Gripping the Brush (1)
Clack.
The grand staircase was more than enough to send me deep into thought.
“……Gr, Gr, Grand…… Claudy?!”
The orc I’d encountered during the myth quest, Ullichu.
The reason for his shock at the sight of me was simple.
“Wh-what do you desire from us……?!”
It seemed he’d been thoroughly trounced by another Claudy, not me.
The purpose of the myth quest was to interfere with the past and manifest a new reality.
In that distant past where the Claudy family hadn’t been wiped out, the existence and immense influence of another Claudy would have been enough to make even a barbaric orc tremble in fear.
However.
“Have you not already taken our very lives?!”
Ullichu’s reaction felt all too familiar to me—far beyond mere awe. It was pure terror.
As a demon hunter, I’d seen humans broken by demons, and I’d witnessed the horrifying sight of demons themselves quaking before their natural predator.
That experience let me sniff it out.
This is something that could never happen in the Claudy family’s dictionary.
Claudy is different.
Compared to the mightiest force on the Arcana Continent, the Mage Tower? Even if the Claudy family and the Mage Tower wielded similar influence across the continent……
The Claudy I knew didn’t harm others simply to achieve their goals. Not even orcs.
“Are you telling me to confess everything truthfully? Do you truly not know what happened? Claudy, a man with silver hair just like yours……”
Swallowing his rage, Ullichu spilled everything that had transpired.
It bordered on humiliation. No—more precisely, it was akin to being toyed with by a demon.
“He took the lives of my kin.”
As a demon hunter, I could say with certainty: the Claudy who approached the orcs was a demon.
The first figure that came to mind was, without a doubt, the man I’d faced that day in the Claudy territory.
The one who coveted the family head’s seat, declared his hatred for Grandfell, and drove the Claudys to extinction.
But the timeline didn’t add up.
The man’s fall had a clear trigger: Grandfell being chosen as the next family head.
That means it happened in the future, beyond the myth quest’s timeline.
My tangled thoughts straightened out thanks to experience, as always.
Yes—the Arcana Continent I’d traversed to resolve Marcelo’s death sentence.
The curse of the Simuarde family I encountered there.
……Yula Simuarde.
The demon who impersonated Yula and devoured the family with a death curse.
Was Yula the only cunning demon of that sort?
Suppose a demon like Yula had existed among the Claudys?
Everything fit.
Assume that demon clung to the Claudy bloodline, descending into possession of that man.
Then it all made sense. Why even the mighty Grandfell had been powerless before the man who doomed his family.
For Grandfell, the next in line, the reality that the great Claudy family had long been rotten from within due to a demon would have been unacceptable.
But the important thing was that I—Lee Hoyeol—now knew the truth.
Yes.
No matter how brutal the tale, if it concerned the Claudy family, it was just black history to me……!
Besides, it was a perfectly plausible setup. Chuunibyou syndrome, family secrets, tragic protagonist…… I could totally see middle-school me obsessing over something like that.
That version of me back then would have loved it……
Whether through Darkness Understanding or the top-tier spacetime commission.
Now, I could change even that brutal history.
So I didn’t hesitate.
I revoked the Claudy command imposed on Ullichu the orc and righted the atrocities committed by that nameless Claudy—nay, demon.
“Dare I ask your name, sir?”
Ullichu, overcome with emotion, inquired.
And I answered proudly.
I am Lee Hoyeol.
Only for him to repay kindness with enmity.
“Lee Hoyeol Claudy……!”
……You guys really have no prejudices, huh? About names being ridiculous or whatever.
Well, maybe such concepts don’t even exist for you?!
Relations with the Orc race have greatly increased.
Influence over the Orc race has greatly increased.
The Orc race's status has changed.
And so the first myth quest drew to a close.
The relations and influence boosted by my encounter with Ullichu.
I didn’t yet know what changes they’d bring……
Tick—
The ticking in my ear told me intuitively.
It was time to return to the top floor of the Spacetime Salon.
So before leaving, I made sure to ask.
If he’d asked my name, he must have asked the demon masquerading as Claudy too.
Ullichu answered my question.
“Pride. That’s what he clearly called himself.”
Pride.
That confirmed it.
A demon bold enough to sink its claws into the Claudy family?
A demon oblivious to its place.
A ‘giant evil’ presuming greatness despite being a mere demon.
There could only be one.
And so I declared.
“Is that not so, Pride of the Giant Evils, Seven Deadly Sins.”
In the past, I might have whined about how to find a giant evil amid the vast Arcana Continent.
But not anymore.
Whoosh—!
Tempest, the guardian spirit of Akkshan, emerged wreathed in hellfire.
……At least your name suits you. Good thing.
His appearance befitting the poster child of Akkshan, matching his resplendent name.
Tempest rubbed his head against my hand.
I stroked him appropriately.
Without getting fur on my clothes……
Finally, a breather.
I could ask whatever I wanted, truly……!!
My contemplative expression must have looked grave.
Or maybe they’d overheard.
Perhaps they felt they had no right to question me.
“……Gulp.”
Everyone just swallowed dryly.
No one in the mansion dared approach me.
Thanks to that, I slipped out unscathed.
……It’ll be trouble ahead too, but anyway.
I promptly removed two gems adorning my Dawn Jacket and offered them to Tempest.
They weren’t real gems, of course.
The Seven Deadly Sins.
As the set items indicated, they were siblings born from primordial evil.
Naturally, their scents were similar.
Sniff, sniff—!
I planned to track Pride using the lingering scents of Envy and Lust.
The other giant evils too, of course.
If I encountered any, I’d hunt them without hesitation.
Upper demon kings are one thing, but giant evils are fair game.
Demons grew ever stronger in reality.
And I’d already hunted three giant evils in reality, including Greed.
Four remained—more than before—but my resolve didn’t waver.
I straightened my attire once more.
Placing the two gems on my jacket, I spoke.
Commanding Tempest.
“From this moment, howl as much as you desire, Tempest.”
Awooooooo!!
Tempest responded with an immediate howl.
The cry of a natural predator, literally.
The demons of the continent had no choice but to tremble.
Someone might ask: Won’t making such a racket tip off the giant evils, sending them into hiding?
Not wrong.
Hiding? What’s that?
They’d pull every trick in the book.
Distract me with chaos, perhaps.
No—they definitely would.
Considering the growth traits of demon monsters, the giant evils knew the Arcana Continent better than most humans.
Even knowing that.
If asked why I charged across the continent advertising my presence.
The answer: because I could.
Because of that damn pride.
Because I had something to rely on.
Even if not.
“It is the prey that watches its step, not the hunter.”
Blame Akkshan’s stubbornness, whatever.
In that sense, Tempest obeyed faithfully.
Howling so thunderously.
The legends themselves were shaking……!
The legend of the Hero of a New Era, Akkshan spreads even wider across the Arcana Continent.
The legend was one of the wells I’d dug.
As it filled, I couldn’t simply rejoice.
Rumors of Akkshan’s return spreading across the continent?
To live up to that overestimation.
I’d have to shoulder the burden once more.
A sigh swallowed itself.
Akkshan leader? That nonsense rumor’s coming true too.
I’d barely escaped being parachuted in as Mage Tower lord, and now this?
I wanted to shut Tempest’s mouth right then.
But I couldn’t rescind a command for such petty reasons.
Awooooooo—!
……Thanks to that, my ears itched fiercely, Tempest.
*
The giant evils.
Seven siblings born from primordial evil.
No brotherhood existed among pure evil.
They’d all sneered at Greed’s foolish end.
Yet the fallen brothers in hell became two, then three.
The demon hunter who sent three of the seven to hell.
Had learned the horrific truth of Claudy.
Crunch, crunch—
Gluttony of the Seven Deadly Sins gnawed at his nails.
He’d bitten so fiercely that all ten fingers were soaked in blood.
Even ceaselessly working his mouth couldn’t dispel the extreme anxiety.
Suddenly.
Awoooo—……!
“……?!”
The beastly howl ringing in his ears.
Gluttony forgot he’d possessed a human and hidden in a small village inn.
He trembled at Tempest’s howl.
Not content, he snapped at the innkeeper.
“Didn’t you hear? That howl—can’t you hear it?!”
“What? Look here. If you’re drunk, just pass out and sleep it off.”
“……!”
Grind, grind—
No nails remained.
Flesh torn away, now only the clack of bone from Gluttony’s mouth.
Forgetting his gourmet facade, Gluttony desperately racked his brains.
“……Cannibalism is the only way.”
To evade the predator’s pursuit.
To mask his scent, he had to scatter blood.
But Gluttony knew.
He wasn’t the only one trembling in fear.
Even if the mongrels don’t know this terror.
My bloodline, the Seven Deadly Sins, must be quaking just like me.
As brothers, I could sense it.
They’d evade the predator in their own ways.
“Let’s synchronize, you damned brothers.”
Drip, drip.
Gluttony dragged his dripping hands out of the inn.
Blood soaking the floor.
The innkeeper’s face twisted in horror.
“Y-you, you mad bastard?!”
The innkeeper chased after in fury, but Gluttony ignored him.
Activating his authority: cannibalism.
Sinister words spilled from Gluttony’s mouth.
“Devour and be devoured. The survivor shall claim blood and flesh, inheriting my authority. Devour and be devoured. Crave infinitely, consume infinitely. In the end, devour the world. Devour each other. If nothing remains to swallow, tear into your own flesh.”
Seeping out.
An uncontrollable negative aura poured from Gluttony.
The innkeeper’s rage faded from his eyes.
No—life itself drained away.
A hollow voice leaked from the innkeeper’s mouth.
“Devour…… devour……”
A clear status ailment.
Not just the innkeeper.
The small village’s scant hundreds of humans gathered around Gluttony.
Drooling from their mouths.
Swallowing hard as they eyed one another.
Gluttony murmured his finale.
“This village festival shall shake the continent……!”
Yet an existence shattered the revelry just as the curtain rose.
Red eyes gleaming sharper than ever amid the darkness blanketing the village, focus unbroken.
“What’s this, a festival?”
No negative emotions emanated from them.
They merely scanned the village with crimson gazes.
A subordinate reported to the apparent leader.
“Doesn’t look like a festival to anyone.”
“Yeah? Well, not the time for it, with the continent in chaos.”
At last, the man’s gaze fixed on Gluttony.
Gluttony didn’t recognize them.
Even with near-eternal years, the Arcana Continent was vast.
He couldn’t know every faction.
Especially those too mighty to reveal their presence.
Heavyweights.
The red-eyed Dune tribe.
Their leader, Shahin Dune, smiled at Gluttony.
“Then it must be a funeral!”
Gluttony halted his chant, staring at Shahin Dune.
Sensing something extraordinary.
But extraordinary or not, they were human.
Gluttony spat at Shahin Dune.
“Your understanding is slow, nameless one.”
To fail to grasp this body’s hospitality.
Cannibalism.
Gourmet delight.
The predator’s howl still echoed in his ears.
Intruders needed swift disposal.
The moment Gluttony sought to subjugate Shahin Dune and the red-eyed tribe.
Shing!
Shahin Dune raised his elegantly curved scimitar.
“Slow to understand? Pot calling the kettle black.”
“……What?”
“How could one fail to recognize their own funeral?”
“……!!”
Shahin Dune’s following words.
Enough to freeze Gluttony solid.
Yes.
“As Claudy said, demons are the epitome of stupidity.”
“……Claudy?”
“Do not utter that noble name with your filthy mouth.”
The picture was already drawn.
Even a giant evil.
Couldn’t comprehend the grand design’s vastness.