Chapter 46 - 046: Greed and Glutony

When the earth barrier is created and covered by ice crystals behind it, the earth, the sky, the world, and the barrier break. Uncountable sword petals are the last defense that success stops the line that breaks everything in its path.

"Oh my, there is someone interesting here"

It was a gentle voice speaking with all the urgency of someone taking an early afternoon stroll in a public park. In fact, if she'd heard such words in a public park, No one would have been far less shocked. Yet that voice had unleashed the destruction that had shattered a double barrier.

At a glance, he was an utterly unremarkable individual. He was of medium height, with a medium build, and he had naturally white hair that was neither short nor long. The white suit that he wore to match the hair on his head was neither extravagant nor shabby, nor did his face have any defining characteristics; he looked like a completely average man.

"How dare you inflict such cruelty on my retainers…? Who are you?"

Razor-sharp will fight rested in Crusch's eyes as she posed the question to the man in a hard voice. Upon receiving Crusch's question, the man touched his own chin, nodding multiple times as he spoke.

"I see, I see. That means you do know nothing about me. But I know all about you. Right now, the royal capital… no, the entire nation is astir where you are all concerned, candidates to become the next ruler. Even if I have little interest in titles and the affairs of the world, I can imagine it takes a great deal of resolve to bear such burdens. It must be so hard for you."

"Enough idle chitchat— Answer my question or I shall strike you down."

"What a terrible thing to say… but perhaps arrogance of this level is mandatory if one is to support a nation on her shoulders… not that I can understand even a smidgen of that emotion, mind you. Well, I suppose I could never understand the thoughts of someone who actually wants the throne and having that responsibility piled upon her. Ah, not understanding does not mean I am putting them down. You see, unlike you, I simply lack such arrogance…"

The man continued to ignore Crusch's demand as he spoke glibly at length. But—

"—I told you there would not be a third chance."

Crusch made that calm statement at the same time that she waved her arm, unleashing a blade of wind. This was Crusch's technique, One Blow, One Hundred Felled—the product of wind magic and her blessing of wind reading.

The man was slashed by the invisible cutting attack, able to slay a person before he even realized he had been sliced. It was this might with the sword by which Crusch had protected the Duchy of Karsten in her first sortie, preventing damage when the demon beast known as the Great Hare appeared, causing rumors of the Valkyrie to quickly spread.

It was a hearty sword blow that could even rend the thick hide of the White Whale, sending a beast of that size crashing to the ground—a man's flesh, with a mass greatly inferior to that of the demon beast's, could not possibly withstand such a blow.

And yet—

"…Who raised you to cut a man down in the middle of a pleasant conversation?"

Tilting his head, the man stood there, his body showered with the slicing blow, only to easily shrug it off.

The cutting attack that had rent even the White Whale hadn't even made him twitch. There was no sign of the man's flesh—no, not even of the man's clothes having been cut.

It was thanks to an unknown phenomenon that did far more than merely defend against Crusch's invisible blade.

Crusch gasped; all of people body froze up from the work of a different abnormal phenomenon. Looking at the people in front of him, the man sighed and pushed up his forelocks in annoyance.

"Now hold on, I'm speaking. I'm speaking, okay? Isn't it strange to interrupt a man when he's speaking? Not that I feel like ȧsserting the right to speak, but it's common sense not to bother a man when he's trying to say something. Now, you're free to listen or not, so I won't complain about that part, but you deciding not to let me speak, that's just… I mean, how self-centered is that?"

The man spoke rapidly as he began to scuff the ground with the tip of his shoe. the man pointed at them, clicking his tongue in further annoyance.

"And now silence. What's up with you people? You heard me. I know you heard me. I asked questions, didn't I? Then answer me. That's how it works. And you won't even do that. You don't want to. Ahhh, liberty. This is your liberty at work. This is how you employ your own liberty. That's fine, do as you please. But you know what that means, don't you?"

The man leaned forward as the mad glint in his eyes grew stronger. Then—

"It means that you're belittling my rights… the very few things I personally own, yes?"

A chill raced up everyone spine. The next moment the man moved. Without warning, he listlessly raised his dangling arms, and a faint vortex of wind erupted.

Right after, in a line directly above the man's arms—the ground, the air, the world, broke.

Around and around, around and around, Crusch's left arm, severed at the shoulder, danced in the air.

Or that's what the man intended to do.

When the men were taken aback by the appearance of a magic barrier, Arthur appears out of nowhere and slash him with his sword.

Clang!!

There is a short boy with long, dark brown hair that extends past his thɨġhs. He wears a dirty rag like a piece of cloth around his thin body. He stops Arthur sword with twin swords that tied at his hand.

Arthur spun his body and give the boy roundhouse kick, the boy success in defending it with his two hands but he is sent flying.

Arthur who has a chance to attack the man again didn't do it and decided to retreat when he sees the man want to move his hand.

The exchange happened at very fast speed and some people just realized it when Arthur retreat with the boy lying at the ground quite far from where the man standing.

"Crusch, they not your opponent. You must retreat. Wilhelm, Julius, you two must ensure the safety of Crusch. Ludwig, Kise you two cover their back. Baal and Sezan come here"

Arthur gives several orders and didn't take no as an answer and summon Baal and Sezan who is currently with the villagers. When the two of them appear and look around the surrounding, they have a rough idea of what truly happened here.

"Baal, use your illusion to help these people retreat"

"It seems you have a hard opponent"

"Their fighting ability is very high, but the most troublesome is their special ability"

"Such as?"

"The boy can erase your very existence from this world, no one will remember you, memory, contract with spirit, everything will be erased. Not even a single word you wrote will remain in this world if you become a victim of his ability"

"There is no broken ability like that in my world, and the other one?"

"He can stop time, that's his main ability. You can imagine what his other ability is with this as a template"

"Oh my, how can you have enemies as terrible as them?"

"That's my mistake in choosing a camp, but I will say it as searching for amusement now"

"Well, whatever. They come, I will protect them now"

They didn't bother with the other people who retreat from the battlefield. then they introduced themselves.

"Archbishop of the Seven Deadly Sins of the Witch Cult, Regulus Corneas, charged with Greed."

"Archbishop of the Seven Deadly Sins of the Witch Cult, Lye Batenkaitos, charged with Gluttony"

They were members of the Witch Cult—and archbishops at that.

"It was a rare opportunity to meet with someone like you, do you didn't want to introduce yourself?"

The man who introduced himself as Regulus asking Arthur as if the previous exchange never happened.

"Acting friendly like that, do you think I will be idiot enough to tell you my name so the shorties over there can use his authority again me?"

"It seems you are a Well informed person, you know how our authority work?"

"I was more curious about the reason you're here, I didn't believe you were here for revenge because we have slain the beast and archbishop over there" Arthur uses his chin pointing where Betelgeuse ice statue is.

"Ahh, don't misunderstand. We're not interested in the dead White Whale or even madman overt there. We're interested in the people who killed the White Whale and him. Somehow it did whatever it liked for four hundred years, but you managed to kill it. I hoped you all would be ripe for the slaughter… but it turned out even better than I expected!"

Batenkaitos bȧrėd his very sharp teeth as he wildly shook his head in vigorous excitement.

"Love! Chivalrous spirit! Hatred! Tenacity! Triumph! All bottled up and simmering for such a long, long time! Just having them passing down my throat makes me feel full! Is there a more beautiful food in the entire world?! No, no, nay, nothing, surely nothing, certainly nothing, absolutely nothing!! Drink! Gorge! That is what brings joy to our hearts, and our stomachs!!"

"I didn't understand what you're saying but one thing I understand is" Arthur pointing his sword to the two "we have a fight that gets delayed, let's start now"

And he vanishes from where he stands before.