Black Summoner – Chapter 247

―――Gaun Inn

“The Apostle of God’s purpose is the Master’s… No, it’s Elearis’s resurrection as a god. More specifically, not just as a symbol of faith, but to summon a god itself into this world. And then, to drag Mel-san down from the seat of the Reincarnated Goddess.”

Ange began to speak with a solemn expression. I already knew this, but hearing it again made it sound like a grand tale. Iris, the shrine maiden and Colette’s ancestor, must be the ringleader, but even if Delamis’s faith changed to something strange… No, Colette would do the same. No matter if she could or couldn’t, if it was for Melfina, she’d do anything. Fanatics are scary.

“Summon a god itself? Does that mean summoning Elearis without a prosthetic body? Like how I summon Melfina’s divine body with Summoning Magic?”

Even with my evolution to a demon, it’s still impossible. Gods are inefficient.

“Hahaha, actually, I was supposed to be informed about the final stage of the plan just before the resurrection, so I didn’t know yet…”

“What!?”

“S-sorry! I was only told about the energy supply method!”

What terrible timing… Or, did Ange anticipate my possibility of defecting and planned for this?

“Hmm, the dummy body that the Proxy always keeps by her side and dotes on, it’s empty inside too… A shrine maiden of Delamis would probably do something like that pointlessly, but it’s unlikely to be related…”

An empty dummy body, doted on…? Well, yes, yes… Even considering she’s a shrine maiden of Delamis, this might be important information, so I should probably jot it down. Just in case.

“Your Highness, even if Elearis were to revive and defeat my prosthetic body, she will not replace me as the Reincarnated Goddess. This body is merely a prosthetic; my true divine body exists in another dimension. Defeating it would be far more difficult than defeating this prosthetic. However, there must be some other method… Ange. Does Delamis’s shrine maiden, Iris, truly possess the power of transmigration?”

“The Proxy seems to have received only a portion of Elearis’s transmigration power. I don’t know how she obtained it, but I myself have transmigrated, so I’ve never doubted it.”

“I see… So she must have transferred it by some method right before vanishing…”

It’s unusual for Melfina to be so troubled, but this is a serious matter. It can’t be helped. At least, I gently offered her some sweets to stimulate her brain. Ah, it vanished in an instant.

“Ah, but I heard that the Proxy’s transmigration technique is incomplete. Like it can’t be used for many years after one use, or that it can never be used on the same soul again… from casual conversation with the Guardian.”

Isn’t extremely important information leaking out through casual conversation?

“Mel, what exactly is the complete transmigration technique?”

“I apologize. Due to the ‘God’s Restraint’ restriction…”

“You can’t speak about it…”

“Ah, is that a restriction on the prosthetic body? Then I’ll tell you. With the complete transmigration technique, there are no restrictions! It can be used as much as you want! The Guardian said that during an extended casual conversation.”

“…”

It seems that confidential information that the gods would restrict is being leaked without reservation through the casual conversations of someone called the Guardian. Even Melfina-sensei started holding her head even more. Here, eat some sweets.

“Also, this is something difficult to tell Gerard-san…”

“Me?”

“Yes…”

Ange looked awkward.

“Before, when Kelvin went to suppress the Demon King in Trisen, I was entrusted with a certain mission by the Proxy. Along with the Creator. Do you know of a Dwarf named Zildra riding a Giant Golem?”

“…!”

A faint killing intent leaked from Gerard.

“Gerard.”

“…I understand.”

I’ll give him a little warning.

“The Golem that you, Gerard-san and the others defeated, I was the one who rescued Zildra from Blue Rage. I used my Unique Skill, ‘Unblockable,’ which can pass through all things.”

“Wait a moment. Even if you saved Zildra, he should have been affected by my Miasma. I filled the Golem’s interior with it! There’s no way he could have survived that!”

“Yes, the Dwarf body Zildra was using did die. However, Zildra used his Unique Skill, ‘Eternal Return,’ which allows him to transfer his body, before he died… Ah, this part includes quite a bit of my dark side. Sorry, I’ll show you the scene from that time through telepathy.”

A certain video was projected through the subordinate network. It seems to be from Ange’s perspective, as she was successively killing knights with a knife.

“Everyone accepted me, even with this. So, um… I don’t want to hide my dark side, you see.”

The scene shifted. It showed a man, who appeared to be from Trisen’s Ironclad Knights, being captured. Next, a dwarf grabbed the man’s head, and then he collapsed. Ah, I see what happened.

“He is Jin Dalba, the副官 of the Ironclad Knights, the son of General Dan Dalba. And he is also Zildra’s current body.”

“………”

After defeating the Demon King, General Dan Dalba said that Jin was missing.

“Indeed. Zildra is alive, is he not? Truly, this makes it incredibly difficult to kill him!”

“I’m sorry…”

“You don’t need to apologize to me. The King decides everything, so here!”

Gerard pushed Ange towards me, and I caught her.

“…I’ve done many other things too. Enough to stain these hands red. Sometimes, I even found it enjoyable. Kelvin, are you disillusioned…?”

Ange looked at me with a worried expression, her face slightly lowered. Her eyes were filled with tears.

“Ange, besides the missions given to you by the Proxy, have you ever killed anyone? For your own pleasure, or out of emotion?”

“…Once, I killed my former owner and his cronies from when I was a slave. Other than that, I don’t think so.”

“Then it doesn’t count. If you hadn’t done it, I might have. I can’t say I’m innocent, but I can atone for my sins from now on. And I won’t abandon you for something like that. You showed your resolve by becoming my slave. That fact alone is enough.”

“Yes, yes…”

I wiped her tears. I’m a battle maniac myself. Not to brag, but I act purely on my own pleasure. I can’t preach to others, but I can still walk the path alongside Ange. Isn’t that good enough? In fact, for me, Ange’s atonement is already complete. You can stop apologizing already.

As I held Ange until she calmed down, she eventually returned to her seat and continued the conversation.

“…This mission had two objectives. The first was to safely escort Zildra, who was staying in Trisen, out of the country. The Proxy had anticipated the appearance of the Demon King in Trisen. To be precise, it was the ‘Selector’ who anticipated it, not the Proxy myself… but that’s not important. With that in mind, they sent Zildra to Trisen. In order to engineer the birth of a more powerful Demon King.”

“A Demon King? For what purpose?”

Sera asked with a question mark.

“Yes. And that leads to the second objective. The second was to retrieve the ‘Black Book’ from King Zel’s private room. According to the Proxy, this book is the means to send the energy, the Magic Power, used for Elearis’s resurrection. The Black Book itself had been planted in the castle before I became an Apostle… and the moment this book gains Magic Power is—”

Ange suddenly took out a small knife and made a light stabbing motion.

“—The moment when life ends. The higher the rank of the individual, the better the quality and quantity of Magic Power sent to the book. For a Demon King, their Magic Power is immeasurable, and the ongoing conflicts throughout Trisen were convenient. The Apostle of God had been secretly working behind the scenes since the Great War Era, but on this day alone, they made rapid progress, bringing them one step closer to Elearis’s resurrection.”

“Our act of defeating the Demon King itself was helping Elearis revive, wasn’t it?”

“No way…”

“Hmm…”

This is bad, the atmosphere is getting heavy.

“For what it’s worth, what Kelvin and the others did was undoubtedly the right thing. I want you to be proud of it without regret. If you hadn’t defeated the Demon King, many more innocent lives would have been lost.”

That’s right. If Elearis revives, we can fight God for a justifiable reason. Thinking like that, the future looks bright.

“Ange. Is that Black Book a Magic Item from the Age of Gods? I’ve never heard of supplying Magic Power to an insubstantial Elearis…”

“Ugh, I don’t know the details beyond that… But the Proxy must have possessed several Black Books.”

“Is that so, what a shame…”

I gently offered Melfina some sweets—she’s already eaten them all! However, several books means that the Proxy didn’t just target Trisen. They were probably doing the same thing all over the world.

“Ah, that’s right! Speaking of Magic Items, um… there it is, there it is. Um, the Apostle of God has established a base in a certain location, but it’s impossible to get there by normal means. For that, they use—”

Ange held up something like a white key.

“This ‘Holy Key.’ Charging it with Magic Power near the Great Cross Bridge, the sole bridge between the Eastern Continent and the Western Continent, transfers you to a certain location.”

“Whoa! Then we can use that to raid the Apostle’s hideout!”

“Hahaha, Haku-chan, your idea is a bit… Unfortunately, the Holy Key I have seems to have already had its link severed. It’s just a key accessory now.”

“Wha-!?”

Has the Proxy already given up on Ange? I have a feeling I’m being seen through, but…

“Also, this Holy Key has another function. As long as it’s not a place with restricted Magic Power fields, you can converse with other keys or ‘Holy Monuments’ at the base from anywhere in the world. For example… it’s like telepathy through Kuro-chan, isn’t it?”

“It’s like a mobile phone that works as long as there’s a signal. Information transfer among allies would be fast too.”

“Yep, yep, mobile phones from other worlds are advanced too.”

““?””

Well, naturally, only Rion understood.

“Next… I should explain about each Apostle, shouldn’t I? Within the scope of my knowledge.”

“Yeah, please do.”

“First, the number of Apostles of God, it’s eight or nine.”

It’s the same as what I heard yesterday. The number isn’t clear. I thought Ange was just confused then, but it seems to be something else.

“Yes, yes, question. Ange-nee, why is the number slightly different?”

“Good question, Rion-chan! As a reward, I’ll hug you!”

“Gah! Ah, hahaha! It tickles, it tickles!”

Ange easily got behind Rion and hugged her, tickling her relentlessly. Ah, this is the type of older sister who can’t let go of her younger sister, Ange. But where did her solemn expression from earlier go? Well, it’s fine as long as she’s feeling better.

“While it’s nice to get your fill of ‘sister’ energy, let’s move on.”

“Ahaha, I can’t help it…”

Ange, blushing, sat Rion on her lap and continued to pet her head. Rion grumbled but looked quite pleased to be treated like a child.

“Ahem, um, it was about the number of people. To explain, when I was with the Apostle of God, there were nine people. Since I left, if you do the math, that’s eight people, right?”

Yes, that’s straightforward subtraction.

“But, the Proxy was trying to reincarnate new Apostles. And it’s about time for that. So, eight or nine. And that new reincarnator is—”

“Tristan?”

“E-Eh!? Th-That’s correct. How did you know?”

“At Trisen, he was clearly involved with something behind the scenes, wasn’t he? Of the people I know who have reincarnated, Tristan is the most troublesome.”

Clive was a candidate too, but he had already reincarnated once. He wouldn’t be eligible for Iris’s incomplete transmigration technique. Besides, I don’t think Clive has that kind of capacity.

“I-I see. Well then, let’s get back on track. Apostles are given names and ranks… Hmm? I hear the stairs creaking.”

“Someone’s coming. Based on this presence, it must be Ellie and Ryuka.”

Ange and Sera seemed to have sensed someone through their sensory network. It’s about time Ellie and the others returned, I realized. A little while later, I could also hear footsteps gradually approaching in the inn’s hallway.

—Knock, knock.

“Excuse me. Master, we’re back.”

“We’re back!”

As Sera predicted, Ellie and Ryuka had returned. They were carrying paper bags, likely from shopping. Judging from Melfina’s lack of reaction, it wasn’t food.

“Welcome back. Is it still the same outside?”

“Yes. It was lively around the arena.”

Beastmen are truly energetic.

“And Master, we have a Customer on the floor below. It seems to be an envoy from Gaun…”