The Strongest Brother Lost His Memory-Chapter 18Vol 2.

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A hotel room at Bellotsa Harbor.

“Yes, Father.”

Yuta sat at a desk, communicating through a tabletop mirror with High Priest Aietar.

“Yes, well... it really was a coincidence.”

In the mirror, Aietar looked like a man in his fifties, aged visibly over the past nine years.

It was a stark contrast to how he had maintained the appearance of a handsome man in his early forties all this time.

“I followed them, thinking I’d dig up some dirt on Julian Noart... but that nouveau riche idiot was just being his usual idiot self, and the real one was Duke Zahid Dyfenril.”

While Aietar remained silent, Yuta continued speaking softly and evenly.

“Good thing I followed along and saved those people. Otherwise, Julian Noart’s reputation would’ve gotten a pointless boost.”

Aietar’s expression in the mirror was consistently displeased.

Yuta smiled gently, soothingly.

“These days, public suspicion toward the Temple is growing... so a bit of this kind of public display of good deeds seems necessary.”

Over the past nine years, the Temple had gradually weakened.

Their power was still vast, enough to shake the Empire, but ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) there were definitely cracks forming.

Yuta, Julian, Caliban, and even the Emperor had done everything they could. Julian especially had made a lot of surprisingly accurate guesses, to the point where even Yuta thought, “Is that bastard a genius?”

Now Zahid and Ray had also grown up, each playing their part properly.

— ...Yuta.

Aietar, who had just been scowling, finally opened his mouth slowly.

— That’s not your real job, is it?

“...Pardon?”

— Don’t tell me you’re getting carried away with this little game of pretending to be some living angel, showing off your face everywhere?

“Of course not, Father.”

Yuta widened his eyes and shook his head.

“I know full well what my real role is. That’s why I even went to the Kingdom of Itaa last time, didn’t I?”

— ...

“Even though it failed, I really did feel that girl’s presence there, Father. That’s why I risked my life to go, even though it’s a war-torn land. As you know, the borderlands of the Kingdom of Itaa are rich in Rom ore, so divine power doesn’t work well there...”

Aietar was still searching for Rosie. If he couldn’t kill her and take her divine power, he’d eventually age like an ordinary human.

So Yuta was doing his best to pretend to search, scattering Aietar’s attention.

— I told you from the start, there was no need to go there.

“But I’m the one doing the tracking... When I suddenly felt her presence, I risked everything and went, Father... Please believe me.”

Aietar’s red eyes bore into Yuta.

Even though it was just through a mirror, the vivid rage radiated straight through.

And Yuta, as if he couldn’t bear that atmosphere, lowered his lashes with the saddest face in the world.

— Yuta, let me tell you an old story. A very, very old story.

Aietar stared at Yuta through the mirror and spoke slowly.

— The tracker before you, Seina, brought me the true successor. And I gave Seina every wealth and honor.

Yuta kept a serious face, pretending to listen intently.

— But at some point, Seina began to resent aging. And when the next successor was born, she took the child’s divine power and killed her.

“Ah, how foolish.”

— Yes. Foolish indeed.

Aietar spoke with emphasis.

— Did she think stealing the successor’s divine power would stop her aging? On the contrary, the clash of the two divine powers made her slowly die.

Divine power, when willingly bestowed by a priest, held immense healing strength.

But if one forcibly stole another’s divine power, the fundamental incompatibility meant death was only a matter of time.

Worse, divine power had the tendency to return to its rightful owner. If you didn’t kill the source, the stolen power wouldn’t stay in your body forever.

Yuta, who had once tried to steal Rosie’s divine power, turned slightly pale.

Failing to notice that subtle change, Aietar murmured, caught up in his own power.

— Only I, as High Priest, can do it. Of all the High Priests in history, only I can.

“....”

— I killed Seina, who was groaning in pain. A child who forgets their role is unnecessary.

“....”

— And then you were born. It’s been over thirty years now.

“Ah, ha ha... Yes, I’m already over thirty... When did that happen...”

Yuta ignored the cold sweat trickling down his back and forced a smile.

— My beloved son, Yuta.

“I’m truly honored, Father.”

— Maybe you’re enjoying the praise of being a high-ranking priest above dukes, but that’s not your role.

It was a warning about Yuta’s rising popularity among the public.

“...I’ll keep that in mind.”

Yuta swallowed dryly and nodded.

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

The truth was, his act of seeming drunk on fame was entirely deliberate. If he claimed to be doing his best but still couldn’t find Rosie, he’d be more likely to be suspected.

Aietar was always suspicious, never revealing everything to any one person.

Even though he kept Yuta close, calling him his most cherished son, there was still much Yuta didn’t know about him.

“Anyway, about Karso... it’s truly unfortunate, Father. I didn’t even know something like that existed. Sir Payton was the one who told me.”

Yuta rolled his eyes, changing the subject.

“I’ve secured Zahid Dyfenril and the Divine Beast for now. I’ll interrogate him myself at the Temple.”

— He probably won’t be held long. He’s the head of House Dyfenril, and that makes things tricky for us too. The Emperor will surely find some way to get him out. Until then, keep him locked up as long as you can and get whatever information you can.

“Information...?”

— That bastard already knew about Karso. There’s a traitor inside the Temple. Find out who betrayed us.

“Understood. I taught the Duke at the Academy. I know his weaknesses better than anyone. Leave it to me, I won’t disappoint you.”

Without answering, Aietar disappeared from the mirror with a sharp pop.

Only then did Yuta let out a long sigh and flipped the mirror face down on the desk. He turned around and shrugged.

“You heard that, right? I’ve got some tough interrogations ahead... but please don’t mention my name as the Temple’s informant.”

As Yuta finished in his usual slow, playful tone, the wardrobe door burst open.

Zahid and Fire, who had been crammed inside, stepped out like it was nothing.

Yuta rolled his eyes and added slowly,

“Technically, the first tip-off came from Julian...”

Because Yuta had been busy outside, he hadn’t known about Karso’s existence until now, which helped him avoid Aietar’s suspicion.

Julian had discovered information about Karso, though Yuta didn’t know how.

Afterward, Yuta had secretly gathered information through Temple agents to support them.

“Hm... I’m thinking about a month, Duke. Just stay locked up in the Temple prison for that long.”

Yuta flipped through a calendar as he spoke.

“Let’s see how many days we can stretch out of it.”

In fact, Zahid’s arrest was also part of the Entoho operation.

They theorized that the place Julian had lost his memories, Arhard, and the ancient map left by the Duke of Dyfenril, might hold a way to bring down the High Priest.

But they didn’t have enough intel, so they’d decided to infiltrate the Temple directly.

“When Aietar’s not around, I’ll find a way to gather all the priests. You can act then.”

Yuta showed Zahid a map of the Temple interior as he spoke.

“One month...”

Zahid frowned as he took the map, clearly not thrilled.

“What? One month feels long now that you’re about to be locked up? Didn’t you first say a year was fine? Have you lost your resolve already? Rosie was locked up in the Magic Tower for nine years, you know? Though, yeah, the conditions were way different.”

“...It’s not that...”

Zahid muttered in a hoarse voice.

“It’s just that Rosie’s out now...”

His left hand still had two rings on it. He wore them to avoid suspicion about his contact with Rosie.

They had agreed he would wear them properly after he got out—but now, even a month felt too long.

Yuta tilted his head and asked,

“You waited nine years. You can’t handle a month?”

“I’m just worried someone else might hit on her.”

At that ridiculously earnest answer, Yuta couldn’t help but laugh.

He hadn’t shown the slightest fear when risking his life to infiltrate the Entoho, but now he was this uneasy about a month apart from Rosie?

“That’ll never happen. I’ll tell Julian to stick by her side.”

At that, Zahid’s face seemed to relax slightly.

Not liking that one bit, Yuta added,

“I should tell him to stay by her even after the month’s over.”

No matter how much Yuta glared, Zahid relaxed into a chair, waving his pipe lazily.

“Hm, the Noart Count Family and I go way back, so I don’t think Rosie will avoid seeing me.”

“There’s still a way. If Julian regains his memories.”

Yuta muttered with a determined look.

“Then he’ll lose all his conscience, morals, and decency—and he’ll give you one hell of a stab in the back.”

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