Ch.184184. Untying the Knot (5)

After devouring one heart messily, Demian complained about ruining his appetite and fetched some water to rinse his mouth.

Then the meal time resumed.

It was time to tear into Leon’s heart, which still dripped with fresh blood that hadn’t yet congealed.

“Ugh. This should at least taste decent. That bastard Leon just had to smoke, so it even smells like tobacco.”

Chomp, chomp.

A madman devouring his friend’s heart.

Adele doesn’t tremble despite facing such a madman. She knows better than anyone that she shouldn’t be trembling—she needs to find a way out.

‘How… what should I do?’

There’s no sign of her restraints loosening. Even if they miraculously came undone, she didn’t think she could escape.

That ampoule Demian placed on the table.

The moment that ampoule pierced her body, she would die just like those two, becoming a cold corpse with no difference between them.

‘But… something’s strange.’

If that was his intention, why did he say those words?

-‘If you listen to me, both of you can live. Those over there are too weak compared to the beasts, not worth eating. So just do as I say.’

There was no need for him to say this. If he wanted to kill, he would kill. If not, he wouldn’t.

Since Demian already controlled the options, he must have a purpose.

Adele’s gaze immediately turns to the table.

‘That ampoule…’

The ampoule that made Mickey and Leon collapse as soon as it was injected, the same ones who had captured and bound her.

As soon as that ampoule was injected, Mickey and Leon became rigid. They twitched slightly but ultimately couldn’t move properly.

Adele had thought the contents of the ampoule contained a paralyzing agent.

But judging from Demian’s words and actions…

It wasn’t just that effect alone.

‘There must be something else mixed in. Something that concentrates magical power in the heart.’

It wouldn’t be strange if there were other components as well, but she could understand Demian’s purpose.

The two who had been twitching after the ampoule was injected had already met their end when their hearts were removed.

He injected magical power into Mickey and Leon’s bodies and wrung them out like rags, squeezing out everything they had.

Without leaving a single drop, he took it all away in that dark magical power.

It was definitely magical power.

Hearts imbued with the magical power of the entire body.

The act of deliberately removing them raw and chewing them.

She wasn’t certain if this was correct, but Demian’s goal was to steal magical power.

If this scene itself was where Demian’s meal took place, then he had stolen the magical power of all these living beings.

Hadn’t that madman said it earlier?

That if she saw, there was nothing to be done about it.

Though it was from experience, when committing a crime, the fewer eyes watching, the better. Although the Dubevan building was nearly complete, it was currently lunchtime for the workers.

Looking at the timing and location of this incident, it was clearly meant to avoid others’ eyes.

The pieces were starting to fit together.

‘But why me?’

If he was after magical power, she should have suffered the same fate by now.

Releasing Hena didn’t make sense either. In a situation where he could steal from two more people, he let one go and left the other to just watch?

Did this really make sense?

‘He’s too confident.’

The moment this fact becomes known to the Empire, he would be dragged away and executed without question.

Why is he so brazen? And why show this to her?

“Well, well. Are you thinking hard? Curious?”

“!!!”

While she was lost in thought, Demian had finished his second meal.

He had devoured it so voraciously that bits of blood and tissue had fallen beneath the table.

“Well, I guess you would be curious. But you’ll know soon enough, so don’t be impatient and just take a little nap. I need to move locations now. We’ll arrive soon.”

“Mmph!”

She struggled, but she was no match for the sleeping drug.

And so Adele had to close her eyelids without resolving her questions.

“Ah…! I’m already getting excited!”

The storytelling was clear.

Hena would soon bring Junon, and before long, the guards would arrive too.

They would see this scene.

“Yes, Junon. You’re the murderer who killed my two precious friends. This scene was created by you. Perfect. If I say that you’ve harbored a grudge since the Shoot Extermination Campaign and staged this to lure me out, it fits the story perfectly. There was even a hostage, right?”

A scene full of evidence of murder.

Although the plan had changed slightly, if he said his two friends were there for revenge against Junon, they would surely support him from the afterlife.

Having offered their magical power like this, they would certainly help with his revenge.

Evidence at a murder scene would naturally implicate the culprit.

“Ah… Junon, who committed murder out of spite, a vicious criminal. Demian, who captured such a heinous criminal. That’s how the newspapers will divide the story, right?”

In truth, he didn’t care how the newspapers portrayed it.

What mattered was one person’s reaction.

She would look back.

She would despise Junon, wondering if he was really that kind of person.

She would hurl insults at the man foaming at the mouth on the guillotine.

“Miss Lenias…! I’ll be waiting…!!!”

Someone like that cunning bastard doesn’t deserve a gem like you.

Demian shifted Adele onto his shoulder like a sack and moved on, eagerly anticipating that moment.

***

Is that guy really insane?

When I heard Adele had been kidnapped, I wondered if remnants of Count Kutelli’s faction were still around.

But that wasn’t it.

“Don’t worry. I’ll bring Adele back.”

A nod.

Hena seemed to have difficulty speaking.

She could barely manage a single nod with her head twitching.

She didn’t say what she saw there. She was only instructed to bring me to the basement of the Dubevan building.

‘Coward. If you have a problem with me, come say it to my face.’

To think he’d involve innocent Adele and Hena.

And taking them to the nearly empty Dubevan building meant he clearly had something planned.

He was like that during the faction battle too. When victory against Rana was within reach, he prevented the declaration of surrender.

If that guy seriously decided to act, it wouldn’t be surprising if he committed crimes.

So I had to go. Besides, I needed to satisfy his conditions since I didn’t know what he might do.

“Are you done talking?”

“Sorry, Michelle.”

“Huh? Why are you apologizing?”

Michelle asked in confusion when I suddenly apologized.

“I have somewhere I need to go. Could you please look after Hena while I’m gone?”

“…Seems urgent.”

“We’ll have to postpone our conversation. And.”

I left her with a request along with my subjective opinion in a whisper.

“…!! Junon, that’s—”

“Please.”

Because right now, you’re the only one who can help with this request.

Leaving those words behind, I rushed straight to the Dubevan building, recalling Hena’s message.

-‘This guy named Demian… had two people kidnap me and Adele, then told me to bring you…’

I don’t have many close relationships.

The only people I really know are those two, which is why Hena and Adele ended up in this situation.

There was no time to get angry about him taking hostages so cowardly.

When I asked if she had called the guards, Hena shook her head frantically, saying it wasn’t allowed.

-‘You, you have to go alone. You absolutely must go alone…! Otherwise…!’

She deliberately left the sentence unfinished. In such a situation, it was obvious. He was using Adele as leverage.

Whatever the case, what he wanted was, like before, revenge against me.

Creak.

I opened the door to the armory where weapons for fighting beasts were displayed.

“…No, that can’t be right.”

Wasn’t he holding a hostage? Among all the weapons, I couldn’t see anything worth taking.

If he was staging a hostage situation, I’d have to put it down eventually anyway.

Just as I was about to close the armory door—

“Wait, this might work…”

This could be useful. They wouldn’t be able to use it either.

I quickly grabbed it and rushed to the Dubevan building.

.

.

.

The Dubevan building was quiet, as expected.

There was no reason for people to be there.

The workers had left for lunch and rest time before completion, and students were prohibited from entering this place.

Faculty and professors were the same. Everyone was either having meals or teaching, making the Dubevan building, ridiculously, the place with the fewest people.

And he was holding Adele captive in such a place?

“What is he thinking?”

-‘The basement… he said to come to the basement.’

There was only one place in the Dubevan building that could be called a basement.

The shelter where that guy Cayden once tried to use tricks but ended up trapped instead.

“What’s this?”

I’d noticed it since entering the building, but there was an alien smell that shouldn’t be here.

“…Someone’s been tampering with chemicals at least.”

A smell that should only come from inside a laboratory.

The smell I often encountered when synthesizing magic stones was wafting up.

“And that’s not all.”

There seemed to be another familiar smell mixed in.

This sense of incongruity made my steps quicken even more.

Finally, in front of the shelter.

Clunk.

I opened the door.

Would something come flying at me? Would dangerous chemicals be sprayed in my face?

I surveyed the place with all my senses on high alert.

‘Nothing?’

But the lights weren’t on. Well, that made sense since the building wasn’t fully completed yet.

After opening the shelter door, there didn’t seem to be anything unusual except for the lack of light.

And as my pupils adjusted to the darkness, I saw the silhouette of a person.

A woman with grayish-white hair wearing counter clothes.

It was Adele.

‘What’s going on? He’s not showing himself at all?’

If those guys were determined to mess with me, they would at least stage a hostage situation.

I was wary of that when I entered, but it was unsettling that there was nothing.

Of course, it was possible. Since I had approached as quietly as possible, they might not have noticed me yet.

I checked if any magical power was being emitted anywhere and found no suspicious devices.

Then I should immediately check on Adele’s condition, right?

“Phew.”

She hasn’t been harmed.

My biggest worry had been retaliatory violence, but confirming she was fine made me sigh in relief.

Her pulse was steady. Her breathing was normal, and her eyes were closed, probably due to a sleeping drug.

Good. Now I just need to rescue Adele.

I would quietly carry her out, bring Hena as a witness, and report this to the professors.

I started untying the ropes, and during that time, Adele’s twitching eyelids fully opened.

“Mmph…!”

“Shh. You need to be quiet, Adele.”

We might get caught otherwise.

“Mmph! Mmmmph!”

But Adele was shaking her head violently while still tied up.

Why was she doing this?

The reason became clear soon enough.

────!!

BOOM!

The entire building vibrated with a massive explosion.

Something seemed to be pouring down, and the sounds of things breaking and shattering echoed considerably.

And another sound:

CRACK!

“Ugh…!”

It was the sound of his magic battle-axe smashing the shelter’s table.

“Heh, hehehe. Do you know how long I’ve been waiting, Junon?”

Whoosh.

Demian raised his magic battle-axe, emitting an even more unpleasant magical power than during the faction battle, and smirked as he spoke.

‘Damn, the exit…!’

It was already blocked.

Judging by the smug look on his face, that bastard must have used some trick to trap and capture me.

It was perfect isolation.

***

Enough time had passed.

Thinking it should be fine by now, Michelle took Hena’s hand and moved forward.

“Hello, Miss Michelle. But… who is this person with you?”

Kelnur, who was always organizing documents in that spot, asked this, but Michelle brought Hena inside and immediately stated her business.

“Everyone. We need to move urgently.”

“Michelle?”

“What’s going on that’s so important?”

“For now, I need all party members to come with me without asking questions.”

Michelle hadn’t forgotten.

Junon’s request whispered into her ear.

-‘About 10 minutes after I leave. Don’t tell anyone else, just come to the Dubevan building with just your group.’

-‘There might be a hostage situation. Absolutely don’t tell anyone else.’

Once again, he had foreseen what was coming.