Game Opportunity Becomes Reality Episode 187
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Game Opportunity Becomes Reality Episode 187
44. Center of the Incident (3)
Why do demon worshipers come to exist?
Because they hate the goddess?
Because they hate this world?
No.
People often assign religious meaning to the term "demon worshiper," but strictly speaking, it refers to all those who have forged contracts with the demon race.
People forge contracts with the demon race for all sorts of reasons.
"I want to become stronger. If only I had power..."
"Why do I have to live like a rat in the gutter? Why, of all things!?"
"I want to kill him. If I could just kill that bastard, I'd gladly give my one life."
"Oh Sepia! Why did you take her away!? What did she ever do wrong!!!"
They desire power, or wealth, or revenge, or the revival of someone dear...
There are various reasons depending on each person's circumstances.
But they all share one thing in common.
That is, "resentment" and "desperation" toward the world.
These two emotions combine to create a powerful negative energy, and the demon race, drawn by that energy, speaks to them.
"Do you desire power?"
Just like that.
Once they fall for the demon's temptation, they become beings called demon contractors, or demon worshipers.
The church calls this process "corruption," because the moment a human forges a contract with a demon, black mana takes root in their body, and they gain power strong enough that they might as well have been reborn.
Having thus fallen, the human aids the descent of the demon race in order to fulfill their own wish.
Those who desired power obey out of fear that the demon might take back its power.
Those whose wishes could not be fulfilled immediately with the power the demon first granted them seek to achieve their desires through the demon's descent.
Naturally, the demon's descent signifies destruction and chaos upon the earth, which is why the Sepia church hunts them with burning eyes, and every nation cooperates in that effort.
"The demon race is divided into three ranks: common demons, high demons, and the Demon King. Those who forge contracts with humans are high demons and the Demon King. Even if one is a contractor of a high demon rather than the Demon King, that high demon ultimately has a king it serves, so once you follow the demon race, the final goal inevitably becomes the Demon King's descent."
Right now, I am sitting side by side with Arcia, listening to Teacher Maryang's explanation of "the reasons demon worshipers appear."
Having been tasked by the church with investigating the Elysian Coalition, I left the duchy entirely and set up an investigation office in the Coalition and the place we are in right now is that office.
No, actually, is it even right to call it an office?
Because the place we've settled into as our office is the residence of Iris Maryagny, the head elder.
"Teacher, how strong are the demon race?"
At my question, Maryang, as if forgetting all the grievances I'd caused her, cleared her throat with self-importance and continued the explanation.
"By mage standards, common demons are usually around the 7th Circle level, high demons are 8th to 9th Circle level. The Demon King is said to be beyond that."
The Demon King's power is beyond even 9th-circle?
In other words, an existence outside the standard a divine level?
If something like that descended, even a dragon wouldn't be able to handle it.
Naturally, Arcia and I wore shocked expressions, and seeing this, Maryang said there was no need to worry and continued.
"They say that when the demon race descends into Rondel, they cannot exert their full power. This applies not only to the demon race but to the Heavenly Tribe as well."
"That's a relief."
"Likely, during the Mythic Era when the Heavenly Tribe and the demon race coexisted in Rondel, the two races nearly destroyed Rondel, so the goddess must have placed such restrictions."
All the constellations seen in Rondel's night sky, except the moon, are illusions created by the goddess.
Beyond those illusions lies the true universe, and that universe's shape almost exactly matches Earth.
The solar system Rondel belongs to also has eight major planets, and if Rondel is Earth, then the Heavenly Tribe live on Venus and the demon race on Mars.
This is knowledge known only to Grand Duke Lucas, not publicly known.
The reason Rondel cannot advance into space despite having sufficient technological capability, and the reason the demon race and the Heavenly Tribe cannot easily show themselves in Rondel, is because physical travel between planets is impossible.
I suspect this is exactly what Maryang said back in the Mythic Era, the Heavenly Tribe and the demon race raised such havoc that the goddess resorted to this extreme measure.
So if the Demon King wants to descend upon Rondel, he has to go through all sorts of desperate contortions.
And even after all that tearful groveling, to descend in such an incomplete form...
From our perspective, it's a relief, but at the same time I can't help wondering why the demon race goes to such lengths.
"Teacher, why do the demon race try to descend upon Rondel?"
"Unlike the Heavenly Tribe, who are the Creator's loyal servants, the demon race who deny the Creator were said to have inherited a base land. So I've heard they desperately desire expansion into new territory."
So even the goddess has emotions, does she?
Rewarding those who listen and tormenting those who don't...
"If that's the case, wouldn't it be better to just wipe out the demon race entirely? If she's the goddess Sepia, she could eliminate the demon race with ease."
Back on Earth, whenever I read fantasy novels or manga, there was always something I couldn't understand.
That being the goddess summoning a hero, giving them a Holy Sword, and commanding them to slay the Demon King.
Every time, I thought to myself:
'Can't the god just kill the Demon King themselves?'
'Instead of going through the trouble of summoning a hero and granting a Holy Sword to aid their growth, wouldn't it be easier to just handle it directly?'
That's what I thought.
And I still think so now.
If they're that troublesome, wouldn't it be simpler to just erase them?
"Like mother, like child no matter how they turn out, they're still your own."
"So the goddess is a parent with the mindset that kids grow by fighting? As long as the house doesn't burn down, she doesn't bother getting involved in her children's squabbles..."
At my words, Maryang let out an involuntary chuckle.
I suppose my analogy hit the nail on the head.
"Something like that, I guess?"
Maryang shrugged as she said that, but I couldn't help thinking that perhaps the goddess's personality was just as fickle as any human's.
Well, only the goddess herself knows the real answer.
"Anyway, I've heard that when the demon race descends upon Rondel, their combat power drops by nearly half. Even the Demon King is said to be defeatable if three ancient dragon-class dragons gather."
"If even the Demon King can be handled by dragons upon descending, isn't that fine?"
"But there are always exceptions to everything. Just as there are mediocre Demon Kings, there are also exceptionally powerful ones like the Crimson Demon King last time. The Crimson Demon King defeated the dragon subjugation squad and burned countless nations to the ground."
I nodded in agreement.
If that's the case, it makes sense.
After that, we talked about many more things.
About the demon race, and about the search ahead.
"But speaking of which."
"Yes?"
"Do we really have to do this at my house?"
Maryang's house was quite impressive.
It wasn't a grand manor like those of human nobles, but it was plenty large enough for over a dozen people to sleep with ease and thanks to the Elysian Coalition's motto of not employing fellow beastkin as servants, there were no annoying attendants to worry about.
Moreover, she used a service that regularly maintained and cleaned the facilities, so the building was spotless.
But Maryang, who had been puffing up with pride and explaining things grandly at being called Teacher, looked at Bug who was lying sprawled sloppily on her bed, fast asleep with a disgruntled expression and protested.
"This is my first return home in a while, but because of you lot, it feels like I'm still in the duchy!"
"We have a good base here that's out of sight why bother going through the trouble of finding a new one?"
"Ugh!"
On the Prota continent of the Elysian Coalition, which is called Rondel's first continent, there exists a mysterious phenomenon.
That being the existence of lands scattered about imbued with the power of anti-gravity.
As a result, naturally formed floating sky islands not artificial ones exist within the Elysian Coalition.
Maryang was the landowner of such a sky island, and her fairly large floating island held only a two-story house and a small vegetable garden.
In a world where cars fly through the sky, living on a sky island didn't seem particularly inconvenient.
"I've heard that sky islands are land that can't be bought even with money impressive."
"Well, Maryang does come from a family with a long history in the beastkin nation."
This place seemed convenient for secretly summoning Support from the holy land in case of an emergency.
I looked up at the sky beyond the window and spoke.
There, floating in the air, was a silver sphere about twenty meters in diameter similar in atmosphere to the Heaven-Piercing Fortress, but far smaller in size.
"So that's the famous Spirit Tower."
"Yeah, it's the Elysian Coalition's unique defense system, with spirits dwelling inside."
The Elysian Coalition also possesses a large number of Heaven-Piercing Fortresses.
But unlike human society, they don't keep them floating in the sky at all times to defend their cities the reason being that the Spirit Tower exists as a cost-effective defense system that doesn't obstruct the view.
It's said that in ancient times, the elves built Spirit Towers at the center of their villages to protect themselves.
But as the ages passed, through repeated development and refinement, the tower form was abandoned, and now it has become a flying metal sphere.
The unmanned Spirit Towers are built purely for defensive purposes, and even if they're cost-effective, each one costs over a trillion, so they're not something just anyone can own.
In other words, though she gets treated like a doll among us, she is, after all, a top-ranking figure of the world's second most powerful nation.
"This is truly an ideal stronghold."
"Tch..."
Seeing how much I liked her residence, she shook her head as if she'd given up.
"So you're saying the busy big shots are going to settle down here and just wait for news from the information group?"
At Maryang's question, I wore an ambiguous expression.
"Since we have this rare opportunity, I thought I'd move a bit more aggressively."
"Huh? How?"
It's not good to give time to an enemy that might strike from behind at any moment.
If possible, the sooner you eliminate troublesome enemies, the sooner you can rest easy.
"I've cast the bait, so if they bite, I'll move."
With those words, I closed my mouth.
"Ugh, ugh. Maryang, no. Not there."
"What the hell are you saying, you lunatic."
Maryang, who had been puffing out her cheeks in displeasure, walked over with an annoyed expression at Bug's incomprehensible sleep-talking and rolled him off the bed.
* * *
"Hmm?"
Celine Viola, the Black Knight, brought an artifact shaped like binoculars to her eyes and gazed up at the sky, twisting her lips into a smile of admiration.
"Not bad at all."
Nothing existed in the sky she looked up at.
No, to be precise, it simply couldn't be seen with the naked eye.
That was because the artifact she held to her eyes revealed a sleek, streamlined airship.
"An airship with stealth functions that conceals even sound and aura. Without a detection artifact, it would be absolutely impossible to find."
Celine currently stood alone in the middle of a vast, open sea.
At her side, ten people knelt on one knee in unison, bowing their heads.
A posture befitting subjects serving their king.
But accustomed to such a situation, Celine merely grinned...
"Let's go."
The moment she commanded, removing the binoculars from her eyes...
The patch of land in the middle of the sea beneath their feet began to rise into the sky.
That saucer-shaped thing was a kind of Hoverboard.
A large Hoverboard.
Despite having nothing to hold onto nearby, Celine and her party didn't waver even a single inch, as if they had glue stuck to their feet.
"First, we should deactivate the stealth."
Still smiling at whatever pleased her so much, she fluttered the hem of her robe, and from within the robe parted like a cloak countless short swords dangling from it all surged into the sky at once.
The maximum number of Sword Auras a Grandmaster is known to be able to control is four.
But somehow, the number of short swords that shot up at her command seemed to number over ten by rough estimate.
-BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The Sword Auras, imbued with Darkblade, created explosions of varying sizes in the sky, and soon, as if color were being painted onto empty air, a pure-white airship revealed itself.
It was a massive airship that seemed at least two hundred meters in length.
"How slow. Once you board, you lot search for artifacts. I'll be off hunting."
"W-What? My lady!"
"I'll go on ahead then."
Celine took out an ornate butterfly mask fit for a masquerade ball and put it on.
Then, before the Hoverboard reached the airship, she leaped into the air, and a single short sword carried her like a skateboard, surging sharply upward.
"Hello?"
Reaching the airship in an instant, she came face to face with Holy Knights and priests wearing flustered expressions.