“That’s right.”
“You don’t need to introduce yourself to this villain, Holy Lady Calca!” Remedios thrust the point of her sword at Jaldabaoth. “If we know this is Jaldabaoth, all that’s left is to kick his ass back to the demon world. No need to sully our tongues with conversa—”
“U-uh, Remedios, wasn’t the plan to see what he had to say…?”
Remedios cocked her head in response to Calca’s confusion. Is that what we decided?
It seemed that Kelart had cast a spell from the rear—a blaze of warmth spreading inside her brought forth a surprising amount of power. Her previous attacks had been dodged, but now she was confident she could hit him. That’s when she realized: Ohhh, listening to him was about buying time.
“—But I’m generous, so we can talk a little bit. Is there anything you want to ask?”
Jaldabaoth had his hand pressed over his mask on the spot between his eyes. It was the same gesture she often saw from Kelart, Calca, and her deputies.
“…Please take all the time you need. You can prepare in desperation, but a power greater than you will trample and rob you of your lives. And those who look on will despair even more. What a delightful scene.”
“I would never allow that to happen!”
“Sorry, Remedios. Could you be quiet for a second?” Calca spoke somewhat firmly, and Remedios closed her mouth. Her tone of voice changed only slightly, but Remedios knew from experience that it meant she was annoyed.
“Remedios, let’s back up a bit.”
“B-but if I back up any farther, I won’t be able to strike if he does something…”
“Oh, that’s all right. How about we say that I won’t attack until either our conversation is over or someone from your side attacks first?”
“Why would I take what a demon says at face val—?!”
“Remedios!”
“Fine.”
When she followed the order and fell back, Kelart whispered an explanation in her ear through her helmet. “Holy Lady Calca wants to get some information out of him. No matter what he says, control yourself.”
Remedios grunted her disapproval.
They were up against a demon, so they should consider anything he said a lie. Slaying him at once would be easier since it required less brain power. But upsetting her master’s plans wasn’t a very loyal thing to do. She had to sit tight and tolerate this.
“Now then, Evil Emperor Jaldabaoth. There’s something I’d like to ask you. What is your purpose in coming here? If you want to overrun this country, why aren’t you operating alongside the subhumans you had with you when you broke our wall? Could it be that—?”
“Yes, you can stop right there. I know what you’re going to say. It seems you’re operating under a misunderstanding. It’s not as if I came alone because I want to negotiate.”
From behind her, Remedios heard Calca murmur a disappointed “Oh, I see.”
“There are two reason I came alone. One is that you being crushed by me alone is more despair inducing than if you fell in battle against an army of subhumans. The second is to avoid making the mistake I made in the kingdom. I never imagined a warrior with strength on par with me existed in those lands. So I came to investigate whether there was someone like that here or not.”
“There might be!”
“I can say with certainty there is not. I gave you this much time. If such a person existed, they would surely be next to you, the most important person in this country. But I don’t see anyone who matches the description. Not even among those sneaking around like rats.”
“Hey! Are you saying I—we’re not as strong as that warrior?!” Remedios shouted, unable to hold herself back; that was a comment she couldn’t ignore. She had forgotten half of what Calca and her sister had told her, but she at least managed to keep herself from attacking.
“That’s exactly what I was saying, but did you not understand for some reason? Is that all you want to know, Your Holy Majesty?”
“There was one other thing, but no matter—angel unit, forward!”
Calca’s determined shout filled the square, and the angels hidden among the guards and priests forming the perimeter behind her all spread their wings and flew into the air.
Five flame archangels—armed with swords of flames and summoned with a tier-three spell. Twenty angel guardians summoned with a tier-two spell. And a single principality peace that Calca had been summoning with a tier-four spell the whole time on their way over.
Remedios didn’t remember what sort of powers the angels had, but she knew that the principality peace that Calca summoned could cast low-level faith magic and had skills that allowed the angel to smite evil, grant some protection from enemy attacks, purify ailments, and more. She had seen her summon it any number of times.
Soaking in the crackling energy around her, Remedios realized she didn’t need to hold back any longer and charged. Normally the priests would launch attack spells to support her, but there weren’t any this time; perhaps they were saving their mana to summon angels.
Remedios used a skill from one of her classes, evil slayer, that boosted the holy energy in her Holy Sword.
Suddenly, five adventurers appeared behind Jaldabaoth. They must have been using a spell to go invisible and close the distance. Remedios had no idea why they abruptly showed themselves—because while she was aware that Invisibility existed, she had no idea what kind of spell it was or why the effects might cut off.
Jaldabaoth showed no signs of intercepting the suddenly visible adventurers. No, he didn’t even appear to notice them.
Was the threat she had sensed from him an error? Or was this a phantom or a double instead of the real thing?
No—she rejected the latter thought. That couldn’t be. Her instinct, her nose for evil, told her that Jaldabaoth was here.
The adventurers panicked and
