Chapter 9: The One Who Hones Names (1)

Kadim stabbed his dagger into the demon's throat.

Thunk, drip drip drip...

He hit the artery dead-on but there was no gush of blood. Too much time had passed since its heart had stopped beating. Still, a fair amount of pooled blood flowed out.

Kadim collected the blood and filled about half a leather waterskin. This much would be enough for emergencies. With this, he had achieved his initial purpose for visiting the village.

Butchering a demon was a rare sight, one that most would never see in their lifetime. Adults and kids alike came swarming over like bees even while they were scared. But when the barbarian just took the blood and started packing up to leave, the villagers were utterly bewildered.

The man who'd lent Kadim the hatchet stepped forward and asked.

"Um... what should we do with the rest of the body mercenary sir?"

"Don't need it. Burn it."

"What?"

The man's eyes went wide as saucers.

A demon’s corpse was worth money. Everyone in the village figured Kadim had hunted the demon for profit. Who would have thought that he just took some blood and told them to burn the rest without a second thought? They couldn't understand it at all.

Greed started creeping into the man's eyes.

He didn't know the story, but this was an opportunity. If he kept the corpse and sold it later to some Paladin or merchant from the Alliance he could make a decent profit...

Kadim read the man's thoughts. He shot him a cold look and gave him a warning.

"If you don't burn it right now, the smell of blood will spread. When monsters smell it and eat the corpse, they’ll become demonic beasts. You want another attack from crazed goblins?"

The man flinched and trembled. All the villagers were staring at him now. He mumbled something about going to burn it right away and hurriedly dragged the demon's corpse away.

Back in the hut, Kadim unwrapped the cloth and examined the wound on his forearm. Fortunately, this body still had good regenerative abilities. The scratches from the demon's claws were scabbing over nicely without any infection.

But the wound from the Paladin's spear was a different story.

Kadim touched the area below his shoulder.

A throbbing pain and a burning heat.

It had been over ten days since he got stabbed, but the pain was still there. He'd disinfected it with salt water multiple times and ground up medicinal herbs to pack in the wound, but it just wouldn't heal properly.

‘Damn it, it definitely wasn’t an ordinary spear…’

A Blessed Armament that could freeze wounds. That spear might have even had an effect that slowed down recovery. The only small comfort was that he had left the same wound on the Paladin’s corpse.

Even though his injury wasn't fully healed, he couldn't just sit around recovering forever. His business here was done, so it’s time to go.

In exchange for bringing back their children, the villagers had given him various useful items. Leather boots and a belt, food supplies, oil for maintaining his blade and a whetstone for maintaining his sword, and so on…

He tied the laces on the waxed leather boots, fastened the belt with its iron rings loosely around his waist, then hung his sword on one side and the waterskin full of blood on the other.

The hatchet he'd borrowed was completely ruined when he brought down the cave ceiling, so he'd gotten another axe from a different house. The iron was softer and the handle weaker than the previous one, but it was better than nothing.

He didn't have much gear so packing up was quick. Kadim was doing a final check of his simple equipment when Duncan entered the hut carrying his bag.

"Wait my lord! You're planning to leave already?"

"That's right. You should get your clothes together too."

"How about we rest for today and leave tomorrow? Your injury still doesn't look fully healed..."

Kadim slowly shook his head. There was a reason they couldn't delay.

"I'm sure witnesses have come forward by now. Killing soldiers and prisoners is one thing, but killing a Paladin isn't something they'll just let slide. If we're unlucky, they might send trackers after us."

The merchant's eyes widened. He'd completely forgotten about it because of the grueling journey. This monster of a barbarian had killed a Paladin from the Order of Elga.

Technically, he had been dragged along against his will, but there was no way the pursuers would believe that. If they got caught, he'd definitely be treated as an accomplice. Duncan instantly changed his tune and scrambled to get his clothes on.

The two men finished their preparations and headed to the village outskirts. The villagers came out as a group to see them off. The adults all bowed their heads to Kadim in unison and some of the children who'd grown attached to Duncan clung to his sleeves and sobbed.

But most of the children who had been captured by the demon were still dazed. Their eyes were dark and listless, as if staring at some distant place that wasn't here.

On the path leaving the village and entering the forest, Duncan let out a bitter sigh.

"Whew. Seeing kids that age acting like that when they should be laughing all day... it doesn't sit right. Thankfully, they'll all recover before long, right, my lord?"

"No. That'll never happen."

"...What?"

The barbarian who knew demons well delivered the cruel reality.

“Those children were brainwashed by the demon for nearly half a day. It told them their parents had abandoned them, that they were the most useless children in the world. Even a steadfast Priest would lose his mind after hearing a demon's whispers for that long. They won’t recover."

"...!!!"

"Actually, you can't even call it brainwashing. It’s true that their parents abandoned them. The demon just carved that fact into their minds so they would never forget.”

Duncan's face went white as a sheet. Kadim continued with gloomy eyes.

"Betrayed by their parents who were everything to them and forced to relive that fact over and over, those kids will never be able to grow up normally now. They won't trust anyone, won't love anyone, or feel any joy. They'll become cold-blooded. Maybe they'll go insane from terrible nightmares every night."

"My god... how horrible... Why, why did the demon do such a thing?”

"Because that's a demon's nature. Human suffering and despair are their greatest joy and nourishment. It’s their nature and the law of the world.”

Duncan felt his breath catch in his throat.

He finally understood why Kadim had said, ‘If the demon was less cunning and less evil, it would have killed the children.’

He'd been thinking of demons vaguely as 'dangerous monsters you don't want to meet’ until recently. But their true nature was far more horrifying and vile than he'd imagined.

‘No, but then… this man who deliberately hunts such demons, and even drinks their blood… what in the world is he…?’

Duncan looked at Kadim with a dazed expression.

His curiosity about this barbarian kept piling up. Why did he know so much about demons? How could he gain superhuman strength from drinking demon blood? And why was he so adamant about heading to the Mage Tower?

He didn't think he would get a straight answer. More likely, he'd just piss the guy off and ruin the conversation they'd finally started. So Duncan asked a different question.

“B-But, my lord, if the parents repent and take care of the children with all their heart, couldn't they somehow recover? You know, there’s a saying that sincerity can move heaven?”

"I can't say it's completely impossible. But..."

Kadim trailed off and glanced sideways. Duncan immediately understood what that look meant.

Could those parents who abandoned their children to save themselves really do that?

"..."

Duncan bit his lip and hung his head low.

***

It was just past noon.

The gentle sunlight falls over the fresh greenery of the plain, coincidentally, it also falls on the corpse that littered the plain.

A woman in plate armor walked among the corpses nonchalantly. Golden hair fluttered in the breeze and jade-green eyes surveyed the faces of the dead. She soon found a corpse wearing armor with the same knotted ten-pointed star emblem as hers.

The woman muttered in a businesslike tone.

“There you are, Linton Phelipperus.”

His head was so crushed and decomposed that she nearly couldn’t make out his feature. Fortunately, the Paladins had a more reliable means of identification. The woman raised her hand to signal that she had found the target.

Shortly after, another Paladin came to her side. He was also clad in plate armor with a steel helmet and a blue plume pulled down low.

The man frowned slightly behind his visor.

“Are you sure it’s Linton Phelipperus, Lady Helia? Could it be another Paladin…?”

The woman openly showed her displeasure.

"How dare you question your superior's judgment? I saw him clearly with my own eyes at his ordination ceremony. his spear is undoubtedly Linton Phelipperus’s Blessed Armament.”

"..."

The man pretended not to hear and carefully approached the corpse. After examining it closely, he clicked his tongue.

"Looks like the enemy got hold of his Blessed Armament temporarily. But this spear wound wasn't the direct cause of death. He was likely struck in the head with something like a blunt weapon first. He seems to have died at that point.”

"Ha, do you really need to go all the way over there to figure that out? Even a three-year-old could tell at a glance... No wonder you're still stuck at 'Paladin' rank even though it's been ages since your ordination, Ethan."

Veins bulged on Paladin Ethan's forehead. But he didn't dare argue back.

That woman, Helia Munel, held the rank of Sacred Knight. And not just any Sacred Knight, but the Empire's youngest Sacred Knight who'd achieved that rank by slaying twenty demons single-handedly.

Her personality was shit but her skills were undeniable. A mere Paladin like himself was no match for her. Ethan could only scowl behind his helmet and grit his teeth.

Helia didn't care either way and commanded in a bored tone.

"Stop stating the obvious and try to figure out what the culprit's motive. They killed all the prisoners too, so it wasn't about rescuing prisoners, and there's no sign they stole the soldiers' equipment... Why did they butcher the demon's corpse like that? What kind of blasphemous group would do such a thing..."

The idea that someone single-handedly slaughtered a Paladin and all these people was beyond common sense. So both of them naturally assumed this massacre was the work of some organization or group.

But they couldn't make any progress from there. A long silence fell as they both sank deep in thought.

Finally, Helia made a decision and held out her hand.

“There's no other way. Ethan, bring out the holy relic Archbishop Erensko gave us."

“…You mean the Twin Mirrors of Damian? Please reconsider, Lady Helia. It hasn't even been ten years since the other mirror broke.”

The Twin Mirrors of Damian were holy relics that could show visions of the future and past respectively. They were so precious that they couldn't normally be taken out for just any matter but this time was an exception. The dead Paladin Linton Phelipperus was Archbishop Erensko's nephew.

Anyway, these mirrors had originally been a pair as the name suggested, but now only the one that showed the past remained. The one that showed the future had broken before when it tried to reflect the image of an 'extremely powerful being.'

Helia had no intention of listening to Ethan's advice. She wrinkled her nose and arrogantly lifted her chin.

"Who said anything about breaking it? They gave us this to use when our investigation hit a wall. Are you going to report to the Archbishop yourself that you have no idea why Linton died?”

"..."

“Stop worrying about useless things. The mirror will never break unless it reflects the image of the Archdemon…”

Ethan had no choice but to bring out the holy relic. When Helia reflected the landscape of the plains, phantoms from multiple angles began appearing on the mirror's surface.

From the procession of Paladins and soldiers escorting prisoners, to a brief commotion for unknown reasons.  Then the scene where Linton stabbed one of the prisoners to death appeared. A barbarian prisoner ran to the rear and smashed a crate. The man suddenly started biting the demon's corpse and began slaughtering soldiers left and right...

CRASH!

…The mirror suddenly shattered into pieces.

The two Paladins stared at each other with bewildered eyes. If the mirror broke there was only one reason.

This mirror had just reflected a being equivalent to the Archdemon.

Ethan crossed himself with trembling fingers.

"Dear God Elga... What in the world is this... Lady Helia we need to return to the Holy Capital immediately and report..."

But Helia composed herself from the shock and commanded firmly.

“No, the culprit has been revealed, why would we return to the Holy Capital? We will continue the search as planned.”

"...What?"

“I will personally execute that demon in human skin with my own hands.”

A crooked smile appeared on the ambitious Sacred Knight's lips.

***

"...We'll make camp here for tonight."

"Ah yes my lord..."

It had been quite some time since he'd started traveling with the barbarian. Duncan skillfully laid out his bedding and brought out a wool blanket. Then he grabbed a flint and a pot and headed toward the stream.

He filled the pot with water and sprinkled in roasted oat flour before chopping up carrots and potatoes and throwing them in. Thanks to the food supplies the villagers had provided, they actually had something decent to eat today.

But the merchant's expression wasn't very bright.

‘Never able to trust anyone. Never able to love anyone. And might even go insane...’

Thinking about what would happen to those village children made him uneasy all day. The face of his eight-year-old son back home kept coming to mind.

Duncan shook his head vigorously. He couldn't stay depressed forever. To please the barbarian and safely return to his family, he had to force himself to be cheerful.

“Hoo, hoo… Ouch, hot…”

He lit the kindling with flint and boiled it until it was bubbling. When it was cooked, he picked it up, praying that the barbarian would like this meal.

"Here! Hot dinner's ready!"

But as soon as Duncan returned to the campsite he was horrified.

"Uh...? My... lord...?"

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