CHAPTER 21. DLC: St. Marianne and the Demon King Yana

Marianne and Yana had existed together since the time humans first became intelligent in this world.

They did not know how they were born.

They could only speculate that perhaps the strong winds of humans crying out for God had created them.

Born in this way, they were not omniscient enough to be gods, and as human beings, they lived their eternal lives with abilities that were impossible in their category. A life that just existed.

They depended on each other and abandoned each other, but they, too, had their limitations.

In such unchanging daily life, it was Marianne who was the first to feel frustrated. She was fed up with the pure white space that only sparkled.

Unable to stand her life, which was always just piling up, she began to become more and more sensitive, and her emotional ups and downs began to increase.

Yana, Marianne’s only conversation partner, noticed the change in her.

After wondering for a while what to do, Yana immediately thought of a good and strange move and persuaded Marianne.

<How about going out to take over once?>

<To take over?>

<Yes. The place where you are is closer to the human world than where I am.>

<But…>

Marianne hesitated.

For some reason, it seemed impossible for her to go out alone to take over without Yana, with whom she had spent so many eons of her life.

Yana shook his head.

<You don’t have to if that’s what you care about.>

He was also frustrated with one thing, but it was more painful for Marianne to suffer.

It was not possible to go to the human world from the demon world where Yana was staying anyway.

This was because the demon world where Yana’s castle was located and the sacred world where Marianne’s castle was located were at odds with each other, with the sacred world always watching the human world, but the demon world turning its back on the human world.

<It’s not impossible for me to take over… It just takes a little longer. So you go ahead and look around the human world. If we do well, won’t we both be able to meet in the human world?>

<I wish we could.>

Yana’s words made Marianne’s white face, which had never dreamed before, go blank.

Yana pushed her back, and for the first time Marianne gathered her courage to take over.

However close the sacred world was to the human world, there was still resistance among the hierarchy. It was hard work, but Marianne’s heart pounded loudly in anticipation of the newly unfolding world.

Unlike the stark white of the sacred world, the human world was a mishmash of diverse colors that confused her. Marianne set out on a journey into the landscape that stretched across the human world.

While looking around the human world with such fascination, Marianne happened to meet a human being.

“God!”

The human, mistaking Marianne for a god, blubbered and prayed before her in a five-way struggle.

Marianne panicked and tried to wake the human, but the human begged her to do her a favor.

“Give me strength. I must avenge my tribe as chief!”

Her cry of truth shook Marianne to the core.

Marianne thought she could do it if she let go of her power a little.

And so Marianne passed her magic power to the human. The human was overjoyed as they began to receive the power to make fire.

“Thank you, St. Marianne!”

Marianne gave her magic power to the humans, so she thought that much magic would disappear, but to her surprise, the magic flared up again.

Then…

Marianne had since then given humans various talents. Humans followed her and called her Saint Marianne.

With the awe of the humans, Marianne was intoxicated with joy, as if she had become a god.

But on the other side of the world, there was a problem she was unaware of.

Every time Marianne passed her magical power to a human, something was changing in Yana, who, as her counterpoint, formed the balance of the world.

The birth of demons.

Every time Marianne gave power to a human and that power filled up again, a demon was created in the demon world. The stronger the power Marianne gave, the stronger the demons were created.

Yana, the master of the demon world, had completely concealed this fact.

Marianne was experiencing the joy of life, feeling rewarded for the first time.

Such a fullness that he could never fulfill…

Yana expanded his world little by little and hid the demons.

In this way, the demon world gradually became wider and wider…

After so many years alone, Yana finally went mad.

By the time Marianne found out, it was too late.

***

In order to eliminate the demons, Marianne had to retrieve all the magical power she had given to the humans.

However, the magical power she pulled away had already been passed down from generation to generation among humans.

A situation that required the elimination of a large part of the human population.

Marianne, who could not bear to do so, was distressed by the disaster caused by her preliminary judgment.

Yana began to invade the human world with demons. It was the outbreak of the First Holy Demon War.

The magical power given by Marianne spread to human beings and only weakened their concentration, making it impossible to deal with the demons composed of magical power.

Another ability was needed for humans.

Since it was no longer possible to lower the magical power directly, Marianne chose to express the hidden talents of humans.

The humans managed to deal with the demons, but…

In the end, all of this, including Yana’s transformation, was Marianne’s fault and sin.

<I should have known sooner. You were holding it in, too…>

Marianne’s body scattered in the flashing light and her spirit reached the bond of the soul.

Despite their near-godlike abilities, they too could not depart from the ways of the world.

However, their spiritual bodies were so powerful that reincarnation was impossible, and they would probably gradually disappear and become the foundation for this world.

Marianne’s eyes saw Yana crumbling one step in the distance. Yana also saw her, his black lips pursed into a pout.

Marianne leisurely walked toward Yana.

Then she reached out her hand. Just before her fingertips scattered and disappeared, she was finally able to embrace Yana.

They embraced to the very end.

Not an eternal life spent in separation, but a moment spent in an embrace, even if only for a moment.

That satisfied them.

CHAPTER 22. DLC: Lover of the Final Boss

Afraid of my saying that I would become emperor, Meyer ran straight to the emperor. He seemed to think that I would change my mind by any chance and seemed to have the intention of making it a fait accompli.

Of course, as far as he was concerned, I regretted it as soon as I spoke up.

Earlier, I was swept away by the atmosphere and said I would become an emperor, but when I thought about what would happen after that, my eyes went dark.

‘But there’s nothing I can do… I can’t let Meyer roll over the world when it’s a world we saved…’

I sighed and paced slowly.

Even though Meyer had told everyone around him, I didn’t really like it considering the way he usually spoke.

He probably only talked about the exact circumstances with the emperor, and must have told the others at random.

As expected, as soon as I explained the whole story, the Black Knights reacted as if they had never heard of it before.

“Are you really going to be emperor, Vice Commander?”

Sevi was startled. Robur was also tongue-tied.

“So His Excellency is still the Grand Duke? I know that His Excellency is a dungeon attacker without another price in mind, but I don’t know if I should say that he’s quite modest…”

“I guessed it from the very beginning when he gave her the title of Tyrant.”

Axion, who soon figured out the situation, chuckled. Maybe because Meyer was not there, everyone talked more comfortably.

Julieta added with a deep sigh.

“Come to think of it, someone gives such titles to their second-in-command. “Black Knight” and “Tyrant.” No matter how you look at it, the latter has something to do with it.”

“I knew that the Vice Commander was a great person from the time when she was able to control His Excellency the Black Knight with her fingertips.”

Began shrugged his shoulders. August, who was one step away, sighed and said.

“Well, considering your relationship, it doesn’t matter which one becomes emperor…”

“What, are those two dating?”

“What, you still didn’t know that?”

Ginia’s question, which she asked back with surprise, was rather met with a flurry of funny stares.

Not only Tragula, who was not really into the conversation, but also even the Red and Blue unit commander, who was not only close to the end of the line but had only conquered the dragon dungeon once with Jun two years before, looked at Ginia as if he did not understand her.

“His Excellency is very clingy, don’t you know that?”

“It’s not just for a day or two that His Excellency sticks to her.”

“He’s not a clingy person in the first place.”

Began shook his head impatiently. Ginia cried out falsely.

“I thought he was being clingy because the Vice Commander is a capable person!”

“Hey, I’m here right now. Sit yourself down and talk like that.”

I raised my hand to express my existence. I didn’t know the end of it when I listened carefully to how far they were talking.

“What’s wrong? I didn’t say anything weird about the Vice Commander, or any weird lies to my conscience.”

Axion solemnly lowered his eyes and raised his hand as if to swear. Looking at his shamelessness, I thought he would be very good at politics.

Anyway, within the Black Knights, everyone relatively calmly accepted the fact that I would became emperor.

And the nobles…

“Hahaha, frankly, in our aristocratic situation, it’s much better for Lord Karentia, no, Lord Liteitia, to be crowned emperor than Grand Duke Knox.”