Chapter 169

Upon entering the Council, Moon Ah-rin was on the verge of fainting.

Before her eyes stood countless demons she had never seen in her entire life.

There were those with horns on their heads, and even those whose entire heads were just horns.

Divided across three seats, they were looking at posters crafted from the hides of unknown creatures along the walls, chattering about recent events.

It was a sort of bounty board.

—So that’s Du Fu-lin, the Blade King of the White Lotus Union. I heard the quorum of the Chair of Silence was cut in half because of him?

—It seems their forces within the continent are virtually annihilated.

—What about Europe? What happened to that Special-Class monster from the Alps?

—They say it hasn’t been seen since the Overlord of Undeath manifested. Could it have been slain by those Magic Tower bastards?

—What a pity. If we had tamed that thing, we could have used the Trade Association to our heart’s content.

—If you’re that desperate for money, why don’t you try catching this one instead? That’s assuming you could even lay a single finger on them.

Though they were in a phantom-like spiritual state, the existence of the demons came across vividly to all five senses.

Eavesdropping on their conversation, Moon Ah-rin suddenly turned pale and grabbed the shoulder of Ha Yeri, who was sitting beside her.

“Um, Commander Ha Yeri…”

“…”

“C-Commander Ha Yeri…!”

“Don’t call me that here.”

Sitting in a completely rigid posture while wearing a white wig and a gothic-style outfit that suited her surprisingly well, she turned her head.

To Moon Ah-rin, it seemed as if she was roleplaying a specific person.

“T-Then what should I call you?”

“Just treat me like a regular doll. So, what is it, Miss Margarine?”

“I think I’m going to throw up…”

It wasn’t simply because she had a weak stomach.

Moon Ah-rin pointed a finger at a corner of the seating area where the early-arrival demons were gathered before the start of the meeting.

Hanging there was her own face, depicted on a poster several times larger than the others.

[Humanity’s Last Bastion, ‘The Saint of Salvation’: Bounty 500,000,000,000 WP]

“W-What on earth is that ‘WP’?”

“It’s a currency unit called ‘Witch Points’ used within the Witch Trade Association.”

“I-It says five hundred billion, but that’s a r-really small number, right? Like something you could get just by catching a single tentacle on the street…”

“It is an extremely massive number. If you’d like, why don’t you compare it with the other wanted figures below?”

The personal information of famous Special Unit agents like Yoo Se-byeol or Cheon So-baek was already widely known among the general public, but perhaps due to the aftermath of “New Monster Wars RE:VIVE!”, that scope had expanded even further.

Kim Seong-gon and Shim Ha-yul from Division 6, and even the rookies Alexei and Kang Nabi were featured on the posters.

However, none of them could match Moon Ah-rin’s overwhelming sum.

In particular, Hayan—whose figure detail alone had been incredibly poorly made due to low popularity—had his poster hanging in the lowest corner of the bottom row, with his face virtually unrecognizable.

[Humanity’s Last Insect, ‘The Light Mage’: Bounty 0.4 WP]

[Since there is no unit smaller than 1, a small commodity will be issued as a replacement upon subjugation (1 pocket tissue).]

“Do you get the general picture now? Five hundred billion is enough money to buy out the entire Witch Trade Association.”

“T-That means…!”

“It likely means Miss Ah-rin is just that important of a person to us.”

No.

It wasn’t true.

She wasn’t that important of a person.

She was merely a white mage who helped injured people, listened to confessions at relief centers, and accumulated minor mission performance records while receiving the gratitude of citizens during responses to small local incidents.

But everything had changed after she met Hayan.

Claims that she had tamed Tartaruga with a single finger.

Claims that if she unfurled her wings to their maximum, she could circle the Earth backward and turn back time.

Claims that she had sat atop the White Tower, seized the throne of the Outer God of Justice, and declared that she would become justice itself for the world.

The rumors ballooned, bringing along even more bizarre fabrications.

Now Ha Yeri, the Special Unit, and even the demons were under a massive delusion that she was absurdly powerful.

And that tide had become a raging wave that no one could stop anymore.

—Catch the Saint of Salvation? What a bad joke. You might as well tell me to step onto that pyre.

—If the Saint of Salvation were to appear here, I would rather throw myself into the pit of fire.

—Let’s drop this topic. She might be listening to our entire conversation here right now.

—If that were truly the case…

“Every single demon would have to risk their lives to annihilate her.”

“Hieek?!”

“Well, such a thing won’t happen, so there’s no need to be scared. You’ll hurt yourself holding that sword like that, so you should put it down for now.”

At that moment, someone appeared behind Moon Ah-rin and placed a hand on her shoulder.

Startled to the point of a near fit, she turned around to find a beautiful woman wearing sunglasses.

The nightmare demon, who introduced herself as Norkel, paid little attention to Ha Yeri beside her and gestured toward the seats.

“What are you doing? It’s about to start, so sit down. Demons are strict about rules, and you’ll get scolded if you don’t follow them.”

“Ah, yes.”

“I heard from the witches that you’re Lord Patel’s junior. Is that true?”

“Huh? Ah, yes…”

Patel—that was definitely another name… no, identity of Hayan.

Moon Ah-rin still couldn’t understand.

From what she had heard, he seemed to have been active as Patel for quite a long time. Did Ha Yeri truly know that fact and turn a blind eye to it all this time?

Perhaps she did.

Though she was stern about everything else, when it came to Hayan, she often humored his tantrums like a mother.

“What do you think? Is he coming too?”

“Ah, yes?”

“Are you perhaps under a curse that makes you unable to say anything other than ‘Ah, yes’? Should I call a witch for you?”

“A-Ah, no. By ‘him,’ do you mean… Mr. Patel?”

“That’s right.”

Seating herself naturally in the row behind them, Norkel leaned her body forward.

Accompanied by a scent like sweet syrup, a bewitching voice tickled Moon Ah-rin’s ears.

“Without Lord Patel’s protection, neither we nor the witches will last very long. We could be tossed into that pit of fire this very day under the pretext of summoning the Hooves of the Statue.”

“I-I see.”

“One more thing. Do you see over there?”

“That is…”

A slender, delicate finger pointed toward a special seat located at the very front of the seating area.

Seated there with a listless expression was a woman with her legs crossed.

It was impossible not to notice her, as the surroundings were filled with a light so bright it was blinding.

However, the heat rolling in from her direction since moments ago was making the back of Moon Ah-rin’s throat feel stiflingly warm.

“Her patience is already at its limit. Given her temper, she has tolerated this for quite a long time.”

“W-Who are you talking about?”

“The Archduke of Flames.”

“That person is the Archduke of Flames?!”

Flauros, the Archduke of Flames.

Hearing for the first time that she was the representative of the Seat of Flame and had come here to forge a blood pact with Patel, Moon Ah-rin covered her face with her hands involuntarily.

While habitually spouting nonsense about being a Mage of Light and having the purest soul in the world, behind the scenes, he was being revered by demons and courted by an Archduke.

“We are at a tipping point right now.”

“…”

“If Lord Patel doesn’t show up by the time the meeting begins, the Council will explode at that exact moment.”

The terrifying fact was that, given Hayan’s childlike personality, he might just completely avoid a task if he truly didn’t want to do it.

Just like how he skipped Division 3’s training every day by coming up with all sorts of excuses.

And having sent Ha Yeri and Moon Ah-rin into the assembly hall first, he hadn’t shown his face since a while ago.

Fifteen minutes before the clock hands pointed to the demonic hour of 6:66.

Moon Ah-rin had an ominous premonition that, if things went wrong, she might not make it out of here alive.

“Have you opened your eyes?”

The place Velada had brought me to was a damp sewer, similar to where we had first met.

Seeing that nothing happened even when I tried to draw up my mana, it seemed we were still inside the Council.

Although the Council itself was a space constructed through magic high up in the sky, it wasn’t strange for such a structure to exist underground.

In essence, magic was a process of filling an empty vessel with the imagination drawn from one’s mind.

When Velada and I wished to remain in an isolated space away from the eyes of others, there was no place more fitting than this.

‘She has grown quite a bit.’

I pushed my body up.

And as I reflexively touched my face, I realized I wasn’t wearing my mask.

“It broke while I was moving you here.”

“Ah…”

Held in Velada’s hand was the shattered wooden mask.

The crack that split from below the left jaw was from when I had thrown a tantrum in front of Ha Yeri previously, shouting that I would no longer act as Patel.

Velada was someone who had been with Patel for a long time.

She was also the sole entity among the demons currently sitting in the Seat of Flame who knew my bare face.

Of all times, my identity had to be exposed in the worst possible situation.

However, she was surprisingly composed.

Was it because she had reclaimed her original power as a Special-Class monster, or was it because the situation that led her to abduct me here was just that desperate?

Perhaps it was both.

“It does not matter who you are. The man who treated me well was behind the mask from the very beginning.”

“I don’t recall treating you particularly well.”

“Do not go.”

From above our heads, the bell announcing the imminent start of the meeting tolled six times.

Velada held onto me as I attempted to leave the sewer, speaking out.

“If you go, you will die. Tonight, there are far too many who wish to put you on the pyre.”

“Who is out there?”

“Karzos, Flauros, and even Trishy.”

Karzos, Furcas’s subordinate, was an old nemesis, and Flauros likely wished to have me reborn entirely to make me hers, just as the little witch had said.

But the chairwoman is quite a surprise.

We shouldn’t have clashed until now.

“As long as the witches she commands have attached themselves to you, she is not one to simply leave it be. The wounds she suffered during the great invasion have already been fully healed.”

“If that’s the case, it makes sense.”

“If you go up there now, you will have no allies. Rather, they will attempt to eliminate you before your influence grows any larger among the demons.”

Velada reached her hand out toward me.

A resolute determination was harbored within her eyes.

“Run away with me. If it’s before the meeting begins, it is not too late.”

“What about the Hooves of the Statue?”

“That Archduke is nothing to me now. And they were never anything to you from the start either, right?”

“That’s true.”

Although she had ambushed me, Velada had brought me here to break me out of this place.

“There are still many Choco Pies I have yet to eat.”

“You can just eat them alone.”

“Without you, I won’t be able to taste anything.”

“…”

I did not hesitate.

Up there were my comrades.

The Special Unit does not abandon its comrades.

Well, I could certainly strip away Moon Ah-rin’s mask, but wouldn’t Tartaruga be sad if it lost its mother?

I didn’t have the confidence to feed that massive frame with my salary alone.

And one more thing.

“Are you refusing me? It is my final wish.”

“That burning pyre thing you mentioned.”

“Hmm?”

“It’s not a simple sacrifice, is it?”

Walpurgis Night was a ritual to invite those high-ranking entities in the heavens down beneath their feet.

While the focus was placed on the victim burning, the truly important part was who was being summoned.

That fact alone was reason enough for me not to follow Velada.

“There’s someone I need to bring back. Though it’s not a person.”

I spoke while fiddling with my sleeve.