<h4>Chapter 336: From End-Of-War To Consequences</h4>


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    <strong>Proofreader: Xemul</strong>


    Soon after Dauna neutralized Rage with his authority, the Kingdom army was forced to retreat before the attacks of the Empire army.


    The Kingdom army, which had originally been outmatched by the Empire army in terms of the quality of its troops but had been able topensate with the power of Rage, naturally was unable to defend itself against the Empire with her gone.


    The Empire army, which had almost unterallyunched an offensive this time, was not about to let them get away, and was attacking into the Kingdom’s territory to pursue them, but the adventurers were not taking part in this battle.


    They were participating only under the pretext of supporting the Empire forces, who had been under attacks. When the Empire force took on the offensive role, their cooperation was deemed to be over, and the adventurers began to return to the towns and viges they were based in.


    In the midst of all this, Loren and his group still stayed in the town where the Empire’s army was based, with the main reason being, to hear Yuri’s stories about Loren.


    Although Loren himself did not seem to care much about it, Lapis was interested, and since Yuri himself did not say that he would not talk about it, she was nning to ask him when the war was over.


    However, this had proved to be unsessful.


    “General Yuri is inmand of the pursuit of the Kingdom army and is currently apanying the troops on the front line.”


    When the soldier in charge of guarding the base informed Loren and the others of this, Lapis looked as if she wanted to say ‘Darn it!’, but it was already toote.


    If they wanted to try to force Yuri to talk, they would have to follow him to the front line, and if they did that, they would be drawn into the war between the Empire and the Kingdom, whether they wanted to or not.


    “I’m sure he’ll get in touch with you sooner orter if he feels like talking. It’s just how the Commander is.”


    “Is this alright with you, Loren?”


    Loren thought for a moment and then asked Lapis in a slightly hesitant tone.


    “Suppose I were someone else that I don’t even know. Would that change the way you treat me?”


    “That’s an unexpected question.”


    Lapis, who looked genuinely surprised, nevertheless immediately answered Loren’s question.


    “It’ll be a different story if you are a mortal enemy of my family or something, but fortunately both my parents are alive and well, so that can’t be it. And, Loren is just Loren, aren’t you?”


    “Then that’s good, isn’t it?”


    “It is. Yes, it’s all very good.”


    Lapis seemedpletely pleased with Loren’s question and her own response, so that discussion ended there.


    However, there remained one more problem: Rage, who Dauna had neutralized on the battlefield.


    The authority activated by Dauna hadpletely enclosed a corner of the battlefield in ice, and all of the Kingdom soldiers that were caught up in the ice had died. Loren thought that if they could be revived from that state, they could no longer be called human, but Rage was an exception.


    As expected of an Evil God, the ice encasing Rage melted as soon as Dauna’s authority expired and ambient temperature returned to normal, and although she was unconscious, she was still alive. Not knowing what would happen after she woke up, if they just left her there, Loren’s team brought her back together with Dauna, who had fallen asleep.


    As for the damage to the soldiers that Dauna’s authority had caused, the Empire soldiers who had seen Loren’s group fleeing were mostly spared; only a few who were unlucky and unobservant werete in escaping. However, a good number of Kingdom soldiers were caught up because they were standing on the spot, and they remained standing there as cold, white ice sculptures even after Dauna’s authority had lifted.


    “Damn it… I’ve lost… Let me go…”


    After regaining consciousness, Rage was in a state of utter despondency that was unimaginable from what they had seen on the battlefield.


    No one knew when she would use her power and unleash fires again, so she was imprisoned in a military facility on the outskirts of town.


    Tied with a thin metal cable to prevent her from immediately burning it off, she sat cross-legged in the center of the prison cell, her face sullen. For some reason, it was left up to Loren’s team to decide what to do with her.


    ‘General Yuri’s decision’ were the words of the soldiers, but Loren couldn’t shake the worrying question of ‘why him?’.


    “Is this going to be alright?”


    Loren, who had been led into the prison to see Rage, watched her through the bars and asked. Lapis tilted her head while Luxuria shrugged.


    “Dauna’s ‘blessing’ is very very bad, you know.”


    It was G who said this as she looked into the prison cell. And for some reason, us was standing nearby.


    As they were already present here, Loren and his team could not stop us froming to check on Rage. Of course, they would not tell us about Evil Gods, so they exined the authority of Evil Gods as a blessing, simr to what us himself possessed.


    Loren thought it was a bit of a stretch, but so far us seemed to be convinced without any particr doubts.


    “Simply put, the blessing is to demotivate all beings within the area of effect. When something is demotivated, it tries to stay where it is. And when everything stops, that’s what happens.”


    “So, you yourself are unscathed because of your abundant tolerance. That’s scary.”


    Dauna, the one who had caused such a phenomenon, demanded a ce to sleep after, as if he had done a lifetime’s worth of work, and now upied a room at the inn where Loren and the others were staying and continued to sleep.


    Loren thought it might be a bacsh from using his authority, but G told him that Dauna’s power as an Evil God had weakened somewhat because he had worked despite being Sloth, who should not work at all, so he now had toze around to regain his power.


    “You mean she is still under the influence of Dauna’s blessing?”


    “Yes. It’s going to be like this for a while.”


    Loren thought that if the authority Dauna had disyed were to be used too often, it would be horrible, particrly because it was almost impossible to defend against it. Even if you tried to defend with magic, it seemed that magic itself would lose its own motivation and be ineffective.


    If there was any saving grace, it was that Dauna himself was the embodiment ofziness, and almost never made a move on his own.


    “Goddamn you… Remember what you did to me…”


    “She is indeed Rage, still cursing this much despite being under Dauna’s influence.”


    Loren wondered what to do with Rage, who was still continually swearing despite beingpletely listless.


    The easiest and safest way would be to dispose of her right here and now.


    Normally, they would have had to prepare for a lot of resistance, but now that she had lost her willpower, he felt that they could do it without too much trouble.


    ‘But’, Loren turned his attention to G.


    Loren expected that G, an Evil God, would not feel very good about disposing of Rage, who was also an Evil God. He could sense that G, who was peering into the prison cell, was asking him to somehow spare her life.


    He considered passing Rage over to G, but then he wondered if it would be a good idea, since she would be too much for G’s group to handle once she regained herself.


    “Hey, us, you did hit on her once, right?”


    “It’s a man’s duty to hit on a pretty woman.”


    As us answered Loren’s question clearly and decisively, Lapis and G red at him with disgusted eyes while Luxuria looked at him admiringly.


    “This child sure has got a lot to offer, doesn’t he?”


    “It makes me shudder just to think that he’s in the same league as Luxuria. “


    “I wonder if it would be possible to seal them together somewhere.”


    While each of them proimed their different sentiments, Loren pondered for a moment, then made a suggestion to us.


    “Well then, why don’t you take her to your ce and take care of her?”


    Lapis’ and G’s eyes widened as if saying ‘What are you talking about’.


    Luxuria, however, pped his hands as if saying ‘Good idea’, and us, who was the one who had been told to do so, replied instantly with fiery enthusiasm in his eyes.


    “I-Is it really alright?!”


    “No, wait a minute, Loren. This is the man who was almost killed because he tried to seduce Rage.”


    Talking rapidly, Lapis tried to stop them in a panic, but Loren responded by pointing to Rage in the prison cell.


    “That’s true, but she almost fell for us, didn’t she? So, if he talks to her properly, it might work out better than you think.”


    “B-but…”


    “I don’t want to take care of her, and with how things are, we can’t dispose of her in good conscience, can we? So, I think it would be best to let someone who had the best chance to seed to persuade her and take care of her.”


    us already had the skills to turn the girls in his party into hispanions, even though they might say otherwise. Loren’s argument was that, even if a fourth person were added to the group, he would somehow manage to make it work.


    The underlying reason, however, was the idea that handling it by themselves would be too much trouble and should be left to us, who seemed to be good with women. But Loren never mentioned this.


    “Ange and the others will resent you for this.”


    Lapis, perhaps reading his thoughts, leaned in close and quietly whispered to Loren, who also answered in a whisper.


    It was not as if there was no merit; if us could sessfully persuade Rage, his party could expect a huge boost in strength. And even if there was no merit to it, Loren believed that us would not refuse if he was asked to take care of a pretty girl like Rage.


    “She’s going to be like this for a while. Convince her before things get out of hand.”


    “Leave it to me. There may have been some unfortunate misunderstandings, but I’m sure that if we talk courteously, she will understand.”


    As us answered with a needlessly sparkling smile, Loren looked relieved to hear the trouble had been taken care of.


    He patted Lapis, who still wondered if it was really okay, on the shoulder and looked at G, who nodded, albeit slightly.


    “Hey, Rage. I’ll leave it up to you whether or not you want to ept his offer. If you don’t like it, you can ask G for help. You can contact her, can’t you?”


    “Don’t tell me what to do…”


    “I’m not telling you what to do. It’s just a favour. In any case, you lost to us once, so be a little more amodating, okay?”


    Thinking that she would be stubborn if he forced it on her, Loren used the word ‘favour’ instead.


    Hearing that, she stared at him through the prison bars.


    “…I understand.”


    After a few moments, Rage nodded reluctantly despite being seemingly out of it.


    Although he did not know how effective the verbal agreement, they had made on this asion would be, Loren thought from Rage’s behaviour that she would not revoke it.


    “We’re done with the clean-up here. Let’s go back to Kapha. We should do some work and make some money.”


    Seeing that their job here had ended, Loren tried to sound cheerful, but Lapis whispered.


    “That’s true. And your debt is not decreasing. How about just give up and marry me?”


    Reminded once again of the huge debt he owed, Loren’s expression turned gloomy, and he lightly poked Lapis on the head with a wry smile.


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