The Demon Prince goes to the Academy - Chapter 580

Chapter 580

After reporting to the captain of the 17th Guards, Ludwig was put in charge of escorting Rowen.

After confirming that the progress of the epidemic in District 17 had completely stopped, we headed to District 15.

As Rowen said, extreme situations don’t happen very often.

Twice at most.

It was not a commotion caused by being discovered as a priest, but Ludwig running into a robber and running away with Rowen on his back.

Once he ran away, and once he was blocked from all sides, so after Ludwig knocked him down with only his left arm, the guard came out confidently.

It was a mistake of the robbers to treat Ludwig lightly and approach him because he was one-armed.

Four days had passed since Ludwig took over as Rowen’s bodyguard.

* * *

A four-day escort mission.

Nothing major had happened in the meantime, and the two of them had gone back and forth for a long time, and since they had no choice but to stay together all day, they had no choice but to talk about this and that.

Although Rowen had a weak impression, he was a fairly bright person.

Also, he was not one to assert his high position.

It was because he acted like there was little formality.

Ludwig, who was quite ignorant of formality, could not help but feel grateful to Rowen.

So during that time, the two talked a lot.

“It was a place called Cielan in the Lucepena Kingdom. You probably don’t know. I was a bishop there, not an archbishop.”

This was Rowen’s answer to Ludwig’s question about where he was the archbishop.

“then… … . Did you become Archbishop after the Gate incident?”

“There is a shortage of people and there are many dead, so the vacancy is bound to be filled by someone. So, I was given a position that was beyond my capacity.”

The void must be filled by someone. That is why, Rowen said, he was appointed archbishop even though he was not capable of doing so.

“The Archbishop… … . Was it the right thing to do?”

“No, just call me normally. And it’s better to call me by my first name than calling me priest.”

Rowen looks at Ludwig and frowns.

“You’re going where you need to be careful in many ways, right?”

It was only then that Ludwig realized that calling him priest for several days was a pretty risky move.

“that… … . I see. sorry.”

“No, nothing special has happened so far.”

Rowen refers to the refugee camps visible beyond the borders of the ecliptic.

“Let’s go. I have a lot of work to do today.”

“Your priest… … . No, Mr. Rowen.”

“It’s fine if you take it off. I’ll take it out too, Ludwig.”

Rowen smiles mischievously and walks ahead of Ludwig.

Rowen was the bishop of a lost city in a country that had already disappeared.

After the Gate Crisis, she somehow managed to survive and reach the ecliptic.

And in a situation where someone had to fill a void, Rowen filled someone’s void.

Originally, he was not an archbishop, but he was appointed as an archbishop after the Gate incident.

‘Did you get appointed as Archbishop while doing this?’

Ludwig tilted his head and followed Rowen.

The fourth day since Ludwig accompanied Archbishop Rowen.

In Hwangdo Refugee Camp, there were still many streets that needed to be cleaned up and were still being created.

And little by little.

Snow was falling from the sky.

* * *

Temple freshman year.

It was around the time of the 2nd semester group mission.

The day I dropped out right away from the group mission and waited.

On the first night, when I entered the open-air bath with Ellen, who was also eliminated, between a wall.

Ellen asked.

do you like eyes

To be honest, I had no idea about the eyes. To be honest, I didn’t have time to think about it.

But I dared to go into the snowy open-air bath.

Because there’s no reason not to.

So at that time, I replied that I seem to like snow.

okay.

I don’t have an appreciation for snow, but I thought that it seemed to like snow as a result.

I was alone in Ellen’s room in the Class A dormitory without Ellen and Heinrich.

Sitting on the window sill, I look out the snowy window.

There are many types of snow.

There’s sleet, grizzled snow, heavy snow, and blizzards that Liana can summon.

Apparently I liked the snow.

I also liked the eye contact with Ellen, Harriet and Ellen. Making a snowman with those two guys was also a good memory.

If it’s snow, it’s a big eye.

I loved the snow falling enough to cover the world.

I watch the snow falling outside the window from inside the window.

Just imagining the lives that will be swallowed up by the falling snow is painful.

The snow that is falling now is snarky snow.

Those eyes didn’t look like snow, so I didn’t really like them because they were lonely, as if they were just a kind of wind.

Snow that does not accumulate is not snow.

I thought so.

But I think it’s fortunate that it’s snowing right now.

If it was piling up snow, if it was pouring snow, there would be a lot of people who would suffer as much as the snow that fell.

May this snow not accumulate.

I hope it doesn’t turn into a snowstorm.

I blankly look up at the snowy sky outside the window.

Should I call Liana?

Should I call him and ask him to stop the emperor’s eyes?

Not to kill monsters, but to save people.

However, if that guy, who was getting sick the more he exerted himself, was asked to do such a thing throughout the winter to keep the weather warm throughout the zodiacal winter.

Since the snow has melted, you might have to say that people don’t suffer from the cold.

It will be at least three months from now for winter to fully end.

If she had to use her strength for three months, Liana would have to go crazy when the winter passed.

Liana’s power is for war. have to save

It’s a war to save someone, but we have to turn away from someone dying for the sake of the war.

It snows.

The snowflakes were getting thicker.

I hate snow now.

* * *

The snow soon turned into thick snow and began to fall all over the ecliptic.

Fortunately, it was not accompanied by a strong winter wind.

“It snows quite a bit.”

“It’s a big deal.”

Ludwig and Rowen sighed when they confirmed that the progress of the epidemic in Area 38, which had just been cleansed yesterday, was completely over.

As the snow fell, both Rowen and Ludwig had white snow on their robe shoulders and hoods.

Most of the people on the street shrank despite being hit by the cold snow.

Looking at the shack that couldn’t even block the wind properly, Rowen’s complexion couldn’t help but deteriorate.

“I don’t know if it comes in moderation and then stops… … .”

“There must be a lot of people who can’t stand the cold, right?”

At Ludwig’s worried question, Rowen shook his head as if it wasn’t a problem.

“When it snows a lot, the cold is not the problem, the shack collapses. It happened a lot last winter.”

More people died from being crushed by the collapsed shack, Loewen said, not because of the cold caused by the snow, but because of the snow itself.

harshness of nature.

Ludwig was resentful of the gradually accumulating snow, but he did not know where to turn that resentment.

The two walk towards their next destination.

Most of the refugees couldn’t hide their resentment while looking up at the sky, and some children just jumped for good in their eyes.

It’s something he likes because he doesn’t know what it is, Ludwig thinks in that scene.

“Did you like snow before the world was like this?”

It was an overly out of the blue question now, when eyes look like a symbol of death. Ludwig blankly looked at the snow falling from the sky.

“… … I do not know.”

I can’t remember if I liked it or hated it.

After the Gate incident, everything before that seemed to have been erased.

Even if I didn’t have it, I couldn’t even remember it anymore, as if it had become something meaningless.

As if too much misfortune and despair had swallowed everything in him. Just thinking about what I could do right in front of me was overwhelming.

Ludwig suddenly wondered if Rowen was still someone who could think of those past events.

“I liked it.”

Rowen looked up at the sky and said quietly.

“Lucepena, where I was, was a kingdom in the northern part of the continent, and half of the year was winter. So it was very easy to see the eyes.”

A place where half of the year is winter, Ludwig found it difficult to guess what kind of place it was.

“Doesn’t that make you hate snow…?” … ?”

Shouldn’t you hate it if you look at her eyes so often that you’re sick of it? Snow is actually a symbol of severe cold. Just like people are afraid of their eyes now.

“well. Isn’t there any reason to dislike it just because it’s common?”

“… … okay.”

“Lucepena was a country of winter, and Cielan was in the highlands. It was cold and there was a lot of snow. I was born there.”

Rowen’s eyes changed as if he was looking far into the distance, as if he were thinking of his now-disappeared hometown.

“I had a snowball fight with my friends and made a snowman. I couldn’t count the number of times I was scolded and healed by the priests because I touched my eyes so much that my hands froze and I got frostbite.”

Reminiscing about his childhood, Rowen laughed forlornly.

He touched his eyes to the point of frostbite.

“Even after being ordained a priest, there were quite a few times when I got into a snowball fight with the monastery children and got scolded for not being good enough. When I made the statue of the goddess out of snow, I was scolded by the bishop for not making such a thing recklessly.”

Rowen seemed quite amused as he spoke.

“Even though it really never happened after I was promoted to bishop. what… … . Yes. Lucepena was a cold country, but the cold was not a problem, and Cielan was a particularly cold city, but that was not a problem. The empire was huge, and thanks to the warp gate, many tourists came to Cielan, the country of snow. The scenery was pretty good.”

“It was like that. Even just three years ago.”

“No matter how cold it is, no matter how heavy snow falls, no matter how difficult it is to live in a place.”

“Humans could live anywhere.”

“I didn’t know much at the time, but I think three years ago was the last golden age of mankind.”

“A day like that may never come again.”

A time when all you had to do was look for beauty in your eyes.

Until just three years ago, when a material distribution network called the Warp Gate connected all continents, mankind could live anywhere.

However, now that everything has been destroyed, the past has become days like lies.

“Now, mankind has to tremble in fear even in the slightest cold, and countless people have to lose sleep at night even if a little snow falls from the sky.”

Humanity, which has become smaller, is threatened even by small things.

In a big, sturdy house, you didn’t have to worry about heavy snowfall, but now you have to live in a shack that collapses at the slightest amount of snow.

In the shack, which doesn’t even have a fireplace, the winter wind, which isn’t too harsh, breaks through.

The golden age has passed, and mankind has many things to fear.

“Ludwig.”

Rowen looks at Ludwig.

“Do you hate snow?”

At those words, Ludwig nodded slightly.

“yes… … . It seems so.”

At that, Rowen smiled sadly.

“Now I am too.”

the two walk down the street

Snow was slowly accumulating on the roofs of the shack in the sheltered refugee camp.

* * *

Rowen and Ludwig headed to the next area, Area 42.

The snow had started to pile up before I knew it and I could hear the sound of stepping on it.

After reporting to the guards in Area 42, the two headed to the epidemic-prone area in that area.

As he always did, Rowen walked down the street praying.

It wasn’t often that Ludwig had to step in. So Ludwig wondered if Rowen needed him.

Of course, whenever Ludwig said that, Rowen said Ludwig was doing his job enough to make him feel safe.

In the refugee camp, it is better to beware of robbers rather than raids out of hatred for priests. First of all, people don’t even know that Rowen is a priest.

Ludwig looked around to prepare for an emergency, but there was nothing unusual. Rather, because it was snowing, people were shutting themselves in shacks.

After about three hours, it must have been around the time that the snow piled up to my ankles.

– Pull it out!

There was a commotion in a corner of the refugee camp.

Rowen, who was praying, and Ludwig, who was looking at the situation, had no choice but to turn their eyes to that direction.

-oh my! Oh, save me! We… … . We just… … .

Ludwig couldn’t help but know what it was when he saw the people dragged out of the shack and the unknown jewelry draped around their necks and arms.

Unlike the last time we saw it, the wooden idols are dragged out into the streets and trampled under the feet of the guards.

-I would have warned you last time, but if you bring an idol like this again, I will burn it.

The five guards look at the trembling people who have been thrown on the floor as if not once or twice.

Ludwig couldn’t help but stare at Rowen, startled.

Rowen approaches the scene with a firm expression. At the guards who seemed to be spearing the pagans right away.

“Wait, who are you?”

The guards pointed their spears at Rowen and Ludwig, as if telling them not to come any closer.

“This is Priest Rowen, dispatched for purification work. This is the person in charge of my security, and I came with permission from the 42nd Guards.”

“Ah, you are a priest. Excuse me.”

When Rowen took out the name of the cross he had hidden in his bosom, the guards lowered their weapons and bowed.

“Can I ask what’s going on?”

“Oh that… … . That is… … .”

Rowen’s tone was neither aggressive nor threatening.

However, the guard felt unknown, unspoken pressure in Rowen’s calm smile.

It was the same with Ludwig.

As if he was wearing a mask, Rowen’s smile was so kind and gentle that it didn’t suit the situation.

“Are they heretics?”

“yes… … . That’s right. But it’s probably the people who do this because they don’t know what. You don’t even know what you’re praying for… … .”

Compared to Sontain, who was Ludwig’s archer, he was not as harsh as he had been, compared to how he had been harassing the pagans until recently. When the priest appeared, the guards who seemed to be in charge seemed to be defending those who had been pulled out.

Rowen lies face down on the snow-covered street and looks at the people gazing.

She quietly looks at the shack they were dragged out of.

“May I come in?”

“yes? yes! oh whatever… … .”

“Ludwig.”

Rowen gestured to Ludwig, who was stunned by the situation.

like follow me.

“You guys can come in too.”

Rowen quietly said that to the people lying face down.

Strictly speaking, despite the fact that it was under the jurisdiction of the guards.

Rowen said as if giving an order.

* * *

A shack in an epidemic outbreak area.

A total of five people prayed.

There were one adult man, two old men, and two women.

Inside the shack, which was difficult to even stand properly, Rowen looked around, including the mats inside the shack.

Like looking for something.

“Hmm… … .”

In the strange silence, Rowen looked at something, tilted his head, looked at a giant, thought for a long time, and was lost in thought without talking to anyone.

After some time, Rowen picked up a small wooden idol lying in the middle of the shack.

It was a piece of wood that mimicked the shape of a human.

“What were you praying for?”

Rowen asked as he looked at the people who were trembling while holding the idol.

No matter how much the priests are hated, they only have power when a large number of civilians gather.

When the power of public authority prevails, their hatred or hatred is still powerless.

The old man trembled at Rowen’s kind question.

“That is… … . I hope the epidemic is over and everything works out… … .”

“To this wooden doll?”

“… … .”

“What is this wooden doll?”

Rowen asks the old man.

“You ask what? is this your god? How does this wooden doll or something solve the epidemic?”

Rowen seemed really curious.

The question mixed with a warm smile made people and even Ludwig feel fear.

“I really don’t know. How could this wooden doll… … .”

– Phat!

Rowen’s right hand glowed with golden light.

“You believe you can perform miracles like this, don’t you? Why?”

For an instant, I felt the cold disappear from the golden radiance emitted from that radiance, and the weakness in my body vanished in one fell swoop, and vitality filled my body.

A prayer to an unknown idol.

Miracles of practical healing and purification.

Rowen looks at the pagans as if he doesn’t understand the gap.

“You ask. What is this wooden doll? what did you express What do you guys believe in and what are you trying to do?”

It was an infinitely kind tone, but everyone was afraid.

The old man was trembling without answering, but someone else opened his mouth.

“yo. this… … . warrior… … .”

“… … ?”

“Yo warrior… … . are you.”

At the words of the trembling young woman, Ludwig’s as well as Rowen’s expression hardened.

A wooden idol that mimics the shape of a human being.

It says that it imitates the appearance of the hero Ellen Artorius.

“The warrior… … . He will save us all… … .”

At the words of the trembling young woman, Rowen with a hard expression nodded slowly.

“ah… … . okay.”

Rowen stares at the wooden idol.

Ludwig had a foreboding feeling that Rowen’s eyes seemed to stir up an abyss.

But after a moment of silence passed.

Rowen carefully set down the wooden idol he was holding in the center of the room.

“that’s right. The hero will save us all.”

Numerous heresies are rampant.

However, the cult of warriors could not be treated as heresy.

“Still, why don’t you cut it beautifully to avoid misunderstandings like this in the future? It’s a sculpture that embodies a great warrior.”

Rowen smiles at the trembling cultists.

“There are rumors that the warrior is very, very beautiful.”

Rowen quietly left the shack.