Episode 14:
Esia didn’t know. She had no idea what expression she was wearing. It was neither anger, nor embarrassment, nor anxiety.
It was plain fear. Confronted again by those beast-like eyes, she was overwhelmed and found it hard to breathe.
“Today I bring you two prophecies. First: I pray for the well-being of the citizens of the Tesarusis Empire.”
The imperial citizens clasped their hands and wept tears of joy. Their hearts swelled at the thought that a god was looking after them personally.
“…My goodness!”
“Oh, primordial god!”
Their happiness lasted only a moment. I let out a laugh and continued speaking.
“The second is that your well-being rests in my hands.”
“……?”
The empire’s people, who’d been beside themselves with joy, all froze into slack-faced expressions at my words. They looked as if they weren’t sure they’d understood correctly.
At that moment a priest in the crowd spotted Esia and shouted.
“Saint! Please explain—what is this situation?”
All eyes that had been on me turned to her in an instant. Frozen with fear, Esia’s hands trembled under the sharp stares. She looked utterly pitiable.
…How could someone so timid have thought to mess with me?
Judging from her face, I had a pretty good idea what she was thinking. In this moment of all eyes on her, she was probably agonizing over how to act so she could still be seen as the proper saint.
“This wasn’t my intention. That person is… not someone I appointed as a representative.”
“Then we’ll pull them down at once—”
“Don’t! If you act rashly everyone will die.”
At Esia’s desperate plea, the priest stopped. She took a long breath and stepped forward from the crowd.
So now she’s willing to speak to me.
I looked down at her with interest and opened my mouth.
“This is my first time exchanging greetings like this. Saint Esia.”
“Stop deceiving the citizens of the empire.”
…Deceiving? I snorted and didn’t dignify her words with a response.
I knew she’d be cautious with every word while the imperial citizens were watching, but it was laughable.
No matter how I thought about it, that word didn’t suit you.
“You should be able to keep from bursting with joy after receiving the gift you gave me. I’ve come to give a gift as well, and if it offends you I suppose I should apologize.”
“…A gift?”
Esia blinked and asked again, feigning ignorance.
I took from my chest a button stamped with a wing pattern and tossed it to her.
“What is this…?”
Esia didn’t pick up the button I’d thrown. She only looked down at the button lying at her feet and stiffened.
Now it seemed she was beginning to realize the situation.
“Saint, who is this author?”
“Why won’t the temple pull the suspicious person out?”
The humans who didn’t recognize me pointed fingers at me and harassed the saint. The more they did, the paler Esia’s face became.
Seeing her tremble and go ashen made me want to laugh.
“You’re foolish.”
“…….”
“Wouldn’t you introduce me now? I’m out for the first time in a while, and the humans’ noisy chatter is grating.”
Esia must have agonized over whether to reveal my identity to the empire’s citizens or to hide it.
The former would surely cause chaos; the latter would leave everyone uneasy, not knowing what I might do.
In the end she chose the former.
“If you humiliate our citizens one more time, we will not be able to ignore you. The Demon Lord of Greed, Rehel.”
“What? A demon lord?”
“Could it be the master of the Nieves Mountains…!”
Hearing Esia’s words, the crowd gradually descended into fear. I expected they might scatter the moment they learned who I was, but their legs seemed to be frozen by terror.
“You put a lot of thought into your gift. So I prepared a gift for you as well.”
I hoped she’d like it.
As I finished speaking, a huge ice crystal appeared, large enough to cover the city’s sky. The transparent ice was beautiful, but for those seeing it for the first time it was terrifying enough.
“W— we must flee…”
“Aah—!”
As they backed away slowly, I spoke in a threatening, cold voice.
“If you run, I’ll kill you all.”
You are my precious hostages and the tools to clear my quest. If you run, there’s a chance the most important quest will be spoiled, so I must keep you held.
“Rehel…!”
Sensing danger from my action, Rian, who’d been on standby with Terio behind, moved forward.
“Don’t come any closer.”
I thrust an ice spear into the ground right in front of him. Rian stopped at my command and looked at me with a somewhat worried gaze.
His face was already well-known to many. If Rian appeared beside me amid this scene, people would think the hero had sided with the demon lord.
“It’s fine for now. Trust me.”
I gave Rian a small smile, then shifted my gaze back to her.
“Why are you doing this!”
“Did you not like my gift?”
I’d tried to make it pretty. She clutched at her skirts and affected the demeanor of a gentle, pitiable person.
“Is a human life so insignificant to you?”
“……ha.”
So she’s going to put on all sorts of acts because the citizens are watching.
In the game, Saint Esia was one of the more popular NPCs. Though she only appeared now and then in the story, her beauty and righteous, kind personality made her beloved.
I wasn’t her fan, but I didn’t dislike her either.
But the way she regarded Rian as her possession, and how she’d harm children without a second thought—those things removed any softness I might have had.
I may already be a villain, but right now you look like no small-time antagonist yourself.
“Thinking human life is trivial? That’s your flaw, not mine.”
“…….”
“You don’t think I’d notice the button wasn’t yours? There’s a limit to how much you can take me for a fool.”
Esia couldn’t answer my words and bit her lip in frustration.
“Remove your magic. Otherwise we will respond as well.”
“Go ahead. If you want to kill all these civilians.”
If they attacked me here, civilians would inevitably get caught up. If people died or were hurt under the saint’s order, her reputation would be stained.
“Didn’t I say it already? The safety of the empire rests with me.”
“You think such threats will work on us.”
“Threats? That’s an amusing thing to say.”
I thought I was being rather polite.
“I only speak the truth. The moment I decide to kill you, those who’ve been hiding will bare their claws and tear you apart.”
I was holding civilians as hostages. For the monsters watching this scene, how convenient would that be? They were probably just waiting for the moment to scoop up the prepared feast.
“Save— save us…”
“Please, spare our lives!”
One by one, the terrified humans kneeled and begged. Among them were priests who took care of the main temple.
Before long, Esia alone stood precariously amid the crowd.
She looked so wretched that I couldn’t help a sneer slipping out.
“You should know your place.”
She bowed her head and trembled.
“Can a saint act on petty personal feelings?”
Today, the fear and death the empire’s citizens faced were the consequences of her actions.
“…….”
Seeing her kneel and beg for her life like everyone else, clinging to survival while also painfully enduring it, even I felt a twinge of sympathy.
I raised one hand to my chest and clenched it into a fist. The huge ice crystal I’d made in the sky shattered.
The shattered ice turned into snow and began to fall over the people’s heads.
“This is….”
“…snow.”
There were tales that if you were hit by snow from the Nieves Mountains you’d slowly freeze to death.
Remembering that, the people panicked as they watched the snow falling from the sky, thinking they were about to die. This was enough to frighten them.
Actually, the ice was harmless—just a toy kind of thing to tease children.
What they truly feared was my main skill. If they were hit by that kind of snow, they would really freeze and die.
“…Oh no. I broke it by accident.”
“Why… why is this happening….”
“You still ask ‘why’?”
I couldn’t tell whether to be impressed by their continued pretense or disgusted at their failure to grasp the situation.
Esia looked around with eyes full of fear and, taking the falling snow, finally ended her act.
“W— what must I do to stop this…?”
“If you want me to stop this snow, bring me what I desire.”
You made our children addicted to sacred energy—surely there must be a way to return them to normal.
“You’d better move as fast as you can. I’m not very patient.”
You should be grateful I didn’t kill you. If I’d lost my reason and killed you, Rian would have hated me.
I looked down coldly at her shaking body. No matter how pitiable she appeared, thinking of the children suffering in the annex left me unmoved.
“One last thing.”
As I turned to leave for the castle, a last line occurred to me and I stopped.
“It would be better if you stopped staring creepily. I don’t like being watched.”
Where I came from, peeking like that was a crime.
Esia didn’t reply to me. Judging by her face and actions, she probably wouldn’t do anything more to provoke me.
She was trembling like that now—if she caused the same situation again through her actions, she’d be as good as dead.
If the same thing happened again because of her, I might kill her.
“Do not test my patience.”
With those words, I headed to the castle along with Rian and Terio, who had been waiting behind.
