“I… I can’t say it…!”
The middle-aged man, who seemed to hold quite a high rank among the devil worshippers, refused to open his mouth no matter how much his head was shoved into the Red Powder.
“This bastard is hopeless.”
“These vile heretics!”
“Who are you calling heretics?”
Isn’t it obvious that the ones worshipping demons are the real heretics?
I mean, seriously—these bastards believe in demons, not even gods.
“The world originally belonged to the Forgotten Kings!”
“Forgotten Kings?”
…Is that what these guys call demons?
Well, not that I care.
“Bastard, ownership changes all the time.”
With that, I grabbed the worshipper by the hair and dragged him to the center of the manufacturing room.
“Kh! W-what are you doing!”
“Sienna, do you know what frying is?”
“H-huh? Um… It’s a type of food from the North, right…?”
“Oh, so it’s from the North.”
I wasn’t sure if they had it, but I guess it’s a Northern dish.
Well, if she knows about it, I don’t need to explain.
“If something is covered in powder, what comes next?”
“Uh… You fry it?”
“Well, would you look at that? There’s something that looks just like oil right here.”
It burned continuously, just like hot oil.
Perfect for dunking our worshipper, who’s already coated in powder.
“D-don’t do it!”
“If you hate it so much, why did you do it to the villagers?”
“T-they took the powder of their own free will!”
“Bullshit. Let’s see if you can still say that once you’re in here.”
And so—
Just as I was about to shove the worshipper’s head into the acid, gripping him by the back of his neck—
“I-I’ll talk! I’ll talk!”
Looks like he really didn’t want to be fried.
“‘I’ll talk’ is informal.”
“I-I will speak! S-so please…!”
Bastard, you could’ve just done this from the start instead of resisting.
Crash!!
“Argh!”
I flung the devil worshipper straight into the wall.
“Where’s the exit?”
“T-there’s a passage over there….”
“And why is it there?”
“…It’s used to transport the Red Powder.”
“Is it a real exit?”
“It leads to a hidden storage in the forest… Once you go out, you can’t come back down….”
“Lead the way.”
I grabbed the worshipper by the hair and made him walk ahead.
“Since you’re leading, don’t even think about trying anything stupid.”
“Y-yes…!”
Normally, this kind of life-threatening threat wouldn’t work on a devil worshipper.
But this one was different.
For someone who worships demons and doesn’t fear hell, he sure values his own life.
Well, whatever it is, I got lucky.
Following the worshipper, we stopped in front of a wall.
“It’s here….”
“How do we go up from here?”
“…You activate this mechanism.”
After feeling around the wall for a moment, he pressed a hidden spot, revealing a secret door.
“This is….”
“…A passage that can’t be opened from the outside.”
“You go first.”
…It’s this easy to escape?
Of course, I was only threatening him just in case there really was an exit.
But this method seemed a little too simple.
“Y-yes….”
Still, the worshipper entered the dark passage without hesitation.
I activated Track and followed inside.
Then, I saw a long pulley system leading upward.
“This is….”
“It’s usually used to transport the manufactured Red Powder… but it can carry people too….”
“You messing with me?”
“N-no, I swear!”
“You bastard….”
Is this really legit?
For real?
I shot the worshipper a look filled with suspicion.
“Ahem!”
“R-Rain! Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine….”
But my body was too messed up to search for another route.
And even though my reason doubted it.
My instincts told me that this devil worshipper was shaking in fear and spilling everything just to save his own skin.
This bastard is seriously the worst.
“Then let’s go up.”
“Y-yes… I will activate it.”
And so—
The pulley, which was originally meant to transport sacks, now carried the three of us.
“Can this thing even lift our weight?”
“It… it should work….”
“If it doesn’t, I’m dropping you.”
“H-hiiik….”
…For a high-ranking devil worshipper, this guy sure is pathetic.
I waited, thinking about how insane their entire group must be.
Before long, the mechanism started moving, lifting me, Sienna, and the worshipper upward.
I thought I had gone pretty deep underground.
But either it wasn’t as deep as I had assumed, or this area was lower than the forest we had entered from.
We reached the top surprisingly fast.
Thud!!
As I pushed open the ceiling hatch, another stone chamber appeared.
“This place is….”
“From here, we just need to go out that way.”
After that—
The worshipper felt around the wall again, and soon, a section of it slid open.
And then—
“Wow….”
“It was this easy?”
We had emerged into a warehouse in the middle of the forest, where the early morning sun was just beginning to rise.
“Damn….”
That was way too easy.
How did the captain even get trapped here?
Did we just happen to get lucky with our entry route?
I recalled the Viscount’s words about sacrificing half of his forces.
It seemed like he had anticipated all this and made his moves accordingly.
“Are there any other exits?”
“T-this is the only one… Otherwise, you’d have to go through the main estate.”
So I really was lucky.
“Sit down.”
“H-huh? Oh… Y-yes…!”
“Sit down.”
More importantly—
Even though we had reached the surface, moving right away would be difficult.
My stamina was completely drained, and navigating a dark forest while injured would be reckless.
So, I sat down and made the worshipper sit in front of me as well.
“You want to live, right?”
“H-huh? Um… Y-yes, yes…!”
“Then spill everything.”
“H-Huh …?”
“Tell me everything about the Red Powder and your plan, and I swear on my honor I’ll let you live. Besides, the ritual has already succeeded, hasn’t it?”
As I said that—
Boom…! Boom…!
I gestured toward the constant tremors coming from underground.
By now, even the people in the city must have noticed something was wrong.
“T-that is….”
“If I catch you lying, your head’s coming off.”
I slowly raised my sword and rested it on his shoulder.
“Alright. Start with why you spread the Red Powder.”
Normally, devil worshippers never give up information.
I had captured countless of them during mountain searches, and that was always the conclusion.
But this one was talking.
Which meant I had to extract every last bit of information.
“U-uh, well….”
“Well?”
“I-it was to create a vessel….”
And then—
The truth behind the incident in this Margrave’s territory finally spilled from his mouth.
**
“…So, you spread the Red Powder to create a vessel for summoning a devil?”
“T-technically, it’s more like a medium for the old master to set foot on this land again….”
“Either way, you were trying to summon a demon, right?”
“…Yes.”
According to him—
The Red Powder was a sorcerous substance meant to create a vessel for a devil’s descent.
“Why does it make blood acidic?”
“It’s a side effect. The impure ones become corrupted as their contents are emptied….”
“‘Impure ones’ meaning…?”
“Those who have already matured—in other words, adults.”
“Oh.”
Now it made sense.
“So it doesn’t work on adults?”
“Yes….”
“Then why did you spread it?”
“Because the emptied contents are used to make more Red Powder….”
“…What?”
I turned to the worshipper, unable to believe what I had just heard.
“You’re saying you use Red Powder to make more Red Powder?”
“Yes… The main ingredient is extracted that way.”
“And as a bonus, the Viscount’s territory falls into chaos?”
“…That was the Viscount’s idea.”
…The Viscount again?
That lunatic.
“Why did the viscount betray?”
“T-that… I don’t know the exact reason….”
“Fine, whatever. So, the children—they qualified as vessels, so you took them?”
“Yes… Since they are not impure, the probability of them becoming a suitable vessel increases.”
“Hah….”
The more I listened, the more I realized how utterly vile these bastards were.
“How many years was this plan in the making?”
“Since the moment we first discovered how to manufacture Red Powder….”
“And when the hell was that, you bastard?”
“…Before I was even born.”
“Unbelievable.”
I took a moment to process everything after hearing the devil worshipper spill the entire plan.
A decades-long scheme?
And I got dragged into it? Just my luck.
Of course, there was a chance this worshipper was lying.
Maybe, in a desperate bid to survive, he had concocted a brilliantly creative story on the spot.
But in the end, it didn’t matter.
Whether his story was true or not, we were still in a f*cked-up situation.
I pressed my sword slightly harder against his shoulder.
“Well then, now that that’s settled….”
“Y-you said you’d let me live….”
Then, I raised my sword—
And pointed it toward the open warehouse door.
“Get lost.”
“…Huh?”
“You told me everything. Or would you rather die?”
“N-no! Of course not!”
The devil worshipper jumped to his feet at my words.
“T-then I’ll be going….”
“Yeah.”
He glanced at me with skepticism before hesitantly stepping toward the forest.
Even as he walked away, he kept looking over his shoulder, clearly unable to believe I was actually letting him go.
“Get the hell out of here!”
“Y-yes!”
Only after I shouted did he finally disappear.
And with that, he was gone.
“Y-you’re really letting him go?”
Beside me, Sienna, who had been silent this whole time, finally spoke.
“You thought I wouldn’t?”
“Yes… I-I didn’t think you’d actually let him live….”
“If I kill someone after they give me information, who the hell would talk next time?”
Saying that, I dropped my sword to the ground.
Hah… I’m exhausted.
“I-is this some kind of chivalry?”
“It’s practicality.”
I didn’t care much for chivalry.
But honor? That was a different story.
If I built a reputation like this,
Maybe, in the future, there would be people who willingly spilled everything to me, hoping to survive.
That would be an even greater advantage.
And besides—
An incompetent enemy is better off alive.
If I let him live, he’ll probably screw over his own people again at some point, right?
“But more importantly… it looks like it’s almost over.”
Whatever the case—
I leaned against the warehouse wall, feeling the vibrations rising from the ground.
The end of this whole mess was finally approaching.
