CHAPTER 49
What the hell is Red doing?

I couldn't understand this situation at all.

It probably wasn't just me; everyone else here must have felt the same.

The demons were also staring at Red with blank expressions.

"...Hey."

While everyone was too dumbfounded to speak, I barely managed to open my mouth.

"What are you doing right now?"

"...Are your eyes just for decoration?"

Red answered verbally without looking back.

"I'm protecting you. Can't you tell by looking?"

"No, I can tell by looking, but why are you doing it?"

When I asked because I had no idea what her motive was, the answer I got was...

"Just because."

An infuriating answer of 'just because'. Naturally, no one was convinced.

"What the hell are you talking about?!"

"Have you gone crazy?"

"We knew you were out of your mind before, but still!"

The demons clamored, saying exactly what I wanted to say on my behalf.

While her kin criticized her and even I, the one being protected, gave her a sour look...

Brushing everything off indifferently, Red spoke.

"Hey."

"What?"

"How do we usually part ways every time?"

"What?"

"If you remember, get ready."

Giving only the words she wanted to say without a proper explanation, Red transformed her arms into whips, blowing away the surrounding demons and creating an opening.

Then she immediately dashed toward me. She scooped me up with both hands in a princess carry, but I didn't resist.

Because I realized what she meant by what she just said.

The thing this punk did every time she left, the thing she was very good at. She was planning to flee, but this time, taking me with her.

"Hold on tight."

Red sprinted through the underground space while holding me, and at that moment, a tremendous voice echoed from behind.

"Catch that traitor!"

It was the order barked out by Haas, who had been thrown away earlier. Soon after, the sound of countless people chasing us came from behind.

"Interfere with them."

"...I was going to do that even if you didn't tell me!"

I held onto Red with one hand and aimed my other hand backward.

I fired my Divine Power, which was lethal to them, at the approaching pursuers.

While obstructing them from getting closer, I shouted.

"Why the hell are you doing this?!"

"I'm helping you, and instead of a 'thank you,' you interrogate me first?"

"I don't know why you're doing this, so I'm not really feeling thankful."

I wasn't innocent enough to blindly accept help from a woman who had been grinding her teeth wanting to get rid of me, only to suddenly change her tune now.

Especially since someone I had known since I was a baby turned out to be a demon and had just betrayed me.

"S-Speaking of which, why is Haas acting like that? She lived perfectly fine without her identity being discovered for over 20 years, so why betray me now?!"

"...Don't worry about such trivial things. Shouldn't you be paying attention to something else right now? You're being held in my arms, and you're pressed right up against my chest."

"Bullshit! It's not even that big!"

Like I'd care about something like that in this situation.

Even on a normal day, I was so used to the frequent physical contact of those four women that I wouldn't suddenly get flustered by Red.

"Tch, you're no fun to tease."

Red clicked her tongue in displeasure, then moved on to a more serious topic.

"You choose. Where should we run?"

"...Where exactly can we run to?"

"If we use the passage we took to get down here, we can exit the capital."

There was a passage that demons could freely use to enter and exit this capital where the Emperor resided?!

Surprised by the unexpected fact, I answered.

"No. If we do that, those guys will know our destination and chase right after us."

"True, since we came in together. Then where should we escape to?"

"Straight up. Can we get out to the front of the temple?"

When I asked, thinking of the people waiting outside the temple because they couldn't enter, Red nodded.

She abruptly changed direction and entered a passage that seemed to lead upward.

"This passage probably connects to the front of the temple."

"Probably?"

"I don't know the passages here very well either."

"...Then what gave you the confidence to enter this one?"

"I mutated my sensory organs into those of an animal that lives underground in places with multiple tunnels like this. We just have to pray that animal's senses are accurate."

It's unnerving, but I have no choice. Held in her arms, I could only pray that this woman hadn't guessed wrong.

Above ground, inside the temple.

"Count Ares, all the preparations are complete."

"You certainly finished quite fast."

Ares replied sarcastically to the priest who spoke politely.

The priest who spoke held quite a high position even within the capital's temple.

Even if the other party was the Count of Whiperion, it was a highly disrespectful attitude that would normally warrant an immediate protest, but the priest couldn't do so.

Instead, she and all the other priests were just walking on eggshells around Ares.

"Count Whiperion, please calm down...."

"Why should I?"

"This incident was not the will of our entire temple."

As Ares remained displeased, a woman with green hair interjected.

She was Namiel, the High Priest in charge of the capital's temple, and she was trying her hardest to appease Ares.

"Our temple is not a group of scoundrels who interfere in other families' affairs for profit. That woman, Hairel, also confessed that she wasn't trying to take over the Whiperion family, but was merely trying to pressure Lord Ceres."

"So you're telling me to just let this go?"

"That's not it. Regardless, it was a High Priest belonging to the temple who caused this mess."

Namiel's words were long-winded, but simply put, she was saying, 'Since we are all begging for forgiveness for one person's mistake, you should cut us some slack.'

There was no way Ares, who had been in politics for a long time, wouldn't catch the underlying meaning.

Normally, she wouldn't want to sour her relationship with the temple, so she would have pretended to reluctantly accept the apology.

"How dare you people say that to me?!"

But this time, she couldn't. Ares threw away any political tact and was genuinely furious.

"Do you have any idea what state our family is in right now because of you lot? And how much emotional suffering Ceres went through!"

"Haven't I been telling you? We will apologize and compensate you for that. First, we will appoint Lord Ceres as a Saint, and then the temple will provide full support...."

"How is that compensation? You just want to use Ceres for your own ends!"

Realizing she couldn't get through to her, Namiel gave up. Instead, she shot a glance at Hames, who was watching the situation nearby with her arms crossed.

When an acquaintance looked at her with desperate eyes begging for help, Hames sighed and stepped forward.

"Count Ares, calm down. Doing this won't make the situation any better."

"...I see you belong to the temple after all. Seeing as you take their side over Ceres's."

"Then does throwing a fit like this help Ceres? At least wait until everything is over before you start holding them accountable. Doing this will only drag things out and waste time."

It was a valid point.

"...Understood."

Ares was still furious, but unable to find a retort, she reluctantly backed down.

"Right. It's best to wrap up this unpleasant incident first. Call for Ceres. And bring that damn nephew of mine too!"

When she ordered the parties involved to be brought in, the priests moved.

The first to arrive was Nemeth, along with Airan.

"What's this?"

"Hm?"

Seeing the two arrive together and sensing an unusual atmosphere, Ares and Hames looked at them with strange expressions.

"Ceres, Ceres choked me!"

Then, as if he had been waiting for this moment, Nemeth shouted while showing his neck.

"He said things turned out this way because of me and choked me!"

When he showed his neck with clear, small handprints on it, the surroundings grew noisy.

"Is it true?"

"Lord Ceres choked someone?"

"Inside the temple?!"

The flustered priests turned their gazes to Airan, who had come with him.

"Lord Airan, is that true?"

"Uh, he did choke him...."

Airan answered while glancing around nervously.

He didn't say anything more than that. It was because he was still terrified by Ceres's threats from earlier, but Nemeth, oblivious to those feelings, grew arrogant, thinking Airan was taking his side.

"See! Even Lord Airan, who was originally a Saint candidate, says so! That guy Ceres isn't the pure and kind boy everyone thinks he is!"

"He swore at me, saying 'This bastard is crossing the line' and...!"

"Do not insult Ceres any further."

Ares reached out with her right hand and grabbed Nemeth by the throat.

"W-What are you doing?!"

"Did you think you could insult Ceres to this extent right in front of me and just get away with it?"

"N-No, it's not an insult, it's the truth...."

Even while being choked, Nemeth spoke the truth, but Ares didn't believe him.

"Didn't my brother tell you? I'm not the type to go easy on someone just because we share blood."

"I-I'm your nephew..."

"So what? Did you think I would let you off just because you're my nephew?"

Ares's grip on Nemeth's throat tightened even more.

As the situation grew urgent, the priests stepped in to stop her.

"Please calm down~!"

"I was planning to dispose of this brat once this was all over anyway. Since it's come to this, I'll just dispose of him right now!"

Completely enraged, Ares ignored the priests' pleas.

Hames, the only one who could have stopped her, just watched the scene unfold, as she didn't view Nemeth favorably either.

Nemeth was truly driven to the brink of death when—

"Lord Ceres is nowhere to be found!"

"What?"

The priest who had gone to fetch Ceres rushed back in and shouted. Hearing those words, Ares unconsciously loosened her grip, allowing Nemeth to barely survive.