The Demon Lord's Bride (BL)-Chapter 698: There’s evil, and then there’s evil in saint clothing

Chapter 698: There’s evil, and then there’s evil in saint clothing

Ignis narrowed its eyes. Valen was right--the Hero would have trouble finding all of these people alone.

Aside from the paladins and the holy knights, the priests seemed to be able to use magic to some extent. And those humans were truly, truly rotten to their core. It reminded Ignis of the creatures who kept coming to the volcano. A bunch of pests.

What else could the Salamander use to describe these people, who talk about auctioning someone so easily, shamelessly, without any ounce of guilt? No creatures should ever be auctioned! Especially not without their consent!

Ignis couldn’t hold back from hissing, but the Hero opened his mouth at that time to drown the Salmander’s sound. "No soldier of Goddess will auction another human!"

The Hero roared, rightfully in anger. It wasn’t an act, Ignis thought.

"Oh, that is fine," the Pope smiled. "I am no soldier of the Goddess," the old man shrugged. "I am the soldier of myself and my own people."

"What bullshit!"

"Language, Mister Hero," the Pope said with a sneering tone. How the old man managed to do that with an expressionless face was beyond Ignis.

"Like I said, you can refuse if you don’t want to," the old man continued. "It’s just a matter of substituting yourself with someone else."

"You fiend!"

"Or perhaps that lizard behind your neck," the pale eyes gleamed as the gaze fell to Ignis’s peeking head. "I did hear about your companion owning a fire lizard--I guess she thought you needed a morale boost?"

The other priests and holy knights were chuckling mockingly. Well, they wouldn’t think that a ’common’ fire lizard would be able to do anything--especially away from its contractor. Ignis knew these people wouldn’t be able to say such a careless thing if they knew they were facing the mighty Salamander, but it didn’t make the annoyance go away.

Burn. These people should all burn!

[Ignis! Patience. Be patient for now]

Ignis heard Valen’s voice then, and it doused the anger a little bit. Just a little bit. Letting it simmer until it could be unleashed later...

[Listen to me. There’s something I need you to do...]

As Ignis listened to Valen on the other side, Jin growled a little bit. He couldn’t hear anything from the outside, so it was one of two things: they still hadn’t done anything to his friends, or they had caught his friends without any chance of a fight.

But in that case...the church should just bring his friends over and make him completely submit. Right?

Tsk--this guessing game was really not his forte. freeweɓnøvel.com

"So, what is your choice, I wonder?" the Pope tapped on his armrest, asking cockily.

"Do you think people would just let you do this?!"

"Oh, kid...do you think we’re just playing here?" the Pope sighed. "Everything is possible in this place. This is the Holy Empire. This is my Empire."

Jin could feel his eyes twitch. So it was true, this old man treated the Holy Empire as a real Empire instead of a religious mecca. He made himself to be its Emperor, and it was easy to see that what the church had been doing was an attempt to subjugate the whole realm under the Holy Empire’s clutch.

It wouldn’t be a surprise if the attack on the druid kingdom and the realm of wrath was his effort to subjugate other realms and bring the whole world under the Holy Empire.

What a rotten old man.

Honestly, without any information from Valen, Jin would have been too panic to think rationally. He would have given them the relics and resigned to his fate to be auctioned.

No--he might have agreed to ’cooperate’ with the church and looked for the relics while the church held onto the existing ones.

He was still unsure, but he would believe in his companions. They were not weak, and they had more tricks on their sleeves than him.

Yes. Let’s believe in them.

Jin gritted his teeth and slammed his box on the table. "I’d rather die than be sold!"

"How foolish! Do you not care about your companions?!" the churchkeeper clicked his tongue.

Jin sneered instead. "You’re the foolish one--do you think I don’t know how those wealthy people are? If they are there to bid for me, they won’t do it for anyone else."

The Bishop clicked his tongue again, answering Jin’s doubt. They must still think he was a naive kid who could easily be swayed. The other priests and the holy knights grew increasingly annoyed by his defiance, and the only one who didn’t seem to be affected was the one wearing the formal suit. The man looked intrigued instead, as if looking at an interesting toy.

Honestly, with each moment passing by, Jin increasingly felt like the compassion he had been maintaining as a Hero was dwindling. He could hold back from killing people who were openly evil, but this...these kind of people who pretended to be saints while hiding their rotten core was the epitome of all evil.

And there was no sparing for these kind of people.

Valen was right. Being righteous could only get so far.

But then, the Bishop suddenly laughed. While Jin frowned in response, he leaned down to talk to the Pope. "I think it’s time, Your Holiness."

The Pope expressionlessly nodded. "Open the channel."

Jin narrowed his eyes as the four priests other than the Bishop stepped back. They took out their staff and slammed them to the ground. A burst of mana came from the glowing end of the staff and connected to each other.

"What..."

Jin narrowed his eyes as Ignis hissed at the sudden burst of mana--but thankfully, the Salamander managed to hold back from burning the room. Curiously, they watched the connecting mana turn into a square, as if creating a screen in the air.

Ignis tilted its flaming head. Hmm...that looked like the screen its demon friends made back home, but less sophisticated. The Salamander could tell that those priests needed to maintain the connection with their mana, unlike the screen back in the demon realm that could be activated by using mana stones.

The Salamander smirked. Just a bunch of amateurs.

But what did these people want to show them? The glowing blue eyes squinted and the Salamanded climbed to the Hero’s shoulder to see better--there was no need to hide anymore anyway.

The screen was dark at first, and blurry. It took a while and a few bickering whispers among the priests until the view stabilized. When the picture came, Ignis almost leaped off the Hero’s shoulder.

Thankfully, Jin acted fast and fearlessly grabbed the flaming lizard. It stung his palm because Ignis’s flame became uncontrollable, but the Salamander soon controlled itself after remembering that it wasn’t the real Valen.

Yeah. The real Valen was safe in their home, back in the Castle.

The Valen on that screen was not the real Valen. After all, the current Valen had beautiful long hair and a healthy face--unlike the one on the screen. The real Valen had a pair of sparkling green eyes, as pretty and bright as his soul. He did not have those sunken, dim eyes. He wasn’t that thin. And surely...he wouldn’t be covered in wounds.

[Your Holiness, pardon us for the delay] The people behind fake Valen bowed politely toward the screen, and then someone else came forward, almost as if he wanted to burst onto the screen.

[Your Holiness! I’m here! I bring this fugitive!]

The Bishop sighed and hissed toward the screen. "Make him quiet down for a bit."

[Yes, Your Excellency]

[Hey--what are you--let me go!]

The noisy person was promptly dragged away, out of the frame, so they could see fake Valen again. He was kneeling on a spread of fallen leaves, dirty and injured. One of the people held his jaw and tilted his face so the people in the room could see him.

Ignis hissed again. It might not be the real Valen, but these people didn’t know. It meant that these people intended to hurt Valen, and seeing that fake Valen...Ignis couldn’t help but seething. That was what Valen looked like in the past?! This was how they treated Ignis’s human?! Unforgivable!

"Let’s not waste our time," the Pope said coldly. "Surely you know who this is, Mister Hero?"

"Valmeier..." Jin gritted his teeth, and the Bishop smirked.

"Yes; this is the person you and your old companions sacrificed in the past," the Pope smiled coldly, as if it wasn’t the church who made Valmeier like that. "The ’real’ Hero of Lenaar, chosen by the Sacred Spear. Surely, he will be enough to take your place."

"You--"

Jin slammed the table again, and another sword was added to the one hovering around his wrist--this time very close to his neck.

"Now," the Pope leaned forward. "Do you really want to die and let this poor young man end up in the auction stage? You already stole the glory from him and let him live miserably for years, so selling him should be nothing, right?"

"Shut up!" Jin slammed the table again, snarling at the Pope and the priests.

He knew it was meant to bait him; he knew it was not the real Valen. But what they said was not wrong. He did steal Valmeier’s glory, and let Valmeier live miserably for years. Being blinded and clueless about that did not absolve the guilt he felt, and it was agonizing to be reminded of that.

The priests chuckled and the Pope asked. "I’m still waiting for an answer."

Jin clenched his jaw and, after a few seconds, asked in a trembling voice. "Can I...speak to him?"

The Pope arched his brow, but eventually nodded. "Sure, I can give you a little leeway."

Jim took a deep breath and raised his gaze, staring at the dull green eyes. Thanks to that, he could separate the illusion from reality.

"I’m sorry," he said. "Thank you for enduring it this far."

The green eyes blinked in recognition while the priests smirked.

"I think...it’s time to end this."

The green eyes blinked again, and the previously listless head moved. The cracked and bloodied lips parted, and the voice was unexpectedly clear. "Is that what Young Master commands?"

The one who answered was Ignis, raising its flaming head tall. "Yes."

The priests frowned. "What--"

"By his command."

And the hell broke loose as Jin snatched the pouch in front of the Pope.