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Chapter 204.1
It was a place where the air was terribly humid and clung to the whole body.
It was not a natural cave. After walking along the tunnel for a while, a group of people passed through a hidden door at the end of the tunnel and climbed up the stairs to find the remains of a hidden structure. There were no lights, and countless insect-shaped monsters wandered around in the dark in the almost pitch-black space with only the sound of their footsteps echoing.
The area as a whole resembled a huge sphere, and there was a huge moat-like depression on the walls, making the area look more like an arena when standing at its center. There were several bridges leading to several doors connected to the central area, and the most notable was the huge holes among the interconnected doors.
Numerous holes in the walls showed signs that water once flowed through them, but now there were simply dried up remnants of it on the walls.
(T/N: Those tunnels used to be part of the water system before but are now abandoned.)
Knott said as he shook his head in disgust in the stagnant air, Ive heard stories, but this does look different when witnessed directly.
Leppe chimed in, Its always a surprise, no matter how many times I come here. I had no idea there was a space like this on the outskirts of the royal capital.
Next, it was the one clad in the garb of a priestess who responded, The royal capital you speak of was originally a town for the researchers of this facility. As a research facility, this one is the main building.
After responding to Knott, the priestess scanned the area to check the whole place. Countless insects wriggled and moved from where she gazed, and while she mumbled softly, she checked the huge magic circle painted on the floor, which was hidden by the insects.
But I didnt expect to have to use this facility again.
Are you dissatisfied?
It will be uncomfortable, but it cant be helped. It would have been different if it had been a saint that we would use as a vessel, but what we brought was just a commoners child.
After saying this, they turned their attention to Lily, who was suspended from a pillar in the center of the magic circle drawn in a space just like an arena, probably for a different purpose.
Feeling the gaze, Lily raised her head. A reasonable amount of time had passed, so the poison had worn off further.
What are you going to do to me?
Priestess said, Hmm It looks like we have a little more time before the attack on the royal capital begins. Since Im bored, Ill let you join me for a chat.
Not only Lily but also Knott looked interested in the conversation that was about to ensue. Although Leppe had mentioned the story to him, this was the first time he would hear it directly from this creature.
Dressed in the clothes of a priestess, she spoke rather nonchalantly as she and Lily were surrounded by a myriad of wriggling insects.
My name is Juliane Lutricia Weinzierl, companion of the real hero, Yorg Reisegang-sama.
!
Lily looked up in surprise at hearing that name, and Juliane continued in an emotionless tone.
We were supposed to travel together, defeat the Demon King, and bring stability and happiness to the world. However, we failed to kill the Demon King.
It was not impossible to kill the Demon King per se, but killing him would have brought another crisis to the world. After the final battle, the Demon King himself said this, and he laughed and forced the heroes to make a choice, as he was losing his power and seemed to be on the verge of extinction.
He asked the heroes to make a choice: to destroy him and face the worlds new crisis, or to seal him away and temporarily stabilize the world.
In the end, Juliane and the others chose to seal the Demon King.
Why
There was no certainty whether the Demon King would really die. Besides, everyone felt that humans, exhausted from the war against the demons, were incapable of facing another crisis. Not only that, we also have to take care of the remaining demons.
Juliane and the others decided to respect Yorgs decision and sealed the Demon King temporarily.
The Demon King was sealed with the help of the sword that he had been holding. He told us that he would surely return. We knew that he was telling the truth, but we had no other choice.
Nevertheless, the threat of the Demon King disappeared at that time. Although the remaining demons did not disappear, their power was clearly weakened, and they were dealt with for now.
After all of this, building a new nation became their new objective.