Brain bloom

As for the leftover food, Mori wasn't sure what would happen to it, so she asked B, who was acting as her attendant.

"What will you do with the food I've eaten?"

"Please rest assured, we would never steal the food." B said with a regretful look, wiping the drool from the corner of his mouth, and continued, "But this is all of great significance. In fact, we have prepared a time magic circle and several national treasures to preserve your Holy Communion forever and pass it down through generations."

"……All right."

Mori decided to give up trying to understand these fanatics and focus on enjoying the rest of the meal.

Besides the common birds and poultry, there are also dishes such as "smoked pterosaur", "roasted phoenix feathers" and "salted moon raven breast meat". As you can tell from the names, many powerful and rare birds have suffered a terrible fate.

But whatever the reason, these things are so delicious, that's all that matters.

……

In the northernmost part of the Holy Coffin Kingdom lies an extremely treacherous canyon inhabited by monsters of such a bizarre size and strength that no one could possibly live within a radius of one hundred kilometers. Even with the power of the Holy Coffin Kingdom, they were unable to eradicate it completely.

That was the territory of a young azure dragon.

No one knows exactly what happened, but that extremely ferocious azure dragon, after being brainwashed by the Pope, directly began to worship the Coffin Bearers. Subsequently, with only the higher-ups aware of the situation, it followed them to the Holy Land, took on a high-ranking position in human form, and even became a knight commander.

This knight commander was arrogant and perfect, with countless achievements throughout his life, and he only obeyed the Pope and the Guardian of Chaos Blade.

But he always forgot that he also had to obey another person, the one who carried the coffin.

Only today, when he met the true God beneath the heavens, did he realize what he should do.

After the Strawberry Law was promulgated, he went to the Military Affairs Department immediately, which was responsible for unifying all the country's armed forces.

"Give me the list of all the knights in the country," he demanded of the frail official.

"...Your Excellency Knight Commander, do you know how long that is?"

“That’s right. Then give me the list of all the strong individuals. They must be people who have made a name for themselves and have proven achievements within the country.”

"That's fine. What do you need me to do?"

“Of course, it is to form a new knightly order—this is the power that the Pope promised me.” The knight commander’s majestic voice boomed like thunder from his chest. “Now, I will select all the strong who are qualified.”

To form a knightly order?

With the true god's manifestation, everyone was immersed in a dreamlike bliss, and the knight commander's current actions were incomprehensible to the officials. Shouldn't he be beneath the tower, protecting the true god's safety?

But he dared not disobey and had no choice but to comply immediately. With the nation's second-largest fighting force, it certainly had the authority to do so.

The knight commander nodded and summoned another officer.

"Immediately gather all the war resources the nation can currently utilize and report them to me. In particular, those renowned blades and armor. Also, prepare the finest mounts; I want to arm the Knights to the extreme."

"What exactly do you want to do?!"

“Something of utmost importance.” His voice was even lower, so much so that the cup on the table trembled.

It's one thing to carefully select the strongest, but why the massive mobilization of war resources? Could it be... that this suddenly established knightly order is to carry out some terrible mission for the true god?

Countless fantasies took flight in the officials' minds.

Assassinate a corrupt secular king? Replace an incompetent pope? Purge potential heretics across the land? Or... march on neighboring countries? Perhaps... even raise your sword against the legendary divine realm, shattering the false heavens!

The official was deeply moved and covered in sweat.

The knight commander summoned the third officer and solemnly said—

"You will be responsible for recording the name of the new knight order and all other details for me, compiling them into a top-secret document, and then reporting it to the Guardian of Chaos Blade... She will understand."

"Good, good."

He tightened his armor, making his robust physique appear even more confident. His hand rested naturally on his sword, a symbol of supreme honor.

"I've already decided on the name of the Knights... Yes, it will be called the 'Holy Strawberry Knights'."

"Wait—could it be... that you established this order of knights... for..."

"Yes, in order to strictly enforce the ironclad rules established by the true god, this new order of knights will liberate strawberries from every corner of the world that might otherwise be eaten."

To carry out the divine decree! What a lofty ideal and faith! The officials had no further words, and with their ideals in their hearts, they worked diligently to establish the Knights Order.

The knight commander gazed out the window, his seemingly wooden face concealing a steely resolve, and in his eyes, it seemed as if a strawberry flag was fluttering in the wind.

He murmured, "It's time to change humanity's bad habits."

……

The fanaticism of the coffin bearers has spread to every corner of the world.

Silvermoon City is no exception.

The calamity of not long ago still left many traces, and this once prosperous, permanently neutral city has begun its decline. But a strange fervor is washing away this negative atmosphere. Believers and non-believers alike were stunned by the news of the coffin bearers' appearance.

All of this was witnessed by the ancient Demon King.

It has interacted with humans for over ten thousand years, from the birth of the first humans to the present day, and it has witnessed the same things many times. Each time, it wanted to mock humanity's foolishness—

"Hey, are you the coffin bearers...?"

This time, however, the more people praised the person who carried the coffin, the happier it became, since its daughter's rescue was thanks to her.

Driven by the fear that resides in everyone's heart, it arrived in Silvermoon City. It hadn't taken the wrong path while trying to see Sen; rather, it had come to visit an old acquaintance who lived in seclusion there. It could smell the devil's presence, so it followed the narrow commercial street to its deepest recesses, to a shop that seemed completely isolated from the world.

Astrology and antiques—that's what the shop is all about.

The hand of the ancient demon king, hidden deep within the shadows, knocked on the door.

A moment later, the door opened, and a shy young man asked, "Welcome. Would you like to have your astrology done, or would you like to look at some antiques?"

The ancient demon king replied with a smile, "Yingyou, is that you? I know you."

"Uh……"

It then said kindly, "Don't even think about doing astrology for me, and don't try to use the power you inherited from your mother to explore me, otherwise, you will die even if you only learn a little bit of information."

"……die?"

"—It's right, go back, Yingyou, this isn't a guest." It was a woman's voice, filled with weariness and disgust.

The ancient demon king's smile vanished; the demonic scent was approaching, and it hadn't gone to the wrong place.

Although not recognized as a guest, the shadow of the ancient demon king had already penetrated deep into the store.

Beneath a patch of simulated starlight, it spotted the person it wished to visit. Beneath the astrologer's extraordinary robes, an elegant female devil stared at it. This devil was of ordinary appearance, with some wrinkles.

"...I know what you've come to see me for."

"The astrologer who extinguishes the sunlight, it's been a long time."

Sensing the tense atmosphere, Yingyou shrank back: "Mom...I, I'll go back right away—"

But the devil stopped his child: "This one before me was once called the ancient king of devils, the stinky owl who banished me from my homeland. Remember his face, our enemy."

Yingyou was stunned, but couldn't utter a word. She could only quietly observe the Ancient Demon King, wondering why it wasn't owl-shaped...

The ancient king of demons loudly defended himself: "You did make a mistake, and I did not do anything wrong by banishing you."

"Is pursuing love considered making a mistake?"

"...Alright, let's not talk about that. I banished you so that you could enjoy love, and I didn't strip you of your divinity and ancient demon identity, which is already my mercy towards you."

"Humph."

"...What? You don't think so?"

"No, I know. But I'm really unhappy that you banished me." The astrologer was sulking like a little girl.

"Then let me ask you directly—can the true god who controls destiny, the only remaining ancient demon in the world, the astrologer who extinguishes the sunlight, Ray Noel, return to the realm of demons?"

"Go back for what?"

The ancient demon king hid his embarrassed expression in the shadows and answered helplessly—

"Actually, in a moment of excitement, I passed on all my power and wealth to my daughter. But I didn't die, and my daughter has entered hibernation again, I don't know when she'll wake up... Um, I can't take back the power, and now there's no one in charge... The Demon Realm is in a bit of chaos... Hey, can you come back and help me?"

Volume 1, Chapter 379: The Essence of Evil

For the ancient Demon King, coming to bring back his old friend was a rare act of submission in his life. But there was no other way; the Demon Realm truly needed a demon with genuine divine status and pure blood to rule it.

It had originally planned that after being killed by Mori, and freed from the curse, Yu would be able to smoothly take over...

As expected, the words of the ancient demon king elicited a burst of laughter.

"Hahahaha, you came to beg me for this?"

“It’s not a request…no, it’s not a request.” The ancient demon king quickly corrected the other party’s misunderstanding. “It’s a suggestion, or rather, an invitation. There was no request.”

"No? Hey, then I'm not going back." She stopped smiling and crossed her arms.

The ancient demon king asked kindly, "...Then, if I'm asking you for a favor, may I go back?"

"I need to think about it."

"Okay, that makes sense."

At this moment, because the conversation was so high-level, Yingyou, who had been silent all along, tugged at her mother's clothes, her eyes full of surprise and doubt, as if asking her mother how many secrets she hadn't told her. Normally, Yingyou only knew that her mother had been banished to Silvermoon City by the Demon Realm, and knew nothing else.

“Little one, come here, let me explain.”

The Ancient Demon King pulled Yingyou over, speaking in a kind tone. Even though this little guy was a half-demon, the Ancient Demon King treated him the same, simply because he wanted to win the child's favor, which would surely help his mother agree.

"This has to start from the beginning. The realm of demons is actually a very beautiful place."

"...Is that so?"

"Absolutely beautiful, magnificent, with countless breathtaking views, and incredibly exciting. It's a place every man should conquer, full of challenges and opportunities..."

“Silly boy, don’t listen to that owl. What it means is that there is danger everywhere in the Demon Realm.”

So, Yingyou politely brushed aside the ancient demon king's little black hand, bowed, and quickly ran back to her mother's side.

"Little one, come here. Don't you want to hear about your mother's background? She's very capable."

"……think."

"I won't hurt you, come on."

That definitely needs to be explained from the beginning.

In a distant era, in order to explore where he came from, the ancient devil king used himself as material to create an extremely ancient being, now known as the "ancient devil," which is the original prototype of the "devil" that everyone knows today.