"Meow......."
Until late at night, Lloyd strode briskly around the entire town, swinging his arms wide.
Henrik considered teaching him the expression "power walking," but Lloyd would only give it another strange name, so he did not bother.
Yet while Lloyd trained, it was Lucy who became exhausted instead.
'The demon is pulling his weight.'
There had been one problem along the way, though. With his mana drained, Lucy had provided support halfheartedly.
'It's a little underhanded, but when that happens, there's no choice but to hold food over his head.'
Whenever that happened, Henrik tried to withhold Lucy's food, putting forth the strange logic that skipping one meal would be good for Lucy's health.
'It was nearly a problem when that Lloyd recognized Lucy's hungry expression a little too accurately.'
But when Henrik said that regulating his meals was training for Lucy, Lloyd had no choice but to back down.
If nothing else, he had personally realized through experience that Henrik's training methods were effective.
"Meow......."
In the end, Lucy had no choice but to squeeze out more mana to get fed.
Thanks to that, Lloyd's body felt light even after training for a long time.
[Lloyd]
[Level 2 : 171/200]
'Training through Lucy has accelerated things too, but the contest was the biggest factor today.'
When Lloyd won the squat contest, his experience had risen sharply.
'It's nice that this is easy to understand. I just need to set the stage for events that can become opportunities for growth.'
Because Lucy was more exhausted than Lloyd, they ultimately had to stop training.
"All right, Lloyd, go inside and rest now. You need to sleep soundly at night for training to be effective too. I'll take Lucy for a walk, then send him back."
"...Lucy already looks exhausted enough, though?"
Henrik vigorously petted Lucy's head.
"Are you tired, Lucy?"
"...Meow, meow."
"He says he isn't."
"...Is that so?"
Only after Lloyd disappeared into the inn as though he had been pushed from behind did Lucy get a chance to speak.
"Haa.... Fighting would be easier...."
"A demon who said he would fight the King of Hell is whining far too easily, isn't he?"
Normally, this would have been the moment Lucy growled, but he did not even have the energy for that.
"Eating fruits doesn't make everything work.... Magic gained from fruits with poor affinity has low mana efficiency."
Naturally, Henrik had not fed them to him without knowing that.
Still, he had needed to feed them to him. He needed a lackey who would always stay beside Lloyd and use Support Skills on him.
"If you work hard, I'll keep you supplied with delicious meals. This is an additional incentive that wasn't in the contract."
"...The meals are certainly quite good."
Margaret's cooking was unquestionably excellent.
At first, Henrik had not realized it, but the more he ate, the more its charm drew him in and made him seek it out.
If only that damn temper of hers were better.
"As long as you don't do a halfhearted job like earlier, I'll keep you supplied with meals of this quality."
Of course, he could only continue providing meals like this while the inn remained their base.
Once they left this place, he could not guarantee it.
...Well, I'll think about that when the time comes.
"Haa.... Is there really no way other than that kid?"
"No."
"How long do I have to raise that kid just to learn one lousy skill?"
"Until he's strong enough. The path to learn the Forbidden Skill won't be easy."
"Hmph, weren't you the one who could handle things like that somehow? You said you cut down the Hell Gatekeeper."
Of course, if it were Hess, he could accomplish it alone.
Hess did not have the blood that allowed one to learn the Forbidden Skill, but he could break through the path to learn it by himself as much as he pleased.
But the problem was this:
"There is a trial that must be passed to learn the Forbidden Skill. No one can help with it; it must be accomplished alone."
That was the decisive reason Lloyd had to grow stronger.
"How troublesome.... What in the world is that skill? I've never even heard of it in Hell."
In the novel, Hess had approached Lloyd under the false identity of Henrik in order to uncover the nature of the skill.
More precisely, Nightmare had dispatched Hess.
'The goal was to travel with Lloyd and uncover what the Forbidden Skill was.'
That was why he had not killed Lloyd immediately and had only watched him through Henrik.
Nightmare had been seeking a way to learn the skill himself. There were cases in which one gained resistance during the process of learning it.
He had intended to learn the skill, his only weakness, and eliminate even that final weakness.
'So that he could become invincible.'
While Henrik was silent, lost in various thoughts, Lucy realized that there were complicated circumstances at play.
"Forget it. I hate complicated things. Anyway, that kid... Meow."
Lloyd came back outside.
"You said you were taking a walk, but you're still here."
"Ah, I just finished a lap. You got some exercise too, didn't you, Lucy?"
"Meow, meow. Pant, pant."
Henrik gave Lucy's butt two light taps, signaling him to go to Lloyd.
Recognizing the signal, Lucy approached Lloyd.
As he did, he turned his head back toward Henrik, bared his fangs, and scowled.
"Until tonight, sleep in the same bed as Lucy. And watch out for that guy's sleep talking."
"All right. But isn't it difficult for you to go back home every night?"
"I'm more comfortable at home."
"...That's obvious enough."
Maybe it was a sad thing to say to someone without a home.
"What? Do you want me to stay with you?"
Lloyd actually got goosebumps at those words.
"Ugh.... Don't say creepy things. I only asked because I don't understand why you go all the way outside the village and come back every day."
Then again, Lloyd had lived as a beggar in this town for quite a long time.
He must have known from the beginning that I was not someone who had a home here.
"You seem to have money to burn, so I guess you live in a grand house with a whole lot of servants."
"Hm... It is a big house, and it does have many servants, but it's probably different from what you're imagining."
"...Why was Rondal working as a butler when he had a son like you?"
Instead of answering, Henrik gave a small smile.
"I'll come early tomorrow too. If you want to hold a sword sooner, you'd better work hard."
Then he headed toward his dwelling.
***
"...If you give me a little more time, I will certainly accomplish it."
A sense of despair colored Saya's voice, but at the same time, her eyes said that she could not give up.
'Is there really no solution for Aike in actual combat?'
In the corner, Aike was swinging a practice spear.
Watching him precariously continue with his awkward movements made one worry that he might skewer his own foot.
"How is he apart from combat?"
"I put Aike in charge of planning the commission that came in today. He devised a reasonable strategy, and the process was quick."
As expected, there was no need to worry about that aspect.
'In the novel, Aike suffered greatly because he lacked direct combat ability.'
For the time being, Hess had placed Aike under Saya to develop his combat ability, but later, he intended to put him in a position equal to Saya's.
That way, he could make the fullest use of Aike's abilities as a Strategist and prevent him from having his head cut off by Saya in the novel for being arrogant.
"How are the Three Idiots?"
"The three of them handled the commission Aike designed. They were quick and accurate. However...."
"However?"
"It seems they had a bit of an argument among themselves on the way back."
Hm? Hadn't they hit it off?
"Fortunately, after they returned and had a drink, they quickly made up and embraced one another."
"...Idiots."
It did not seem like there was any need to worry too much for now.
"There are no other special matters."
Hess gave her a look to say that he understood, then approached the large map on the wall of the hideout.
Saya bowed deeply toward Hess's back.
'Let's see. Is there anything new that catches my eye....?'
Whenever new commissions came in, as well as any noteworthy information from the nearby area, it was all marked on the map.
'I'll check the jobs, and if there's anything worthwhile, I can get ahead of it... What's this?'
Hess fixed his gaze on a newly marked piece of information on the map.
The marked location was the village he visited every day to meet Lloyd.
'...A request for a background check on someone named Henrik?'
Which bastard had commissioned something like this?
No one in the organization knew about my cover identity.
Saya knew that I possessed the Ring of Dantalion, but she did not know what false identity I had created with it.
So even after seeing this commission, none of them would have given it much thought.
The mark had definitely not been there yesterday. This was a commission that had come in today. If he hurried, he could prevent things from becoming complicated.
'The Dark Order doesn't accept anonymous commissions. If I check the commission form, I'll be able to find out who it is. There must be somewhere they're all kept.'
Hess looked around and quickly spotted a familiar face.
The crybaby Head of Security.
"Da Vinci."
"Yes! Did you call for me, sir?"
In fact, Da Vinci had been stealing glances at Hess for some time already.
He had been clinging to the vain hope that Lord Hess might acknowledge him.
Somehow, Da Vinci's wish came true today.
"Security is being maintained thoroughly, isn't it?"
"Of course!"
When Hess approached Da Vinci with a grin, Da Vinci began holding his breath without realizing it.
Once Hess drew close, he spoke in a low voice.
"I have a secret mission for you."
"Y-yes, sir."
At the words secret mission, Da Vinci's heart began to pound.
"The identity of one of our organization's members, who has been conducting intelligence operations outside for a long time, has been exposed."
"An intelligence agent...!"
Da Vinci swallowed hard.
"He goes by the alias Henrik. Fortunately, his pursuers do not know that he is one of our members. They believe he is a spy from an enemy country."
"Henrik...!"
Da Vinci thought that he had seen that name recently.
"I told him to come to the hideout if a crisis arose. If Henrik comes, hide him. Only you must know this."
"Understood! But... there is something I need to check."
Da Vinci headed toward the large map on the wall and began looking around it.
Then Da Vinci's eyes flashed, and he quickly disappeared in a certain direction.
'He's such an easy kid to understand. I like that.'
When Da Vinci returned, he held a sheet of paper in his hand.
"A commission like this came in today, and the name is the same. Could it be...?"
It was the commission form requesting a background check on Henrik.
Taking the paper, Hess continued to smile lightly as he spoke in a low voice.
"Stupid bastards. With this, I'll be able to catch them by the tail."
"That's right!"
"Da Vinci, erase every record related to this commission. No trace can remain. You can do that, can't you?"
"Of course!"
"Good. From now on, if any similar commissions come in, handle them the same way."
"Yes!"
"This is a secret between you and me alone."
"...! Understood!"
Da Vinci's eyes gradually began to well up, but Hess did not notice because he was looking over the commission form.
After bowing at a ninety-degree angle, Da Vinci immediately left.
'This is the hideout closest to the village. And Henrik has only been spotted in the village, so any commission to pursue Henrik can only be routed to this hideout.'
When it came to commission forms, Da Vinci, the Head of Security, had more authority than Saya.
I can handle him as I please, so there is nothing to worry about now.
'So who was the bastard that commissioned this....'
At the very bottom of the commission form was a very familiar name.
[Ben]
'...I think I know what happened.'
Hess let out a faint sigh. But there was not the slightest sign of surprise or difficulty on his face.
'It's time to step forward as Hess.'