I checked the total number of points I currently possessed. A staggering 2050 Infamy Points! I’m rich!
‘All right, then. What should I spend the points on?’
Judging solely by the number of points I had gathered so far, I had more than enough to level Theo up to eighteen years old. However, I had not yet satisfied the required number of completed quests.
The system window neatly summarized my current status.
500p + Complete 1 Quest
: Destroy the Sacred Statue (Cleared)
→ Level Up to Age 15 (Complete)
1000p + Complete 2 Quests
: Set Fire to the Temple (Cleared)
: Soul Offering (In Progress)
→ Requirements for Leveling Up to Age 18 Not Met
1500p + Complete 3 Quests
: Destroy the Holy Knights’ Armories (In Progress)
: ??
: ??
→ Requirements for Leveling Up to Age 20 Not Met
→ Age 20 Stage Can Only Be Unlocked After Reaching Age 18
So, for the time being, I intended to spend every last one of these points on myself. As the quests grew more difficult, I also needed to become stronger. After some deliberation, I reinforced my Stats and skills little by little, then used the remaining 600 points to purchase a new skill.
As a result, my status window changed like this.
Shane (Human-Demon Hybrid, 125 Years Old)
-Stats (□/10)
Strength 5 → 6
Magic Power 4 → 5
Resistance 7
Agility 8
Accuracy 5
-Skills
Innate Skills:
Flame LV. 2 → LV. 3
Stealth LV. 1 → LV. 2
Disguise LV. 1
Acquired Skills:
Locksmith LV. 1(new)
Locksmith. As the name suggested, it was a skill specialized for thievery. The higher its level rose, the more complicated the lock it could open in a shorter amount of time. Once sufficiently proficient, it could disable not only ordinary locks, but even barriers cast by mages.
Among the Holy Knights’ weapon warehouses, Warehouses 4 through 7 were secured with ordinary locks. Even if they were called ‘ordinary,’ they were sturdy and complex enough that they could not be broken with any ordinary amount of strength. Warehouses 1 through 3, on the other hand, were firmly sealed with magical barriers.
A weapon suited to a hero like Theo was stored in Warehouse 1. In order to open Warehouse 1, I would have to strengthen the Locksmith skill further.
Even now, Theo was steadily practicing swordsmanship with the wooden sword I had bought him. As expected of the youngest student ever admitted to the Imperial Academy, his skill was exceptional. Having also played as a knight character before, I was able to teach him the Imperial Knights’ orthodox swordsmanship with a fair degree of credibility. For now, the lessons were still being conducted with a wooden sword, but I would soon hand him a real one.
A truly magnificent treasured sword, at that.
Of course, carrying around a treasured sword stolen from the Holy Knights would draw attention in a bad way. That was why I intended to use Disguise. Once Disguise was raised to LV. 2, it became possible to deceive others about the appearance of inanimate objects to a certain extent. Making a rotten apple look fresh and appetizing, or making a gleaming masterpiece of a sword appear old and ordinary, would be entirely possible.
‘I suppose I need to gather more information about the Holy Knights.’
Thanks to having played the game more than five hundred times, I already knew the structure of the warehouses and how they were guarded. However, many things had been changing because of my interference. In the end, the newest information always flowed from people’s mouths.
I thought of Madam Cecil’s tavern. It had been the same when I played the game. If I sat in one corner of the tavern, useful rumors would eventually roll my way.
After dinner, I asked Theo.
“I’m thinking of going to the tavern for a little while. Do you want to go to bed first by yourself?”
Theo answered my question with another question.
“Can’t I come with you?”
Taking a minor to a tavern gave me pause, but it was not particularly taboo in this world. In fact, drinking alcohol as a minor was not even illegal in this setting. I made a firm decision.
Even so, I would never give him alcohol.
Our hero had to grow up kind and proper, after all.
***
The tavern was crowded, just as expected. Loud laughter, drunken shouting, and the clinking of glasses rang through the heated air. I placed orange juice in front of Theo and deliberately chose a low-alcohol cocktail for myself. I had not gone there with the intention of getting drunk in the first place, so merely keeping up appearances was enough.
At that moment, the man sitting beside me spoke.
“Brother, why are you drinking pathetic swill like that? A man drinks whiskey.”
“I’m not very good with strong alcohol.”
“Come on, don’t be like that. Drink, drink.”
The man suddenly wrapped an arm around my waist, then forcibly shoved the whiskey he had been drinking into my mouth. Since he pushed the entire bottle in, the neck of it bumped against my uvula.
“Urgh, cough….”
A physiological wave of nausea surged up. I was flustered, but I did not want to cause a needless disturbance, so I swallowed whatever he poured into me. If I did not swallow, I could not breathe. The high-proof alcohol flowed down my esophagus. My throat burned where the liquid had swept through it. More alcohol ran down my chin than I actually drank.
A small hand suddenly shot out and shoved the man’s forearm away.
“Rihen said he doesn’t want it!”
The man looked down at Theo with a startled expression.
“What’s with this brat?”
Blinking, he slapped his own cheeks several times with sharp smacking sounds. It was an attempt to shake off the alcohol. Once some of the heat spreading across his face had subsided, he scratched his head awkwardly.
“Ah, sorry. I must be more drunk than I thought.”
The man hurriedly fled to another table. Fortunately, he was merely an ordinary middle-aged man with terrible drinking habits. Had he treated Theo carelessly, I would have seriously considered making him my next offering target.
Theo took out a handkerchief and carefully wiped my chin and neck. Then he let out a sigh and said,
“I want to become an adult quickly.”
“Why?”
“If anyone tries to make Rihen drink, I’ll drink it all in your place.”
After finishing his sentence, he shook his head rapidly as though startled by his own words.
“…But once I become an adult, Rihen won’t have any reason to take care of me anymore, will you? I don’t want that.”
Ah. So he had been worried that I would abandon him.
I stroked Theo’s back and reassured him.
“Even after you become an adult, I’ll always stay with you. Really.”
It was true. I had to remain by Theo’s side. Leveling up a companion was only possible while staying within a certain distance of them. That was how the game system had been designed.
Well, even without bringing up the system… I had already grown quite attached to Theo as well.
Theo’s face brightened.
“To be honest, I was afraid of becoming an adult. I thought I might grow distant from Rihen. But if that isn’t going to happen…. Then I want to become an adult quickly.”
Looking at that bright smile, I made a decision.
I would make Theo grow into an adult as quickly as possible.
I focused once again on the conversations drifting around me. However, talk about the Holy Knights showed no sign of coming up. Instead, a different kind of rumor reached my ears.
“Did you hear? They say some strange people have been wandering around lately. Something about serving the Demon King.”
“They’re supposedly offering people as sacrifices because they want to summon a demon. Lunatics.”
The hand tilting my glass stopped.
Humans serving the Demon King?
At that absurd combination, a buried memory suddenly surfaced. It was a memory from when I had played this world as a game in the past.
There had definitely been an event like that. It had nothing to do with the regular route, but if ignored, it became troublesome, and it also gave quite a lot of points.
Eliminate the human-sacrificing cult.
Of course, this mission only appeared for the good faction, so it did not apply to my current self. Even so, if I could remember the time and place of the next human sacrifice, I could deal with them regardless of the quest.
According to my memory, it was definitely….
‘Tomorrow before dawn, at the abandoned house behind the Levio River.’
Right. Then the next souls I would offer were….
This time, there was no need to deliberate.
It was your turn.
***
The shabby abandoned house gave off a distinctly sinister atmosphere. The walls were cracked, the roof had half collapsed, and old blood and candle wax had dried together across the floor. At its center, roughly ten people stood in a circle.
In the middle of the circle was tonight’s sacrifice.
The apprentice priest Luna.
She had been kidnapped while returning late at night to the inn being used as temporary lodging, after spending the day granting blessings to people beneath the tent. Luna’s mouth had been gagged with cloth, and her hands and feet were tightly bound with rope. She could only tremble and move her eyes around, unable to say anything.
“O demon, answer our summons!”
One of the heretics shouted in an impassioned voice. The others followed, muttering a bizarre incantation. A dagger was raised high. Its angle was aimed at the heart.
That was when it happened.
Pitch-black mist spread from somewhere as though seeping into the room, then seized the wrist holding the dagger. It was a smooth hand covered by a black leather glove. A pleasant voice soon rang out.
“Ah, there’s no need to offer the heart. I don’t particularly like the smell of blood.”
The black shadow took shape, and a being revealed himself. Although his face was uncovered, his appearance could not be perceived. Even so, it was possible to tell that the corners of his mouth were faintly raised.
It was the Commander of the 13th Legion of the Demon King’s army, known only through rumors.
An unknown being whose name and appearance were both veiled in mystery had descended upon this decrepit abandoned house.
“Now. This great one has personally answered your summons, so what am I supposed to do next?”
He tilted his head.
The heretics collapsed on the spot. Overwhelmed with emotion, every one of them fell to their knees and shed tears. A man who appeared to be their leader held out a sheet of paper with both hands. It was densely filled with numerous names, genders, ages, and even places of residence.
“This is a list of humans suitable to be offered as souls. Offer these people and use them as the foundation for the Demon King’s resurrection.”
The Legion Commander silently looked down at the paper, then snapped his fingers.
Black flames rose and swallowed the paper in an instant.
“Ah, how disappointing. You claim to serve the Demon King, yet this is the extent of your resolve?”
He laughed.
That light laugh chilled the entire space.
“Shouldn’t you at least offer your own souls?”
“M-My… soul?”
The man’s eyes widened. Belatedly understanding the demon’s words, he staggered back two steps.
“C-Commander. It would be far more beneficial to you if we remained alive and helped with the offering of souls. We can truly do many things for you….”
“Ah, all that chattering is so noisy.”
The Legion Commander narrowed his eyes as though annoyed. He seized the man by the collar, then flung him away as casually as throwing a deflated ball. His body struck the corner. The impact caused a precariously stacked pile of firewood to collapse with a crash and pour down over him.
“Commander, why…!”
The heretics stared at him with expressions of incomprehension. With every trace of laughter gone from his face, the Legion Commander muttered in a low voice.
“To think you believed I would want the help of insignificant humans. Just how little did you think of me?”
A pitch-black ball of fire surged above his palm. The flames immediately spread to the pile of firewood pinning the man down. Had his companions not wrung out the last scraps of their reason and dragged him free, the black flames would already have swallowed his body.
Fear gathered into a solid mass within the heretics’ chests. The terror rising all the way to their throats constricted their breathing.
Now that matters had progressed this far, extracting their souls was simple.
The Legion Commander swept his hand elegantly through the air. White smoke left their bodies and rose into the empty space. A rift resembling the entrance to a bottomless abyss opened its mouth and swallowed every last soul.
When everything was over, only silence lingered inside the abandoned house.
Luna watched the scene, having even forgotten how to breathe. Sensing her gaze, the Legion Commander abruptly turned his head and approached her.
Is it my turn now?
Luna squeezed her eyes shut and desperately prayed to the Goddess, hoping for a single ray of grace.
The Legion Commander picked up the dagger that had fallen to the floor. Contrary to her expectations, the blade did not move toward a vital point. He used the dagger to cut through the ropes binding Luna. After removing the gag from her mouth, he took her hand and helped her to her feet.
The touch that brushed the dust from her clothes was unexpectedly gentle.
“Why…. Why in the world….”
Luna asked in a trembling voice.
The Legion Commander looked down at her, placed his index finger against his lips, and smiled.
“Secret.”
Leaving those words behind, the black shadow vanished like mist.
Only one priest remained in the abandoned house, stunned by the fact that she had survived.