Chapter 72 – Banquet (III)

Conrad Heisenberg, a former court magician from the Kingdom of Thane.

In terms of the amount of magical power, no other wizard would compare to Leticia, while Tiara would be unrivaled in terms of the number and control of magic she could use. However, he was a wizard genius who was said to be comparable to Tiara, the renowned Great Sage, in terms of his knowledge of magic.

The woman who was his best disciple was Sarah Ferrule.

“If I remember correctly, she was one of the three who survived the fall of Thane almost forty years ago.”

Leticia nodded to Alfred’s words.

“Sarah Ferrule… that’s a name that brings back memories.”

Did she mean the woman’s name? As soon as she heard the name come out of Raul’s mouth, Leticia, who had been in a good mood until then, narrowed her eyes. Then she opened her mouth when she saw that both Wynn and Cornelia didn’t seem to know anything about the person named Sarah Ferrule.

“Onii-chan, when we went to see a play together the other day, I told you that the Devil King descended using Melvick IV, the king of the Kingdom of Thane, as a vessel.”“Yes.”“He was the ‘Sword Saint’ of an earlier generation.”

Wynn remembered the tragic story that happened in the Kingdom of Thane, the one Leticia had told him a few days ago.

When the Demon King emerged from the body of Melvick IV, the hero king of the Kingdom of Thane, miraculously only three people survived: a court magician, a servant and the granddaughter of King Melvick IV, who was still only a baby.

“When the Demon King arose, there were those who were and survived in that place when it happened, and one of them was Conrad Heisenberg, who was the court magician. And one of those who survived under his protection was Liara’s mother, who was the princess of the Kingdom of Thane, and the other was a servant, Sarah Ferrule.(TN: I’m a little confused, in some parts it said Tiara was a baby, while here it says it was the mother).“As I remember, the ‘Apostate’.”

Alfred added to Leticia’s explanation as if he remembered.

“That’s right. Did you know that already, Alfred?”

Alfred nodded at Raul’s words.

“Well… as expected. A mad woman who was granted the title of ‘Saint’ by the Great Temple of Emerdia, the third person in history to receive it, while she sacrificed a great number of her followers behind their back.”“Now that I think about it, I heard a similar story. As I recall, the story of how the brave Mavis defeated the pagan priests who offered sacrifices every night and rescued the people who were captive.”

Cornelia interrupted as she listened to the story of Raul and Alfred. That story was one of the most famous episodes in the history of Mavis the Brave, so well-known that even Wynn had heard it.

“Was Sarah Ferrule, by any chance, among those pagan priests?”“That’s the story. It would be a scandal if one of the saints to whom the High Priest bestowed such an honor were to perform sacrificial rituals, wouldn’t it?”“It was at a time when the forces of the Continental Anti-Demon Alliance were outnumbered. Emerdia, who was in control, covered up the incident caused by Sarah, who was named a Saint by the High Priest himself, also carried out by a group of people who believed in paganism. If the church is good for one thing, it is to hide facts that could harm them.”

Raul said with a sneer as he picked up Alfred’s story.

“And by the way, if Letty was supposed to have defeated the pagan priest, one could expect much more faith in the Brave and in the temple, as well as many more donations.”

“As long as it’s in God’s name, it’s worth anything,” Raul spat.

“But what made you bring the name of that Apostate, Sarah Ferrule? Since she is…”“I…”

When Alfred asked Raul, Leticia opened her mouth and did not let him speak. Without saying anything, she turned to Wynn and hesitated. When he realized this, he looked at her face and nodded without saying any word either. Leticia nodded and opened her mouth as she looked ahead.

“I killed Sara Ferrule. I crushed the group that was following her, and I killed her, as she was the leader. That day, in that place…”

***

The Tip of the Coat, carved by the waves, had become a precipice. There lay peacefully a small stone sanctuary. It was not known to which deity it was consecrated. An old priestess dressed in a simple white sacred robe was praying silently in the sanctuary.

“We give to the church and pray to God, but what have they done for us? Nothing, they have done nothing…. Not the people, not the army, not the country, not God. They took away the family I loved, and I lost the home I was born in. I cannot find words to relieve those who have lost their reason for living. The truth is that I am just like them. I have lost my reason to live in this world. But there are people who listen to my words, shed tears and trust me with their lives. That is why I fight, even if it is in an unforgivable way. Because that is the reason I live for…”

The elderly priestess Sarah Ferrule had been praying to the God she believed in, then she stood up in silence and spoke to Leticia, who was waiting for her to finish her prayer.

Had she not known she was a psychopath who had sacrificed hundreds of believers to an evil god, her gentle smile would be a vision worthy of being called a saint.

***

If she closed her eyes, she could still vividly remember the scene of that day and her image.

“Lately, I had the feeling that some remnants were moving in my country again.”“Remnants?”“Actually, Conrad Heisenberg’s legacy has been stolen.”“What?”“The leader was crushed, but it seems the organization was still active. I didn’t realize they were still gaining power, and very quickly, until it was too late.”

“It’s my fault, I’m sorry,” Raul said, bowing his head. Leticia’s expression was one of concern as she looked at Raul.

“Excuse me… what exactly is this legacy of Conrad Heisenberg?”

Cornelia asked Raul, raising her right hand.

“It is an experimental record of summoning magic written by the former court magician of the Kingdom of Thane, Conrad, and stolen by the apostate Sarah Ferrule. When we killed Sarah, it was entrusted to me.”“Did you say summoning magic?”“I had never heard of it.”“Well, the four of us hid it.”

Raul looked at Leticia. He continued talking, without taking his eyes off her, who was reflecting instead.

“Letty, Tiara, Liara and I. When we killed Sarah, the four of us talked and decided what to do with this legacy of Conrad’s.”

They couldn’t trust that same temple that was handling the war affairs. Many of the high elves, who were the “Guardians of the World Tree”, also had knowledge of magic, so there was a possibility that some would accidentally open the seal.

Therefore, it was decided that the one who would keep it safe would be the Sword Saint of each generation, who would only follow the path of the sword, but…

“I kept it under strict control with good, trustworthy people…”

Knowing that something was wrong, Raul rushed to the place where he hid the legacy and found the bodies of his men lying in front of him, cruelly massacred.

It was the work of someone considerably skilled.

“Raul, this legacy of Conrad, what is this summoning magic?”“Well, I don’t know how to explain it…”

Raul crossed his arms and bowed his head.

“Conrad relied on information known only to the royal family of each country, or to important people, that the Demon King descended using the body of Melvick IV, Thane’s Hero King, as a vessel.”

If the Demon King could use human flesh as a vessel, he could bring in other higher beings doing the same, couldn’t he?

Conrad kidnapped Liara Thane, who was protected by the Great Temple of Emerdia and had become a priestess. Using Liara, who inherited the blood of Melvick IV, who was even called the Hero King, as a vessel, he would bring in a higher god or spirit and use his power to destroy the Demon King and save the soul of the Hero King.

After many human experiments and verification, Conrad was about to perform the ritual by sacrificing the daughter of his bloodline, but was stopped by Leticia, who appeared just in time.

When Conrad learned that the Brave had appeared to oppose the Demon King without resorting to any sacrifice and that her name was Leticia von Mavis, he decided to seal the summoning magic he had created, but…

“It was Sarah Ferrule, the maid whose life he saved, who killed Conrad and stole his research.”

Sarah and the princess who was still a baby took refuge in the Great Temple of Emerdia, where she dedicated herself to her faith and studied magic as Conrad’s main disciple. At the same time, she traveled to the regions affected by the demons and saved many people.

Finally, the Great Temple of Emerdia recognized her achievements and granted her the title of Saint before she died, but…

“Sarah’s real purpose was to study demons and magic in order to get revenge.”“And to get that revenge, did she kill Conrad, the man who saved her life and was her mentor in magic?”

Cornelia, who had been quietly listening to Raul’s story, asked, and Raul nodded.

“To the light, the darkness. For every demon, there is a spirit. And just as there is a hero against a demon king, everything has its counterpart.”

Wynn and Cornelia listened intently to Raul as he spoke, closing their eyes and choosing their words.

“Then surely there is something that would serve as the counterpart of the goddess Anastasia, who is said to have created this world. The opposite of creation is destruction. In other words, Sarah Ferrule thought that there could be a god who would rule over destruction.”“Sarah tried to summon this god of destruction.”

Leticia, who had been pondering Raul’s words until then, took the floor.

“But if a god of destruction could be summoned, would he even be willing to listen to what we have to say?”

Cornelia interrupted in a somewhat uncertain tone. When that God of destruction was summoned, just from the sound of it, she didn’t think it would be something humans could handle. More than that, another similar existence would be added to that of the Demon King. Leticia answered Cornelia’s question.

It was decided that Crown Prince Alfred would soon visit the Kingdom of Lyon to sign the agreement, and that Crown Princess Cornelia would pay a courtesy visit to the Kingdom of Lyon to promote friendship between the two countries.