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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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The silence didn’t last long.
“Um… I see.”
I nodded awkwardly, breaking the tension. A prolonged silence would only make things more awkward.
And her answer wasn’t surprising. She’d manifested herself to hasten her descent.
I was actually grateful for her honesty. She could have lied, told me she meant no harm.
But she’d been blunt. She would be my enemy, eventually. I needed to be prepared.
It was a warning, and it gave me pause.
‘Hmm…’
Destroying the altar was the logical choice. I was on humanity’s side, despite being a fugitive. And I had plenty of reasons to hate demons.
But I hesitated.
Not because I cared about her. We’d only known each other for a few days. And she was just a head.
But the altar, and the forest it sustained, were beneficial to me.
She’d created the Forbidden Forest.
If I destroyed the altar, the forest would return to normal. The demonic energy would dissipate.
And that wasn’t good for me. The forest was my home, my sanctuary.
I wouldn’t have survived this long without it. It was the only thing protecting me from the Knights.
I reached another ambiguous conclusion.
‘I’ll decide later.’
I would postpone the decision. Until after I’d dealt with the Knights.
I continued my questioning, breaking the silence.
I was curious about the Kings.
“You said there were four Kings?”
“Indeed.”
“Do you know their names?”
“Heh heh…”
She smiled mischievously.
“That’s a secret. It wouldn’t be fun if I told you everything.”
“…”
I stuck my finger in her mouth again, without hesitation.
“Ack! Gah…!”
It was summer.
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Several more days passed. It still hadn’t rained.
My days were monotonous.
I woke up, ate, talked to Barbatos.
I practiced with my spear, hunted occasionally. I needed to stay sharp.
Sometimes, while training, my senses would sharpen, becoming incredibly acute. I felt the flow of mana and demonic energy, the wind at the cave entrance, every minute detail.
Years of surviving in this forest had honed my senses.
And I noticed something new. A different kind of energy, distinct from the demonic energy, concentrated somewhere in this chamber.
Not as… refined as mana, but clearly different from the surrounding demonic energy.
‘The question is, where?’
It wasn’t visible, so pinpointing its location was difficult.
But I knew I’d find it eventually.
Barbatos, who’d been watching me train, spoke.
“You’re… unusual.”
She’d been observing me, just as I’d observed her.
Even in a few days, she’d noticed my unique characteristics.
“I sensed a familiar energy… you carry the blood of a demon.”
She’d figured it out. I was a Carrier.
It wasn’t surprising. It was common knowledge, and I hadn’t been hiding it.
I used this as an opportunity to ask a question.
“Carriers are said to be descended from specific demons. Can you tell which demon I’m descended from?”
“Hmm… I’m not sure. I could make an educated guess based on the pattern…”
I pulled down my collar, revealing the tattoo on my collarbone.
“Such a shameless display.”
She looked at the tattoo.
“Horns. A very common trait. Most high-ranking demons have horns. Including myself. It’s not enough to identify your ancestor.”
“…Really?”
I clicked my tongue, disappointed. I hadn’t expected a definitive answer, but I’d hoped for more.
Something else caught my attention.
“You have horns?”
I couldn’t see them.
“Of course. I haven’t manifested them yet. It’s an unnecessary expenditure of energy. But I possess magnificent antlers, like a stag. Elegant and refined.”
“Hmm…”
I nodded. It wasn’t important.
I asked another question.
“What are Carriers to you demons?”
“What do you mean?”
“Why did you taint us with your blood?”
Many lives had been ruined because of it.
Families forced to abandon their children, entire villages massacred. And the children themselves, destined to live as fugitives, hunted and killed.
I was no different.
My expression darkened. She seemed to sense my distress. Her own expression became somber.
She finally spoke.
“…Carriers are… keys. Keys to open the door to your world.”
“Keys?”
“Yes, or catalysts. Opening a gate to a different world is not a simple task. It requires a connection, a link. We created that link, planting our blood in your world, creating Carriers. That is all.”
“…”
I nodded slowly. It made sense.
Carriers were tools, used to summon demons.
But something still felt… wrong.
“Let’s change the subject. What do you eat here? I’m curious about your cuisine.”
She’d smoothly changed the subject, sensing my unease.
‘There’s more to it…’
But I couldn’t figure it out.
She was still guarded, despite our conversations. The difference between human and demon created a barrier.
‘I wish Dantalion’s ear worked…’
But it didn’t. Perhaps because she was a demon, or perhaps because she was stronger than Dantalion.
It was frustrating. It had worked on every other demon, but not on her.
I couldn’t read her thoughts, her true intentions.
I let her change the subject.
Another day passed.
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Day Thirty in the deeper layers.
Day Seven in the altar chamber.
I was starting to think summer would end before it rained.
Then, finally, it came.
Pit, patter, pitter-patter…
A heavy downpour, loud enough to echo even in this underground chamber.
The air filled with the scent of rain and earth. A thick fog rolled through the forest.
The rain, falling on the green canopy, created an ethereal, almost dreamlike landscape.
‘Finally.’
I prepared to leave.
The confrontation was scheduled for the day after the rain. But considering the distance between the deeper layers and the mid-level layers, I needed to start moving.
I was glad it hadn’t rained at night. I didn’t want to travel in the dark, in the rain.
“…You’re leaving.”
A voice from behind me.
Barbatos.
We’d only spent a week together, but there was a hint of sadness in her voice.
She’d been alone here for over a hundred years. It was understandable.
“Yeah, I have to go.”
I couldn’t take her with me. Carrying a demon head around would be… strange. And she was bound to the altar, unable to leave until she fully descended.
“…I thought you’d destroy the altar. You’re leaving it intact. You’re a strange one.”
“You said the other demons would mock you if you returned. This benefits you too, doesn’t it?”
“That’s only if I return of my own volition. If the altar is destroyed by another, they can’t blame me. I have an excuse.”
But I wasn’t going to destroy it. The otherworlders might accuse me of being like Lemegeton, but… the forest depended on her.
I wasn’t going to abandon my home.
And she didn’t seem eager to return to the Demon Realm.
“Hmph, fine. Go. Leave. Disappear.”
She sulked. She was surprisingly expressive, for someone with such gentle features.
I chuckled.
“I’m going.”
But not before I took what I needed.
I finished my preparations, then walked around the altar chamber.
“What are you doing?”
I found the spot where I’d sensed the other energy and began to dismantle the crudely constructed wall.
“No! Stop…!”
I ignored her protests.
Rumble…
The wall crumbled, revealing a small chamber.
And a pile of spirit herbs. I smiled.
“So that’s where they were.”
I’d wondered why I hadn’t found any.
I knew why she’d collected them. Offerings for her descent. Spirit herbs were highly concentrated sources of mana.
She was recycling them, refining the mana they’d absorbed from the demonic energy. A convenient investment strategy.
‘She probably used the animals to collect them.’
She hadn’t expected me to find them. She’d tried to hide them. But my heightened senses had led me straight to them.
I collected the spirit herbs. She’d already used some, so there weren’t as many as I’d hoped, but it was enough. Enough to make me stronger.
I showed them to her, a mischievous grin spreading across my face.
“These are mine now.”
“You…! Give them back! I collected those…!”
“No. Do you think I’d just let you descend and conquer my world?”
She’d declared her intentions. I couldn’t just ignore them. That’s why she’d hidden them.
She protested loudly, her face contorted in anger, like when I’d first stuck my finger in her mouth.
I laughed. She was just a head. She couldn’t hurt me.
When she finally calmed down, I spoke.
“I’ll visit you again, if everything goes well.”
She fell silent, then mumbled.
“…Insolent whelp.”
I left the altar chamber.
I thought about the Knights, waiting in the mid-level layers.
And the otherworlders. It didn’t matter how many there were, how prepared they were.
I was ready.
The world would be forced to acknowledge me.
I turned and headed back towards the mid-level layers.
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