I Picked up the Demon King - Chapter 62

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 62

 

I had noticed it since we were drinking at the inn, but the man called Albeng was quite unlike a typical priest.

 

After meeting again the next morning, he continued to show unexpected sides of himself from before we even left the city. Among these, the most surprising was his swordsmanship skills.

 

The bandit attack that occurred when we were preparing to make camp.

 

Though they hadn’t received any proper training, their numerical advantage still wasn’t something to take lightly. Even renowned territorial soldiers would struggle to survive when surrounded by many.

 

But Albeng subdued them all by himself.

 

His movements were so fast that for a moment I wondered if being a priest was just a disguise and he was actually a knight. Of course, there would be no reason for a knight to disguise himself as a priest.

 

For me, who was using Deception to hide my mana, this was fortunate. Now, for small ranges, the amount of mana consumed and recovered was roughly similar, but if I used other magic as well, I couldn’t guarantee I wouldn’t be discovered.

 

But seeing Albeng subdue the bandits alone and then stand with his hands behind his back wearing a solemn expression gave me a strange feeling.

 

“Are all priests like this these days?”

“I’m a Traveling Priest.”

 

Albeng answered after finishing his sermon and releasing the bandits he had tied up.

 

Normally I would have thought killing them was right, but seeing them flee with half-dazed expressions, it seemed they wouldn’t be able to engage in banditry for a while.

 

In this respect, should I say he was priest-like?

 

“Since I wander the continent alone, some degree of force is essential. It’s also why the Academy’s theology curriculum must include at least one combat subject.”

 

Albeng calmly lit a fire while revealing his identity.

 

“Academy?”

“Yes. Are you interested? Let me tell you how popular I was…”

“No. I’m not interested.”

 

Hearing about the Academy just brought a certain face to mind.

 

Simone, the Demon Lord’s subordinate, had definitely said he was from the Academy. For a demon, he was somehow lacking, and I wondered where he was and what he was doing now.

 

I didn’t know for sure, but recalling those memories, I could roughly guess.

 

While claiming to do something for the Demon Lord, wasn’t he probably getting scammed somewhere again? He was strangely unreliable.

 

“Are you tired?”

“…?”

“You’ve been sitting quietly for a while. Oh, I’m not hinting at anything. Please rest. We’re almost done anyway.”

“…”

“Really, it’s fine… Then, let me cast a Healing Spell on you.”

“It’s, it’s fine…!”

 

Divine Power wasn’t exactly compatible with Dark Mages. The Divine Power that seeped into my body seemed to move as if trying to destroy rather than heal me.

 

When I first discovered the Demon Lord, thanks to her using Divine Power in the process of healing my body, I seemed to have developed some resistance… But the fact that Divine Power was threatening to me hadn’t changed.

 

Of course, if I used mana, I could eliminate such a small amount of Divine Power before it even entered my body.

 

If there hadn’t been a possibility of Albeng noticing my mana in that process, I definitely would have done so.

 

I frantically waved my hands at Albeng’s glowing figure, but Albeng’s spell was a beat faster.

 

“Ugh…”

 

Warm Divine Power enveloped my body. Pain like pouring flames over my skin arose. My mental strength wavered and the Deception spell almost broke.

 

Still, perhaps thanks to growing somewhat during this time, I was able to not show much outwardly.

 

“Hmm? Are you alright? It looks like you’re bleeding from your nose.”

“Ah… I haven’t been sleeping well lately. Thanks to you, I feel much better.”

“That’s good. I’ll cast it once more.”

“It’s, it’s fine. You don’t need to overdo it, hup…!”

 

As Albeng smiled and cast Divine Magic, pain and itching like insects biting swept through my entire body again.

 

I suppressed the fist that reflexively tried to strike out. By the time I finished taking a deep breath, the effects of the Divine Magic had mostly faded.

 

Did that damned servant of the goddess know what he had just done and smile?

 

-Kekeke.

 

The Demon Lord’s laughter overlapped with Albeng’s face. I relieved the stress from the pain by squeezing the Demon Lord’s soul.

 

It was fortunate that it was simple Divine Magic that just relieved a day’s worth of fatigue, but if it had been a powerful level of Divine Magic, my body might have been burning and screaming by now. No matter how much resistance I had, as long as I possessed mana, it was something I couldn’t completely avoid.

 

‘Of course, I don’t know if that guy can use such high-level Divine Magic.’

 

Traveling Priests were said to be those who wandered the continent proving their qualifications and faith before officially becoming priests. It was an essential process only during the First Hero’s time, and now it was said to be a nominal process that most didn’t go through.

 

Honestly, I couldn’t understand why anyone would do such a thing, but since he wasn’t even an official priest, he probably couldn’t handle Divine Magic powerful enough to threaten my life. …Probably.

 

‘Recently, Divine Power has strangely weakened, so maybe that’s why he’s acting like this.’

 

I sat on the floor and slowly caught my breath.

 

Timing-wise, it was from the last day of the war between Balaih Kingdom and the Holy Nation. More precisely, it was said to be after the ‘Hero’s Cry.’

 

The sudden weakening of Divine Power became an opportunity to increase trust in the new Hero and grow rejection toward priests.

 

Of course, I didn’t think that Johnny had really become a Hero…

 

-It’s because of the World Tree. One of the reasons that bastard could have such a great influence was because no god existed in the Middle Realm.

 

Could leaving the World Tree’s spirituality unabsorbed have caused this effect? But if it was due to divinity, shouldn’t this have already happened once just from the Ice Spirit’s existence?

 

The Demon Lord simply dismissed such doubts.

 

-That half-wit can’t even draw out Divine Authority. Can you call that a god?

 

He certainly seemed to have thought highly of the Ice Spirit’s potential before, but apparently he was oddly firm when it came to divinity.

 

But then it seemed planting the World Tree in the Great Forest was indeed the right thing to do. What you gain by absorbing souls isn’t immediate power after all. I wouldn’t have achieved the result of weakening the Holy Nation like now. Though that wasn’t my intention.

 

Suddenly, I recalled something concerning Albeng had said at the inn.

 

“May I ask what you meant by what you said yesterday?”

“Yesterday…? Ah.”

 

Albeng relaxed his slightly furrowed brow and smiled.

 

“I suppose it’s fine. It’s something that’s already been revealed anyway.”

 

And what he said was something I never expected.

 

“A few months ago, there was an oracle.”

“An oracle?”

 

Oracle.

 

Even I, who had no interest in the Goddess Church, knew well what that meant. The First Hero being recognized by the Goddess’s Sword was also because of that oracle.

 

“Yes. Everyone knows the Goddess loves us, but her directly letting us hear her voice is something that can be counted on one hand in history. Naturally it should have been announced immediately, but given the content, they’ve been keeping it secret.”

“What kind of content could it be…”

“The Demon Lord’s resurrection… no, birth, was it? The detailed content wasn’t revealed, but it was definitely something like that.”

 

Could he be talking while knowing everything? I felt cold sweat naturally flowing down as I watched for signs, but that alone wasn’t enough to guess Albeng’s thoughts.

 

Regardless, Albeng only continued speaking without stopping his hands from organizing his sleeping bag.

 

“Do you know about the relationship between the Demon Lord and Hero?”

 

I pondered for a moment.

 

I certainly heard from the Demon Lord that the Hero is a kind of law created by the Goddess.

 

But the problem was that I didn’t know much beyond that.

 

“…As much as other people do.”

 

It was strange.

 

That despite harboring the Demon Lord’s soul in my body, I actually didn’t know much about the Demon Lord and Hero.

 

“Well, what I have to say isn’t that remarkable either.”

 

I could guess the reason well enough.

 

As always, it would be the Demon Lord. That bastard must have skillfully guided me not to take interest in information he didn’t want me to have.

 

I let out a small sigh so Albeng wouldn’t notice and listened to his words.

 

“A Hero is the Goddess’s sword that punishes the Demon Lord. A Hero can only exist when there’s a Demon Lord, and a Demon Lord brings about the birth of a Hero.”

 

An inseparable relationship where each depends on the other.

 

If only the oracle’s content had spread, people would have dismissed it as a joke. If Johnny had stepped forward without the oracle, he might have been stoned to death as a fraud or heretic.

 

In that situation, Johnny showed miracles, and the oracle’s content spread.

 

Even I, who knew Johnny wasn’t a real Hero, was bewildered, so how much more so were other people?

 

“Perhaps that Johnny person might be a real Hero. …Though it’s hard to believe.”

“…”

“But aren’t you really curious?”

 

Albeng seemed displeased with my reaction and asked in an exaggerated voice to lighten the mood.

 

“About what?”

“That thing, you know, that.”

 

No matter how much he said “that thing” without context, nothing came to mind. When I felt even more frustrated by Albeng’s expression of frustration.

 

He finally gave up and got to the point.

 

“If a new Hero has been born, what happens to the existing Hero… the Hero who defeated the Demon Lord?”

“Well…”

 

I’d never thought about it. There wasn’t any particular reason.

 

“I don’t even know how the Hero lived after defeating the Demon Lord.”

 

Though I’d encountered various things about the First Hero through fairy tales and books, I’d never heard stories about the Second Hero separately.

 

“Hmm? Ah, my. Right. It hasn’t become that well known yet.”

 

Was it because not enough time had passed for the story to spread?

 

To think that way, I’d never heard stories about a Hero being born either. Absurdly, the first I heard about the Second Hero was that he had succeeded in defeating the Demon Lord.

 

Even though Johnny’s story, when it wasn’t even certain he was a Hero, had spread this widely.

 

“The Hero is in the Empire. He’s been having quite busy days.”

“…In the Empire?”

 

Always noble and aloof. What could there be for the Hero to do in the Empire, which maintains its position at the center of the continent?

 

“He’s decided to inherit the Emperor’s castle.”

“What…?”

“They must have been concerned about unnecessary conflicts arising. After all, since the Empire was founded by the First Hero, a new Hero might actually have greater legitimacy than descendants who are dozens of generations removed.”

 

It was a complicated matter.

 

“Then, does that mean he’ll become the new Emperor?”

“That’s hard to say. Even if he has succession rights, I don’t think the Crown Prince who was originally supposed to inherit that position will just sit quietly.”

 

Then wouldn’t things not change much after all?

 

If the Hero stays quiet, that would be fortunate, but with just a little ambition, the conflicts the Imperial Family feared would occur even more easily than before.

 

“Still, if it’s internal power struggles, wouldn’t the scope be relatively limited?”

 

Albeng said this, adding that he hoped the resulting events wouldn’t cause harm to innocent people.

 

Looking at his face as he laughed hollowly, a question arose.

 

Would someone normally know all these things just from being an Academy graduate?

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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