The First Step of Revenge
Raon looked at the horrified Temus and let a chilling smile touch his lips.
I can practically hear his eyeballs spinning from here.
Temus was thinking faster than he ever had in his life, hunting for any way out of this place. Raon was already looking forward to whatever excuse the man would start babbling.
"Y-you lunatic!"
Temus seemed to have finished thinking. He bit down on his lip and jabbed an accusing finger at Raon.
"What the hell is this?! Why did you kill my disciple?!"
He shouted as if he had nothing to do with any of it, as if he were the one being attacked.
"Ah, so that's how you're going to play it?"
Raon spun the blood-slick Heavenly Sky Sword in a lazy arc and let out a dry chuckle.
"Your excuse is way too one-dimensional. I even gave you time to think, and that's the best you could come up with? Disappointing."
"W-what are you talking about?!"
"You ambushed us, and now you're spouting this garbage?"
"Why would I ambush you?! We were standing by here in case a patient—"
"You're still going to spew that ugly lie with this flute sitting right here?"
Raon picked up the silver flute Temus's disciple had dropped.
"W-what about it?! That just makes a sound like a reed pipe—"
"You're looking down on me way too much."
Raon pointed to the strange patterns engraved inside the flute and gave a short, cold laugh.
"This is an Array Resonance Flute."
"Ah…"
"A top-grade artifact that activates formations."
The Array Resonance Flute was a special instrument that could remotely trigger a formation laid down in advance. Because the inner patterns had to be rewritten to match the formation itself, there was no talking his way out of it.
"You locked us in a formation with this, and then you stand there feeding me that clumsy story. You never even considered you'd get caught, did you?"
"W-what the hell are you…"
Temus's jaw trembled. He looked half out of his mind.
"What are you?! How are you still alive—how did you smash every last piece of my plan?! And how did you even know to come here?!"
"I've got a friend with good senses."
Raon shrugged, savoring Temus's horror.
Of course. This King's senses are on a completely different level from a human's—wait, what did you just say?! Why would This King be your friend?!
I'm just saying it.
Raon shoved Wrath aside—the Demon King who insisted he could never be friends with a human—and took another step toward Temus.
"What do you think happens when it gets out that the famously benevolent Temus has been running assassins and poison behind the scenes? And against a patient he himself tried to treat, only to get turned down?"
Temus was a man pathologically sensitive about his reputation and the rumors surrounding it. The thought of his name plunging through the floor and into the dirt sent cold sweat pouring down his entire face.
"Even if you die here, you'll go down as the worst healer on the continent, won't you?"
"Ghhhk!"
Temus staggered backward, his teeth clicking together.
It's over. It's all over!
With that flute in Raon's hand—with the formation already exposed—there was no way out of this place. Even if he survived, Derus Robert would pretend he had never known him.
Who the hell is this guy?! What kind of seventeen-year-old is this?!
Not only had the boy shattered every plan, he had found this place and even identified the evidence. Temus's head spun so hard he thought he might faint from sheer disbelief.
"I've got people waiting. Let's wrap this up."
Raon raised his sword and started walking forward.
"W-wait, listen to me. I—huh?"
Temus, who had been waving him off, narrowed his eyes. A considerable amount of time had passed since the stealth formation had broken, and yet he couldn't sense anyone besides Raon.
"Don't tell me you came alone?"
"You think I'd need two people to catch one of you?"
Raon nodded as if that were obvious.
"Haaaah…"
Temus clutched his chest and let out a long, shuddering breath.
Heaven hasn't abandoned me!
The boy still thought he was nothing more than a physician. If he melted him down in a single burst of poison arts, he could escape before the Leader of the Heavenly Sword Squad arrived.
A low hum of energy gathered as Temus slowly drew poison into the hand he kept hidden behind his back. The moment Raon let his guard down, he would dissolve the heart or the throat.
This place won't be my grave. It'll be yours.
He buried the thought and waited with a terrified face for Raon to come closer.
"Heh."
Raon snorted as he watched Temus bite down hard on his lip.
He's advertising that he's got something up his sleeve.
Temus wore an expression of despair, or perhaps fear, but killing intent sat deep in his eyes. The hidden left hand was obviously holding poison.
"Let's finish this."
Raon pretended to know nothing, lowering his sword as he closed the distance. The moment the gap shrank to five paces, Temus's eyes flashed with murder.
"Die!"
Temus's left hand shot out like a thunderbolt. The violet energy coiled in his grip stretched into a spear and lanced straight for Raon's heart.
"There it is."
Raon drove forward with a bursting step, infusing the blade of the Heavenly Sky Sword with the principles of the Swift Sword.
A sharp crack split the air.
The flames of the Cultivation of Ten Thousand Flames lanced out like a bolt of lightning and split Temus's poison-spewing left arm clean in two.
"Gaaaaah!"
As Temus screamed and stumbled back, Raon stayed on him, drove the Heavenly Sky Sword through the remaining right shoulder, and pinned him to the ground.
"Ghhhk—!"
Both arms ruined in an instant, Temus coughed blood and shook from head to toe. Raon immediately shoved a hand into his mouth and pulled the poison pill hidden in a molar.
"Ghh…"
"Your subordinates didn't even scream once. You're putting on quite the act."
"H-how did you even know about the poison pill. W-what the hell are you…"
Temus's face had gone deathly pale, his jaw trembling.
"Raon Zieghart."
"Not that name. I mean who you really are! How can a brat who hasn't even turned twenty do this?!"
"I don't owe you an answer."
Raon set his right hand over Temus's solar plexus and sent a shock through it.
"Ghk!"
A heavy impact slammed into the heart, and Temus's head snapped back. Raon hadn't killed him. It was a temporary measure to stop a Rage Worm that might be sitting in the heart.
"Get up."
Raon slapped him across the face and woke him.
"Ghh…"
Temus swallowed dryly and looked up at him.
"What did you just…"
"Your master might have planted a worm in your heart."
"Hah—!"
Terror swallowed Temus whole. His pupils shook violently.
"Don't tell me you know about the Shadows too…"
"That's not all. I also know your master is the ruler of the south."
"Ah…"
Temus's mouth fell open so wide it looked ready to tear. He looked more horrified than he had when his arms came off.
"The Rage Worm should be unconscious too, so from here on you answer what I ask."
"Y-you idiot. I don't have any Rage Worm."
"That's convenient. Makes the interrogation easier."
Raon smiled coldly, seized Temus by the collar, and pressed him down.
"Ghhk… huh? Kahahaha!"
The man who had been recoiling in terror glanced down at Raon's hand and suddenly burst out laughing.
"What's so funny?"
"The one who dies here isn't me. It's you."
"What?"
"My blood is a vicious poison. You're going to die too."
Temus jerked his chin at the red blood on Raon's hand—the blood that had sprayed when Raon cut his arm.
"This?"
Raon looked at the blood and let out a short laugh.
"You thought I wouldn't know?"
Temus's blood carried a toxin strong enough to be called blood poison.
But the blood-toxin artifact and the Ring of Fire had shielded Raon's organs and mana circuits, and the Cultivation of Ten Thousand Flames had burned every drop of poison that got in. Aside from a faint queasiness, it had done him no harm at all.
"My poison isn't something the likes of you can—"
"So when am I supposed to die? I asked you a while ago."
"Uh…?"
Raon's easy smile made Temus's eyes bulge as if they might pop out of his skull.
"I-it doesn't even work?"
"If you're done, it's my turn to ask questions."
Raon pinned him down and tipped his chin slightly.
"I-I don't know how you see me, but my mouth will never open! Kill me!"
"Ah, so you're the tight-lipped type?"
"That's right. Torture won't get a word out of—"
"That's fine. I learned what to do in situations like this."
Raon lifted Temus's chin and smiled, cold as winter steel.
"Th-the previous factories are still in operation, and we built another factory for raising Shadows in a village near Valkar. There are a lot of cities and villages in that region, so supplying children is easy…"
Temus's eyes had been crushed by pain and terror until they looked like crumpled scrap. He hadn't withstood the torture method he himself had taught, and Robert's secrets poured out of him in a rush.
The other factories are still running, and they've added four more in the meantime.
The factories were where Shadows and spies were raised. For twenty years, House Robert had been committing even more vicious crimes.
"What's your master's goal?"
"I-I don't know either. He only said he had things to do."
Temus's lips had gone blue. They trembled as he spoke.
"Still hiding in the family basement, talking about someday, talking about the future."
"W-what kind of relationship do you have with him?!"
"Who knows."
Raon smiled faintly. He would have loved to mention reincarnation, but Wrath was watching with far too much interest for that.
A torture method like that… This King wants to learn it too. As I thought, you're closer to a demon than a human…
Raon ignored the nonsense and looked back at Temus.
"What's your master's current martial realm?"
"I-I don't know that either. It's certain he's reached Absolute, but how far beyond that…"
Refusing to answer in this situation meant he genuinely didn't know.
Not that that bastard would ever reveal his own information.
Derus Robert was a man of vicious, absolute coldness. Even a confidant would never have been told his true strength or what martial arts he practiced.
"Did you come here on your master's orders?"
"N-no. I came on my own…"
"Because you got humiliated by a face?"
"Ghh…"
As expected, Temus hadn't come on Derus's orders. He hadn't been able to stand the fact that his medicine and his reputation had lost out to a face, and he had charged in on his own.
"I've heard everything I need."
Raon pulled the Heavenly Sky Sword from Temus's shoulder.
"Ghhk!"
"From now on, you're a prisoner. Once we get back to Zieghart…"
"Ghk!"
The moment Raon tried to haul him up, Temus coughed blood and went into convulsions.
"Gaaaaaah!"
Veins bulged across his entire face, and he screamed worse than he had under torture. The veins burst all at once, and his breath cut off.
"Of course."
Raon frowned down at Temus's corpse. Contrary to the man's own words, a Rage Worm had been planted in his heart.
As if he wouldn't have put one in.
Derus trusted no one but himself. Even a confidant was bound to have a Rage Worm. He had clearly felt Temus's emotional state and killed him before the information could spill.
He's cutting the link.
Temus had actually belonged to House Robert, but publicly he belonged to no faction at all. Using him without bringing him into the family had been preparation for a day exactly like this.
What a vicious bastard.
Raon flicked the blood from the Heavenly Sky Sword and turned his head.
He'll still be furious, though.
Very much so.
He had killed Temus with his own hands, but he wouldn't know why the man had been in danger or how he had died. That would leave him grinding his teeth in frustration.
It's too early to be surprised.
This was only the beginning.
This was the first step of revenge against Derus Robert—against that demon.
Time to head back… hmm?
He had just slung Temus's corpse over his shoulder and started to leave when a message rose before his eyes.
You have overcome the blood poison through your own power.
All stats have increased by 1 point.
Trait [Poison Resistance] has been created.
The messages reported that enduring the poison in Temus's blood had raised his stats and created Poison Resistance.
Huh? Huuuh?
Wrath's mouth fell open as he stared at the messages.
Y-you're telling me it raised your stats just for enduring a poison of that level?! That makes no sense!
He slammed both hands into the ground as if the whole thing were an outrage.
Trash poison like that is in the grass and the water of the Demon Realm!
This is the human world.
Gaaah!
Raon watched Wrath howl and clenched his fist.
I suppose I should say thank you.
He had gotten Derus's latest information, wrecked their plans, and even gained Poison Resistance that could become a real weakness for them. It was three birds with one stone.
Who are you thanking?! You should be thanking me!
"When did Temus start planning that ambush?"
Derus Robert wore a faint, gentle smile as he looked at his butler. His expression and his manner made it almost impossible to believe he had just remotely killed one of his cherished confidants.
"Th-that's…"
"It's all right. Speak."
"It appears to have been after the plan to become Encia Yonan's attending physician failed. He blocked the contacts, called in the Shadows from the northern continent, and ambushed Encia Yonan on her way to Pedrick."
The butler recited everything he had hurriedly investigated.
"So he tried to salvage a failed plan somehow, and that's how he got caught?"
"Y-yes, sir."
"Fine. That's all well and good—but why is this information only reaching me now?"
Derus was still smiling, but the air in the room began to grow heavy.
"Contacts, branches, factories. Information from every one of them should have come to me first, shouldn't it?"
"T-Temus lied and said it was your order, my lord, and blocked the information from getting out."
The butler couldn't meet Derus's eyes. He kept his gaze on the floor as he continued.
"On top of that, he only moved the nearby branches and factories, so it t-took time for the information to reach us."
"This is why you don't put a hat on them."
Derus stroked the wooden desk and let out a quiet laugh.
"The moment they put on a hat, they think they've escaped a worm's life."
"Nnh…"
"If you're going to do it, do it properly. Who did he think he was, trying to ambush a carriage escorted by the Leader of the Heavenly Sword Squad?"
The emotions that had come through Temus's Rage Worm were fear, shock, pain, and resignation. They were the feelings of a man who could not survive, so Derus had triggered the Rage Worm and killed him before the information could leak.
"Idiot."
He didn't need to see it to know. Temus hadn't been able to swallow a wounded pride, had charged in, and had gotten his neck grabbed by the Leader of the Heavenly Sword Squad.
"Sever every last link between Temus and our side."
Officially, Temus was unaffiliated. If the connections were cut cleanly enough, there would be no way for his true identity to come out.
"It's already underway."
The butler nodded at once. He knew Derus's temperament, and he had started the work the moment he learned of this.
"Tools should live like tools. They shouldn't think for themselves."
"Y-yes…"
"And a tool shouldn't move without its master's orders. Replace every head of the branches, the factories, and the contacts as well."
"Y-you mean even the ones unrelated to this incident, my lord?"
"Yes."
"I-if we replace them all, that's over a hundred people…"
The butler swallowed dryly. When Derus said replace, he did not mean appoint new people. He meant kill them all.
"Is there a problem?"
He had just ordered the deaths of his own subordinates—most of them people who had committed no crime—and Derus's eyes were still perfectly calm. That was what made it more terrifying.
"N-no, sir!"
"From now on, change the system so that even trivial information comes to me first."
"Understood!"
"One more thing."
Derus raised a finger.
"Investigate every last person involved in this. Who moved with the Leader of the Heavenly Sword Squad. Which bastard found the spies. All of it."
"Wouldn't that all have been the Leader of the Heavenly Sword Squad?"
"It might have been. It might not have been. It could have been Econ, or those children from the Light Wind Squad who went along."
True to his fastidious nature, Derus intended to investigate this incident down to the last detail and prepare for what came after.
"You may go."
"Yes! I'll handle it quickly and report back."
The terrified butler bowed at once and hurried out of Derus's office.
The moment the butler vanished, the air in the office changed. A cold so fierce it felt like the waves of the North Sea had crashed through the room swallowed the entire space.
"Heh."
The corner of Derus's mouth curled, thin and sharp.
"So a plan twenty years in the making has collapsed?"
The plan to devour the Yonan family had begun more than twenty years ago.
Because of House Zieghart and one little worm, a perfect plan had fallen apart, and his insides boiled.
He couldn't even begin to imagine how much time and money it would take to put this right.
A drop fell.
Perhaps because he had let his anger show for the first time in a long while, bright red blood welled from the wound on the back of his hand and stained the desk.
"I'll kill them."
Derus smiled—an unnervingly radiant smile—and licked the wound on the back of his hand.