The Lord Who Levels Up by Devouring - Chapter 373

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 373. Omens (1)
Iliana’s face flushed with heat.
Iliana did her best to avoid Seraphia’s gaze.
In that moment.
“My brother has always been like that, though.”
Seraphia nodded as she spoke.
“Last time too, he suddenly went to Langritd Magic Tower and came back after doing something incredibly dangerous.”
“Y-yes, that’s right….”
Iliana nodded.
It wasn’t merely dangerous.
He had nearly failed to return at all.
“And this time he went to the Capital and resolved a rebellion.”
“…Yes.”
Even Iliana had been shocked by that.
He vanished without a word, and then days later.
News arrived that he had suppressed a coup.
Thanks to that, he became Baron of Floren, but regardless.
“He tries to handle everything alone. When will he ever learn to lean on others?”
Seraphia pouted slightly.
“So I understand why Iliana worries so much.”
“…Yes.”
“But why is your face so red?”
“Eh, wh-what?”
Startled, Iliana reflexively touched her cheeks.
A burning heat.
Though she couldn’t see her own face, it was clearly as red as a beet.
“Iliana, could it be that you….”
“Wh-wh-what?!?! N-no! No, that’s not it! It’s not─!!”
“Are you feeling unwell?”
“U-um??”
Seraphia approached with a serious expression.
“If your face is this red, you must have a fever.”
“Th-that is….”
“My goodness! Your forehead is burning hot!”
“N-no, this is….”
“Wait, your breathing is so ragged too! Hold on, let me call Rielin.”
The moment Seraphia turned away.
Iliana grabbed Seraphia’s hand.
“No! There’s no need! I’m fine! Really!”
“Who would believe you’re fine with a face like that?”
“There’s no need to call Rielin! Besides, it’s not that I’m in pain…”
“If you’re not in pain, then what is it?”
Iliana faltered.
As if her words had abandoned her.
She finally clamped her mouth shut and bowed her head deeply.
Just then.
“Your Majesty, I have completed all the tasks you instructed.”
A heavy voice resonated through the air.
A creature standing three meters tall.
Something between a lizard and a dinosaur.
“Ah, Zemu!”
Seraphia waved her hand in delight.
Zemu approached with long, deliberate strides.
The arm that had vanished before, taken by Seraphia, had been restored to its original state.
“Evolved Vice-Commander? What brings you here?”
Evolved Vice-Commander.
That was thanks to Iliana.
Iliana had extracted Icetroll’s genetic material and implanted it into Zemu in Adrian’s stead.
Perhaps because of that.
Zemu did not dismiss Iliana as an inferior being.
He honored her with the distinguished title of Evolved Vice-Commander.
“…Yes? Ah, no. Nothing particular—”
“Body temperature elevation. Rapid heart rate increase. Hormonal disruption. Pupil dilation.”
Zemu analyzed Iliana’s condition.
At the same moment, Seraphia’s eyes gleamed.
“Zemu, analyze further. Where is Iliana hurt?”
“Your Majesty’s command acknowledged.”
Zemu took a step closer to Iliana.
His massive eyes bore down intently.
“No pathological symptoms detected. No external trauma. No viral response. Immune response normal.”
“So you’re not in pain?”
“Correct. Analysis indicates excessive emotional factors.”
“Excessive emotion?”
“Kyaaaaaaaa!?!?”
Iliana shrieked and leaped into the air.
Then she fled without hesitation.
Seraphia tilted her head curiously and asked.
“Why is she running away like that?”
“That response is presumed to be denial and avoidance.”
“Denial and avoidance?”
“It appears to be a form of psychological defense mechanism—awareness of emotion without acceptance.”
“…I’m not sure I follow.”
“Neither do I. No evolutionary advantage.”
Zemu shook his head side to side.
Seraphia shrugged as she spoke.
“In any case, Iliana isn’t actually ill, correct?”
“Affirmative. The Subordinate is physiologically and immunologically normal. No other anomalies detected.”
“That’s a relief.”
“Then I shall report on Territory operations.”
Zemu immediately shifted the subject.
There was not a single unnecessary word.
By Zemu’s logic, he never spoke words without evolutionary advantage.
“The vacant Territory directly under the Empress due to attendance at the Coronation Ceremony has been delegated to Bernard. Regarding the Subordinate’s Territory, matters concerning sewage system renovation and personnel procurement have been….”
Zemu reported without pause for breath.
And everything was flawless.
Truly, a Dracan who inherited the Dragon’s intellect.
Seraphia expressed genuine admiration.
“…Impressive, Zemu.”
“Praise is unnecessary. Fulfilling the Empress’s commands is advantage enough.”
Even as he spoke, Zemu watched Seraphia’s expression carefully.
Ever since his arm was severed that one time, Zemu had shown absolute obedience to Seraphia.
Seraphia chuckled softly and spoke.
“Then keep the Whitewolf Territory and Baron’s Territory safe for me!”
“Empress’s command acknowledged. The Whitewolf Territory and Baron’s Territory shall be protected and maintained.”
With those words, Zemu turned to leave.
Thud, thud.
Heavy footsteps echoed against the ground, gradually fading into the distance.
Seraphia watched his retreating figure for a moment.
Kai, Broombar, Rielin.
And even Iliana.
All of them would be absent due to attending the Coronation Ceremony.
‘Zemu, you’re really dependable!’
Thanks to Zemu, Seraphia could journey to the Holy Kingdom without a single worry.
* * *
Countless kingdoms existed across the Continent.
A Kingdom referred to a nation governed by a sovereign monarch who held absolute authority.
Yet there was one exception.
A nation that governed its state and society according to divine will, forming a political system where religious authority and royal authority were intimately intertwined.
With doctrine serving as law and social norm.
A nation whose purpose was to manifest the divine will upon the Surface.
The Holy Kingdom of Cordelia.
Yet where there is light, darkness must follow.
Thus, the Holy Kingdom not only harbored the will of God, but also commanded the military force necessary to execute that divine will.
The Holy Templars.
Guardians of God’s law.
Knights who eliminated God’s enemies.
They were the blade of God, judging all heretics and apostates.
And among such blades, the sharpest of all.
The Azure Silver Knights.
An elite order tasked with eliminating hostile forces against the Holy Kingdom and executing special operations to prevent external invasion and internal betrayal.
These very knights had assembled in a single village.
The village had been reduced to ash.
Every foundation of life lay shattered and scattered in all directions.
Ash rose through the air like heat shimmer—
“….”
“….”
The knights could not close their mouths.
An empty wasteland.
Everything burned as though life itself had never existed here.
Corpses lay strewn between the collapsed buildings.
The elderly, children, pregnant women.
There were no exceptions.
All had been slaughtered with brutal savagery.
Faced with that horrific sight, a knight draped in a blue cloak spoke at last.
“…The Dark Merchant Company’s doing?”
The commander of the Azure Silver Knights.
Erdan Spellhart.
Anger laced his voice.
Yet the sword in his grip trembled, unable to cut anything.
In that very moment.
“Are we too late?”
A voice rang out—pure, crystalline, and serene.
It belonged nowhere near this desolate ruin.
The very air seemed to clarify at her words.
Only one person possessed a voice whose timbre purified both body and spirit.
“Yes, Your Holiness.”
Erdan knelt on one knee.
The knights in unison dropped to one knee, offering their respects.
A woman emerged from among them.
Her platinum hair gleamed with a soft luminescence.
Lips tinged with the faintest blush of rose.
Skin of refined ivory hue.
Features carved as if beauty itself had taken physical form.
Her very existence seemed unreal, so ethereal was her presence.
Her name was Isolde Cordelia.
The 213th Saint.
Isolde stepped forward with measured grace.
As her feet touched the ground, the swirling ash settled in her wake.
And where she stopped.
Before the charred corpse of a child.
Isolde knelt in silence and placed her hand upon the lifeless body.
A tremendous surge erupted forth!
Immense holy power burst outward.
A wave of golden radiance awakened the essence of life.
From beneath the ash-covered earth, verdant shoots began to sprout.
The stale air was purified in an instant.
Holy power is the power of divinity.
It could restore life to land shrouded in death.
It could even perform miracles—resurrecting the dead.
And yet.
The child’s breath did not return.
For Isolde’s power could not reach the authority of the divine.
Isolde was the Saint.
A holy ‘human’ who exemplified faith and virtue.
In other words, merely the divine’s representative.
Not the divine itself.
Yet still, Isolde continued to pour forth her holy power to revive the dead child.
At last, Erdan could bear it no longer and stepped forward.
“Your Majesty, please stop.”
Isolde did not cease.
An even more radiant light bloomed forth.
The ash-covered earth regained its vitality completely, and the air became crystalline.
Yet the child remained motionless.
She swayed.
Isolde’s body tilted for a moment.
Erdan rushed to steady her.
Isolde breathed heavily.
Her shoulders, which he held, were drenched with cold sweat.
“Your Majesty, are you well?”
“I’m… fine.”
Isolde drew a deep breath and steadied herself.
Yet her body trembled like a newborn fawn.
Her topaz-hued eyes could not tear away from the lifeless gaze of the child.
Erdan offered her solace.
“The Divine will surely watch over them.”
But Isolde could not nod in agreement.
“This place was… where the poor of Violess once made their home.”
The Lawless City, Violess.
When it collapsed, the impoverished lost their refuge.
Isolde had provided them with a new foundation.
“And they changed. No longer as paupers of the Lawless City, but as subjects of the Holy Kingdom.”
People could change.
Even if it was a difficult thing to accomplish.
“The children here prayed each morning to the sound of bells. Dreaming, however modestly, of the Divine’s blessing.”
Isolde’s eyes swept across the surroundings.
And finally, she gently touched the charred corpse of the child.
“…But was that blessing truly this?”
Isolde’s voice trembled.
After a moment of silence, Erdan spoke.
“Yes, my lady. This is the work of the Dark Merchant Company. Not the will of the Divine.”
Isolde did not answer.
She neither nodded nor shook her head.
The world Isolde had witnessed.
She had once seen a child beaten to death.
The reason was that he had blocked a nobleman’s path.
The child’s father clung to people and wailed that it was unjust.
He was ignored.
Yet he did not give up.
On the evening of the fifth day, as dusk fell.
Haggard and broken, he solemnly buried the child in the earth.
It was a bitter winter’s day.
The ground was frozen solid and would not yield to the spade.
His fingernails were torn and shattered, blood streaming forth.
His blood stained the frozen earth.
Only his tears, falling as he knelt, could melt the frozen ground.
She had witnessed a territory struck by a terrible famine.
With nothing to eat, the residents kneaded earth and baked it for sustenance.
Earth nourished plants, but it could not sustain people.
The streets overflowed with the starving dead.
…Yet still, the lord grew fatter with each passing day.
A thief who steals a single coin from the poor is called a thief.
But one who empties the kingdom’s treasury is revered as a minister.
A beggar who steals a loaf of bread from hunger is called a beggar.
But one who starves an entire nation is respected as The King.
The virtuous are imprisoned.
The wicked roam free.
If this truly is the result of God’s divine providence…
“Why does God always pluck the beautiful flowers first?”
And why…
“Does He leave only the wicked in this world?”
How could mere humans comprehend the will of God dwelling in the exalted heavens?
Just as a sparrow cannot fathom the mind of a phoenix.
Isolde too could not understand God’s will, but…
Since when had it been?
This profound question had taken root deep within Isolde’s heart.
“Let us return.”
Isolde rose from her seat.
“We must finish preparing for the canonization ceremony.”
Isolde turned away.
Her platinum hair swayed as she receded into the distance.
Watching her departing silhouette, Erdan felt an inexplicable sense of unease.
…Something.
An ominous premonition he could not articulate clearly knocked upon the depths of his heart.
* * *
Marzen was experiencing a truly bizarre phenomenon.
Whoooooosh—!
Space twisted and vibrated.
Everything warped around him, and the entire world turned blue.
Blue shift phenomenon.
It was the effect of all light wavelengths entering his vision becoming shorter due to excessively rapid velocity.
At a speed where even light itself was distorted, everything observable transformed into blue.
“Aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh!!!”
Marzen felt as though he were truly dying.

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