The next day, the streets were in an uproar over the Commander of the 13th Legion. Rumors whose source no one knew swelled as they pleased.
People fitted together, one by one, the actions I might have taken and tried to uncover the intentions hidden within them.
The conclusion was always the same.
The Commander of the 13th Legion was an extremely wicked and dangerous being.
Once a bad impression had been planted, this part was convenient. No matter what I did afterward, people interpreted it as malicious all on their own. I had become a far more tremendous villain than expected, to the point that it was almost fascinating.
Putting the drugs into my inventory had indeed been intentional. I wanted it to look as though my goal had been to obtain the drugs. But the idea that I was trying to become the mastermind who would use the drugs and the cure to seize the Empire and manipulate it… Seriously, what was that? At this rate, I ought to learn a thing or two from the good faction.
Theo worried needlessly about what would happen if the Legion Commander slipped drugs into my food as well. Two or three times an hour, he asked about my condition, and even while eating, he kept examining my complexion.
“I’ll become stronger quickly. Strong enough to protect you, Rihen.”
He devoted himself to swordsmanship practice in the yard. Considering his young age of fifteen, he was already considerably skilled. Compared to the adult Theo, his movements were a little clumsy, but his determination was clear. Even when sweat formed, he did not stop, and whenever his posture broke, he quickly corrected it again.
The fact that the streets had become this chaotic was certainly a headache for the good faction. However, the fact that Theo had gained a reason to practice swordsmanship even harder was not bad.
There was one more fortunate thing. The citizens had not fallen as far as a state of panic. It was thanks to Sasha reassuring them that she would soon make a cure. The parents were relieved that their children had returned safely and drew out the strength to return to their daily lives.
I stopped walking. I quietly watched as a married couple who had regained their precious son and daughter held on to each other, crying and laughing, then opened their shop, welcomed customers, and continued their day.
It was beautiful.
After offering as many as eleven members of the organization at once, I gained confidence. Over the next four days, I offered eight additional souls, and the Infamy Points I had saved had already reached 2000p.
I selected and offered only humans who, by my standards, could at least be called evil. Of course, I knew it was ridiculous for someone like me alone to divide good and evil. Even so, I could not offer the souls of good people like Damian, Luna, or Sasha merely because they seemed likely to give a lot of points.
Human traffickers, domestic abusers, swindlers….
Perhaps because people like that had disappeared, the atmosphere among the neighbors had actually improved considerably. Moreover, strangely enough, criminals like those all had weak mental strength. If I pressured them only a little while appearing like a proper Legion Commander, they quickly broke down, making it easy to extract their souls. Was it true, after all, that goodness was the strongest?
Tonight’s opponent was a corrupt tax collector.
His name was Lopez. He was a man who squeezed poor citizens dry by imposing excessive taxes and used that money to satisfy his own selfish desires. He loved alcohol and indulged in lust, and it was said that if someone was beautiful, he brought them into his bed regardless of whether they were male or female. Dealing with one drunken lecher was no trouble at all.
***
Lopez lay sprawled across the bed, deeply asleep. He was so completely drunk that his consciousness had gone far away, and a nauseating mixture of strong perfume, alcohol, face powder, and sweat rose from his body. The traces of his having indulged wantonly with both men and women until moments ago remained exactly as they were.
Although there was no wind, the candle flames flickered, then all went out at once. In the darkness, a black shadow slowly took shape. Lopez frowned at the alien sensation he could feel even in his dreams and opened his eyes. The being standing in front of the bed came into view. A robe covered his face.
“Wh-What….”
Lopez staggered as he raised himself. His heart pounded madly. He did not know why, but his instincts were warning him. That he had to run.
He grabbed the cord beside the bed and pulled it. It was the signal used to call the mercenaries. In preparation for threats to his life, Lopez always kept heavily armed mercenaries waiting inside the house. All that remained was to hold out until the mercenaries arrived.
Lopez fumbled for the sword propped beside the bed and gripped it. Although he was drunk, the memory of the swordsmanship he had practiced for a long time instinctively moved his hand. Lopez threatened the intruder.
“Hey! Get out right now! Do you know where you’ve barged in—”
Before he could finish speaking, the man took one step forward. A single step. That alone crushed the air inside the room. Lopez’s mind went blank, and an indescribable fear surged over him like a wave.
Lopez gritted his teeth and swung his sword. It was a reasonably precise strike. However, his attack failed to inflict even a single wound on the man. The intruder merely moved his wrist as though lightly flicking it. Even so, in the next instant, Lopez’s sword lost its force, flew across the floor, and struck the wall. A numbing pain spread along his wrist.
“Lord Lopez! Are you all right?”
The bedroom door opened. Burly mercenaries rushed inside in a crowd. The battle began at once. However, the intruder did not even trouble himself to draw his sword from its sheath. He faced nearly twenty mercenaries while leaving his weapon inside the sheath.
The man lightly deflected the mercenaries’ attacks. He struck one down by pressing the sheath against his temple and knocked another unconscious by precisely pressing a pressure point at the back of his neck. They were clean movements without the slightest excess, aimed only at subduing them. A one-sided beating that could not even be called a battle continued. After being struck only two or three times, the mercenaries lost consciousness one after another and collapsed to the floor.
While watching the scene, Lopez’s mental strength was rapidly worn away. As though he had been waiting for it, the unidentified intruder raised his hand. His gesture cut through the air. A perfect void without light or depth opened its mouth. It was the passage used when offering souls to the Demon King.
“A-A demon? Damn it…!”
Lopez made one final act of resistance. He seized the bottle of alcohol on the bedside table and threw it at the man. The man did not bother to dodge. The bottle struck his shoulder and shattered into pieces. Strong alcohol soaked stickily into his clothes. Without showing even the slightest sign of pain, the man looked down at Lopez. Without blinking even once. That made him even more terrifying. Because he seemed like a being who did not know what pain was.
“Spare me…. Please….”
Lopez sobbed. But it was already too late. The soul that emerged from his chest was sucked into the rift. Having lost his soul, Lopez went limp on the bed. He was still breathing, but his eyes had no focus.
At the same time, a notification window visible only to Shane appeared.
Infamy Points +50p
**
Theo opened his eyes at the sudden chill that seeped in. As though by habit, he felt beside himself and tried to pull Rihen into his arms. However, all his hand touched was the blanket, cold from having lost its warmth.
…He’s gone?
His heart sank.
Where did he go?
All kinds of thoughts rushed into his still half-asleep mind at once.
Did I make some kind of mistake? Is that why he abandoned me? Or did he find some other child worth raising instead of me?
In his panic, Theo tried to jerk his upper body upright, but at that moment, he heard the sound of the door opening. As though nothing had happened, he pretended to be quietly asleep and narrowed his eyes.
Gray hair and red eyes. A tall height and a lean body. It was Rihen. A strong smell of alcohol came from Rihen, and his left shoulder was damp with liquor. Theo wondered just how much he had drunk for even his clothes to be soaked.
Theo sniffed. His sensitive sense of smell caught other scents besides the strong alcohol. A very faint perfume, and a disorderly bodily scent with a vaguely fishy quality that did not seem to belong to Rihen. They were smells that had clung to Rihen while, as Shane, he dealt with Lopez. Of course, there was no way Theo could know that fact.
Rihen entered the bathroom. He washed quickly, came out, and changed into his nightclothes. Then he lay down beside Theo without making a sound.
‘What on earth was he doing in the middle of the night?’
His stomach churned.
It was not difficult to picture Rihen surrounded by people, drinking, laughing, and talking loudly. Objectively, he was a handsome young man, his manner of speaking was gentle, and his voice was soft. There were surely people who harbored affection for him.
Someone drinking with him might deliberately spill alcohol on Rihen’s clothes, grab the collar of the drunken man, pull him closer, and kiss him.
And after that… Theo’s knowledge made it difficult to imagine what might happen next, but for some reason, his heart tightened.
Theo squeezed his eyes shut. He did not want Rihen to discover that he was awake. At the same time, an inexplicable emotion caught in his throat like a fish bone. He forced it down and swallowed it.
Whoever Rihen met at night, however much alcohol he drank… it was not something Theo dared interfere with. He was merely someone who lived by relying on Rihen’s kindness. Asking what he had done in the middle of the night was beyond his right.
Rihen surely had a private life of his own. A secret realm that his fifteen-year-old self was not supposed to know about. It was wrong to judge a person by their appearance, but honestly, Rihen did not exactly look respectable.
The sound of movement came from behind him. Rihen turned over and pulled Theo into his arms. Judging by the way his breathing settled into an even rhythm, he seemed to have fallen asleep.
Feeling Rihen’s warm body heat, Theo stayed awake through the night without moving at all.