CH 11

“You said nothing would happen if I break the barriers!”

“Huh! What…That’s… I thought so.”

“You knew it? What the hell…!”

The lord shrank at the rare tone from Haron. ‘I shouldn’t have believed that stupid lord.’ Haron thought as he swept his forehead. He knew the lord was good with words, but he had never imagined he would spit out such lies that could put everyone in this territory in danger, especially it was the closest towards the Devil’s Castle. The lord peeked at Haron, and cleared his voice while pretending to speak solemnly.

“Well… to be exact, weren’t you the one who broke the barriers in the first place…?”

“… Ha.”

Haron let out a laugh without realizing it. The lord really was putting the blame on him. Since the people here were suffering, they were always begging to have the barriers broken so as to drive the creatures deeper. Despite Haron’s angry gaze, the lord turned his head as if being oblivious.

“Well, you’re the one who came to kill the Devil anyways. I’m sure you’ll be able to resolve this type of situation.”

“…”

“I have a lot of other things to do…and you’ll be treated. Take a good rest.”

The lord got out from his seat as if he were running away. When he was about to leave the room, he paused for a moment and turned around to look at Haron.

“By any chance… when will the next subjunction be possible?”

“…”

“Since all the members of the force collapsed, the amount of Mahone Stone obtained was smaller than expected… ha-ha.”

“… I’m tired. Please leave,”

“What? Oh… yes…”

Perhaps it was an unexpected reaction, but the lord left the room after answering awkwardly. Haron listened to his voice, who was whispering as he walked out, and touched his forehead. He had a headache, but at the same time, he could remember the face he wanted to see like crazy.

“… Do whatever you want.”

Haron closed his eyes again, recalling the words and the face of the woman who said it.

***

The Devil’s Castle has become frantically busy for the first time in 10 years. Sick and injured monsters were packed inside the castle.

[Bring the little ones and those with serious wounds first! That’s the most urgent thing!]

Under Sagna’s instructions, the other creatures moved. I was using the black scent to the maximum and treated three or four at a time. Still, the number of monsters waiting to be treated were so high that I had no choice but to feel impatient.

“I’ll help you too!”

It must’ve hurt to watch me suffer alone, so Tina came up with her sleeves rolled up.

“Tina, you shouldn’t sing healing songs carelessly, you know.”

Obviously, Tina’s healing song ability was powerful, but it puts more pressure on her body than other songs. Plus, my black scent was much more effective than the healing song, which was limited as it wasn’t effective on some magical species.

“But I want to be of help…”

“You’re already helping me enough right now.”

She also had a hard time taking care of the injured monsters all day. Come think of it, Tina did her best even though she had no reason to help.

“The Devil has helped me so far, so I want to help as much as I can too.”

“I don’t need you collapsing on me.”

“I’m really fine…”

“You’re not okay. And if you collapse, who will heal me if I get sick?”

I poked Tina in the cheek with a smile. I was just pampering her as my own healer, and Tina put her hands on her cheeks as if she were happy. It took nearly a whole day for the situation to calm down to some extent.

The monster’s territory and the Devil’s Castle had different barriers, so for now, the demons were allowed to stay here for the time being. Usually, only Tina, Deran, and Derakal lived here, so there was plenty of space, but now it was instantly crowded.

“Let the little ones stay as close to my room as possible. I don’t think it’ll happen, but in case the barrier here also gets pierced, I’ll select a few strong ones to guard near the gates.”

[All right.]

[Okay!]

I ordered and then returned to my room. As soon as I closed the door with a snap, my body shook.

“Devil!”

[Fake!]

Tina rushed to help me. Sagna, who was nearby, was also surprised and followed her while flapping his wings. Fortunately, I was only dizzy for a while because I used a lot of energy, so I didn’t feel very sick or uncomfortable.

“It’s okay. It doesn’t matter.”

“It can’t be okay. Go ahead and rest. Come on, come on!”

[That’s right! It’s not even your body so take care of it!]

The two of them somehow matched well and led me straight to bed. While lying down, I was wrapped up in a blanket as if I had become a sick child who was restrained from doing anything. Even Tina took a spoonful of the soup she had made and fed it to me.

“… I can move my hands.”

“No, I’m nursing you. Do you need anything else?”

“Um, then I’ll have a glass of water…”

[Here it is, Fake!]

Sagna struggled to bring water with his soft claws. Until now, I was confused whether he was the one who rebelled against receiving my treatment.

[Sigh, I didn’t really bring it for you!]

“Oh, I see.”

Cute. I accepted the water with a smile. Since then, I have been overprotected. It’s no exaggeration to say that I couldn’t step out of the bed. It was a little stuffy, but it wasn’t a bad feeling.

“By the way, what are they all going to do?”

I murmured, looking down at the garden through the window next to my bed. The monsters who can’t fit inside the castle were packed in the garden.

“I can’t let them live here forever.”

They were still little cubs, but when they grow older, they’ll get bigger and the space right now is only limited. Plus, there’s still breeding season… whew, gross. However, I can’t send them back to their lands with no barrier. Humans are much more clever than the monsters, so it’s obvious they will target the young in order to get the Mahone Stones.

“Why don’t you build a new barrier in their land?”

“It would be the best as long as it’s possible.”

The problem is that it’s not possible. The barriers weren’t just made up of mana, there were materials needed and the problem was the lack of ingredients.

“… There’s a shortage of Mahone Stones.”

Everyone around me, including myself, sighed loudly at my comment. Mahone Stone was a gem that only comes out when a demon is killed. A huge number of demons died in the massacre yesterday, so we can’t sacrifice more. In the midst of the gloomy atmosphere, Sagna fluttered his wings as if determined.

[Fake, kill this body! And with the Mahone Stone that comes out, set up a barrier to protect your people!]

I lightly tapped Sagna..

[Ouch! What is this Fake!]

“You can’t be the only that just dies, and I told you to go far away if that were to happen because I don’t want a crow to die here.”

Although I have no intention of killing Sagna in the first place, it was not a problem that would be solved by killing him and getting one Mahone Stone at most. Deran, who was listening relatively quietly by my side, asked carefully.

[How many Mahone Stones will you need to build a new barrier?]

“A hundred at least. Two or three hundred to be more precise.”

[That’s not a small number.]

“Yeah.”

Everyone in the room sighed again. While thinking about it for a while, Derakal was the first to shout ‘oh I don’t know!’ and laid on the floor.

[I really can’t think of anything. Are there no Mahone Stones stored in the Devil’s Castle?]

“Well, there are some, but the number is small and it’s kept strictly so I’m not sure if it’ll be okay to use those.”

“Oh! Devil, I heard people buying and selling Mahone Stones, so why don’t we just pay for them?”

“Well, it won’t be easy considering it’s a rare item, and they won’t sell it to an unidentified person. Plus, most of the items in the market are refined, so none of the magic inside is left.”

“I see…”

No one could come up with any more options for a while, and everyone started getting tired from the long agony.

“I actually have one idea… but.”

I opened my mouth carefully. At the same time, I felt everyone’s eyes on me. Sagna, who was impatient, flapped his wings furiously and pecked.

[Don’t make me uncomfortable! Just tell us! What is it?!]

“…It’s not a great idea, but I heard that there were a lot of monsters that have the subjuncted by humans recently, except there was no Mahone Stone left on the body.”

[What do you mean!]

“I think they were targeting the Mahone Stones on purpose, but it was probably what the lord wanted to do, not the warrior.”

In the game, the lord was an NPC that only gave out quests to collect the stones. I would’ve called him the mahone madman.

[Do you mean to steal them from the lord’s castle?]

“Yes. It’s not over the top, and it’ll most likely be stored there.”