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“Now, it’s been a day since those two left, but…”

Presently, a day had passed since Kanata and Sakura set out from the castle, and both Loukis and Dace were in the throne room.
Next to the throne, a large spear had been placed.

“Oh-ho, how is their current situation?” Dace asked.
“Hrm, turns out Kanata is quite sharp, after all.” Loukis replied.
“What do you mean, my boy?”
“…He discovered the monitoring devices I planted.”
“Really… ho-ho-ho.”

Loukis showed a grin. Even though their surveillance measures had been discovered, the two of them looked somewhat pleased.

Loukis had planted listening and monitoring enchantments on the armor that the kids normally wore.
It was to observe their movements. However, Kanata had discovered them, so he left the armor in their apartment, whenever they were out and about. It was not clear to them, how he had managed to discover them¹.

“Indeed, that’s good! Marvelous! The wiser and stronger the Sage is, the better! It’s also wonderful that he has something he wants to protect at all costs…!” Loukis raved. “He is ideal. The ideal subject, from our perspective!”
“Oh-ho, he certainly is! Still…” Dace showed a wolfish grin, just as Loukis had done before, though she immediately turned serious again. “It’ll be impossible to pit him against the Mephilad Kingdom.”

“Probably… Even if we were to put something into his head, Kanata will likely notice what we’re doing. This probably also played into his decision to train outside the castle by himself,” the king pondered. “I almost started jumping in joy, back when he told us to increase their time for studying², but… Well, it shouldn’t be a huge issue. Since Kanata for some reason seems hell-bent on protecting Sakura.”

Loukis repeatedly crossed and uncrossed his arms. He looked like a little kid, unable to wait for something.

“Say, Dace. Just to verify this once more. If you were in Kanata’s place… what would you do, if you saw Sakura, your childhood friend and the person you love, either be killed… or ceaselessly tormented by men?”

The grin from earlier was still on Loukis’ face. What he described was frightening, but from their perspective, doing such horrible things to the girl was merely part of the plan. Words like “mercy” didn’t exist in their minds.

“How indeed! Still… At first, he’d likely get enraged,” Dace guessed. “And then he’d try to save her.”
“Right! He absolutely would! Even if he knows that it’s a trap, he’ll absolutely try to save her! And if it happens right after he healed Sakura’s eyes with the potion, he bought from me… even more so!”

Loukis, in his mounting excitement, stood up and balled his fist with such force that his nails bit into the flesh. Blood trickled down from it. Once he noticed it, he quickly licked the blood off his hand and slowly sat back down on the throne.

“Oh, Kanata, won’t you quickly buy my potion and heal Sakura’s eyes? Sight changes how you sense things. With vision, you experience dread much more acutely…!! What will happen, if a girl at that age sees that much fear…?”
“She’ll start bawling…” Dace commented, thinking that it might stir up Loukis’ excitement even more.
“She likely will! And if Kanata sees her is such a state…?”
“He’ll get angry and will try to save her.”

Loukis grinned once more.

“And… the greater Sakura’s screams and dread becomes…!” he started.
“The more Kanata’s anger will rise,” Dace finished.

In his excited state, Louki’s voice had already gotten loud enough, to be heard outside the castle. However, this wasn’t something he had to worry about, due to the throne room currently being bestowed with a soundproofing effect.

“And the more Kanata’s anger grows…!!”

Loukis vigorously turned towards the spear… the one they called Gungnir. It was as if he was talking to it…
…Which was actually the case, as said spear gave a reply to Loukis’ words.

“The easier it will be for ME³ to possess him… that’s what you think!? You do have a nasty streak, don’t you, Your Majesty?”

The voice from the spear had a somewhat unsettling quality to it. As if it was coming from the depths of the earth. If normal people were to hear it, it’d no doubt feel creepy and uncanny to them, but the two people present had no such issue.

“That’s right, just like that, Black God⁴!” the King exclaimed. “The day you shall be freed from this cramped spear is drawing near.”
“Gah-ha-ha! I see, good to hear that…”

“Ho-ho-ho! Lord Surtr⁵… What will you do first, once you are freed?”

The Black God… Or rather, the being called Surtr, who was sealed in the spear, paused for a moment before answering Dace’s question.

“I will fight someone strong… a thrilling fight that gets the blood pumping… so much that the excitement burns out MY body! Indeed, I can’t help aching, and aching for the body I am missing…”
“…I see, this country has two strong people,” Loukis replied. “You are free to fight them… However, you need to keep your word, alright, Black God?”
“Isn’t that obvious~~~! As long as I keep my word, I shall get to fight someone strong, don’t I!?”

After that, loud laughter from two people and one spear echoed through the throne room. Even so, none of it leaked outside of it.

TL notes:
Well, there goes any uncertainty whether Dace is fully in on the plan. It goes to show, when the one who appears the least vicious among them is the evil god they’re trying to free. So, the plan seems to involve Surtr taking over Kanata, like Samaeyl did with the Mephilad princesses/queens, and then have him attack Mephilad (after sacrificing Yggdrasil’s SSS-Rankers for the sake of giving Surtr a good time).

1. He probably just assumed that Loukis would bug the stuff he gave them.
2. So, this was more intended as “indoctrination” and less as “studying”?
3. Surtr uses 俺様 (“most esteemed me”), a very pompous way for men to refer to themselves. I’m localizing it in a manner that he strongly emphasizes it, whenever he refers to himself.
4. The original sometimes uses 魔神 (“evil god”) and sometimes 黒魔神 (“black evil god”). I’ll be using “black god” for Surtr unless it is specifically supposed to be in the meaning “evil god”.
5. The original is スルトル (surutoru). In norse mythology, Surtr is the greatest of the fire giants, who serves as the guardian of Muspelheim. Surtr is foretold as being a major figure during the events of Ragnarök.