Kuro no Maou

Chapter 44 Meeting of Apostles

The church headquarters, [Holy Elysion Cathedral], was located in the holy city Elysion. In its deepest part, where a conference room exclusively for high ranking clergymen was made, out of 12, 6 Apostles had gathered.

There were Apostles that stayed and served in Elysion as well as those that were deployed to far away fronts like Sariel. Thus it was rare for all 12 to assemble at the same time. At the same time, that also implied that war never ended on this Arc continent.

The Apostles that had gathered today were the 2nd and 5th,that resided in Elysion, as well as the the 3rd, 4th, 11th, and 12th, who had just returned.

“——-The conquest of Pandora continent, will be continued to be entrusted to the 7th Apostle Sariel.”

The one who was acting as the speaker of this meeting, the 2nd Apostle Abel, declared this.

With the magnificent victory of the Crusaders at Goldran, every noble and church had started sending reinforcements there. Still, Abel declared that they will not be sending another Apostle there.

“You seem displeased, 11th Apostle Lord Misa.”

Sensing everyone’s reactions, Abel spoke to Misa who clearly seemed dissatisfird.

“Sariel was seriously injured while fighting that dragon called Gaevinal right? And it will take time to restore the destroyed parts, not to mention that it’ll take at least one month if she sleeps in the [coffin].”

Out of all the apostles gathered here, Abel and 3 others were dressed in clothes that hid their faces and barely showed any skin. But Misa’s attire, let alone the face, even the shoulders and legs were clearly exposed from the modified robe that she wore.

Misa had a cute face which still retained its youthfulness, a face that would suit a 17yr old bishoujo. From the point of view of the strict clergy, the high exposure level of her body would have been rage inducing, and the modified robe further highlighted her beautiful feminine body line to top it off.

From the tiara worn on her light pink hair, her whole body was decorated with shining ornaments, but rather than making her look overly dressed up, they only supported her sublime beauty. In fact, the shine of the numerous jewels seemed to be overshadowed in front her.

“I agree. Being unable to move for 1 month would be dangerous for both Lord Sariel and the Crusaders as well.”

After Misa’s words, 12th Apostle Mariabelle also spoke.

She was also not wearing dresses that hid the face like Misa. With blonde hair and blue eyes similar to his older brother Archbishop Liuchrome, he possessed beauty that could make someone mistake him for a young girl. However, his long straight hair different from his brother’s natural wavy hair was worth mentioning as well.

“Certainly, if another army possessing strength equal to that of Gaevinal’s were to attack, the Crusaders would definitely be annihilated. But, such level of opposition has not yet been confirmed. Also we are talking about the cautious Archbishop Liuchrome here; he won’t try something stupid as launching another attack without proper plans from Daidalos. And above all, currently reinforcements are being sent one after the other to Pandora, the military would soon be restored to its full strength.”

“Reinforcements, is it? Are you not perhaps mistaking thirsty hyenas for reinforcements?”

“You are taking your words too far, 11th Apostle Lord Misa.”(abel)

Abel warned her a little, but, Misa didn’t show any signs of remorse.

“You should also know that they are nothing more than a group of thieves who are blinded by greed; they are simply scum who take pleasure in looting and massacring. They won’t make up for a good fighting force.”

Although Misa scorned the reinforcements from the church and the nobles that had been given the name of Crusaders as well, Abel also understood her opinion so decided not to object it anymore.

“Lord Misa, although I can’t fully accept your opinion, even I don’t think that these reinforcements would obediently listen to our orders. My brother is a brilliant commander on top of being a clergyman but, to keep such a large number of people in control, the power of an Apostle is necessary.”(mariabelle)

Even though these two had been clearly against the decision, Abel showed no signs of changing his decision.

“Both of your opinions have truth in them, but I still cannot authorize the deployment of an Apostle. Currently, the power required to conquer the whole Pandora continent has been secured. Certainly, the ones going to Pandora are the private armies of nobles and the church, and looting will also occur obviously, there would be even many fights among themselves over fortunes as well. But still, the numbers accumulated are more than enough to conquer Pandora. The only problem left is how to ‘divide the cake’. Such pointless battles are not something us Apostles need to take part in.”

An Apostle is given power to destroy the enemies of god.

Thus, there was no meaning in obtaining fame and wealth. Simply destroying the enemy was their raison d’être. If there is no enemy to defeat, then there is no meaning for an Apostle to be there.

The Pandora continent did not have any more areas with strength that might require the intervention of more Apostles.

Even if they were like robbers, both the parliament and the church believe that they should just conquer it with overwhelming numbers.

In fact, the number of applicants was big enough to make the strength in Arc continent to become insufficient.

If there is going to be a shortage in the Republic due to the army driven by greed, then the Apostles will have to protect the peace here.

“The wounded Lord Sariel will certainly take about 1 month to recuperate but, since there are no threats there is no need for her to take any hardships either. All she has to do is just stay there as the supreme commander of the Crusaders. There would be no problem even if she doesn’t move.”

“But—-“

Before Misa could raise her voice in objection again, the sound of hands striking with a *pan* sound interrupted her.

“ufufu, if you are that worried about Sariel-chan then how about we go and meet her.”

As if suggesting visiting a friend, the one who spoke in this gentle voice was the 3rd Apostle Mikael.

With wavy platinum-blonde super long hair, just looking at her gentle gaze with amethyst like eyes, gave a sense of relief and calmness.

She had an overwhelmingly huge chest, slender neck, round hips and long plump legs. A voluptuous body line, which could be clearly seen even from above the pure white habit that she wore.

Her figure overflowed with loveliness, and everyone who saw her felt that she gave off the divine feeling similar to the goddess of harvest of ancient times or the mother earth herself.

Mikael, thinking that she just gave a great idea, with a smiling face, looked beautiful and neat worthy of being called the [Holy woman].

“Wait, I wasn’t particularly worried about Sariel but——“(misa)

“I approve. If you are not worried then Lord Misa can stay here. It will be less noisy so I’m actually happy about it.”(mariabelle)

“Wh, Who said I was not going!? I was just worried as her eternal rival whether her skills had fallen or not! That’s it!”(misa)

Battles and fights between Apostles were forbidden but looking at Misa it only felt like a children’s fight, so Abel decided not to say anything.

“In the first place, Mariabelle doesn’t have any significant relationship with Sariel right?”(misa)

“Don’t say my name so familiarly, and what do you mean by I don’t have any relationship, huh!?”(mariabelle)

“I am her rival; you’re just a fellow Apostle.”(misa)

“Are you kidding me, that’s not—-“(mariabelle)

True, was something he couldn’t say in the end. He held abnormal feelings for Sariel but, that doesn’t mean he had any special relationship with her.

Once, he had entered a battle led by Ars, who had yet to become a Cardinal, along with his brother Liuchrome to fight against heretics.

In that battle, the Apostle dispatched by the church was Sariel.

No matter how you looked at it she was just a comrade-in-arms. In the first place, if you can call her a comrade just by fighting together once, then all 15,000 Crusaders were also her comrades.

“No way.......I am........”(T/N: Mariabelle uses boku to refer to himself.)

“fufun” (misa)

Mariabelle was worried about his one-sided feelings, and for some reason Misa looked as if she had won something.

“This is the first time I’m going to the Pandora continent. I wonder what kind of place it is?”

Mikael was in her own pace, already in a travelling mood.

Looking at these three, Abel made tired face. Although his face couldn’t really be seen since he was wearing the hood.

“—-Anyway, I won’t forbid personally going to meet Lord Sariel, all of you act as per your own judgement. With this the discussion is over. Disperse.”

After giving the dispersal order, Abel stood up from his seat.

Since he had said what he wanted to say, he had no reason to stay here anymore. Mikael, Misa, and Mariabelle can do whatever they want.

The 4th and the 5th Apostle who had been quiet from the start till end, also stood up. The silver knight dressed in armor from head to toe was the 5th Apostle Johann

He was the commander of the [Temple Knights] to which the 1st cavalry unit, that dealt the finishing blow to the Daidalos army during the skirmish at Goldran, were affiliated to.

The 2m tall body covered in full body armour sitting on the chair looked like a piece of art.

The other, wearing a robe similar to Abel and a hood that was even thicker through which no expression could be seen, was 4th Apostle Judah.

Nobody knew what his work was, and Apostles below the number 5, let alone his powers, did not even know how he actually looked like. He was an extremely mysterious person.

The 2nd, 4th, and 5th Apostle whose faces could not be seen soon left, and the three who wanted to meet Sariel were left.

The scene of Mikael looking at Misa and Mariabelle, who were quarrelling, with saint like smile, was like a teacher looking at her troublesome pupils.

The Daidalos royal castle that was even enormous than the Virginia fort, in one section of this castle was a special room.

Originally, it was a giant basement warehouse, but currently a large magic circle was drawn on the cold stone ground, and priest in white robes stood at the four corners. And in the centre was pure white coffin.

One month after this room was created after the occupation of Daidalos. The light of the light illuminating the inside of the room slowly flickered. Other than the occasional tired sighs of the priests that were using magic continuously in rotation, there was no other sound inside the room. But at this moment, the change they were waiting for finally occurred.

—–*bashari*

The sound of water came from inside the coffin.

*basha* *basha* the sound of water striking and moving came twice, thrice. The 4 priests made sure than they were not hallucinating due to overworking themselves.

Quickly as the priests left the room, 2 sisters entered the room to replace them.

One of them held a towel, and the other held a robe. Both things were pure white without a single stain.

As the two of them came closer, the door of the coffin was opened.

Two white arms came out. The hands gripped the coffin and slowly raised the body.

The naked body of the girl wet with the holy water kept in the coffin appeared.

Drops of water fell from the long silver hair; the two red eyes opened, and looked at the 2 sisters in front of her.

The 2 sisters were supposed to call out to the girl who came out of the coffin first, but this was the first time the two of them had ever seen the girl directly and forgot their own duty due to the beauty that was loved by God and had their breath taken away.

What they saw was the unwounded naked body of the white girl.

After the fight with Gaevinal, the 7th Apostle Sariel had supposedly lost an arm and had sustained major wounds, but there was not even a single scar on her body right now. In this one month, inside the coffin filled with holy water, Sariel’s wounds had been completely healed.

“......How long was I passed out?”

Sariel asked.

It was her usual small voice, but that was enough for the two sisters to regain their composure.

“Today is the 12th day of the month of New Sun (Shinyou). It has been 36 days since you slept.”

“I see.”

She listened to the current state of affairs from the sister with the robe as her body was dried by the sister with the towel.

“It seems a bit troublesome situation.”

“Yes, not long ago, the prime minister of Daidalos committed suicide in the throne room—-“

Listening to the sister, she wore the robe and became the usual pure white figure.

“Now then, Archbishop Liuchrome is waiting for you, please come this way.”

The sister starts leading her there.

And Sariel’s footsteps, which were following the sister, were steady enough that no one would think that she was asleep for a month.”

(“My body is stiff.......right arm cannot be used for atleast one week in battle.”)

As she felt the inconsistencies in her body, she decided to go outside the castle for rehabilitation and inspection.