1076: Raydoss"s Goal

Satia released Fran from the embrace and wiped her eyes. We began talking about our plans for the future.

「I know it’s a bit late to mention, but are you sure you should be letting us go?」

「Nn?」

To be honest, that’s a pretty good question. Even if Fran refuses to capture Flut and Satia, the villagers saw practically everything. It’s only a matter of time until Kranzel does a thorough investigation of the case and figures out what happened.

Fran, however, shook her head resolutely.

「I’m letting you go.」

I knew she’d say that. If she really wanted to capture them, she’d have already done it.

「Then allow me to come with you. In exchange, may I have the Life Demon escort Onii-sama back home?」

「But that means you two will be separated…」

「I can’t let you leave empty handed after saving us. Don’t worry, I’ll follow you from a distance so that the villagers don’t notice.」

「…Are you sure? Shouldn’t we hide it?」

Whoa! Did Fran seriously intend to cover up the entire incident? I think that’s kinda crossing a line. We need to put the bare minimum in our report, or we might find ourselves with charges of treason later!

「Looking back, I think this might have been Raydoss’s goal in the first place.」

「Goal?」

「Right.」

Satia explained her thoughts, which ended up being quite similar to mine. I had my doubts as to why they went through the trouble of taking over a Kranzel village just to perform a ritual there.

Maybe that location was best due to the leyline arrangement, but Phyllius shares much of its border with Raydoss. Shouldn’t it be easier to place a powerful curse from the Raydoss side?

While I wasn’t sure about the details, my gut told me there was something else going on behind the scenes.

「I think Raydoss had another goal beside placing the curse.」

「What do you mean?」

Raydoss would reap the benefits if the curse operation ended in success, having dealt a huge blow to Phyllius.

But what if Raydoss actually expected Phyllius to thwart their plan?

They used the villagers, adventurers, and bandits as mana batteries to power the curse, but they could have taken a more simple approach and sacrificed them outright. Satia explained how she believed Raydoss left them alive on purpose.

In other words, their goal was to force Phyllius into crossing the border and a.s.saulting a village on the Kranzel side. They knew Phyllius was willing to go that far.

「Our demon knights are a bit too patriotic, you see…」

Phyllius apparently had many knights very willing to murder foreign citizens if it would save their people. It seems they were incredibly loyal to begin with, and those feelings became distorted due to demon possession.

Demons tend to be cla.s.sified by one of the seven deadly sins, and Phyllius generally employs those of “l.u.s.t” or “pride”. This is because these two sins are easier to control.

I think Bune and Ronowe were supposed to be demons from the legend of King Solomon, right…? Were they related to the seven deadly sins?

Well, I know the G.o.ds of this world created it using Earth as a reference, so there may be all sorts of myths mixed together. The G.o.ds themselves seem to be a mix of various different G.o.ds from Earth too.

「Pride leads to diligence, as long as they do not lose their way. Those with pride tend to be perfectionists.」

One must first reach greater heights before they can look down on others. Such behavior can be helpful in ensuring diligent workers. Meanwhile, those with l.u.s.t are completely normal as long as they aren’t next to anyone they are attracted to. It seems Phyllius also has some method of suppressing those kinds of urges too.

Pride and l.u.s.t at least seem more useful than sloth and wrath, I guess.

Satia explained how the two knights accompanying them were possessed by demons of pride, as well as the chamberlain Celid accompanying them when we first met. Thinking back, it makes sense. Those three clearly looked down on others, so they would not hesitate to harm them. This is definitely a major reason for Phyllius’s diplomacy being so poor.

If the demon knights had been sent without Flut and Satia, they would have easily made the decision to ma.s.sacre the village. Thus creating a rift between the two countries when Kranzel learns of the incident.

「It was a plot to tear our countries apart. At least that’s what I think.」

「Then it’s better to keep it hidden.」

「No, that will make us lose Kranzel’s trust when they find out later. I’m certain Raydoss has arranged for the incident to come to light.」

「I see.」

None of us can say what Raydoss wanted for sure. However, if Satia reports the incident to Kranzel along with an apology, it will at least reduce the likelihood of war with Phyllius. Kranzel’s king was a man of reason rather than emotion, after all.

「So please take me with you.」

「…Okay.」

As Fran gave a concerned nod, Satia suddenly braced herself upon sensing a presence approaching us at tremendous speed. However, Fran rea.s.sured her with a smile.

「Don’t worry. It’s not the enemy.」

Immediately following Fran’s statement, a huge black body emerged from the forest.

「Arf.」

「Urus.h.i.+, that’s the guy from earlier?」

「Woof!」

This was Urus.h.i.+’s triumphant return, holding an unconscious man in his mouth, and ready to crush him to death the second he made any attempt to escape. It seems he managed to capture the spy successfully.

That said, Urus.h.i.+ also looked very worn out. His mana had diminished to about half capacity, and his life force was still gradually decreasing. Upon closer inspection, I saw a small knife stuck in the right side of Urus.h.i.+’s belly.

No, it only looked small in comparison to Urus.h.i.+’s huge body. This was the same knife that almost ended Flut’s life. While the demon slaying power had no effect on Urus.h.i.+, it seems it still had a curse within.

「Urus.h.i.+! You okay?」

「Arf.」

『Hang on. I’ll fix you right up.』

Fran slashed through the demon-slaying knife and let me absorb it. Urus.h.i.+’s wounds were slow to regenerate due to the curse, but they healed quickly enough after some healing spells with the divine attribute thrown in. I cast some anti-curse spells too, and his body was quickly wiped clean of the curse.

Did I just hear a crunching sound from the man held in Urus.h.i.+’s mouth? I think the force from cutting through the knife must have caused Urus.h.i.+ to flinch and bite down a little. That might have given him some broken bones, but whatever. He has pain nullification either way.

『Was his face always like that?』

「Arf.」

『Right. Maybe he was using illusion magic at the village to disguise his face?』

「Arf.」

Urus.h.i.+ nodded and dropped the man to the ground. He was missing one of his legs, but the bleeding had already stopped. Urus.h.i.+ must have used the potion we gave him to seal the wounds.

「Oi. Get up.」

「Huh…? This is… Tch!」

『Ah! That’s poison!』

The man woke up and immediately realized his situation, swallowing the poison he planted in his false tooth. However, Urus.h.i.+ immediately cast a death poison spell to nullify the man’s poison.

Upon realizing his survival, he kept his mouth completely shut. Thanks to his pain nullification, he didn’t even respond to beatings.

Fran attempted her signature technique, the healing and torture loop, but it had no visible effect on the man.

「Who is this person?」

「…The guy who threw the knife at Flut.」

「!!!」

Fran seemed to hesitate a little before explaining the man’s ident.i.ty. Immediately afterwards, a change came over Satia’s aura. To think she could unleash such a dense and vicious killing intent so quickly…

Fran and Urus.h.i.+ froze stiff. Satia did not undergo a half-crazed outburst of tears like they had expected. No, perhaps this situation was even worse.

「…I see, so this creature is responsible.」

「Nn.」

When Satia said the word “creature,” even I started feeling chills.

「Hey, Fran-san. Can you let me try interrogating him? I promise to do whatever it takes to make him talk. What do you say?」

「Y-Yes, that sounds good. Right, Urus.h.i.+?」

「W-Woof woof!」

The current Satia was so impressive that even the brave Fran and Urus.h.i.+ got a bit intimidated. The man also looked up at the faintly smiling Satia, his face distorting in fear.

Just spill the beans already. Pretty sure that’s the only thing that can save you, yeah?