The Demon Lord's Bride (BL)-Chapter 706: Gotta stay professional in a formal summit

When the Goddess mentioned the demons, I blinked.

The sound of her suspicious voice did not register in my head. All I could hear was that the demons had entered the Holy Empire, which was weird. After all, I told them to stand by at the border until I told them to move. Unless...

I glanced at Avarash, who replied quietly with a wry smile. "The demons came when the first quake happened--maybe that’s why the alarm did not sound well."

They came...they breached the border before I told them to. There was only one scenario for this to happen.

When I turned to the Goddess again, my lips were stretching on their own.

But I still had an inquiry to be answered.

"Because the rotten flesh is too massive," I replied the Goddess calmly. My heart was so at ease that she wouldn’t be able to make me flinch again. "Do you think the Templars can face them alone? They could barely survive in their hideout--no offense," I turned toward the Bishop and the other templars, raising my hand apologetically.

But I mean...that was the truth, wasn’t it? If they could do it, they wouldn’t have to wait for Jin to rescue the sacrificial virgins from that cursed kingdom. I didn’t mean to demean their prowess, but subduing the Archbishops’ towers would be impossible for them alone. Maybe one tower, but how about the other two?

Wasn’t it weird that the rest of the Holy Empire’a force--the army that the Pope was oh so very proud of--hadn’t reached this place yet?

The answer was simple; they couldn’t.

Bishop Avarash just smiled. "Well, the truth is indeed harsh."

"Thus," I returned to face the Goddess. "Their presence is needed for assistance, because it’s clear that the authority of this realm are all under this old man’s thumb."

Well, not all, but...most? I pressed my heel against the old man again until he groaned under my sole, and it soothed my heart a little bit.

[Be that as it may] the Goddess still narrowed her eyes, and spoke in a sharp tone. [Demons. In my realm]

"My Lady, you make a very bad example for your devotees," I smiled amiably as I replied with equal sharpness. "No wonder the humans are very hateful toward other races."

The golden eyes twitched. [How dare you, human--]

"Also," I raised my voice slightly, cutting through before she roared again while strengthening the thin mana barrier I kept around my skin as the air pressure increased again. "Don’t pretend as if you don’t know my name or who I am."

At this point, it wouldn’t be a hyperbole to say I had a staring contest with the Goddess. It wasn’t as much as she did when she was shouting angrily at the Pope, but she still let out an oppressive aura that affected everyone, including the groaning old man beneath my sole.

Well, he couldn’t blame me if my heel dug deeper into him, could he?

[Papa, this gold one not fun] Jade whispered inside my head.

[Gods] Ignis scoffed in tandem.

Thankfully, my companions were protected by my layer of mana, and it didn’t seem like the Goddess could probe much using this emergency connection. Avashar, who could feel the heaviness pressing on him, however, advised me to not provoke the Goddess any further.

"S-sir Valen? I think it’s not wise for you to--"

Do I care? After how he treated me?

"I am not one of your followers," I continued sharply.

No. I did not care.

[You are a human, Valmeier]

"Call me by my real name, Lady Luxera," my eyes narrowed. "And you should know this is inevitable."

Since earlier, she had treated me as if she didn’t know who I really was. As if she didn’t know I had to find Natha to heal myself, as if she didn’t know Valmeier was the son of her first ’Hero’ who passed away before the mission could be carried successfully.

Why? Did she want to gloss over the fact that I contributed more to gathering the beads than her beloved Hero? Did she avoid admitting that the one who made it possible for her to return was not entirely human?

Screw her. No wonder the humans were easily manipulated into mindless hatred.

I could see the golden statue’s annoyance, but she also said nothing, as if she didn’t want to admit my new identity.

Oh, fine. It wasn’t like I needed her endorsement.

"If it makes you any better, I am here for another reason--other than helping you reconnect with your realm."

And I made sure to put a hard, bold emphasis on that ’help’ while staring hard at the shining golden eyes. Did you think I would just take such an ungrateful comment after everything I had done? Even if I needed her help, I was not in the mood to bend for a vain deity who couldn’t even educate her own worshipers.

No matter how nasty the old man Pope was, there was an undeniable fact that the wrong, radical teaching had spread way before then. If the Goddess had any conscience, he would order the humans to accept the Society of Rememberance’s proposal.

But she never did, wasn’t she? She let the misunderstanding and misconception that the humans had regarding the other races persist.

So, no--I was not in the mood to lick her high and mighty boots.

The golden statue pulled back, still had nothing to comment about my involvement in her reconnection. "And what is that reason?" she asked haughtily.

"The Old Covenant," a familiar voice replied, turning everyone’s attention.

A new figure, appearing under the shower of black feathers, was the last figure one would think could be seen at the Grand Church. In formal black clothes with golden embroidery, the blue skin and dark horns were striking under the shining light of the golden statue.

[Natha!] Jade flapped the colorful wings excitedly, and Shiny even let out a welcoming sound. I had to hold them back from looking like they knew him well, however.

Naturally, the church members were making a fuss.

"A demon!"

"Why is there a demon here?!"

"How could a demon--"

[Silence!] the Goddess roared again and sent the church members kneeling like the Pope, before turning toward the newcomer. [You...]

Without acknowledging the golden statue, the demon looked at me and bowed like a respectable gentleman, with a handsome smile and a twinkle in his silver eyes. "Apologize for my tardiness, Your Highness."

Oh, this flirt!

Do you know how hard it was for me to keep my lips from trembling and twitching? I wanted to cry, I wanted to laugh, I wanted to run toward him, hug him tightly, and kiss him with no care for the world.

But this wasn’t the time. I couldn’t do that. Yet.

The shining eyes narrowed again. [Did you say...the Old Covenant?]

"Indeed," Natha finally turned toward the Goddess. "It is high time that the old agreement is re-established. Surely, you know what your beloved humans had done?"

"Waging war with the Demon Realm," I tilted my head, waiting for the Goddess to turn her gaze toward me. "Destroying the Kingdom of Druid."

If I sounded vicious, that was because I made sure my voice carried all the spite.

"Don’t you think it’s time your humans stopped doing this kind of shit?"

"There’s no better time to do it than the moment when the cancerous human organization that caused it all is being taken down, is there?" Natha continued.

Perhaps because they could sense that I was actually angry, the templars did not say anything. The church members also didn’t say anything, because they were busy groaning under the Goddess’s oppressive mana. If they could talk, they would probably shout all kinds of expletives for being called cancerous.

[The Old Covenant...] the Goddess spoke again. [It can only be evoked by the realm’s representative] novelbuddy.cσ๓

"Indeed," Natha smiled and raised his palm.

One by one, as if conjured up from empty air, small artifacts appeared and hovered above his palm. They circled around and fire in seven different colors blazed around the artifacts as if trying to melt them.

Perhaps they were, because in their place, was a black cuff that Natha immediately put on. The moment it clicked, the pattern along his skin glowed.

"Let me introduce myself," he smiled, placing his hand above his chest. "I, Matsa-Ra-Natha, the King Candidate of the Demon Realm, had come as a representative."

"The King..." Avarash gasped and turned toward me.

Did he know who Natha was to me? I had no idea, nor did it matter.

From my storage ring, I summoned the crown I had used during the night I fought against the Spectre. From my necklace, I took out the beating green gem. As I united the crown and the jewel, the trees around the plaza shook and whispered, and the roots and vines around the church members tightened in response.

"Valen Valmeier Sil Seahl," I spoke my name as I placed the Heart of the Forest on my head. "With the endorsement of the Saintess of the Sun and the Council of the Night, I came as the representative of the children of nature."