Chapter 46
Chapter 46
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 46
Chapter Title: Fake Hero...?(3)
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"I'll... I'll tell you everything. Please, just spare my life!"
The black magician leader, tears streaming down his face and ruining his dignity, begged for his life.
I gave him a gentle smile to reassure him.
"Don't worry. If you just tell me everything honestly, it won't hurt at all."
"Eek..."
I couldn't understand why a guy who handled corpses and committed blatant crimes like it was nothing was so terrified.
Sizzle.
I let some holy water trickle just close enough to his skin without touching it, giving him a little scare, then spoke.
"So, what exactly were you doing here?"
"..."
His eyes darted around.
He was clearly racking his brain for some excuse to get out of this.
I decided to give the dazed fool a taste of hot holy water.
Sizzle.
The leader writhed grotesquely in pain from just a splash.
Our hero party watched the spectacle with keen interest, while the fake hero party's refined guests wrinkled their noses and turned away.
Only Daisy watched the torture with a blank expression.
"Come on, let's not waste energy needlessly. Be honest, okay? Let's have an honest chat."
The leader, his face a mess of tears and snot, sniffled and nodded.
"So, what exactly were you doing here?"
"...We were preparing a large-scale ritual..."
"What was the purpose?"
The leader's head slowly drooped.
"W-We made a deal with Margarita, one of the Four Heavenly Kings... We were going to offer her tribute and borrow her power..."
Margarita.
I glanced at Nania to see if she'd heard of her.
Nania shook her head, indicating she hadn't.
No one here knew more about the Four Heavenly Kings than Nania.
And yet even she didn't know this one...
"You got scammed."
"Gasp... How did you know?"
What total pushovers. Scammed by an impersonator and even had their hideout exposed by academy students.
They were utterly pathetic.
"So you knew you got scammed and were still preparing the ritual?"
"Yes... We were getting ready to unleash a massive curse spell on the bastards who dared scam us..."
What.
That sounded like a good thing?
Even if it was an impersonator and not a real Heavenly King, anyone demanding such a shady ritual had to be a demonkin.
From our perspective, letting them curse a demonkin was nothing but a win.
"Sorry for interrupting. Go ahead and finish what you were doing."
I patted the leader's shoulder and helped him up.
He looked utterly bewildered.
Bad guys fighting among themselves? No way was I stopping that.
I'd encourage it, even.
Of course, once he successfully launched the curse, I'd bring down the righteous hammer of justice.
"Uh... You're really letting me do it?"
"Yeah, go ahead."
I released the leader to fire off his curse as he pleased, then pulled Nania into my arms.
"You know a bit about black magic, right?"
"Yes, Hero. I got pretty proficient in it during my Succubus Queen training."
"If that guy tries anything suspicious, let me know right away. You can do that, yeah?"
I trusted our high-spec Nania.
She'd sense anything off from the black magicians, like a canary in a coal mine, and handle it on the spot.
"Are you insane?"
As soon as I let the leader go, Daisy stormed up, her face flushed bright red.
With her pink hair already, she looked like a full-on redhead.
I stayed calm despite her fury.
"Isn't it good if bad guys fight each other?"
"No, how can you trust him when we don't know what he'll do?"
I pushed Nania, whom I'd been petting on the head, forward.
"This one's got some knowledge of black magic. She'll keep watch if anything dangerous happens, so don't worry."
"..."
The redhead stared at me like I was crazy. Meanwhile, the leader scratched the back of his head awkwardly as he fiddled with the facilities and returned.
"Um... The setup's damaged, so launching the curse might be tricky..."
"..."
What a useless guy.
I was thinking of just beating him up and handing him over to the ducal knights when Nania spoke casually from my arms.
"Want me to help? Looks like we can do it together."
"Pardon...?"
The black magician tilted his head at the sudden offer.
I was startled and asked Nania.
"You can really do it?"
"Yes. With all the materials here, and something belonging to the target... No problem."
"Ooh..."
I dispatched Nania with admiration.
She inspected the altar's items, gave the leader some instructions, and he scurried off with a shocked bow.
Shing.
At that moment, Daisy drew her sharp sword and pointed it at me.
"Why the hell is a black magician in the hero party?"
Her lackeys prepared for battle, looking suspicious too.
"It's not a black magician—it's a demonkin."
"What...?"
"Try it yourselves. Catch a demonkin and use it as a guide. Super useful."
"Have you lost your mind..."
As Daisy spouted a classic third-rate extra line,
Woooong.
A sinister dark aura emanated from the massive altar.
Rainy and I urgently cloaked ourselves in holy power to block the aura.
Daisy grabbed the black-haired girl's hand and unleashed holy power to fend it off.
I narrowed my eyes at the scene.
Thinking about it, whenever she used holy power, she was always grabbing some part of that black-haired girl.
My guess was that the girl enabled Daisy's holy power.
I shared the hunch with Rainy.
"That black-haired girl seems like the real deal. The pink-hair one always holds her hand when using holy power."
Rainy's eyebrow twitched.
"Yeah, that tracks. Just like how I infused you with holy power—they can transfer it too."
"Right?"
Claiming to be the hero—what did Daisy gain from that?
We didn't know the black-haired girl's identity.
Or why she was acting as Daisy's holy power battery.
I'd need to investigate after we left this altar.
As I eyed Daisy and her group suspiciously, Nania picked up one of the altar's vessels and cradled it.
She squeezed her eyes shut and reached toward the sky.
Muttering an unknown demonkin tongue, the surrounding dark aura began gathering into the vessel.
"Ooh... What a magnificent sight..."
Whether impressed by Nania's skills or not, the black magician leader was bawling like a kid, tears streaming as he watched.
Woooong.
Once the last traces of aura were sealed inside, Nania closed the lid.
Clatter. Clatter.
The vessel began shaking violently.
Even I, no expert in black magic, could tell her technique was impressive—and that the power inside would pack a massive punch if unleashed.
Crunch.
For some reason, Daisy gritted her teeth at the sight of the vessel.
It was just a curse on a bad guy—why hate it so much?
Did she hate black magic that badly?
"Dark God! Curse this one!"
Nania raised something high toward the sky that the leader had handed her.
I was baffled by what I saw.
It was a torn piece of skirt.
That part was fine—using the target's clothing for a curse was common.
What shocked me was that it was an academy girls' uniform.
"That's...?"
"So the impersonator was at the academy?"
Daisy's lackeys recognized the uniform and sighed.
I playfully patted Laura's shoulder, knowing full well it wasn't hers.
"That isn't yours, is it, miss?"
"No! My skirt's safe in my room!"
"Wait, in our territory?"
"Yeah."
"But you got expelled. Why keep it..."
"..."
Laura turned away, embarrassed.
Looks like even after getting kicked out, she still clung to the academy.
Judging by keeping the uniform.
"Curse this one!"
Nania's hair fluttered in a sudden wind, and the vessel's lid popped open.
Sinister energies surged out.
With curse skills like that, I'd need to inspect Nania's luggage later.
Just in case she had a doll of me stuck with pins.
The writhing energy was about to launch.
Shing.
Daisy, gripping the black-haired girl's hand, swung her blazing holy sword and sliced the energy apart.
"You can't use black magic like that."
She muttered it like an excuse.
Suspicious. So suspicious.
I narrowed my eyes, observing her closely.
Then I noticed her skirt was slightly torn.
Q.E.D.