Chapter 172 : Shortcut (1)
Shortcut (1)
I felt a strange sensation as I walked across the demon realm's land. Normally, with this much cold, the earth should have been covered in snow, and only the dried branches would be visible on the trees.
But aside from the weather, the trees and soil boasted a lush green.
There was nowhere that snow had piled up.
"It only looks that way on the outside. You can't even compare it to the land where humans live. Things you can actually eat barely grow here, and even those wither away quickly."
As if reading my thoughts, Rutia plucked a fruit from a nearby tree and handed it to me.
I bit into it without thinking much—and was shocked. It was surprisingly tasteless.
Literally, there was no flavor at all.
"Are all things here like this?"
"Not all, but most are. The better ones are monopolized by the advanced demonkin, so the lower-rank demonkin hardly get by."
If you were at least an intermediate-rank demonkin, you could scrape by, but those classified as low or lowest-rank had to live off things like these fruit.
"Still, things have gotten a little better. Before I left the demon realm... that is, when the former Demon King ruled, the gap was even greater. At least the current Demon King tried to improve those things."
Zard was a typical king of the demon realm who came to the throne after killing the previous Demon King.
But since I'd seen his profile, I knew better.
The guy cherished the demon realm more than anyone and wanted to make it prosperous.
'The problem was, his answer was to invade the ground.'
From the perspective of the demonkin, the ground was incredibly abundant.
But only a limited number could create corridors to the ground, and invading it invited the gods' intervention.
The gods gained holy power from the humans, so if the demonkin caused harm to humans, the gods themselves would be affected.
As a result, the demon realm could not expand to the ground freely, and could only wait through a long period.
"So is the Demon King trying to join forces with us to defeat Altair?"
Listening to Rutia, Mersaya asked out of curiosity.
"I don't know. For now, it's all just speculation. But I do think the possibility is there."
The guy had told me.
That he'd see if I was fit for business.
After stopping Setram, he told me to come to the demon realm and prove myself.
"So you'd better stay alert."
"Huh?"
Mersaya seemed unsure what I meant, but I couldn't help but grip the sword at my waist tightly.
If I were the Demon King, I wouldn't let me reach him so easily.
"If we go this way, we'll reach a small village. We can rest there a bit."
Following Rutia's guidance through the forest, a small village soon came into view.
"... Is this a village?"
"If you're talking about a village in the demon realm, this is what you'd expect."
It was called a village, but it was closer in appearance to a refugee camp.
Roughly built huts, demonkin wandering around in half-worn clothes.
"This is a lot different from the demon realm I imagined."
"Well, the demonkin who cross over to the ground are all elites, trained for battle. Even among low-rank demonkin, there's a clear difference."
The reality was so different from the widely known image of demonkin that neither I, Mersaya, nor even Sehenz could say much.
Sehenz, especially, seemed quite shocked.
"Rutia, did you live in a place like this too?"
"Well, when I was little, yes. But I was lucky enough to catch the eye of a high-ranking succubus and got the chance to be educated."
Rutia's eyes became distant, as if she were remembering those times.
After that, it seemed, she lived in near-noble luxury.
"I awakened to my precognitive dream and ran away on my own whim, though."
She said that with a self-mocking smile.
It was hard for me to know what Rutia had been thinking when she fled to the ground back then.
"Well, in any case, son-in-law, be careful. I've used Polymorph, so they won't notice your true identity, but if you slip up, who knows what could happen."
"Understood."
Of course, our current appearances were a mimic of the demonkin thanks to Mersaya's Polymorph.
We didn't possess Demonic Energy, but Rutia assured me that the stronger demonkin became, the less their Demonic Energy could be felt, so it would work.
Most notably, Rutia herself was quite powerful, nearly at advanced-rank among demonkin.
Though her fighting power as a Dream Demon wasn't much, if she acted like she was leading us, it would be easy to pretend to be high-ranking demonkin.
"..."
Just as Rutia said, the other demonkin only watched us silently from a distance and did not approach.
If our gazes met, they'd flinch in surprise and hurriedly look away.
"I got us a room."
As we stood awkwardly in the demonkin's village waiting, Rutia soon returned saying she'd secured a small room.
Honestly, I couldn't imagine how much we'd have struggled in the demon realm without Rutia.
"Where did the homeowner go?"
"Well, I gave them a lot of food—they're probably eating with another demonkin now."
As expected, to the impoverished, food was everything.
This wasn't all that different from humans.
We moved into a shabby wooden building and unpacked.
It was only our second day in the demon realm, but even sleeping rough once had worn my body out. Even while sleeping, I'd had to maintain my temperature using magic power.
"By the way, is it true that Saintess Grancesia was resurrected?"
As soon as we entered the room, Sehenz asked me that first.
Since we'd come in such a rush, he'd only heard the basics about Setram.
"Yes. That's why we have to hurry."
"Incredible... my heart is swelling. The Saintess has come back to life..."
Sehenz murmured, awed.
To have a legendary, storybook figure come back to life—it was understandable.
'Honestly, it doesn't feel real to me, either.'
We'd moved so urgently, I hadn't even had a proper conversation with her.
But maybe because we'd been together so long, it didn't feel awkward or uncomfortable.
'Rather...'
While recalling that subtle feeling I'd had, I suddenly felt a strange presence.
"Shh."
I motioned to Rutia and Sehenz to be quiet, then picked up the sword I'd set aside.
Rutia, too, picked up both her daggers as if sensing something from my actions.
"Quite a gathering. Didn't you say pretending to be a high-ranking demonkin would avoid this sort of thing?"
Sehenz clicked his tongue, apparently sensing the demonkin surrounding the house.
There was no sign of a strong presence, but there were quite a few of them.
"That's strange... they wouldn't usually do something so reckless."
Rutia looked flustered by the sudden situation.
Knowing the ways of demonkin, this must have been even more inexplicable to her.
"There's probably someone moving things from behind."
"Huh? Who?"
"Most likely someone very high up."
If anything, I thought this actually came a little late.
"Let me handle this. Just stay put."
BOOM!
The wall shattered as long, blade-like claws swept through the air.
Dodging the claws bursting through the wall, I swung my sword and sliced them off.
Then I drove my knee up to strike the demonkin's head as it rushed in.
"Kegh!"
The emaciated demonkin flew through the air, crumpling to the floor. Instantly, demonkin rushed from all directions toward our old house.
'Killing them would be easy...'
It might have been so before, but I was in the demon realm on business with the Demon King.
There was no need to kill the demonkin pointlessly.
'There are... twelve.'
I closed my eyes and sensed the flow. As if extending my territory over the area.
I slowly widened the range and grasped the presence of every demonkin nearby.
Literally, plain insight.
BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!
"Kraah!"
Without drawing my sword from the scabbard, I swung it like a club.
The sound was so sharp and simultaneous it could be described as melodious, and those charging demonkin all crashed down to the ground at once.
It was an attack mimicking the punch Grancesia had used to drive the angels into the earth.
"Wow... you haven't just improved a bit. What the heck happened to you?"
Sehenz let out a small gasp, but I first checked the state of the demonkin.
The twelve of them groaned on the ground but none were dead.
"Who sent you?"
After glancing at their profiles, I asked the demonkin with the highest rank.
He moaned, clutching his head, then, seeing me right in front of him, wailed.
"S-spare us! We had no choice—we were ordered!"
"Ordered? What order?"
"T-the order was to attack anyone who entered the village."
"When did the order come down?"
"T-this morning."
This morning...
I paused for a moment, then warned the demonkin in a cold tone.
"If you're lying..."
"I-I'm not lying! There's no way we'd have touched someone like you otherwise!"
Seeing his desperate reaction, it didn't seem like a lie.
'Looks like they haven't realized I'm human...'
Apparently, they were ordered to attack indiscriminately, regardless of who.
"Who gave you that order?"
"I-it was Lord Melburn."
I was a bit taken aback that he confessed so easily.
I glanced at Rutia, but from her lack of reaction, I guessed demonkin were just like this.
'But...who is Melburn?'
The name sounded like it was quite famous.
But asking about it would only raise suspicions among these demonkin.
"If it's Melburn Gerbellia, he's known for his cruel nature. For low-rank demonkin like these, there's no way they could refuse his order."
Noticing my confusion, Rutia skillfully explained with a bit of acting.
If he used the Gerbellia name, he must be the lord ruling this land.
"Alright. I'll spare your lives—but there won't be a second chance."
"Th-thank you!"
After driving the twelve demonkin away, I returned to my group, who had been watching the situation calmly.
Sehenz seemed displeased that I'd spared them, scowling.
"Why let them go? They definitely have it in them to stab you in the back again."
"There's no need to kill the Demon King's subjects recklessly when I'm here to negotiate with him."
On the other hand, Rutia looked quietly touched and gave me a thumbs up.
Smiling at Rutia, I continued.
"And besides, they gave us valuable information."
"Valuable information?"
"They said the order came this morning, right?"
We arrived in the demon realm just yesterday.
Yet the order went out this very morning.
"Coincidence?"
"How could it be a coincidence? The Demon King already knows we're here. He must have realized right away."
"... What? How?"
I held out Genova, which I was holding, to the shocked Sehenz.
"The Seven Swords Under Heaven respond to each other. Demon king Zard holds two of them—there's no way he wouldn't notice."
Of course, I can't use their abilities right now. With the Eye of Insight gone, I couldn't use a single power of the sword.
All the more reason I needed to reclaim the Eye of Insight quickly.
"In any case, we'll have to revise the plan. If things keep on like this, it's going to get annoying."
Originally, we planned to blend in with the demonkin, disguised, and pass through the barrier along with them—but now, it seemed likely that the entrance itself would be tightly controlled.
"So what do we do?"
Rutia asked nervously, and I flashed a grin.
For some reason, Mersaya, who was standing beside me, suddenly shivered.
"What's wrong?"
"N-nothing. It's just... whenever you smile like that, you always end up doing something outrageous..."
I felt like I'd heard that before.
How odd. All I did was smile.
"This time, it's nothing big. I just thought of a way to move quickly without taking the long way around."
If I couldn't get through easily, I'd simply borrow the identity of someone who could.