Episode 94 – Negotiation

*

Looking back a few days to when Piadu showed up in front of my mansion, I still feel a bit dazed.

It was already unbelievable that he, who had been impossible to find like a ghost, suddenly appeared, but he even spoke to me with a straight face.

He followed me to the guest room without any resistance.

As soon as the guest room door closed, I spoke before even sitting at the table.

“Where is Bana… no, Rose?”

“Hmm, you’re in a hurry, Baron-nim. The tea hasn’t even come out yet.”

“Right now, our mansion’s maid is busy, so we can’t offer you tea. Just talk.”

“…Such an aggressive attitude. Unlike the rumors. Well, I knew it, though.”

“You don’t intend to answer the question, I see.”

I said, glaring at Piadu.

It wasn’t intentional, but the voice that came out of my mouth sounded very aggressive even to my own ears.

It even sounded like the low growl of feline predators like lions or tigers just before they tear into their prey.

Piadu, too, seemed to feel some pressure from my voice, raising both hands to show he had no intention of attacking, and said.

“Rose is fine. Actually, she’s the one who sent me here.”

“What?”

“She wants to negotiate. Baron-nim, no…”

“…”

“…with Edward-nim.”

As my name flowed from his mouth, I scowled and tossed my mask onto the table.

Was Piadu the one who charmed Rose, not the other way around?

I calmed my complicated mind and asked.

“How much did Rose tell you?”

“She told me everything she knows, at least. We’re in love, you see.”

“Ha, you crazy bastards.”

I said, letting out a hollow laugh as if I was dumbfounded.

“If Rose told you everything, you also know that I ordered you to seduce her, right? Stop talking about love.”

“Oh, that wouldn’t have been necessary. But thanks to that, I was able to see her again, so I’ll thank you for that.”

“Why, are you thrilled to see your dead fiancée again, whom you never even got to bang?”

“Oh, such personal love affairs are none of Ed-nim’s business. You’re not in a position to say anything to me about love problems either, are you?”

Before he could finish speaking, I wrapped magic power around both hands.

“You’d better choose your next words carefully.”

“…I spoke too harshly. I apologize. I admit that my attitude was excessive because I also have personal grudges against you. I’m really sorry.”

Piadu immediately apologized cleanly.

I calmed down, pulled out a chair, sat down, and asked.

“If you wanted to negotiate, why didn’t she come herself and send you?”

“Rose said that if she showed her face, you would definitely kill her without listening to anything. She also said that seeing how you were when you killed her mother, she knows well what kind of pain you can inflict if you set your mind to it.”

“Ha, so she wants to negotiate because she doesn’t want to die.”

“I hope the conditions are to your liking.”

I nodded, meaning to tell him to go ahead and speak.

At that moment, Ulgaros said to me.

[Ed, something’s wrong.]

‘What is it?’

[That guy, he’s strange. He feels different from the kid I saw before. He’s hiding something.]

‘Hiding… what?’

[…I don’t know yet… maybe… ]

While Ulgaros was hesitating, Piadu rummaged through his bag, placed something wrapped in cloth on the desk, held it out to me, and said.

“First, here’s a gift we prepared before the negotiation. Or rather, it’s something we’re returning.”

“…This is,”

Even though it was wrapped in cloth, its shape was so obvious that I recognized it immediately.

It was the Demon King’s horn.

“Didn’t you take it because you were worried I’d control you with the Demon King’s power? Why are you giving it back?”

“If it can reduce your anger even a little, then it has served its purpose.”

“What?”

[Ah, ah, that’s it, that’s what it was. Hehehe]

Ulgaros suddenly started laughing like a madman.

‘What is it? Why are you suddenly laughing?’

[I’m starting to feel uneasy…]

[Hehehe, Jennifer misjudged her daughter. Far from lacking talent, she’s extremely clever.]

‘Why don’t you tell me instead of keeping it to yourself?’

[Ed, take a good look at that kid.]

‘?’

I looked at Piadu at Ulgaros’s words.

[What’s different about him?]

‘Ugh, think about it, Ed. He said it served its purpose, right? What did Jennifer do with my horn?’

At Ulgaros’s words, something vaguely flickered in my mind.

Come to think of it, there were a few strange things in what Piadu had said.

He said he held a grudge against me, but I had never given him any reason to.

Rather, Piadu had even hired the City Snakes to kidnap me.

Also, he called Jennifer “Mother.”

That was also a strange title for Piadu to use.

Finally, he was convinced that he was in love with Rose.

All those words connected in my gaze as I looked at the Demon King’s horn, and I realized something for sure.

The strong shock was like being hit in the back of the head, and the inside of my eyes felt numb.

“You, don’t tell me.”

“You’ve noticed.”

“Rose, that crazy bitch…”

“Hehe, it’s been a while again.”

He bowed to me.

“Daniel de Voldiras. Please call me Daniel, Ed-nim.”

“…Oh my god, then Piadu is…”

He smiled and tapped his temple, saying.

“He’s here, demanding his body back.”

Piadu, no, Daniel, explained what had happened in the meantime.

The beginning of Banata’s disappearance was, surprisingly, from Banata’s own knowledge.

According to a history book Banata read, a long time ago, the king of the Balguir Kingdom brought all the beautiful women of the country and raped them.

All the children born that way were kicked out of the castle, but they were all handsome and beautiful, so there was even a joke that all the beauties of the Balguir Kingdom had royal blood flowing through them.

Rose, based on that fact that Banata told her, came up with the idea that Jennifer and Piadu, who were from the Balguir Kingdom, might share some of the same blood, and as a result of checking, that was true.

That meant that Jennifer’s son, Daniel, was the same.

Rose immediately stole the Demon King’s horn from my mansion, kidnapped Piadu, obtained a secret laboratory like Jennifer did, and literally disassembled her own body inside it, reverse-engineering the possession magic that Jennifer had completed.

“You reproduced magic that even the Demon King said was difficult? And Rose, who Jennifer dismissed as having no talent?”

“I don’t know much about magic, but Rose’s analogy is that even if inventing a clock was genius, disassembling it and reassembling it is something any mechanic can do.”

“…Disassembling? Is Banata’s body okay?”

“…That’s also why Rose couldn’t come herself. But if we use expensive medicine like elixirs, she’ll be fine.”

“That body isn’t Rose’s… If something happens to Banata, you two…”

“Are you going to kill me again?”

“…”

I closed my mouth.

Daniel nodded and continued.

“I will definitely return it to its original state. Now, let’s talk about the negotiation.”

“…What do you want?”

“Please don’t harm Rose and me. And please stop using the Demon King’s power to give orders.”

“I don’t care about you, but I want Rose to get out of that body someday.”

“The reason Rose did this impulsive thing without telling you was because she wanted to save me, but also because she was afraid that you would someday remove Rose from within for Banata’s sake. She was also afraid of that power that gives her orders that she can’t refuse.”

“You don’t even have a way to do that to me, and you caused this trouble with just that worry? Do you know how much pain everyone in this mansion has gone through because of you?”

“Rose said you would know how.”

I fiddled with the object in my pocket.

For the past week, I had left this mansion and returned to the Demon King’s castle, guided by Ulgaros, and brought back an object.

As Rose is worried about now, this was the ‘tool to extract souls’ that Ulgaros had mentioned in passing someday.

Certainly, I was planning to use this to remove Rose from Banata’s body someday when I had the time.

“So, you want me to let her continue living in Banata’s body?”

“…Both Rose and I will definitely find a way to quietly leave that body someday. Until then, please wait.”

“Ha…”

I scratched my head and let out a hollow laugh.

“So, what can you do for me with that condition? It’s a negotiation. You have to bring something that I’ll be interested in.”

Daniel nodded and replied.

“I heard about my father’s misdeeds from Rose and realized that what you said on the Anemone Flower boat that day was all true. I am truly sorry for the sacrifices made due to my father’s misdeeds.”

“…”

“Rose and I swear to help Ed-nim with your revenge. We will faithfully follow you until the day you complete your revenge, even if you don’t use the Demon King’s horn.”

“Even if you guys don’t help…”

“First, as proof, I will bring Villard to Ed-nim tomorrow and present him to you.”

“…Huh,”

“After Villard dies, the family will naturally be inherited by Piadu. And right now, I am Piadu.”

I was lost in thought.

The conditions they offered me to save their lives were actually nothing special.

Rose was bound to Banata’s body and was effectively cooperating with me.

Rose, who loved Daniel very much, probably did it without any time to think about anything else as soon as she realized that she could save Daniel.

And she was worried about what would happen later.

That’s why she’s asking me for a negotiation now, just to save her life.

Thinking about Mena’s suffering over the past few weeks, I wanted to extract the souls of those two people right away, but Daniel, with Piadu’s body, was definitely an attractive condition in many ways.

First of all, from the fact that I could change the support for Robin to my liking right away, to the fact that Ellie’s biggest enemy would essentially disappear entirely, it was clear that it would be useful in many ways.

[Ed, accept those two.]

‘Why.’

[Why else, they’re monsters.]

‘Ah, Daniel has become a monster too.’

[Yes, judging by his slightly blurred pupils, he’s definitely a Wight.]

Wight,

It was a monster that I had faced as an enemy a few times during my hero party days.

Unlike zombies or ghouls, they were monsters that looked very similar to humans, created by an evil spirit clinging to a corpse rather than a resurrected corpse.

The biggest characteristic was that they had the ability to attack people and absorb their life force, and the memory of the scene where Jennifer was attacked and tried to suck her life force, but was shot by Lara’s arrow and died, flashed through my mind.

[Ha, he’s turned into a troublesome monster.]

[Someday, after I do ‘that thing’ I told you about, I’ll become the Demon King again, and I should have at least two subordinates to keep up appearances. I’m supposed to be the Demon King, but it wouldn’t look good if I didn’t have any subordinates and just had an undead friend like you who’s always nagging.]

[Ed…? When did you two say that?]

[You don’t need to know.]

[Eek!]

‘…Ha,’

I asked Daniel.

“You’re becoming the Demon King’s subordinate, can you accept that as the son and daughter of heroes?”

“We can endure anything as long as we have each other by our side.”

Daniel smiled and nodded.

He probably just thought of it as simply becoming my subordinate and answered lightly.

Well, being exploited by Ulgaros for hundreds of years might be a bad ending for those two in its own way.

Disgusting incestuous bastards.

‘You’re going to make them suffer like hell, right?’

[Of course, I promise you that.]

‘Good.’

I got up from my seat, approached Daniel, held out my hand, and said.

“I’ll treat you, so tell Rose to run to the mansion right away.”

Daniel grabbed my hand tightly and repeatedly bowed, saying thank you.

And the next morning.

A carriage carrying Villard arrived in front of my mansion.

.