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Side Story Chapter 69

-…Come to me.

It was only a mumble, but it sounded like a war horn was blaring out of Kireua’s mouth.

Anna gasped. An overwhelming amount of demonic power spread through the area, then coalesced into the scattered pieces of the bifurcated death knight’s corpse.

“That’s impossible,” Anna murmured.

What happened next was astonishing: after absorbing the demonic power, the death knight was recovering. His body pieces were reattached to each other. The former Marquess Turtler was restored, but his next move was a true surprise.

-…I see my new master.

The death knight, Turtler, bowed to none other than Kireua, and spoke just like a human.

-My sincere gratitude for liberating me.

“The fight isn’t over yet,” Kireua replied.

-Yes, master.

That was the end of their conversation. The death knight then pointed his sword at Beelzebub, not Kireua. Anna really couldn’t understand what was going on.

“Indeed. It’s Mammon’s power. Do you know the origin of your power?” Beelzebub asked.

Kireua didn’t—no, couldn’t answer.

‘Coal, are you controlling me right now?’ Kireua quickly asked.

-Yup. I’ll defeat your enemy, Kireua.

‘I never asked you to do that, so go back in. I can take care of him.’

-But I’m bored…

‘If you don’t listen, I won’t look for your food anymore.’

-I think I can get my own food, you know!

With the clamor going on inside Kireua’s mind, he couldn’t help frowning. When he first met Coal, it was like a toddler, but maybe its mind also grew up over time? He felt like he was dealing with an eight-year-old child now, the age that was known to be the most disobedient.

That was why Kireua became more concerned. If Kireua’s case followed the typical ending of similar cases, he was going to lose his body to Coal when it matured.

“I changed my mind,” Beelzebub said. “Take my hand.”

Kireua tilted his head in confusion. “What?”

“I’ll treat you as my equal partner, not my subordinate. If you and I join forces, it won’t be impossible to turn the Human Realm into the Demon Realm, just as all demons hope. No one can beat the demons with the power of Gluttony and Greed in a large-scale battle, not even in the Demon Realm, where the strongest take all,” Beelzebub explained, delight evident in his voice.

Rather than answering Beelzebub, Kireua picked up his sword. Since he had a reliable wall in the form of a death knight, he intended to wipe out the undead that were surrounding him even if he had to take some risks.

Magic Sword Art Level 5, Moon Sword.

He gripped his sword with two hands and pointed the tip at the floor. His left foot came one inch forward, then he turned his body in the same direction to maximize the torque.

-Anna, fly into the sky as high as you can on my signal. You’re a top-tier elemental spirit mage, so you can do that much, can’t you?

Anna\'s eyes widened at Kireua’s telepathic message. Although Kireua didn’t hear an answer, her reaction was enough to know that she understood what she had to do.

Kireua was very flexible, but when he turned his torso as it would go, his muscles and joints ached.

Beelzebub noticed the obvious movement.

“…Attack him,” the demon commanded.

Too late.

Kireua’s aura gathered at the tip of his sword. A black moon descended; slowly at first, but the descent quickened and the moon slammed against the floor, sending moonlight bursting in every direction.

“Revealing Lunar Eclipse Night,” Kireua quietly said.

Once, twice, thrice… Every time Kireua thrust his sword, black circles were drawn in the air. As the number of circles increased, thick darkness encapsulated everything nearby. It happened very quickly, like the world turning dark on the night of a lunar eclipse.

“…Oh my goodness,” Anna gasped, her jaw hanging open.

When Kireua finally came to a halt, she was able to clearly see the multitude of black sword strikes scattered in all directions from her refuge high in the sky.

From low-class undead like skeletons to high-class undead like dullahans, hundreds of undead collapsed on the ground simultaneously.

However, Anna saw something that she almost took for a trick of the light. For some reason, the red gleam in Kireua’s eyes shone brighter.

“Idiot.” Beelzebub clicked his tongue. Despite the fact that he had lost most of his army, he was very calm, which made Anna even more nervous. “I’ll take it myself if you reject me until the end.”

Beelzebub took matters into his own hands.

* * *

“…How about this?” Archbishop Grimman ventured.

“Go on.”

“It wasn’t intentional, but our actions were certainly discourteous against you, Your Majesty. Therefore, as you requested, I’ll contact the people in the Palace of the Hubalt Empire to send a delegation including at least one of the Four Great Stars.”

Considering that the people of Igrant had already named the nine absolute strongest people the Nine Stars, the “Four Great Stars” was an outright crazy and arrogant name—a direct challenge to the Nine Stars.

“In return, I hope you will be understanding of our position here,” Grimman continued.

Joshua tilted his head. “Position?”

“I wish for the official reason for the delegation to be to celebrate your return, not to make an apology.”

“Mmm…”

“I beg you to let us do this. The discourtesy we committed wasn’t intentional, and we can’t be branded as a group of thugs who persecuted an emperor, can we?” Grimman pleaded.

Grimman begged for the delegation to be celebratory, but Joshua saw through what Grimman was trying to do. Joshua had, after all, nearly fifty years of life under his belt.

‘Old fox.’ That was who Grimman was in Joshua’s eyes.

Grimman was trying to focus the other countries’ attention on Avalon by announcing the Martial God’s return to the entire continent. Since the Hubalt Empire was currently under the spotlight for becoming the strongest country on the continent, Grimman would be able to divert the attention if Joshua accepted his proposal. The difference between Avalon with and without Joshua was very clear.

“Is that all you want?” Joshua asked.

“It’s just my personal opinion…”

“It’s fine, so go on.”

“Thank you. As you’re going to meet our knights, I think hosting an event to promote friendly relations between our two countries would be a great idea,” Grimman said.

“What do you mean by ‘an event’?”

“It’s the Martial God’s return. Many of our knights in Hubalt would want to get their sword techniques assessed by you.”

No, Grimman must want to find out how significant a variable Joshua Sanders would be in the imminent war.

“And, of course, Avalon’s knights are also going to get good sparring partners, so it’ll be an excellent opportunity for the knights from both countries to gain experience, won’t it?”

Although he put it nicely, his goal was obvious: drop the enemy knights’ morale to zero. However, a prerequisite must be met to achieve such a thing. Without confidence that the Hubalt knights would win no matter what, Grimman would never have been able to make a proposal like that.

Joshua tilted his head. “So I’m not even a man if I refuse.”

“No way—it hasn’t been long since you returned to your country, has it? I know that the internal affairs in Avalon are grim… Well, they’re going to be taken care of now that you have returned, Your Majesty.”

“Look at the state of your country before demanding an apology, and take care of your own country first instead of standing on your pride. If you don’t like it, taste our swords,” is what Grimman was basically saying, but Joshua was just as sly.

“In that case, why don’t we make the announcement to the entire continent?” Joshua suggested.

“Pardon?”

“If only the Hubalt Empire sends a delegation, the other countries would find it odd. They would think that Hubalt and Avalon are trying to form an alliance like Swallow and Hubalt did decades ago.”

Grimman raised an eyebrow. The topic Joshua had just brought up was taboo for Hubalt’s citizens. Two empires had joined hands but only achieved pathetic results because they couldn’t defeat one man—the very same man who was standing in front of Grimman.

‘…This damned bastard.’

Despite what he was feeling right now, Grimman tried hard to smile. “Are you suggesting an international tournament?”

“Isn’t it a good idea? It’ll become the symbol of peace in our age of peace, just like the Reinhardt Masters\' Battle.”

Grimman was the first one to suggest a knight tournament, so if he turned Joshua’s proposal down, it would look like Hubalt was actually preparing to start a war. Hiding one’s strength from the enemy was elementary strategic planning; Grimman was reaping what he sowed.

‘Fine.’ Grimman’s eyes turned sharp. ‘Let’s do this.’

Regardless of everything that had happened, he was confident because he had witnessed the Four Great Stars’ power with his own eyes. The Hubalt Empire was going to start an invasion right after sorting out a few problems anyway, so if Grimman could confirm that Joshua was not all his reputation made him out to be, the Hubalt Empire had no reason to hesitate to start the second Continental War

“Are you really going to be okay?“ Grimman jabbed.

Joshua silently glanced to the side. When Cain met Joshua’s eyes, he smiled faintly and nodded. Although Joshua didn’t get to see their responses, the two women that were in the back anxiously waiting for the negotiation to end would agree. In that case…

“Who do you think I am?” Joshua leaned into his chair, crossing his legs. “I’m Joshua Sanders. If you’re concerned about the civil war in Avalon, I’m going to end that within a month.”

“A-A month?” Grimman stammered.

“The Fulldran Kingdom is the furthest away from Avalon, and it’ll take at least two months for their delegation to arrive in Avalon. So waiting a month isn’t a problem, is it?”

A grin spread on Grimman’s face. No matter how great the Martial God was, one person couldn’t win a war alone. If Joshua had the skill, he would have unified the continent on his own in the Continental War decades ago.

Joshua bluffed too hard.

“I’ll be looking forward to that day.”

Grimman imagined wiping off the smirk on Joshua’s face and replacing it with a frown. Goosebumps ran down his arms and he trembled in excitement.