The Devil Who Grants Wishes

85 – Asmodian (7)

“…what?”

Irene, who came to Atina, doubts her own eyes.

Because the landscape has changed so much.

Atina, a large city where demons make up the majority of the population, was always exuding a very strong aura.

But not now.

Shall I say obedient rather than fierce? Should I say submissive?

And that’s not all.

“It’s all broken…”

It’s not like a city.

The castle wall, which was created by mixing magic stones and had tremendous resistance to physical and magical attacks, literally melted away. As if a castle made of sand was hit by a rainstorm, it melted away and disappeared without a trace.

It’s even worse when you look inside through the walls.

Houses are just melted down or have their roofs blown off, and the streets are full of rubble. There must have been a fight right before I came.

“But why are they all so active…”

Above all, unlike the city, the unbalanced appearance of the residents makes Irine feel discordant.

If it has turned into such a horrific situation, there must be a somewhat gloomy atmosphere.

But what does it mean to be so happy? It seems like everyone has their hair done.

“Ah!!”

“…?”

The castle walls have all collapsed, but a sentry who was standing on the lookout in a spot that was still intact found Irine and shouted, and Irine tilted her head when she saw it.

Why are you pretending to be surprised now?

At first, he looked at himself with very surprised eyes and attacked, such as being a first-generation demon or an outsider, but now that he has seen it a lot, he got used to it as soon as he got used to it, didn’t he?

Irene looks at the sentry saying something in a hurry with a puzzled look and cannot understand why he is doing that.

Of course, that question doesn’t last long.

“Come here!!”

“The existence that the new lord wants!!”

“ok?”

It was because Atina’s demons suddenly started running toward her.

Of course, it’s not because I’m happy or because of that reason.

Everyone harbors hostile feelings and is running to capture himself.

“what is this…”

It was too late to run away. No matter how hard he sprinted, he couldn’t escape from dozens of grown-up demons following him.

Irene, who is hesitant, looks at the scene with a frown.

“If you dedicate Irine to the lord… you will receive great power as a reward!!”

“Move away!! I’m first!!”

“…”

Of course, it’s not just watching.

Realizing how to use her powers, Irine wraps herself in demonic energy and prepares to fight.

**********

“refuse.”

“what?”

“I said I refuse. Why should I not cooperate with the demons’ massive invasion?”

The demons who rule Larissa rejected Iris’s request with a single stroke.

It’s not that those demons don’t know the difference in strength.

As a demon who is sensitive to power, he must know more than anyone else that Iris is strong. It is also true that if the party of warriors joins forces, Larissa can instantly turn into the empty lot that Larisa used to be.

But even so, those demons, no, demons rejected Iris’ proposal with a single stroke.

“Didn’t those guys forcibly cram our demons into the Katara Continent and isolate them?”

“That’s right! If you go outside, they say you’re a demon and get killed on the way!”

“If you get caught by the Serapia Church, they say it’s a by-product of evil created by mistake, and you’ll even be tortured.”

“But why don’t we cooperate in attacking those bastards?”

“Uh… that’s…”

Faced with waves of demons asking countless questions, Iris stutters in embarrassment.

I thought that demons could cooperate with the devil, but I couldn’t think of cooperating for this reason.

If she had said that she would cooperate with the demons just because she wanted to destroy them, Iris would have pulled out her sword and forcibly neutralized the demons.

“Finally… the time of revenge, the time of redemption has come…”

“Salvation…”

“Yes, don’t you know that well? Seeing that the smell of the devil wafts from your body, you too have borrowed the power of the devil, haven’t you?”

“…I’m sorry.”

Faced with the mad eyes of the demons who rule Larissa, Iris holds her breath.

As far as Iris heard, their words were so correct that they could not be logically persuaded of these demons.

It is physically impossible to convince.

Iris had been saved before, had taken revenge, so she couldn’t suppress the sincere answers of the demons with force.

If he did such a thing, it seemed like he was also denying his past.

“Well… I admit that the Church has been very venomous in that way. I felt that way too.”

In the end, Celestine, who is worse off, intrudes, and the demons frown and send hostile glances at Celestine.

Items proving that she is a follower of Cerapia are floating around in the warehouse of Faust’s subspace, but the demons’ eyes on Celestine do not change.

Regardless of whether she was a follower of Cerapia or not, Celestine’s whole body was overflowing with divine power that the demons hated the most.

“So what are you asking me to do? Surely you won’t tell me to endure it unconditionally?”

“Even if you threatened death, I would rather choose it.”

“No, what did I say? Do it. Do it.”

“…You mean to die?”

“No, cooperate with the devil.”

After Celestine’s words, there is momentary silence.

Both the warriors’ party and Larisa’s demons held their breath and doubted their ears to see if what they were hearing was correct.

However, after realizing that they had not heard it wrong, everyone looked at Celestine in great bewilderment.

“No, wait a minute—”

“Lena-sama, please stay still.”

“…”

Lena hurriedly tries to stop Celestine, but Celestine reverses her.

That too, with an unprecedentedly determined expression and tone.

If it wasn’t for the devil’s involvement, Celestine had always been sloppy and unreserved until now, but now Celestine is more serious than ever.

Seeing this side of Celestine for the first time, Lena eventually shuts up and takes a step back.

“Do as you please. If you want to take revenge on the outsiders, do it. If you want to run amok, run amok.”

“…What are we going to do now?”

“What are you doing? I’m just saying what I want to say, what you want to do? What… Even if things end badly, it won’t matter, but once you die, even if you die, you’ll have to resolve your grudge. However, you don’t kill innocent people. I want you to stop.”

“Are you innocent?”

“Yes, like ordinary villagers or city dwellers. No matter how much you mock or point fingers at someone, it’s not a mortal sin, right? So, to put it bluntly… just kill those in power or religious groups.”

Of course, you who have cooperated with the devil may not be able to choose for yourself who to kill, since you have become the devil’s puppet… but that’s when you think about it. Can’t we just kill them all?

The demons are at a loss for words at Celestine’s words that followed as if it were nothing.

Is this what the priest would say?

No matter how you look at it, that’s not what the priest would say. That’s what someone who is sorely plagued by pessimism would say.

If you change the point of view, it’s a radical statement that could be considered a joke, but Celestine was more serious than ever, so she erased the possibility that the demons were making fun of them.

“You… aren’t you a follower of Serapia?”

“Not so long ago…but not now. I just serve the Light.”

“…”

“So you don’t want to obey me?”

“…I’m not following your words. That’s what we wanted from the beginning.”

“Would you mind?”

The meeting in Larissa ends there.

Celestine waved her hand and greeted the demons, and the demons looked at each other with bewildered expressions.

**********

“Celestine, explain.”

“You explained everything earlier.”

“Stop kidding me and explain properly!!”

Lena’s roar resounds, and Lucia and Iris each hold on to my arms one by one, watching the scene.

No… not if it’s Lucia, but Iris, shouldn’t you join Lena?

“Umm… I’ll tell you right now, everything I said on the spot was sincere.”

“…Sincerity?”

“Yes. No, I’d rather ask, do you think it’s okay to do something to the world just because those things are rampaging outside?”

“what?”

“In the first place, demons don’t look down on demons. Conversely, I’ll ask, if something is born between an elf and a goblin… no, a beast that’s lower than that, such as a dog, cow, or horse, Lena, you’ll see that something well. Is it the same?”

“That… isn’t it?”

Imagining exactly what Celestine said, Lena frowned and replied.

“Devils are the same. If the demons say they want to serve them and say they want to be their strength, they’ll say it’s good and absorb them as they are. If they’re going to die unfairly, should I take care of them going outside because they want to die? Right before being absorbed by demons, If you realize it, then you’ll say, ‘Ah, I must have been such an idiot.'”

Celestine’s words are sincere.

They say they want to die, but Celestine doesn’t feel the duty to stop it, and in the end, she just let go of it and told her to do whatever she wanted.

Above all, that Larissa alone cannot make any meaningful difference to the demons’ massive invasion. It is similar to the fact that the level of the river does not change even if you pour water with a bucket and pour it into the river.

“And Irene too.”

“…are you here?”

Of course, that’s not the only reason. No matter how much you want to die, isn’t it a bit disqualified as a human being if you stand by and watch it die?

Celestine decided to act this way because of the existence of Irene.

Lena looks at Celestine with eyes demanding an explanation, and Celestine opens her mouth to answer Lena’s doubts.