Cooperation
Cooperation
By the time the heresy inquisitors who had lost consciousness regained their senses and were briefed by the Saintess, maintaining a neutral stance, the exploration of the cultist den had begun to near its end.
Thanks to the corpses drained clean of blood, we finished the search easily, but we had to shuttle back and forth between our initial campsite and the cultist den several times to haul the spoils. The amount was substantial, likely because they had diligently collected anything that seemed valuable from the belongings of the victims they'd sacrificed.
What was even more surprising was that despite losing thirty horses because of me, there were still ten horses left.
"There might have been a group sponsoring these bastards."
Gaendal's somber mutter was entirely reasonable. Some might have escaped on horseback in battle, but the upkeep costs for forty horses were no laughing matter. The fact that they had a separate stockpile of sacrifices also suggested they were likely involved in dealings with fences or other illegal factions.
"It'd be better to inform the guild about this later and talk it over."
Sen had apparently reached a similar conclusion, as he nodded and spoke. It could be a simple fence, or it could be a systematized demon-worshipping group, so issuing a warning would be for the best. Since we were overflowing with spoils anyway, unlike when we came, we were forced to stop at a suitable city, so we decided to pass on the information then.
While we hauled all the spoils back to camp, sorted, and organized them, I showed the byproduct the demon left behind to Seneran, and she gave a rather intriguing answer.
"That's a byproduct that demons sometimes leave behind when they die."
Even without any explanation, just by being shown it, Seneran precisely identified the disgusting lump's nature, though she showed little interest as she turned it over this way and that.
"You're remarkably nonchalant about examining such a revolting piece of flesh."
She was meticulously inspecting a chunk that looked like it could squirm and move at any moment, which struck me as impressive, so I couldn't help but interject. Seneran gave me a strange look and asked back,
"I didn't expect you of all people to say that. Don't you think the corpses of people you've sliced apart with your own hands are more disgusting?"
"That's just waste matter left behind by a demon spawn who's nothing but dumpster fire kindling. Comparing a natural aversion to a corpse, which is undeniably part of the world, to some evil entity that shouldn't exist in this world—I'd say that's offensive."
"Wow, I've never seen someone react as if their soul was imprinted with hatred for demons the way you do. Even the heresy inquisitors of the Demon God Church, who are actual clergy, have a milder reaction than yours."
Indeed, rather than agreeing with me, the Saintess was looking at my demon loathing with as much wonder as Seneran was.
No, seriously. These bastards are worse than cockroaches and mosquitoes combined—isn't my reaction the perfectly normal one? I just couldn't grasp it.
"Anyway, setting aside your personal tastes, this is an extremely valuable item."
As she carefully examined the lump that looked no different from a turd some bastard had taken a dump and left behind in my eyes, Seneran continued.
"You've fought one yourself, so you know how tough a manifested demon's body is. It looks like a living creature from the outside, but in reality it's closer to an artificial construct made from Magic Power. The problem is that when demons die, they often leave neither a corpse nor even proper fragments behind, which makes demon-hunting a terrible business proposition in several ways."
That was why for demon subjugation requests, the standard practice was to provide recording devices made by the Magic Library to thoroughly vetted adventurers and then use those recordings as proof of completion. I'd heard that in regions where such equipment support wasn't feasible, payment was often withheld, and an investigation unit was dispatched after the subjugation until definitive traces were found.
There were even frequent cases of people trying to swindle adventurers under that pretext, only for their skulls to be split from the crown down—so Seneran's assessment was fairly accurate, I'd say.
"A tiny fraction of demons leave these behind, but no one knows exactly why. They show up too inconsistently to correlate cleanly with how strong the demon was. Some theorize that rushing the process of gathering Magic Power to form a body means that's much more likely... but that isn't what's important right now."
What she said next, muttering dismissively as if digging wax out of her ear, was shocking content that didn't match her casual attitude in the slightest.
"What matters is that it's a byproduct that large and still contains Magic Power. Put it up for auction and bidding would start above five trade gold coins."
"...Huh? What?"
Did I hear that wrong? I thought I heard 'trade gold coins'?
The fact that everyone else who had been sorting items nearby simultaneously turned their heads toward us suggested I had heard correctly. Seneran, utterly indifferent to their reactions, tossed the demon byproduct to me with a light motion as if playing catch, and I frantically caught it with my whole body for fear of dropping and damaging it.
Now it began to look like a gold nugget rather than a turd, and I couldn't feel the slightest disgust!
"It's an item with established demand but insufficient supply... ah, is that word a bit difficult for you?"
"I know that much. More than that, I just can't wrap my head around how this could be such a hot commodity."
How dare she try to flex academically on a modern university graduate with nothing more than the words 'supply and demand.' My modern pride almost took a hit, so I stared at her sourly. Seneran, apparently already bored with the byproduct, shuffled over and lay down on her sleeping bag. She'd been firing off some spectacular magic earlier, so she must have been pretty tired.
"To some mages, you can think of it as being like a gemstone. Since it's for research, not decoration, it's a consumable, and it's hard to get, but every item that comes out gets consumed and disappears—so of course it's expensive."
She treats a thing like that so carelessly? Truly worthy of the title Golden Mage.
I wanted to ask what exactly it was used for to be so popular, but since the others who'd overheard our conversation flocked over to gawk at the byproduct, creating a chaotic atmosphere anyway, I handed the demon byproduct over to Mr. Gaendal and decided to slip away for the time being.
"Well then, Heresy Inquisitor Deoni Bire? Shall we get some rest for now and discuss the details after consulting with your companions?"
"Bire is sufficient, Eldmia. For now... I think that would be best. I also need some time to think things over."
The Saintess, having concluded with a light bow of her head, headed toward the tent the other heresy inquisitors were diligently setting up.
Since it was late anyway, sleeping on it and talking with a clear head would be better. I was also tired in many ways, so I headed for the tent where Asilie was.
"Is the talk over?"
Asilie, who had been lying down as if asleep with her shoes off, recognized me from the sound of my approaching footsteps and opened her eyes. She had also overexerted herself by using spirit arts and magic at the same time, so she had lain down to rest first.
Seeing that Rellie and Merdela were in similar states, it might have become troublesome in various ways if we hadn't ended it quickly.
"Yeah. We'll probably talk specifics tomorrow. We were all tired today, so we wrapped it up early."
"Hmm. Why did people suddenly get so noisy?"
"The demon we caught today dropped something, and it turned out to be an incredibly expensive item. At least five trade gold coins, apparently? Everyone's crowding around because it's so fascinating."
As I took off my shoes, roughly stripped off my equipment, and lay down beside her, Asilie wiggled to make some space and let out a soft laugh, surprised by the sum.
"Eldi really does get swept up in incidents everywhere he goes. Still, I guess we can call it fortunate that a big reward came along this time?"
"It's fortunate, at least? Honestly, I'm counting myself lucky that we brought Gaendal's group and Sen's group along. If it were just us, we wouldn't have been able to secure most of those items."
"Worrying about the spoils rather than how tough the fight was—was it not so hard this time, Eldi? It was a demon, after all."
"Hmm... honestly, yeah."
Because the demon was a matchup close to being an extreme hard counter, I simply pummeled it one-sidedly as soon as the actual fight started, and while the cultists had some skill with a blade, they ultimately couldn't overcome the limits of being deserters. Even the ones who could be considered variables were instantly crushed the moment the Saintess's group appeared.
Since the topic came up, I decided to tell Asilie the story of facing the demon and about the Saintess. Asilie quietly listened to the story that I might be an extreme hard counter to demons, and that the god I had been somewhat believing in and praying to up until now was actually the Demon God Epaga, then nodded with a 'hmm' sound.
"That could be the case."
Since it was still hard to tell her everything, I had skipped quite a bit of content, but her reaction was so natural that I was the one who became puzzled.
"Aren't you accepting that a bit too easily?"
"Honestly, I didn't think it made any sense from the start that you could use Magic Power at all. Hearing that the Demonfolk's god blessed you actually makes it easier to accept."
Ah. Quite sound and reasonable, that.