Chapter 71: The Summoner’s Dark Wish

A long-forgotten memory.
A scream tore through the air.
Blood flowed like a river.
A city proud of its centuries-long history burned.
Thick, acrid smoke filled the atmosphere.

If hell ever manifested in visible form, this was surely it.
No one could deny that history was ending here.

It was her duty to protect the nation from disaster.
Though such destruction was unforeseen, her role remained unchanged.
So she, the one who was king, summoned the god herself.

The god granted her power.
Not merely responding—
But after endless time passed, finally…

“Master… haa.”

She arrived right in front of them.
Krughgal, having drawn the sword he had stabbed into his own heart and watched blood flow endlessly from the wound, was now convinced that the one standing before him was indeed his deity.

“It was you, Master. Haa… hehe, I thought you were no ordinary being.”
Ugh, uhuhuhu.

He couldn’t contain his bursting laughter. Though his face seemed joyful and his voice carried laughter, it somehow sounded like someone choking back tears.

In that place, heavy with the stench of congealed blood and putrid metal, compounded by that uniquely low, hoarse voice, the tone of his speech dragged on sluggishly.

Lema Valkite could not approach recklessly. Standing outside the circle of symbols drawn on the ground, he swallowed dryly.
It was chilling.

Though his eyes were half-open, the glint of madness shone from within.
“It was you.”

Bel released Krughgal’s collar, which she had gripped tightly to pull the sword free.
Without needing to touch his bare skin, Bel already knew.
This man was the summoner of this era.

“…You summoned me.”

Despite having been strangled moments ago, Krughgal didn’t even cough dryly.
He simply adjusted his posture, knelt, and stared up at Bel with eyes flashing pure madness.

Bel slowly confirmed if he was indeed the same person.
“Did you pray that this world be filled with peace and love so that I would watch over it?”

“Yes.”

“Did you pray that such a world be destroyed as an act of evil?”

“Yes.”

Krughgal raised his head. The blood that had backflowed from the self-inflicted wound was now dried at the corners of his mouth.
As though beholding the most magnificent sight in the world, his eyes stared vacantly at Bel.

Yet his desire was clear. No ambiguity.
“Master, I wish for this world to be annihilated.”

“W-Wait a moment…!”

Before he could hear more, Lema intervened.
“What nonsense wish is that!”

In the end, Lema cut into the conversation.
“Master…”

The paladin’s jaw tightened.
Lema Valkite bore the expression of a forsaken dog.

“Really, truly, you intend to grant that wish?”

Granting the summoner’s wish was Belmias’s purpose.
Lema had never forgotten that.
But this was far too sudden.

“Lema, I will not destroy the world right now.”

“Eh? Th-then… does that mean you won’t grant the wish?”

“….”

Bel remained silent.
In the tense quiet of the place, only Krughgal’s rough, incomplete breathing and occasional sobbing could be heard.

After a while, Bel spoke.
“I cannot interpret it.”

“…May I ask what that means?”

“Hmm.”

Bel sank into thought. It was the first time she seemed to ponder so deeply.
“Lema, do you think this world is filled with peace and love?”

“Eh? That is….”
Lema hesitated.
“Of course it is.”

Meanwhile, the madman responded without hesitation.
“….”

Both Lema and Bel simultaneously glanced at Krughgal.
The man was grinning broadly. While it was understandable if he was exhilarated to finally meet his god, this expression felt somewhat off.

“You two, answer truthfully about what you’ve seen.”

“Yes.”
“Understood.”

“When I first awoke in this era, the first thing I encountered was the scene of women enslaved for transport. They even tried to enslave me. Is that the conventional peace of this era?”

“…No.”

“Haah, indeed.”

Unlike Lema’s solemn response, Krughgal chuckled while answering.

Bel alternated her gaze between the two, then asked again.
“I saw a devout paladin falsely branded a heretic, stripped of the chance to clear their name, and reduced to slavery. That weakness was exploited for profit. Is that what you call love?”

Lema felt a pang and answered.
“No, it is not.”

“That is correct.”

Bel lowered her gaze briefly before looking at them again.
“The sick were never given a chance to heal but rather wished to die peacefully. When they could no longer manage their territories, bandits ran rampant. Is that a world built on love?”

Lema thought for a moment, recalling it was the story of Mirgas.
Bel was recounting her experiences.

“No.”
“Yes.”

Hearing opposing answers, Bel’s questioning continued.
“When a major incident occurred in the city center, some lured people to feed monsters and profit from magic stones and monetary gains.”
This was when a monster had appeared in the arena.
“This is what I saw. Is that love?”

“…No.”
“Ah, indeed…”

Lema glared daggers at Krughgal.
That man is the real one.
He thought of slamming the man’s skull to silence him for good.

Bel observed calmly and then spoke.
“Lema, I told you. If I took you in, our opinions would differ.”

Lema’s lips formed a straight line.
It was the very thing Bel had warned him of.

When he begged Bel to take him in, Bel had once refused precisely for that reason.
So Lema swore never to repeat that mistake and promised to follow the summoner’s will.

To follow evil.
He could have done so.

But when the moment to meet the summoner arrived, Lema could not agree.
He had actually been hiding it all along.

If Belmias’s will relied on the summoner, maybe such petty wishes as world annihilation could be thwarted by simply removing the summoner beforehand.
Bel was ill-suited for such things. Honestly, Lema thought that deep down.

He knew it was blasphemous to define his god by himself. Yet when gazing into the shallow, vacant eyes staring at the sky, an unexplainable anxiety gripped him.
He wanted to show something. Something to move that heart, not the summoner’s.

Ultimately, when the time came, Bel placed him on trial.
But Lema’s inherent sincerity prevented him from deceiving his god.

“I… am now useless.”
He felt as though the ground beneath him crumbled.
“Because you must grant his wish.”

Yet Bel shook her head.
“Lema. You asked me to be your master.”

Lema gasped in shock.
Truly shocked.

He had thought his pleas meant nothing, since Bel had gone off to search for the summoner without responding.
“Y-You heard that….”

“As if I didn’t.”

Lema stared blankly at Bel.
The weight of the shoulder pressed by Bel’s sword now felt heavy.

“Lema, I know you are a rational human. But your summoner holds a different opinion.”

Bel had neither merely taken him in by words nor acted on a whimsical decision.
That earlier question was not a test. Bel had sought Lema’s genuine opinion.
As if Lema were a qualified summoner.

“I told you. I value the summoner’s opinion because I must properly interpret the wish according to human standards of that era.”

Only now did Lema understand what Bel had meant before their conversation began.
Bel had heard Krughgal’s wish and said, 「I cannot interpret it.」

“I cannot ignore the summoner’s will. You may not understand, but he, too, must wish for destruction because of something as earnest as you.”

Bel didn’t summon just anyone.
She responded to strong will and the wish it carried.
She wasn’t something to be summoned on a whim.

Though she could not yet interpret Krughgal’s words, it was clear that willingly casting himself into suffering and wishing alone for a cause was not something an ordinary person could do.

Just as Bel respected the will of Lema that she accepted, she would not dismiss Krughgal’s intent lightly.
That was why she intended to interpret it properly.

“Then first, I shall confirm in what sense this world is filled with peace and love.”