Chapter 116

Chapter 116

Infamy

At the time when Zeto was busily preparing for the “desert” he would soon depart to from the academy.

Two men stepped into a hall where the fishy, foul stench had yet to fade.

On one side, an old man with a long beard was frowning, and on the other stood a sturdy man who looked comparatively young.

With his armor clanking, the man bent his knees at the entrance and looked into the empty hall.

In their memories, this place was not one where such emptiness should have hung.

It should have been noisier, more chaotic.

This was the demons’ intelligence agency where Zeto’s... or more precisely, Shade of the Shadows, the darkness spirit, had carried out a merciless massacre.

The man wearing golden armor swept back his hair and spoke first.

“What do you think, old man? Feel anything?”

At the center of the armor of the man who spoke in a mocking tone was the shape of a lion’s face baring vicious fangs.

His name was Zagoras.

As a demon, that was his name.

His name as a human was Delion.

He was currently vice-captain of the Golden Lion Knights under Therasia.

Vice-captain in name, but Captain Terlos Ocentia was nothing more than his puppet.

When there were no subordinates around, Terlos would speak politely to him.

Even when Zagoras mocked Terlos, saying he had practically sold his soul by this point, Terlos only sweated coldly and laughed. Having experienced Zagoras’s terror, the “incompetent” Terlos did not try to resist.

No matter how foolish a person may be, their own life is precious. To begin with, if not for Zagoras, there was no way he would ever have risen to the captain’s seat.

Zagoras was vicious to the bone.

He was skilled at using humans’ desires and psychology to manipulate them, and he enjoyed doing so.

“Ahh, Helgenas... how could this be so dreadful...”

The old man looking around the hall lamented.

The old man was a demon Zagoras had called, and one of the few spirit summoners who had survived for long years.

The advisor had placed Zagoras in charge and ordered him to investigate thoroughly what had happened here.

The advisor’s command was also the corps commander’s command.

Now that there was no Demon King, the corps commanders reigned at the peak of the demons.

Having had no choice but to move without complaint, Zagoras detected the energy of a spirit while looking around the hall, and immediately summoned a demon he knew who handled spirit arts.

The problem was the spirit energy felt throughout the entire hall, from the walls to the floor.

That damp and sticky energy was very different from the human spirits he occasionally encountered. Rather, it was an energy more familiar to demons like Zagoras.

“So, the conclusion?”

Zagoras, rising from one knee, approached the old man.

“...”

The old man covered his mouth, as if afraid to speak, but soon, at Zagoras’s gaze full of urging, his mouth opened.

“...As you expected, Lord Zagoras, it is a darkness spirit. And it seems to be an upper spirit. This place... is not empty. Something still remains here. The traces of a cruel massacre, and the grave of demons... It is so horrific I can scarcely put it into words. Judging by the traces, most of them seem to have been trampled and killed without being able to resist properly. Ahh, Helgenas... how could such a thing...”

At the old man’s pitiful voice, Zagoras let out an “Ah,” then scratched his head roughly, as if something bothersome had happened.

“So, to summarize, a demon using an upper darkness spirit massacred demons alone. A number that must have easily exceeded dozens, all at once...”

“The reason is...”

“Obvious... kindred cannibalism. Some crazy bastard broke the taboo.”

Zagoras naturally continued the old man’s words and mentioned a word that was like “calamity” to demons.

Kindred cannibalism.

Why did wicked demons fear this so much and consider it a grave sin, a taboo?

There was one story handed down regarding kindred cannibalism.

It was the story of a demon who stood atop countless demon corpses and tried to become the Demon King himself.

This was something that could not be permitted.

To demons, the Demon King was the supreme existence, their king who reigned as absolute ruler.

After the Demon King met death in battle against the Hero, this demon used that absence to try to rule all demons through power alone. He was one of the few traitors in demon history.

There were said to be some demons who secretly revered him from the shadows, but actually committing kindred cannibalism was a different matter.

“To think it is the return of ‘the Nameless One’...”

The old man muttered those words, his hands trembling.

The Nameless One.

It was the title, the epithet, of a madman who committed kindred cannibalism and carried out mass slaughter.

Just as the phrase stated, he had no name.

No one knew what his demon name was, what he looked like, or even what attacks and techniques he had used.

He had been sentenced to erasure from all records.

Long years had passed since then.

The only generation that could be said to have experienced him directly were the old demons called “elders.”

Some demons even said things like this.

Whether the Nameless One had truly died, or whether he was hiding somewhere even now, killing demons and accumulating power.

The old man standing before Zagoras seemed to be one of the demons who held such a view.

While the old man shook his head and trembled, Zagoras simply scratched his head and sank into thought.

“So many unsettling things have been happening lately... Should I keep my head down?”

There had been the thunderbolt-like news that their test subject, Eisel Ludwig, was alive, and also news that his colleague, Krectar, was dead.

The moment Zagoras heard that the Saintess’s knight order had been dispatched to the theater where Krectar, or rather his human identity “Oswald,” had been, he sent Terlos there to confirm it.

According to the foolish Terlos, it seemed to have been the work of a swordsman, but it did not seem Eisel had killed Krectar.

Zagoras and his colleagues were not greatly surprised by Krectar’s death. Their reaction had been more along the lines of, “I thought that would happen someday.”

“It is already killing me just dealing with Eisel... and now the Nameless One appears too?”

Eisel Ludwig, whom they had thought dead, was openly alive.

But she must not be alive.

One of his colleagues with a quick mind had thought much the same as Zagoras.

The fact that she happened to be at “Innocence Academy” made handling her troublesome.

Eisel was the result of failure.

In particular, this “failure” absolutely must not reach the corps commander’s eyes.

To their “boss,” who had now risen to the position of the corps commander’s right hand, she was the most irritating thorn in his side.

The same went for Zagoras.

He could be said to be walking a very smooth path right now.

After long, long effort and endurance, he had finally sat in the vice-captain’s seat.

Was it not said that it is darkest beneath the lamp?

Not only would no one suspect that the vice-captain of a knight order that hunted demons was a demon, but Zagoras, who had considerable skill in handling demonic energy, knew how to hide his energy so thoroughly that no one would notice it.

But even he had to avoid meeting the Saintess, so he had somehow been avoiding Bernice well until now.

With his head complicated in many ways, Zagoras muttered a curse.

Eisel Ludwig’s survival.

Krectar’s death.

The return of the Nameless One.

The recent streak of bad events bothered him greatly.

“We are leaving. I will make the report.”

With those words, Zagoras turned sharply, his cloak fluttering.

Whatever else, the hall was empty.

Spirit energy was surging everywhere, but there did not seem to be any evidence that could identify the demon who had committed kindred cannibalism.

At least, demons who handled spirit arts were rare even among demons.

Even more so if the spirit they handled was an upper spirit.

Zagoras judged that this alone should be enough evidence to satisfy the advisor.

The old man looked at Zagoras as he turned away and swallowed the words he could not say.

That perhaps the vicious demon who committed kindred cannibalism had deliberately left traces behind.

To the old man’s eyes, this entire hall looked like a kind of “warning.”

***

To Bernice, I recited information about the one named Delion, or Zagoras by his demon name, only to the degree that would not make her suspicious of me.

Reciting it in too much detail would have been suspicious.

I also had to filter out some visual information and the like that I could not have described.

But that much should have been enough.

In any case, Delion was definitely a demon.

Bernice completed the blessing she had failed to give me at the induction ceremony, told me not to overexert myself for the time being, then left.

Ah, I was also able to receive a small portable crystal orb.

In this world, it was something like... a mobile phone, one might say. It was an extremely expensive object.

Every time one used it to contact someone, it consumed mana like mad, making it a money-eating hippopotamus of an item.

I would have no reason to contact her first, but she said it was to prevent something like this from happening again.

Considering my circumstances, it had originally been something she intended to give me after the induction ceremony ended.

I was not able to speak with Bernice all that much. In particular, I missed the timing to speak about Sierra again this time.

Several days passed after that.

Around the time Edward’s class ended, we received notice that we would be heading to the southern desert.

I was in the middle of preparing for that.

Packing luggage, looking around the general store for things that might be needed... I was spending my time quite thriftily.

After obtaining the subspace pouch, it was convenient because there was not much to organize in my backpack.

[ Have you ever been to the desert? ]

While I was organizing my luggage, Sierra suddenly asked.

Since there was only one desert on the continent, perhaps there was no need for a separate name. People simply called it the desert.

“I have never been. I hear it is extremely hot. I have heard that it is full of sand everywhere, sand that carries a scorching heat, and that sandstorms blow up at the slightest excuse. Ancient ruins cannot be left out either.”

I was, in my own way, looking forward to this desert trip. Especially the ancient ruins.

The ruins were a place that had not been implemented in the game, so I wondered whether I might be able to set foot inside them now.

The first-years were scheduled to head into the desert and carry out a class where they hunted “otherworld species” in groups.

Otherworld species, as the word implied, could be thought of as monsters from “another world.”

Because they were deeply connected to the ancient ruins, gates to the other world opened only near the ruins, and thus the otherworld species could also only be seen in the desert.

“In truth, they are not exactly monsters, but robots... something unfamiliar to the people of this world...”

Robots, machines, mechanics from an era that seemed more technologically advanced than the modern age... in any case, they were lumps of scrap metal.

They were not structured to have pilots.

Going to the desert to hunt robots... considering the genre of the game, it could not help feeling quite out of nowhere.

Things that do not fit fantasy very well can still be made to fit if all sorts of settings like other worlds are added.

That did not mean the desert held great weight in the story....At least not in the game I had experienced.

Since it was much closer than the North, it seemed we would use carriages rather than an airship.

“After returning from the desert, we should be given a break.”

I planned to use that time to go bring the Hero.

Take care of the events I needed to take care of.

Visit the ruins.

After returning, the Hero.

While organizing my luggage, and at the same time steadily organizing my plans, I soon tightened the straps of my backpack and smiled.

Lately, I felt as though things had been going well.

I hoped things would continue like this in the future too.

***

Hero Leon, who had reincarnated in a girl’s body, no, Ray, was currently experiencing confusion.

In the quiet orphanage where everyone had fallen asleep, she was letting out a soundless scream.

“Damn it... the doll is gone...”

Having returned after physical training, she was looking for the doll.

It was a rabbit doll called Becky, about as big as her body, and the doll that had always been placed at her spot was nowhere to be seen.

Even as she searched for the doll, she screamed inwardly.

That doll had recently been quietly placed in her arms by the orphanage director while she was sleeping.

“It is a present, Ray.”

The director whispered that as she tucked the doll into Ray’s arms.

Then she watched Ray hugging the doll with a warm smile.

Ray had been pretending to sleep, and then she had fallen asleep just like that. With a young child’s body, she could not withstand the great storm called “sleep.”

Moreover, for a moment, she had ended up feeling that the doll’s fluffy texture was pleasant.

After a few days passed, this was the situation.

Leon, who had slept perfectly well lying on the ground or on a dungeon floor without caring...

...had now become Ray, who could not sleep properly without a single doll.

At that painful truth, Ray clutched at her hair, but ultimately could not overcome it. She carefully crept around the moonlit orphanage like a cat, searching for the doll.

“Haa... haa...”

In the end, she found it.

A child living in the orphanage with her was hugging it while sleeping, as if it were their own doll.

“How dare you.”

Ray snatched the doll from the child’s arms rather roughly, hugged it, and ran back to her own place with quick pattering steps.

For a healthy adult man to steal a doll from the arms of a sleeping child just so he could sleep was truly boorish behavior, but Ray was in a child’s body... and right now, she had no room to care about such things.

Lying down in her place, Ray covered herself with the blanket and hugged the doll tightly.

“This is it...”

Ray smiled loosely, as if she had reached paradise, and within a few seconds, soft sleeping breaths began to leave her.

She had fallen asleep.

She would probably have good dreams.

...Living in a child’s body was by no means easy.