Chapter 330: translated
I Killed the Demon King. It Was a Mistake.
Episode 330
Even with devils surrounding Shalibi, the market was open.
Essential items for military supplies like food ingredients, steel, and coal were all subject to requisition, but other items such as gold trinkets or artifact loot were actively traded in the market.
"What? 100 del? I won't take it."
"You won't accept cash?"
"Don't you know money is worth dirt now? Bring gold or silver instead. Then I'll trade with you."
With the credit of paper currency plummeting, people mainly used barter or metals like gold and silver. When shiny things like gold or silver circulate openly, they also make the dark intentions of pickpockets and robbers shine.
"Damn, will this work then?"
"Hmm... Let me see it."
The moment the customer handed over a gold coin to the fence, a pickpocket who had been quietly watching from the side snatched the gold coin and started running away.
"Pickpocket! Pickpocket! Catch that bastard!"
The pickpocket made his way through the crowd and escaped from the market.
"Yes, I got one... Ugh!"
With a thud, a bola wrapped around the pickpocket's ankle.
"W-what is this!"
The pickpocket tried to untangle the bola, but couldn't.
Eventually, the bola glowed pale green, then pulled strongly to the side, causing the pickpocket to fall.
Two shadows loomed over the pickpocket. It was Pio and Aurora.
"This is pretty good, isn't it?"
"Indeed, with just this one item, ordinary people could be subdued quite easily."
The pickpocket trembled and said:
"W-who are you?"
"What do you mean who? We're the police."
"H-heek!"
Pio searched through his pockets.
"My, you've stolen quite a lot. Gold coins, jewels..."
"T-the jewels are mine!"
"Say something that makes sense. Smith. How could a gravedigger's son carry such expensive items?"
"Gasp! How did you know my name...!"
"I have my ways."
Pio collected the gold coins and jewels and handed them to Aurora.
"Lady Aurora, let's give the gold coin to that person running over with sweaty feet, and find the owner of the jewels later."
"Understood."
Pio smiled at Smith.
"Shall we have a calm talk?"
***
Pio dragged Smith into a back alley and threw him down.
Smith begged desperately.
"I-I'm sorry! I'm really sorry! I won't do it again."
"For guys like you, it's usually right to start by cutting off a finger. By the way, which hand do you eat with?"
"I'm really sorry! I'll never steal again!"
Pio stepped on Smith's chest firmly.
"Really? Are you truly repentant?"
"Yes! I'm sincere!"
"Then I'll spare your fingers. Instead, can you answer my questions properly?"
"Y-yes! Ask anything! I'll tell you everything."
"I heard you're quite famous in Sanctus lumen, is that right?"
"Famous?"
"Yes. Famous for secretly disposing of corpses? No?"
Smith's face turned pale.
"How did you..."
"Only I ask questions. If you want to keep your fingers, you must follow this rule. This is your final warning."
Smith gulped and nodded.
"Before Sanctus lumen went bad, did you ever dispose of any unusual corpses?"
"By unusual corpses, what exactly do you mean..."
"I said only I ask questions."
"S-so! Since all the corpses I dispose of are abnormal in one way or another...!"
"Corpses related to devils."
Smith's gaze became calm.
"Devils... There were quite a few."
"Many?"
"Yes. And the people who commissioned me were rather unusual."
"Unusual, who?"
"...Holy Knights."
Pio held a knife to Smith's throat.
"Holy Knights? You dare sell out Holy Knights?"
"I-it's true! The Holy Knights asked if I could dispose of devil corpses, so I did it several times! Of course, they told me to keep my mouth shut..."
"Why did they want them disposed of secretly? Usually, devil corpses are supposed to be burned by Holy Knights, right?"
"I didn't have the courage to ask that. In this line of work, asking too many questions means you don't last long!"
"How long have you been doing this?"
"This job has been passed down since my grandfather's time. While doing this, we started getting involved in other illegal activities."
Unlike what Pio had expected, it seems Smith didn't get scouted for illegal activities, but rather became famous for handling the Holy Knights' secretive tasks. Pio removed the sword from Smith's neck.
"Alright. How and where did you dispose of these devils?"
"The meeting locations changed each time, but the disposal method was always the same. Bury them in the ground and plant saplings above them."
"Plant saplings? Why?"
"That's how the devil corpses would rot and disappear. And the trees that grew by feeding on the devil corpses became high-quality magic trees, which were good for selling."
"Are devil corpses normally difficult to dispose of?"
"From what I've heard, devil corpses are so rich in magic that they don't rot easily, and if mishandled, they contaminate the surrounding soil. So burning is generally the norm, but occasionally there are devil corpses that don't burn well."
"Why don't they burn?"
"Some devils are innately strong against fire or have bodies made of water or ice. It's almost impossible to burn such devils."
"You disposed of such corpses?"
"To be precise, I followed in the footsteps of my grandfather and father. It's been nearly 100 years."
That they've been disposing of such unique devils for 100 years means they must have maintained quite close ties with the Holy Knights. It seems I've found a key figure sooner than I expected.
"Have you ever asked your grandfather how he started that work?"
"My grandfather was a priest in the past. I don't know exactly what kind of priest he was, but he had extremely deep faith. Of course, my father and I became somewhat sick of the Dre religion because of him... Anyway, I heard that after my grandfather retired, he started working on disposing of devil corpses."
"Have you ever heard from your grandfather about what he did as a priest?"
"No. He never told us. But when he developed dementia, he always said he needed to go tend to the flowers."
"Flowers?"
"Yes. I think that might have been what my grandfather's job was."
"Taking care of flowers isn't a secretive job. Why did he hide it?"
"I don't understand it either, but he passed away before I could ask more deeply, so I don't know much."
Pio fell into thought for a moment before speaking.
"But priests aren't allowed to marry, are they? How could your grandfather have become a priest?"
"My grandfather adopted my father when he retired. He strongly insisted that we never abandon the family business."
"So that work was that important?"
"We don't know, but it seems so."
It seemed there wasn't more information to extract from Smith. Pio removed his foot from Smith's chest.
Smith carefully stood up and said:
"May I go now...?"
"Yes. Go ahead."
"T-thank you!"
"But if you tell anyone that I asked about these things... You know, right?"
"Of course! I'm good at keeping secrets. I'll be going now!"
Smith quickly left the alley, afraid that Pio might change his mind.
Aurora leaned against the wall and scratched her head.
"Why did you ask Smith about devil corpses?"
"While working under the Vex Count family, I heard various stories about the Dre Order."
"What kind of stories?"
"That the production of holy flame oil increased explosively from 100 years ago, and that holy flame oil is always produced only in Sanctus lumen."
"What does that have to do with devil corpses?"
"The story isn't over yet, so listen carefully. Coinciding with that time, a papal decree was issued to the Holy Knights that whenever they hunted devils, they must collect the blood and send it to Sanctus lumen. They even bought the blood of devils hunted by the Vex Count family's knights for money in many cases."
"Don't tell me devil blood is a necessary ingredient for making holy flame oil?"
"That's the rational conclusion. But the Dre Order completely denied it. They always said it was purely for research purposes."
"Even I wouldn't believe that."
Pio shrugged and said:
"Other nobles naturally didn't believe it either. Of course, there was no way to find out how they turned devil blood into holy flame oil. The Dre Order really kept their secrets thoroughly."
"But around the time nobles began to persistently dig deeper into the Dre Order's secrets, the Dre Order stopped collecting devil blood. So most people thought it really was just for pure experimental purposes. Instead, another rumor began to circulate. That devils live under Sanctus lumen."
A chill ran down Aurora's spine.
"Devils live under Sanctus lumen?"
"Yes. Until now, I thought it was just a baseless rumor. After all, the evidence was flimsy and there was no clear proof. But seeing how Sanctus lumen has been occupied by devils now, I'm thinking it might not be entirely false."
"Then, are you saying they raised devils underground to extract their blood?"
"Right. That's why I was looking for guys like Smith. If Holy Knights were raising devils under Sanctus lumen, they would need to dispose of dead devils somehow. There would be specialists who handle those corpses. So, on the off chance, I've been looking for gravediggers or body disposal people from Sanctus lumen."
"And you hit the jackpot on the first try."
"Yes. I was lucky."
Aurora genuinely admired Pio's deductive abilities. It was artistry how he could weave circumstantial evidence that was mere rumor into reasonable conjecture.
"That must be why Lord Luca is insisting we need to head to Sanctus lumen right away. He's probably going there to destroy or recover something that produces devils."
"If there really is a cause of the devil outbreak in Sanctus lumen, and if Luca is definitely going to destroy it, maybe we should actively help him."
"But convincing master Giggs and the other blacksmiths won't be easy. From the Dre Order's perspective, they wouldn't want to reveal that the cause of the devil outbreak is on them. That's why they're not properly explaining why we need to head to Sanctus lumen, and what the clear objective is."
"Shouldn't we still explain properly to Giggs?"
"There's no guarantee my guess is correct, and there's no clear evidence. And if Giggs hears this story and goes berserk, Shalibi will be split in two."
Right now, Shalibi is a powder keg. While Giggs and Luca are in a psychological war, if Pio throws in a match, Shalibi will explode right away.
"The reason we're investigating this is to really understand what Luca is after. And the reason we're trying to figure out what Luca is after is not to empower Master Giggs, but to get out of this damn Shalibi."
Bang!
The wall that Pio hit crumbled down.
"...I need to go see Hiya soon."
Aurora remembered that the reason Pio followed Caesar's suggestion was for Hiya. While she was briefly pondering how to comfort Pio, a strange sound was heard nearby.
It was the sound of knights walking.
Clank! Clank! Clank! Clank!
Holy knights entered the alley.
The hair on Pio's neck stood up. Could they have heard our conversation? Just as Pio's right hand was moving toward his sword... The holy knights pulled out papers.
"Are you knights?"
"...Yes, what of it?"
"Lord Luca has issued a summons for all knights. Please gather in front of the Shalibi Library by 9 AM tomorrow."
Fortunately, it seemed the holy knights had not overheard Pio and Aurora's conversation. Pio took the order.
"What kind of summons is this?"
"Soon, Lord Luca will be leading all forces to Sanctus lumen. A mission briefing will be conducted for that purpose."
"When is the full deployment?"
"The day after tomorrow."
"What? Not a week later?"
"Yes. The day after tomorrow."
The holy knight said while placing his hand on his chest.
"So please make sure to come tomorrow. We'll be on our way now."
As the holy knights left, Pio and Aurora looked at each other. It seems that Luca is going to move faster than they thought.