Ch.51Basilisk (1)

It happened when I was diligently handling administrative work with Charlotte, confined to the office after dispatching Corin.

“Lord Alzar, regarding this matter….”

“…Ah, I’ll leave that issue to you. Since I’m still quite ignorant about administrative matters, I might cause more problems if I interfere.”

My approach to work was to make decisions only within the broad framework I could handle, delegating the detailed processing to Charlotte.

Of course, I was diligently learning administrative tasks and calculations, but there was no point in meddling with administrative work I couldn’t yet handle properly.

Anyway, we were processing work in the office, which had been created by expanding and renovating a house built in the center of the village.

The newly constructed second floor was being used as my private residence, while the first floor served as the office that handled all the village’s administrative affairs.

After sitting at my desk, struggling with several unfamiliar documents for quite some time…

“That’s all for today.”

“…Ah. We’re done. Yes, thank you, Charlotte.”

“Yes, Lord Alzar. Rest well.”

Since there couldn’t be much administrative work for a single village, I finished today’s tasks and climbed up the creaking stairs, suffering from a headache caused by overexertion.

-Creak, creak, creak… clatter.

Upon entering my second-floor room, I immediately threw off my cumbersome outer garments and armor, then hurled myself with all my might toward the soft, waiting bed….

‘Ahhh… I can live again….’

After lying there for several minutes, cooling my mind, I suddenly realized that ‘Gluttony’ had been unusually quiet lately.

Come to think of it, since that goblin cultist village incident, ‘Gluttony’ and its minions, who had been so aggressive during the early settlement period, had recently become notably quiet and hadn’t been causing any trouble.

“…What are they plotting?”

Therefore, my first thought was… that this silence might be them hiding in the darkness to gain momentum for their schemes later—in other words, temporarily concealing themselves to devise an even greater plan.

The thought processes and behavioral principles of demons clearly differ greatly from humans, and considering this, it’s impossible for a demon to give up on its target.

Its essence is ultimately nothing more than committing ‘evil,’ and all demonic actions are thoroughly focused on that, aren’t they?

So, as I was worrying about whether these relentless creatures might be plotting something to target me….

‘…Ah, could this be it?’

I reached the conclusion that the answer to this problem might exist in a surprisingly simple place.

In other words, I wondered if they might be unable to move because they had completely exhausted their capacity to cause me trouble.

Demons, not being native to this world, cannot exert any influence merely through their power, no matter how mighty they might be in the demon realm.

It’s like a beast in a zoo cage. No matter how much strength a beast possesses to tear apart and crush humans, it can never harm spectators because the bars block it, right?

By exactly the same principle, demons (beasts) by themselves cannot exert any influence as they are blocked by the barrier (bars) that maintains the world’s order.

Of course, despite this reality, there are reasons why demons can endlessly exert influence on this world.

One is the intense emotions contained in the souls of sentient beings, and the unique wavelengths generated when these resonate with magical power.

When magic’s unique ‘property of manifesting will’ reacts with certain emotions—not ordinary ones, but extremely intense and sharp ones—magic sometimes arbitrarily pulls demons, which are essentially those emotions themselves, into reality.

Of course, this method is an extremely rare exception that only occurs when emotions escalate to extreme levels beyond the normal range, or when the subject’s black magic aptitude can forcibly achieve this….

Most demons use passages opened in the way described above to pour in their influence, and based on this slight influence, they drive in wedges that can be considered anchors in the world.

Through this, demons establish channels to intervene in that world, and use these channels to cultivate followers (contractors) as biological conduits….

Looking back, there are no means around me for them to interfere in such ways, are there?

I personally swept away the cultist group they had planted nearby, and I was able to detect and suppress potential threats early, even those I hadn’t consciously recognized.

Besides, there have been several apparent attempts to do something to me, but each time, haven’t I blocked them and crushed their plots?

Particularly, the collapse of the goblin cultist village, which they had likely prepared by pouring all their available resources into, is probably why they haven’t been able to approach me even after several weeks.

Additionally, strictly speaking, my ‘trait absorption’ ability doesn’t serve as such a channel either.

My ability is related to consumption, and while it may outwardly appear to be an ability inherited from ‘Gluttony,’ from what I’ve understood, this ‘trait absorption’ ability, though influenced by ‘Gluttony,’ is fundamentally a power originating from me.

Even if the reason I possess this ability might be ‘Gluttony’s’ intention, the ability itself is entirely mine, so there’s no need to worry about the enemies’ influence.

Of course, if the traits I absorb with this ability include ‘Gluttony’s’ power, I would be affected by it.

Anyway, after burying myself in the blanket and continuing these useless worries for a while, I eventually shook my head and got up from the bed.

My overworked brain had cooled down somewhat, so I thought I’d go review the documents left in the office downstairs.

-Creak, creak, creak, creak….

Descending the squeaky stairs, I arrived at the first-floor office, the temporary government office, and sat down at my prepared seat, intending to read some documents on the desk….

‘…Hmm?’

Just then, through my intuition, I sensed something non-hostile approaching rapidly nearby. As I was watching the door, suddenly the building’s only door burst open, and a familiar face entered.

‘Felix Jäger?’

The hunter Felix Jäger, characterized by the fur cloak he wears year-round, approached me urgently with a stiff expression.

Of course, judging by his expression and atmosphere, it didn’t seem like an emergency requiring immediate action, but it would be premature to interpret the situation entirely positively.

“What’s the matter? Coming in such a hurry.”

After I cautiously questioned him, who seemed somewhat anxious, I noticed that he was carrying something wrapped in cloth. Noticing my gaze, he showed me the cloth-wrapped object and said:

“My lord, here. I found this today while patrolling deeper into the forest.”

“This is….”

The identity of the cloth-wrapped object that Felix claimed to have found in the forest was an intricately carved stone figure in the shape of a bird.

This sculpture, which looked as if it might come to life and move vigorously at any moment, was impressive… the sculpture was…

No, wait. Is this really a sculpture?

“…Felix Jäger. Could this possibly be what I think it is?”

“Yes. There’s a high possibility, Lord Alzar.”

After I voiced my sudden suspicion about this sculpture(?), Felix confirmed my guess and slightly stabbed a dagger into the top of the small bird statue.

Then, cracks suddenly appeared on what had seemed to be a surface made entirely of stone, and the dagger pierced through, stabbing the contents of the bird statue(?)….

-Squelch!

From the statue, no—from the body of the bird that had been petrified with its surface hardened like real stone—fresh, red blood with a pungent smell began to flow from the hole.

In other words, this bird had only been hardened like stone but had been alive until just moments ago.

And among the creatures with the ability to petrify targets while keeping them alive, if we consider those that might appear in this area….

“…A basilisk?”

“Yes. I believe that creature is responsible for this phenomenon.”

We both shared the same opinion that it might be a basilisk-type magical beast, a representative of the upper-middle tier magical beasts.