Compared to Kernel, Harris was the very picture of restraint. He was devout, too. In fact, his friendship with Edward had formed thanks to his consistent visits to the temple.
“You wouldn’t really know this, but that guy… he wasn’t exactly the most decent person.”
“I see.”
Edward nodded as though he knew nothing.
“He believed that a survivor from the Black Magician extermination campaign was trying to kill him.”
“You mean the rescued children?”
“No, his dead apprentice. As if a corpse could send threatening letters…”
“How odd.”
“My guess is that he had some kind of delusional paranoia, which eventually led to a nervous breakdown.”
Kernel had died of a nervous breakdown two years ago. But the threatening letters kept arriving even after his death. If he had truly been the target, there was no explaining the purpose behind the recent letters.
“Anyway, I didn’t bring him up just to talk about that.”
“Right.”
“I’ve started to wonder if the sender of the letters might be someone connected to that Black Magician. Not the dead apprentice, of course. Maybe another one he trained secretly, or a comrade.”
Edward nodded again. The idea of Black Magicians sharing a close bond didn’t seem that strange. After all, the more a group is ostracized, the more tightly knit it becomes.
“When you think of it that way, it all lines up. The grudge against Cloverland, the bizarre methods—it all fits.”
“So, what do you plan to do about it?”
“First, we take care of the Demon King.”
“Do you have a plan in mind?”
“I’ve put out a bounty, so someone’s bound to step up. Once the Demon King’s been dealt with, what’s some petty nobody going to do? There’ll be nothing left for them to summon. Don’t you think?”
Harris laughed like he’d just told a joke, so Edward forced a smile in return.
Edward had always thought Kernel was a subpar magician. He couldn’t say for sure how skilled Kernel really was, but the man reeked of inferiority and servility. Maybe the reason he launched an unprovoked attack four years ago was because he didn’t have the confidence for a fair fight.
Compared to Kernel, Harris was certainly composed and courteous, but still not someone Edward could admire. The fact that he refused to step up during a crisis revealed a cowardly side.
‘Magical incidents are rare as it is, yet they each grabbed a spot for themselves. Magicians are always so greedy.’
The Bureau of Order’s reason for offering a bounty was obvious. If someone took down the Demon King, great. If not, they’d at least learn more about his capabilities, which could help them form a countermeasure.
Even if that failed, it didn’t matter. If others failed before him, then Harris’s own failure wouldn’t be such a blemish.
Back when they laid out that plan, they probably hadn’t anticipated the outbreak of a mysterious sleeping sickness.
Now, they could no longer afford to sit back and wait for someone to fix it. That being—whatever it was—had to be dealt with before the situation worsened.
‘But how?’
Were they preparing a countermeasure at the temple? If he returned there…
‘No, that’s pointless.’
Edward had only just finished his probation. Even if he returned to the temple, they wouldn’t assign him any meaningful role. At best, he’d be listening to desperate pleas from believers who showed up in a panic after a family member collapsed—just another prayer desk attendant.
He was better off tagging along with one of the traveling groups hunting the bounty. They wouldn’t turn him away—hell, they might even welcome him.
People who traveled dangerous paths often invited a priest to join them. With one around, minor injuries could be healed with Holy Magic, and even serious wounds could at least be stabilized with emergency treatment. It made a big difference in worst-case scenarios.
Edward decided to head in that direction.
‘Guess I’d better start with the Bureau of Order.’
To receive the bounty later, one had to register in advance. Everyone was bound to show up there eventually. Edward planned to arrive early and look for a decent party to join.
But before he could even finish preparing to go out, someone knocked on his room door. He figured it was yet another request to look after a child or elderly person, and sighed.
“Who is it?”
“It’s me, Edward.”
The voice that answered was surprisingly familiar. It was Rita.
‘Just great.’
Edward could feel it in his gut—Rita, being the kind of person who acted the moment she decided something, must have read the newspaper and made up her mind to go after the Demon King.
“Open up! I’ve got a killer proposal you won’t want to miss.”
Rita chirped cheerfully as she knocked again. With a second sigh, Edward opened the door. Rita beamed and poked her head in.
“Did you sleep well?”
“Yes, well… thanks to you.”
It was a bit too late in the day for a morning greeting, but Edward just nodded.
He’d assumed she had come alone, but two people stood behind her. Their faces were familiar as well. Satin gave a sheepish wave when their eyes met, while Cain stared silently at an empty section of wall beside them.
Rita strutted confidently into the room, her chest puffed with pride. Perhaps in an attempt to be polite, Satin gave an awkward smile and asked for permission.
“Mind if we come in?”
Once everyone had entered, Edward shut the door and asked,
“To what do I owe the pleasure?”
“Did you see the paper? Oh, of course you did.”
Spotting the newspaper on the table by the window, Rita skipped over Edward’s answer entirely.
“I’m thinking of going after the Demon King. Want to come with us?”
“…With all due respect, the three of you haven’t known each other long, have you?”
“Does that matter?”
Rita tilted her head and looked over at Satin. Rubbing the back of his neck, Satin replied with an embarrassed grin.
“Well, Rita and I are both outsiders, so I guess that makes me the one she’s known the longest in Cloverland.”
“Haha, isn’t that a funny story.”
Cain’s laughter came from behind Satin’s back, but his expression was completely humorless. His sarcasm was obvious, but Satin just shrugged.
Edward narrowed his eyes slightly as he watched.
‘There’s something strange about him.’
He wasn’t thinking about Cain, but Satin.
At first glance, Satin seemed mild-mannered and unassertive, but on closer observation, there were peculiar things about him. The strangest of all was this:
‘He’s way too detached.’
When Edward had first met Rita and Satin, he’d assumed the two were close. But they said they’d just met that day. And yet, Satin reacted to everything Rita did with complete indifference. He showed no fear or reverence toward a noble-born magician, treating her as casually as anyone else.
His reaction to Cain was even more bizarre.
‘Isn’t it strange to stay so calm when someone you don’t recognize acts like they know you?’
Anyone else would’ve been confused or suspicious, but Satin didn’t bat an eye. Even though he didn’t know Cain, he accepted that Cain knew him like it was the most natural thing in the world.
When Edward and Rita questioned the strange situation, Satin simply introduced himself with a smile and said, “Oh, right—I actually lost my memory.” His expression had been perfectly gentle, but his eyes were blank, like someone watching a dull puppet show.
‘He doesn’t seem like a bad person, but he’s definitely odd.’
Still unaware of Edward’s inner thoughts, Satin continued smiling vacantly. Then, as soon as their eyes met, he turned serious.
“You probably already know this, but there’s a strange illness spreading. Children and the elderly aren’t waking up. If we don’t act quickly, things could get really bad.”
“I expected it from Rita, but I didn’t think even you, Satin, would be interested in hunting the Demon King.”
“Well, it’s a problem that affects everyone in Cloverland.”
Satin scratched his cheek and offered again,
“I’m pretty useless on my own, but with you around, we’d have a real advantage. Won’t you come with us?”
For someone calling himself “useless,” he had still followed Rita this far, which meant he truly was concerned. His eyes may have looked dead, but he was unexpectedly kind.
When Edward didn’t immediately reply, Rita grew impatient and began pestering him.
“Oh, come on! Just come with us! I’ll even give you my share of the reward!”
“I’m a priest. I don’t need that much money.”
“Then I’ll ask someone I know to get you into a bigger temple. You’ll get promoted. You might even end up in the inner sanctum of temple power!”
“…Just what do you think a priest is, exactly?”
Every reward Rita offered was so absurd that Edward couldn’t take them seriously. None of it swayed his decision.
But the proposal itself wasn’t bad. Rita was a magician, and Cain probably was too. With two magicians in the group, their odds of taking down the Demon King seemed much higher—even if there was a small burden among them.
Edward didn’t give an immediate yes, pausing just a bit longer. Rita, growing antsy, rushed him.
“Well? Are you in or not? Time’s ticking!”
“…Alright. I’ll go with you.”
“Good call!”
“But first, let’s stop by the temple.”
“For a blessing? That’s a good idea. Even if it doesn’t work, it definitely eases the mind.”
Rita jumped to conclusions and accepted them as fact. In truth, Edward had other business there, but he didn’t bother explaining. They’d find out soon enough anyway.
Only recently had the Bureau of Order taken over all responsibilities concerning public safety. In the past, things had been different. Any incident even remotely connected to sacrilege fell under the temple’s jurisdiction. Chief among these was the elimination of Black Magicians. The rules governing magicians were closely tied to temple doctrine.
So there might still be ancient records related to the Demon King. And if so, those records could hold something useful.
Thank you so much for the wonderful translation TL-nim!!