“For the record, I’m quite grateful to you, you know? You’re a… lifesaver to me, I suppose? Excuse me if the term is inaccurate. I’m no linguist, so the nuances of such terms are lost on me.”
There were too many people for a single wagon, so they chained multiple ones together and modified them to be pulled by two horses. Once they had everyone loaded, they let Zest’s and Harz’s horses go free. Finally, after they burned all the unusable luggage, Emil turned to Renya with a serious expression.
“It’s common sense amongst demons that when there’s a serious conflict between two sides, only one walks away breathing. That’s why, being the one who started this, I’m lucky to be alive. I owe you a debt for letting me go, and it is a debt I shall not forget.”
Renya was under the impression that letting Emil go was part of the deal they made, so he was not expecting to receive any gratitude from the demon. With that said, if Emil insisted on feeling indebted, he certainly wasn’t going to go out of his way to change Emil’s mind. There was, however, something he wanted Emil to change his mind on. Hope was slim, but he had to try.
“It’s fine. I don’t care about that. What I do care about, though, is that you stop doing human experiments.”
“That is an impossible request.”
The response came immediately. He knew it would, but that didn’t stop him from letting out a deep sigh.
“Then cut back a little, would you?”
“That is impossible as well. Allow me to give you this, though,” Emil said as he handed Renya a small metal rod. It had a pointed end that was not sharp, but rounded, resembling that of a ballpoint pen. Touching it revealed no further insight as to what it was made out of, so Renya used Appraisal.
《Notification: Marking Pen》
“…What is this?”
“Could you try using that to write a symbol on your palm for me? A symbol I’ll be able to recognize in the future, please.”
Renya did as he was told, writing the character for “Ren” in his native language on his left palm. Nothing happened. It didn’t even make a mark on his hand. Did the demon just pull a fast one on him? He shot a suspicious glare at Emil, who, with the expression of one who was genuinely hurt by the visual accusation, walked over and touched his left hand. Immediately, the character “Ren” appeared on his palm, glowing purple.
“Behold, the power of the mana craft — marking pen. By writing this character on someone’s body, I’ll be able to tell that they’re your acquaintance. Pick some place that’s easy to see. So long as they are marked, I promise to keep my hands off them.”
“Huh. So if I go around scribbling this on everyone…”
“You can only mark up to four people per day. I’d advise you to be a tad more selective.”
Renya scowled. Clearly, Emil saw his idea coming from a mile away.
“I’m not being spiteful, by the way. That’s how the mana craft works, so don’t blame me.”
“Let’s just say that’s the case for now… I’ll hold on to it, then.”
He stowed the pen in his inventory, figuring it was a matter of perspective; this way, he could at least save four people a day. Four was better than nothing. It did seem like the kind of thing he’d put away and forget about, though, so he first drew his mark on Shion, Rona, and Azu. Conveniently, all three were still unconscious.
“Now then. I shall be returning to my beloved homeland in the demon territories. I look forward to our next reunion, my dear Renya.”
“I sure don’t. I don’t feel like I can win the rematch. Make sure you plug up the dungeon before you go, okay?”
Renya was of the opinion that his victory hinged on Emil not making full use of the capabilities of his body from the start. Little by little, the demon had tried one thing after another while observing Renya’s responses, but the progressive approach resulted in him making a mistake that cost him the fight. He did, after all, hit Renya’s left shoulder with his tentacle. At the time, dodging was an impossible task for Renya, whose eyes couldn’t follow the attacks yet. Had Emil begun the fight swinging both arms as hard as he could, aiming for a vital spot, chances were that Renya would not be standing right now. Maybe that was what separated a researcher from an occupational fighter.
“Perhaps you won’t. But either way, while we may cross paths again, we won’t be crossing swords. You’re a most intriguing individual, and the fact that you’re a Wanderer has piqued my interest.”
“Please no. That sounds like such a nuisance…”
“Does it now? Allow me to remind you that maintaining a good relationship with me comes with many perks, my dear Renya.”
Afterwards, the two of them went their separate ways, and Renya drove the wagons back to town by himself with seven unconscious bodies in tow. During the journey, he found himself immensely thankful that he got a crash course from Shion on how to handle horse wagons.
It turned out to be a solitary trip, and his companions only began to wake up after he reached their destination. He was almost certain that Emil had a hand in the timing, but at the same time, he was almost equally certain that the demon didn’t do anything else to them. Also, the return of their consciousness was not accompanied by a simultaneous recovery of stamina, and the fatigue associated with blood loss and injuries yet remained. As a result, when he reached town, the first thing he did was ask the gate guard for directions to a skilled doctor. Then, he forcibly hospitalized all his companions.
Once he finished dealing with all the paperwork, he went to the guild and reported that both Zest’s and Harz’s parties were wiped out, and that the dungeon core was destroyed. Upon completing his report, he was abducted by Fritz and taken to another room.
“I trust you’ll fill me in as to what the hell happened out there.”
“It was a small dungeon, but there was a demon. He annihilated two parties. That’s all.”
“If what you say is true, then this is no laughing matter. We will need to verify your statement through the usage of the Judge grace. I assume we will have your full cooperation?”
“Sure, as long as you pay me. I’m not running a charity here.”
A priest who could use Judge was promptly summoned, and Renya’s questioning session began.
“Is it true that there was a demon in a dungeon so close to town?”
“It’s true.”
“And you say Harz and Zest were killed by that demon?”
“That is indeed what I say.”
“What happened to the demon?”
“We fought, but I didn’t finish him off. He escaped.”
According to the gracecraft, everything Renya said was true. This caused no small amount of commotion in the guild, which Renya discovered after he was released from his questioning. Scratching his head at what everyone was getting so worked up about, he grabbed one of the guild staff who was running around for some quick questioning. He learned that the appearance of a demon posed a significant risk to humans who lived nearby. If things went badly, it was entirely possible for a town or two to be wiped off the map. In other words, it was a pretty big deal.
As he idly gazed at the guild staff, who were gradually working themselves into a frenzy assembling new investigation teams and putting out missions to rearrange city defenses, he considered the value of the Judge grace. Or rather, the lack thereof; used improperly, it seemed entirely pointless.
When Harz and Zest were captured by Emil, they were in terrible shape, but still alive. The person who actually killed the two of them was probably one of the four people — Renya and his three friends — who fought the humanoid forms. He had a feeling that some of the bodies he had cut down bore a vague resemblance to the two, but it wasn’t like he went around memorizing the face of every head he sent flying. Had he claimed that Harz and Zest were killed by the demon, the gracecraft should have judged him to be lying. However, his answer was “That is indeed what I say,” which was judged to be true.
Renya wasn’t lying; he was just answering a slightly different question. After all, regardless of who actually killed them, he definitely was saying the demon did. Not a single false word was uttered from his lips. As for his subsequent statement, technically, it should be “We fought, but as a result of the deal we struck, I didn’t finish him off. He escaped.” Again, it was a tad misleading owing to the neglecting of some extra information, but it wasn’t a lie.
In actuality, even if they had figured out he was lying, he had intended to claim that answering would put his life in danger and forcibly keep his silence, but his concerns proved to be comically unnecessary — so much so that it left him feeling almost a little upset. He did come away from the experience with a valuable lesson, though: if he was ever in a situation where Rona was using Judge, he was going to pay a whole lot of attention to the wording of each question.
All in all, the news of a demon appearing was probably so great a shock to the guild’s staff that they completely forgot to examine what he actually said.
As the guild descended ever further into chaos, Renya strolled through its halls in an extremely that’s-none-of-my-business manner. At the counter, he reported the mission’s completion, presented evidence of the dungeon core’s destruction, claimed the mission reward of 24 gold — four parties’ worth — along with 10 gold for the core’s destruction. The core was purchased from him for another 60 gold, and he was given 6 more gold in return for his assistance to the guild. Finally, he stepped out of the door and left the guild, a whole 100 gold richer than when he entered.