Chapter 440

After Hera returned, Berthus sat in his office and pondered. The demon king seemed to want to die instead of causing more problems. Why? Wouldn't it be better to use Akasha to survive? If the demon king destroyed their world, killed their father, and died with such a purpose, then Bali should hate humanity. The demon king had no reason to think about the safety of humanity. Forgiveness and reconciliation like that cannot exist in the world. Therefore, Bali's desire for peace is inevitably a lie. In fact, there is a possibility that all the stories about Akasha are lies. Should they kill the demon king or not? If they try to use Akasha to regain the demon king, there could be an unpredictable disaster. If they kill the demon king, his hopeless subordinates will still use Akasha. The only way Akasha will not be used is to release the demon king. But what if the released demon king uses Akasha to destroy the world? That would be the worst outcome for humanity. Berthus felt lost at the crossroads of destruction where there was no right answer. Olivia Lanche returned to the Yellow Road. The investigation of the demon worshipers, which had been quite long, was now coming to an end. The demon worshipers' stronghold was in the many cities that had been abandoned due to the excessive desertification of the Gelkor Geese Desert in the southern part of the continent. It was natural that the headquarters of the demon worshipers were in a place where ordinary people could not go, using the uninhabited landscape of the vast desert as their base. Olivia's powerful divine power as a demon was her only identification and admission ticket. Olivia's original purpose was to be prepared to annihilate the demon king if he revealed himself and to kill him. However, the demon worshipers knew nothing about the demon king. They only spouted nonsense about how the demon king represented the will of the demons. They had no actual contact with the demon king. Knowing that they were just following the demon king on their own, the only thing they could know was that the previous demon worshipers' attack on Rajiern was not the demon king's doing. As it was impossible to kill the demon king directly, Olivia had to settle for the second best option: the complete eradication of the demon worshipers who might side with the demon king. She returned to the Yellow Road with the intention of leading the Holy Order to sweep the Gelkor Geese Desert. However, upon her return, she encountered something strange. She was stopped by imperial knights before she even reached the headquarters of the Holy Order. She was then led to a temple where the atmosphere was tense and rigid. She was brought to a consultation room where she met Scottra Keltan, a knight from Shanafeil who she had encountered during the attack on Rajiern. He told her that they trusted her, but due to recent important revelations, they needed to pay close attention to her. He then asked her to summon Tiamat and questioned her about her connection to Reinhardt. Olivia narrowed her eyes as if asking why he knew, and Scottra Keltan nodded with a stern expression. "It has been confirmed that Reinhardt is the demon king." Olivia was taken aback by the sudden and incomprehensible news. Scottra Keltan did not provide a detailed explanation but recommended that she stay in the headquarters until the situation was resolved. Olivia was then taken to a staff room in the headquarters where she was monitored by Shanafeil knights. They explained that Reinhardt was a demon king who had infiltrated the temple and was currently imprisoned while his fate was being decided. The empire had decided to monitor Olivia due to her connection to Tiamat and her past involvement with the demon king's forces. Olivia couldn't understand most of what was happening, but the one sentence that stuck in her mind was that Reinhardt was the demon king. In addition, she had been present at the murder scene of Leberia Ranche, but had hidden that fact until now. Therefore, there was no choice but to suspect that she was in league with the demon king. Olivia could barely understand up to that point. "Reinhardt... the demon king?" That one truth made all the scattered puzzles that had confused Olivia until now fall into place. That day, Olivia couldn't understand the demon king's actions and had been tormented by it. Why did he save her? Was it because he was trying to kill Leberia Ranche and ended up saving her, a bystander? Why did he do something good for the empire by attacking the unnamed monastery? Olivia had been confused until now because she couldn't understand the demon king's intentions. But if Reinhardt was the demon king, everything made sense. He did it to protect her. There was no other reason. Reinhardt knew that Olivia was in danger, no matter what the circumstances were. That's why he led his forces to attack Leberia Ranche. The unnamed monastery and Leberia Ranche itself were meaningless. It was just a story of him saving Olivia and Adriana because they were in danger. The last puzzle piece fell into place. The demon king and Reinhardt. If they were the same person, Olivia could understand and accept everything. If the Rajieon attack by the Divine Faith was the demon king's doing, then he must be an evil being, she thought. But now Olivia knows that the Divine Faith members had no special connection to the demon king. She wasn't chosen. Reinhardt doesn't look at me. He always looks elsewhere. Even though I'm telling you how I feel about you, you always turn away from me. That's heartbreaking. That's what she thought. No, Reinhardt had already saved her at great risk to himself. He did it twice. "...." What was the point of saying that I would do anything for you even if you don't look at me? What was the point of saying that I'm on your side even if you don't choose me? Reinhardt had already saved her in a place she didn't know. He risked his life and moved a small force to fight against the elite knights. He even risked being exposed. While Olivia was swearing to save Reinhardt with her words, Reinhardt had actually saved her. And he had never mentioned it until now. She was saddened by that fact. She was upset by that fact. She complained that he didn't look at her. Olivia was stunned, her mouth hanging open. How painful it must have been. How ridiculous it must have been. How painful it must have been every time she complained. She must have been burning inside because she couldn't reveal the truth. When Olivia found out what Reinhardt had sacrificed for her, it didn't matter that he was the demon king or whatever. "As things started to make sense, Olivia's heart grew stronger. Reinhardt was the demon king, so he couldn't let anything happen to him. No matter what happened, she had to protect Reinhardt. The empire was suspicious of Olivia, but she was only on Reinhardt's side. She couldn't save Reinhardt alone, so she decided to call the leader of the Holy Knights. She wanted to report to the church and discuss the situation. This was not a problem between humans and demons, but a problem between gods and humans. If they didn't report this to the church, it could cause a big conflict between the empire and the church. Olivia couldn't handle everything alone and she couldn't run away. She looked out the window with a bitter smile and said that it was a big mistake." With a bitter smile, Olivia looked at the frustrated Shanael knight. In her captive state, Olivia was actually threatening her captor.