Epilogue | The Assassin Accepts an Invitation
I used wind magic to observe the state of things aboveground. I had no doubt that Railgun had destroyed the faceless demon’s heart, but that didn’t mean I was free to relax yet.
I used an earth probing spell in addition to my wind one and thoroughly scanned the area.
“…Everything seems fine.”
Now that I was certain the demon was gone, I exhaled and released my concentration.
Just to be safe, I would need to check if the light of the demon statue in the Sanctuary changed to red, just like with the lion demon. This one had pulled an entire town underground—I had to be positive it hadn’t gotten away, no matter how unlikely that was.
There was just one problem.
I feel a power rising from below… Looks like it was completed.
I felt a tremendous force beneath the frozen surface of the water. There was an object glowing jade green.
It had formed just before I’d fired Railgun, and I saw all of the remaining souls in the area get sucked down toward it at that moment. I’d even felt like I was in danger myself. Had I not been protected by mana, my spirit might have been stolen, too.
There was only one thing the object could be. It was the item that demons created using ten thousand human souls in order to use as a catalyst for reviving the Demon King, a Fruit of Life.
After the faceless demon’s earth dragon armor was destroyed, he’d abandoned the Fruit of Life and tried to flee. However, we had unwittingly aided in completing it by stopping him.
“Thank goodness for my information network. We wouldn’t have even made it here to fight otherwise.”
Without my agents and our remodeled hang gliders, the Fruit of Life would have formed long before we arrived, and the earth dragon would have disappeared somewhere.
No matter how strong I became, it would be meaningless without ways to locate the enemy and the speed to reach them in time. It wasn’t hard to imagine a scenario where I never caught up to this mannequin demon and it managed to revive the Demon King.
“Now, what to do with the Fruit of Life…?”
I broke the ice, then used a wind spell to lift the Fruit of Life out of the water and into the air. It resembled a green jewel, but it pulsed like a living organism. It was beautiful and eerie at the same time.
However, a strong impulse overwhelmed all other thoughts regarding it.
It looks delicious.
I started to drool. I had never felt so hungry in my life. The anticipation of feasts and even starvation paled before it. Every cell in my body was screaming for me to eat it.
I summoned all my willpower to resist. Just touching it would be dangerous, let alone consuming it. However, there was something about this object that was making me lose my mind, despite all my assassin’s techniques to control my emotions and act logically.
My hand rejected reason and reached for the Fruit of Life. I responded by drawing a knife and plunging it into my thigh. Blood gushed from the wound, and the intense pain distracted me from the jewel a little. I knew that wouldn’t last, though.
I used earth mana on the floating Fruit of Life to enclose it within an aluminum alloy. Strangely enough, a barrier of aluminum mixed with silver trapped mana. Typically, I used that when carrying magic tools around.
After I’d surrounded it with the thick alloy, my hunger lessened significantly. I then stored it in my Leather Crane Bag, and the temptation I felt for the Fruit of Life finally disappeared.
“That was close. One mistake and it would have been in my belly.”
If I had eaten an item made for the resurrection of the Demon King that contained ten thousand human souls, I probably would have either exploded or turned into a monster.
I wasn’t sure of that, though. Human instincts were very reliable. Putting aside ethics, following your gut feelings almost always resulted in the correct decision. You could eat the majority of things you desired to. You naturally hungered for what your body craved, after all.
If my instincts were telling me to eat the Fruit of Life, there was a chance it would be good for me. I didn’t want to take that gamble, though. Losing could mean either dying or becoming a monster.
It was too risky.
Performing human experimentation would also prove difficult. My subject could become a terrifyingly powerful creature the moment I fed the fruit to them.
Still, I could conceive of other uses. Studying the Fruit of Life might reveal more about the Demon King. I could also use it as a negotiating chip with Mina.
Destroying it was also an option.
Regardless, the best thing to do at present was take it with me rather than make a hasty choice. It only delayed the issue, though.
“Guess I should go back aboveground.”
I sensed with the wind that Tarte and Dia were racing toward the hole. For now, I could focus on celebrating our victory with them.
The Fruit of Life was safely tucked away in the Leather Crane Bag.
Dia and Tarte flew into my arms as soon as I rose aboveground. I expected this behavior from Dia, but Tarte was usually too embarrassed. It must have been the side effects of Beastification.
I was relieved to see them both unhurt.
“You were great, my lord,” said Tarte.
“Your plan couldn’t have been better this time,” agreed Dia.
“Everyone played their roles perfectly. This was a team victory,” I replied.
If any one of us had failed, the mission would have fallen apart. We truly were the best team.
We hugged to share in the joy that we were all safe, then pulled apart.
Dia squinted at me.
“Something feels off. There’s a strange mana around you.”
“About that… The Fruit of Life ended up forming. I was exposed to it when I put it away.”
Although I’d resisted consuming it, the waves it gave off had still washed over me.
No power had leaked out of the Leather Crane Bag after I put the Fruit of Life into it, but I was worried about the other items inside. I knew putting the fruit in there was a risk, but there was no way I could leave it behind, and carrying it by hand was not an option, either.
“Are you going to be okay?” Dia asked.
“I wasn’t exposed for too long. The energy should scatter on its own eventually… I can’t have anything happen to you two, though. You should keep your distance from me for a bit. Tarte, take Dia on your hang glider and return home first,” I ordered.
Neither one of them moved.
“If anything happens to you, you’ll need someone nearby to deal with it. There’s no way we can abandon you,” insisted Dia.
“I will stay by your side, too. If you say you’re okay, my lord, I believe you,” Tarte added.
“…Thanks.”
We were all in the same boat now. I couldn’t call it logical, but I was sure the three of us would get through it just fine.
“Tarte, Dia, step back,” I ordered, putting them behind my back to protect them.
By probing the wind, I had detected a presence nearby. Facing it, I drew my concealed gun.
“After insisting on just watching this entire time, now you decide to show yourself…Naoise.”
The man before us was my friend who had been manipulated by the snake demon Mina into abandoning his humanity to grow stronger.
Evidently, he’d grown even more powerful since we last met. That surely meant he had gone even farther past the point of no return.
“I wanted to fight, too, but Mistress Mina ordered me not to.”
It’s Mistress Mina, is it?
Last I saw, Naoise and Mina were equals in their relationship. Now he was referring to her as a superior.
She had him wrapped around her finger. At least Naoise still wanted to fight for humankind. He wouldn’t have wanted to battle a demon otherwise.
“I see. Let’s get to the point. You waited this long to show yourself. I assume you have something to tell us?”
“I want you to follow me. Mistress Mina is waiting for you.”
Naoise pointed at the ground, and a giant snake emerged from that spot. He climbed up on top of its head and beckoned for us to join him. The snake was enormous, so there was plenty of room.
“What if I refuse?”
“I would have to fight you.”
Naoise drew his magic sword.
Although he was more capable than last time, I would still beat him. Unfortunately, he was strong enough that I couldn’t risk holding back, so I’d be forced to kill him.
I thought of Naoise as a friend, so I wanted to avoid that. Plus, I wanted to speak with Mina anyway.
“Got it. Let’s go. I’ve never traveled by snake before… Tarte, Dia, stay close to me.”
“Trust me, I will. I hate snakes,” said Dia.
Nervously, Tarte remarked, “…This is kind of scary.”
They both grabbed on to my collar, and we climbed onto the snake’s head together. I expected the scales to be slippery, but the creature’s head provided surprisingly solid footing, and it had a number of horns you could grab on to for balance.
Once we were all on, Naoise spoke words that were clearly not in a human language. The serpent responded by taking off at a speed that outpaced a horse-drawn carriage.
Undoubtedly, we were bound for Mina’s secret demon hideout. There was no way she would let us ride a giant snake into a town where she operated as a human.
Mina absolutely knew what the earth dragon—that faceless demon—was doing.
Despite that, she’d elected to give me no information. I wanted to know why. Depending on how this went, my alliance with Mina could collapse.
Should that come to pass, getting out of her den alive would be difficult. I needed to make preparations before we arrived.
I assumed the worst, because that is what assassins do.
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