The Devil's Evolution Catalog

Chapter 232: Secret (part 1)

Ignoring the devastated Gaiuz entirely, Meisian then turned towards me with eyes more serious than I had ever seen. Gone was the frivolity she showed when we first met, instead what faced me were deeply furrowed brows and a piercing gaze.

Devil, I know youve become Gaiuzs trump card. Back then, I only sent you away to cause trouble for Weiderly on a mere whim, to think it would end up like this nowin that case, Ill need to you leave, now.

Leave? You wish to attack me? At that, Sinmosa, Sasani, No.3 and Big 4 all put up their guards and ever so slightly shifted their positions to surround the Shadowcat.

Meisian ignored their aggressive posturing and continued speaking, with that same placid expression on her face: No, I wish to give you what you seek beforehand.

What I seek?

Thats right, the answer which youve been searching for all this while.

I had to admit, her newfound seriousness spooked me a little and struck me as not at all adorable. Given a choice, I would rather she return back to that brash kitty who addressed us while munching on snacks. Even though there was no shred of propriety to be found in her then, it was kind of adorable in its own way, not to mention interesting.

If I give you the answer which you seek now, there shouldnt be any reason for you to stay in this fight, nyah. From that moment on, the matters of our clan shouldnt concern you any longer.

Seeing that I was still confused, Meisian then proceeded to elaborate: I was hoping to simplify this mess by hiring you as my external help but seeing as youve now become a hindrance, that clearly isnt true anymore. I do not have a suitable reason now to act against you and even if I did, Gaiuz would most likely interfere, making the entire mess even worse for me. Given that, sending you away would be for the best, if you catch my drift.

In other words, as long as I lost the sole reason for my participation in this war, the method of entering Abaddon, I wouldnt have any reason to stay here and be a hindrance any further. In her eyes, our withdrawal was more a plus than anything else.

To being with, she didnt want to hand us the answer for free when we first met because there was no such thing as a free meal in this world. Take for example, a person who so happened to dig up a chest of gold bars and thus became rich. While others might have construed that as merely being lucky and not working for his own riches, that wasnt true at all. The act of searching and digging up the chest was his labor and the gold, his fruits. You reap what you sow that was the unchanging law of Earth and of this world as well.

That was why she gave us that mission and just like that example above, while it might seem like I hadnt labored for this answerthe truth was that I didso much so in fact that Isigh, my scruples

I remember you mentioning that you all were sent here by a teleportation gate in the Prison of the Dead, am I right in saying that?

Thats right.

Can you give me a brief introduction? Like your origins and the situation in the Prison.

Alright. Given that there really wasnt much to hide there, I told her whatever she wanted to know: I first started off in the Blood Sea

As I recounted our entire adventure thus far, the Princess listened with rapt attention, taking care not to miss out any detail. Upon finishing my explanation, she sighed deeply before falling silent. Even though I still didnt know what all these had to do with entering Abaddon, I had everyone keep quiet so as not to disturb her.

Not long after, Meisian came back to her senses and inexplicably stated: So thats whyI think I roughly get whats happening now.

Huh? Hearing her say that, it almost seemed like we were the ones who gave her an answer instead

We are currently in the remnants of the ancient kingdom of Sable Radiance, you know that as well, right?

Mhm.

Sable Radiance used to be a thriving kingdom till one day, in just the span of one night, every devil, including the Devil King, disappeared without a trace, you know of this as well right?

Mhm, Ive heard of this strange legend as well but Im not sure how much stock to put into thathow can there be anyone or thing powerful enough to cause the devils to vanish like thator cause that mysterious barrier surrounding this regionmoreover, only the devils were affected and not the other fiendish creatures

How can you be so sure that the Hellhounds or the Purgatory Warhorses are perfectly fine? Besides, such a power does in fact exist Having dangled that tantalizing bit of information before us, she then took a deep breath before putting on a rather strange expression: Long ago, when our clan had nowhere to go, it was the Devil King of Sable Radiance who offered us refuge. It was thanks to his magnanimity that we were allowed a place to live in. The favor that he showed us that day was an enormous one. Back then, our clan desperately wanted to repay his kindness but one day, he simply vanished. Ever since then, our clan had endeavored to locate his Excellency and yetwho wouldve thought that your coming was the clue we needed to solve this mystery

Im still not too sure what youre trying to say but since my coming is a revelation of sorts, why didnt you notice anything when we first arrived in your castle?

After pondering on this issue for a long while, I finally decided that this tsukkomi was one that had to be tsukkomied.

Because I didnt connect his Excellencys disappearance with the Prison then

In other words, you messed up?

She glared at me.

Hey, dont give me that look, please. Continue, just continue, please.

She gave me an at least you know whats good for you look before continuing on with her hypothesis. If Im not mistaken, that particular Prison of Dead you broke out of was formed out of countless devil corpses

*cough cough cough* A prison constructed out of countless devil corpses? So youre saying Ive been walking on devil corpses up till recently?! Also, didnt she just say that particularthere are more of those prisons out there?!

I had considered that possibility beforebut to think it was actually possible for an entire realm to constructed of bones

You mentioned being teleported to the Prison after leaving the Blood Sea, right?

Thats right, Im still in the dark about that too, why would the entrance of the Blood Sea link to the Prison?

If that is true, then the disappearance of his Excellencymight have to do with that being, nyahno, it has to be connected to him Having said that, Meisian couldnt help but shiver as if she was frightened by the mere thought of something. She peered around for a second and upon seeing that nothing was amiss, relaxed somewhat.

What does that being mean?

From her actions alone, I could tell that the being she was referring to must have been someone great else why would she act so timidly as if she was afraid of being implicated in something.

Its better for you to not know about his existence, in fact, dont bring this up in the futurethat being is a deity that can easily wipe out his Excellency with a mere thought

By His Excellency, do you mean the previous Devil King?

Thats right, the former Devil King of Sable Radiance, and the benefactor of us Shadowcats. Even though he might have had some kind of ulterior motive in allowing us to stay here, it didnt change the fact that we would have perished without his aidwell all thats in the past, lets talk about the present instead.

I could tell that she no longer wished to dwell on the past of her clan. Well, it wasnt like doing so would benefit either of us so I decided to skip right ahead.

Your Highness, Im rather curious about this Ten-stars Devil King you keep mentioning, can you describe exactly how powerful he is?

You really wish to know?

Mhm, mhm.

See that mountain over there? Meisian pointed at a distant volcano which had been terraformed to not erupt by the Shadowcats. While we were a good distance away from it, I could roughly tell that it had to be at least over a thousand meters tall.

Yeah, its a rather tall one.

If its a Devil King, he can slice the mountain in half just with his bare hands.

What the f***, thats a mountain were talking about here, not some tree! A mountain thats over one thousand meters tall too, youre saying he can slice it in half, just like that? Are you sure you arent exaggerating here? And for someone that powerful to disappear in one nighthow strong did that being have to be