Chapter 53

Chapter : 53

Agares repeatedly clenched and opened his fist as he glared down at his palm.

Dark Power shimmered in his hand. He was conflicted over how he should handle this power.

If possible, it would be better to conserve his strength and postpone the day the Devil stole his body. Yet the need to do so had also lessened.

“Amadeus....”

Agares spoke the true name of the Devil he had heard from Raphael.

Realistically, it was information Raphael could never have uncovered, but setting that aside, he first thought of its use.

The moment a Devil heard its true name, it lost its power. A being beyond the heavens fell to the earth.

But even so, its very nature was different from a human’s.

Its martial power could not be compared to that of a human.

Moreover, he was in a position where he had borrowed power from the Devil. It was impossible for him to defeat that Devil himself.

If he wanted to bring it down, he would need someone’s help.

Someone extremely strong. Raphael was insufficient.

Even if he had risen to Expert, he was nowhere near enough.

Unless it was someone on the level of his master, Katarina, it would be reckless for a swordsman to fight a Devil.

Then who else was there?

Agares thought of the mage who had struck him with lightning that day.

Yes, if it was that bastard, he might have some sharp method.

“Hrk. Hahaha.”

Agares let out a self-mocking laugh at his own situation.

If he killed the Devil he had contracted with, then he himself would lose his power once again.

If he lost his power, with what strength was he supposed to protect the North? What he had to do had not changed.

Kill everything that threatened his land.

Instead, the conclusion came from an unexpected direction.

He would not spare his power. Agares had feared the Devil he contracted with taking over his body and descending into this place.

He had worried that the Devil might destroy his territory. Who on earth would stop that Devil?

Agares thought of Raphael.

His martial strength was insignificant, but for some reason, he knew the Devil’s true name.

“Amadeus....”

Agares slowly rolled the name in his mouth and repeated it to himself.

Amadeus. It was the name of the Devil that would take possession of his body.

Agares had contracted with Amadeus in order to protect his land efficiently. He had thought that even he would merely have to surrender his soul after death, and that would be the end of it. That was not the case.

Amadeus wanted to escape the Demon Realm.

If that desire came true, many people would die. Worried about that, Agares had tried to conserve his strength even after returning to his territory during the Academy vacation.

“Perhaps there is no need....”

Raphael knew Amadeus’s name.

And thanks to that, he now knew it as well. Agares picked up a pen and recorded the newly gained information in preparation for the worst.

So that even if Amadeus manifested, he could be stopped.

---

I returned to my room, lay down on the bed, and thought.

What did the demi-humans eat to survive?

Crops did not grow easily here. If the climate were the problem, they could simply farm cold-resistant crops like oats, but that was not the issue.

The land’s own strength was weak, so life struggled to take root. Most of what grew here was tough weeds.

Then what did the demi-humans in the North eat to survive?

I had no idea.

There were clichéd demi-human races like elves and dwarves in this place too, but they lived in far-off regions, not in the North.

All that had been vaguely mentioned was that the demi-humans who lived in the North came into conflict with Ingrid.

Agares said the demi-humans hunted monsters and ate them.

That was probably half a lie. Even if monsters were not lacking in number, they were too strong.

It was far too dangerous to hunt them just to obtain meat. Then what?

There had to be some other means of survival.

“I am curious, but there is no way to find out.”

The closer one got to the demi-humans’ residential areas, the rougher the terrain became and the harsher the cold grew.

On top of that, they had survived until now because they quietly moved their settlements around like nomads. What did they eat?

Unable to answer the question no matter how much I pondered it, I closed my eyes and fell asleep.

---

“Starting today, I will use some strength.”

Without mobilizing the soldiers, Agares took only me along and went around cutting down nearby monsters.

He released Dark Power without restraint and cut through monsters, while on another side, demi-humans were fleeing.

When I looked at them closely, Agares snapped at me from beside me.

“Do you see them as the same humans as us?”

“Yes, well. I do.”

“I cannot sympathize with you. How can we and those uncivilized things be the same humans? What utter nonsense.”

If they could reproduce, that made them the same species, but I pretended not to know that and kept my mouth shut. Agares spoke.

“Even so, I will respect you.”

When I merely blinked at him, Agares shrugged.

“At the very least, I will avoid it whenever possible in front of you.”

“Yes.... Thank you.”

Without the soldiers, our feet were light. We quickly left the territory and traveled a long distance. Along the way, we saw various demi-humans. Some had horns on their heads, while others had pointed ears.

As I watched them, a question arose in me.

If Agares truly intended to kill them, it would not be difficult.

Unlike monsters that arose naturally, they were humans.

If he eradicated them so they could not continue their line, they would never appear again.

Then why? I did not think Agares would suddenly kill someone just because I said it aloud, but I hesitated.

“Why do crops not grow here? Every lord who has ruled this place has wrestled with that question. Among them was the hypothesis that it was because of those Demons. They struck the ground with staffs made of stone and prayed to their god.”

I stayed quiet and listened to Agares’s story.

“There were attempts to root them out completely, but they were abandoned. The ones who came down this far are those who lost in territorial struggles among their own kind. If we pressed them to the end, there would be many tribes waiting, so they were not touched needlessly.”

He glanced at me and said,

“It was a waste to use my power on them, so I intended to do the same. But it seems there is no longer any need.”

“Uh... why is that?”

Agares took the fur cloak he had been wearing and wrapped it around my neck. It was extremely thick and soft, and startled by the gesture, I tilted my head.

“Later, when the Devil takes over my body, spread his true name widely among people. Spread the danger of him as well. So that people can gather quickly and kill him.”

Just then, a monster peered toward us.

Perhaps it had absorbed the Demonic Aura of this place for a long time, because it was fairly large. The creature, shaped like a bear, charged on all fours.

“I will catch it.”

Agares drew his sword. His blade turned ink-black and absorbed the surrounding light.

With a single stroke, he split the bear wide open.

The monster’s black blood splattered everywhere.

“Wow. That was impressive!”

I raised my thumb to him, just as Agares had done to me. He laughed faintly.

“I will accept your help only until today. From now on, I will not conserve my strength. I will probably finish everything before a few weeks pass.”

“Ah....”

A chill ran over my skin at his declaration that he would kill people left and right starting tomorrow. To Agares, demi-humans were enemies. Destroying them and protecting his land was only natural. Was I allowed to interfere in that?

The answer was no.

“Your Grace, the thing is. I am not very good at measuring the distance between people.”

There were many reasons.

Because the culture here was different from the one I knew. Because if I grew close to someone, I could make mistakes. Because I was in a dangerous position.

But from my short life and the stories of people who had lived long, long lives, nothing was better than speaking honestly.

“Are we close?”

Agares grabbed his chin with his right hand and glanced around. He forced out a laugh.

“Why do you ask that?”

“Because what I want to say feels a little rude if we are not close.”

“Enough. If it is something like that, just say it. You have been plenty rude in ordinary times too.”

“Yes, thank you for your permission. Then I will speak honestly.”

I took a deep breath and said,

“Your Grace may consider me weak, but I find murder disturbing, and I am afraid of blood. The reason I was able to become friendly with Your Grace, and the reason I treated Your Grace somewhat comfortably, was because I knew the rumors surrounding you were false.”

“Yes, the rumors are all false.”

“Yes. I know that things like drinking blood and eating human flesh are all empty rumors. But.... It is true that you treat human lives lightly and kill people without a second thought, is it not?”

“That too is false. I am not mad. Why would I kill people without reason?”

It was wordplay. Agares seemed to have no intention of bending his stubbornness.

“I do not want Your Grace to kill people.”

“Why, will you distance yourself from me if I kill people? Do you think there is anything I would regret about that? To begin with, Demons are not people!”

“I am sorry. To my eyes, they look like people.”

Agares let out a hollow laugh. His eyes turned sharp. He glared at me, then forced up only one corner of his mouth.

“So? What do you want me to do?”

“I simply... introduced myself. This is the kind of person I am. Now that I have faced the fact that Your Grace harms people so easily, I do not think I can treat you as comfortably as before.”

“Hah. And if you cannot treat me comfortably, what exactly will you do?”

“Compared to Your Grace, I am only the lord of a tiny territory. What could I possibly do? I will do what ordinary nobles do.”

I swallowed and said,

“I will fear Your Grace.”

“Do you think I would dislike that?”

I did not know.

The reason the space around Agares had been empty at the Academy was purely because of his ill fame.

It was because of rumors Agares had intentionally not hidden, hoping to inspire fear in others. Agares was pleased when others feared him.

Then what about me? We could say we were fairly close.

Friendship was relative, after all. Agares was one of my few friends, and since Agares had no friends aside from me, I was his one and only friend. It was like birds of a feather flocking together.

Agares seized me by the collar. Then, after pulling at my clothes with all his strength, he threw me aside. I could have endured it, but it seemed more beneficial to fall obediently, so I sat down on the spot.

“This is the only time I will lose to you.”

I answered at once.

“Thank you!”