The Max Level Hero Strikes Back!

76.
The One Who Wears A Mask and The Wailing Girl.

The conversation did not last long.
There was no point in waiting around unless Emilia, the fragile hostage, were to wake up.

Davey was relieved by Yuria’s genuine smile.
He returned to the Pallan Empire quickly as he had left, then looked around the disorderly room.
He wondered if Fire Chicken had caused trouble while he had been gone, but nothing seemed to be amiss as of yet.

The soldiers were all armed and tense, moving relentlessly.
It appeared that there was some kind of fight going on.

Davey made sure to leave Fire Chicken in a secluded place away from the headquarters so that it didn’t cause any commotion.

“Fire Chicken.”

—S… Squawk?

Laying on top of the large haystack, Fire Chicken widened its eyes in slight puzzlement.
It had, after all, just woken up from a nap on a warm day.

“Did you do something again?” Davey asked.

Quickly standing up, Fire Chicken stepped back and flapped its wings.
It began to squawk and shake its head violently.
Fire Chicken didn’t appear to be lying, since it had extinguished its flames, which should be burning with pride, and was headbutting Davey to force him to pet its head.

“No?”

—Squawk!!

“Alright, good job.” Davey pulled out a hunk of meat, which he had prepared on his way here, from his Pocket Plane.

Fire Chicken hastily grabbed the meat and backed away, thinking it had escaped any potential punishment successfully.

“Sir Davey, Fire Chicken is in extreme fear.
Rinne, stating that this is not the right way to raise a child.”

“That’s right.”

Davey would be a nasty parent if he was raising a human child this way, but Fire Chicken was a Divine Beast; it would still be alive after his death.

Fully developed Divine Beasts outlived their parents and lived for six hundred years at the least, but could also live for infinity provided that certain conditions were met.
If Fire Chicken, who would be left in this world after Davey’s death, had a violent personality, the future would not be too bright.

“It’s best to draw the line as clearly as possible.”

—That doesn’t sound any different than animals deciding their pecking order.

“How is it different?”

Even though he was doing it, Davey wasn’t too happy about it either.

“By the way, what ’s the commotion about?”

“Apparently, there was a report from the search party that they’ve found the Crown Prince’s body.”

At that moment, a girl smiled cutely and approached Davey.
While walking over, she wrapped her robe around herself more tightly.
She was ordinary, but her smile shone; however, unlike her usual simple and white robe, she was wearing an elegant and luxurious robe with a judge’s hat.

“Ah, they finally found it.
What is that staff? There’s a holy stone in there, too.”

If a mana stone was made of a concentration of mana, a holy stone was a concentration of holy power.
Well, they actually had the same foundation and only differed in how they were refined.
However, Davey wasn’t going to cause trouble with the Holy Empire by being pedantic about this.

“Hehe, how do I look? Do l look like a proper Saintess candidate?”

The girl asked about looking like a proper Saintess candidate and not a Saintess.
She was not being arrogant as she knew her place well.
What a natural Saint.

“Well, you look elegant, I guess.”

“Hmph… You’re not as romantic as I expected you to be when talking to women.”

“I’m not falling for that.
You’re someone who will be single forever, after all.”

“What?” The girl widened her eyes and tilted her head in puzzlement.
“Forever single?”

“Did you not hear about that?”

“Well… I don’t think I have…” The girl murmured, clearly unaware of how old-fashioned the Holy Empire was.

Both the Pope and the Saintess, the highest authority of the two branches of power, could not get married.
The reason was simple: any intimate relationship could cause them to be influenced by their partner.

In this case, the Holy Empire was intentionally keeping quiet rather than not feeling the need to tell the girl.
Saintess candidate Alice had always known this fact, but Saintess candidate Lena was naive enough to have known nothing.

“Hm…”

“Well, that is a worry for the future.
And it’s not like you have someone you want to marry right now,” Davey said.

“Anyway, I didn’t think that it would take this long to find the body.
This is… I don’t know whether to feel bitter… Or perhaps it is a relief…”

“What difference does it make to feel bitter about it? We should be relieved that we’ve found the body at last.”

This situation was different from when Sio Howl, the ice-type mage, had died by a sudden fatal blow from Treve, his fellow illusionist, during his time in the Alpha Reinforcements.
There had been room for resurrection since it hadn’t been long since he had died, but it was different this time.
Since it had officially been over a week since the Crown Prince had died, complete resurrection was impossible even if Rho Aias, Davey’s teacher, had come.
Complete resurrection was…

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

Saintess candidate Lena’s gaze closely resembled someone; her eyes shone like a puppy following its owner.
It was like… Her gaze was similar to the way Amy, the acting manager of the Heins Territory and Davey’s former lady-in-waiting, looked at him.

“No, I don’t know if I can do the deliverance when Prince Davey is here…”

“I am not part of the Holy Empire.
The Holy Empire is responsible for deliverance, and it is by your power.”

“Is that so…?”

Since it was a huge ceremony…

A deliverance ceremony was a huge and expected one, since a royal member of the empire had died.
However, Davey could see that the Holy Empire was trying to get something more from the Pallan Empire as Saintess candidate Lena was here and had stepped up.

‘This is why they say that even those in the Holy Empire are still mere humans, too.’

“Aw, you’re so good.”

Support us at bit.ly/3iBfjkV.

—Squawk…

Saintess candidate Lena, who recklessly approached Fire Chicken and petted its beak with a smile, had a natural charm that made everyone be friendly with her.
And although people may have not been friendly with her, her charm probably got rid of any of their thoughts about harming her.
That was probably how she had managed to stay alive all this time.

“Be careful.
What are you going to do if you get bitten?”

“How could a sweet child like this one bite? It does get a little angry, but it has a good heart…”

Lena had a discerning eye, but she had no idea that she was already close to being a Saintess.
That was when…

Toot!! 

It was the horn that signaled the return of the soldiers.

“It looks like they’ve returned.
I am going to go right away.
Do you want to go with me?”

“I should at least show my face.”

* * *

All the knights in white armor stood in a line and pulled out their swords in solemnity.

Clang!! Clang!!!

They saluted each party that entered the palace gates by swinging their swords.

Seven white horses first entered before ten knights walked in with a large coffin in a poised manner.
They kept their formation throughout.

The person in the coffin was no ordinary royalty or nobility; it was the Crown Prince of the nation known as the continent’s strongest empire.

Illyna, who was wearing the circle and leading the formation from the front, looked more devastated than Davey could imagine.
She was trying to hide her emotions, but her cold expression looked much colder than usual.
Perhaps that was what a facade looked like.

The Pallan Empire’s remaining biggest concern after the necromancers, the cause of this incident, had been taken care of had been to find the Crown Prince’s body.
And after a long battle, Illyna had successfully recovered her brother’s body.

“The body is intact, but…”

“But?”

“It’s not there, the heart.”

The Crown Prince’s body was relatively fine compared to the others.
Inside the open coffin, his body was laid out with a lot of flowers.
Clearly, the priests had gone out of their way and worked hard to cover the parts that had decomposed, but it was just fool’s gold if it had begun decomposing.

“Along with Father, Big Brother was one of the people who strongly supported peace in the continent,” Illyna said softly.

The Crown Prince had been adamant that war should never happen.

“It was Big Brother who always said that people would be able to relax if there was peace, and that people from every nation would be able to look at each other objectively, without wariness and discrimination, once the chains of vengeance were gone.”

However, the Crown Prince had been in conflict with Prince Sullivan, who only considered the Pallan Empire, and the other princes who held onto extreme views.

“Big Brother was the only person completely against war of any kind.”

“Were you close?”

“I don’t know.
Not every member of the royal family likes me.
In fact, most royalty are wary of me… But there aren’t any problems, thanks to Big Brother.”

Illyna thought that there was no one reckless and stupid enough to mess with her; there was a reason she was called the apple of the Pallan Empire’s eye.
Unlike Aeria, the Lyndis Empire’s youngest princess who had been sick and was living in a place where beastfolk discrimination existed, Illyna was a warrior who had gotten rid of any opponents keeping her in check and had solidified her position.

“Illyna.” Sullivan approached Illyna, who was just staring at the coffin.

“Sullivan?”

“Illyna, I’m sorry, but I think we’re going to have to hold the national funeral here instead of the capital.”

Illyna widened her eyes and cried out, “What?! That cannot happen!”

“No, this has been decided by the next Crown Prince.
Do not object.” Sullivan calmly put his hand on Illyna’s shoulder.

“Don’t touch me! Do you think this makes sense? Ha! Next Crown Prince?! Was that the reason you postponed it until you could find Big Brother’s body to simply confirm his death?!”

“I’m sorry.”

Illyna, who was furious, began crying out loud.
She could no longer hold in her sorrow; normally, she would not show this kind of weakness.

When Davey silently patted her on the back, Illyna burrowed into his arms and sobbed.
She did not realize who was beside her.

“We are going to cremate the body and have the funeral in about a week, since we need to prepare for it.
Prince Davey, you have never met my Big Brother, but… Please attend for my younger sister’s sake.”

“…”

“Please, I am asking you.”

Even in this situation, Prince Sullivan was asking Davey for a favor without a change of expression.
He looked at the sobbing Illyna, then simply turned away.

* * *

A week was neither a particularly short nor long time.
During that period of time, Prince Sullivan resolved the issue regarding the lack of food exports towards the Heins Territory using his authority.
He also sold a part of the leftover food supply that was going to be used to relieve the citizens of the Pallan Empire.

Sullivan looked like he didn’t take care to form friendly attachments, but he took care of business and promises made by the empire with great precision and clarity.
Illyna had criticized him for being cold and harsh, but he did not budge.

The previous crown prince of the Pallan Empire didn ’t have the aptitude of a crown prince, but he was still a great person.

“Big Brother was too optimistic, saying that someday a war-free and peaceful world would come… He said that there would come a time where problems would be dealt with by diplomacy and cooperation rather than swords.
I… I liked Big Brother for that,” Illyna mumbled monotonously as she stared at the Crown Prince’s body, which was laid upon a large wooden support.

Illyna looked exhausted from trying not to cry in public.
Even so, she still looked ridiculously beautiful, just like a fragile princess.

“Big Brother knew better than anyone that there would be too many sacrifices needed in order for that kind of world to come.
And he also knew that it would be impossible with his power.
He knew that the only person who could make that happen was me,” Sullivan mumbled.

Illyna glared at Sullivan with resentment.
“Do you…even know what sacrifice is?!”

Unfortunately, no one could hear Illyna; the only people who could hear were the two people standing right next to the body and a few others who had good hearing.
It was true that a lot of people had come, since it was the national funeral of the Pallan Empire’s Crown Prince, but it wasn’t like everyone’s hearing was as sensitive as animals.

“Illyna.”

“Let go! I resent you, Sullivan.
If you had helped Big Brother, even a little bit, when he was alive… He would not have gone that way!”

Sullivan smiled bitterly.
“Right… I knew absolutely nothing.
However, politics aren’t as easy as you think.
Illyna, let me ask you a question.
I held Big Brother’s national funeral here because of circumstances I cannot talk about.
If we had the funeral in the capital, like you said…”

“…”

“Are you ready to take responsibility for any problems that may arise? I can only take so much of your childishness.”

The siblings glared at each other in hostility, making it seem like they were not related at all.
Sullivan’s voice was cold and cutting.

Davey simply watched the siblings’ fight quietly, but he mentally spoke to Perserque.

‘It’s almost like a TV show.
Perserque, do you have any popcorn?’

—Your personality is just amazing.

‘I know that you have some physical power now, but don ’t you intervene unnecessarily.’

—Then, are you just going to sit and watch? Still, you care for that child Illyna.

Unlike the two, Davey clicked his tongue at whatever that was left between them, and…

Bleep.

The offer that was presented on the status window.

[Take care of the last of the corruption.
Purify the soul that entered the ring of reincarnation from corruption.
If not, there is a high possibility that an abnormal phenomenon will occur in the ring of reincarnation in the future.]

“Tsk, acting like you are extending a helping hand when you are just threatening me…”

It was unclear whether Goddess Freyja was extending a helping hand to Illyna or Davey.

The trauma of someone passing away went on for longer than people imagined.