An Invitation From the Demon – Part 02
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Translator: Kell
“Hey, witch. So about what the old geezer said.”
Evening of the second day of the expedition.
After finishing the funeral of the knights lined up at the archway, we decided to take a rest for the rest of the day.
It was a wise decision, considering the fact that we had spent the night trudging through the Demon’s Archway, and that fourteen men died for no apparent reason.
I could barely keep my eyes open as well, so Zero and I slept like a log in the carriage. When we awoke, an actual camp site complete with tents had been built.
The aroma of bread and roasted meat wafted in the air as troops assigned with preparing food made warm dinner.
It was highly unlikely that they would share food with us, so I asked Barcel, who was wandering around the area, to give me some ingredients so I could prepare our own meal.
Since I had been cooking for the priest’s and Lily’s share until a while ago, it was hard for me to gauge how much food two people needed.
Zero stuck close to me as I leaned forward and tasted the food, spoon and bowl in hand, waiting for the soup to be finished.
“Do you mean about you turning into a demon?” Zero asked.
“Your mind never ceases to amaze me.”
“What he said was purely absurd. If you hold a fish over an extinguished bonfire, will it become a grilled fish?”
“It won’t.”
“In that same sense, you will not become a demon either. Summoning is like opening a gate for a moment and containing the demon in a receptacle.”
“Is that how it works?”
“Yes.” Zero nodded. “I would think someone from the Church would know that. The Vice Captain, in particular, seemed to possess profound knowledge of demons and witches.”
“He probably just wanted to pick a fight.”
The geezer was not actually wary of us. He simply wanted to emphasize that they were not being protected by a witch and a Beastfallen.
As a matter of fact, he got through the Demon’s Archway on his own. He was a formidable old man, and that’s why his remark made me curious.
While one was older than the other, Zero and the witch who wished to destroy the world looked exactly alike, almost as if they were parent and child.
“You mentioned before that you don’t remember your parents’ faces, right?” I said.
“I did.”
“What about Thirteenth? Did he not know his parents too?”
Perhaps it was an unexpected question, but Zero fell silent for a moment, tilting her head as she traced her memories. “I do not know. We never talked about such things.”
“You never talked about the people who brought you into this world?”
“The concept of family was almost nonexistent in the cellar. They might have had knowledge of it, but they did not think about their place in the family specifically. I did not even know that Thirteenth was my older brother until it was explained to me. I also only realized that Master and I looked alike after someone pointed it out.”
“Just how indifferent are you about others?”
“Witches can identify others by their magical powers. Physical appearance do not matter since it can easily be changed using Sorcery.”
So like bands of mercenaries or traveling troupes.
Most of the children born in such groups did not know who their father was. When a child was born, the women took care of it as a group, and the child grew up not knowing who its parents were.
“The geezer thinks you’re the Murky Darkness Witch’s daughter. Even I think the same, ’cause of the resemblance.”
“So I will annihilate the Knights Templar? People of the Church value family too much. There are plenty of tales of children defeating their parents in history and in stories.” Zero pouted in displeasure.
The Church had greatly influenced my opinion in that regard. There were certainly many stories of children fighting their parents, but there were far more who followed their parents’ orders, accepting an absurd life of slavery simply because they were family. Whether they did so because they were family or they were raised that way, I could not tell.
“I am not like my Master, Mercenary.”
“I know that, but the knights don’t think so.”
“As long as you believe in me, that is enough.”
Zero extended a slender finger and poked me on the bridge of my nose. It tickled, so I turned my head away and scratched it.
“Come to think of it, I don’t know much about your past,” I said.
“I know quite a bit about yours,” Zero replied. “You were born in a small village in the south, and left home when you were thirteen. You joined a mercenary group and moved from place to place. You also have a fascinating nickname.” She chuckled.
I’m having problems because of that name. How dare you make fun of it.
As payback, I began serving myself a nice bowl of soup. Zero casually shoved her spoon directly into the pot and started eating.
“You don’t know my name, though,” I said.
“Mercenary.”
“What?”
Zero chuckled again. Realizing why, I wore an exasperated look.
“I keep telling you, Mercenary is not a name.”
“Yet you respond when I call you that.”
“I guess. Man, I should have asked Thirteenth all sorts of stuff. Like what kind of kid you were.”
No. He would not have answered me anyway. He would have killed me the moment I asked.
“Let me tell you something interesting, Mercenary.”
“Huh?”
“You probably know me far better than Thirteenth did.”
While I was caught off guard by her comment, Zero gobbled up the entire contents of the pot. By the time I pulled myself together, it was too late. She rubbed her stomach in satisfaction.
“It’s only been a year since we met,” I said.
“It has been an eventful year. Thirteenth had never seen me jealous. He would have never imagined me crying over the loss of my immediate family. He did not even know what food I like. That is how we spent our lives in the cellar. A year spent with you is better than a hundred years in there.”
I didn’t know about her past, but I knew what kind of person she was right now. I guess that’s not so bad.
“Wait, you’re not fooling me! It’s not fair that you know about my past, and I don’t know anything about yours!”
“All I know is your sinister nickname. In fact, I do not know how you spent your life as a mercenary.”
“I can tell you if you want.”
I looked up, my ears perked. A chuckle and the sound of footsteps was coming closer.
Him again. I grimaced.
Barcel smiled without flinching. “Please don’t look at me like that,” he said. “I brought you a gift.” He tossed me a water bottle that smelled like wine.
I took a sip to taste it. “Wow, that’s quality stuff.”
“Being a captain’s attendant has its merits. She has taken a vow to abstain from alcohol.”
“Give me,” Zero said, reaching her hand out.
“No way.” I brushed her hand aside and shoved the bottle into my pack.
“Huh? I didn’t know you didn’t offer drinks to women,” Barcel said.
“If you want a drunk, rampaging witch, then I’ll give her some.”
“I won’t bring alcohol as a gift next time,” Barcel said with a straight face. He then sat down near the fire.
“Who invited you to sit down with us?”
“He was a strong warrior,” Barcel began, ignoring me. “He was alone all the time, but you know how he looks. He stands out.”
Once Zero leaned forward to listen, there was no stopping her. I got up and holed up inside the carriage. Still, I could hear their voices.
“He was so powerful that his presence in the enemy ranks was demoralizing. No Beastfallen came close to him in terms of ruthlessness. It was this brutality that caught the attention of the captain, Lady Gemma’s father.”
“But Mercenary is not brutal,” Zero said.
“Exactly!” Barcel slapped his knee. “Rumors tend to be embellished. He was strong, yes, but he didn’t chase and kill fleeing soldiers. He didn’t eat corpses. If he didn’t like his superior’s orders, he ignored it. For example, raping a crying ten-year-old girl in front of her parents’ corpses, or some shit like that.”
“His superiors must have despised him for that.”
“Indeed, they did. Even the captain’s father hated him. But he couldn’t fire him lest he got hired by the enemy. So he decided to kill him. He thought that by killing him and displaying his head, he could show his power to the enemy and to his comrades among the Knights Templar.”
“He could not have killed him. Mercenary is strong.”
Barcel chuckled. “The commander hired ten Beastfallen mercenaries to kill him. He killed four of them and ran away, but a hundred soldiers waited for him. The commander wanted to execute him personally, so the soldiers hurt him so badly until he couldn’t move before throwing him into a cage.”
“Yet Mercenary still lives.”
“I helped him out. On one condition.”
Zero made a sound as if she understood everything. She probably did. In exchange for Barcel’s help, I killed Gemma’s father.
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