C181
You never know what life has in store for you.
I once sought divorce because I wanted to get rid of the Cassius surname, which was attached to the name Ethel, but now I called myself Cassius.
However, this was absolutely necessary for us to safely escape from the realm of the demon beasts.
There are monsters out there right now.
Now that we don't know when the entrance gate will be shattered by the body blows of the monsters, having additional power so we can safely return to the empire is essential.
"You're fine. Shadow will remain incapacitated for the next hour or so."
Terence wouldn't have to worry too much as long as he followed the steps I mentioned to him before.
Rather, let's focus on attracting the demon king to our side.
The worst thing would be if Caius turned into an enemy and wielded that great power against us.
Looking down, it seemed that Terence hadn't been able to rest for a moment and began to fight against the remaining monsters with Lucy.
I clutched my cold, sweaty palms.
It wasn't an exaggeration to say that the fate of the three of us was in my hands.
"… What, what?!"
The first person to react to my Cassius declaration was Liena.
Liena opened her mouth with an expression of astonishment on her face.
Perhaps because Liena has been surprising me lately, it seemed quite refreshing.
"Hoo. Are you Cassius's successor?"
The demon king, who introduced himself as Caius, looked at me slowly and murmured to himself.
"Ethel Cassius, I see. It seems that Cassius's descendants carry his name with them."
What do we carry his name for?
It was as if there was a separate person named Cassius.
So, did the Cassius people use their ancestor's name as a surname?
"And maybe this person is close to that guy Cassius."
Caius and Cassius. It's quite similar, isn't it?
Anyway, I needed to be acknowledged as Cassius's successor here, so I held my head high and answered Caius's question with a yes.
"Yes, I'm Cassius's successor."
Perhaps my assumption that there was a person named Cassius was correct, but Caius didn't seem to suspect what I said.
"Alright, is there any way to prove it?"
"This mark at the end of Caius's staff is the proof. Of course, only the successor can carry the family relic, right?"
Liena, standing nearby, let out a sigh of relief.
It seemed quite absurd to her to see me calling myself Cassius without even swallowing saliva.
"I'm Cassius, I'm Cassius."
I mentally hyped myself up and desperately explained to him how I had awakened Caius.
"Actually, I was kidnapped by that woman over there, but at the moment of crisis, I saw Caius's statue and realized that if I put this relic on the staff, something would happen…"
Blah, blah.
"Don't lie!"
Liena, who had heard, intervened.
"Do you hate Cassius so much that you left, but now you lie and say you're Cassius? Do you hate me that much?"
I whispered next to Caius.
"That's all a lie. Why would I hate my family, Cassius? I love Cassius very much."
Caius rubbed his chin and asked Liena, as if the current situation was interesting.
"That's right. Do you have anything else to say about it?"
"… I'm talking with my friend."
Liena couldn't hide her irritation and shifted her gaze from me to Caius.
"I don't know if he's the demon king or something, but if he serves the Evil God, shouldn't he cooperate with me?"
Caius didn't even blink at Liena's arrogant attitude.
"I decide that."
"Even if you're a demon, can you rebel against the evil apostle?"
"Then, do all of you humans blindly obey the Goddess Miella?"
"What?"
"I don't know, but even the demons and demon beasts fighting under her command have their own will. You judge and think for yourself."
Caius said this while tapping his temple with his index finger.
"Hey, Apostle of our God. The reason they obey you is because they've decided to, not because they're puppets with no particular ideas. Me too."
"…….."
"Don't you know this? Well, the gods haven't chosen the right people as apostles since ancient times. I don't know if they have their own standards."
Caius sighed softly as he looked at Liena, who remained silent as if hearing this for the first time.
Certainly, in the past few days, from my perspective, Liena didn't pay much attention to the monsters that turned into her limbs.
As evidence, Shadow's movement, which could be considered her right arm, became strangely slow, but Liena didn't notice this fact at all.
"You noticed my changes so quickly."
If Liena had paid at least half as much attention to Shadow as to me, there was a high chance that Terence wouldn't have won today.
In the end, it wasn't much different from before.
Liena has treated most of the people she brainwashed with her blessings as tools before.
After a moment, she frowned and broke the silence.
"Anyway, does this mean you're willing to help Ethel against me as much as possible, right?"
Caius slowly closed his eyes at that question.
"… About a thousand years ago, our demons worshiped the gods, but they were defeated by humans and disappeared into the alley of history. If you stop, you'll have served enough."
Then he strongly struck the stone floor with his staff.
"I will use the rest of my life and my strength for me and the descendants of my son Cassius."
It was a moment when the relationship between Caius and the Cassius family became clear.
"Among demons, they inherited the lineage of the king."
It wasn't in vain that Liena's blessing from the goddess didn't work well.
Liena seemed concerned for a moment.
She narrowed her eyes as if gauging Caius's power, but then she spoke up.
"Well, anyway, there's no reason for you to oppose me. Because I am a true Cassius."
"Mmmm, you?"
"Yes, I am Liena Cassius. And the person beside you is not Cassius."
I couldn't stay quiet either.
"No. I am Cassius."
If you looked closely, it was nothing more than a parody.
They previously belonged to Cassius, but now people who weren't Cassius claimed to be.
"Caius, who brought the family relic? I am the one who woke you up with that token."
When I told him the reason why it had to be Cassius, Liena also hurried forward, not to be outdone.
"I can also memorize Cassius's family tree. I learned it when I was young. Certainly, the name of the first head of the family was Longinus, the next head was Marcus, the next was Junius, and Bru-…"
To recall old memories, I recited Cassius's family tree on behalf of Liena, who was slow to speak.
"Brutus, Quintus, Servilius, Caepio, Julius, Antony, Lepidus…"
Then Liena's eyes widened like saucers.
It's a pity, but I enjoyed the scene where she memorized her family tree in the novel.
If I think of the original story, I can always remember her line by reciting the family tree with a clear voice, right?
"Now, calm down."
At that moment, Caius prevented us from competing against each other.
"I heard the claim that both of you are Cassius's descendants. But there's one strange thing."
The demon king smirked mischievously.
"I can't feel any demonic energy at all coming from both of you? No matter how dark the blood becomes, it's impossible not to feel it in a thousand years."
Liena and I were left speechless at the same time.
I never imagined that Caius would have such an ability.
"If that's the case, couldn't he have just said it from the beginning?"
I looked at the gigantic demon who was twice my size.
Most likely, he kept his mouth shut because we were amusing to him.
Perhaps because he was the ancestor of the Cassius family, he didn't seem to have a very good personality.
"And actually, since this is a story after I fell asleep, even if you tell me the family tree, I don't know much about it. But there's a good way."
"A good way?"
Caius responded to my question as if it were a simple matter.
"I will directly ask my descendants. If I sharpen my senses as much as possible, I can feel some energy."
"It must be very far away, can you feel it? Even if that were the case, how long would it take…?"
"What's the problem? I'll ask the head of the family now. Wait a moment."
As soon as he finished speaking, Caius's body was enveloped in black mist and soon disappeared.
Could this be teleportation magic…?
"Traveling that long distance without using a warp gate?"
No, before that, even the fact that living creatures could move using magic went against the magical common sense I knew.
But the opponent was the demon king.
Considering that magic was originally the exclusive property of demons and monsters but was learned by humans, it wasn't strange to assume that the magic used by demons, and even by their kings, was superior to human magic.
"The most important question is who is recognized as Cassius's descendant."
The head of Cassius is Duke Cassius.
When I thought of him, I started to worry without any reason.
Maybe he's still on Liena's side?
Although I felt sorry for myself, it seemed that he hadn't completely let go of his feelings for Liena.
It would have been a big problem if, driven by affection, he had revealed to Caius that Liena was his daughter.
Suddenly, a question came to mind.
"Does Caius know that the family representative is Duke Cassius? He doesn't even know the family tree, so how does he know who the representative is?"
For a moment, I thought that maybe my basic premise was wrong.
The representative Caius was talking about couldn't be the head of the family, but simply an expression referring to a descendant he could ask as a representative.
So who is the representative? Once again I thought about it, assuming I was Caius.
"Hmm, just an older person?"
It may be a preconceived idea, but somehow he seemed to be the wisest and most knowledgeable of all.
"Wait a moment, if he's the oldest member of the Cassius family…"
That's when Caius appeared.
"I'm sorry. It took longer than expected."
He began with an apology.
"When I presented myself in front of the representative, he suddenly called me a demon and made a scene, telling me to leave, and he even fainted, so I had a bit of a hard time."
Was that you, old Roland?
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