The Demon’s Bargain – Part 04
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Translator: Kell
A snicker came from the ceiling. Something’s up there.
“Disgusting!” I yelped, my hair standing on end.
The ceiling was covered with a thick layer of insects. They fell to the floor in clumps, and in the blink of an eye, took on a humanoid form.
Apparently, the demon was sticking to the ceiling with a large number of insects, watching us. It stood on the stairs leading up, giggling while clapping its four hands together.
“I did it… I have myself a mate… Ahaha…”
“I am surprised you agreed to such an unfavorable deal,” Zero said. “If it was a mate you wanted, you could have chosen from the women in the fort. The Captain certainly is beautiful, but is she that worth it?”
“You need… reason… to love?”
“Oh, a demon talking about a love?”
“I can gather… more humans again… There is… only one… of her… She is… the only one… I want… Now leave… No need for guests… Librarian.”
Madia stepped forward.
“We celebrate… Go… to the butcher…”
“Then I will send someone.”
“You go…”
“What?”
“Special meat… I will make… my mate… eat the best meat… Now go…”
For some reason, Madia turned very pale and ran off to the butcher shop, so we returned to the inn on our own.
What do we do now?
Gemma’s own decision forced our plan into motion. Our next move depended heavily on whether Madia would take the gamble or not. The easiest and safest option, however, was to just leave Gemma and Mina behind.
“What’s your plan, underling?” I asked.
“About what?”
“I’m asking you if you’re okay with this. I thought you were against leaving the Captain behind.”
“Well… She made her decision.” He smiled. He seemed dejected after Gemma decided to become the demon’s wife, pushing him away.
Ashes fell like snow outside the tower.
Barcel looked up at the gray sky and squinted. “All I can do is respect that.”
“I guess it’ll be awkward to stay by her side after she found out about everything.”
“You think so too?”
“You plotted to kill her father, and I executed it. Us getting along is just impossible. It’s not like you swore loyalty to her, right?”
“She was burying a cat,” Barcel suddenly began, and I shot him a questioning look. “At first, yes, I wanted to kill her too. After you killed her father, I returned to the mansion with the face of an obedient attendant to announce his death. Then I found her covered in wounds, crying as she was burying a cat. Some naughty kid in town beat it to death. She said she fought to protect the cat, but she couldn’t save it.”
“Well, that’s a beautiful story.”
“Right? I couldn’t stand the thought of her becoming scum like her father. So I decided that I would raise her properly. Her father took my wife and child from me, but I took her father from her. At the time, I believed that’s what God wanted to happen. Looking back on it now, I just wanted a reason to live.”
“So you are saying you do not hate the captain,” Zero said.
Barcel shrugged. “To be honest, I don’t really know myself. The one time I saw the captain playing with ants, crushing them, I whipped her and locked her in the dungeon for a night. It’s a cruel thing that children usually do, but when I saw her doing it, I got furious. I thought, how could see show love to a cat but kill ants?” He fiddled with his thin braid. Gemma once had a matching braid, but she had cut it off. “She learned to judge my mood early on. I didn’t like that. No noble should gauge how his servant feels. I taught her to stand proud.”
“While giving her a whipping?”
Barcel gave a bitter laugh. “I was harsh, yes, but the captain grew up to be someone devoted to justice. She’s strict with herself, kind to others, and never tolerates persecution.”
“She will not sacrifice one person to save a thousand. She will both save the one and the thousand,” Zero said, uttering the same words that Gemma told the king of Wenias.
“He will sacrifice a thousand to save ten thousand. Someone in power who disregards even a single person should be condemned!”
“I liked her speech. Extreme idealism that disregards efficiency. Did you teach her that?”
“No,” Barcel said. “I’m more of a sacrifice-ten-thousand-to-save-one kind of guy.”
“What a coincidence.” Zero chuckled. “I, too, would destroy the world for Mercenary.”
I clenched my fist and hit Zero on the head for the first time in a long time.
“I-I let my guard down!” Zero cried.
“Be careful what you say,” I said. “He’s kinda a member of the Knights Templar.”
“I am a member of the Knights Templar.”
Rubbing her head, Zero snorted. “Then like a real knight, use the kidnapped members of the advance party to gather the people in the fort. There is not much time left until morning comes.” She was about to walk away, but turned around. “I forgot the copy of the Grimoire of Zero. While I go retrieve it, I may as well enjoy a read while we wait for our departure. You may return to the inn, Mercenary.”
“All right. Knock yourself out.” I watched Zero go back the way she came, then looked up at the tower piercing the sky. “So high.”
But it was still shorter than the cliff I climbed a year ago to save Zero. There seemed to be plenty of footholds as well.
I should be fine.
Following the demon’s orders, Madia ran to the butcher shop. She barged into the shop, out of breath. The smell of fresh blood wafted in the air.
“Is anyone here?!” Her voice was trembling with fear and panic.
It did not take long before the shopkeeper came out from the back of the store, carrying a burlap sack soaked with blood.
He tossed it over to Madia. “Take it. The Director informed me beforehand.”
The sack was heavy. Madia untied the tight leather strap and opened it gingerly.
“No… no…”
Inside was an arm. A soft, white, human arm. The size suggested it belonged to a girl, one who had not fully grown up yet.
“It can’t be… No… Mina!” She pounced on the butcher. “Where is she?!”
The butcher jerked his chin towards the back.
Madia rushed into the back room with the bag clutched to her chest. She had prepared herself for this day.
Since the night when the witch declared the destruction of the world, that night when the demon of Fort Niedra started calling itself the Director, the demon started eating human flesh.
The Director could control insects. They brought in large numbers of corpses from neighboring villages and towns like ants carrying food, piling them on the butcher shop.
Naturally, corpses rot as time passed. Most of the bodies lying in the north died on the same day. Madia listened in horror as the Director muttered that it wanted fresh meat.
She believed that one day the demon would slaughter the living and put them on the table.
“Mina!” she called as soon as she stepped into the room.
“Sister!” came a cheerful answer.
She saw Mina on the bed. Holding a book, the young girl seemed delighted to see her sister. She still had two arms.
Madia felt all the tension leave her body. “What are you doing here? I thought for sure something awful happened.”
She thought that the Director ordered the butcher to cut off Mina’s arm. Madia put the bag containing the arm on the floor, ran over to Mina, and hugged her tight.
“I told you not to go near the butcher.”
“I’m sorry. But the Director said I’d see you if I came here.”
“Really?”
Realizing the demon’s intentions, Madia bit her lip. This was a warning from the Director. It would not kill Mina, but if she betrayed him, Mina would suffer the consequences. There were many ways to punish her without taking her life.
The Director was a cunning demon. It suspected that Madia was up to something, welcoming a powerful witch like Zero.
But it made a huge mistake.
“Big Sis? What’s wrong?”
Madia’s hard expression softened. “Nothing. Come. I’ll help you pick out a new book. You can sleep in the archives tonight.”
“Really?!”
“Yes. Everyone in the fort is moving out tonight. It’s going to be loud, so tonight is an exception.”
“Yay!”
A book lover, Mina loved the archives. However, the warding nullified Madia’s ability to see everything. Since she was often away from the fort, she forbade her sister from entering the archives without permission, so that she could at least see her at any time.
For tonight, though, she would let Mina stay inside. The Director would not suspect anything. There was nothing unusual about Madia taking Mina to the archives after making such a threat.
Threatening her was the wrong move. Madia would have quietly watched Zero and everyone else leave.
The Director had never willingly harmed a human being before. It was much more calm and intelligent than Madia’s own father. She thought it deserved a certain amount of respect for that.
So when Zero asked her if she was willing to sacrifice the Knights Templar and everyone in the fort to save Mina, she hesitated.
But Madia had made up her mind.
The Director started ruling over humans. It started to eat them. It started to threaten them.
The Director’s existence was now dangerous to Mina.
Madia was willing to sacrifice a thousand people to protect her only sister.
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