The legend of the Crimson Demon clan started from Suqing

#394 - Addition and subtraction

"Are you saying that Gluttony ate your name?"

"Yeah."

"Are you saying that your name was eaten even though you clearly knew the Sin Archbishop was attacking?"

"…Yeah."

"Are you saying that your name was eaten with the assistance of Betty, Ricardo, Otto, and the mercenary group?"

"… … … … Yeah."

The more he spoke, the more silent Julius became.

Hiss—

Zunzun no longer knew how to comment.

Julius wasn't good at making excuses, but he could still guess that the three Gluttonies must have appeared simultaneously, catching everyone off guard.

He also didn't expect that because of his selfishness in not telling everyone this information, and with Reinhard failing to intercept them, their home was stolen.

This was undoubtedly a chain reaction.

Admittedly, Zunzun was partially responsible for not fully explaining the information, but even if he had 99% of the blame, were Julius and the others completely blameless?

No, no, no, that's not the point.

The key issue is, with so many people present, they couldn't even stop three measly Gluttony Archbishops?

Where was this a great victory?

Good heavens, were they just forgetting it and pretending they didn't know?

"Wait a minute, so that means… none of you recognize him—you don't recognize Julius anymore!?"

Natsuki Subaru looked around the council chamber, noticing the dazed expressions on everyone's faces, clearly having no impression of the name 'Julius'.

"Reinhard!"

"—I'm sorry. I have no recollection of this person. Although judging from his appearance, I believe he was one of the contributors to this battle."

These words made Julius's face stiffen.

As the strongest in the kingdom, the Sword Saint who could even cut down the Witch Cult, even Reinhard could not escape the influence of Gluttony's authority, or rather… if it were Reinhard—it was just this unfounded wish.

That wish was mercilessly broken, leaving only a superficial sense of reality for himself.

Not only him, but Emilia, Crusch, Priscilla, and everyone else present, including Anastasia, had no recollection of Julius, and even—

"Um…"

Emilia, seeing Julius's hurt expression, cautiously said, "I have another question, if you don't mind?"

"Please, what is it?"

"The micro spirits hovering very close to you… no, should I say quasi-spirits, those children are flying back and forth anxiously… do you know why?"

"Yes, I understand, after all, they are the buds that have always accompanied me, preparing to bloom."

Julius's expression became even more sorrowful.

In the eyes of high-level spirit users like Zunzun and Emilia, the quasi-spirits holding the power of six colors were flying back and forth, but these buds showed confusion and anxiety about why they were here.

To some extent, the relationship between a spirit and a spirit user is no different from family, even closer than family.

After all, spirits value the spirit of the contract, but now, without any memories related to Julius, they are constantly hovering, which must be a heavy blow to him personally.

"Doesn't that mean that only I and Zunzun remember him… wait a minute, Zunzun, you…!"

"Don't know."

"…I haven't said anything yet."

"Even if you didn't say it, I would know. There's nothing in common between you and me. Rather, even if we found something in common, it would be too late. Anastasia and the others will never remember anything about Julius again."

Zunzun said decisively, as if stating a fact.

"I know… I know! But—"

Natsuki Subaru seemed to remember Rem, who was still lying unconscious in bed. Compared to Julius, who was merely forgotten, the former's plight was even more heartbreaking.

"However, I am still curious, why does Lord Zunzun remember me?"

"How could I possibly forget the teacher who imparted the path of spirits to me?"

"Answering a question with a question, you are truly cunning."

Clearly, this answer did not satisfy Julius, but he also realized that Zunzun didn't want to explain further, so he stopped asking.

In fact, the answer was simple.

It was the Divine Body.

There was no other explanation.

Zunzun was still in this world when Rem was attacked, so it couldn't be explained by being unaffected because he wasn't in this world. Now that Julius was experiencing the same thing, and Zunzun still remembered him, it confirmed this point.

"Zunzun, I want to ask you something, please answer me seriously."

"It's rare to see such a serious expression. So, Subaru, what do you want to ask?"

"Can you undo Rem's coma… with the Sword of Darkness?"

Natsuki Subaru's eyes stared straight at Zunzun, filled with an eagerness to know the answer, a helplessness from trying everything but still failing. He wanted to respond to him, but—

"Unfortunately, no."

He shook his head.

"You've got one thing wrong, Subaru. The Sword of Darkness isn't a special technique for breaking these kinds of states. In fact, it performs subtraction."

"Subtraction…?"

"What does that mean, Lord Zunzun?"

Both Natsuki Subaru and Julius, even Reinhard, were interested in this statement.

"Hmm… for example, Mimi was injured by the blessing of the God of Death, causing her body to be unable to be healed by magic, right? And my Sword of Darkness subtracts that effect. The same goes for the Archbishop of Greed, he attached his heart to his wives, and I subtracted that effect."

"Ugh…"

Natsuki Subaru fell into thought, and after pondering deeply, he nodded slightly.

"I think I understand a little."

"Then, the Gluttony Archbishops are different, they are also doing subtraction."

"…I see, I understand. The Gluttony Archbishops stole Rem and Julius's names and memories, also doing subtraction, so there's no way to restore their abnormal state, right?"

"Correct answer, one hundred billion points!"

Zunzun's praise made everyone feel incredibly oppressed.

"Moreover, it's not just that. Divine Blood probably won't work either, because all it can do is break curses, negative influences, and things like that. Also, there's no way to fix the Black Dragon and the Flies that were modified by the Archbishop of Lust—the Dragon Blood has completely fused, using it might kill them, so it's better not to try it easily."

—Zunzun (God) is not omnipotent.

Everyone understood now.

But at the same time, it meant that everyone was helpless against this abnormal state.

Anastasia took the opportunity to say that there were a total of 36 nameless people like Julius, a small portion of whom were confirmed to be members of the Chiquita Mercenary Group, while the majority were muddleheaded and unable to state their origins.

They had probably had most of their memories and existence devoured by Gluttony.

Julius was a rare case. Although it was impossible to confirm how many people in the city were in the same situation, perhaps, like other unconscious nameless people, there were other possibilities that could be confirmed. This was undoubtedly a very serious situation.

Julius clenched his fist.

"Given these problems, I have a proposal, is that alright?"

"A proposal, meaning?"

As the object of everyone's attention, Anastasia looked around, finally turning towards Julius and Natsuki Subaru.

"The victims of this Witch Cult attack… the sacrifices caused by the Archbishop of Lust and the nameless people caused by Gluttony, either way it's difficult… no, it should be said there's no way to hear about countermeasures from the Sin Archbishops themselves, the above conclusion is correct, right?"

"Putting aside the Gluttony Archbishops for the moment, the Archbishop of Lust is already dead, you can't make a dead person talk…"

"I'm not trying to make a dead person talk, it's just that there's more than one way to elicit an answer, that's what I'm trying to express."

"Other ways to derive an answer?"

Natsuki Subaru, not understanding the meaning of Anastasia's words, asked back verbatim.

At the same time, what he was thinking about was the Witch of Greed. If he wanted to inquire about methods from somewhere other than the Sin Archbishops themselves, if there really was such a method, what he could think of was trading with a Witch.

"So, what's going on? Please, just tell me directly."

Emilia also pressed for an answer.

Anastasia tapped her head with her finger, saying meaningfully, "Since we can't get answers from the Sin Archbishops with terrible personalities, wouldn't it be better to ask others who might know the answers? There are people in this country who would know these answers, right?"

"Could it be…!?"

Realizing the meaning of these words, someone suddenly leaked a sound. But unlike those who understood, there were many who did not understand the meaning.

"I said I don't understand!" Felt, who hated riddle-makers the most, slammed the table and stood up, angrily saying, "Stop being so cryptic, explain it properly!"

"Sorry, sorry."

Offering an apologetic look to the impatient crowd, Anastasia smiled wryly and said, "—The Sage, Shaula."

"What?"

"The Pleiades Watchtower, if it's the Sage there, if it's the person who is said to know everything in the world, it wouldn't be strange to know a solution, would it?"

Just like that, the true meaning of this proposal was revealed.

The Sage, along with the Sword Saint and the Divine Dragon, were known as the Three Heroes, heroes who once saved the world. 400 years had passed, and he still lived in this world… probably.

"400 years… huh?"

"What's wrong, Zunzun? You have such a melancholy expression."

"No, I just feel complicated when I think that the Crimson Demons only have 400 years of history."

"Hey…!"

In any case, the tower where the Sage Shaula lived was called the Pleiades Watchtower, and in order to confirm that they could get there, they had to cross a dangerous desert, thus unfolding a fierce discussion.

Of course, Zunzun was not among them.

His mission was to escort the injured Otto and Flum, along with Felt and Reinhard, to return the captured Archbishop of Wrath to the royal capital.

In other words, it was time to go home.