I sighed.
　Galerus was defeated, and there were no longer any enemies actively trying to harm me.

　The adventurers of Galerus' squad and the members of the Salvation Knights also saw the overwhelming power of Saint Sophia and Crimson Lucy.
　They didn't seem to dare to fight us either.

　Anticipating this kind of situation, I think Creon didn't let Sophia and Lucy join the attack.

　However, Creon, Karelia and the other mainstays of the Salvation Knights are performing the ritual of resurrecting the Demon King in the throne room.

　I turned my attention to the magic absorption device.
　It's the one that Galerus removed.
　As soon as I retrieved it, I headed to Flora.

　I need to free Flora and Arte from the state of being sacrificed to the Demon King's resurrection.

　I've dealt with a similar product of this kind of magical equipment once.

　Flora was limp, and if Lisa hadn't continued to cast her recovery magic, she would have already died.
　I nodded to Lisa, who was kneeling at Flora's feet, and I began to deactivate the magic absorption device on Flora.

　Flora didn't wake up, but I knew she was breathing with a thin layer of air up and down her chest, and I knew she was alive.

　Sophia ran up to her and switched the role of casting the recovery spell with Lisa.

　Lisa said she admired the saint, and when Sophia came near her, her face lit up as she murmured, "A saint!

　Lisa is also an excellent white mage, but the saint's recovery magic is far superior to Lisa's.
　However, even if she cast such a powerful recovery spell, it wasn't clear whether Flora could be saved.

　After a while, Flora's magic absorption device was disarmed.

　Next is Arte.
　Arte is wearing a tattered black magic outfit and is looking at the ceiling with downcast eyes.

　But the burden of the magic absorber seems to increase in a constant cycle, so the suffering isn't that strong right now, I guess.
　Besides, I'm not as depleted as Flora.

　Arute questions me with a weak voice.

''Why........why are you helping me, senpai?''

Flora asked me to do it for her.

...Flora is.........

　Whether it was the pain of the wound or the pain of the magic absorption device, Arte frowned.

'You shouldn't force yourself to talk.

I've always hated you, Solon.

You don't have to remind me again, I know.

'I've always wondered why the saintly lady would like someone like this.......and why Flora would like it.

　I stared intently into Arte's dark eyes, surprised.

''What is it...?''

'No, I just thought it wasn't like Arte to thank me so frankly.

Um ... are you making fun of me?

No.

　I smiled and Arte puffed out his cheeks in disapproval and stared at me.

　We haven't been able to deactivate the magic absorption device yet, but it seemed that Arte seemed to have regained a little bit of energy, as if he thought he was saved.

　I hope this is an opportunity for Arte to change his mind a bit.

　Arte had surrendered himself completely to me and left me to disarm the disarming device.
　And then Arte murmurs.

''I........can't be the deputy commander of the Salvation Knights anymore, can I?

I know.

　No matter how the story turned out from here, there was no way a reconciliation could be reached between Creon and Arte.
　Arte nodded.

''That's why I........''

　Arte looked down at his eyes and was about to say something.
　The magic power absorber will come off in a little while.

　At that moment, the magic power absorber that was driven into Arte's chest began to emit an intense light again.
　Moreover, the color of that light was a different, dull blue.

　Arte's black eyes widened and his expression was tinted with despair.

''Shit........!

　I should have proceeded to deactivate the magic absorbing device in quite a hurry, but I couldn't get there in time with one more step.

　The resurrection of the Demon King must have entered the final stage.
　Faster than ever, the magic power absorbing device is trying to take away the magic power from Arte.

　Arte hung on to me as if seeking salvation.

''No........help me, Solon-senpai!　

　With Arte's scream, a strong wave of magical power arises from Arte's body.
　And Arte's body is surrounded by a dazzling golden light.

　Lucy shouts from behind her with an upturned voice.

''Solon!　If you don't leave, you will be involved...!

　It's true that if I continue to deactivate the magic absorption device here, I'll be caught up in Arte's magic runaway.
　However, Arte was staring at me with a hint of fear in her eyes.

　I made up my mind.
　It should be possible to disarm the magic absorbing device in a short time.

　The range of the light emitted from Arte widens, and the runaway magic power causes a searing pain on my skin.

　As if Arte no longer had the energy to scream, his face turned bright red and he was only breathing heavily.

　If he didn't do it quickly, Arte's strength would be at its limit.

　Finally, I came to the last stage of the release.
　I reached out my hand while holding back the pain and pulled out the transparent stake that was stuck in Arte's chest.

　At the same time, the rush of light and magic power stopped and Arte stopped struggling to move like a puppet with broken strings.

''Arte!''

　I called out to Arte, but he didn't seem to wake up.

　At that moment, the door to the throne room opened.
　The white uniformed faces of the Salvation Knights emerged from that room.

　Creon was there, of course.

''Gentlemen!　We've successfully revived the Demon King and controlled it. All we have to do now is get the treasures from these ruins and pull them up.　........We are heroes!

　All of the adventurers looked relieved.

　For many adventurers, they came here for two reasons.

　One was to get the honor and foil of successfully capturing the Necropolis.
　The other was to obtain the enormous treasures of the ancient ruins.

　Most of the adventurers scattered as they all went to collect the treasures at once.

　Creon came over here and looked at Arte and Flora, who were lying motionless, with disdainful eyes.

'It's the end of the line for these women. You're lucky you didn't die, but you'll probably regret that you should have died. You've lost everything you had as a sorceress.

It was Creon who did.

You're not angry?　Arte and the others have sacrificed a lot of girls who are descendants of the Demon King to do their evil and treacherous work. They got what they deserved.

''But these two are hypothetical marquisees. You're not afraid to do this...

'Oh, that's no problem then. By now, these two marquises are also being accused of treason.

　Creon smiled as Sophia murmured, 'Even the Imperial Church wouldn't tolerate this way,' and Creon smiled at her.

'Flora said something like that too, didn't she? But I have His Holiness Hestia, Patriarch of the Church, behind me. The bishops who gave Flora the name to defeat me will eventually be disqualified.

　After all, there was nothing to protect Arte and Flora.

　I glared at Creon.
　Creon was still smiling, but his eyes weren't smiling.

''We've had no more use for these women. All the magic power has been recovered and they will never be able to use magic again. It's ironic, since they lost all their power as a result of their quest for power.

What do we do with Arte and Flora?

'I'm pretty sure you're going to fall into slavery as a traitor, and in that case, we, the Order, will have to take custody of you.

'That's probably true, but I want to hear what you're going to do after that.

''I see. ........Well, she was the daughter of a famous nobleman, such a beautiful girl, and she was famous as a genius magician. No matter how high the price is, there will be people who will try to buy it. If you make a show of it and auction it off, it should serve as a source of revenue for the Knights in some small way.

Creon...!

Yeah, or maybe you can give it to Gallerus or someone else for what you've done. I'm sure he'd love it.

　I was horrified.

　If Galerus had enslaved Arte and Flora.
　I don't even want to imagine how he'd treat them.

　If he wanted to help Arte and Flora here, there was only one way.

'I'll buy Arte and Flora,'

　Of course, I'm not really treating the two of you as slaves.

　As long as they can't escape their slavery status like I did when I saved the demon Perse once, I need to make them formally 'mine'.

　Creon turned a straight face.

'I've been waiting for those words. If you're willing to enslave the two of us, you'll pay a reasonable price.''

　I was forced to buy two of them at Creon's asking price.
　It was a mind-boggling amount of money, and it was a lot of pain, even considering my extensive wealth.

　Once the negotiations were concluded, Creon tried to walk away.

　Creon has a lot of Salvation Knights leaders on his side, and it's not a good idea to fight now.
　However, I might have to settle this at some point.

　I called out to Creon.

"Do you intend to stop Shea's resurrection?　

No. ....Shea was irreplaceable to me. Shea told me that I was weak and that I was more important than anything else. So, I'm going to bring back Shea, no matter what the cost.

　Creon didn't look back anymore.
　The rest of us, left behind, were silent for a moment.

　Eventually, Filia opened her mouth.

''Well we won, didn't we?

　I nodded and smiled awkwardly.

'Because it was my purpose to protect Filia-sama in these ruins.

　In that sense, we definitely won the battle.
　The attackers made quite a sacrifice, but at least Filia didn't suffer a single scratch.

　Filia smiled happily and jumped up and down to me and hugged me.

''Wah, wah, Filia-sama!

'Thank you!　Solon!

Everyone's looking at you.

Should I stop?

　Before I could answer, Sophia, Lucy and Lisa said, "You better not! I said almost simultaneously with an impatient look, and was hamming it up exquisitely.

　I smiled and patted Filia's head, though I was a bit annoyed.

'Come on, let's go back to our mansion.

　Then I tapped Filia on the shoulder and slowly let go, and moved my eyes to Arte and Flora.
　They still didn't seem to be getting up.

　According to Creon, the two of them were now in a body that could never use magic again.

　Since they were deprived of an enormous amount of magic power for the resurrection of the Demon King, and since they were forcibly deprived of it, their magic pathways would have been torn to shreds.

　The two of us are going to be okay with Sophia, who is healing them? Sophia shook her head as she asked.

'He's not dead. But........Flora-san may never wake up again.

　According to Sophia's assessment, Flora had suffered damage to her brain.
　The chance of her recovering to the point where she could wake up and talk normally was about 20%.

　I felt gloomy.
　Flora told me right before the sacrifice that she had always liked me.

'I'm sorry I didn't notice,'

　I muttered to myself.
　I want to help Flora somehow.

　Then I heard a groan, "Ugh!
　When I looked, I saw that Arte had gotten up, making a pained face.

　Arte's beautiful black hair swayed softly.

''I........Did you get saved?　But why is it so dark?

　Me and Sophia looked at each other.
　There were a lot of bonfires around us, with adventurers burning a lot of bonfires to look for treasures, and it was pretty bright around us.

　Maybe.

'And my right hand ... and my left leg doesn't work well either.

　The last magical power absorption must have left an after-effect on Arte's body.

　He became blind, lost the use of his right hand and left leg, and lost all his magical power.
　Then he suffered a great wound in his heart and lost himself from a nobleman to a slave.

　That was the Arte now.
　I decided to keep the situation a secret for a while.

　Until a while ago, Arte had been sacrificed, violated and driven into a corner.

　And yet, if I told him everything further here, I don't know if Arte's heart would be able to bear it.

　But Arte tried to stand up, but he couldn't and almost fell forward.
　I hurriedly held her in my arms.

''Solon-senpai?''

Um, yeah, I do.

　Even though it was an irresistible force, it would be dressed with me holding Arte from the front.
　I thought that Arte wouldn't like it, but surprisingly, he didn't try to resist.

　Arte's body was very light and warm.
　In this way, Arte seems to be just a normal girl in her late teens.

　Nope.
　The current Arte was just a girl.

　The girl who pursued power and said that the powerful were righteous has lost everything.

　Her body became unable to use magic and live a normal human life, and she became my slave.
　Arte is no longer a wise woman.

　I whispered to her.

'Get some rest. You don't have to worry about anything.



Yeah.

　Relieved, Arte smiled softly and passed out with his full weight resting on me.


☆


　After pulling up from the Necropolis, Holy Knight Creon was holed up in his office at the Salvation Knights' headquarters, lost in thought.

　It was already past 2am.

　The resurrected Demon King was literally in his hands.

　A golden dwarf in a vial.

　That was the main body of the Demon King Aka Manaf.
　The plan to revive the Demon King has worked.

　All is well.

　However, Solon needs to be crushed.
　He will surely stand in front of Creon and will be a major obstacle to the revival of Shea.

　The former female sage, Arte, had raided Solon's mansion, but dared not fail to do so.
　Again, the guardian warrior Galerus tried to violently eliminate Solon, but it didn't work.

　In the end, the short-sighted idea of defeating him by force is no good.
　Creon thinks so.

　As long as Saint Sophia, Princess Filia and the others are on Solon's side, they will not be able to easily overthrow Solon.

　Therefore, we need to use other means.
　The first step is to deprive Solon of his wealth and bankrupt him.

　Solon has already spent quite a bit of money on Arte and the others, but that's only a small portion of Solon's assets.

　However, with Solon's slave, the merchant Perse, it was possible to bankrupt Solon.
　Perse would be so loyal to Solon that he would never even consider betraying him. And Solon also trusts Perse.

　That's why Perse has value in using him.
　Without realizing it, Perse will be taken in by Creon's schemes to help Solon's downfall without him even realizing it.

　And there was one more thing Creon had in his arsenal: a powerful weapon.
　Creon took a single document from the shelf.

　It was a report from the Third Department of the Imperial Secret Police and Emperor's Secretariat, the Imperial Secret Police.

　It said that one of the professors at the Imperial School of Magic secretly held critical thoughts about the government.

　She has joined the Freedom Alliance, a secret society of revolutionaries. And she was receiving financial support from the enemy Alemany Farren Republic.

　What was important was that the professor was extremely close to Solon.

　The rebel was Lucy the Crimson.
　She was Solon's mentor.

　This would give him material to hunt down Solon.

　If he did well, he could get some valuable personnel like Sophia and Filia to use.

　Creon smiled and murmured, "Wait for me, Shea.