Ultel’s mouth slightly hung open.
“...Even a child’s tantrum would be more logical than yours,” Ultel said.
“As expected of someone serving a fishhead god, you lack basic comprehension. I can’t believe you fail to understand my perfect logic,” Zich said confidently.
Ultel’s mouth opened wider. It seemed clear to Zich that Ultel was shocked by his perfect logic, and Zich raised his chin triumphantly. Yet, no one in the room thought the same as him.
“...Can’t everybody see that Zich is the one being unreasonable?”
“Just leave him be. I don’t think right and wrong is that important for Mr. Zich right now.”
Even his companions who arrived at the scene later than Zich didn’t talk favorably about his behavior except for one person.
“As if. There’s no way vulgar words coming from the low-lives who serve a fishhead god would be more logical than Sir Zich's. As Sir Zich says, I’m sure those fishhead worshippers lack any comprehension skills.”
“Well, that’s what she says.”
“...I see.”
“...Hm.”
The other companions vaguely supported Lubella’s words. Even if they rebutted her here, there was no way a proper discussion would take place. Then, Walwiss walked up next to Zich’s side.
“I suppose that guy is the Bellid pope.”
“Yes, his name is Ultel.”
“He’s younger than I expected him to be.” Walwiss had been imagining a crafty, wicked old man with a long ragged beard with wrinkles all over his body. Instead, the man appeared to be middle-aged, but he didn’t have many deep wrinkles and his beard was cleanly shaven. His face was quite clean-cut and handsome, rather unlike what one would have expected from an evil cult leader. Leona, Til, and Walwiss all thought this, but like before, Lubella thought differently from them this time too.
“Look at how sly he looks, perfectly fitting of someone who would fall for a fishhead. He’s just as I had imagined—it’s the perfect face to shred apart with a mace.”
“Ah, yes... yes.” Leona affirmed Lubella’s opinion this time too, although her eyes were moving as far away from Lubella as possible. Of course, this wasn’t because Leona disliked Lubella.
“...Karuwiman Saintess Aine Primel Lubella. Your character is far different from the one I am familiar with.” Ultel stared at Zich. “I assume that’s probably because of a certain somebody standing right in front of me. Don’t you think this is a bit too much of a difference, though?”
“...What about it? There are only positives to it.”
“Why don’t you meet a person’s eyes when speaking to them? Don’t give me the nonsense that you are being shy with that personality of yours.”
“Ahem! Ahem!” Even Zich seemed unable to give excuses about Lubella’s change in personality and let out a fake cough.
“Anyway, I’m glad to see you. Although we activated all the tower’s defense systems, you and your companions broke through them in the end and came here.”
“Did you really think you could stop us with just that?”
“No, of course not. You know there are some things that seem impossible, but you don’t suffer many losses by doing them and achieve huge gains if things work out well in the end. That’s why I gave it a try. Yes, so you said your name is just Zich now, right?”
“Yes.”
Ultel stared at Zich speechlessly, as if he was trying to assess what kind of person Zich was.
“I know I’m good-looking enough to make even most men fall in love with me, but it puts me in a difficult position if you gaze at me so intensely.”
“You are so brazen and thick-faced. As I thought, you really are that guy.” By ‘that guy,’ Zich could easily tell that Ultel was talking about the Demon Lord of Strength, Zich Moore.
“That guy would never go around with a group of people like this, though.” Ultel’s eyes darted to Zich’s companions.
“Huh? Did you just insult my companions?”
“You must know that’s not what I mean.”
“I don’t know about that. Your comment completely soured my mood. Should I start things off by cracking your skull then?”𝚏re𝒆𝘄e𝙗𝙣ov𝐞l.𝒄𝒐𝙢
“That’s a really good idea, Sir Zich,” Lubella said while dashing to Zich’s side eagerly. She glared at the enemies before her. Ultel wasn’t the only one in the room. A group of about twenty or so figures wrapped in robes stood next to him.
“It’s those robed bastards.” Unlike the carefree appearance he had shown until now, there was bloodlust in Walwiss’ eyes. It was the same for Til. The people who had pushed their families to embrace evil were here.
“Ah, Walwiss Dwayne. I suppose your resentment toward us runs deep, on account of your son?” Ultel asked.
“Of course. So much that I want to burn the organization you lead to the ground with the very last member.”
“Your rage is certainly justified. I will admit that. Although, even if we didn’t convince your son, I doubt you would’ve had a good future with him.”
“...What do you mean?”
“In the first place, all the conflict and dispute that existed in your family was because of you. I promise you that if we didn’t tempt your son, he would’ve disappeared from your side without saying anything and left everything behind. No matter how much you regretted after that, there would've been no way that he returned to your side.”
“It almost sounds as if you have seen the future.”
“Something like that.” At Ultel’s tone of conviction, Walwiss’ mood worsened.
“Why? Do you think I’m lying? What do I have to do to make you believe me? Should I swear it on the great Bellu’s name?”
“Hmph! As if the evil god’s name has any value. And even if what you say is true, it’s not a future that will occur in this timeline now. The only fact that remains is that you guys supported and tempted Orland to rebel against the entire magical tower.”
“As expected of Walwiss Dwayne. You sure are cold.”
“Did you really think you could shake me up with just that?”
“That wasn’t really my intention. I simply spoke the truth. I mean, I’m not saying anything to Til right now since it’s clear that he lost his companion because of our intervention.”
“You sure are shameless. I suppose that’s how you can act as the Bellid pope.”
“Yes. You must also know how things are, since you spent a long time as the master of the magical tower. You must know what it means to stand on the very top.”
“However, that will end soon.” Walwiss fixed his grip on his staff. He looked like he was going to throw a fireball at Ultel’s face at any moment.
However, Ultel raised his hand and stopped him. “I fully understand that you want to immediately burn me to a crisp, but why don’t you wait for a bit? I want to have a brief chat with Zich.”
Ultel’s gaze moved towards Zich. “How about it, Zich? It’s also fate for us to meet like this, so why don’t we have a little chat for a while? I have a lot of questions for you. I even set up a feast for you.”
Ultel pointed behind him toward another staircase. It seemed as if they weren’t still at the top yet. He continued, “Ah, by the way, the only one I have business with is Zich. I’d like the others to wait here for a while.”
“You’re going to take Zich alone? You’re trying to keep us apart, aren’t you?” Leona asked.
“Leona Pearl in Droud, the princess of the Lake Tribe. Your question is completely valid, but I have no intentions of doing such a thing, because I seriously believe that I can beat all of you easily. What do you mean by 'hostage'? Why would I do such a useless thing? For your information, the reason why the shadows and golems are no longer chasing all of you is because I’m stopping them. Isn’t that enough for you to trust me? If you want, I can guarantee Zich’s safety in Bellu’s name.”
“How can you swear upon the name of your god so easily? As expected, insects can’t help themselves.”
“Karuwiman Saintess, what can I do if I don’t go as far as to swear on Bellu’s name? You guys won’t believe me? Isn’t your opinion just from a Karuwiman’s point of view? Why don’t we respect each other’s doctrines?”
“How dare you speak such filthy...!”
How could a pope of the Bellids, known for their heinous acts, talk about respecting each other’s doctrines? However, Ultel seemed disinterested in Lubella’s anger. His gaze remained fixated on Zich.
“What are you going to do, Zich?” Walwiss wanted to know Zich’s decision. Everyone’s gaze moved toward Zich.
Zich nodded and said, “Why don’t I hear him out, since he’s going so far as to say that?”
“Sir, it could be dangerous,” Til attempted to dissuade Zich.
“Since he even swore with his god’s name on the line, he’ll at least pretend to keep it. Besides, I’m not the type to get defeated so easily just because I’m by myself.”
This was the strongest argument possible. No one who witnessed Zich’s power up close could imagine him ever getting beaten.
“Then you should do it.”
Everyone’s gaze gathered toward the person who had just spoken. The person most inclined to oppose Zich talking to Ultel had just been the first to vote in favor of it.
Lubella looked back at them and said, “Huh? Why is everyone looking at me like that?”
“Um, is that really okay?” Leona looked at her incredulously, but Lubella nodded without much hesitation.
“Of course. Hasn’t Sir Zich made his decision? I wouldn’t ever disagree with him.”
Did these words come from a firm belief in Zich? Or was she criticizing his decision by showing an overly positive response? Considering her calm expression, the latter did not seem to be the case. At any rare, now that Lubella agreed, the others all nodded.
“Then why don’t you follow me? There’s no need to disarm yourself,” Ultel said.
“Of course.” Zich walked toward Ultel.
Lubella waved her hand at Zich. “See you later! I’ll just be finishing some small tasks while you’re gone!”
Zich had almost reached Ultel when turned his head toward Lubella when she said that she was going to be finishing some small tasks. Ultel’s gaze also moved toward Lubella. They saw her take out a large bag out of a magic box. It was full of white powder.
“...Is that salt?” Ultel murmured.
Lubella grabbed a lot of salt and sprayed it everywhere. She also gave a short prayer while spraying it each time. She said radical words like, ‘Please bring salvation to the den of insects...’ or ‘Sink this whole island underwater...’
Now that Zich was next to him, Ultel leaned over and asked, “Is there really nothing on your conscience?”
“...Not at all.”
“Your moment of silence at last has become a little longer. That’s a relief. It seems like you have at least a tiny prick of conscience.”
Zich didn’t reply. He turned his head as if he were trying to avoid Lubella. “Just quickly guide me.”
“All right. I also don’t want to keep watching her at work either.”
Like this, Ultel guided Zich upstairs. The robed figures did not show much movement as they went up. Even when Zich reached the top of the stairs, he could still hear Lubella cursing the Bellids.
* * *
Zich went up to the upper floor, and as Ultel said, a magnificent feast was prepared for him.
“Sit. Since I prepared it for you, you can eat as much as you want. Ah, do you like wine?” Ultel grabbed a bottle of wine on the table.
Zich did not answer the question. Instead, he said something completely different. “Come to think of it, didn’t you guarantee my safety in the name of Bellu?”
“Yeah, I did. If you want, I can swear on Bellu’s name again.”
“That’s funny.” Zich smirked. “I mean, you hold exactly zero value in Bellu’s name.”
Ultel paused as he opened the wine bottle. A moment later, a creepy smile appeared on his face.