The Demon Saint is Missing, so I Ran to Another World

The Truth About the Human Saint (Part 2)

***The border crossing of Chersea-Cherflammen***

Once their group reached the demon outpost on the Chersean side of the crossing, Umberto left for the kingdom of Nerfes immediately. Like Seirna, he had no love the demon-kind, though unlike her, he could work with them when the situation called for it. However, now that his cover was blown, the former prince of Amaranth had to reestablish contact with the Saint of the Flame as soon as possible.

"Yes, that's true. And we really need to change our course of action this time."

Umberto stopped in his tracks. He was in the middle of the forest path, north of the kingdom of Nerfes. Hearing that disembodied voice of his employer echoed from every direction nearly caused his heart to skip a beat. The former prince searched for Seirna...

"Look no further. I'm here, right behind you."

"!!!" Umberto turned towards the direction she told him, and indeed, she was there, appearing out of thin air. He said nothing else; he just went straight to the topic at hand, "What's our next step?"

"I'm still waiting for the Lord Gaius' guidance," the Saint of the Flame revealed to him. "Those foul demons...they'd really violate anything that piques their interest, even heavenly decrees."

"What are you talking about, Your Holiness?"

"I'm reading your mind," she said. "Your memories tell me that the leader of the 'Knights' is already aware of your duplicity long before you previously thought, that's why he sent one of his disciples to kill you. It must be because of that monster he created that he could see through your ruse."

"Monster? You mean that 'hydra'?"

Seirna nodded, "It's a creature from another land, and another myth. And that demon made it exist in this place, given it additional powers, in direct violation of heavenly decrees about 'summoning'."

"Summoning?" the former prince's eyes widened, "You mean, we're forbidden to summon anything or anyone?"

"Ever since the Lord Gaius summoned that old hero, Cassandra David, there has been a ban from the heavens about summoning creatures from other realms."

"Then, that otherworlder..."

"You guessed right," the Saint of the Flame smirked, "the Human Saint and the Demon Saint violated the heaven's decree when he was summoned. Lady Rubinforth by being the one who made it possible, and Lady Bellingsen for goading the former to doing the deed and creating the magic circle that caused the summoning."

"Damn..."

"Now you get the reasons behind my actions before..."

"It's all falling into place," Umberto nodded. "Well, at least, one of the mysteries in my life is already answered."

"What are the others?"

"Hmm...one is that, if the leader of the 'Knights' already knew about my deception, then why he didn't kill me when I was in his chambers?"

"That demon is one sneaky bastard," Seirna chuckled, "he purposefully let you think that you're successful in deceiving them, until that demon princess appeared in Chersea."

"Demon princess? Are we talking about Lady Noir?"

"Yes, can't you connect the dots? Think about it. See, he sent you to do his bidding, along with the Lord Themis. When the right time comes, the demon he assigned to you would kill you, along with the other humans whom he deems expendable, right in the middle of the demon desert. Add a few corpses of the demons you killed in your battle, and we got ourselves a nice, convincing casus belli for Cherflammen to march to war against Chersea." (1)