Kuro no Maou

“The conversation during the day sure heated up quickly. Lord Sariel’s expression also seemed brighter than usual.”

While gazing at the nightscape of Daedalus spreading below, Archbishop Liuchrome spoke these words.

Beside him stood his younger brother Mariabelle who had the same beautiful face that could be mistaken for a girl’s.

The two of them were real brothers of the Ignosis family.

“fufu, I’ll be happy if that really is true.”

Mariabelle closed his eyes thought of the face of his crush. Since he was alone with his brother right now, he had reverted to a normal tone instead of his usual stiff and formal speaking way.

“Though, I would have been happier if Lord Misa wasn’t here.”

“She must have been also worried about Lord Sariel after all. As expected of her self-proclaimed ‘eternal rival’, fufufu, how charming.”(Liuchrome)

Maybe because they are of the same age and gender, the one-sided rivalry Misa had towards Sariel was so famous that there was no one in Elysion that didn’t know about it.

Liuchrome who has had the chance to directly come in contact with the apostles actually had seen Misa shouting “Wait a second Sariel!!” and trying to pick a fight, so he knows that it isn’t just a rumour.

“Haah, it’s really sad that I had to become the kouhai (T/N:junior) of such a childish person. If I could have awakened as an Apostle a bit more earlier—-“(mariabelle)

Apostles are numbered according to the order in which they ‘awaken’ and that also decides their hierarchy as well.

Misa was older in age than Mariabelle so it was only natural to have awakened as an Apostle earlier as well.

But still, every time Misa said something, he only lamented the fact further.

“She will also become a great Apostle like the previous ones, surely. From my point of view, Lord Misa seems to possess sensitiveness and common sense befitting a girl of her age.”(Liuchrome)

“......I really wonder about that.”(Mariabelle)

“That’s what it is.”

Liuchrome smiled meaningfully while Mariabelle still showed an expression of not accepting it.

The two brothers continued conversing underneath the starry night sky.

“——By the way, what did Cardinal Ars say?”

The moment Liuchrome asked that, Mariabelle’s expression tightened.

“Don’t cause any trouble with the subordinates of Mercedes.”(mariabelle)

“I see.”

Liuchrome’s gaze looked past the castle walls of Daedalus.

‘Subordinates of Mercedes’, i.e., the forces that came as reinforcements after the battle of Goldran, that were currently capturing the villages outside in the territory of Daedalus.

“The first land Virginia, Capital Daedalus, and the keystone for sea trade, Eidon. With these three important points already in our hands, I don’t really see the need to fight more just to increase our territory, though.”

It was the Crusaders that won at Goldran and captured Daedalus but on if one would see the internal circumstances, they would realize that the army was totally of the Cardinal Ars faction inside the Republic.

Starting from the fact that the vice commander was Ars’ right-hand man, the 15 thousand soldiers were all men that he himself had gathered. The only person not clearly attached to any faction was only the Apostle Sariel.

Originally, everyone had refrained from sending their own troops in a losing battle.

But, now that the Crusaders had won, the ‘owner’ of the army, that is Cardinal Ars would also have the whole land under his control naturally.

Thus, all three important points mentioned before would also come under Ars’ control as well.

But after the battle of Goldran, the new reinforcements that came were publicly a part of the same Crusaders but it was a fact that they were all a part of various factions of the church and nobles.

Among those was the especially influential faction belonging to the man name Mercedes, one of the 3 Cardinals.

“It’ll be troublesome, if some part of the territory is not given to them.”(liuchrome)

Starting with Mercedes, if they tried to suppress all others trying gain benefits from Pandora and keep everything under Ars’ control, then a revolt will break out sooner or later.

Currently, the Pandora continent was extremely attractive for them. That is why there a high chance of an inquisition being conducted through assassinations and false accusations, and break up the Crusaders internally.

But conversely, if they were given some ‘share’ as Liuchrome suggested, then there would be no revolt, at least publicly.

If the Ars’ side declared that the rights to the territories in Daedalus as ‘first come first serve’, then the reinforcements will start competing among themselves.

As long as they didn’t interfere, it didn’t matter how much the others go around destroying things. The Ars faction has already acquired enough land for themselves and is already in a winning position.

“But that’s only till the right to control over the Daedalus territory is officially decided.”(mariabelle)

“Yes, we simply controlled one part of the eastern area of the continent only.”(liuchrome)

The Pandora continent is extremely vast. Even if they are controlling the important areas of Daedalus currently, if they cannot get right to control over other areas, the current advantage will become zero or maybe even become a minus for them.

“But, it’ll be some time before we cross the Gallahad mountain range and invade the city-state located in the central region.”(Liu)

“That’s why, ‘brother and others’ should increase their military strength as much as possible while you have the time.”(MB)

“Well we did lose quite a lot of soldiers at Goldran after all. It’ll take some time before we can once again gather a trusted army.”

“Conversely speaking, even if those nobles get impertinent and start attacking the central region,”

“There’s no choice but to overlook them. But even if that happens, there’s only a 1 in a thousand chance that they’ll be able to cross the mountain.”

There were many reasons behind why Liuchrome was able to say that with a daring smile.

Firstly, the ultimate strength of their army, Apostle Sariel, basically will not be taking part in any further battles from now onwards.

The Apostle that can take sure victory cannot be stopped if they desire more territory. And to take a territory for their own self, there was a need to capture it by themselves to claim right to control, but there is a restriction on them that they can only take part in battle when an enemy of an equal power level appears.

Thus, no faction can claim for the aid of Sariel until a situation where [they cannot win by themselves or they will take huge losses] appears.

Even if she is the supreme commander, if she ignored the ideas of other and moved by her own, then the rule of dividing the profits will collapse and could lead to the breakup of the Crusaders.

Thus, now that the first and the biggest threat towards the conquering of Pandora, that is the conquest of Daedalus has been done, there were many who stated that there is no need for Sariel to move any more. Also, the Apostles themselves have also nominated Sariel to ‘watch over’ the conquest of the continent.

And Sariel herself, understood the duty required from her, and will not interfere uselessly in the Crusaders.

“In the first place, the strength of the private armies of the nobles and churches is limited. If there affiliation is different, then they won’t cooperate with each other either.”(MB)

“Exactly. But the main reason why they cannot cross the mountain is [Spada].”(Liu)

“Spada?”(MB)

“It’s the name of the city-state adjacent to the territory of Daedalus. That Spada is currently protecting the border along the Gallahad mountain ranges.”

“So, are they strong?”

“All the demon armies are strong in the first place. But Spada that is known as the ‘Gladiator city’, has soldiers that are considered elite even among the demons.”

“’Gladiator ‘ is it? The demons really have savage customs still prevailing here.”

“But, thanks to that custom, the most elite of the warriors have been gathered in Spada. There is also a plan to add mercenaries to the defence forces of Spada it seems. On top of that, the Gallahad mountain ranges provide a natural protection to Spada as a fort. It’s truly a terrain fit to fight a defensive battle. To invade properly, we might need a force even bigger than the one used at Goldran.” (Liu)

It has been a little over one month after the capture of Daedalus. Liuchrome has already started gathering info about the next target of the Crusaders, which is the city state located in the central region, Spada and also other neighbouring central region city-states.

And the info that Liuchrome had gathered, he had no intention of sharing with the rest of the Crusaders.

“I see. But those people will still try and invade Spada, I think.”(MB)

“fufufu, till the time they come back crying to Her Excellency Sariel after becoming unable to cross the mountains, we’ll leisurely spend time right here in Daedalus.”

Expecting ‘them’ to face a harsh defeat against the ‘inferior demons’, Liuchrome did not tell others the true strength of Spada. It was on the level of full info concealment actually.

Even if they belong to the same Crusaders, as long as the factions are competing against each other, even Ars wanted the other armies to get hurt.

“As usual, Nii-san is malicious......”(MB)

Looking at the amused face of his older brother, Mariabelle said so.

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While the Ignosis brothers were spending their time together, the 11th Apostle Misa was lazily sprawled on her magnificently giant bed with a canopy, in her underwear.

There was not a single fragment of modesty in her behaviour. Even her underwear was a gaudy one famous among the ladies of the republic.

She did not wear the plain white ones provided by the sisters even once unlike Sariel.

For her, it was a matter of her own fashion sense but for others it only looked like selfishness.

But still, she was someone who had the title of an Apostle. There weren’t few who depended on her strength.

“fufufu.......to depend on me rather Sariel, it looks like there are a few with a good eye even among the Crusaders.”

In her hands were some official documents. The letter containing them had been roughly torn and thrown away somewhere.

“I came to Pandora continent, it would have been boring to just see Sariel’s face and just go back after saying goodbye after all.”

Misa made a smile like that of a child that just came up with a prank and threw away the documents after rolling and crumpling them up.

The paper that flew in the air let out a faint light just before falling on the ground.

Soon after, the light vanished and only the ashes remained.

“I don’t care whether they are demons or foreigners, I, 11th Apostle Misa, will personally pass judgement on all those who go against god!!”

Ahhahha, Misa laughed loudly.

That voice reached even the 3rd Apostle Mikael in the next room but the woman, who was like a mass of only love and motherhood, just loosened her cheeks and smile on hearing her over energetic neighbour.