11: SEAL
The Evil God Statue carried a pile of the large golden coins tightly with her left arm against her, and continued to walk towards the magical circle of sealing, all the while picking up more of the large golden coins.
The five of us were waiting at separate positions in order to surround the Evil God Statue as soon as it entered the magical circle.
I myself was in the Anryl Armour Mark II, further off in the direction that the Evil God Statue was headed. I lowered my head as I hid in the shadows of a house on the right side.
…Five coins left.
Just on the other side of the magic circle, I could see that Tena was riding the Anryl Armour Mark I and waiting just like me. As I was not looking at her in the flesh, I could not make out her facial expressions, but I am sure she was holding her breath with nervousness.
…Four coins left.
From the left side of where I was looking, Leonora held her holy sword while she stayed hidden. Now that I think of it, there was an irony that Leonora, who was the Demon Lord’s daughter and future Demon Lord, was using such a holy weapon that was originally supposed to be used against Demon Lords.
…Three coins left.
Far to the left, Pope was standing with the holy lance in hand. Wait, why is she standing so confidently!? You have to hide.
I hurriedly gave the signal to hide with my hands, and she reluctantly did so.
…Two coins left.
To my right, past the direction that the Evil God Statue was headed, was Orlaine, who had perhaps the most important task for this operation. She carried her holy bow with her as she hid under cover.
She was the only one within our group who could use light magic, and it was also she who had been given seal magic from Sofia. So of course, she would be responsible for operating the sealing magic.
…One coin left.
The Evil God Statue had now collected all of the extra large golden coins that had been set around the outer rim of the magical circle, and now she began to climb back to the pedestal she had been standing on. The last remaining coin was of course, in the center of the magical circle.
I was worried that she would recognize it as a trap as soon as she saw the magical circle, but perhaps because her vision was blurred by the gold coins, or she plainly did not under understand what it was, the Evil God Statue did not show any signs of being cautious. She continued on to the last large golden coin.
As soon as the Evil God Statue picked up the last golden coin, we would be able to surround her, Orlaine would activate the sealing magic and this whole thing would be settled. However, the timing was very important for this.
If we jump out too early, the Evil God Statue would notice the change before she reached the center of the magical circle, and there was a risk that she would run away. But if our timing was too slow, there was a risk that she would step out of the magic circle before the sealing magic could activate.
It was decided that I would be responsible for determining this incredibly important timing. I raised the right arm of the Anryl Armour and waited for that moment.
The Evil God Statue was walking towards the center of the magical circle… Still too early.
The Evil God Statue looked at me without moving for a short moment, eventually, it raised its right hand.
"…"
Leonora and the others had stopped talking, they held their breaths and watched as I negotiated with the Evil God Statue.
“You will not hurt anyone other than in self-defense.”
The Evil God Statue raised its hand without hesitation. It seemed that it was an easily accepted condition.
"You will stay in a designated area, you will not leave it without permission."
This time it did not react quickly, but after a while, it slowly raised its hand. The reaction made it obvious that it had reluctantly accepted this condition; it may be necessary to follow up on this later.
"You will obey me when I give an order."
The hand immediately went up. The third condition was accepted without issues.
"Lastly, you will be careful to not allow others to look under your skirt."
The hand remained down. But it did not seem as if it was unacceptable, but that its meaning was unclear. Her head tilted to the side.
"Hide it."
I said as I held down the skirt of my own dress. Finally, it understood my meaning and the right hand came up.
Thankfully, this could now wrap up in a peaceful manner.
I let out a sigh of relief as if being freed of a heavy burden.
And right then something started to poke my shoulder.
I turned around to see what it was.
And there behind me was…Leonora and Orlaine, standing with the biggest smiles on their faces. But what was scary was that their eyes were not smiling at all. And maybe it was just me, but it seemed like veins were popping out on their foreheads.
And then, still smiling, the two let out a single word.
"'Seiza.'"