It was an alley somewhere in the capital that had been horribly destroyed.
“……”
Even though it was early morning, a crowd had already gathered.
The scene of the incident. Imperial knights stood firm, blocking the crowd from entering further inside.
People stretched their necks, trying to look past the knights’ shoulders.
It was that unusual of an event. And it was also a devastating crime scene.
“So this is where the warehouse building used to stand?”
“That’s correct.”
The investigator urgently dispatched by the Empire let out a low groan.
Looking around, it was impossible to believe that a building had once stood there. Rather, it looked as if everything that had existed had been cleanly erased, along with the surrounding structures.
“…So this is the work of a great demon.”
The investigator knelt on one knee on the ground.
The floor had been gouged out like a crater. It was the trace of massive destruction.
The kind of devastation that would not appear unless several great spells had been fired in succession.
There was no doubt that an immense amount of force had been unleashed in this place.
Could the claws of the legendary monster Behemoth create such a mark? He could not say yes.
This trace was proof of a being just as horrifying.
The entity presumed to be a great demon had manifested for roughly ten minutes.
With only those ten minutes, it rendered the dispatched demon-worshipper hunters incapacitated and severely injured the Magic Tower’s floor masters.
Did it really disappear? A being of that level?
At that moment—
“Marquis Damir.”
“You may address me as an investigator. I came here not as a marquis, but as a special investigator.”
“…Yes. Could you come this way for a moment?”
The mage examining the scene called for Marquis Damir. He looked slightly hesitant.
Marquis Damir followed the mage’s guidance and walked deeper inside.
The inner area was strange. After walking only a short distance, the refreshing early morning air completely vanished, and an unpleasant atmosphere gradually filled his lungs.
“…Mage. What is this place?”
Once he realized it, it was not merely unpleasant air. It was the smell of blood. And not just a little….the nauseating stench that could only come from a large amount of blood.
“This used to be a corner of Black Alley. And… I would like you to take a look at this.”
The mage lifted one of the pieces of cloth covering the area. Beneath it was something that resembled thick tomato sauce.
Marquis Damir covered his nose and said,
“…This is severe. Was this also the work of the demon?”
“Judging from the traces identified during the examination, it appears so. Considering this area has the strongest residual traces, we estimate… the demon killed them immediately after manifesting.”
“Then why show this to me now?”
“…Even I find it strange, but I hope you understand that I have no intention of lying about what I’m about to say.”
“Go on.”
After hesitating for quite some time, the mage finally spoke. His attitude suggested that even he lacked confidence in his own conclusion.
“…It appears that the demon ‘intentionally’ killed the people here.”
“…Hmm.”
Marquis Damir tilted his head. It sounded like an obvious statement.
“Is that strange?”
“Yes. It is clearly strange. From the location where the demon first manifested to this place is at least 550 meters away. It deliberately came here, killed everyone present, and then returned to the original location.”
The mage continued speaking. He flipped through the documents in his hand and checked them again.
“Upon investigation, this place seems to have been a kind of market where the worst criminals in Black Alley conducted business. It is believed that human trafficking occurred here frequently. In severe cases, people were abducted, cut apart, and used as magical materials.”
“……”
So such a place had existed openly until now. The thought crossed his mind, but Marquis Damir remained silent.
Most of the darker aspects of the Empire were connected to noble families. Expressing personal opinions about such matters was not politically wise.
The mage continued.
“And that’s not all. The way the demon killed them is almost identical to the condition of several older corpses found here. They are believed to be the remains of victims who were trafficked. Furthermore, as you know, a surviving girl was found at the scene and is currently under the protection of the head of House Koskov.”
“…What are you implying?”
“The girl who was at the scene was neither killed nor altered… yet the demon singled out the brutal criminals and killed only them. Doesn’t that seem strange?”
“……”
“…It’s almost as if… it was taking revenge on behalf of the victims…”
At that absurd remark, Marquis Damir looked at the mage. But his reaction lasted only a moment.
When he thought over what he had heard, it was certainly suspicious.
A cold feeling settled in his chest.
“If that is true… then this is a far more horrifying matter than we first thought.”
“…Furthermore, there were no surveillance magic tools left anywhere in this illegal market. There are clear traces showing they were once installed, but it looks as if someone removed them… as if they had been torn out.”
The mage nodded. If one looked closely, cold sweat had formed on his forehead. It was evidence of fear.
“Most dangerous of all is the fact that it imitated the killing methods. If a great demon-level entity possessed the intelligence to choose how it kills…”
“…It would be almost like a human.”
“…Yes. Normally, demons spread their inherent domain and transform humans. In that process, there is almost no distinction between friend and foe. However… this case looks strange no matter how you examine it. It doesn’t feel like the work of a demon.”
It was as if a human had become a demon.
Or perhaps the opposite. Perhaps a demon had acquired humanity.
That was what the mage was trying to say.
Either way, it was dangerous. In the current age, when it was believed that all demons had disappeared, the birth of even a single new demon would already be a matter of national importance.
Yet this demon seemed fundamentally different from those known before.
“……”
Marquis Damir slowly nodded.
“…Understood. I will report the suspicions you mentioned to the Imperial Court. Thank you.”
“It’s nothing. I simply did what I was supposed to do.”
Watching the mage snap into a sharp salute, Marquis Damir asked,
“What is your name?”
“Vimers of the First Mage Corps, belonging to the Free Mage Association!”
“Hmm. You’ll be hearing good news soon. I can’t just express my appreciation with words alone.”
Marquis Damir smiled broadly. It was because of talents like this that the Empire continued to function properly. Having come out to the field after so long, he was reminded of that fact once again.
After patting Mage Vimers on the shoulder in encouragement, he turned and walked back the way he had come.
Feeling once more the weight of responsibility as he looked upon the site that had been so utterly devastated.
A new type of demon… and one that imitates humans. If that’s true, it’s terrifying.
And later, he would learn—
That this meeting with Mage Vimers had been their last.
Not metaphorically, but truly the last.
Because only a few days later, Mage Vimers died.
The cause of death was announced as an accident during a magical experiment.
***
Time passed.
How much time had passed? My sense of time had become strange.
Sometimes a single moment felt like several hours, and other times several days felt like a single day.
Is this what happens when a person stays indoors all the time? No sunlight reached this place.
The only way to gauge the passing of time was the wide-brimmed woman who periodically came in with porridge and tended to my illness.
“How is your body?”
“……”
I didn’t answer that question. Even if I said nothing, she would be able to see right through my condition anyway.
◆Penalty Status: [Severe Mana Hypersensitivity], [Permanent Aftereffect: Loss of Sensory Nerves in the Right Arm], [Critical-Level Drug Addiction], [Severe Mana Exhaustion]
To be honest, it felt like I was dying.
The status abnormality messages lined up in the status window refused to disappear. It was the price of pushing myself far beyond my limits, again and again.
All I could do was stare blankly at the ceiling and eventually fall asleep. Because of that, at some point the boundary between dreams and reality began to blur.
Since my body was in such poor condition, every dream I had was a nightmare.
In those dreams, I would lose my sanity to overwhelming moral rage and horrifying sights that burrowed into my mind, repeatedly committing murder before waking up.
One day it was Heinell Shifter, another day it was Brewerd, and on another it was the tower masters of the Magic Tower whose faces I only vaguely recognized.
It seemed that memories my defense mechanisms had erased were replaying themselves within my subconscious.
“……”
So the human mind could be this fragile.
I realized that anew. Back in the modern world, even though I spent most of my free time shut inside playing “Empire of Kohonbach”, I had still managed to keep up with my work life without fail.
In other words, I possessed an average level of mental strength. I had even considered the possibility that I might be a little stronger than most.
It had been an arrogant miscalculation.
The human mind wears down this easily. A broken body gives rise to a broken mind, and that broken mind shatters the body once again.
It felt as though sleep itself was rejecting me.
◆ [Shape Transformation] activated.
At some point, messages like this would often be waiting for me whenever I opened my eyes. If I touched my forehead just to check, horns would be growing there.
Was I activating it in my dreams?
Fortunately, once I regained consciousness I could bring the trait back under control, but it was still dangerous.
At this rate, the wide-brimmed hat woman would discover it.
Worrying about that, I repeatedly fell asleep and woke up.
And at some point, I realized that every time I woke from a nightmare, someone was holding me in their arms.
“…It’s okay. Everything will be okay. I can understand you.”
“……”
“Mm. You smell nice……”
It was the wide-brimmed hat woman. She was holding my body tightly, gently stroking the horns on my head.
I’ve been discovered. Thinking that, I tried with all my strength to threaten her, but it seemed the most I managed was a slight twitch.
“Stay still.”
“……”
“Oh, right. My name is Aira.”
Aira.
Leaving only that name, she continued to take care of me.
Whenever it seemed like I was having a nightmare, she would come and hold me.
Even if I was drenched in sweat, she didn’t mind and simply shared her warmth with me.
Sometimes, when my thrashing became too violent, she would transform into a cat, curl up at my feet, and quietly watch over me.
In those moments, I didn’t mind it either. When she was in the form of a cat, I could absentmindedly pet her without thinking too much about it.
“I’m sorry, Adel.”
Sometimes I would hear words like that. What was she apologizing for?
Among the countless words that passed by like flowing water, only her occasional apologies lingered in my chest.
“……”
How many days had passed like that? Perhaps it had even been months.
Thanks to Aira, I gradually began to recover.
I no longer had nightmares. I still dreamed, but the contents of those dreams were completely different.
And so, on one particularly refreshing morning—
◆The “Demon of Pain and Dreams” has ceased its erosion.
◆Your trait has evolved!
“…Ah.”
Only after seeing the system window did I realize—
Since losing my sanity and becoming a demon, I had never once used any method to purify or remove the demon’s power.
“…So that’s why.”
Those agonizing nightmares hadn’t simply been symptoms caused by status abnormalities.
It seemed they had occurred because the demon eroding me was the “Demon of Pain and Dreams”.
When I woke up looking like a normal person again, I had simply assumed that Aira had used some kind of method.
But when I thought about it carefully, in this world it was considered impossible for a demon to return to being human.
Then how did I return to being human?
…The answer was closer than I expected.
To the woman with the wide-brimmed hat who kept pressing herself against me even when I insisted I was fine now.
“Yes. You really are fine now. I think it’s safe to relax.”
“How can you tell…?”
Aira laughed as if she found it amusing.
“I told you. You and I have the same constitution.”
“……”
“I stayed right by your side to keep your body from turning into a demon. Guiding the waves, making sure you wouldn’t go into a seizure.”
And as I listened to the explanation that followed, a low groan slipped from my lips.
In short, this was what had happened.
She had guided my “Shape Transformation” trait, constantly returning my form from demon back to human.
Over and over again, without rest.
Until my trait could completely suppress the demon’s power.
That was the reason Aira had been holding me the entire time.
…So that’s how we made it this far.
When I tried to imagine just how much effort it must have taken from her, even I felt dizzy.
Aira was still smiling.
“…Have you relaxed your guard a little now?”
There was no way I could answer no to that.
“…Yeah.”
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