Chapter 27: Contract’s Price [1]
"...Wait a moment, what do you mean by 'collect'? What does that mean?"
Luina's eyes grew somewhat fierce.
"I don't understand what you're saying. If it weren't for this guy, I would have had no reason to consume these items. Shouldn't he naturally pay the price? Personally."
"Are you saying you won't hand him over to the Judges?"
The Judges.
A group with a long tradition that began with the history of the Empire and continued to exist until now.
They were an organization directly under the Emperor, with the primary goal of finding and destroying demons.
"You mean those folks who are barely clinging to life under the name of tradition without any real purpose?"
They were people who wielded absolute power under the mission of destroying demons, but that was all in the past.
A thousand years was an extremely long time. During that long period, demons had not resurged, and the Judges lost their value.
Yet the reason the Judge system was maintained was only one: because the first Emperor had specified it in imperial law.
To never abolish the Judge system in preparation for when the demons would resurge.