Chapter 52

Chapter : 52

“Hmm, is that so?”

He grabbed the bottle beside him and drank straight from it. His thick Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed the liquor.

People said spicy food was the worst food to eat with alcohol.

It caused problems for the digestive system, and on top of that, people ended up downing alcohol to wash away the spiciness.

Agares drank without stopping. Empty bottles piled up beside him.

“How does it taste?”

“The one you made before was better. This is too spicy. It is hard to eat.”

“But you cannot exactly throw it away, can you?”

I sat in front of Agares and ate one piece of tteok.

It was certainly far spicier than the one I had eaten with Ian.

If I had not strengthened my tongue all this time, it would have been hard for me to endure too.

He glared at me and spoke. It seemed I had stirred his competitive spirit.

“Is that a challenge? When it comes to enduring pain, I have more confidence than anyone in the Empire.”

“I am good with spicy food.”

“Then let us do this.”

Agares set a bottle of liquor down in front of me.

“We drink alcohol instead of water. That makes it a little fairer, does it not?”

“Yes. Well, that is fine.”

I spoke with confidence.

Even if I was weak to alcohol, my tolerance for spicy food was several times stronger than Agares’s. And that showed in the actual result.

“Huuup... Haa... Huuup... Haa...”

It seemed even Agares was weak before chili powder.

Moisture filled his eyes, and he kept groaning.

Even after eating a single piece of tteok, he took several gulps of liquor.

No matter how excellent Agares’s ability to detoxify alcohol might be, this was excessive drinking. His face flushed red.

“You seem used to spicy things. Haa... I think I have lost this one.”

“Where is there winning or losing at a drinking table?”

“For me, there is. I am not satisfied unless I win at everything... Considering I have been this way since I was young, it must be my nature. Haa...”

“Ah, well. Then shall I lose for you?”

When I lightly shook the bottle left and right, Agares snorted and laughed.

“It seems today’s subjugation troubled you. For that, I am sorry. Tomorrow, we will not be killing things that resemble people, so ease your mind.”

“That is not it.”

“Of course it is.”

Perhaps because he was drunk, Agares’s head seemed heavy. He raised a hand to his forehead and began rambling.

“How much time do I have left? It may be ten years, or it may be a hundred. It may be longer than that. The problem is that I do not know.”

It was something he would not have said if he had not been drunk. He continued speaking.

“If possible, I want to finish everything quickly.”

Reading the original did not mean I knew everything.

I had not even read it to the ending; it had cut off midway.

Besides, the circumstances tied to the North were the kind of material that could have gone any way. I did not know how everything could be resolved.

On top of that, if I misspoke here, I could invite some pointless misunderstanding. Perhaps I was drunk from the alcohol too.

“If you are afraid of having your body taken, is it not simply a matter of killing the Devil you contracted with?”

“Me? With what power?”

There was almost no one in the Empire who could stand against Agares.

He was an immortal warrior. Even if someone was hundreds of times stronger than Agares, stopping an enemy who could not die was impossible. Whoever his opponent was, Agares would win in the end.

As long as his opponent was not a Devil.

Agares’s power had been borrowed from the Devil he had contracted with.

It was impossible to execute the Devil with that very power. Even if I told him this, there was no way Agares could do anything about it.

“The true name of the Devil who contracted with Your Grace is Amadeus.”

Strength entered Agares’s hazy eyes. Their focus returned to its proper place, and a flash of light passed through them.

“How do you know that?”

His way of addressing me had changed.

Until now, Agares had addressed me with a courteous familiarity, but now he spoke down to me. It was understandable.

How on earth did I know this? I just knew.

No... my sister had told me.

My sister was practically the person who had created this world. In that case, it was information no one in the Empire should know, whether they were Raphael or anyone else.

It was information I never would have spoken if my head had not been spinning from drunkenness.

“I asked how you know that.”

“I wonder. Haha...”

I should not have told him.

Just because I had blurted it out in a drunken haze did not mean I could take it back.

I had grown agitated after seeing people die. Then I drank on top of that, so I was not in my right mind.

It would have been better if I had known why the curse had fallen on the North instead.

No, it would have been better if there had been a reason for it at all.

There probably was no reason.

The North had to be cold, but geographically, it made no sense for only the North to be locked in a bitter cold, so a curse must have been placed on it.

That was probably all. Because it was necessary.

“I am sorry.”

Agares stopped drinking straight from the bottle and poured liquor into his glass again. He slowly savored the taste and wet his throat.

“Everyone has one or two secrets they wish to hide. You must have needed courage to tell me that, and I nearly made you regret it. I will accept your goodwill gratefully. Thank you for telling me. I will not question how you came to know it.”

As I hesitated awkwardly, unable to answer, Agares emptied his glass.

“I will wait for the day you can tell me.”

---

Monsters arose naturally. Newly born monsters usually took the form of beasts, but as time passed and they grew, their appearances changed.

I followed Agares around and hunted monsters. Most monsters were no more than ferocious beasts, so they were often dealt with by the soldiers’ volleys.

When they found a monster, they formed ranks and fired crossbows all at once. Dozens of bolts flew at the same time and shot down a bear-shaped monster.

RATTLE-RATTLE-RATTLE.

The monster struck by the bolts stopped where it stood.

It did not seem necessary for Agares, the Grand Duke himself, to personally command the soldiers. That was how efficiently the soldiers subdued the monsters.

---

It was two hours later that Agares clicked his tongue.

Ah, so that is why he comes along.

A massive stone monster rose. It was a monkey about three meters tall, but instead of fur or hide, its skin was covered in rock. The soldiers fired crossbows at it, but the bolts bounced off without piercing it.

Seeing that, Agares spoke to me.

“You catch it.”

“Pardon?”

“If it were a beast, we could all try together, but that is not one, is it? Ordinary spears and blades will not work. You need Sword Aura.”

It was not an unreasonable request. I had grown quite a bit, and I had confidence against most opponents. There was only one thing that worried me: this would be my first real battle.

“If it looks dangerous, you must help me immediately.”

“Trust only me.”

Agares was being cautious only because he needed to conserve his power. If it looked as though I might get hurt, he would step in right away. Probably.

Since close combat, using my body directly, felt burdensome, I first tried firing a Flame Bullet. The result was failure. The Flame Bullet hit the monkey monster directly and exploded, burning the monster, but it did not seem to suffer any serious injury. I had to strip off its stone armor and cut into its flesh.

Drawing my sword, I shouted to Agares.

“If it gets dangerous, you really have to help me!”

“Of course.”

After hearing his firm answer, I charged at the monster. I formed Sword Aura and swung my blade.

SLASH—!

The sword strengthened by Sword Aura smoothly cut through the skin of the monster’s calf. The blade parted flesh and sliced into muscle.

On top of that, the monster was as sluggish as its large body suggested. I stepped on its knee and leapt up, then thrust my sword from its jaw toward its head and swung.

CRACK—!

I carved from the monster’s jaw up through its head. Immediately afterward, the monster stopped and collapsed.

I had not expected it to be this easy. From the start, it seemed only its defense was special, and it was not all that strong a monster.

“Good work.”

Agares raised his thumb at me.

Embarrassed for no reason, I lowered my face. I had made a fuss for nothing.

After that, I participated several more times whenever monsters appeared that arrows could not pierce.

“Good work. Well done. Getting struck by lightning was worth it.”

There were no particularly strong ones, so the subjugation ended without issue, and the order to return was given. Agares applauded me and patted my back.

“You were far more helpful than I expected. I conserved my strength today.”

“I am glad to hear that.”

We were on our way back to the lord’s castle when I spotted a group of demi-humans. It was getting dark, and their movements were so stealthy that even I barely saw them. I glanced over, wondering if Agares had noticed too. His eyes had widened.

The movements of the demi-human group were swift, and there were parts of it the soldiers would have had difficulty keeping up with. Was that why? Agares kicked off the ground and charged. His speed was so agile that even I barely managed to follow.

When Agares drew his sword, black Magical Power wrapped around the blade.

In an instant, he leapt into the center of the demi-human group. The demi-humans drew daggers and rushed Agares at the same time.

Agares allowed their attacks.

Daggers sank into his body, and blood splattered in every direction.

With blades lodged in his body, Agares swung his own sword.

SLASH—! SLASH—!

He cut off the demi-humans’ heads one by one.

“We were lucky. We caught the things that had their sights on my castle so easily, did we not?”

The demi-humans who had attacked Agares were fairly skilled. They drove their daggers well into the gaps of Agares’s plate armor. They had been trained to kill armored knights. Agares was right. If we had not found them in time, the lord’s castle might have suffered damage.

“It has been almost a year since the Demons targeted my wealth. It seems they could not endure me stirring up their territory these past few days and came out, but to catch them this easily was quite fortunate.”

“Yes.”

“Is that not a joyous thing? Why is your expression so dark?”

“I am immature, so seeing people die...”

Agares cut me off.

“At a glance, they may look similar to us on the outside, but there is no need to concern yourself with them. When I was a child, I too concerned myself with pointless things, just as you do. I corrected all of it as I grew older. You will change soon as well.”

“Yes.”

The soldiers disposed of the demi-human corpses. We returned to the lord’s castle.

Agares removed his armor for cleaning and handed it over to the soldiers.

Beneath the armor, the clothing full of gaping holes was marked clearly with bloodstains.

Conscious of my gaze, Agares spoke.

“It stung when the Demons stabbed me. One of them aimed for my eye, and it was fortunate I cut off his head first, or my eye would have been pierced. Being stabbed in the eye hurts several times more than anywhere else.”

There were many things I wanted to say, but I was not in a position to do so.

“You worked hard.”

“You as well. Though I did step in at the end, I did not use my strength even once against the monsters today. It is all thanks to you. Rest for today. If you feel like drinking, come find me.”

Agares smiled with a grimace.

“Just remember, I do not need that drinking food you made yesterday.”