Chapter 84

Mary destroyed the locks with brute force. Well, not so much “removed” as smashed them to bits.

The cabinet doors swung open with a long, unpleasant creak, revealing a bundle of ancient, weathered parchment.

“This… this is beyond just old documents. It might actually be worth something if we took it to a museum.”

“Don’t say that. These are precious items about the Master’s clan; you must not sell them.”

“I say ‘clan,’ but we’re just a line of humble citizens.”

I think Cerulia overestimates my importance. Being good at Black Magic was just a stroke of luck, after all.

Still, I didn’t want to handle the papers roughly and tear them, so I touched them carefully.

“Ugh, I can’t read it… It’s an archaic script. And to think I actually took a paleography lab in school…”

Since many magic incantations use archaic languages, the school offered paleography classes. You can pick that stuff up quickly, but if you don’t keep practicing you lose it—and “archaic” varies wildly by era.

Cerulia and Mary peered in from either side of me. I guessed they couldn’t read ancient human script either.

I inspected the contents more closely.

“Based on the characters, this looks like something else entirely. No matter how much time has passed, the script shouldn’t have changed this drastically…”

That meant it was a completely foreign language, so there was no way to read it.

Mary leaned in closer.

“It says: ‘On the day of the full moon, I record this.’ The next line says: ‘What I have desired for many years has finally come to pass; I feel magnificent.’ By the way, the era name at the beginning is from a thousand years ago.”

“Wait, Mary, you can read this!?”

“That’s incredible! As expected of a great demon!” Cerulia praised.

“This is Demon Script swapped for different symbols and then written in reverse. So unless you know those rules and can read Demon Script, you’ll never figure it out. For me, though, it’s a piece of cake! Praise me, praise me!”

She acted like she wanted to be petted, so I stroked Mary’s head. It was genuinely impressive.

“Actually, my big brother used to write his diary using this exact method a long time ago~”

“So maybe it was a common technique back then?”

Mary beamed while I petted her. I felt as if I’d always had a little sister like her.

“Okay, I’ll read the rest. ‘With this, I can destroy that loathsome nation. To think they failed me on the civil service exam five times. Now that I have suffered such humiliation, I have no choice but to avenge it.’”

“My ancestor was an idiot, wasn’t he…”

If you’re writing something that embarrassing, you’d want to be sure it’s unreadable. But what came next was stranger.

“It says: ‘To satisfy my grudge, I have surely become the greatest Black Mage in history. I can finally summon that demon. With this, the nation shall fall. Everything is perfect.’ …Wait, Franz, isn’t your ancestor a Black Mage?”

“Whaaat? That’s news to me! But… I guess it’s not exactly impossible for one ancestor out of many to have practiced Black Magic.”

A thousand years ago, they’re practically strangers; it’s entirely plausible one of them was a magic user.

“However, if he was planning the downfall of a nation, this is a tremendous historical document,” Cerulia said seriously. I was more skeptical.

“Hmm, it sounds more like he was wallowing in delusions of grandeur. I mean, he kept failing his exams.”

“There’s more. ‘I have summoned the “Pigeon of the Underworld, Blacker than Darkness.” Yes, it is decided! With this, the country is as good as crushed.’ …Wait… hold on…”

Mary pressed her face right up against the document, troubled. Was something that strange written there?

“This… this is my big brother’s name… Did Franz’s ancestor summon my brother?”

“WHAAAT?! That’s impossible!”

“I thought it was some kind of mistake too, but it clearly says ‘Pigeon of the Underworld, Blacker than Darkness,’ and the description of his appearance follows… I can only think of it being my brother…”

It was a shocking revelation.

Now I understood why Mary had decoded the script so easily. Whether my ancestor or Mary’s brother came up with it first, one must have imitated the other’s writing style.

“According to Franz’s ancestor, the two of them had similar vibes and hit it off. He even wrote that they felt they could be best friends. Apparently my brother even played with the ancestor’s kids.”

I couldn’t listen calmly anymore, but Cerulia stayed composed.

“But if someone like Mary’s brother was summoned, wouldn’t that nation have been destroyed? A thousand years ago would be a different country than now, but still…”

“You’re right… which means there must have been some kind of failure…?”

“I need to read further into this. Even I’m curious now.”

Then came lines that were shocking in a different way.

“It says: ‘When I have destroyed the nation, I shall divorce my current wife and marry my beloved younger sister. I shall amend the law to make it so.’”

“My ancestor had a sister complex!?”

If that ancestor were here, I would have punched him. Still, I’ll give him credit for the elaborate way he hid his writing.

“It says: ‘In the interview for the civil service exam, they asked what I liked, so I answered “my sister,” and everyone was completely repulsed. Unforgivable. I was only being honest with myself!’ …Hey, isn’t this the reason he failed the exam?”

Ancestor! Just give a safe answer! Even if it’s your true feelings, if you talk about your fetishes, you’re usually going to fail!

“But the ‘Pigeon of the Underworld, Blacker than Darkness’ objected. He said that being joined with one’s sister is not something that should be permitted. He even lectured him to treasure his wife and children.”

“Mary’s brother was incredibly upright!”

Being married with kids and still obsessed with your sister is just twisted…

“It says: ‘Are you even a demon? I told him to defy morality. But he would not listen. Hmph, you only say such things because your sister isn’t cute. For example, a person without parents could never commit the treason of parricide—’ Wait, is he dissing me…?”

My ancestor said something very rude. On behalf of his descendants, I apologize.

“‘The “Pigeon of the Underworld, Blacker than Darkness” said his own sister is also super cute. Every gesture is cute. Especially the way she puts on her socks.’”

This brother’s fetishes were pretty weird too…

“‘However, even if she is cute, I am struggling desperately not to harbor lust; you should do the same,’ he told him.”

“On that one point, your brother was solid. He had self-control.”

“‘I thought to myself: this is not something a demon should say. Is one not a demon specifically by making his sister his own?’ …It looks like they started getting along poorly from around here.”

To think the cause was their differing values regarding sisters…

And that conflict escalated until Mary’s brother finally returned to the Demon Realm.

“It says: ‘That demon and I were very similar in all things, but we differed only in our perception regarding sisters. It is a pity.’”

“I’ve learned that my ancestor was a terrible person.”

“After this, Franz’s ancestor goes on with some poem-like stuff praising his sister for a while, so I’ll skip that part.”

“Yes, please skip away…”