Chapter 92: Hitogami's Coercion (Patreon)

Paul stared at Carlyle, his father-in-law, standing so close, his face ice-cold. He stared at the Temple Knights who were about to storm in and take them.

Paul hurried forward. "Please, just arrest me, all right? I'm the one who caused you trouble."

Carlyle shook off Paul's hands with a wave of his arm.

"Take them all, no exceptions," Carlyle ordered again. "I'll go on ahead."

At Carlyle's command, the Temple Knights didn't hesitate for a moment. They rushed in and bound Paul, the Vierra sisters, Lilia, and the children, Norn and Aisha. Black hoods were pulled over their heads, and one by one they were led out of the room.

Downstairs, Carlyle had already left the inn. He watched Paul and the others being marched out, then gave a wave of his hand and led the Temple Knights back the way they had come.

As Paul's party was taken away, many of the townspeople, being Milis believers, rejoiced. Every one of them upheld monogamy, so seeing Paul, who had defiled that rule, brought to judgment pleased them enormously.

On the other side, the search party watched Paul and his family being dragged off. They wanted to charge in, but they didn't know whether they should.

For as long as they'd been searching, it had basically been Paul holding everything together. They were just ordinary townsfolk. Even after two years of leaving home to look for their relatives because of the Fittoa Region Teleport Incident, which had forced them to pick up a few fighting skills, their strength was still far, far too poor!!!!

Compared with the Milis Temple Knights, who'd gone through strict, specialized training, charging in would be suicide. So it wasn't that they didn't want to go in. They truly couldn't!!!

And besides!!! Paul was the husband of Carlyle's daughter, and those children carried Greyrat blood in their own right!!! Surely he wouldn't do anything too extreme.

…

Meanwhile, on the other side…

Rudeus had just finished preparing the meal with Eris, Nanahoshi Shizuka, and Ghislaine. He was about to pick up his utensils and dig in!!

Then, unexpectedly, the Elemental Sprites sent him an alert.

When he pulled the scene over there into view, he saw Carlyle, a believer of the Milis Religion, leading a huge crowd and arresting his cut-rate old man, Paul.

He looked at the cheering Milis believers not far away. He looked at the searchers nearby, who wanted to charge in but didn't dare, trembling all over. He let out a helpless sigh.

From what he remembered of the anime, Rudeus knew very well that after staying in the Holy Milis Kingdom for a while, Paul hadn't been treated like this. Afterward, word had reached him from adventurers: in the Labyrinth City on the Begaritt Continent, on the left side of the Milis Continent, someone had spotted traces of a person resembling Zenith. On receiving that news, just in case, he had left the two children, Aisha and Norn, with Rudeus. Then, without a second thought, he'd rushed off to the Labyrinth City.

But now, because of Rudeus's arrival, that route from the original story had naturally become invalid. After the complete showdown with Hitogami (Human God), Hitogami (Human God) had sent the Underworld King, one of Hitogami's Apostles, to move against Roxy. When that failed to get the result he wanted, he was now openly using his identity as Hitogami (Human God) to bewitch humanity, huh?

Wait a second!!! Was there more to this?? By all logic, Hitogami (Human God) would never set up a situation this simple.

With that thought, Rudeus stopped eating, turned to Dragon God Orsted, and said, "Orsted, let me show you someone."

As soon as Rudeus finished speaking, a light screen quickly projected into the air. The figure within it was Carlyle. Dragon God Orsted and Eris and the other girls turned their heads too, looking in confusion at the image Rudeus had cast.

Dragon God Orsted had lived through countless loops of regression. His ability to see the future was only a trace, basically negligible. But with so much time behind him, he had come to know nearly every existence in the world. So the moment he saw Carlyle, he understood who the man was.

"Carlyle Latreia," he said. "Grand Captain of the Temple Knights of the Milis Religion. He's also Paul Greyrat's father-in-law, and the biological father of Zenith Greyrat. Why do you suddenly ask about him? Is something wrong?"

Hearing Dragon God Orsted's explanation, Rudeus nodded in understanding. "My mom is Zenith. He's my mom's father, which makes him my maternal grandfather. But he's probably been bewitched by Hitogami (Human God) now. He went and had my father, Paul, arrested."

Dragon God Orsted nodded. He had known it already, but hearing Rudeus mention it again, being able to see conditions on a distant continent from across such a vast distance, he felt a genuine, deep envy. At the same time, curiosity got the better of him.

"You're worried Hitogami (Human God) has some hidden arrangement in place, aren't you?" he asked. "So now that you know who Carlyle is, what do you plan to do?"

"Haah, what do I plan to do, huh…" Rudeus sighed helplessly and shoved a marbled chunk of meat into his mouth. Chewing, he went on.

"I wasn't planning to declare war on any country this early. Back when I killed the Seventh Prince of the Shirone Kingdom, I only warned the soldiers. What I'd originally intended was to reunite my family first and deal with Hitogami's Apostles. Then I'd meet Ariel, one of the heirs to the Asura Kingdom's throne, and only after that decide how to treat each country in the future. But now… Hitogami (Human God) is trying to force me into complete opposition with humanity."

Hearing Rudeus put it so gravely, a chill ran through Eris, Ghislaine, and Nanahoshi Shizuka.

Dragon God Orsted asked, curious, "So what will you do? Will you use this as an opening and declare war on every human nation?"