Chapter 170: Terrorist Organization (2)

「Se…Seiya!? 」

Nonetheless, even with a sword pointed at his neck, Colt remained calm and smiled at us.

「Don’t get me wrong. I’m not trying to lure you to a trap. Room 666 is a real room.」

「Eh? But all I see is a wall! 」

Colt placed his hands on the empty wall.

「Reveal. 」

Immediately, a small character string from 0 to 9 appeared on the wall! After Colt looked around to make sure, there was no one else but us, he quickly pressed the numbers that emerged in front of him. A crack ran through the wall without making a sound, and the sides opened like an automatic door.

「A…A hidden room!? 」

「Yeah. I don’t want anyone to know where I live. 」

Colt was a young man with a gentle look. Still, I felt he was dangerous because he killed Wolf without hesitation, and lived in secret. However, Seiya nodded as if he “understood” the purpose of a hidden room. Seiya put his sword back to his sheath.

「It’s natural for someone like you to employ some security measures to avoid letting a third party identify your location. When I go home, I also consider the possibility of someone tailing me, so I walk in zigzag movements on the way home, and then, I suddenly dash fiercely.」

「Seiya, even though you’re not a terrorist, you do that on a daily basis!?」

「I have a constant sense of danger that a mysterious organization could pursue me.」

「You have Eighth-Grade Syndrome*… 」

「What’s that? 」

It would be a hassle to explain, so I just followed Colt. Then, Colt opened the door that appeared at the end of the narrow corridor.

「Okay then, come in. 」

「Ex…Excuse me. 」

In a large room, two men and one girl were sitting on a couch. One of the men was a middle-aged man with gray hair and dressed as a priest. The other man had unkempt hair and wore black-rimmed glasses.

「You brought strange people with you. 」

The man with glasses stared at us with suspicion. But more than those men, my eyes were glued to the young girl who didn’t fit in this place.

「So…Sorry…Are you perhaps…Eich? 」

The hidden underground settlement of the original Exfolia revived in my mind. A young girl used powerful earth magic to create a settlement underground in order to evacuate people from the vicious rule of the beast men…That girl was Eich. And Eich was…

「Hey, hey brother. Who the fuck is that woman? 」

That’s right, Eich was Colt’s sister…Eh, wait a second!? What was that way of speaking!?

Unlike Eich’s polite language of the original world, this Eich spoke in a vulgar manner. I looked closely at her, and I saw that her face and height were the same, but her choice of wardrobe changed. She wore a light attire with shorts and a shirt, so that she could move more easily. In addition, she sported tanned skin and short hair that made her look like a boy.

「I…I am Goddess Listarte. Nice to meet you, Eich. 」

Anyway, I bent my knees and said hello with a smile. Then, Eich snorted after a moment of silence.

「Puff! Goddess, she said! That woman is an idiot, isn’t she!」

「I…Idiot!? Me!? 」

「Hey, Eich. That’s rude. 」

Even if Colt reprimanded her, Eich looked at me with a smirk as if she thought I was truly an idiot.

「Well, it can’t be helped, I don’t even know what a goddess means!」

…Eich was messing around…!!

Eich, a polite girl who was appointed as the head of the village even though she was very young, became such a naughty child in this twisted world. Colt cleared his throat.

「Let me introduce them again. This is my sister Eich. And these two are Father Luke and the engineer Caron.」

The Father bowed his head, and the man in glasses…Caron, the engineer, shook hands with me. His hair was messy and he looked a little hesitant, but he managed to smile as he shook hands with me. I mean, maybe I saw these two somewhere else before…

After shaking hands, Caron smiled bitterly at me.

「But you know, saying you’re a “goddess” is such a bad joke.」

「I didn’t joke…You see…I’m the real deal…! 」

「Caron. What she is saying is true. She is an Artema-class soul holder. The purity of her souls is 99%.」

All eyes were set on us upon hearing Colt’s words.

「Isn’t 99% of pureness the same as the four types of Artema! There’s no way that a person would have such purity!」

Eich shouted. Caron seemed to be in a hurry, and grabbed something that resembled goggles out of the trash at the table.

「I…I’ll check her purity now! Let’s see…」

Caron, who saw me through the goggles he wore, changed his complexion immediately.

「Wha…What the hell…!! 99% purity!! No doubt!! She belongs to an Artema-class!!」

「Se…Seriously!? Then this woman is really…a goddess!!」

Eich and Caron were astonished, and Father Luke knelt down and began to weep.

「Ohh…Finally…Finally, God has descended upon this devastated Exfolia…!! Holy War…The Holy War finally begins…!!」

Some…Somehow, our presence became sort of a big deal…But well, it seemed that they finally understood that I was a goddess!

I put my hand on my chest again and tried to speak beautiful words to them.

「Well then, again. I am Goddess Listarte. And this person here is the brave hero named Ryuguuin Seiya. As Sir Luke said, we came here to save this world.」

However, Caron ignored me and shouted at Seiya.

「This one also has 99% purity!!」

「Hey, brother!! Does that mean that we’ll have two Artemas if we kill these guys!?」

「AH!? Ki…Kill us!? E…Eich!?」

I was surprised at Eich’s shocking remarks and shouted aloud. Then, before I knew it, Seiya stood in front of me. Seiya glared down at the small-sized Eich.

「Let me tell you this first. I won’t forgive anyone who tries to harm me. You might be a kid, but I will kill you before you try to kill me.」

「Wha…Wha…What the hell is wrong with this guy!! I will teach you a lesson, you damn bastard!!」

An adult male and a young girl aged six or seven were staring at each other with intense eyes. Eich behaved like a spoiled brat; however, Seiya would definitely kill her if she continued to behave recklessly like that. Colt felt the imminent danger and gently talked with Eich.

「Stop it, Eich. He is serious.」

「That’s right, Eich! Seiya is capable of killing those who try to harm him, regardless of whom it may be, even children like you!」

「Shut…Shut up! I can’t be quiet after he threatened me! 」

「What are you saying. You were the one who threatened me first.」

Seiya spoke the truth, but Eich didn’t dissipate her hostility toward us. However, someone broke this impasse.

「Please stop it. That person is dangerous. He is too dangerous, the most dangerous of all.」

…Eh…

Everyone moved their eyes towards that voice. The steel-colored Celseus was standing up from the wheelbarrow, without moving his stiff neck. Eich shouted in shock.

「Whoahhhh!? Who the hell is that geezer!? A robot!?」

「…I’m not a robot. I’m a god. 」

Eich poked Celseus with her tiny finger.

「Such a hard skin!! I never thought that a god would be hard like stone!!」

「I’m not usually hard like stone. I was forced to be like this. The one who forced me was that hero over there.」

「Ahh!? Why…Why did you force him to become hard like stone!?」

「I am using him as a lightning rod to protect myself. 」

「…!! 」

Eich went crazy. Celseus’ words, who showed his agonizing feelings because of Seiya’s doing, seemed to resonate with the girl’s heart. Eich showed a mysterious complexion on her face.

「I don’t know whether that man is a brave hero or not. But, I do know that he is a terrible guy…」

「That’s right, Eich! It’s fine to have that recognition for the time being!」

Eich managed to calm down, but Caron got excited when he used the goggles, and screamed instead.

「This robot also has a 99% purity!? No way!! That’s impossible!!」

「I’m not a robot. I am the Swordsman God.」

「Swordsman? What is a Swordsman? 」

「Ce…Celseus is the god of swords. Well, he can only make cakes these days.」

After I explained, Caron shouted high as if he was extremely impressed.

「Amazing, it’s truly amazing!! We have three Artemas in this room!! A Goddess Artema!! A Hero Artema!! And…a Cake Artema!!」

「No, why am I referred as the cake only!? 」

「Anyways. Caron, please calm down a little. 」

After calming down his companion, Colt bowed to Seiya.

「Please forgive the repeated rudeness of my comrades. Of course, I have no intention to hurt you. I just want your help. That’s all.」

「Tell me your plan. I will decide to cooperate with you based on what I hear.」

Colt nodded in response and walked towards a wall of the room. It looked like he tried to reach something. Then, the wall slid when he pressed some numbers, just like the time when he manifested this hidden room.

「Whoa…! 」

A storage room appeared and many firearms were lined up inside. Seiya also made countless of guns in the Underworld, but that storage room was insane. If one looked closely, there were even things like bombs.

「I am preparing carefully in order to change this damned world. 」

…Preparing carefully, he said, he was just like Seiya! I also felt that Seiya had a good impression of Colt!

「I can start a revolution with all these weapons. But, we can’t go beyond that. I don’t have the missing big pieces that will allow us to win the revolution.」

「Beyond, you say? What are the missing big pieces? 」

「Pieces that transcend human knowledge to alter the world…That’s you guys.」

Father Luke was looking up at the ceiling again. He had tears in his eyes.

「Ahh, ahh! The crucial moment has arrived! The Holy War has begun!」

「Holy War, huh…Colt. How are you going to save the world?」

「About that, you see. First, I want to make sure that everyone in this town can live safely.」

「…Be more specific. 」

After he heard Seiya’s words, Colt thought deeply before giving a response.

「We are trying to overthrow the Principality of Galvano that controls this town.」

「I said be more specific. Tell me the details more clearly.」

Seiya stared at Colt with keen eyes. Colt smiled wryly after glancing at my face.

「We are going to assassinate the mayor. I want you to cooperate with us.」

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*Meaning 中二病/Chuunibyou. Literally the “Eighth-Grade Syndrome”, which means behaving in a way characteristic of teenagers going through puberty, esp. by being overly self-conscious. To put it simply, it refers to matured individuals with an absurd self-created persona.

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