High-Sounding Excuses

“W-what mission?”

“Lord City Lord, what are you saying? I-I don’t really understand…”

“Lord City Lord, what are you planning to do?”

After Adrian appeared and spoke, even the slowest of the pregnant women present realized that the situation seemed a little abnormal.

Because just as he appeared, several fully armed religious knights also walked in from outside the room and slowly closed the great door.

Without a doubt, these were the knights Vivian had seen outside earlier, belonging to the Rhine Holy Church—and in the game, their unified name was… 【Gospel Paladins】.

“Oh, lost lambs.”

“The Lord requires nobility, the Lord requires sacrifice.”

“For the Lord, offer yourselves as a sacrifice.”

The knights of the Rhine Holy Church surrounded the pregnant women in the room, muttering words, while the women, now sensing something was wrong, huddled together, looking at Adrian with terror on their faces.

“Lord City Lord! What is going on!”

“Didn’t you say we were being evacuated? I never agreed to this!”

“L-let us leave!”

The panicked pregnant women raised their voices, glaring and demanding answers from Adrian, who stood right before them, still maintaining a smile.

“Don’t worry, don’t panic.”

The man still wore a sweet smile.

“The world to come will be increasingly chaotic and full of suffering. Rather than giving birth to your children only for them to suffer, it is better to entrust their lives to me, and thereby complete a great undertaking—of course, as a reward, you will receive a great blessing and permanent residence.”

Adrian spread his hands as if bestowing a charity upon the crowd.

The room fell instantly silent, and at the same time, Vivian couldn’t help but feel a wave of nausea.

“Are you saying… you’re going to take our children?”

A pregnant woman asked, her voice trembling.

Adrian nodded, as if it were the most normal thing in the world.

“Yes, but don’t worry. The whole process will be over quickly. You won’t feel much pain.”

“What do you plan to do with these unborn children?”

Vivian couldn’t help but ask, her voice laced with a hint of anger and trembling, making her look like a helpless woman.

Adrian’s gaze shifted to Vivian, seeming somewhat surprised by her courage.

“A very good question. You’re one of the few who dare to question me—since you’re already here, I might as well tell you the truth.”

With that, he walked to the center of the room, spread his arms, and his face gradually twisted into a fanatical expression.

“Ever since the Hero of Light, Lucia, was sacrificed due to the treacherous schemes of the despicable, filthy Demon Clan, the balance of this world has been broken! The forces of darkness are rising, and humanity’s future will only be bleak and without light!”

“And I, as a great magician, a responsible lord, a fortress city lord! I have a responsibility and an obligation to save my people, to save humanity! Therefore, I cooperated with the Rhine Holy Church and discovered a way to harness this power—by collecting the pure life force and souls from unborn infants, I can create a powerful magic, one that can even surpass Lucia and make me the new master of this world!”

So high-sounding.

So nauseating.

“…I see.”

Vivian finally understood why he had set up a magic circle at the gate for inspection, and why the mental state of so many soldiers was so strange.

As for those pregnant women who were “evacuated”?

They must have been used, one by one, in Adrian’s magic ritual after entering the castle, with their children as the main offerings.

A blessing and permanent residence?

Don’t dead people get to stay here forever?

“Alright, to make a sacrifice for a great cause, that is true devotion. I will forever remember your sacrifices,” Adrian said, then waved a hand at the other Gospel Paladins.

“Take them down and prepare them well.”

“Yes, sir.”

The Gospel Paladins closed in, placing shackles on each of the unarmed pregnant women.

“No! Please, merciful Lord City Lord… s-spare us!”

“Wuwuwu… No! Don’t touch me!”

The pregnant women cried and screamed, but facing the fully armed warriors before them, some nearly two meters tall, their strength was as feeble as that of chicks.

Of course, Vivian didn’t resist either, allowing herself to be shackled in a seemingly meek manner—after all, now was not the time to show her hand.

She still wanted to see what Adrian’s so-called magic was.

At the same time, she could feel that the thing she loathed was located deep beneath the castle.

“Hmm? There’s even an anti-magic formula. They’re quite cautious.”

And just as Vivian was feigning weakness and being shackled, she felt her mana being slightly suppressed.

However, this was generally used to restrict spellcasters.

It seemed this Adrian was quite cautious, guarding against potential mages.

But this level of suppression… compared to Lucia’s seal, it was like comparing a firefly to the moon.

For Vivian, she could snap it with a simple tug, but she chose to endure for now.

Soon, her group of pregnant women was escorted by other castle soldiers to the dungeon to await the start of the ritual—during this time, the other pregnant women seemed to have resigned themselves to their fate, sitting on the floor with mournful faces, waiting for their destiny to arrive.

Vivian sat in a corner, quietly watching the many women before her, while also formulating a plan in her mind.

She was certainly no saint, wanting to follow them in to foil their plot and save the others—in the current Vivian’s mind, she had only one thought: to survive and give birth to the child in her womb.

The reason she had agreed to come in was, firstly, to see what on earth was going on here, and secondly, to hopefully create some commotion to attract the attention of the front-line Heroes, so she would have an opportunity to escape.

As for the other mothers and their unborn children… they could only be considered unlucky.

She would save them if she could, but she, Vivian, couldn’t help too much.

After all, her identity was ultimately a Demon Lord, fundamentally at odds with humanity.

But besides that, she had a feeling… if she didn’t deal with this trouble now, it would cause endless headaches later.

But she really hadn’t expected this guy named Adrian to be so utterly deranged—though considering this was the world of the game 【Path of Blasphemy】, it was actually quite normal.

But the most crucial thing was, from this guy’s attitude, it seemed he knew what might happen in the future?

‘Interesting.’

Vivian thought silently, and waited quietly.

Waiting for the ritual to begin, waiting for night to fall, waiting for Adrian to appear once more.