The Raid Is Tomorrow
X regarded the two demons with a look of complete indifference. The stiffness in their bodies told him everything he needed to know — they had swallowed the lie whole.
Good. They bought it.
The twenty-eighth-ranked demon, Berith, had been the perfect identity to steal. The original novel had given him a brief appearance, and more importantly, he was a demon who could not possibly show up at this point in the story.
He was originally supposed to possess Fallon. But the entire Fallon episode got wiped off the map.
On top of that, X had spoken both demons' true names with perfect accuracy. There was no explaining that unless he were a demon himself — and a higher-ranking one at that. They had no choice but to believe him.
That didn't mean the deception was complete.
Andras is still suspicious.
Flauros had worn a look of naked shock from the first moment, and the panic still showed in every move he made. Andras, behind her mask, was impossible to read — but a new caution had settled into her posture, her bearing, the very air around her.
Well, that's only natural. Who'd believe someone who just shows up and announces they're here to keep watch?
He'd expected as much. The suspicion itself was proof the bait had landed.
They'll doubt that I'm an Inspector. They won't be able to doubt that I'm a demon. They've never even heard of a position like that.
When a bright light stands beside a dim one, the dim one vanishes. They wouldn't have the presence of mind to wonder whether he was a demon at all. While they were too busy doubting the bigger light to think straight, he had to keep shaking them.
X leveled a calm, cutting look at Andras.
"You seem to have your doubts. Fair enough. The position of Inspector didn't exist until now."
"Oh my, I wasn't thinking anything of the sort... Though now that you've said it, I do find myself rather curious. Yes, indeed..."
Andras covered her mouth and gave a little chuckle before asking,
"Might I ask under whose orders you've come to us?"
A perfectly reasonable question. She needed to confirm who had sent him. He might not be an Inspector at all.
I came prepared for that, of course.
X answered as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"My direct superior is Lord Amon. On Lord Baal's orders, he recently established a facility known as the Inspectorate Bureau."
Baal was ranked first. Amon was ranked seventh. They were demons so far above Andras that she could not even approach them.
And their true names are the most closely guarded secrets in Hell.
The moment those names left his mouth, Andras's hand trembled. She had never imagined she would hear them here.
"Lord Baal and Lord Amon, you say..."
Dropping names alone wouldn't be enough. He needed to drive the spike in deeper.
"The Century Plan is nearly upon us, after all. A little extra caution never hurt anyone. The extra paperwork is a nuisance, but it can't be helped."
A reason she couldn't reasonably reject. Doubting the Inspectorate Bureau now could be taken to mean she intended to be sloppy even with the Century Plan at their doorstep. Andras's brow furrowed as the implication settled in.
Is this real?
She wasn't convinced. Berith's appearance at this exact moment was far too convenient. If they were going to surveil her, they could have come much sooner.
"Still not convinced?"
The words dropped from Berith's mouth just as the thought formed. Andras couldn't answer right away.
As if he'd fully expected that, X turned not to Andras but to Flauros.
"I'll ask the head butler, Eren. How long has it been since I arrived at this mansion?"
"...Three months."
"And how would you know that?"
"I personally screen every servant in this household."
"Why screen them yourself? Couldn't you have left it to any competent butler?"
"There are times when certain matters require... handling. Careful selection was necessary."
"I see. Thank you for the answer."
With that exchange, Andras had no choice but to surrender another layer of her suspicion. If Flauros was to be believed, Berith had been watching the mansion for three months already.
Facts that work in my favor land harder when someone else says them.
He was currently wearing a servant's face — a face that matched, with perfect precision, the servant Flauros remembered. He would let that illusion of three months of surveillance do the rest of the work.
"Andras. Has that settled your doubts?"
Andras didn't answer. She let out a long, heavy sigh instead.
"Hah... I see. Very well."
"Good. Then I have a few questions—"
"Before that."
Andras cut him off, raising a hand to her mask. She drew it away slowly, and Princess Beatrice's face emerged beneath it.
X's brow furrowed at the sight.
"What's this supposed to mean? You want me to go easy on you now that I can see your face?"
"No, that's not it. There's no longer any need for us to wear masks, is there? Now that we've properly introduced ourselves, keeping them on would be rather rude."
"..."
X understood exactly what she was asking. Of all the things he'd hoped to avoid, this was near the top of the list.
She wants me to take the mask off. Flauros doesn't seem to have noticed — but of course. She's a Fifth-Circle mage.
He'd seen this coming, more or less. Beatrice was a Fifth-Circle mage; she would have read the mana flowing through the disguise mask. Not getting caught would have been ideal, but now that he had been, there was no helping it.
Still. I'm not taking it off that easily.
X put on an even more insufferable air and heaved a long, theatrical sigh.
"Haaaaah. You really aren't making this easy. How long do you intend to keep this up? Shall I fetch Lord Amon for you? Or will nothing short of an audience with Lord Baal satisfy you?"
He piled on every ounce of attitude he could muster. If he made himself so thoroughly unpleasant that they just wanted him gone, the rest would go much more smoothly.
But his opponent was Andras. She smiled sweetly, covering her mouth, and answered with unhurried composure.
"No, this isn't suspicion. I simply wish to observe the proper etiquette before we continue our conversation."
"Pretty words. And what's the next piece of etiquette? Shall I take off my clothes? My underclothes? Would you like to peel the skin off and dig down to the bone while you're at it?"
"Hmm. Why such a strong reaction? It's only a mask."
Got her.
X had been waiting for exactly that response, and he pressed in without missing a beat.
"What irritates me right now is a matter of attitude."
The unexpected turn left Andras slightly off-balance.
"Attitude...?"
"Look at yourself. I am Berith — Inspector of the Bureau established by Lord Baal's command and operated by Lord Amon. I came here to ask you a few simple questions. And all you've done is doubt, doubt, and doubt some more."
"No, that was never my intention—"
"Then allow me to ask something of my own."
X fixed Andras with a stare thick with suspicion, aiming it squarely at both of her eyes.
"Are you even truly Andras?"
"...I beg your pardon?"
The look on her face was almost worth the risk. Surprise and anger flickered across it in turns, the little muscles around her mouth twitching in a way that was frankly comical. It lasted only a moment. Andras recovered her composure and answered evenly.
"I can demonstrate Demonification whenever you wish. So please — do set aside your anger."
"Hmph..."
X had to think carefully about that one.
She handled that well. A demon's a demon, even a rotting one.
On the surface, it sounded like a calm attempt to soothe his irritation. What it actually meant was: Can you Demonify? Because I can.
X was not a demon. He couldn't. If he actually demanded that Andras transform here, there would be no walking it back.
Well. I've applied enough pressure.
He decided to give a step.
"What, you planning to advertise that you're a demon in a place crawling with insects? Don't forget the Century Plan is at our doorstep. If you want to see my face, then by all means."
X pulled the disguise mask off at once. As it came away, the magic veiling his features began to fade. His tension, meanwhile, began to climb.
Andras saw my face when I fought Circe. So this is a gamble, but...
It was the only play he had. He would have to trust his luck. He did have one thing working in his favor.
It has to work...!
The last of the magic clinging to X's face dissolved. Andras saw him clearly for the first time. X put his faith in her nature and prayed.
Please...!
In the worst case, he would spend the rest of his existence tasting the torments of Hell between two demons who had completely lost their minds.
Andras looked at X's face. Not an illusion — the real thing. She stared at him so intently it might have been burned into her retinas, and the verdict her mind delivered was this:
...Who is this? Have I seen him somewhere?
She was certain she'd seen him before, but she couldn't place him. More precisely: there were similar faces, but none that made her think, that's him.
While Andras continued to stare, X barely managed to keep the tension from bursting out of him and tossed the words out.
"Something on my face?"
"...No. Forgive me."
X cheered silently.
It worked! The Charm change actually worked!!
What he'd been counting on was the shift in his Charm stat. It had already been proven that a large enough swing in Charm could make someone unrecognizable.
The first time you saw my face, my Charm was 0.1! It's 1.0 now — of course I look like a different person!
His build had changed under Roxwell's training as well, so Andras failing to recognize him was only natural. Her personality did the rest.
She forgets the faces of humans she doesn't care about in a heartbeat!
Those two things together meant Andras would never, under any circumstances, recognize X's bare face.
I just aged ten years. Good grief...
He let the giddiness settle, then got down to business.
"Then I take it I may ask a few questions? The banquet doesn't look far off. Best to wrap up the small matters quickly, don't you think?"
Andras turned his words over, then sighed. She answered as if she had no other choice.
"A fair point. Ask whatever you wish. I will cooperate to the fullest."
"Appreciated. Depending on the circumstances, I may ask questions that seem... obvious."
"Obvious questions...?"
"For instance: 'What did you eat yesterday?' Or 'Is your name in fact Andras?' Procedural questions. Don't be alarmed. Just answer them."
"Understood."
X asked the first thing he'd wanted to know.
"To start: where did you obtain the Demonification Accelerator?"
All that talk of obvious questions had been for this. He needed Andras to answer something she would otherwise find strange — why would he ask that? — as if it were the most natural thing in the world. The groundwork paid off. She answered plainly.
"Around Monday of last week, I received substantial support from Lord Baal. The Demonification Accelerator was part of that shipment."
"Monday of last week would be March 8th."
"That's correct."
That was a date X remembered with perfect clarity.
The day the plot changed.
Why that day of all days was a question for later. He kept going.
"Good. No issues there. What did you intend to do with the Demonification Accelerator?"
"I intended to turn the Empire's high nobles into demons and sow chaos."
"How, exactly?"
"I have several plans in mind, but I was considering an indiscriminate massacre. It would draw attention toward the Hellgate ritual, and we'd harvest the sacrificed souls in the process."
"...No issues there either."
If the nobles don't turn into demons here, the Blood Masquerade scenario kicks off.
Fortunately, he had already tampered with the Demonification Accelerator. All that remained was stopping the massacre itself.
X asked his next question.
"How did you lure the nobles in? An ordinary method wouldn't have drawn this many high-ranking ones."
"I told them I had a Mana Awakening Agent. The world is overflowing with humans born into nobility who can't even sense mana — treated like vermin for it."
X now understood what Marlene had been trying to produce at the Ring Circle. A sample of the Mana Awakening Agent.
"Words alone wouldn't convince them, so I did distribute a tiny number of samples. Most of the budget went into that."
"...The effect seems reliable enough."
"Heh. Once a human has tasted even a moment of mana, craving more is simply in their nature."
With his curiosity satisfied, X sorted the information in his head.
The Demonification scenario is stopped. The Blood Masquerade I'll deal with shortly. That leaves this.
"What were you keeping in those iron cages in the basement?"
What worried him most was the large-scale raid on the Academy. The paper with the date and location had burned, and he'd had no way of recovering the information. Fortunately, Andras handed it to him herself.
"Demons that were provided to me along with the Demonification Accelerator. Most of them are low-grade monster-type demons, so I wasn't sure what to do with them at first — but then an amusing idea occurred to me."
"And that idea?"
Andras smiled with almost childlike innocence.
"I'm going to raid the Imperial Academy. It's a nest of insects where every kind of noble gathers. Kill them in droves, and the entire Empire will be thrown into an uproar."
Information he'd more or less expected. X nodded as if in approval and pressed on.
"Not a bad notion. But wouldn't it be dangerous if the Crown Prince were caught in the attack? Our purpose has always been His descent, and His alone. We're not doing this to destroy the Hellgate or some paltry human nation. The Crown Prince must remain alive for the Century Plan."
"I've accounted for that as well, of course. As the Imperial Princess, I know the Crown Prince's entire schedule. Naturally, I intend to strike when he is absent — at the moment when I can kill the greatest number of humans."
"And when is that?"
This was the information X had come for. He focused every ounce of his attention on Andras's mouth, determined not to miss a single syllable. And what came out of it surpassed anything he had imagined.
It was nowhere near enough time for X to prepare.