Ch.376Changed NPCs. (6)

The Empire and the Church declared war on each other, and within a few months, Duke Helgot, one of the war’s central figures, and his territory were completely devastated by the Dean of Neti. Less than two months later, the surrounding counties and marquisates collapsed.

Within another month, the Empire’s main forces were completely annihilated at Ponia, the capital Ortman fell, and in just three months, local nobles rose to power. Those nobles who had supported the war were rapidly punished and executed on the absurd accusation that they had colluded with the Church and sold the country to demons.

As a final act, the Emperor and Chancellor were executed before the people, and the Imperial Princess, who claimed to have prevented the nation’s defeat in the war and stopped the country’s rampage, wore a collar of subjugation around her neck, effectively eliminating the imperial family. All of this happened in just eight months after the declaration of war.

And the person who organized everything behind the scenes, Ragni Bluemoon, began cleaning up the aftermath of the war with inhuman skill, but the people who followed her were still just people. The result:

“Bring wine! Bring wine right now!!”

*CRASH!!*

“V-Viscount, there’s no money left. Y-your son’s savings in Neti are also almost gone…”

“Fuck!! What the hell are you saying?!!”

*THWACK!!*

“Urgh?!!”

Ragni had successfully captured 90% of those who had supported the war, but the remaining 10%—the small fry who had been pushed to the back—escaped the Empire and sought ways to survive. Among them was the head of a viscount family who had enrolled his son in the Neti Academy and fled there to survive, seeking a way to save himself.

No, he was digging his own grave for a delayed death.

“My son’s money is already gone?! Don’t talk nonsense! I heard he’s been finding expensive relics and magical tools in the newly discovered dungeon!! How could we run out of money just from buying a few bottles of wine?!”

“P-please!! F-forgive me!! Master!! It’s not about the wine!! The money spent on capturing sacrifices for the demon…!!”

“Fuck!! There are commoners everywhere here, so why does it cost so much to capture that trash!! By the order of Viscount Rundol, just bring them and feed them to it!! Is that so difficult, you piece of garbage!!”

“Guhk…!!”

[Hey, human. Are you going to kill that one? You promised me 100 human souls. You’re not even halfway there yet.]

“Huh?!! Wait!! This one still has work to do!! I’ll consider making him the 100th, so be patient until then!! Besides, if you just fulfill your part of the contract first!! Not just 100, but even 1,000…”

[The pig is squealing too loudly. If you weren’t the contractor, I would have killed you already. Instead of flapping your mouth, why don’t you go out and collect some human souls?]

“W-what?!!”

Viscount Rundol. A member of the pro-war faction, or more precisely, a lower nobleman who worked under them. When Marquis Hruk, his connection, was killed, he became completely helpless—an incompetent noble. Ragni had thoroughly investigated this man, but there was one thing she missed: the fact that…

*CRASH!!*

“Damn it!! Why, why did I summon only a lesser demon when I performed the summoning ritual!! It says it can’t even form a physical body without 100 human souls!! Fuck!! Everyone is so useless!!”

…he had summoned a demon by killing the maids and servants who managed his household in order to survive.

However, the sacrifices used for the summoning weren’t many, and the commoners he killed had little magical power since they hadn’t leveled up. The ritual should have failed, but miraculously, he obtained corpses nearby (priests of the Church killed by Jack’s group as they passed through) and succeeded in summoning a lesser demon. Thanks to this, he had escaped the pursuers from the Empire, Dolph and Mac’s unit, and made it all the way to Neti.

‘…Once its body is formed, I’ll kill it first.’

The lesser demon had initially crossed over thinking it had struck gold because of the considerable magical power it received at first. It made a contract with the lower nobleman, but the level of the humans pursuing them was tremendous. In the end, it used up all its power to escape without even being able to form a physical body. The nobleman had made the strange wish to be made into a high noble of the Empire, and naturally, since that was impossible for a lesser demon, it told him to offer 100 sacrifices to rebuild its body. In the end, what was happening in Neti was an extension of what had happened in the Empire—something that would have made Ragni grab the back of her neck and put a magic bullet between the two of them if she had heard about it. And then…

*Knock knock knock!*

“M-master! Th-they’re here. The thugs from the back alley who say they’ve brought sacrifices… They’re asking for money, what should we do?”

“How many!! How many did they capture?!!”

“T-two, sir.”

“Damn it!! Hey!! Get up, servant!! What are you doing?! Are you expecting me to deal with street thugs myself?!!”

“Urgh…”

He kicked his last servant who was bleeding from being hit with a wine bottle and sat down in an old chair, cursing. And then…

*Knock knock knock!*

“Fuck, I heard you! I heard!! That bitch looks decent so I brought her, but she’s being a pain. I’ll have to feed her to the demon later, just like that bastard.”

[……]

The commoner maid knocked on the door urgently, but he had no intention of moving and just searched for more wine among the empty bottles. All the while, he thought about how he had stabbed his wife and second child, who had magical power, in the back and offered them as sacrifices to the demon to save himself. Viscount Rundol felt no remorse for this. His wife and second child had opposed the war, so they weren’t on good terms to begin with. And then…

“I said open the door, you Rundol lunatic or whatever you are.”

“Huh?! M…!!”

*CRACK!!*

“W-what?!!”

“I said the sacrifices are here, you fucker. Hey, is this the cripple with the bad arm?”

“Yes! Yes! That’s him!! That man over there promised us money…!!”

*THWACK!!*

“Now shut up and stay put.”

Before he could sink deeper into his thoughts, his eyes widened at the sight of the wooden door being torn off like paper. Then, as the man who had been demanding money from his servant was sent tumbling backward with a simple flick to the forehead, his eyes rolling back, Rundol rose from his chair and began to back away cautiously.

“W-who are you?!! Do you know who I…!!”

“Do I need to know? I heard you’re trash that rolled in from the fallen Empire. Do I need any more information than that?”

“W-what?!!”

Gray hair, orange eyes. A considerably tall stature and sharp gaze. The man who had conspicuously torn off the door and dropped the fragments on the ground strode into the room and kicked over the fallen servant.

“Urgh…”

“Urgh my ass. Hey, did you hire people to kidnap others?”

“Ugh, y-yes…”

*THWACK!!*

“Guhak?!!”

“Good, then go back to sleep. When you wake up, you’ll be in a cell.”

Rundol swallowed hard at the sight of the man who acted and spoke so roughly that his well-fitted suit seemed out of place, and even the lesser demon floating behind him began to sense that something was wrong with the man’s unusual behavior. And then…

“What’s this? A demon? Level 22? What is that? How can a demon… No, was it summoned here?”

“Y-you!! How dare you come here…?!!”

*CRACK!!*

“Eek?!”

“Watch your mouth, pig. Where do you think you are to be kidnapping people? I heard this town already has trauma from kidnappings.”

The intact wine bottle that had been at his feet was casually kicked up and embedded like a sword right next to Rundol’s ear. If it had shattered, it would have been understandable, but seeing the bottle fly at an invisible speed and stick into the wall, Rundol fell over in terror.

[…I need to escape…]

“You think I’ll let you escape?”

*SHING.*

[?!!]

Though he hadn’t sensed anything before, suddenly a beautiful golden woman appeared, pressing a magic sword directly against the core in the smoke, her sharp blue eyes fixed on it, preventing the demon from escaping.

*Step, step. THUD!!*

“My brother and Judge Son are really angry today. So let’s make this easy, okay?”

“Guh, guhhh?!! D-demon…!! S-save…!!”

[W-what do you want? P-power? A wish? I-if you provide sacrifices, anything…!!]

*SWISH!!*

“Say one more stupid thing and I’ll split your core in half. Just answer my questions. The humans whose souls you’ve taken—can you spit them back out?”

Faced with the man and woman who seemed to ignore the words of the demon and the nobleman and said only what they wanted to say, both sensed that if they made the wrong choice here, they would definitely die.

[Y-yes! Who do you want?! I haven’t digested the souls of the sacrifices offered to me yet!! Do you have family members? If you tell me, if you bring their bodies, I can spit out the right souls…!!]

“All of them. Every single one, without exception. Otherwise.”

*Tap tap tap. RUMBLE!!!*

[…Huh?]

“Next, your core will be shattered like that wall. Now, I don’t have time to listen to useless talk, nor do I want to. Spit them out now!!”

The incredible swordsmanship that even the demon’s eyes couldn’t follow—the sword was clearly against its core, but it hadn’t felt the sword move or any magical power shift. Yet the wall crumbled like cookie crumbs. Faced with this situation and the terribly intense killing intent, the lesser demon had no choice but to agree to give up all the souls.

“W-wait!! M-my son!! My son is a well-known student at the Academy!! M-money!! I’ll give you money!! I’ll hire you…!!”

“What are you talking about? The demon said it would spit out the souls, so I have no business with you. I’ll just read you your sentence. Listen carefully.”

*SLAP!!!*

“⎯⎯⎯⎯?!!!”

Didn’t he say to listen carefully? The man’s action of suddenly slapping his cheek so hard that blood flowed from his ear confused even the demon. Naturally, the man slapped him again, rupturing both eardrums, then kicked the nobleman in the back as he screamed that he couldn’t hear anything, knocking him unconscious.

“Fuck. These nobodies are interrupting our date. Rey, all the souls have returned. Kill that thing too.”

“Yes!”

*SWISH!*

[But… Huh?!]

Even though it had returned the souls and offered no resistance, it was being killed by these incredibly strong humans, and it disappeared with only a sense of confusion. And as it died…

“Ah, I really need to scold Luxuria once.”

“Why? Don’t tell me…”

“This bastard, the lesser demon’s hierarchy is lust. I definitely need to discipline her.”

As they talked about disciplining the master of its hierarchy—words it couldn’t comprehend—the demon faded away.