Kays Translations
Just another Isekai Lover~
Chapter 68: Amid the Frenzy (1)
White smoke rose from the supposed holy sword in Elliot’s hand. The blade turned reddish brown and crumbled.
Emily stared in speechless despair.
—No. It’s a lie. How can the holy sword do that? Why?
She screamed silently as unanswerable questions overwhelmed her.
“Why… What’s happening… The holy sword…?”
“The holy sword lost…? Melted? Why?”
The words that came from those around her echoed the same questions in Emily’s mind.
King, chancellor, nobles, and commoners all raised confused questions. When the liquefied wave swallowed Holy Knight Elliot, every gaze turned toward Emily.
“Saint Emily… What exactly is going on…?”
She couldn’t identify the panicked speaker.
“You’re asking me?”
Her voice was hoarse. She knew nothing and wanted answers herself. Elliot was distant and no longer clearly visible.
She understood only that something terrifying was happening, and couldn’t stop trembling.
“Hahaha! So this is all the Goddess’s power amounts to!”
Mad laughter erupted beside her. Dylan Agreas Ziemeld stood smiling with genuine delight, laughing wildly despite the horror.
“Why… are you laughing?”
Agreas’s grating laughter stirred anger beneath Emily’s fear.
“How could I not laugh, Saint Emily?”
Then, his expression slowly returned to its usual state, and he turned around ostentatiously and smiled at the King and the Prime Minister, who were crouching on the floor.
“To begin with, why did any of you call her a ‘Saint’?”
“W-what are you suddenly saying…? Have you lost your mind, Dylan Agreas…?”
The king raised his voice, confused.
“We too were deceived for a time, so your error is understandable.”
Emily’s face turned red as Agreas spoke with an exasperated look on his face and his voice tinged with a hint of contempt
“W-what do you mean, ‘fooled’? I didn’t do anything!”
“Exactly. You did nothing.”
Agreas assumed a sympathetic expression. His rapid changes appeared clownish.
“You’re merely an apprentice cleric. Your ‘work on the battlefield’ consisted of stealing other people’s work at the moment they finished and claiming their achievements, did it not?”
“Were you unaware? The knights were foolish enough to be thoroughly deceived, and rumor made you a legendary Saint. For a time, we believed it too. A pathetic story.”
As Agreas dramatically clutched his head, Emily felt her actions exposed for the first time. She couldn’t refute him.
Anger and overwhelming shame heated her face. Hearing her past behavior described aloud made her unsteady.
“Now I finally understand why manipulating you was so easy. A more perceptive and cunning woman would have noticed something wrong. But you truly had no idea.”
His false pity grated against Emily’s confusion, anger, and shame, leaving her speechless.
“Moreover, prayer is invisible, which made the matter still more difficult.”
He then continued as if speaking to himself, exhaling.
“What does that mean? What are you talking about?”
“The ‘Saint’ you believed in never existed. I’m merely exposing that truth, Your Majesty.”
Agreas’s calm voice was eerily resonant.
“…But prayer isn’t useless…”
Emily sat there, struggling to breathe and trembling uncontrollably.
“I never called myself a Saint! Everyone else said it. I only did my best to pray. But this…”
She babbled excuses in a trembling voice, covering her face.
“Exactly. Others praised you as a saint, and you didn’t deny it. You merely obeyed. You did nothing wrong.”
Even the apparent comfort sounded mocking.
“Count Agreas, what is it you’re after? At this time, like this…”
The Prime Minister asked.
“I simply wanted everyone to witness the ambiguity and fragility of the Goddess’s power, then learn that truly valuable power exists.”
Agreas drew the slender ceremonial sword at his waist and pointed it toward the king.
A Royal Guard immediately attacked and severed Agreas’s wrist. Agreas didn’t move, almost as though inviting the strike.
“…Agreas… what, is that…”
The king gasped. A frozen silence fell on the nobles in the VIP booth.
Eerie strands pulled the fallen wrist back to his arm as though time reversed.
“Wonderful, isn’t it? This miraculous power is perfectly equal and unwavering.”
His satisfied smile looked calm and utterly mad.