["The agreement will continue."]

["... That's good news, isn't it?"]

Pandemonium smiled softly at the entity standing before him. Although he was filled with all sorts of curses and bewilderment, he never let it show.

["I will also tolerate your fight with the Hero and his group. As long as no harm comes to Ednium."]

The moment he was looked down upon here, he would be devoured.

Just like the body of someone still stuck in those teeth.

["... Why would I have any reason to fight them?"]

Fuck, fuck, fuck!

Pandemonium silently repeated all sorts of vile curses.

Sympathy for the dead and fallen Leviathan? It was nothing like that. Why would he sympathize with someone who died acting cocky? It wasn't as if there was any bond between them.

["Is that so?"]

However, the situation that unfolded from that idiot Leviathan's death was incredibly annoying.

Setting aside their plummeted honor and the humans who would be triumphant over killing a Great Demon, the fact that this damn tiger reaped the rewards without lifting a finger was truly infuriating.

Fucking Leviathan! If he was going to die, he should have just died quietly. Why did he have to get his name and soul eaten by that foul-smelling beast?! Thanks to that, that damn bastard only got stronger!

["That's a shame..."]

And amidst all this, that damn tiger didn't know the meaning of satisfaction.

As if inheriting all of Leviathan's power by swallowing his name and soul wasn't enough, it was now coveting Pandemonium himself.

["... Haha. Then I'll be taking my leave now, alright? Since I have no further business here."]

It was a behavior he would have normally found satisfying, but when his own life was on the line, his attitude changed.

Pandemonium spat out thick curses internally while offering a fluttering smile. Fortunately, that damn tiger didn't push the matter any further.

["Let's go."]

"Yes."

Pandemonium hurriedly boarded the carriage driven by his contractor.

Soon, a rare monster created by grafting wings onto a horse lifted the carriage into the air.

"Is it okay to just leave that thing alone?"

And when they had gained some distance from the cave where the damn beast was, the contractor asked cautiously.

Pandemonium's brow furrowed slightly.

["It doesn't matter for now. It will take time for it to digest the Great Demon's power."]

Eating an entire Great Demon's power raw and dealing with the side effects were two different things.

After all, a Great Demon was an entity composed of demonic energy, or in other words, corruption. And those beasts were the polar opposites of such corruption.

It had only avoided corruption because it possessed the power of purification and was of a similar standing, but it wouldn't be perfectly fine on the inside.

And that would continue to be the case until it digested the Great Demon's power and made it its own.

["So get ready. We need to attack it before it digests the power and stabilizes."]

"Are we killing it?"

["No. Just breaking its balance will be enough. The moment its power to purify demonic energy weakens, it will be consumed by corruption and fall."]

Therefore, Pandemonium decided it was only right to cause some trouble.

If it coveted the Great Demon's power and swallowed it whole, it had to pay the proper price. A somewhat merchant-like thought was an added bonus.

["Just in case, don't engage in an all-out war, so that we don't leave any openings to be caught if Biryuho survives. Ah, and no matter how this ends, the contractors of Envy will lose all their power, so prepare to swallow up their territory too."]

"Naturally. What should we do about the Hero's party?"

["Those guys..."]

Pandemonium pondered over that question. Would the Hero step in? No, would it even benefit him if they did?

["Spread rumors so they can't step in."]

If the Hero stepped in, he would purify all of Leviathan's remnants. It was too much of a waste for that mighty power to just vanish into thin air.

["Deepen the people's anxiety by saying that if Biryuho dies, the entire eastern region will truly dry up. That way, if a situation ever arises where the Hero's party has to step in, they'll be cursed at by the people."]

So, if they were going to blow away that precious power, he had to make them pay a matching price for it too.

"Understood. However, it's a shame. It would be great if you could claim it yourself, Master."

["...?"]

"I apologize. I spoke out of turn."

["... No. You said it well."]

But, perhaps... rather than playing those kinds of tricks, it might be better for him to pay the proper price first and snatch it away.

["Give up on the territory of Envy. Gather money instead. As much as possible, as fast as possible!"]

An entity presumed to be Biryuho ate the corpse of the Great Demon. The moment that story was relayed, people's opinions were completely divided.

Specifically, into two camps: 'We have to kill it' and 'What will we do if the east is ruined because of it?'.

Me? I didn't really know. Judging by how things were going, it definitely seemed confirmed as a raid boss, though.

Shutting up and pushing through wasn't the issue; the situation after killing it was the problem.

I personally didn't think the eastern region would be ruined just because we killed Biryuho, but... these people felt differently, didn't they?

So really, what could be done?

All the Lords governing the cities in the east were going to gather for a meeting—though it would likely be conducted via video call through Mages since time was of the essence—so I just had to wait for that.

I had also made my own preparations just in case.

For reference, not even my concept could do anything about this waiting. No matter how foul my concept's temper was, it wasn't the type to act rashly when the lives of hundreds of thousands of people were on the line.

"The young Hunter is still sleeping."

"It's probably because his body hasn't fully healed yet. He's entered a stable phase again, so he should wake up within a few days."

And in the midst of all this, this damn... Deathbringer was still sleeping like a log.

He did wake up once in the middle, but he only managed to say, "That..." before coughing up blood and collapsing again. After that, his internal injuries flared up, and he hadn't woken up for a week.

In total, it had been ten days. At this point, my heart was shrinking a little from anxiety.

"Is that true?"

"Probably... I believe so."

Good grief. Why wasn't he waking up? Was he planning to be knocked out for two weeks just because I was knocked out for two weeks? Was it some twisted mindset to make me experience putting myself in his shoes?

Thinking that he was truly a bad guy if that was the case, I tore into a piece of rye bread.

For hygiene reasons, my right hand gripped the bread with a handkerchief in between, while my left hand tore at it. For the record, my left hand was bare.

Because my left arm was only bandaged up to the wrist, so it was bare skin as long as I took off my glove.

Of course, I washed my hands too. Yeah, if I could experience cerebral edema here, who's to say viral or bacterial infectious diseases wouldn't exist?

I washed them more meticulously and thoroughly than usual. I absolutely wasn't going to catch an infectious disease.

"So, are we killing Biryuho?"

"That is still..."

Two chunks of rye bread, a bowl of soup, a plate of salad, and a few pieces of grilled vegetables meant this meal was over too.

I popped the final piece of bread into my mouth.

CREAK!

At the same time, the door opened.

I had deliberately sped up my eating at the very end after hearing the sound of trudging footsteps approaching, and thanks to that, the timing was perfect. Nice.

"Archmage?"

"The preparations for the meeting will be finished soon."

Since it was an important meeting, they had been saying they wouldn't just use communication tools, but would set up a drawing room to project the appearances of the Lords, and so on.

Looks like it's almost ready.

I wiped my mouth with the handkerchief and waited for his next words over a glass of water.

"Then..."

"If we end up antagonizing Biryuho, it is highly likely that we will be the ones to face him, so we will participate under that qualification. Let's get ready and head over immediately."

But would the result of this meeting really be good? From the perspective of cities that hadn't suffered any damage, wouldn't all this feel like someone else's problem?

And people usually couldn't empathize deeply with any misfortune unless it struck them personally.

I had a premonition that the outcome wouldn't be very good. My brow furrowed slightly.

At this rate, would it be better not to go at all? I did prepare something, but it still hadn't arrived in my hands yet.

If I participated without it, and a situation arose where my concept had no choice but to suddenly act out...

"E-Excuse me!"

Just as my thoughts reached that point, someone came running over with light steps. As far as I knew, it was the ordinary Priest—meaning he had no divine power—in charge of DeB.

"You are..."

But why was that person running so urgently? Was there a problem...

"He woke up!"

The most joyful news I'd heard recently flew in completely out of nowhere.

The only problem was that the party and I were in a situation where we had to head to the castle immediately.

"Ah, Archmage."

"... It's not starting right this second, so popping in to see his face for a moment should be fine."

It was a good thing the Mage was quite a flexible person.

"Let's go!"

"Yes!!"

As soon as permission was given, the Inquisitor and Berserker dashed noisily toward DeB's room. The Archmage chuckled and followed them slowly.

"Are you not coming?"

I followed along in the spur of the moment as well.

"... Did you discover gold or something? Coming in so rushed like that."

"You fool, we came because you finally woke up!"

"Uhaha, you overslept for too long!"

"This much is nothing, you know..."

Of course, since I walked after them, by the time I arrived nearby, the sound of the three chatting was already spilling out of the room.

Contrary to the words they chose, their voices clearly showed how happy they were, making the Archmage smile softly right as he entered the room.

"How is sleeping for ten days 'this much'?!"

"Young Hunter, build up your stamina some more. So you can wake up nice and early from now on."

"No, it's not like I have control over that. And this isn't a stamina issue anyway."

Ah, to add, instead of going into the room, I leaned my back against the hallway wall.

There was no special reason. My smokescreen—that I saved him because I grew fond of him, and that I was keeping him alive because I secretly trusted him—had been accepted well enough, but I figured anything more than this would cross into breaking character.

Just look at the Archmage, for example. Right before going into the room, he looked at me stopped in the hallway and gave me an 'I understand' look, didn't he?

In his mind, I must be going through the collapse of values I had maintained for a long time. I had intentionally guided things that way in the first place, too.

So stopping here is perfect. If I had it my way, I'd want to coddle him, but character building requires stacking stones one by one so it doesn't collapse.

"Eat a lot of food, too. Your face has wasted away to half its size."

"That's just because you guys eat way too much..."

"Regardless of whether we eat a lot, you still need to eat."

"Even you're saying that, Softie?"

"Hmm, would it be better to bring you a meal?"

"Even you, Mage Boss. No, but really, do I look that bad?"

Besides... well, I had managed to gloss over it and brush it off somehow, but it felt like DeB was walking on eggshells around me even more because of it.

For reference, I was basing this off of when we went to subjugate demons, so I could be wrong.

But well, it's probably right, isn't it? From DeB's perspective, he had a record of attacking me first, and he's probably thinking that he never knows when I might try to kill him...

So even if I joined in, I would only ruin that warm and affectionate atmosphere.

As expected, it was better for me to stay outside.

"Well, I guess I did lose some weight."

In the meantime, DeB must have felt his own face or something because he babbled such words. It wasn't 'some' but 'a lot', but for now, no one corrected him.

"... Wait, hold on."

"What is it?"

"Why is my chin like this?"

"Is there a problem?"

"...?"

"No, my beard is gone...!"

"Hm?"

It seems he touched his chin while feeling his cheeks.

I recalled the moment from a few days ago when the Priest looking after DeB shaved off all of his beard.

From the Priest's perspective, he probably thought it had grown out messily while he was asleep and shaved it for him. Ultimately, it was an unnecessary favor for DeB, though.

"My beard...!!"

"Can't you just grow it back?"

"Uhahaha. So that's what this was about?"

"I barely managed to grow it...!"

"Just go around with it shaved, young Hunter. It didn't suit you anyway."

"I didn't grow it to look good, you know!?"

For reference, I only discovered it when his beard was already half-shaved...

Stopping him would have been breaking character, and stopping him when it was already half-shaved would have been weird too, so I just left it alone. A mohawk hairstyle is one thing, but a mohawk beard is just plain weird.

"I apologize. I couldn't pay attention to that as well."

"It's fine. It's already in the past..."

Still, he wasn't the type to hold a grudge over a beard for long.

"So, did he die?"

Deathbringer changed the subject. The subject was omitted, but I had a good idea whose death he was asking about.

"As you saw, if you're talking about the Great Demon Moby Dick, he died just like that. Though some headaches arose after that."

"Did he really die?"

"Of course."

"Really, did he die?"

However, the repeated question this time was somehow significant.

If he was asking because he couldn't believe it, his tone should have been bewildered, but DeB's voice was incredibly stiff.

It was like a producer on a TV quiz show giving you one more chance by asking, "Is that really the correct answer?"

"You, blood is...!"

"Hunter, are you sick again?"

On top of that, the fact that he coughed up blood again despite being almost completely healed meant...

"... Let's check again."

In the end, it meant that DeB had given a hint at the cost of his own well-being. And a hint regarding the possibility of Moby Dick's survival at that.

If I couldn't catch onto this, I might as well drop dead.

"First, we need to go participate in the meeting about Biryuho. Get some more rest in the meantime."

"Eh, wait. Then wouldn't it be better if I just went with you?"

"Are you saying that knowing you just woke up after ten days? Don't just learn the bad things from the Demon Knight."

More importantly, isn't that single remark a bit too hurtful, Mage?

You just struck a nerve there!! That's an injury requiring four weeks to heal!