Episode 65

As I went outside, I saw Kali wandering around, not knowing what to do.

As soon as she saw me, she came running over, panting.

When I tried to hug her, Kali ran past me and jumped into the arms of the Saintess who followed.

“Eek! This dog!”

Seleiza, who had caught Kali in her arms, was startled.

But the more frightened Kali got, the tighter she clung to Seleiza, so she had to hold her.

“She’s too heavy…”

It was late at night, and it was pitch dark outside.

Beyond the reach of the lantern light at the inn’s entrance was a curtain of darkness.

The distant city lights flickered like stars in the night sky from here.

In that darkness, the loud noise erupted once again.

“What is that?!”

Among the people slowly coming out into the yard were Della and Idi.

“It seems to be from the parking lot.”

I ran across the yard to the parking lot.

There was nothing to see in the parking lot either, but I could feel it.

The slight tremor of the ground reached where I stood.

It seemed like the statue guarding the parking lot was rampaging…

I closed my eyes and then opened them wide.

‘Night vision.’

Then, the faint light shining from the inn windows amplified, illuminating the entire parking lot for a moment.

My vision was a hazy green, not allowing me to see all the colors as in daylight, but I could at least discern the outlines of objects.

I could see the statue madly running between the lined-up wagons.

The loud noise erupted each time the club it held hit the ground.

What is that crazy thing doing in the middle of the night?

Did a cat get in?

At that moment, I noticed something black quickly dodging the club’s trajectory and disappearing.

It was too big to be a cat, and it was definitely shaped like a person.

“Bertrand…! What’s going on? What happened…? Ouch…!”

Idi ran over and didn’t see me, crashing into my back.

“Hey. Can you create a light source?”

“Not with black magic… What is there…?”

“A thief has broken in.”

The statue was terrifyingly fast, but the thief was even quicker.

It didn’t move like a person, but like a black moth freely flitting and changing directions.

Watching its movements closely, it seemed the thief was trying to escape in a specific direction.

Leaving Idi behind, I pushed off the ground and leaped in the direction the thief might jump over the fence.

“Bertrand… where… huh…? Where did he really go…?”

Idi, who was dazed, quickly faded away, and the distant fence flew right in front of me in an instant.

The statue drove the thief towards me, and the thief ran straight towards where I was.

It was too blurry to see the details, but it was definitely a person.

The thief would definitely climb up the fence, and I could grab him when he jumped down… huh…?

I expected him to cling to the barbed wire and climb, but he suddenly jumped up from far away from the fence.

Then, amazingly, he somersaulted over the fence, which was taller than me.

The thief landed lightly on the ground after passing over my head and sprinted towards the city.

“Hey, you bastard!”

I pushed off, nearly falling forward, and chased after him.

The thief was quite fast, but slower than me.

I extended my arm, closing in on the distance where I could grab his neck.

I was about to grab his neck…!

My hand swiped through empty air, and I lost my balance and fell forward.

I managed to roll and avoid injury, but the thief had already disappeared from my sight.

Damn… What just happened…?

I was sure I could grab him.

But just as I was about to grab his neck, the thief’s body suddenly vanished and reappeared a few meters ahead.

Could he have used teleportation magic…?

No, teleportation magic can’t be used that quickly…

Casting it without chanting or hand signs requires a high-level mage.

But a high-level mage wouldn’t be stealing…

What is that guy…?!

“Boss! Are you okay?!”

Della helped me up as I stood.

“Oh my… Your clothes are a mess.”

As I patted Della’s head while she dusted off my clothes, I looked in the direction the thief had disappeared.

“Everyone… go back inside… there’s nothing to worry about…”

Idi was hesitantly calming down the people who were peeking into the yard, wondering what was going on.

“Did you bring the card?”

“Oh, yes.”

I went into the parking lot to check if any of the wagons were missing.

Fortunately, no wagons were stolen.

“What was that?”

Della, holding a lantern, followed behind and asked, but I had no answer for her.

It was a thief, but an insanely fast one.

I returned to the inn and explained the situation to the wagon owners.

I feared complaints or criticism, but the merchants seemed reassured after seeing the statue’s performance.

The next day, Captain Lambert de la Tremouille, who came with a group of soldiers after receiving the report, inspected the parking lot with interest.

I had only filed a report, but he had rushed over just like yesterday.

He shook the barbed wire fence and concluded.

“It’s impossible to jump over a fence this high without any assistance.”

“No, I’m not lying. I saw it with my own eyes.”

“Then it must have been a deer or some other animal. Such wild animals can easily jump this high.”

“I’m telling you it was a person, why don’t you believe me?”

“But what on earth is that?”

Ignoring me, Captain Lambert pointed to the statue standing in the middle of the parking lot.

“It’s a statue that guards the parking lot.”

“A statue that guards the parking lot…?”

I explained the statue to Captain Lambert, and he looked incredulous.

“That is the product of black magic?! As if demons weren’t enough, now black magic too?”

“As long as you don’t use black magic to commit crimes, there’s no problem. So, let’s not speak nonsense.”

“That may be true, but…”

Despite my protests, he insisted on taking a closer look and tried to enter the parking lot.

The statue, seeing that Lambert didn’t have the card, rushed at him with its eyes blazing.

Seeing the statue rushing madly at him with blazing eyes, Lambert ran away, and the soldiers all retreated.

The statue came right to the entrance of the fence, glared at Lambert with blazing eyes, and then turned around.

“If it can avoid something moving that fast, it certainly doesn’t seem human…”

“I’m telling you, it was a person moving that fast… Anyway, investigate it that way.”

“Don’t worry, innkeeper. Since this is my first posting, I’m burning with enthusiasm.”

“For a nobleman’s son, you work hard.”

The Captain smiled, revealing his neat teeth.

“Next year, there’s an opening for a military aide in the Royal City.”

Hearing that, I had a guess.

“Is this year your promotion to major?”

“Yes.”

The military aide position is a stepping stone for majors, a path leading up to general.

So Lambert must absolutely become a major this year.

This… I feel sorry for the guards…

“I’ll catch the thief within a week.”

Lambert beat his chest with his fist and made a bold promise.

Still, he seems a bit clumsy and doesn’t completely look like an evil guy.

Returning to the inn, I saw Pelée standing at the entrance of the basement stairs.

“What are you doing?”

“Gasp…!”

At my voice, Pelée overreacted and nearly fell down the stairs.

If I hadn’t grabbed her arm in time, she might have fallen and broken her horns.

“Let… let go…!”

Uncharacteristically, Pelée was very flustered and scratched at my hand.

“Uh… okay…”

Freed from my grip, Pelée panted heavily and rubbed the spot where I had held her.

“Hey. Why are you acting like this all of a sudden…?”

“Bertrand… are you bothering Pelée…?”

Idi, who was passing by, looked at me and Pelée and asked.

“No. It’s not like that…”

In the meantime, Pelée ran up the stairs without a word.

Looking at the stairs, Idi muttered gloomily.

“Stop bothering her… it’s pitiful…”

“It’s weird that a pitiful person is pitying another pitiful person.”

“Hehe… is that so…”

But why is that demon acting like that again?

Pelée, who had run to her room on the third floor, sat on the bed, panting.

Pelée, rubbing her arm as if it had been burned by Bertrand’s touch, shivered and recalled the events of the previous night.

The previous night, when the sudden loud noise occurred, Pelée had stiffened on the bed, unable to scream, breaking out in a cold sweat.

Her consciousness was awake, but her body was still asleep, leaving Pelée terrified and unable to move even a finger.

She trembled as she recalled the nightmare from the Demon King’s castle.

The nightmare was the memory of the night the Demon King’s castle fell.

Pelée, escaping through the secret passage of the Demon King’s castle, collapsed as her legs gave out from the earth-shattering noise behind her.

All the other demon aides had fled, leaving Pelée alone and trembling as she looked back.

Beyond the grand Demon King’s castle, maddening white flashes danced wildly, enough to drive onlookers insane.

Each time a flash burst, a heavy earthquake and ear-splitting ruptures exploded, turning the castle into broad daylight and casting short shadows.

Incomprehensible screams, red mist rising up to the castle spires, and the suffocating smell of blood and burning carried by the wind.

Watching the flashes subside within minutes, Pelée realized that it was all over.

An unavoidable calamity that no being in the world could stop or escape.

The Demon King’s castle, facing an almost natural disaster-like attack, had its fate sealed before the moon even showed its face.

No, perhaps the castle’s end was decided the moment the Hero with the Holy Sword resolved to attack.

Somehow, Pelée fled, met Amugar and Orkorg, and settled in Kerno.

Sometimes, loud noises would trigger memories of that time, nearly driving her insane, but she tried to adapt to her new life.

But that was as far as it went.

When the hero, the cause of everything, came to her office and drew the glowing Holy Sword, Pelée felt that she might go blind.

Even though Amugar begged the hero for mercy and the light subsided, Pelée was paralyzed in panic, just standing there stiffly.

Only when she realized that the conversation between the hero and Amugar concerned her and the other two demons’ lives did she regain her senses.

Steadying her body trembling with fear, Pelée made a deal with the hero, and that’s how she ended up here.

Pelée is afraid of Bertrand.

She could never muster the courage to have a long conversation with Bertrand or make eye contact.

Like a deer meeting a tiger’s gaze, Pelée instinctively felt threatened and cowered in front of Bertrand.

So she deliberately avoided him as much as possible and acted coldly.

In the end, it was a hard shell she wore to protect her fearful heart from the outside, a kind of self-defense mechanism.

If she didn’t, Pelée might not be able to do anything out of fear.

But now, all of that was temporarily shattered by that thunderous noise.

“Ugh…”

With everyone outside and lying alone in the empty inn room, she sobbed, overwhelmed by helplessness and fear.

’Calm down… calm your mind… I need to pull myself together…

It’s all over now, and the hero has no reason to kill me… at least not while I’m still useful…

So pull yourself together and act as usual.

Think of the men who are struggling.

When the sun rises tomorrow, let’s just work as if nothing happened.

The hero and I are just in an employment contract, nothing more.

I have no reason to fear the hero, and the hero has no reason to kill me.’

Pelée steadied herself and slowly exhaled.

The trembling gradually began to subside.

As her muscles awakened, she was able to lift her hand to wipe her eyes.

That afternoon, as the sun set over the western Buern Mountains, I sat on the inn’s stone wall, thinking about the thief from last night.

That movement was not ordinary.

No matter how much I think about it, it didn’t seem human…

Could it be related to the recent frequent thefts or Della’s pickpocketing incidents?

“Boss! You need to prepare dinner!”

Della called out to me, sticking her head out of the window.

The thief is the thief, but we still have business to do today.

Following Pelée’s menu, I poured all the ingredients into the big pot and started cooking.

Tonight’s dinner menu is sautéed vegetables and meat cut to an appropriate size, sprinkled with masala, a mixed spice blend, and simmered in water.

This is also a dish enjoyed in some Eastern countries.

It’s slightly spicy and perfect for mixing with rice.

When I placed the big pot I made on the counter, Della and Idi eagerly scooped it onto plates and served it in the hall.

Pelée disappeared after undoing the preservation spell on the ingredients, so I had to help with the serving.

Just then, Seleiza, who had just gotten off work at the church, saw the packed hall and immediately put on an apron and stepped in.

“Mr. Bertrand… please give me the plate…”

Receiving the plate from me, Seleiza stuck her tongue out slightly.

Finding it cute, I smiled at her.

After sending Seleiza off, I went looking for the missing Pelée.

Thinking she might have gone down to the basement, I crossed the hall and noticed a strange guest.

The guest’s attire was rather peculiar.