36
Chapter 36
"Explain yourself."
The man, the Second Prince of the Empire, demanded.
However, the cigar he usually smoked was not in his mouth. Nor could one see his confident, arrogant expression that he maintained in any situation.
There was only a man with a flushed face, contorted like a fierce demon.
"I said explain what's going on!"
The man shouted, forgetting even his dignity.
It was only natural, in a way.
The report that came from below.
The Spell Formula left by Black Fang had activated.
With a tremendous sound, the image rose into the sky.
But that shouldn't have happened.
Such a thing should never have occurred.
After all, he had offered half his soul.
He had formed a contract, sacrificing even what could be called the most precious thing in the world—his own soul.
To ensure Black Fang could never spread such information to the Empire's citizens.
To prevent incitement.
However, it had no effect whatsoever.
Not only the content of the image, but even the memories of it should have vanished from everyone's minds.
Yet reports about the image's content kept coming in.
The Cognitive Alteration had not taken effect at all.
The implication was clear.
The contract he had formed, even sacrificing his soul, had produced no effect.
The Geas didn't work.
The restriction preventing Black Fang from transmitting information to others had no effect.
"Did you lie to me!"
The Second Prince shouted.
Before long, that demon appeared before him once again.
And the demon answered with a mischievous smile.
[You know this as well. In a contract, a demon never lies.]
That shameless attitude.
Naturally, the man's expression darkened.
"Didn't you say the Geas would work?"
The Second Prince spoke through gritted teeth.
But what came back was a calm reply.
[The Geas was certainly placed. It simply didn't take effect.]
The man's expression naturally contorted like a fierce demon.
He finally realized it. The demon had deceived him.
-The Geas can definitely be placed, right?
-Of course.
There was no lie in those words.
So it didn't technically violate the laws of the contract.
The demon had only confirmed that a Geas could be placed. He never said the Geas would actually work.
[I haven't told a single lie.]
Shamelessly, Asmodeus smiled even more unpleasantly than before as he said that.
A smile full of contempt and mockery.
Naturally, the Second Prince's face turned sour.
It was so blatantly obvious that the demon was mocking him that it would have been stranger not to notice.
He had already been thoroughly mocked by Black Fang as it was.
And to top it off, he had blown 20% of his soul on a momentary, idiotic mistake.
He felt like he could lose his mind at any moment.
Vile curses directed at Black Fang and that disgusting demon were on the verge of spilling from his lips.
But....
He hadn't reached this position without any ability.
"Phew..."
With a single deep breath, he somehow shook off his anguish.
His flushed face slowly returned to its normal color.
Thinking about it... this failure was largely due to acting too emotionally.
Black Fang was gradually growing into a threat to the Empire. Feeling threatened by that sight, he had prepared a plan, which was the catalyst for all these failures.
In his anxiety over falling behind Black Fang in terms of information, he had wasted two Holy Grails.
Furthermore, in the end, out of fear that he might be outwitted by Black Fang again if he didn't act quickly, he hadn't properly verified the contract.
It was a failure that could have been prevented if he had thought calmly and acted strategically.
Even knowing that failing to stay calm and acting emotionally was the root of the problem, he had once again surrendered his body to anger.
That was the behavior of a mere commoner.
It was absolutely unfitting for someone born to stand above others.
He couldn't afford to repeat his mistakes.
Once the problem was identified, he had to strive to solve it.
Rather than trembling with rage over his defeat, it was right to gather his wits and try to recoup his losses.
'Let's calmly assess the situation.'
In the end, the Geas hadn't worked.
That meant the rank of the Black Fang's Leader's soul far surpassed that of a Greater Demon.
......Thinking about it made him feel like everything was going black.
'I still have cards I can play.'
The man was certain of that.
It was only natural, in a way.
Looking over what had happened this time with his sharp mind... he found a way to break through the situation.
'The Black Market is far too intact.'
A few buildings did explode. But that was the work of the troops the Prince himself had sent.
Thinking about it, one strange point emerged.
Black Fang's Leader was definitely there. And naturally, the Archmage running the Black Market would have been there as well.
However, for two beings of that caliber to have fought... the Black Market was far too intact.
The Archmage was closer to a natural disaster than a human.
It was hard to imagine such a being had engaged in battle. If they had, that entire area would have been reduced to a wasteland.
In the end, there was only one possibility.
'An alliance.'
Black Fang already knew the plan he had set up.
The goal behind his actions this time.
It meant they had seen through his plan to drive a wedge between the troublesome Black Fang and the Archmage to make them fight each other.
If that was the case, he could roughly guess what Black Fang had done.
They explained the situation and instead pulled the Archmage into their own faction.
Then.......
'We have ways of dealing with this too.'
A method to bring the Archmage to his side and make them betray Black Fang was simple enough.
It was a secret that should never be revealed to outsiders... but he just needed to provide a part of the corpse in that facility.
The corpse of the Former Hero, Ian.
An object emitting the most horrific curse in this world.
Anyone walking the path of Black Magic would never be able to resist this temptation.
Just as the man was about to send Communication Magic to his subordinates—
[How about we talk for a moment.]
The demon suddenly muttered.
[It wasn't my intention, but I ended up deceiving you. So I'll share some useful information free of charge.]
He had just been massively scammed.
And now words from a demon who was smiling suspiciously, as if enjoying something.
Normally, he wouldn't have paid any attention.......
[I swear. The information I'm about to share contains not a single ounce of falsehood.]
Those words.
Having heard that, he could no longer ignore them.
It was only natural, in a way.
Demons were the strictest beings when it came to contracts. Once that was uttered, no matter how twisted that bastard's personality was, he had no choice but to believe him.
[You will likely never find the person you're looking for.]
"......What the hell are you talking about?"
[Because the man who ran the Black Market was killed by the human calling himself Black Fang's Leader.]
Instantly, the man's face went pale.
It was only natural, in a way.
He was quite sharp when it came to assessing situations.
Black Fang's Leader had killed the Archmage.
Yet, there were no signs of such a massive battle in the Black Market.
The implication was clear.
A fight had never actually taken place.
What had occurred between the two couldn't even be called a fight.
It was a one-sided massacre.
The strong simply taking the life of the weak.
A natural disaster.
An Archmage who was essentially a walking calamity.
Black Fang's Leader had effortlessly slaughtered a power capable of single-handedly rivaling a nation.
......In the end, the man's mind reached its breaking point.
"Cut the bullshit."
The words slipped out of his mouth.
He knew better.
With his noble status and position at the top, he shouldn't be using such vulgar language.
But even so, he couldn't hold it back.
Just what.......
Just what kind of monsters were those bastards?
They had an intelligence organization of 100,000 subordinates under their command, easily obtaining even the Imperial Family's secrets,
They had turned every scheme he devised against him to toy with him,
And they even killed an Archmage in the blink of an eye?
Overwhelming intel.
Overwhelming intellect.
Overwhelming strength.
It was impossible to comprehend through common sense.
Just why had such an organization suddenly appeared out of nowhere?
Just why were they so relentlessly getting in his way?
"I said cut the bullshit! Black Fang!!!"
*****
'Is someone talking about me?'
My ears were suddenly itching, which naturally made me think that, but...
Well, it was definitely just my imagination.
I've lived such an honest life.
Who would be badmouthing me behind my back?