The Holy Relic Knows the Answer (5)
The Holy Relic Knows the Answer (5)
I didn't know it would end like this…
During a clash with the remnants, while I was distracted for a moment, the bastard died.
He followed orders well, so I planned to use him as much as possible, but he turned into a cold corpse.
The reason was the sin of letting an outsider into their base.
They eliminated him before he could turn and side with me.
He grumbled, but he was the top contributor who got me this far. What a shame.
With that, there was nothing left to think about, so I cleaned up neatly and pressed forward.
Occasionally, some friends tried to ambush me, but I made them traveling companions.
Perhaps they figured there was no paradise in the place they fled to, so they all fought like it was do-or-die.
On the other hand, this side had essentially just continued meaningless fighting.
"Gah, gaaahk…"
The last one struggled with all his might, but he couldn't reach me.
I glanced at his burning body and advanced toward the target.
Thud.
With this, every member of the Long-Tailed Rat organization in the vicinity was gone.
The result of scanning with Mana showed only two individuals holding their positions.
It was definitely the organization's boss and a Demon.
I destroyed traps someone had set up beforehand and turned in that direction.
Before long, I encountered multiple forks in the road.
I found the path easily with a scan.
No matter how I looked at it, the structure seemed designed to stall for time as much as possible.
"How far did they crawl in?"
I didn't know what the hell they were doing.
Irritation was slowly welling up to the tip of my chin.
My favorite dress shirt had also gotten dirty because of those traps, and just as my patience was reaching its end.
"Ha, finally we meet."
In a vast open space, I faced the Long-Tailed Rat boss.
Even after a long time, his distinctive rat-like appearance was the same.
Other than that, I didn't really have any memorable impression of him.
Next to the Long-Tailed Rat boss, a Demon was looking at ease.
Its aura was certainly different from the Demon I killed in the underground waterway.
I supposed it was a little more seasoned.
It had been quietly observing me from the moment I entered this place.
I was inwardly curious about what it would say to the one who killed its subordinates.
"…How boring."
I figured it would acknowledge me somewhat, but to think it would be this curt.
Woo-ong!
At that moment, a Magic Circle shone and blocked my retreat.
Most people would panic here, but it mattered little to me.
I was exclusively focused on shaving off my sentence.
Roughly estimating, this time was clearly different.
It looked like I could knock off at least two years.
First, I pointed at the slovenly Long-Tailed Rat boss.
"You. Tell me why you joined hands with the Demons."
Next, I addressed the Demon who was looking down on me as trivial.
"You can tell me who you follow and what your scheme is."
At that, the Long-Tailed Rat boss immediately drew his sword and let out a nasty laugh.
"I'm Level 3, and this one here is Level 4. Together we're Level 7! Do you think the likes of you can win?"
As if that wasn't enough, the Demon slowly raised its middle finger.
There was a madman kicking away an opportunity that rolled right up to him.
"Huh."
I let out a hollow laugh without realizing it.
This was why you needed to be perceptive even when doing bad things.
That was how you survived long, even if you met people like me.
Right on cue, maybe the kids here liked water too, because a bucket filled to the brim with water was placed there.
There were traces of splashing everywhere, as if it had been used until recently.
"The water temperature is appropriate."
I slipped my hand in; it was full of ice-cold water.
Flicking off the moisture, I spoke to the two whose confidence was sky-high.
"Hey, you two. Let's have a confession with me."
It was time to check just how humble they became in front of the water.
* * *
"Now! Take a deep breath in and out~"
"Ju, just a moment…!"
Blub-blub!
The confession time had finally arrived.
The Long-Tailed Rat boss vomited the truth, completed his duty to the end, and exited.
His reason for joining hands with the Demons was simple.
He was swayed by the promise of growing his forces.
On the other hand, the Demon was tight-lipped.
It definitely had some hidden intent, but the progress was slower than expected.
Time was on my side anyway.
The Demon resisted fiercely with its trembling body, trying to escape.
I beat it thoroughly but just short of killing it, so it lacked the strength to run away.
"The Holy Water made from the Holy Relic tastes pretty good, right?"
The Demon shook its head vigorously.
"You still don't know? Then you can enjoy it to your heart's content."
Blub-blub!
Instead of an answer, enormous bubbles rose upwards.
When it started thrashing even more violently, I shoved it in deeper and looked at my pocket watch.
"I wonder if it'll faint from the Divine Power or die at this rate…"
So far, I'd been repeating a process of holding it under for about thirty seconds, then pulling it out to check.
Since the method was specialized for Demons, its effectiveness was tremendous, and its spirit had been broken.
As it savored 100-percent-pure Holy Water created by the power of the Holy Relic, the Demon must have wished for death instead.
Conversely, since I needed to extract information, I couldn't let it die.
I had to kill it only after extracting the information.
At the precise moment, I yanked it by the hair.
"Khack! Ah-huck… Khoff!"
The face, weakened by the Holy Relic's power, came into view.
As if reaching its limit, blood flowed from its mouth alongside its strengthless eyes.
By now, pushed to the very edge of the cliff, it was time for its will to break.
I wiped its face with a rag strewn on the floor and asked.
"Have you changed your mind about talking?"
"I'd rather you kill me…"
"Look. Let's be honest with each other."
I let out a small sigh.
"Do you think you can escape alive from here? You'll just be chased by the Inquisitors or the knight order once you get out anyway."
"…"
"Fine. Say you're lucky and manage to flee outside the Empire. When you go back, do you think they'll throw you a warm homecoming party? You'd be fortunate to live as a half-cripple."
The Demon offered no retort.
"But here, there's plenty of water, and the Holy Relic is intact since I borrowed it directly from the Order."
I pulled the Holy Relic, which was emitting a faint light in the water, out and showed it to the Demon.
It turned its head with difficulty due to the Divine Power and furrowed its brow.
"This time, I'll do forty seconds with a twenty-second break. If you change your mind before then, let me know."
Since the break was over, it was time for repentance again.
Just as I placed the Holy Relic back in its original spot and was about to mercilessly dunk the Demon into the water.
"Wait…! Wait just a moment!"
Right before its face touched the water, the Demon opened its mouth.
At last, I could finally move on to the next phase.
Essentially, my effort to make the Demon repent had succeeded.
"You should have done that from the start."
For the Demon, who had worked so hard during our confession, I brought a chair and sat it down comfortably.
The Demon, covered in Holy Water, breathed out raggedly.
I also took the Holy Relic and sat down across from it.
"It seems you're finally in the mood to talk."
I thought it would hold out a little longer, but the Demon merely nodded its head, and with a trembling voice, spoke.
"We planned to use the people in the Slums to create Demonized Humans. Our objective was to throw the Empire into chaos."
"You were trying to do something quite troublesome."
A Demonized Human was a person who survived being consumed by Demonic Energy and transformed, gaining immense strength but ceasing to be human.
They were merely Monsters blinded by destruction, moving until they died.
If spawned suddenly like this, the damage would have been considerable.
However, only Demons highly skilled in manipulating Demonic Energy could create Demonized Humans.
This bastard in front of me wasn't that skilled.
There must have been another method.
"What method are you using to create Demonized Humans?"
"We intended to plant seeds using the aristocrats who come to the Slums."
"Seeds?"
"Open the second drawer from the top in the corner."
As expected, there was another means.
I opened the drawer as the Demon instructed.
Inside were some small seeds that looked quite suspicious.
Observing the seeds carefully, I deduced the operational method in my own way.
"It seems like a method where these are planted in a human body and activated all at once when needed. Am I right?"
"That's correct. The plan was to secretly slip the seeds into the rations distributed by the aristocrats and spread them."
With those words, I felt I understood why they had risked a kidnapping attempt.
In the Slums, if you're unlucky, getting assaulted or kidnapped is a common occurrence.
That was why the Hamel Head walked around with private soldiers and performed acts of charity here.
The Demons intended to exploit this and craft a situation where everyone would be mistaken.
After the kidnapping, they'd obviously plant a seed in the head of the family and seize the leash.
Afterward, they must have threatened him to hide the seeds in the supplies if he wanted to live.
If I'd been even slightly later, considerable damage would have occurred.
After pocketing a few seeds to hand over to the Imperial Court, I returned to my spot and asked again.
"Once chaos ensued, what were you planning to do?"
"I do not know exactly either. I simply received an order to create many Demonized Humans."
At that, a memory from my past life resurfaced, of staging a prison break and encountering vast numbers of Demonized Humans.
It was a quantity that couldn't have materialized without advance preparation.
Now I knew that this place was the point of origin for Demonized Humans.
One piece of the puzzle that had been questionable that day fell into place.
If so, then I had a rough idea of which Demon planned this.
"For something on this scale, it must be Chimera."
"H-how did you know that?"
The Demon flinched, breathing out roughly with a surprised expression.
I toyed with the Holy Relic and spoke.
"Well, now. Where is Chimera?"
"…"
"I won't ask twice."
"He is currently in the Northern Region of the Continent."
If it was in the Northern Region of the Continent, there was still time.
I just needed to prepare until then.
It would be even better if I could kill it personally.
On the flip side, the bad news was that Chimera was a Level 6 Demon.
In theory, a Level 5 facing a Level 6 Demon was extremely tricky.
No matter how much experience I had, trying to overcome the innate level gap meant the battle would be prolonged.
If that happened, there would naturally be casualties, which would complicate things in many ways for the cleanup afterward.
The damned Artifact became a stumbling block here.
A flood of information came at once, complicating my mind.
'Demon, Artifact…'
I pressed my temple firmly and sorted things out piece by piece.
First, since the Demons were set as the top-priority target, I decided to proceed as planned.
There were no major changes.
Next.
To achieve a quick resolution, I had to find a way to weaken the Artifact.
However, the Imperial bureaucrat who had spent his entire life at a desk wasn't likely to authorize adjustments to the Artifact.
So I had to seek another means.
The most ideal answer would be to seek advice from the Magic Tower Master.
But that would naturally tie me to the Academy.
I had to maintain an amicable relationship with Ayla to increase the chances that the Magic Tower Master would help me.
I needed to make the chancellor grin from ear to ear.
"I can't do it half-heartedly. Gotta be thorough."
Hearing my muttering, the Demon asked in a trembling voice.
"Wh-what do you mean by that?"
"Nothing. Just talking to myself."
With this, what I had to do before the next wave came was decided.
I would diligently teach the students entrusted to me.
Then I would prove myself through their results.
There was nothing left to fix, so it was neat and tidy.
On top of that, I'd obtained significant information, so it was time to wrap things up.
I patted the Demon on the shoulder and kicked myself up from my seat.
"I've done everything I came here to do, so it's time to part ways."
"What did you say?"
As if realizing what this meant, the Demon struggled desperately to free itself from its restraints.
The chair broke, and it tumbled to the floor.
"Khack! Ki, Lord Chimera!"
I just watched with indifferent eyes.
After trying to escape for a long while, it tired itself out and its movements stopped.
The bastard lifted its head.
"May I ask just one question?"
"If it's your last words, I'll answer."
An expression that seemed somewhat resigned.
It looked like it had decided to accept death.
"…What is your name?"
Normally I wouldn't have answered, but an inexplicable change of heart bloomed inside me.
Erasing the traces of my visit here, I revealed my name.
"Karon."
"Karon, you say?"
The Demon burst into a hollow laugh.
"So the story that you were incarcerated was a lie."
It seemed it knew who I was.
The Demon closed its eyes and muttered quietly.
"Of all people, to meet the Apostate…"
"A man about to die talks too much."
I cut off what the Demon was saying mid-sentence.
A red flash flickered, snuffing out the Demon's breath.
With this, all traces in the vicinity were cleaned up, so there would be no chance of being tracked.
I took out my pocket watch and checked the time; there was ample time left before the library doors closed.
The destination was the library.
The target: the curriculum.
It was time to return from being an Imperial mastermind to an Academy instructor.