"We are so grateful, we are truly so grateful."

"Demon G.o.d-sama. Please, please grant us Shulz, the descendants of the Holy King, your divine protection……"

The young man who had been at the end of the line of refugees indeed turns out to be the Duke of Filsand's eldest son, Balzard.

The old man beside him who is lowering his head again and again in prostration is the Shulz's Tribe Chief from two generations back (in other words, Dianu's grandfather), Kolbel-s.h.i.+.

The entire Shulz tribe is dead tired from running away from the Legion, and are currently all collapsed on the ground.

At the moment, the only people around me are Leid, Agbeil, and the old man. Dianu is off looking after the refugees.

"Nii-san…… so you really are still alive."

"Agbeil, I didn't think that you would come to get me!"

This is the touching reunion between the elder brother who (officially) died in battle and the younger brother.

Balzard is tightly hugging Agbeil with tears in his eyes. In comparison to the well-rounded elder brother, the comparatively slender young brother has a complicated expression on his face.

Well, up to a few days ago he had been aiming for his brother's emptied spot by trying to a.s.sa.s.sinate his younger sister, so I'm sure he must be feeling extremely uncomfortable.

I want to get straight to the main topic, but thought it a good idea to know a bit more about these two brothers' personalities and relations.h.i.+p, so I'm letting them have their moment.

"Are father, mother, and Elizabel all well?"

"Yes, they are all full of life, just as before. Elizabel looks kind of down, though."

"I see, I see. Seems I've done her a bad turn. Ahh~, I wanna meet everyone soon."

"You've grown quite a lot thinner, Nii-san. Everyone's gonna be surprised."

Going by tone and expressions, it seems that Balzard is truly worried about his family. What surprises me a little is the fact that even Agbeil's expression grows softer while speaking with his brother. Is this an indication of Balzard's personal virtue?

"Rather than that, why is Nii-san trying to help the Shulz? Or perhaps are you just pretending to be on their side to take advantage of them?"

"No, 'taking advantage of' is a bit……"

When Agbeil uses the phrase 'taking advantage of,'there is admiration rather than censure in his voice, but Balzard and Kolbel both vehemently deny it.

"That is not the case at all. He managed to escape from Garden of the G.o.ds to The Fort all by himself in order to warn us of the approaching Legion. Above that, he even suggested to us to use himself as a bargaining chip with the Duke……"

"It's true that I'm cooperating with the Shulz. After all, Shadow Demons have appeared. It's no time for humans to be fighting against each other."

If I remember correctly, 'The Fort' is the Shulz's forward base, and 'Garden of the G.o.ds' is their current home base. Just as Dianu had told me, it seems Balzard really had been held at Garden of the G.o.ds.

…… Be that as it may, to think that Balzard is thinking the same thing as me. How wonderful.

"Is it about time you tell us what you know about the Legion?"

"Ah, yes I will. Actually……"

What Balzard tells us can be summarized like this.

After he had been transported to Garden of the G.o.ds, he was locked up in a dungeon underneath the temple.

While there, he had been forced by the man called a 'Mystic' to partic.i.p.ate in a certain ritual several times.

It was an extremely eerie ritual that consisted of offering prayers to what looked like the skull of a Shadow Demon placed on top of an altar for several hours on end that took place in a secret room made by joining bones together.

…… This is clearly that, isn't it.

"That person is a Demonist. There is no doubt." (Leid)

"Aah. I saw the exact same thing in Lelis." (Gio)

"...... I, see. I had suspected as much." (Balzard)

Balzard nods in response to Leid's and my words. His face color is bad, probably due to recalling those experiences.

"The Mystic…… as well as Sheira, the wife of the Tribe Chief, they were both very enthusiastically telling me to hate the world, or hate the father that abandoned me, things like that."

"That's how they increase their numbers."

Leid turns sharp eyes onto Balzard.

I also peer into his face just in case, looking for the golden light that had been in Baron Koval's and Leiha's eyes when they had been brainstormed, but Balzard's eyes are only blue like his father's.

"That continued on for, oh, 10 days I think? Suddenly all my surroundings grew clamorous. Apparently Shadow Demons had appeared in large numbers in Garden of the G.o.ds. My jailer let me out, and I was escaping with him and others, but along the way……"

And that's how he reached The Fort by himself, then managed to warn the Shulz and convince them to run away together.

The story is easy to tell, but his actions were quite heroic indeed.

I gaze at his face with admiration and a slight bit of suspicion. But Old Man Kolbel is nodding along with 'un, un' so it means at least his story is consistent.

"...... Don't move."

With that, Leid pulls out a small crystal — his Sight Demon — and thrusts it before Balzard.

"Wh-, what is that?"

"...... I'm sorry, but please do as he says."

Balzard lets out an alarmed voice, but I restrain him and join Leid in staring intently at the red ma.s.s within the crystal ball.

Leid already has a hand on the handle of his greatsword.

"............"

If the clump of Shadow Demon blood spreads out and begins glowing faintly, then it would mean that Balzard is under Shadow Demon influence. The War Tribe calls that being 'Haunted.'

As we wait with bated breath, eventually the clump of blood gradually swells up to several times its original size.

"......!"

"Hey, what is th-......"

Hearing me gulp, Balzard involuntarily backs up with a cold sweat.

Leid continues looking into the Sight Demon with a sharp gaze, but……

"I'm not a Diviner, so I can't make an official judgment. But it looks to me like he isn't Haunted."

Indeed, the Shadow Demon blood isn't showing any further change. It's not glowing, but it did react a bit. What does that mean?

"......Oi."

Leid jerks his chin towards Balzard. I think he wants me to do something to him?

Mu, I see. That thing?

"I'm sorry, but please stay still, Balzard. By means of this spell, may all evil affecting this person's mind by purified. [Curse Break]"

I cast the spell that had released Leiha from her brainwashed state.

A white light envelops his body, then……

"Wah…… uhya?!"

Balzard lets out a yelp like ice had suddenly been shoved down the back of his s.h.i.+rt, then curls up.

At the same time, a black mist flows out from the area near his head, which dissipates upon touching the white light of the spell.

"...... Wh-, what was that……?"

"Hmm, I'll explain later. Do you feel any different?"

"U—n…… not particularly…… guess I feel a bit more clear-headed now?"

It seems that Balzard's consciousness really had been slightly corroded by Shadow Demon influence.

Considering the fact that his personality and emotions were unchanged, he was either in the middle of the brainwas.h.i.+ng process, or it was the kind of spell that would only control him when needed.

"Seems this entire commotion is indeed the work of Demonists."

"...... We have never heard of Demonists controlling a Legion before though……"

Leid agrees with my conjecture, but has a grim look on his face.

Up to now, Demonists and Haunted have purely been on the wors.h.i.+pping and controlled end, and there has been no known instance of Shadow Demons obeying them.

Be it this Mystic who called me a Shadow Demon and tried to have Dianu kill me, or other information that even the War Tribe did not previously know, I have a feeling that we are on the verge of something that will reveal a new aspect of our fight against the Shadow Demons.

To get started with Disqus head to the Settings panel.

Chapter 93: The Elder Brother's Story

Volume 4

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~~~​~~~~~~~~~~​~~~~~~~~~~

​