Children of the Holy Emperor Chapter 172

§ 172. Logistics relay station (3)

“I put you to bed in the carriage, sir.”

After a somewhat hectic dinner.

As we were drinking tea after the meal provided by Director Bruno, Edith came up to Seongjin and spoke to him.

The imperial carriages for long-term travel that Seongjin and his party dragged were structured so that the luggage chests on the back could be fitted into the seats and used as beds.

Of course, lifting and carrying heavy boxes was quite a hassle, but for Edith, an Auror user, it was not that difficult.

The Wolf Knights, who were looking at her with wide eyes as she carried a chest heavy enough for several men to carry, were soon convinced.

‘Ah, you were a guard, not a maid! so… … !’

‘I was hiding my true identity for the prince’s secret security!’

It was from then on that members of the Wolf Knights began to politely call Edith ‘Sir Edith.’

Of course, Edith, who was dull, just tilted her head, so the misunderstanding was not resolved for a long time.

[Hehehe. I’m drunk.]

While he was sipping tea and basking in the warm campfire, the devil came back into Seongjin’s head, saying strange things again. The guy was currently walking around excitedly among the drunk people.

By the way, this guy is now possessed and drinking alcohol?

[I’m just borrowing some sense for a moment.]

The demon lord, who was in a good mood, explained as if humming.

[Even though you have left the ecliptic, it is impossible to detect souls like before because of your father’s barrier. However, it is possible to possess a creature with low mental defense and temporarily affect its movements or borrow its senses.]

And now there are a lot of drunk people around. Most people have extremely weak mental defenses.

‘Do you like drinking that much?’

Seongjin was dumbfounded by the happy emotions clearly conveyed in his head.

however.

[Why wouldn’t it be good? It makes sense and eating grass is also delicious.]

The devil bastard who answered quickly added, looking a little sad.

[I have been living only as a soul for the past few months. I couldn’t eat or feel anything. Can you even imagine what that feels like?]

‘hmm… … .’

Even at first glance, Seongjin thought that starving while still alive would be extremely stressful. There is a body that can feel hunger, apart from other things.

You can see how sensitive Seo Yi-seo is becoming after losing her meal time to Cadmus recently.

Then, a thought suddenly occurred to Seongjin.

‘Hey, then can you try that for me too?’

[what?]

‘Borrowing that sense. Then you can feel what I taste.’

Wouldn’t that be easier than running around frantically for no reason?

It was such a simple thought, but the Demon King was silent for a moment as if surprised, and then cautiously asked back.

[…] You allow that?]

Do you need permission at all?

[of course. Originally, it was only possible briefly when the target’s mental defense was extremely low. If you want to do this to a sane person, you have to ask for their consent through a contract or some other method. And I don’t know why, but Lee Seong-jin. Your soul is somehow strangely difficult to interfere with. Even though we are close enough to exchange thoughts with each other.]

Now that I think about it, when I first came to this world, I remember the demon king complaining that soul detection didn’t work on Seongjin.

[This can be a bit of a sensitive issue. Allowing your senses ultimately means allowing them to occupy part of your body in some way. If you allow something like that to anyone without precise contract terms, you could have your body taken over by the devil in an instant.]

‘well… … .’

Seongjin thought nothing of it.

If you think about it, aren’t you already residing in my head without permission? No matter how much I think about it, I don’t think it’s particularly dangerous.

‘Just give it a try. I’m not sure how to give permission, but I’ll try my best not to cause any objection.’

[Yes, I don’t know if it’s possible, but I’ll give it a try.]

And I felt like something was stirring in my head. Rather than feeling like I was touching anything in particular, I just felt like I was grunting while being absorbed in something.

I had been doing this for a while, when suddenly the objects in front of my eyes began to glow and sway in strange colors.

‘Hey, are you doing it right?’

[Uh, sorry. I guess I touched the wrong perspective.]

A red light flashed in Seongjin’s pupils for a moment, but it was such a fleeting moment that no one noticed it.

Then, your vision soon returns to normal.

[…] It’s more difficult than I thought.]

Seongjin waited patiently.

Around this time, Seongjin emptied all the tea cups and Manager Bruno poured new, warm tea.

[phew. I think it has been resolved.]

The Demon Lord just sighed and said that.

Hmm, I’m not sure what’s changed?

Seongjin tilted his head and took a sip of the warm, steaming tea.

That moment.

[Wow!]

An exclamation rings out in my head.

[What on earth is it? Is it really delicious? Can grass-soaked water taste like this?]

How do you feel? Awesome, right?

Seongjin smiled in remorse and took another sip of tea. There was again intense exclamation.

[Wow! The scent is the best! That idiot was the one who created something this amazing!?]

The demon king was instantly fascinated by Melbourne tea. He begged for more so much that Seongjin had to ask Manager Bruno for a new car one more time.

Thanks to this, it was Seongjin who was actually full.

‘… Okay, I’ll take care of it today.’

Seongjin decided to be generous for just one day.

For him, it will be the first delicious drink he has had in months.

As the night grew deeper, the noise around me began to subside little by little. The Wolf Knights also left watch and entered the tent one by one, and the only ones who were awake were a few who were still drinking.

As if there was a group of bards nearby, a composed song occasionally played along with the sound of string instruments.

A beautiful woman’s small wind quietly passes by the stars.

Make that wish come true, silver moon, brilliant city of love.

I think the lyrics are a bit lame.

Anyway, Seongjin sat in front of the bonfire and tried sharing various sensations with the demon king.

With a little practice, intense sensations like smell and taste became easier to share. For a moment, hearing and sight could also be transmitted.

The only thing is that in the case of such sensations, there is no need to practice because they can be fully grasped even with the demon king’s soul.

What was surprising was the sense of touch and pain, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t convey it properly to the guy. The two tried several more times before giving up completely.

‘It’s the same as sight and hearing. Maybe there’s no need to share… … .’

There was another achievement. After trying to convey the sensation for a while, at some point, part of the memory also began to be conveyed!

Even if it was impossible for the devil to search on his own, at least the memories that Seongjin recalled and wanted to be conveyed were possible to be conveyed as vividly as when detecting souls.

Thanks to this, Seongjin was able to more accurately convey the memories of the [gap] that occurred at Tansinyeon to the demon king.

[Wow, this is dizzying.]

The demon king caught a glimpse of part of the scene in his memory and stuck out his tongue.

[You were in a place like this, so even if I called you that, you couldn’t hear me! Because time and space were so mixed, it was no wonder that you felt that your body existed in two places at the same time.]

The sense of time and space was definitely distorted. Just thinking about that space now makes me feel motion sick again.

[This probably seems like a device to minimize disruption of cause and effect. Although high-ranking demon kings interfered in the Delcross dimension, they forcibly twisted and twisted the space to avoid directly moving cause and effect.]

According to the Demon King’s explanation, the amount of causality imposed on each action of a high-ranking Demon King is beyond imagination.

Unless you descend to this earth directly through consciousness, you cannot randomly touch another dimension without any cause or effect.

So, by spreading the attributes that symbolize themselves, such as [starvation], [plague], [war], and [death], they first create a causal basis for dimensional invasion.

‘Then why does the father have restrictions on cause and effect? He’s not a demon lord from another dimension.’

Naturally, that question arose. I think at that time, people said something like it took time because there wasn’t enough cause and effect.

Then the Demon King also looked puzzled.

[well. I don’t understand that either? I don’t know if they were forced into another dimension, or why there are such restrictions in their own dimension when it comes to simply defending against invasion? Besides, your father is definitely a monster, but he is still in the human category. Rather, it should be the most free from causality, right?]

The Demon King looked like he was thinking for a moment, but there was no way he could suddenly think of an answer that didn’t exist.

He soon changed the topic.

[More than that, the problem is the people who attacked. In order to minimize causal intervention, incarnations have been created with flame images, but they are clearly the same demon lords who were targeting the Delcross dimension before.]

When Seongjin said that he looked somewhat familiar, the Demon King responded positively.

It is certain that they are the ones encountered at the border of the previous dimension. It was simply because he was wearing a flame that he didn’t feel the terrible pressure he felt inside his body.

[Plus, I think I can guess what their nicknames are… … .]

‘really?’

[Yes, they were probably ‘famine’ and ‘plague.’]

[Hunger], which devours everything in sight, is said to often appear in the form of a black dog. Most of the watchdogs and demon species that guard his hell are similar in appearance to dogs.

And in the case of [Plague], it often takes on an appearance reminiscent of a plant.

[There’s another strange thing. How on earth do they know Mores?]

Okay, now that I think about it.

The situation was so tense at the time that I didn’t think to look into it, but didn’t they say this?

-But why does that face look so familiar?

-Isn’t it obvious? Can you prepare for him yourself and still not recognize him?

What do you mean they have in store for Mores?

The thoughts continued no further. Suddenly, a sad cry was heard from over there.

“Hehehehe!”

The bard, who had been singing mournfully earlier, throws the lyre he was tearing with his hands to the floor and falls to the floor. He was a young man with long braided hair.

Teeing!

One of the lyre’s strings breaks and makes a sharp noise.

At the sudden commotion, the mercenaries who had been happily intoxicated and dozing off stood up with frowns.

“what? what’s the matter?”

“Why is that guy being treated so poorly all of a sudden?”

“Ughhhhh!”

The young man’s cries also become louder to match the harsh voices of the mercenaries.

Thanks to this, the mercenaries who had fallen asleep woke up one by one and began glaring at the young man.

When the surrounding air suddenly became unsightly, another bard who sensed the atmosphere quickly blocked the young man’s path.

“This guy is very drunk, so everyone please understand. Originally, in Carthage, he was quite famous for his improvisational poetry. I was invited to Bertrand Street to celebrate my birthday this year, but I was wondering if I was in bad shape or if I was completely exhausted. “I was booed for three days and didn’t earn a single penny.”

Then, another fellow poet sitting next to me let out a sneer.

“What are all the coins? “You should be lucky that no stones flew at you!”

“hey!”

“why? Did I say something wrong? “I always believed in my talent and insisted on only making impromptu poems, but then I ended up singing the most old-fashioned song on Bertrand Street!”

At that time, the young man who was lying on the floor got up and cried.

“Hehehe! What a brilliant city of love, freezing to death! Delcross is a dead city! “It’s a cursed place!”

The atmosphere around me suddenly calmed down due to the young man’s sudden profanity.

What did the author call the saints of the millennium?

“That city took away all my inspiration, all my talent! “There, everything just stands still, like a still life painting!”

“Hey, calm down. “You’re so drunk!”

A colleague who realized the seriousness of the situation grabbed him, but the young man continued to scream.

“You all, don’t act like you don’t know! Traveling artists from all over are invited at generous prices, but after a few performances, they eventually return to their home countries. “Don’t you all know why?”

And the young man jumped up from his seat and shouted.

“That’s because I know very well that if I stay there for too long, my artistic soul will die in an instant! “Because I know that the spark of the soul that cannot become a flame will just burn itself out and then fade away!”

“You better do your job!”

“Passion! love! craving! I couldn’t feel any strong desire there! “That’s why my songs left me!”

The moment he heard those words, what Sigurd Sigurdson had said not long ago flashed through Seongjin’s mind.

-In this stopped world, you were the only friend who could understand me.

Meanwhile, the drunken young man continued to cry.

“Not even the most beautiful woman on the street could bring the song back from me! “The ecliptic has become the tomb of my soul!”

Then, one by one, the mercenaries began pouring out sharp criticism at him.

“Why are you blaming the emperor for my own shortcomings?”

“that’s right!”

“Shame on you! If the grace of the Lord has taken away your song, it certainly does not mean that your art has been debauched and unclean!”

Then the young man also responded to the criticism by using evil words.

“My art is unclean? Then I will gladly sell my soul back to the devil! “What meaning does my life have now that I have lost those brilliant songs!”

For a moment, the air around became cold, as if ice water had been sprinkled on it.

Everyone closes their mouths at the same time and glares at the young man. In that cool atmosphere, the face of the young man who had finally sobered up a little became increasingly pale.

Behind him, someone broke the silence and shouted sharply at him.

“He’s a devil worshiper!”

fantasy,