had been rotting for a long time in the Sea of Decay, this was a perfect opportunity.

The creatures writhed, practically screaming, ‘You’ve betrayed us again! Even if we are reborn ten thousand times, we will never forget your hideous, bare face!’ but it was already too late.

“Doesn’t the Vice-Chairman know as well? Today was the anniversary of my death.”

Dropping a massive number of tentacles hidden beneath the hem of my long robe, I answered Kravec’s question.

“I had no choice. If I hadn’t dragged them in, I would have been executed long ago.”

“The fire of the fallen does not mean death! How can you call it an execution to wash away one’s sins, purify the soul, and be reborn!”

“Karma is the origin of humans, not a flaw that must be washed away. A black mage who turned his back on the human world and a witch are humans all the same. Is that not so?”

At my question, the witches sitting in the Seat of Flame nodded their heads vigorously.

Among them, some were even blowing their noses into handkerchiefs or sniffling.

“Even if that is the case, you should have followed the laws of the Council. Dragging our enemies here was your worst mistake.”

“For me personally, that choice wasn’t wrong in the end. After all, wasn’t it true that no one was on my side?”

I had tried to resolve things through conversation too.

But neither Karzos, Trishy, nor even Flauros had any intention of untying me from this pyre from the very beginning, just as Velada had said.

Would the result have been different if Ha Yeri’s identity hadn’t been compromised?

I didn’t resent her in the slightest.

“I took your side. I advised the chairwoman that there must have been some misunderstanding.”

“I am simply sorry for causing trouble to the Vice-Chairman, and I am deeply grateful.”

“Whatever your intentions may have been, you cannot avoid taking responsibility for your actions.”

“I am prepared.”

Kravec raised his staff.

At that moment, the flames beneath my feet surged up and began to catch onto the cross.

A terrible stench wafted up as the drowned-corpse tentacles burned, but it seemed no one had noticed anything strange just yet.

“Do you have any last words?”

Now, the most crucial task remained.

How on earth was I supposed to snatch that crystal ball right in the middle of a Council where so many demons had gathered?

Without revealing that I was the Apostle of the Outer God, and without using Extreme Magic or my tentacles, there didn’t seem to be any clever solution.

With both arms tied up, it was difficult to form hand seals, and above all, there were as many as two Archdukes present.

For now, let’s stall for time.

Listening to Moon Ah-rin sniffling beside me, I delivered my final statement with a solemn attitude.

“First of all, I am deeply sorry for causing trouble to the many demons who have gathered here late at night. My actions today have tarnished the trust of the entire Demon Realm, and I offer my profound apologies to Valac, Idia, Melik, and the people of the fiefdom to whom I am indebted.”

“Sniff…!”

“I agonized over many things, but now that the end is near, I would like to share a little bit about myself with you all. Since I was a child, I often heard that I was brilliant, and particularly from my childhood friend whose survival was recently confirmed, I suffered continuous beatings under the logic that ‘you’re too smart, so you need to be hit a little’…”

“Snort…!”

As the long and tedious will dragged on, the number of demons nodding off increased.

When the embers beneath our feet threatened to die down, the witches hastily threw in fresh firewood.

Right around the time the tense atmosphere had relaxed to a certain extent.

Forming a hand seal with one hand, I linked a Channel to Moon Ah-rin.

The moment the thread of mana connected, a voice steeped in deep gloom echoed back.

『Ms. Ah-rin.』

『I’m going to curse you. My life has been completely ruined because of you, Hayan. If I can just return to the Special Unit safely, I’m going to report you for workplace harassment and hand in my resignation. Then I’ll hide deep in the mountains where no one can find me, just me and Tartaruga…』

『If you run away with that thing, even a blind person will find you. More importantly, did Commander Ha Yeri say anything earlier?』

『Commander Ha Yeri?』

The method to overcome this situation would undoubtedly lie with Ha Yeri.

In that case, it was crucial to decode the message she had sent earlier.

Hadn’t she said something to Moon Ah-rin before getting captured?

As expected, despite her fragile state of mind, she managed to recall a memory from just a few dozen minutes ago.

『Come to think of it, I think she said something like this while holding the crystal ball…』

Hearing her story, a single possibility crossed my mind.

The reason Ha Yeri was standing right next to me with her head lowered in silence wasn’t due to the humiliation of having three chairs placed beneath her because she was too short to be tied to the cross.

Having successfully guessed her true intention, I spoke to Moon Ah-rin.

『Ms. Ah-rin.』

『Yes?』

『Spread your wings when I give the signal.』

『My wings? Don’t tell me…』

She had been right on the verge of having her mask stripped off, but I hadn’t expected to make her play an active role here.

I hated to admit it, but there was no helping it.

『It’s time for you to shine, Ms. Ah-rin.』

The Light Mage (in training) and the Saint of Salvation.

Just this once, it was a temporary alliance.