13 (70)

The creatures were trudging toward Ian. Ian looked clearly stronger than Nestor, and above all, he was closer than Nestor, who stood near the demon god statue. Ian reacted deeply to the murderous intent around him, the kind that seemed like it could only be felt in the Demon Realm. He merely closed his eyes once and opened them again, but his pupils had changed into those of a beast.

That was the only simple change, but his mana flowed even darker and thicker. Perhaps reacting to it, the six Demon Soldiers rushed at Ian. And six heads rolled across the floor. Then the Demon Soldiers that kept crawling up saw that sight and learned one emotion for the first time in their lives. Fear. Fear spread quickly. That was not only true of humans; it was even worse for beasts, and so the Demon Soldiers stopped.

A considerable number of them crawled up, but they did not rush at Ian. As Nestor, who had looked troubled, was looking at Ian with an interested face, Ian moved in order to carry out the “control” he had promised Nestor. He quietly walked ten steps forward and burst out with a savage aura. Then, in a language not of this world, he shouted loudly enough for the Abyss to tremble.

It was a sound loud enough to burst the eardrums of the subordinates nearby, and it was clearly not within the vocal range a human could produce. If its meaning had to be explained, it would be something like “Obey.” That rough command swept past the surroundings like a wave and seeped into every corner of the Abyss. The various Demon Soldiers inside, whether they were in the middle of survival of the fittest or climbing out of the pits, stopped on the spot.

Even a Demon Soldier that had been pointing a blade and a hammer at another’s head and was just about to smash it was no exception. An extremely wondrous thing had happened. It was an instinct every creature of the Demon Realm would have possessed from birth. That instinct was that if one did not recognize a superior being, one would be killed as they were. It was impossible in the human world, but it was also the decisive reason why the complex Demon Realm at least possessed a faint order.

Thus, the Demon Soldier Corps, who had all come to share this new emotion called fear, began to fear a certain being in the center of the Abyss. This was as far as Ian’s role went. Ian had promised only this far, and he could stop them, but that was all. No matter how much he imprinted upon them that he was a superior being, it was impossible to use them like his hands and feet. The one who would fill that part was Nestor.

Of course, Nestor’s plan had been deviating from earlier. The big problem was deciding the target of obedience. Originally, their master should have been Nestor himself, but in this situation, if he made Nestor himself the center, the black magic would fail, so he had to make that target Ian. Nestor narrowed his eyes and looked at Ian’s back. Should he truly give that man control?

If so, he would need something that could let him control Ian even after giving him this Demon Soldier Corps. However, that thought vanished like fog in an instant once Louis’s cavalry entered the Abyss. If he could obtain Louis’s body and soul, what did it matter whether he gave this Demon Soldier Corps to Ian or not? And so, Nestor activated the black magic centered on Ian.

With the demon god statue as the center, the black magic spread like a spiderweb to each individual Demon Soldier Corps. This was black magic that developed fear into absolute obedience, and it required each individual to be in a weakened state of ego. There was no more suitable situation than when the newly born Demon Soldiers had realized the existence of a superior being, become stained with fear, and fallen into panic.

And so, in that short time, the Demon Soldiers that had killed as many as a thousand of their own developed the emotion of fear to the stage where they had to obey a superior being. The reaction to that was immediate. Without Nestor needing to tell Ian that the black magic had succeeded, the Demon Soldiers that had been gripped by fear around Ian began kneeling one by one.

When the first Demon Soldier that had developed all the way to obedience knelt, it became the starting point, and countless Demon Soldiers knelt toward Ian. Like countless ripples spreading, it extended outward with Ian at the center. Even if Ian could not be seen, new Demon Soldiers learned that behavior from the actions of the nearby Demon Soldier Corps and reached the same result.

Ian finally became their master. In a way, leaving behind the frame of the unstable assassin organization known as the Wandering Guild, he had obtained a single army without even the approval of the Church. And not a poor army either, but an army painstakingly created by Apostle Nestor, whom even the Church considered uncomfortable. And that was also something that gave Ian a very important meaning.

It was a certain hatred connected to his very important past, something far from simple ambition. Finally taking off his mask for the first time, Ian let out a mad laugh. Toward Ian, who was laughing so hard that he could only be seen as insane, Nestor approached and said.

“Fight! Ian! I have granted the condition you stated, so you must give me what you promised!”

Only then did Ian stop laughing, turn his body, and look at Nestor.

“It’s a good army. Indeed, it was worth cherishing.”

“……………..Fine. I know what you mean. You want to leap beyond being a Wandering Guild member. I know that well.”

It had already been expected. Even before giving them to Ian, Nestor had calculated everything, including the possibility that Ian might act arrogantly and without restraint, and yet he had still placed the troops in his hands. Nestor continued speaking.

“I will give you the Demon Soldier Corps as they are. And if you use them to bring me what I ask for, I will strengthen this Demon Soldier Corps, and if they cannot be strengthened, I will replenish their numbers! If what you want is to obtain a country, then take Duke Christopher’s territory, or Ruderwin, or if not that, then take the Duchy of Eron! It is impossible with only this Demon Soldier Corps! But with my cooperation, it is possible!”

It was definitely an attractive condition. Since it was something that would tempt anyone, and because Nestor thought he had perfectly grasped Ian, he was confident. Until his own head was grabbed. Ian grabbed Nestor’s blond hair, glared into his blue-green eyes, and said.

“Our clever Nestor knows many things… but I wonder if he knew what I was about to do?”

“Wh… what are you doing? Such foolish behavior….”

Nestor could not finish speaking. That was because Ian had grabbed him by the throat. Looking at Nestor, whose face was turning red, as if savoring him, Ian took a dagger from his waist and slowly drove it into Nestor’s face. There was no scream. Displeased by that, Ian continued drawing the dagger sideways, and sideways again.

“…I vowed that someday, I would carve this face with a blade. How does it feel? I want to ask how it feels to soon lose your body.”

“Hoo… hoo…”

Blood began pouring down, and Ian began tying him up tightly with a rope he had secretly brought. That rope was densely engraved with rune letters. Ian’s palms, which held it, burned fiercely as if they were being scorched. Even through such pain, Ian did not even frown, and in the end, he tied that holy rope around Nestor completely.

Black mages were bound to do strange things if given time, and this was the measure taken against that—in other words, to seal his magical power. Every place the rope touched as it bound him burned Nestor. Nestor frowned and broke out in a cold sweat, and Ian bent at the waist to look at his face.

“Ah, those are eyes full of questions. Perhaps that head of yours is thinking of another apostle’s scheme. But what I am doing actually has little to do with those people. This is… connected to an old ill fate between you and me.”

“Wh… what is that?”

“It happened when I was very young…. You probably do not remember it. No, the current me is actually grateful for that fact, but at least the past me hated you. In a way, this is the emotion I had toward you back then, when I was still human.”

“So what is it?”

“You killed my mother like a toy. You probably do not remember it, but the scene is still vivid in my head.”

“Such… foolishness! Are you saying you committed such a foolish act with a great matter before your eyes over something so trivial?”

“I told you. This is like a whim. I did not like you from the start. And I don’t think simply killing you will relieve this feeling I have had for a long time, so I thought about what you would fear… and it was destroying Louis’s body and soul.”

“……………..Kill me. Torture me. Make me into a stuffed specimen like you usually do, and spit on me, curse me, and humiliate me again and again. But use Louis to complete the great undertaking. Unleash your hatred upon the world!”

Ian grabbed Nestor’s face and slammed it into the floor. After slamming it down several times, enough to bend his nasal bone, he said.

“Your mouth is still alive. Watch helplessly from there. I’ll give you pain after that.”

Ian rose from his seat. He turned his gaze toward the other side of the Abyss. There, an unfamiliar cavalry force was rushing in like a pouring waterfall.

Needless to say, the one at the very front of the cavalry was Louis. He was looking around, surveying this ominous place. Through his senses, he felt what had happened inside, even things the others could not see: the vicious actions. Truly, it is an awful place. Muttering that, Louis turned his head toward the beings at the innermost part. In this place… a space where the only light was faint and pale, Louis’s transformed body clearly gave him information about the existence that was far, far away.

A man in rough clothing was looking at Louis at just the right moment, and that man—Ian—and Louis met eyes. At the same time, the corners of Louis’s mouth rose. Louis did not know the man called Ian, so he thought the being ahead was probably Nestor. However, the information that followed was different.