Ch.230230. Love? (1)

Demon. To be precise, a Demon of Hell.

These creatures, born from the amalgamation of emotional residue and malice from mortal souls, are frankly just parasitic vermin that maintain their existence by latching onto the emotions of mortals.

They must never be compromised with, should never be subjects of deals or contracts, and under no circumstances should one form cooperative relationships with these demons.

Setting aside divine antipathy, this stems from the fundamental thought processes of demons as a species.

In the minds of Hell’s demons, submission and subjugation through power are the only forms of interaction possible with others, and even then, these fiendish demons are constantly contemplating when to deceive and betray others.

Except for the fact that depending on the demon, their concept of “power” can extend beyond mere force, they completely fail to understand the concept of “equals joining forces against a common enemy.”

In their mentality, there are no terms to refer to other intelligent beings besides subordinates and enemies, as only slave-like underlings who submit to them or enemies exist in their worldview.

Yet despite this mindset, when deceiving mortals into fraudulent contracts, they have no qualms about pretending to be “friendly and pleasant” while throwing around words like “friend.”

Furthermore, the combat capabilities of some high-ranking demons can, depending on the situation, be sufficient to conquer a world single-handedly. The formidable potential of these demons cannot be underestimated, but….

Surprisingly, demons are not evil merely by existing.

To use an easy-to-understand analogy, a demon is like a ferocious and violent beast caged behind steel bars in a zoo.

Just as no matter how powerful and vicious a beast may be, it cannot tear down the cage bars on its own, even a demon lord-class entity becomes little more than a fictional existence as long as the dimensional boundaries hold firm.

However… despite these characteristics, the reason demons are considered dangerous enemies is that somewhere in this world, there are demon worshippers—like deranged animal rights activists who would unlock the cages of predators—who revere demons and attempt to summon them into our world.

By whatever means, demons from other dimensions make contact with mortals in this world, then tempt them with various rewards to turn them into slaves called followers.

Even clergy who receive consistent education about demonic evil can fall to corruption, so what of serfs who already live lives little different from having fallen into hell?

These demons, who understand human behavioral patterns suspiciously well, actively exploit social structures to plant their pawns and prepare various methods for when they invade this world again.

The tablets I’ve been recovering over hundreds of years through direct orders to the Inquisition and assassination orders were also part of plans devised by various demons.

One side is engraved with a magic circle based on the inverted pentagram, the symbol of demons, while the opposite side is cunningly inscribed with demonic letters containing demon worship.

However, apart from the evil inscriptions and patterns on its surface, this tablet outwardly exhibits no magical power or force whatsoever, but….

Naturally, this is essentially a kind of portable demon summoning kit.

If someone merely reads the demonic text inscribed on the tablet in the demonic language, a demon appears in this world through the tablet’s power, treating the tablet as its summoner.

In Dungeon & Adventure, this is used to summon wild demons in front of enemies to create diversions or to farm experience points, but….

Originally, these were created by demons during their past invasion for use in a second invasion—essentially coordinate transmitters for teleportation, similar to what often appears in science fiction.

Since leaving them be could potentially double the number of demons invading during a second incursion, I diligently collect these tablets and repurpose them in various ways.

For instance, as power sources for golems that utilize transcendent beings.

The golems that once imprisoned doppelgangers or fairy queens as power sources have now diversified into various models—naturally, among them are demon-specific golems.

Using the demons’ innate ability to possess living beings or materials, they are forcibly made to possess golem cores, utilizing them as power sources.

Of course, due to the demonic realm nature, the golem gradually becomes corrupted by the demon’s magical power, slowly manifesting demonic characteristics until eventually the golem itself becomes a demon, but….

Knowing this full well, I sought to control demons by having them sign contracts.

While in reality, contracts are mere scraps of paper without a legal order to enforce them, for demons who are bound by symbols, contracts are absolute obligations that must be honored.

Even a childish contract written on what amounts to waste paper is sufficient to impose binding force on demons.

The very act of “contracting” itself can become an element that binds demons.

Therefore, I force summoned demons to choose between annihilation or a contract, and if they truly choose annihilation, I kindly select an avatar—be it a wolf or vampire—and incinerate it with “holy fire.”

The sight of these beings, who confidently believed they could never be destroyed, crumbling pathetically….

It’s unsightly, but at the same time, I truly enjoy witnessing such moments.

Demons are beings that become truly beautiful and radiant only when they burn.

※ ※ ※

While the Dawn Empire grows increasingly prosperous and beautiful with each passing day, such an empire naturally cannot exist without its dark aspects.

Especially in an empire that values meritocracy and effort so highly, there are inevitably people who fall behind in this competition, but….

That doesn’t necessarily mean these individuals become social misfits.

Of course, many end up unable to secure good jobs and survive on day labor, but even living such lives doesn’t mean they live in misery and poverty.

This is partly because meat fruits and grain fruits drastically reduce food expenses, and the empire is filled with various affordable cultural content.

So even working just one minor job is enough to live without any difficulties, and consequently, the empire’s back alleys are incredibly pleasant compared to those of other nations.

Far from having filth accumulated on the ground, there’s barely any trash, and it’s difficult to find beggars or disabled veterans with missing limbs.

Most criminals are either killed through vigilante justice or dragged to gulags, so there are no criminals, and since houses are distributed for free, you can’t even find shanties.

As a result, these back alleys are mostly used as secret meeting places for heated lovers, and footsteps echo through this normally very quiet area.

A figure walks through, wearing a black coat made of thick leather, tightly quilted, with a half-mask covering the upper part of the face.

The entire body is firmly secured with leather straps and belts, decorated with chains and hooks, with a skull lantern at the waist and a massive execution sword fixed to a leather belt on the back.

Somehow, approaching this person brings the scent of blood and an eerie feeling—a man traversing the back alleys with a visual appearance like something out of a Bloodborne world.

He was an Inquisitor of the Dawn Empire.

An executor and agent of the God of Vengeance who identifies and eliminates enemies that eat away at the empire, the church, and society from within—a figure of subtle reverence.

In reality, an Inquisitor is someone with tremendous rights and responsibilities as a direct inspector and judge under the God of Vengeance, who cannot be punished even for summarily executing a minister-level official.

It is said that even those who have done nothing wrong feel guilty when an Inquisitor appears, and legends tell of an Inquisitor whose mere presence silenced a crowd of 10,000. Now, this very Inquisitor…

“……..”

Step, step, step, step.

He was quickly navigating through these small back alleys—not exactly clean but not particularly dirty either—moving through the complexly intertwined passages as if they were his own home.

While the back alleys of this provincial city were quite complicated due to somewhat disorderly development, unlike the capital city of Dawn, the Inquisitor’s steps showed not even the slightest hesitation, revealing a remarkable familiarity.

And so, after walking for who knows how long.

At the end of this long journey, the Inquisitor finally stood before a building at the corner of a back alley.

A street of entertainment with red lanterns hanging, giving off a somewhat decadent feeling.

In this quiet street deserted in broad daylight, the Inquisitor approached a building in a secluded location and without hesitation, flung open the door leading to the stairs to the second floor—.

[♥︎LOVE♥︎]

On the front of the building, a pink sign with suggestive lettering was proudly displayed.