"Have you ever showered in two billion tons of holy water?"
Flinch! The hell's knight Sir Giolexius shuddered at Lloyd's casual mentioning of "two billion liters of holy water," while Javier frowned his picturesquely beautiful eyebrows instead
"Holy water?" Javier asked.
"Do you not know what it is?"
"I do, obviously."
"Of course."
"Yeah," Javier nodded, proceeding to explain the obvious. "I heard it's a sacred liquid produced through desperate prayers of high-ranking priests, and that it's extremely effective on the likes of apparitions, evil spirits, demons, and other undeads."
"You're right. It's indeed extremely effective."
Lloyd nodded. As a matter of fact, the holy water could permanently destroy ordinary ghouls and zombies with a single drop or two, and even weaken a powerful demon to the level of a common human by splashing the liquid.
"The hell's knight would also sustain huge damage from the holy water. I suspect he wouldn't be able to put up a decent fight for a while."
"Probably. A regular swordmaster should be able to give him a challenge."
"That's where I'm going with this."
Lloyd chuckled satisfactorily, but Javier wasn't too convinced.
"But that scenario sounds way too implausible. It's unrealistic."
"Unrealistic?"
"Yeah."
"Do you think it's farfetched?"
"A little bit."
"Why?"
"Because you said two billion liters."
"I certainly did."
"That's exactly why," said Javier, frowning his gorgeous eyebrows again to elaborate with a sharp tongue. "Is it even possible to gather that much holy water? As far as I know, it takes an extremely devoted high-ranking priest's continuous effort, involving non-stop fasting and prayer, for 100 days to fill a small ink bottle with the holy water."
"That's true. You're absolutely correct."
"Two billion liters is just outrageous."
"But it isn't."
"How so?"
"Because I'm going to get my hands on the holy water extract, not the finished product itself," Lloyd's smile became more prominent as he continued explaining to Javier. "Raphael, the angel of thrones."
"...Ah," paused Javier, causing Lloyd's smile to get even greater.
"Do you finally get it?"
"Are you planning to obtain the angel's tears?"
"Obviously," Lloyd nodded confidently, as that was certainly possible and would give him a fine advantage. "You know what the angel's tears are capable of, correct?"
"Yes. I had heard about it from a passing pilgrim that happened to stop by the village I grew up in, when I was little."
"That's when you heard it?"
"Yes. I heard the angel's tears are key ingredients in producing the holy water."
"Precisely. One drop of angel's tear is enough to fill a good number of bottles."
"But two billion liters is still too... farfetched."
"How?"
"Because one drop of angel's tear is enough to make about one liter of holy water, from what I had heard when I was a child. Am I mistaken?”
Javier tilted his head in confusion. Lloyd's claim to produce two billion liters of holy water, and the confidence with which the estate developer made such statements, made absolutely no sense to the grandmaster.
"You learned it right. To get into more details, one milliliter of angel's teardrop mixed with one liter of pure water equals one liter of holy water."
Lloyd grinned mysteriously. It was true. Holy water was produced at the ratio of one part angel's teardrop to one thousand parts pure water.
The ratio is a bit different, but it's like mixing bleach with water.
It wasn't too far from making a solution of bleach and water before starting to mop the floors. Creating the holy water the same way from angelic teardrops and water in a specific ratio was going to produce a fine solution to get rid of zombies, ghouls, apparitions, demons, etc. like germs and mold in between the tiles.
"Except, that ratio only applies with the teardrop of tier-9 angels, which are the lowest in rank," added Lloyd.
"Wait a minute. Does that mean the teardrop of higher ranking angels is..?"
"Exactly," Lloyd nodded, as he proceeded to explain with a subtle look of superiority on his face. "The effectiveness of the teardrop increases by ten times with each rank."
"That means..."
"Right. 1 milliliter of a tier-8 angel's tears is enough to produce 10 liters of holy water, and that of a tier-7 angel, 100 liters. It's simple math. How many liters of holy water, then could 1 milliliter of tears from a tier-3 angel of thrones?”
“...”
"Come on, it's simple math."
“...”
"Are you seriously still counting?"
"No. I was done with the math a while ago. It's just that..."
"I'm listening."
"It's still one million liters."
"Well done," said Lloyd, with the look of a tutor giving the tutee some math lessons. "You're right. Theoretically, one milliliter of tears from the angel of thrones is enough to produce one million liters of holy water."
“...”
"Ten milliliters would become ten million liters of holy water, 100 milliliters 100 million, and one liter one billion."
“...”
"Basically, two liters of tears from the angel of thrones is all we need."
“...”
"Dude."
“...”
"Why aren't you saying anything?"
"Well," Javier finally broke the silence, frowning further. "I was concerned before because of how unrealistic the plan sounded in the beginning."
"And?"
"But now, I'm genuinely concerned about Raphael."
"Why?"
"Because you would certainly and easily extract two liters of tears from anybody, let alone from an angel."
"You're making me look like a ruthless cutthroat exploiting people around me."
“...”
"Is that what you were really thinking?"
Javier silently but genuinely nodded. Lloyd snorted at the inability to refute the idea and tried to change the subject quickly.
"Anyhow, that's the plan. Two liters of tears from the angel of thrones. How does that sound?"
That could produce two billion liters of holy water, which was enough to make the entire hell's corp enjoy a wave pool in a water park, let alone shower them.
I've also taken into account how to gather that much pure water to go with it, manufacture the holy water, and spray it at the enemies.
It was all-inclusive in the alternate plan. Lloyd went over the plan once again, as Javier shrugged his shoulders on the side.
"If it's theoretically possible, it's certainly worth a try."
"See? What do you think, Lexi?"
"...I'm afraid."
"Huh? What is?"
Hell's knight Sir Giolexius appeared intimidated, unlike Javier.
"Two billion liters of holy water? It's sending chills down my spine just to hear it. You don't plan to splash me with that, do you?"
"Of course not. But let me ask you something. What would happen if you were to get submerged under the holy water?"
"It is similar to what you have said before. I would become as fragile as a swordmaster."
"For how long?"
"I think I would need at least an hour for me to be freed from the lingering effect of the holy water and regain my strength."
"Hmm. Perfect."
"But I'm afraid there is one problem, my lord."
"Problem?"
"The plan you just explained to Sir Javier is excellent. You carefully devised the method to produce the holy water, and would certainly end up with an abundance of it should it succeed. However, wouldn't your method require the help of a high-ranking angel...?"
"You're right."
"That's what concerns me, my lord. You are a human, and I can't see how you can possibly enlist the help of a heavenly being."
"Aha. You're afraid I may have trouble causing the angel to descend from heaven because I'm not a high-ranking priest or anything."
"That's correct, my lord. But it is a task you must accomplish for your plan to work," Sir Giolexius replied with a serious glow in his eyes.
"Tsk. That won't be a problem," said Lloyd, placing his hand over his chin.
"Huh?"
"I'm a master of accomplishing tasks I am given."
Lloyd smilingly grinned. In fact, Lloyd had never failed an assigned task when he was in school. Regardless of how difficult the assignment was, or how tired he was, he had always completed all tasks he was given.
I worked my butt off during the deferment period to earn tuition. I wasn't going to lose a single point from my GPA from the lack of effort.
Suho couldn't afford to get complacent. He had to get things done desperately. Lloyd was reminded of that time of endless endeavor and smiled.
"I think that task has been completed."
"Huh?"
The hell's knight couldn't understand what Lloyd meant by it. The estate developer noticed the look on his face and pointed behind Sir Giolexius with his chin.
"Look behind you. I think he's overheard our conversation. It may be an unexpected encounter for you, but there he is."
“...What?"
The hell's knight was astonished by the presence of someone he had least expected from behind him and shook his entire body.
"A-angel of thrones!"
Angel of Thrones Raphael responded to the hell's knight's shout of surprise. However, the reply wasn't that nerve-wracking tension or blatant hostility by any means. The angel of thrones and the hell's knight greeted each other by shaking hands.
"Oh? Commander of hell's first corp! It's great to see you!"
"Likewise. How long has it been? Is it our first meeting since the Divine-Demon War?"
"I think so. How is your mother doing?"
"She passed away 3,761 years ago."
"Oh, no. I'm so sorry."
"But she died of old age. She didn't particularly have a tough time."
"I see. I was so occupied with work that I couldn't even come by. My deepest condolences."
"No need. We are both bound by duties, which we must prioritize."
"True enough. That's why we had to cross blades with each other during the war."
"We did, although I was starting to have an advantage."
"Was that so? Because I remember I was slightly on the better side."
"Tsk, tsk. Angels these days. You have terrible memories."
"Hahaha, not as bad as you, commander."
"Oh? We can always settle it in a duel here."
"Not now. I'm only a guest in this estate."
"What?"
"I only happened to run across you because I was spending some time here. Isn't that right?"
Raphael put a smile on his face and turned to Lloyd, who responded with a bitter smile of his own instead of a certain thought in his mind.
I knew it. It's exactly as The Knight of Blood and Iron said. Good thing I decided to bring the hell's knight to my estate.
Lloyd was reminded of the relationship between citizens of the heavenly realm and those of the underworld, as per the original novel.
The divine realm and the underworld don't necessarily oppose one another, although there have been a few altercations between them such as the Divine-Demon War. But that was an extremely special case.
In reality, they weren't enemies. They were more like different divisions of a large corporation.
They manage different realms under the same god, like administrators and managers of different departments in a big company.
To put it simply, the heavenly realm was like the administrative department that took care of the day-to-day operation of the world, including but not limited to addressing customer and client complaints in the form of prayers, the underworld was a special department that specialized in post-business duties in the form of punishment and reincarnation of the soul after the death of the physical body.
They have trouble with one another because of the discrepancy in their work, not because they harbor personal grudges against each other, just like how different departments of the company prioritize different goals.
Because this was the case, some angels and hell's knights were actually great friends despite the divisions they were in, against the common misconception.
This is also why I can't expect the heavenly realm's help in the invasion by the hell's army. They don't particularly oppose each other, and the heavenly realm may not care, or even actually want the predestined fate to be restored.
That was why Lloyd did not request reinforcements from the heavenly realm, despite having failed to procure dragon king Verkis's help. He knew it would be meaningless.
"Anyhow, since you seem to know each other already, I suppose I don't need to introduce Lexi to you."
"Lexi? Are you referring to the nickname of the first corp commander?"
"Yeah. He agreed to work with me under a contract for five years."
"I see," Raphael replied with a flustered look in his eyes, shortly before turning into that of compassion towards Sir Giolexius. It was full of pity towards the hell's knight for having signed a contract with someone like Lloyd. "First corp commander. Have you by any chance... heard the song?"
"Wait. Have you...?"
The two looked at each other pitifully and compassionately, causing Lloyd to stare at them uncomfortably.
"Forget the songs. But it's good to see you here because there was something I needed to ask."
"Ask? Me?"
"Yeah."
"Well, let's hear it."
The angel of thrones was no stranger to Lloyd's evil genius; he cautiously asked Lloyd what he had in his mind. Lloyd, however, did not care one bit about Raphael's stance and proceeded with the plan anyway.
"If, by any chance, I were to pluck out your armpit hair while listening to my beautiful, heart-touching songs again, would that cause you to shed tears at all?"
