Chapter 92: D-Rank Labyrinth — Cherry Cherry Orchard (4)
Chapter 92: D-Rank Labyrinth — Cherry Cherry Orchard (4)
“What on earth… was that…?”
The scheming demon, dragged over while bound by Rosalia after trying to flee, muttered weakly.
“It was nothing special.”
—It was nothing special!
“Thank you for your service. You may go back now.”
—Ah! Please don’t put me back in there! The subspace is so boring and cramped!
As a side effect of absorbing too much lightning, the golem’s head had grown dangerously hot, so I quickly stored it back into subspace.
“Kar, are you feeling a little better?”
“Of course I’m perfectly fine.”
Naturally, my entire body was aching, so I asked Lucius for healing.
Unfortunately, the Third-Tier Mystery Sin: Gluttony does not apply its effects to potions or divine power, so a priest is absolutely required for rapid recovery.
“How’s our strength, you bastard!”
Bartimir, returning while retying the bandages around both hands, stomped hard on the scheming demon’s head.
“….”
Rosalia silently moved about, dragging over the mohawk demon with the gouged-out eyes and the limp beastman as well, binding them all together.
The completely charred orc had also been tossed roughly to the side.
“Kar, what should we do with these people now?”
“There are two possible answers. One suitable for young people, and one suitable for adults. Which would you prefer?”
“The latter.”
“We’ll embrace them with love and hope.”
“…Then what’s the first one?”
I glanced at the temporary altar created by the Full-Moon Slayer and answered.
“We will offer one of them.”
Three choices, no less.
For the first time, the Evil Gods would be able to enjoy choosing from a selection.
“Hmm… Is it really okay to perform a sacrificial offering in front of Priest Lucius?”
“It is fine, Lady Marlin.”
Lucius smiled gently.
“To be precise, I am fine with it. Some brothers and sisters dislike it.”
“You follow the same Harmony Church but think differently?”
“That is correct. My position is that beings who harm harmony—such as outlaws—may be offered as sacrifices. However, some believe that cultists, who are the root of disharmony, should all be eliminated.”
“…I see.”
Marlin cast a worried look toward me.
“Don’t worry. When they say ‘eliminate,’ it simply means imprisoning them forever in a heretic detention facility. Arteine does not wish cultists to be killed.”
“…That’s really reassuring.”
While patting Marlin’s anxious shoulder, I summoned the Blind Crow, which had been pecking at eyeball fragments on the ground.
“Which one should we send to the side of the great divine being?”
—Caw!
The Blind Crow quickly returned.
With the scheming demon who had been interfering with information reading defeated, the text appeared clearly before my eyes again.
I examined the condition of each possible offering in turn.
《Monster Warrior Demon Marcente (Demon, age 24). I already ate both of his eyes, he’s soaked in poison, and he even smells like monster flesh. At best, if you roast the drowned kelpie lower body he turned into, gloomy Leria might like it a little.》
The condition was far too miserable.
Rejected.
《The corpse of Ranger Orc Makon (Red Orc, age 27). Already burned to a crisp, so it has no value as an offering. Even filthy Sue’je would dislike how ugly it looks.》
《Scheming Demon Bikfaki (Demon, age 28). As expected of a demon, the appearance is moderately balanced, so Sue’je might like it a little. However, schemers contain dirty knowledge in their bodies, which the wise one does not prefer.》
Neither of them had much value as an offering.
Finally, I pulled back the beastman’s hood.
His appearance resembled a German shepherd.
《Beast Tamer Pierre (Dog Beastman, age 22). Quite a handsome face, a hunter who isn’t too tough, and a beastman perfect for roasting! Not only the wise one, but even the other worthless Evil Gods would probably enjoy this one!》
“….”
I had found the perfect outlaw optimized for a living sacrificial ritual.
But something else caught my attention even more strongly.
Pierre…?
The third of the “Le” family.
Pierre, the dog-beastman beast tamer.
The sub-character I created after nine thousand hours of playtime was standing right in front of me.
For a moment I nearly panicked in a rather uncool way—why are you here of all places?—but after thinking about it, it actually made sense.
《This bastard belongs to the Hyena Guild under the Silent Alliance—the same alliance the Black Sword Guild belonged to. It seems he attempted the raid from the beginning as revenge!》
Pierre had originally been raised as an outlaw-type hunter.
Since he belonged to the Hyena Guild within the Silent Alliance, I had expected that someday he might ambush me in a labyrinth to attempt a robbery.
Apparently that day was today.
Even reacting to Rosalia’s ambush—she was a Level-6 assassin—and fighting her on equal terms finally made sense.
He was a hunter of the “Le” family. That level of ability was only natural.
And I realized another important fact.
“You.”
I crouched down and looked into Pierre’s brilliant orange eyes.
Emotionless eyes devoid of any feeling.
“You didn’t fight with your full strength. Am I right?”
“….”
Thinking about it again, the snowfield wolf Flonos had been defeated too easily.
He hadn’t even used the powerful Mystery Wolf Pack Blizzard, which could freeze the entire battlefield.
Considering his astonishing reaction speed, he could definitely have dodged Marlin’s throwing dagger as well.
“…You noticed well.”
Pierre, lying on his side, grinned and revealed his teeth.
“That’s correct. I held back a bit. If I had fought properly, I could easily have taken that assassin’s head.”
“….”
Rosalia glared coldly at the dog-beastman hunter, apparently offended.
Even with killing intent pressing down on him, Pierre continued speaking calmly.
“But I chose not to. The goal wasn’t robbery, so weakening a strong opponent’s strength would only cause losses later.”
“…What are you talking about?”
Bartimir frowned.
In other words, it meant this.
“He wants to attack explorers only when they are in perfect condition.”
“Why?”
“That way both sides can clash equally, without excuses or injuries. If the advantage is too large, it isn’t fun.”
“Ah.”
“…What part of that is ‘ah’? Priest, do you understand this?”
Lucius simply smiled gently when Marlin looked at him.
“If it wasn’t robbery, then what was your goal?”
“Half-elf Kar. I came to negotiate with you.”
Pierre slowly pushed his upper body up and stared directly into my eyes with a faint smile.
“I will hand over the garbage outlaws belonging to the Silent Alliance to you. You may offer them as living sacrifices.”
Pierre.
I had many things to discuss with the third brother, but for now we decided to hold our negotiations outside the labyrinth.
Negotiations can only be conducted properly when both sides are in good condition.
“Patron.”
Abel, who had quietly focused on cooking during the entire battle, spoke up.
“The meal is ready.”
“…Were you imitating me just now?”
“I’ve been caught. I thought it sounded rather cool.”
After ruffling Abel’s hair, I gestured to the gathered companions.
“Let’s leave the outlaws alone for now and eat. It’s a vacation, after all.”
Thus the belated dinner began.
The menu was fruit-bird vegetable stew.
The meat tasted reminiscent of chicken, and the vegetables retained their natural freshness. The combination was far more delicious than expected.
“Abel, your skills improved after becoming a cook-class!”
Marlin kept scraping her bowl clean while praising him repeatedly, so I gave her more than half of my portion.
After eating just a thumb-sized piece of meat, I was already full and couldn’t eat any more.
Meanwhile, the others even finished fruit for dessert.
“Did everyone enjoy the meal?”
“Yes!”
“I’m a demon so I can’t really tell, but it’s quite good.”
“….”
Everyone seemed satisfied.
Lucius, who had probably eaten nothing but bland monastery meals for a long time, was especially impressed as he looked at Abel.
“It’s about time to sleep.”
Perhaps because it was late, even the moon in the sky seemed to be nodding off.
The fight with the outlaws had wasted quite a bit of time, which was unfortunate, but it was finally time to head into dreamland.
“If you’re sleepy, go in and sleep first.”
I still had some work to finish.
First, the offering ritual.
“…Mmph—!”
I seated the naked scheming demon, mouth bound shut, upright on the temporary altar and placed his hands on his knees.
Then I straightened his back.
Just like a martial artist practicing breathing exercises.
“Patron, it would be better to scatter this around.”
Abel offered a good suggestion.
He spread the beautiful flowers he had collected around the demon.
It looked as if he were meditating in a flower field.
“In addition, we should trim the hair a bit. It’s far too messy.”
“Shall I give you scissors?”
Lucius pulled out a pair of scissors from the subspace of his rosary.
“…Thank you.”
Abel cut the demon’s hair with the scissors Lucius handed him.
The previously neglected hairstyle suddenly looked neat.
“Patron, how does this look?”
“Much better.”
While adjusting the newly tidy hair with my hand, I asked Lucius another question.
“Do you happen to have cosmetics?”
“Yes, I do.”
The sleepy-eyed priest immediately took out natural cosmetics.
I had no idea why a priest carried such things, but it helped a lot.
Using my skills, I decorated the offering’s face nicely.
When offering a living sacrifice to Sue’je, such external details had to be carefully prepared.
“…What exactly are you doing?”
“Do you want makeup too, Marlin?”
“No thanks.”
After carefully decorating him, the scheming demon looked incomparably cleaner than before.
“What about naming the offering dish… ‘Monk in the Flower Field’?”
“Not bad. I especially like how completely unfitting it is for a schemer.”
The Evil God liked fresh living sacrifices—beautiful ones eaten raw like sashimi.
The offering for the exalted one was complete.
“Sue’je, the meal is ready.”
Crackle!
“Mmph… mmph!”
Lightning erupted from the tattoo near my collarbone and swallowed the struggling demon whole.
His entire body burst into flames in an instant.
【Ahahahahaha!】
Sue’je, having finished the elegant meal, expressed satisfaction with booming laughter as usual.
【Kar! My pretty one! If I could descend to the surface, I’d hug you!】
“Is that so?”
I pulled aside the Sky Invader, exposing bare skin.
The presence of the exalted one briefly faded far away before returning.
“This small and delicate body of mine is always ready, exalted one.”
【Ahahaha! Why do you always do such adorable things?】
I allowed the lightning dancing around my cheeks and lips to remain uncontrolled while speaking my desired reward.
“Please grant me the Fourth-Tier Mystery Thunder Dududung.”
Among the two domains governed by Sue’je, this belonged not to violent thunderclouds but to corrupted authority.
Its effect was a flexible alteration of impressions.
Based on the Charm stat, it increases the success rates of persuasion, intimidation, fascination, deception, and other dialogue-based interactions.
It was the Mystery that suited a half-elf who had nothing to rely on except beauty.
Crackle!
A small spark of lightning flickered near my collarbone as the new Mystery settled into my body.
【I’m leaving! And keep practicing your faith exactly like this!】
As soon as the presence of the exalted one disappeared, I asked the ritual assistant:
“How do I look?”
“….”
Abel studied me up and down for a while before answering.
“You seem… somehow more imposing? Strong? Something like that.”
Even a well-read twelve-year-old had limits to vocabulary.
When I asked the other members, they each gave different answers.
“You seem more reliable somehow.”
“…You look smaller.”
“Your gaze feels stronger.”
“You now give off a slightly more noble aura.”
Depending on what aspect each person focused on, the impression changed differently.
But every change worked in my favor.
《So that Mystery was obtained in preparation for negotiating with the outlaw Pierre. The wise one grumbles that while it isn’t a bad choice, a Mystery of Twisted Truth would have been more useful.》
Wriggle…
While calming the complaints of the other two Evil Gods, I proceeded with the next task.
Whoosh!
A fierce flame engulfed the corpses of the already-dead orc and the mohawk demon I had just finished off.
Then a miracle occurred.
—U… uh…
—Ah… ah…
The dead outlaws slowly stood up.
Resurrection.
No—walking corpses.
Undead raised by a cultist of Lonely Silence.
They were the dead.
They had been raised by the effect of the Third-Tier Sa · Yeom · Hwa.
“Although we met as enemies, we are now companions. Let’s get along well.”
After patting the shoulders of the two undead, I moved on to the final task.
Abel quickly arranged the items taken from the dead outlaws before me.
After removing the useful ones, three spoils remained.
《Masterpiece — Peeping Eyeball》
《Annoying artisan bastards copied the effect of my Eye That Perceives Truth and made this information-detection tool. Crush it immediately!》
It was useless to me—but not to others.
“Marlin, you should take this.”
With her high Sense stat and thief-type miscellaneous skills, Marlin was the perfect owner.
The other two items were also masterpiece-grade: the ranger orc’s bow and the monster warrior demon’s sword.
The sword would go to Pendrick, and the bow could be saved for a talented recruit later.
After confirming the spoils, I wiped the sweat from my forehead with satisfaction.
Refreshing.
I had enjoyed a vacation, fought a battle, defeated outlaws, and gained decent rewards.
Only one task remained.
Let’s finish the exploration properly.
And that was the easiest and most enjoyable part.