Ch.243Chapter 243 – A Matter to Discuss (1)

Somewhere in Ferrarius.

Under the vast, ominous red sky, a woman and a man were walking quietly.

No, “walking” wasn’t quite accurate.

The woman was leisurely moving while riding something that resembled a human.

The man appeared to be quietly guiding the woman somewhere.

After walking for quite some time, they finally arrived at a certain place.

“This is it.”

“Mmm, thanks for guiding me~.”

The woman said this as she dismounted from whatever she had been riding and quietly walked forward.

Then she smiled as she gazed at a jewel floating at about her eye level.

“So this is it? The thing needed to maintain that soul-absorbing formation…”

“Yes. It’s a mana convergence point.”

The man spoke quietly while bowing.

In response to his words, the woman looked at the jewel with interest and said:

“If I pour different mana into the mana gathered here…”

“The convergence point will be temporarily neutralized. And when all three are neutralized, the soul-absorbing formation will be disabled and disappear.”

The man spoke quietly.

However, his eyes were full of wariness as he spoke.

“So please be careful not to interfere with the demon clan’s plans.”

“It’s fine~ It’s totally fine.”

The woman said, lightly licking her lips.

“I know what you’re asking for, Mr. Demon Worshipper.”

“…Rather than such a disrespectful name, I’d prefer to be called a Demon God Cultist.”

The man who introduced himself as a Demon God Cultist soon spoke while eyeing the woman warily.

“…By the way, I wonder if it’s alright for you to be in contact with us.”

“Oh, are you talking about this robe?”

The woman calmly smiled and slightly lifted her black robe.

“I just wear this because I belong to the order. I don’t worship any god to begin with.”

“…Perhaps you’d consider joining us?”

“Don’t even dream of it.”

For a moment, flames flickered in Phobia’s eyes.

As the Demon God Cultist momentarily flinched backward at those flames, Phobia smiled again and said:

“Sorry. I got a bit excited. Anyway, I don’t think I’d be free under your people, so I’ll decline.”

The woman said with a grin.

“By the way, you’re being quite friendly to me. Why is that?”

“It’s only natural since you’re helping us with our work.”

The Demon God Cultist glanced at the woman cautiously before speaking quietly.

“…You’re blessed with half the blood of the demon clan, aren’t you?”

“Blessed?”

The woman’s eyes narrowed for a moment.

The Demon God Cultist felt a sudden chill and carefully asked:

“…What’s wrong?”

“Hey, what do you mean by ‘blessed’?”

The woman asked with a smile.

“Is it being stoned for being half-human? Getting beaten by your family for being a monster? Being forced to eat mud? Or perhaps having your home burned down because you’re half-monster?”

“……”

“Or maybe being dragged away for being a dirty child… Ah, this is a bit too intense, so let’s skip it here.”

The corners of the woman’s mouth were smiling.

“Am I really a blessed being, I wonder?”

The Demon God Cultist couldn’t answer for a moment.

It was because the woman’s pupils were trembling.

Even the Demon God Cultist was at a loss for words as he watched her eyes continuously lose focus.

And just as he thought he should say something—

*clap*

The woman suddenly clapped her hands.

“Ah. I guess I am blessed after all?”

The woman said with a smile.

“Because I have a doll.”

The woman smiled brightly.

Looking at her eyes that had barely calmed down, the Demon God Cultist quietly spoke up.

“Um…”

“Ah, sorry. I was just lost in my thoughts for a moment.”

The woman apologized.

However, the Demon God Cultist, shaken by her earlier unsettling behavior, unconsciously took a step back.

“No need to be so serious.”

Seeing the Demon God Cultist’s reaction, the woman sighed briefly and continued:

“Anyway, I’ll protect this convergence point well. I have my purpose.”

The woman quietly told the Demon God Cultist.

“I hope you won’t interfere with my purpose. Mr. Demon God Cultist.”

“…I’ve heard about your purpose, but do you really think he’ll come?”

“He will. That man.”

The woman said with a smile.

“The man I’ve fallen for will definitely come.”

Otherwise, there would be no reason for her to secretly come here from Albheim after hearing the prediction that he would go to Ferrarius.

“Whatever the reason, he’ll try to interfere with the demon clan’s plans.”

Because she believed this, she had no hesitation in contacting the demon worshippers.

It would be troublesome if he didn’t come.

No, there wouldn’t be any trouble.

Because he would come.

“To be by my side, to become my doll.”

In response to the woman’s words tinged with madness, the Demon God Cultist quietly nodded.

“I hope you get what you desire. Lady Phobia.”

“Thanks~ You take care too.”

The Demon God Cultist bowed and moved away from Phobia.

A moment later, Phobia looked at the jewel and smiled.

“Now then. Let’s make preparations. Preparations to make that man mine.”

Wiping away the drool that trickled from the corner of her mouth.

Phobia spoke quietly.

+

Unfortunately, sleeping together didn’t work out.

It seemed Kay was also willing, but perhaps troubled by Mask’s words, he suggested they be careful.

‘…I made things awkward.’

In truth, Eve had initially just wanted to tease him a bit.

But when she pressed her body against his and felt his warmth, she unexpectedly became inflamed and impulsively tried to seduce him.

As a result, she had put him in an awkward position.

And she also realized she had done something inconsiderate.

‘…It was inconsiderate to the people working.’

This was about the three people who were in the midst of researching how to eliminate the soul-absorbing formation.

Of course, two of them probably wouldn’t care much, but one person would surely be upset deep down.

Being a good person, she would try not to show it, but still, Eve had almost done something inconsiderate.

Moreover, she had made a certain promise with that person.

If the promise had already been fulfilled, it might have been different, but until then, she should have shown more restraint.

‘I acted too selfishly.’

She hadn’t thought about it at the time.

But now that she had calmed down, she felt she had gone too far.

‘…I must apologize later.’

She hadn’t actually done anything wrong to him, and they hadn’t crossed any lines.

Still, she wanted to apologize and be honest about it.

She also firmly resolved to apologize in her own way for almost breaking her promise.

Just as she finished organizing her thoughts and closed her eyes—

The scenery changed.

‘What is this…?’

Eve was slightly taken aback by the suddenly changed scenery.

But soon she could immediately recognize what she was seeing.

‘The future.’

She had often read the immediate future while fighting enemies, but it had been a long time since she had seen the future like this.

Eve immediately gathered her thoughts.

Things she didn’t know yet.

After inputting the knowledge of the future into her mind, she soon reached a conclusion.

‘…Two days from now.’

She realized it was a future not too far from the present.

Just a few things had changed from the current situation.

And the current location was a village.

A village on the outskirts of Ferrarius.

‘I have a bad feeling about this.’

Eve quietly thought as she looked at the empty village.

The houses along the street were slightly damaged.

Looking at them, she wondered if they had been attacked by monsters, but soon discovered something else strange.

‘The doors and windows are broken.’

It was as if someone had forcibly broken down closed doors.

Did monsters come all the way here and break down the doors?

As she pondered this, Eve looked at the state of the street again.

And she could reach a conclusion.

‘It wasn’t monsters.’

There were occasional bloodstains on the street.

There were also bloodstains that looked as if someone had been dragged away.

But there were no corpses.

It was too clean for a monster attack.

‘What on earth?’

With that thought, Eve soon left the house and headed toward the center of the village.

And there she could discover one more thing.

“…The Jeolei Order.”

More precisely, fragments of armor bearing the order’s symbol.

Looking at the blood-stained fragments, Eve narrowed her eyes.

+

The next day at dawn.

As usual, I woke up naturally, got out of bed, equipped myself, and went outside to see dwarves moving about. Seeing smoke rising in the distance, it seemed the village dwarves were busy preparing meals for the refugees.

‘…Meals, huh.’

I thought that Sera and Beatrice probably hadn’t eaten yet.

If left alone, Asam would surely try to feed them some strange biscuits soaked in medicine.

‘That won’t do.’

That’s dog food, not something humans should eat.

It would be better to bring them something proper.

‘We do have our own rations, though.’

When we left Rubrum’s lair, we had packed enough food for ourselves.

Eating that wouldn’t immediately cause a food shortage, but since we’re in a village and Sera is using her brain a lot, I wanted to feed her something nutritious.

‘First, I should find Dodo.’

It would be good to find the village chief Dodo and ask about Sera’s location and whether we could get some meals.

Just as I finished organizing my thoughts,

I sensed someone behind me.

“Eina?”

“Ah, good morning.”

Eina was approaching, waving her hand.

She was also fully equipped.

“You’re up early.”

“My eyes just open naturally at this time.”

Eina said with a smile.

“What were you thinking about? You seemed to be pondering something.”

“Nothing much, just thinking it would be good to bring some food to Sera and Beatrice.”

“I see.”

Eina nodded in understanding.

“If we leave them alone, they’ll eat something strange, so we should bring them food quickly.”

“…Something strange?”

“Like biscuits soaked in fatigue recovery potion. Not fit for human consumption.”

Seeing her slightly frown as she said this, it seems Eina has probably tasted it herself.

“It would be better to get some food and bring it to them.”

“First, we should find Chief Dodo. Have you seen him?”

In my case, I came straight outside after waking up, so I hadn’t checked if he was in the house.

Eina shook her head and said:

“I haven’t seen him either. He doesn’t seem to be at home.”

“How do you know?”

“I tried to greet him after waking up, but he wasn’t there.”

I quietly nodded at Eina’s words.

It’s unusual for the chief to be away from home at this hour, so where could he have gone?

Then suddenly, a thought occurred to me.

‘This village was short on food, wasn’t it?’

When we talked with them, they mentioned they were worried because they didn’t have much food left.

In that situation, they’re now preparing food distribution.

Perhaps he’s overseeing the distribution and checking the remaining food supplies.

“Alright.”

Let’s go there first.

“Do you have an idea where he might be?”

“Yes.”

I shared my thoughts with Eina, and she nodded in agreement.

Soon, we both walked toward where the smoke was rising.

And there we could immediately find the dwarf we were looking for.

“We really need to reduce the rations further…”

“No, if we reduce them any more…”

Chief Dodo was standing with a worried expression, looking at bags piled in one corner of the distribution center.

He seemed to be discussing various matters with a dwarf who appeared to be the supply manager. Upon noticing us approaching, he paused his conversation and came toward us.

“Good morning.”

“Good morning to you.”

Dodo greeted us brightly, hiding the worried expression he had earlier.

“You’re up early. Is there something you need?”

“Yes. I was wondering if we could get some meals.”

At my words, Dodo’s expression darkened slightly, but soon returned to a bright one.

Looking at him carefully, I asked:

“…If your food situation is dire, we can manage on our own.”

I had thought about this before finding him, but we did have our own rations.

The reason I sought him out was to see if we could get something more nutritious than dry rations, but if the situation doesn’t allow it, I can give up on that idea.

Soon, Dodo sighed carefully and said:

“…I’m sorry. You saved our village yesterday, so we should properly host you…”

“It can’t be helped in this situation.”

At my words, Dodo nodded gratefully.

“Can we at least borrow some cooking utensils?”

“That much is certainly possible.”

Dodo nodded at my question.

Since it seems we can’t get dwarf nutritional food, we’ll have to switch to cooking some rations and bringing them.

“I’ll go back to our lodging and get the food.”

“Ah, shall I bring it for you?”

Eina asked with a smile.

Looking at her, I shook my head.

“Eina, stay here. I’ll bring the food.”

I’ll bring it first, then we can decide whether to have someone cook it or do it ourselves.

“I’m truly sorry…”

“It’s fine.”

After reassuring him again as he apologized, I left the distribution center and headed back to our lodging.

I arrived at the lodging shortly and immediately went to where our supplies were stored.

“How much should I take…”

Since food is scarce in this village to the point where it’s hard to share, we need to carefully manage our rations too.

After mentally recounting the number of people, I carefully gathered enough rations for everyone.

As I finished gathering the supplies and came outside, someone I hadn’t seen earlier was standing there.

“Good morning.”

Eve was smiling and greeting me.

She was properly dressed, suggesting she had just woken up when I came in earlier.

“Good morning.”

Eve smiled brightly at my greeting.

“What were you doing?”

“Gathering food.”

Eve nodded as I explained that I wanted to provide a proper meal for Sera’s group.

“It’s good to take care of them properly. That’s a good idea.”

“Yeah. But given the situation, we might need to secure more of our own rations.”

“Did something happen?”

I briefly explained what had happened with Dodo earlier.

Eve then quietly said:

“I’d heard about it, but their food situation seems really dire.”

“They were even hesitant about sharing with us.”

Though unsaid, the cause was likely the difficulty in obtaining additional food due to the monsters roaming outside.

Eve seemed lost in thought after hearing this.

Looking at her, I spoke up:

“I’ll go ahead. Need to bring them food.”

“Yes.”

I turned away from Eve and was about to open the door.

“Kay.”

I quietly turned around at Eve’s call.

“What is it?”

“Please come back to the lodging after you deliver the meal to Seraphina.”

Eve looked straight at me.

“I have something I want to discuss with you.”

Eve said quietly.