episode_0009

-Gulp -Gulp

Returning to his hideout, Krok drank straight from the bottle.

The masked man who leisurely dodged by a hair’s breadth and landed a decisive blow to his abdomen.

Remembering that image, Krok suddenly threw the liquor bottle against the wall.

-Smash!

“Fuck…!!”

The liquor bottle shattered into pieces, scattering fragments across the floor.

Despite that, Krok’s rage showed no sign of subsiding.

Clutching his abdomen for a moment, he lowered his gaze.

The bandage wrapped the wound.

“Was there such a bastard under Mirnan?”

She was clearly a woman barely surviving with Oliver’s help.

That’s why he hadn’t expected her companion to possess such skill.

Moreover, that bastard picked the fight first.

With a sense of indignation, he reached out to drink more, but his hand cut through the air, grasping nothing.

Only then did the empty liquor bottles he had finished come into Krok’s sight.

“…….”

I just want to kill all of them.

Mirnan always looks at me with hateful eyes, but she’s disgustingly beautiful.

I’ve tried to make a move on her several times, but was rejected every time.

And Oliver.

I don’t like that attitude of his, always speaking as if I’m beneath him.

Living here means we’re all the same kind of people, but he alone acts like a virtuous person. Standing straight as if he’s not tainted is truly… truly so lofty it makes me want to kill him.

Finally, Flambus.

The spearman who always acts like a lone wolf and a scoundrel.

I don’t like that bastard who operates without keeping any subordinates from the start.

He’s the guy who killed some of my subordinates and still brazenly does what he pleases.

But what’s most infuriating is that he’s too strong to take action against, I can’t even interfere.

Just as the surging anger made him lose his reason and he was about to smash everything in sight-

“Negative energy overflows.”

A voice that felt bizarre yet strangely alluring was heard from the air.

At that sound, Krok sprang up from his seat.

The voice that came with a sudden ominous aura that descended upon him.

-Swish -Swish

There is no one around.

Thinking he might have heard a hallucination, he was about to sit back down, but-

“You, don’t you want to resolve that indignation?”

Before he knew it, the voice was heard again from behind.

When Krok whipped his head around, a shadow was taking shape and shimmering.

“……Where did you come in from?”

At the inexplicable sight, Krok shook off his drunkenness.

Then, picking up the double-edged axe placed beside him, as he was about to enter a combat stance, it hardened its expression.

“Who do you dare show hostility to?”

The shadow raised something in the shape of an arm and quietly murmured towards Krok.

[Kneel]

“Keuk…!”

Upon hearing the voice mixed with bizarre noise, Krok’s knees were driven into the ground.

This is already the second time just today.

That I’ve knelt so powerlessly.

In unbearable rage, Krok gnashed his teeth.

Regardless of such a reaction, the shadow just kept talking.

“Tsk, as expected, the consumption of demonic energy is too severe in the Mortal Realm. How am I supposed to stay in a place like this?”

“Demonic energy…?”

“Come to think of it, I haven’t introduced myself.”

The shadow had no expression, but in this moment. Krok was certain it was wearing a deep smile.

“My name is Gadlak. I am a loyal servant who serves Lord Diabolos, one of the Great Seven Kings.”

“……A demon, then.”

“That’s right. And I have been watching you for a long time.”

The demon looked at the kneeling Krok and extended a hand.

“I see immense rage, jealousy, and lust within you.”

“Shut up……!”

“Why don’t you listen until I finish? If I close that mouth of yours too, we won’t be able to converse.”

Krok also knew about demons.

A race the Empire is putting their heart and soul into eradicating.

Their biggest characteristic is… that they harbor wickedness, deceiving people and tricking them to gain something in return.

I’ve heard that most of the wars that have happened were their doing.

What business could such a demon have with him?

Surely not… to kill me?

When his thoughts reached that point, fear dwelled in Krok’s eyes.

The demon sneered at the sight and cackled.

“If I were going to kill you, I would have done it a long time ago. Don’t tremble like a puppy who wet itself.”

“…What do you want?”

The shadow demon that appeared before Krok.

Only then, as if he would say what he wanted, he moved something that could be called a mouth, with satisfaction.

“The lives of all the slaves you own. Offer that to me as a sacrifice.”

“Ha…! You want me to hand over all my business assets?”

“You know about contracts, right? If you pay the price, I will give you a reward corresponding to that.”

“…A reward?”

At those words, the demon wore a deep smile and whispered into Krok’s ear.

“I will give you the power to live here, lording over others without being wary of anyone.”

***

While Owen moved to the conference hall, Idis, who had woken up from sleep, slowly opened her eyes.

Although it was a short period of three hours, she had a proper deep sleep after a long time.

Dreamy and half-asleep from her dream, she suddenly mumbled.

“It wasn’t a nightmare….”

The nightmare that always relentlessly chased her.

But for today, she had a comfortable dream without a nightmare.

‘It was a wondrous world.’

Mechanical devices roamed the world, and people wore clothing that looked wondrous yet comfortable.

Normally, dreams are supposed to jumble and intertwine fragments remaining in one’s memory….

But the dream she had this time unfolded a world Idis had never seen before.

Everything was new and wondrous.

If asked if she was happy, she couldn’t answer clearly, but at least it wasn’t as terrible as a nightmare.

-Slowly

Idis, who was still half-asleep within the boundary between dream and reality, naturally raised her body.

But-

-Thud

“Ugh…!”

As soon as she got up from the bed, her body collapsed from the feeling of exhaustion.

She braced herself with her hands to avoid colliding with the floor, but intense pain struck her mind.

“Huh?”

Only then did Idis look down at her hands.

Both hands wrapped tightly in white bandages.

Idis, who was half-asleep, suddenly became alert.

“Owen.”

In the last moment, the figure of Owen who was covering her hands is not visible.

Even though the feeling of exhaustion dominated her body, Idis forcibly raised herself.

When wizards first release mana, they usually feel a similar sense of exhaustion.

The degree varies from person to person, but in Idis’s case, the exhaustion was likely severe enough that she couldn’t control her body.

It was like a newborn baby who couldn’t even take its first steps trying to run.

Despite the exhaustion that clearly should have prevented her from getting up, Idis moved her body.

Wondrous willpower was making her take one step, then two.

“Where did he go? Where on earth did he go?”

The interior is clean.

If mana had exploded, it absolutely wouldn’t be intact, but everything that came into Idis’s sight was exactly as it was before.

She didn’t think that event was a dream.

Because the pain felt in her palms was real, without pretense.

-Crackling -Crackling

Just then, firewood burning in the fireplace came into Idis’s sight.

Before she closed her eyes, the fire in the fireplace had almost died out.

The fact that it was still burning, when the fire should have gone out a long time ago, also meant someone had added firewood to the fireplace.

The person who visits this place.

The person who wrapped bandages around her hands while she slept and added firewood so she wouldn’t be cold.

“Owen….”

Judging by the circumstances, she concluded that Owen would be safe.

What bothered her was… the vertically slit yellow eyes she had seen in the final moment, but she decided not to mind it.

He is a person with many secrets.

He’s also a person who always speaks vaguely and doesn’t reveal himself.

She had a strong intuition that those eyes were clearly what he wanted to hide the most.

Even though she was curious…… she didn’t particularly want to find out.

Asking about secrets someone is hiding, doesn’t suit her nature.

-Bang! -Bang!

Just then, the sound of someone pounding violently on the door from outside was heard.

-Flinch

At that sound, Idis flinched without realizing it.

The sound she had heard every day where she was held captive.

Three days was too short a time to erase the deeply imprinted fear.

Idis held her breath and suppressed her presence.

It was also a desperate act to hide the fact that she was here.

However-

-CRACK!!

As Idis didn’t react and held her breath, a hand clad in an iron gauntlet pierced the wooden door.

The hand that came in like that fumbled around, searching for the doorknob.

However, no matter how much the hand moved, it couldn’t find the doorknob, so it soon tore off the wooden door entirely.

-Bang!

As the wooden door was torn off and thrown to the floor like that, the figure of a woman with indigo hair wearing white armor was revealed.

Kali Flonens, the captain of the White-Winged Knights.

She strode towards Idis, who was barely standing, her face deeply furrowed in a frown.

“Who is it- Kyaak!”

-Clench!

She grabbed Idis by the collar, who was swaying because she hadn’t yet recovered from the exhaustion.

With veins throbbing on her forehead and coldly emitting fury, she finally opened her mouth.

“…Answer the questions I ask you from now on without lies.”

“What are you-”

“Didn’t I tell you to answer the questions?”

“Keheuk…!”

Kali lifted Idis so high she couldn’t breathe, then threw her straight to the floor.

Normally she would have resisted, but Idis had no strength left for that.

Looking around the interior of the room, Kali said coldly towards Idis.

“You, did you summon a demon?”

“Cough…! A demon- What the hell are you talking about!!”

This is the first I’ve heard of it.

The word ‘demon’ was a word distant from Idis.

She had never encountered one even once in her life, nor had she ever heard stories about them.

Looking at Idis, who spoke as if she truly didn’t know, Kali let out a scoff.

“Whether it’s a lie or not, I’ll go and check.”

-Whack!

Kali struck the back of Idis’s neck directly.

At the incredibly fast speed, Idis couldn’t even resist and collapsed.

“…Tsk, what on earth would someone so young try to do.”

Kali looked at Idis with genuine pity, then hoisted her onto her shoulder as she was.

No demonic energy or negative aura was felt from her, but that doesn’t mean she could let her go without any investigation.

Having joined the knights, she had encountered countless demon worshippers, but she had never felt such a terrible demonic energy before.

Even if this person is truly unrelated, this cannot be helped.

As a knight protecting the Empire, she had to grasp the nature of this phenomenon.

-Stomp -Stomp

Just then, the sound of someone walking from outside the door was heard.

She thought onlookers might have gathered since she had made a disturbance, but the one who arrived was just one person.

“Oh!!”

His hair was swept back cleanly, revealing his forehead, and his forearms were lined with numerous scars and wounds.

Most notable was the blackish-red spear slung over his back.

He looked at Kali and Idis slung over her shoulder, then shouted heartily.

“Coming here after a long time, I see two unwelcome guests!!”

“You are…?”

“I am Flambus!”

He shouted a single word, then grabbed the spear he was carrying.

-Whoosh!

The man who grabbed his spear and took stance in an instant showed absolutely no openings.

Moreover, those fiery, passionate eyes.

As if purely enjoying this situation, madness shimmered in his eyes.

He pointed his spear at Kali and shouted heartily.

“10-meter radius!! Unknown unwelcome guest!! Try to cross this gap!!”