The Sword and The Dress
Chapter V46

The Sword and The Dress (Volume 4) – Chapter 6

Translator: Nezu

Editor: Daed

***

The demon king frowned at my cordial greeting.

“…You still look the same inside.”

“Would it have been better if it changed?”

“The letter said that you were having a hard time!” He yelled indignantly. Oh, the letter.

“I didn’t write the letter.”

“…What? You didn’t? You tricked me!”

“Well, not really. I just asked someone to ghostwrite it.”

It still came from me. At first, I actually considered writing it myself. My answer made the demon king speechless for a moment.

“Oh… Sorry. I didn’t know you were illiterate.”

What the?

“I knew you humans had a high illiteracy rate but I didn’t expect that even the leader of the Holy Knights would be illiterate. The person who ghost wrote the letter probably just winged it.”

Clearly I wasn’t illiterate but I’d rather pretend than make unnecessary disputes. I’m sure this demon king wouldn’t know since he really seemed like a slow-witted guy.

“Well you don’t look so well.”

His wounds have healed, but the dark circles under his eyes showed that he was obviously having a hard time. The demon king sighed and nodded.

“There were a few who came to fight me…”

“Then why did you have to do something so useless if you were just going to run away like that? Did you think that if you sacrificed yourself to defeat me, the other demons would come running to you and treat you like some kind of hero? Maybe if you killed the High Priest, that could happen.”

If he killed the High Priest, things would have been different. But he killed me, the leader of the Holy Knights—someone who could be replaced.

“I… I… I didn’t know it would be like this…” The demon king mumbled weakly. Goodness, this stupid bastard. He looks pathetic but I shouldn’t curse him. I should comfort him instead.

“If you’re really having a hard time, then you could just request for asylum. As long as you don’t harm human souls, the Goddess will still accept demons like you.”

Though you’ll be under surveillance—but let’s just skip this for now.

“…I was actually thinking of doing that too but… I made you like this. Don’t you hate…”

“So why did you have to kill me? If you had left my body intact…”

“I didn’t kill you!”

…Huh? This damn bastard didn’t kill me?

“Didn’t you destroy my body?”

The demon king turned red in anger.

“I didn’t! You said you were a woman! I don’t touch a defenseless woman! …But are you really? I did hear you yell at me that you were at that time but…”

“Yeah.”

“I, I see…”

He averted his gaze in embarrassment. So what if I’m a woman? What a funny guy.

“…Anyway, I immediately ran away. My mana ran out and the barrier collapsed. I would have been caught or killed if I didn’t run away.”

“Then who the heck killed me?”

“I don’t know but… It’s probably the demon who asked me to place a curse on the Crown Prince.”

“Asked you? A demon? It wasn’t the Countess Epheria?”

“Countess Epheria? Ah, the contract offering was indeed Silla Epheria. But I never signed a contract with that person. Another demon commissioned me to make a contract in exchange for a human soul. But the price for it was different.”

The demon king said words that I didn’t expect. What on earth is he talking about? Another demon had commissioned him?

“…If the price is different, then what about the soul?”

“If you simply make a contract with somebody, the other party can just run away after the deed, or you can run away after getting what you want. So it’s important to include a human soul in a contract. That way, it can never be broken. Now, if someone asks me to kill someone, I could be paid with a hundred gold and a human soul. That’s how it works. Souls are precious, yes, but honestly, it’s too much of a loss to curse the Crown Prince in exchange for one unimportant soul. Humans are bound to attack you once the Crown Prince is harmed.”

“Y-yeah.”

Well, that makes sense. One soul could only give a bit of strength. It was too small of a price for a demon king to receive one soul in exchange for putting his life on the line. Seeing me nod, the guy shrugged his shoulders as if showing off.

“Putting a curse that even a High Priest can’t break is not something that any demon king can do. It’s only possible if it’s me.”

“…And here I thought you were nothing but a clueless half-wit.”

“Hey!”

Hmm, I didn’t expect that. Was Ortzen already aware of this? He didn’t tell me.

“By the way, demon king.”

“I have a name, you know. I’m too ashamed to call myself a ‘demon king’ in my current state.”

Name? Ah yes, name.

“…What was your name again?”

“Avros République!”

“Ah, right, Av.”

“Avros!”

“I get it. It’s just too annoying to memorize long names.”

This Av punk raised his eyebrows and stared at me.

“You know I think you’re quite stupid.”

“You wanna die—I mean, yeah, you’re right.”

He may be a demon king but I can’t kill him now. Anyway, I guess we can take him back for now and ask for more information.

“The Holy Church welcomes you, so just follow me.”

“…Can I trust you?”

“Of course. I came all the way here for that purpose. The High Priest can recognize souls, and it’s already known that I’m the leader of the Holy Knights.”

I was wondering whether I should tell him this or not but I guess it doesn’t matter anyway since it’s something that he’ll find out soon.

“And over there—”

Grrrrr.

I was going to tell him that the Saintess and the reserve Commander of the Holy Knights also came with me when the ground started to shake. Wait, this feeling…

“Damn!”

I know this! I’ve only encountered it once but I know what it is! I was just about to get on the horse but I stopped for a moment. I have to take this bastard with me too! Just then, the ground shook once more. This time, it seemed more like an earthquake. The gray sand erupted like an explosion, revealing a solid head covered with black scales. Oh no, I’m so screwed! I hurriedly retreated  to avoid the sand pouring down on us like rain.

‘I can’t be bothered now to take care of this demon king!’

But I can’t let him die. Oh wait, he’s a demon. Beasts don’t attack demons, so I can just try to escape or stall for time…

“Huh?”

“Uuugh!”

The heck, what’s wrong with that beast?! The Black Grylos, a large beast that can only be found in the Black Desert, opened its beak-looking mouth and bit the demon king’s waist. Why bite this Av punk and not me?! The good thing was that I managed to protect him with a bit of my mana so his body was fine… Damn it, why do I have to protect this punk?!

“Save me!”

“Hey! Why is that beast after you when you’re a demon?!”

Heck, the Grylos is not even looking my way! Is it really after this Av punk? This massive, plump centipede-like beast emerged from the ground just as I was getting ready to move away. Damn it, I can’t believe I’m actually trying to protect this demon king when it’s already hard enough to deal with a large beast with my body right now!

While complaining internally, I raised my whip and swung it towards the beast’s uneven horns. As the end of the whip wrapped around the horns, I used the horns to jump up onto the beast’s body. I’ve managed to get on top, but what do I do with my dagger…

Swish.

The beast began to move towards somewhere with the sound of the sand being swept through. Oh man, I won’t be able to escape the nagging even if I managed to escape from this predicament.

I was on the back of the beast but it didn’t care. Maybe because it didn’t feel threatened at all. I haven’t revealed my holy powers so it’s probably thinking that I’m simply a normal human being. It has a hard shell so it’s probably feeling secure.

‘I shouldn’t use my holy power for now.’

If I make it feel threatened, it’ll twist its body or jump and drop me. I leaned on the whip, jumped up to the beast’s head without using holy power, and looked around. It’s a good thing that we were still on the outskirts of the desert. It would be more advantageous to run to the hard ground than to deal with the beast on soft sand, so I’ll have to stop it before it could completely enter the desert.

‘Just as I thought, if you’re going to hit something, you have to go for the eye.’

For now, I have to make the beast drop the demon king. But erm…I know he’s run out of mana, but does it make sense for a guy who’s a demon king to be bitten and frightened because of a demonic beast? 

Just look at him.

“Uwaaaaaa! Mommy! A beaaast!” Sᴇaʀch* Thᴇ NovᴇlFɪre .ɴᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of nøvels early and in the highest quality.

He’s struggling and shrieking. He looks so pathetic. At least try to think of a way to escape, you punk. It would help me if he could divert the beast’s attention from me. I don’t think I can escape myself or take a hit once he’s free.

I climbed up to the top of the beast’s head and released the whip. Then I leaned on the horn where the whip had been wrapped. I held the whip in one hand and the dagger in the other. Alright, I’ll give it a try. I’ll put some holy power into the dagger first, and then…

Gasp.

The beast stopped moving. What a sensitive fellow. However, the moment that it reacted, the dagger was already moving towards the beast’s sunken right eye.

Thrust!

The dagger version of the Holy Sword filled with holy power sank deep into the beast’s eye. At the same time, the beast opened its mouth wide and began to scream.

Kieeeeeeek!

I quickly pulled out the whip and flicked it towards the demon king who fell when the beast screamed. As soon as the end of my whip wrapped around the ankles of the demon king, I pulled it back with all my might, kicking the beast’s head with holy power and jumping down.

“Uwaak! Aaak!” The demon king, whose legs were pulled up, cried out loudly.

By the look of things, I don’t think it will be enough if we just run and escape. I have no choice.

“Hey, if you see the beast chasing after us and you think you’re going to get caught, just tell me!”

“Huh?”

I held the puzzled demon king by the waist and lifted him up to put him onto my back. Then I began to run out of the desert, using my holy power sparingly. I could hear the beast running wildly behind me.

Kiiiiiieeeeeek! Kiiiiiiii!

“Is it still after us?”

“Ah, no, it’s on a rampage… Oh, it’s coming!”

“Tell me right away if you think it’s going to attack you!”

“Hey, it’s running so fast! Oh, oh, oh, it’s almost here! It’s here—aack!”

As soon as I heard the words ‘it’s here’, I threw the demon king forward. He rolled over the gray sand. At the same time, I also jumped sideways to avoid the beast.

Crash!

The beast’s head slammed into the place where I was just standing a while ago, and sand flew all over the place. The beast looked in the demon king’s direction and was about to run towards him. However, after it pulled its head back up, its upper body suddenly moved threateningly.

Grrrrrrr.

Still, it didn’t seem like it was going to attack right away. Its pierced eye probably hurt a lot. I grabbed the arm of the demon king who was staggering and forced him to stand up.

“Hey.”

“Uugggggh…”

“Hey! Can you transform objects?”

“Huh? Yeah, if it’s just a simple one.”

That’s pretty impressive. It’s quite a complicated skill so only good clergies can do that.

“Then make me a spear.”

“Huh?”

“That tree over there. Break a branch and make me a spear. Ah, damn it, it’s coming!”

The ground shook again as the beast rushed forward with its numerous legs. Honestly, I’m not sure if I can kill that beast with a spear but with the time—huh?

Crunch!

Kieeeek!

Suddenly, a white thing jumped up from behind the beast. The beast’s head was furiously struck down. It was smashed down into the ground once more, then the white thing  leapt a couple of steps away from the beast.

That… that’s…

“Snowy?”

***

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