Children of the Holy Emperor
chapter-32

“Your Highness!”

“Are you okay, Your Highness!”

The young prince, who was performing a feat of stabbing the monster body with a sword as if he were in a rodeo, exhaled.

“I’m… okay.”

Kurt clicked his tongue. He thought he wasn’t a normal human from the time he went to and from the gymnasium, but where did that persistence come from, sticking a sword in its neck until his opponent died?

Besides, look. Those calm eyes, as if that was nothing.

Anyone who sees him will think that he is an old war veteran who has mastered seawater subjugation.

Rather, it was Sir Marthain, the commander of the knights, who had a pale face while tearing off the unpleasant tentacles that were wrapped around the prince’s body with his hands.

Where did all the momentum that he used to beat the resident knights go? Can that be solved by hand?

Kurt raised his sword and cut off several tough tentacles that were pulling the prince’s body.

He doesn’t know what happened, but it was settled anyway. That’s what he thought.

So when the prince’s body suddenly fell forward, Kurt didn’t immediately realize what had happened.

“… Your Highness?”

Sir Marthain, who had accidentally received Prince Morres, who had suddenly collapsed into his arms, called out to him in dismay. His voice became desperate after examining the prince’s condition for a moment.

“Your Highness!”

Sensing unusual energy, Kurt quickly cut off the remaining tentacles and knelt down towards him.

“What happened, Sir Marthain?”

“Sir Kurt……”

Sir Marthain’s face, looking up at him, was blank, as if his soul had been drained.

“… His Highness is not breathing.”

* * *

[Lee Seongjin……]

It was a call he could never ignore.

[Lee Seongjin……]

Before Seongjin could even recognize it, he responded to the sound.

No, rather than a response, it was just that his soul reacted to it automatically. As if he reflexively listen to every sound that calls him without being conscious of it.

Whoosh.

He feels a strange sense of floating, and his consciousness is quickly separated from reality. A dull sensation as if he is submerged in water and looking at the sky through a huge screen of water.

-Your Highness?

It seemed that Marthain’s voice could be heard in the ringing ears, but it went away in an instant.

His vision suddenly distorted, and at that moment, his soul began to be sucked into something helplessly.

Uh… I, seem to have messed up?

Seongjin realized that his soul had left Morres’ body. Compared to the fear of being exorcised by a high-ranking priest or the Holy Emperor in the past, it was a really futile ending worthy of a sigh.

So easily?

No matter how possessive it is, can the soul escape the body so easily?

Passing through the thick clouds and the warm fog at great speed, his soul was flying in the dark night sky before he knew it.

Music sounds from somewhere. The small notes that looked like a music box or a xylophone suddenly became five separate lines and began to stretch. Seongjin couldn’t tell whether he was listening or watching.

[Lee Seongjin……]

The faint voice calling him continues.

He doesn’t even know how to get back to Morres anyway, so let’s focus on what’s right in front of him. When Seongjin decided to listen to his voice, the soul that responded to his will now began to run at an incredibly fast speed.

He flew like a shot through a cluster of stars. The stars twinkling in the distance start to grow long like the teeth of a comb.

Even though he was flying directly, Seongjin felt dumbfounded. It must be a lot farther away than it looks, but it stretches like this. He had no great knowledge of physics or astronomy, but if this was space, he was already flying at a speed far exceeding the speed of light.

After all, he don’t need to study or anything. After death, everything becomes clear like this.

How much time has passed.

The last sparsely connected star disappeared, and now his soul was floating in an infinitely deep black space. Seongjin’s soul trembled in instinctive fear that his existence itself would disappear.

It wasn’t that there was darkness there, it was so black because there was nothing there. Was complete absence so piercingly cold?

If it had not been for the faint light that surrounded his soul, if it had not been for that call that seemed to be cut off, Seongjin’s soul might have lost its strength and froze and shattered at any moment.

And there it was.

A small light that looks precarious like a candle that will go out at any moment.

[Lee Seongjin……]

A small soul that now looked like a handful of dust was flickering red, occasionally letting out Lee Seongjin’s name like a sigh.

That’s right. There is no other person who called him by his name other than this one.

Seongjin, who felt a little pity for his ungainly figure that seemed to fly away at any moment if he blew it, carefully wrapped his hands around the demon king’s soul.

Well, he doesn’t have a body, so he doesn’t know if it’s okay to call it a hand.

[Lee… Seongjin?]

Suddenly, enveloped in unexpected warmth, his soul flashed a faint red light rapidly. The strange feeling was conveyed intact.

[Yeah.]

[Lee Seongjin?]

[That’s right.]

[Really Lee Seongjin?]

You bastard, if you call me one more time, I’ll throw you away.

As if his fierce will had been conveyed, the demon king’s soul trembled for a moment. And then the next thing he spit out is this.

[Why are you here?]

What, punk? Is that what the person who called me here should say?

However, the feeling of crying came from the demon king’s soul.

[You should call me there! What would we do if you were summoned here?]

[……]

[We’re doomed. Now we are done.]

Then why are you calling me incessantly? I was fine, and then suddenly flew away.

The Demon King sniffled at Seongjin’s grumbling.

[I couldn’t help it. This is a space of nothingness where everything is scattered in an instant. If it hadn’t been for the barrier by the Holy Emperor, I would have disappeared the moment I flew here.]

He said that his spirit was kept alive thanks to the Holy Emperor. Seongjin nodded his head as he looked at the group of white lights surrounding him. Guess this was the barrier.

Of course, it was the Holy Emperor who blew this guy to this place, but now it seems that he is just grateful, so there is no need to remind him on purpose.

[Now, the only bond that holds my soul is you. So I had to constantly remind myself of your name by repeating it over and over again. Otherwise, my soul would have been scattered long ago.]

[……]

[I don’t know how long I’ve been here either. The concept of time is also strange here.]

So he kept crying. The demon king didn’t say anything, but Seongjin could feel what he had swallowed. Remembering the sorrowful cries he heard from time to time in his sleep, he felt a bit salty.

And surprisingly, the words that the demon king spat out one after another were apologies to Seongjin.

[Sorry. I didn’t mean to bring you in on purpose.]

[Uh……]

Seongjin didn’t know what to answer for a moment. He thought this guy would just set fire to him and stick to him, saying ‘I won’t go alone, kuhuhuhu’?

However, the only feeling conveyed from the demon king is pure guilt.

In the end, Seongjin gave a rough answer like, “Oh, well,” and soon shut up. The two of them wandered around in the dark space without speaking for a while.

Surprisingly, the immense fear of being weighed down by the emptiness that he felt when he first came here felt a little diluted just by having someone to share his thoughts with. Seongjin, who had been watching the demon king’s soul occasionally blink in red light, suddenly muttered to himself.

[What will happen to Morres if I fly here like this?]

[Since the soul is gone, wouldn’t he have died as it is?]

Aah, yes. He really is dead. He feels a little sorry for Sir Marthain and Sir Kurt, who followed him as an escort.

While he was thinking that, his heart became strangely calm.

The demon king seemed to feel the same way.

[Originally, it was going to be like this from the beginning. Our souls should have flown here wrapped in flames. It should have been scattered and died a complete death.]

[Oh. I see.]

He said that the Flames of Gehenna suddenly evolved and brought them to the Main World. At first, the memory of the demon flying to the void and talking about something is vague.

[We haven’t completely left the Main World where Morres was yet. This place is similar to the boundary between the dimension and the void.]

No one was listening, but suddenly the demon king lowered his voice and whispered.

[I didn’t come here, but in fact, the Main World Delcross belongs to is going to be in great danger soon.]

What does that mean all of a sudden.

Could it be that, like Sigurd District 34, the Gate to the Demon World will open?

However, the demon king’s explanation was a bit serious.

[High-ranking demon lords and lords of the alien dimension are paying attention to this place. Occasionally, I feel the frightening eyes staring at Delcross intently.]

The demon king’s soul trembled with fear.

According to his explanation, the souls of the owners of the gaze have such a high level of soul that even if they attract attention, their souls will be crushed flat. That was why he broke down and lowered his voice.

Had it not been for the barrier of the Holy Emperor, the demon lord’s soul would have perished long ago just by indirectly feeling that gaze.

[I don’t even know their names, and even if I did, I couldn’t say it out loud. However, I do know a little about some high-ranking demon lords.]

According to the Demon King’s explanation, it was like this.

Unlike the rulers of the alien dimension who open the gate like Gehenna and look for opportunities to invade directly, those high-ranking demon kings are said to enjoy spreading their attributes in that world and subtly infiltrating it.

Before the invasion starts in earnest, the entire world is trampled on and ruined.

And their nature was the real problem.

[They are the Lords of ‘Famine’ and ‘Plague’, and ‘War’ and ‘Death’, respectively.]

Oh. They sound like a lot of trouble just by listening to them.

Doesn’t that mean famine, plague, war, and death are going to unfold on a large scale in this world?

And when the disaster swept through once like that, the next time the high-ranking demon kings and alien monarchs would directly open the gate and attack. What kind of total mess is this?

The demon king’s soul shone brightly. If he had a body, it would feel like tilting his head.

[In fact, I’ve never seen so much attention focused on a single world.]

He knows very well that it is going to perish desperately as much as there is interest in it.

[When will the invasion begin?]

[Who knos? Because they are guys whose concept of time is very different from that of the human world.]

Seongjin got a little serious. It was only for a while, but it was a world he had been attached to while living as a Prince of Delcross, but he didn’t want to let it perish like Seongjin’s old world.

The faces of Sir Marthain, Queen Lizabeth, Edith, Amelia, the twins, Sir Kurt, and the other resident knights of the Pearl Palace pass by.

And Father, His Majesty the Holy Emperor.

Does he know about this?

[Come to think of it, that’s what I’m wondering about……]

Seongjin suddenly became curious.

[Isn’t there definitely a God in this dimension? Why does God stand by such an invasion?]

Seongjin was originally close to an atheist in his world, but rather than saying he didn’t believe in God, it was closer to not being interested in the existence itself at all. He would die too busy fighting monsters, so he was not in the mood to cling to something with no clear evidence.

Well, among his colleagues, there were devout believers who devoted themselves to prayer the more difficult it was.

But this world was different.

There is a certain proof of God called divine power, and there is the Holy Emperor called the representative of God.

In addition, Seongjin now realizes the existence of the soul, and he also learned about the beings who seem to be in an adversarial relationship with God.

At this point, it becomes rather difficult to remain a pseudo-atheist any longer.

[But why does the God who takes care of this dimension only look at those guys looking for opportunities?]

Seongjin asked the demon king a question, but the answer came from an unexpected place.

[It is because the Main God who takes care of Delcross is not a personal god, son.]

Yes?

Seongjin looked back and saw a form, wrapped in bright light, staring at him with arms crossed. The light surrounding him is spreading so widely that the souls of Seongjin and the demon king are buried in the light.

Suddenly, Seongjin realized that the cold that pierced his soul had gone.

[You said you wanted to study theology and philosophy, didn’t you? You don’t know anything at all.]

Uh……

Why is this man here?

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T/N:

Raise your hand if you also missed emperor dad ^_^)/ Also, I kinda felt bad for the poor Demon King for drifting in nothingness for so long T_T Hopefully it doesn’t happen again.