CH 163

Keira: “Why did they kiss me on the cheek?”

Erez: “It’s some kind of magic. If you go into this forest without a kiss from the guards, you’ll never get out. But, on the other hand, if you go in after a kiss, just walk a hundred steps in any direction to get out.”

Keira: “Oh.”

The more Keira heard it, the weirder the magic of demons was for her. As a human being, she couldn’t even imagine how it worked.

As Erez said, she walked a hundred steps and was able to get out of the woods. Then, as she stood in front of the building, the door automatically opened. That, too, was a kind of magic.

Creak–.

The inside was strangely quiet. Not a single rat cub, let alone a guard or servant, was there.

Erez: “Don’t be fooled. You might see a strange sight if you enter an unauthorized place.”

Keira: “A strange sight?”

Erez: “Well, for example, the girl in that picture would crawl out and attack you?”

“…”

He said so and laughed, his chuckle echoing through the empty hallway.

The picture Erez pointed to was a girl with straight black hair standing next to a well. The painting’s gloomy colors made Keira shudder.

Erez chuckled happily for a moment, but when he noticed Keira’s wrinkled expression, he stopped.

Erez: “Um, wasn’t it funny? It was a devilish joke. I thought you were too nervous, so I did it to calm your nerves.”

Keira: “… Don’t do it again.”

Erez: “O-okay.”

The two began to walk again.

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The meeting place was a conference room located on the 3rd floor. While making their way there, Keira didn’t come across a single shadow.

Erez: “Here.”

The large door opened with ease.

Just like the hallway, the conference room was very dark. Keira was starting to wonder if they did this to preserve energy.

Dimly lit candles floated in the air. It was small enough to reveal only the faces of the attendees.

As a result, an optical illusion occurred, as if only the face was floating in the air.

Keira quickly looked around the room and counted.

‘One, two, three, four.’

There were six attendees, including Keira and Erez.

Then someone spoke.

“You’re a little late.”

Erez: “It’s only been a minute. Why are you suddenly so strict on coming early?”

Erez answered. Then he quickly found his place and walked away before gesturing at Keira to take a seat.

“But what’s with that look?”

Erez: “I use this body in the human world.”

“That must be inconvenient. You can change back here.”

Erez: “Then she might be scared.”

“Huh? Ah.”

The person talking to Erez turned to Keira.

The figure illuminated under the dim light… It was, to say the least, very peculiar. He had three eyes.

At this point, Keira had stopped being surprised. The rest of the attendees had unusual appearances, but their descriptions flew over her head.

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Anyway, the important thing was they were bantering with Erez. She wasn’t interested in their relationship but being comfortable with him meant he was at least a demon of their class.

Even the table was round. It was a structure that made it impossible to know which was the top seat.

‘They said there are thirteen Great Demons.’

Counting Erez, there were five demons gathered here. There were probably a few others who weren’t interested in this situation.

‘Then the rest will be those who want to conquer the human world.’

Keira pretended not to be disturbed by their bizarre appearance and took her seat. Then the discussion immediately began.

“Everyone must have heard of the situation.”

“I heard she finally did it.”

“Well, it hasn’t been blown up yet. Did she break the barrier or call the army?”

“I don’t know about the former, but she’s probably preparing the latter.”

“…Hmm, I guess.”

Keira listened silently to their conversation.

Then, a fundamental question formed in her head.

‘Why did the division occur among the demons?’

If she knew the reason, she could negotiate with them and bring down Cosette.

Keira leaned over to Erez, who was sitting next to her. Then she asked in a whisper.

Keira: “Now that I think about it, I’m curious, why are there differences of opinion within the same kind?”

She lowered her voice, but it seemed the others heard her.

The demons talking to each other looked at her. 

“Why don’t you know that?”

“She might be blind to the situation.”

“I’ve been wondering for a while, but why is this girl here?”

Erez: “Ragibach had an accident in the human world. We need local help to settle it quietly.”

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“Aha.”

Keira: “But can you tell me?”

“…Hmmm.”

The demons exchanged glances.

Keira said.

Keira: “I have no one to talk to about this anyway… It’s the same here that you get embarrassed when you get a question about how you found out.”*

“Well… Actually, it’s not really a big deal… It’s just a difference of opinion between us.”

That was a feud that had been going on for quite some time.

Hundreds of years ago, the first talk of withdrawal was in a dark conference hall, much like now.

A place where only candles floating in the air dimly illuminated their faces.

The only difference was that they were going back and forth.

Bang–!

Someone hit the table hard. The noise was so loud that it would not be strange if the table made of ivory broke.

“I ran so fast that I didn’t expect to see something like this. So what did you all do while sitting here huddled together? Huh? These are the faces you don’t see often, so did you talk about it while playing and eating?”

“I didn’t know that you guys got along well enough to eat and play together for ten days. I found out something interesting.”

“Sit down and talk.”

“You two, calm down.”

Eleven people gathered in the conference hall. If one had to separate them, one could divide them into three categories.

Those who would jump up in anger.

Those who would deter them.

And those who just thought differently, hoping that the meeting would be over soon. Yurr was somewhere between the second and the third group.

‘Oh, that part is really cracked.’

He didn’t want them to get angry, but he was also concerned about the cracked table.

The man sitting next to him opened his mouth.

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“You knew the goddess might intervene, so why did you go ahead? You ignored the warning and entered the capital, knowing what would happen?”

“Do you think I don’t know that story is just an excuse? Do I look that stupid? You didn’t want to participate before you came here! You’re like a pig who doesn’t know shame.”

At that time, a woman in a fancy dress that did not match the situation on the battlefield spoke.

“Both of you, calm down. This is not the time for us to fight each other.”

“You shut up!”

“Oh my gosh.”

The demon felt it for a long time, but there was something about the other’s respectful words that grated on their nerves. To the extent that they thought it was not unreasonable to shout at them to shut up.

Yurr watched his comrades quarrel, waiting for it to end quickly.

“Hey, Ragibach, I understand what you mean. But let’s talk a little…”

“There’s nothing to talk about! You didn’t want to fight because of the goddess’s intervention!”

“No, then if you charge and take damage, will you take responsibility?”

“It is an honor to die fighting on the battlefield.”

“What did you say? You crazy b*tch!”

Three demons insisted on going to battle, three who wanted to take care of the goddess’s power because it was necessary to be careful, two who pretended to mediate, and three who didn’t care.

The quarrel, which was fierce from the beginning, got worse as time went on. Then, all of a sudden, it was going back and forth between six demons. Well, this wasn’t unusual, though.

“Yeah, I didn’t want to fight, so I kept quiet! I didn’t want to come in the first place! What is the benefit of conquering the human world, huh?”

“You won’t fight if you have nothing to gain? Are you a demon?”

“Why don’t you just stick your nose in the plate and die?”

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“Haa…”

The demon, who had been refuting the opinion of the main instigator, sighed and sat back down on the chair.

His patience was too short to convince these war-hungry warriors. So he would just have to say it out loud. 

“I’ll be frank. We’ve lived too long. I’m at an age that I’ve lost motivation. In addition, I have achieved a lot, and I don’t want to follow my instinct even at the expense of a huge loss because I want to fight.”

“…Are you serious? The both of you?” 

“Yes.”

“To be honest, I don’t have any more answers. Get out. Your long-lived life sooner or later.”

“Haa, it really doesn’t make sense…”

In the end, it felt as if a duel would take place. Ajai, who was watching, stood up and said.

“So let’s sort it out.”

At that moment, everyone stopped talking and turned to him.

“Doesn’t everyone agree that the goddess might intervene, so we should be prepared for it?”

“If you guys had continued to advance without wasting ten days…!”

“There may be something hidden inside the wall. From the commander’s point of view, isn’t it impossible to fight a battle without recognizing it?”

“…”

It was a good excuse. If it had been true that they couldn’t move because they were being careful, they would have made a plan ahead of time rather than wait for ten days.

“To die in battle is the greatest honor.”

“I know. But if you fall into the enemy’s trap and die without seeing a proper fight, can you call that honor?”

“…”

It was an irrefutable argument. The main instigators had no choice but to keep their mouths shut with resentment.

“I respect everyone’s opinion.”

Yurr thought to himself, ‘What a load of crap.’