Became The Son Of The Final Boss [EN]: Chapter 173

173.

From the moment I open my eyes in the morning until I close them at night, it’s just work, work, work.

Administering affairs in the capital of the Pyreon Kingdom was far more demanding and challenging than handling duties in the Imperial Palace.

There was no shortage of issues to resolve.

“Lefio really ran this country into the ground. Or rather, was it Duke Daret who was really in charge?”

Ken, who was helping me organize documents, responded to my remark.

“Duke Daret was only interested in exploiting Pyreon. It’s absurd that a kingdom with the largest granary in the continent has one of the highest starvation rates among continental nations.”

Ken continued with a sigh.

“Every capital city has its slums. Behind the opulent mansions of the nobles, there are slums on the outskirts of the capital, as if by law. The scale of the slums in the Pyreon Kingdom’s capital is arguably the largest on the continent.”

“Even among the poor, the sense of relative deprivation would have been much greater here than among the poor in the Empire. Just outside, you can see the vast farmlands stretching out on the outskirts of the capital. They must have been filled with questions about who was eating all that food while they were always starving.”

I closed the documents.

“It will take a lot of time to make this place a strategic stronghold.”

“But it’s necessary. When His Majesty built the Empire, there were regions that served as stepping stones and foundations. Your Highness must also increase your political and military influence based on the Pyreon capital.”

“That’s right. All I have is the title of Crown Prince. Of course, that title is more powerful than anything else, but if I don’t have the power to protect it, that powerful force is useless.”

Ken nodded, seemingly pleased with what I said.

“Indeed.”

“Well, shouldn’t the messenger who went back to the capital be arriving soon? Let’s wrap up the morning work here. I’m thinking of training after lunch.”

“Yes.”

I didn’t intend to just sit and work.

I continued to train every day to become a Supreme Spirit Master, and I felt like the path to becoming one was becoming clearer.

‘It’s all thanks to Spirit Swordsmanship.’

Just as I was about to get up, a voice came from outside.

“Commander, Magician Lillian requests an audience.”

At the attendant’s voice, I quickly replied.

“Ah, let her in.”

The door opened, and Lillian appeared.

Her face was gaunt.

“Sit over there.”

I offered Lillian a seat.

“Duke Daret, that son of a bitch, spirited Eve away somewhere. It seems he moved her to an area run by a secret organization. He either stole or discarded the research materials while escaping.”

It was somewhat expected. Duke Daret used Lefio as bait and successfully escaped the kingdom’s capital.

“Couldn’t you find any traces?”

“I did find one teleportation magic circle, but it seems it was the type that closes after activation. Literally, only traces remain, so I can’t tell where the magic circle led.”

Lillian continued.

“I wish the Crown Prince would lend me his strength. If we leave the secret organization alone, something bad will definitely happen to the Empire. And more than anything, I think there’s a base of the secret organization in the Empire too.”

I agreed with Lillian.

“We can’t just let them be. They’re harming the continent. But we haven’t directly confronted them yet, and now is the time to stabilize the conquered territory.”

Just as Lillian was about to speak, I continued.

“I know you’re very worried about your disciple’s safety, but rushing things in the current situation where you haven’t found anything will only make you miss what you could have found. I’ve ordered Hamilton to gather information, so wait patiently until the results come out.”

Looking back on past conversations, Lillian’s disciple, Eve, was like a daughter to her.

Her child was subjected to bio-experiments and is now missing.

I fully understood Lillian’s burning heart in a situation where she couldn’t guarantee her life, but now was the time to be calm.

“That child will definitely be a hindrance to the Crown Prince. I hope you’ll consider the fact that I can’t use my power when facing the secret organization. If they threaten me with Eve as a hostage, I won’t be able to do anything.”

I nodded at Lillian’s honest words.

“I’m not such a cold-blooded person that I would ignore such circumstances and issue orders. I want to find Eve too. Because she’s Lillian’s disciple.”

Lillian stared at me.

“A vassal lives for the sake of the lord, and the lord is the one who realizes the ideals and goals of such a vassal. Lillian’s ideals and goals naturally include protecting her disciple. Even setting aside the Mana Oath [a magical contract binding a subordinate to their superior], now that Lillian has become my subordinate, I also have a duty to find Eve.”

“The Crown Prince is… a very compassionate lord. A lord should be cold and cruel. Especially in these times of warring states.”

I smiled gently.

“His Majesty ended the era of warring states. Now, the Empire and the kingdoms under its influence are just going through a slightly chaotic period.”

I clapped my hands.

“Well, since you’re here, let’s have lunch together. And take a good look at the Magic Tower site. It’s going to be a Magic Tower where an 8th Circle Magician will be the Tower Master, so it has to be built well, right?”

* * *

“Gordon and Eric are dead.”

At the Tenth Priest’s words, the Fifth Priest clicked his tongue.

“How much time and money did we spend to make them Sword Masters? Just when we were about to recoup our investment, they suddenly die.”

The Third Priest chimed in.

“Ron Cal Leord is behind every problem. Now even his son is running rampant? The Pyreon Kingdom, which the Seven were managing, has finally fallen into the hands of the Empire.”

Duke Daret smiled bitterly.

Here, he is not Duke Daret but the Seventh Priest, that is, one of the Seven.

Daret, the seventh priest of the cult that serves the great Demon King, the cruel Demon King, the Demon King Deimos who will purify the world with fire, readily admitted his failure.

“The coordination with the Kingdom Alliance was not as smooth as expected. We were managing the Sword Masters of the Kingdom Alliance, but at some point, the kings who moved them began to disobey us. As a result, the support troops were delayed, and we couldn’t stop Ron Cal Leord from conquering the kingdom’s regions like lightning.”

As Duke Daret spoke, he felt a sense of frustration.

“Now is the time to expose the cult to the outside world, expand our communication network, and conduct inspections. The situation on the continent is changing every moment, but we are still clinging to a secret cult. Our speed in responding to variables is too slow.”

Duke Daret passionately argued.

“Do you know how much data we failed to retrieve and had to discard in the Pyreon Kingdom? If we had examined the Reinhardt family’s ruins more closely, we might have found a way to summon Deimos.”

As Duke Daret’s excitement grew, the First Priest, the man known to all as the High Priest, spoke.

“Seventh, calm yourself. The immediate problem is not easy. We have dedicated our lives to summoning Deimos to this land and purifying the rotten world for many years.”

Everyone’s attention turned to the High Priest.

The benevolent smile exuded the warmth of a friendly neighbor, and the generous voice made one feel warmth just by listening.

The High Priest’s smile deepened.

“We can always gather the data again. We can penetrate and seize control of countries with weakened influence again. We who serve Deimos have never revealed ourselves to the outside world in our long history, but we have influenced the continent more than any other nation.”

“Ron Cal Leord…”

At someone’s words, the High Priest raised his hand.

It was a signal that it was his turn to speak, and he closed his mouth again.

“The Emperor is a great nuisance. We tried to control him through the Empress, but the Empress died unexpectedly, and our traces were revealed to the Emperor. Since then, the Emperor has been frantically chasing our traces.”

The High Priest’s gaze shifted to Duke Daret.

“The Emperor noticed Duke Daret’s existence, which is why he conquered the Pyreon Kingdom. And the fact that he directly attacked the Sword Masters’ main families probably means he has also found the connection between the Sword Masters and us.”

“The Empire’s intelligence is growing day by day.”

The High Priest nodded at Duke Daret’s words.

“Seventh’s words make sense. It would be a good thing to expose the cult to the outside world and start recruiting believers who serve Deimos in earnest. But Seventh, don’t you know? Not just anyone can serve Deimos.”

Everyone nodded simultaneously.

“Only those who will purify this land with fire and build a new world again can serve. Such glory cannot be given to just anyone. Only to us, the chosen ones, and those we choose.”

Duke Daret replied.

“My thoughts were short-sighted. I seem to have been agitated by the fall of the Pyreon Kingdom.”

“Everyone here knows Seventh’s efforts, and we all know the benefits Seventh has given to our cult. Deimos will not forget Seventh’s contributions either.”

The High Priest looked around at the priests.

Nine priests excluding himself.

All of them were raised by the High Priest.

The High Priest’s smile deepened.

“The reason I have summoned the priests today is not just because of the Ron Cal Leord problem. We have finally found the Eleventh Priest.”

“Oh!”

“Finally!”

The priests were in excitement.

In the history of the Deimos cult, the meaning of the Eleventh Priest is very special.

In the scriptures, it is written that when the Eleventh Priest is born, the Fire King Deimos will descend into the intermediate realm and purify this world with fire.

To become a priest of the Deimos cult, one needs not only the High Priest’s permission but also the certification of the scriptures.

Everyone gathered here became priests with the certification of the scriptures and the teachings of the High Priest.

“After examining him in many ways, it seems the scriptures will recognize him as a Deimos priest. However, unlike the other priests, he is a young man in his twenties, but if we inform him of our ideals and the existence of Deimos, we can sufficiently bring him in as a priest.”

Duke Daret quickly asked.

“Is he not a child?”

“No. I believe he is twenty-four years old. The priests here have all been recognized for their qualities since they were young, and I have served them as priests of the Deimos cult, but I didn’t expect the Eleventh Priest to appear in my generation, so I was just looking for him, and I finally found him.”

“Where is he?”

“He is stopping Ron Cal Leord in the Jaine family.”

The priests were shocked in a different sense than before.

“He’s stopping Ron Cal Leord?”

“He is a Sword Master. His swordsmanship is almost on par with Ron Cal Leord. They have been dueling for three days straight, but there has been no winner. Ron Cal Leord seems to be impressed by the qualities of the young man who will become the Eleventh Priest, so he is not using magic or spiritism and is only fighting with the sword.”

The Fifth Priest, called Oze, said.

“The Emperor’s arrogance is still the same.”

The High Priest comforted Oze.

“He is definitely a strong human. But no matter how strong a human is, he is just a human. Our goal is to summon Deimos, and the Emperor is hindering that.”

“The Emperor probably doesn’t know what I’m doing. He’s just obsessed with avenging the Empress.”

The High Priest nodded slightly at Oze’s words and then said.

“The Imperial Capital is empty. Let’s execute the plan to call Ron back to the capital. If the battle drags on, Ron might accidentally kill that young man. If that happens, we will lose the treasure that will become the Eleventh Priest.”