I did feel that the dining hall's atmosphere was a bit quiet today, but I had been on an empty stomach for far too long to focus on that.

I rejoiced at the unusually large number of fish dishes and methodically swept them all into my stomach.

Perhaps taking into consideration that I had been collapsed for over ten days, everything was cooked thoroughly enough to melt in my mouth, so I didn't have to worry about indigestion. It was delicious.

CLATTER.

But as expected, eating a lot seemed impossible.

Even though I ate less than usual, I set my spoon down at the feeling of a full belly. I was a little worried about the leftover food, but watching the Berserker eat put my mind at ease again.

She was the type of person who would eat everything I couldn't finish.

SCRAPE.

I pulled my chair back slightly and pondered.

‘I should have at least one friend with such a great appetite in real life too. That way, I can try as many different dishes as possible when we go to a restaurant.’

‘Why is everyone around me a light eater?’

It wasn't a particularly important thought.

"Are you not going to drink tea?"

I considered answering but chose silence, figuring my quota for responses today had already been filled by the answers I gave while listening to the explanations earlier.

Instead, I thought about where to go next. It was a truly important topic.

If I went back to my room, I had nothing to do.

CLACK.

So, as the dining hall door closed, I thought about it a bit more.

Borrowing a book from the Temple to read was a pass, as I wasn't in the best condition, and I had a stronger urge to leave the Temple in the first place.

Going out to draw was rejected because it would just feel weird. Going to a restaurant was pointless since I had just eaten, and there were no cafes.

"How will the restoration of the burned forest..."

"Are you sure the drying has really ended..."

Then for a moment, the sound of a conversation flowed into my ears as I passed through the hallway. It was the conversation of the Priests working in the herb garden beyond the hallway wall.

But listening to their conversation, a few things I could do came to mind.

Combined with the fact that our departure would likely be delayed for a few days, the timing was absolutely perfect.

I decided to visit the Information Guild that I owed a favor to recently.

"... It's disastrous."

Meanwhile, back in the dining hall that the Demon Knight had left.

The Deathbringer spat out his words as if exhaling a breath he had been holding. His hand lightly tapped his stomach, which felt so uncomfortable it was as if he had indigestion.

"Does the food taste weird? I think it's delicious."

"I wasn't talking about the food... Ugh, never mind. You just keep living like that, softie."

"...?!"

The Deathbringer set his spoon down while the dense Inquisitor analyzed whether his words were an insult or not.

Normally, he would have eaten until his stomach burst, but today was just not the day.

The weight of the longsword in his arms was far too heavy.

"Mhm mhm hm mhm?"

"... Please swallow before you speak."

"Are you going again today, young hunter?"

"Yep. I'm going again today."

He had a lot he wanted to say to the Demon Knight, and things to give him as well, but it seemed completely impossible in the current situation.

So what else could he do? He had to do something else.

Because if not this time, he wouldn't have many chances left for this matter either.

"Take care of yourself."

"Yes."

‘Do they have to see me off every time, even though I've been going out steadily for the past few days?’ He felt a slight ticklish sensation at that thought as he left the group behind.

His body, no longer subject to surveillance, slipped out of the Temple. And going a bit further, out of the Ednium castle itself.

* * *

"This place is seriously hard to find..."

Since it was disguised as a tavern or a regular shop anyway, would it kill them to be located on a main street?

Harboring such minor complaints, I opened the door.

JINGLE, rang the bell attached to the door.

"Welcome... Ah, is it you? You're here again?"

Whether it was because they had just opened for business, or because it wasn't their main profession so they couldn't cook.

I ignored the shop owner's greeting and sat down at the empty bar table. Of course, it wasn't like there was anyone at the other tables either.

"Here, here, have a drink!"

CLACK.

In the meantime, the shop owner brought out a drink I hadn't even ordered. Judging by the extraordinary aroma and color, it didn't seem to be a normal liquor.

Wondering what meaning lay behind offering this, I shot a glance at the shop owner. The owner, whose short ash-gray hair was tied back, smiled with crinkling eyes.

"There was some money left over from what you gave last time. It's on the house."

‘Ah, so that's what it was.’

Then again, it was practically like opening up an information route into the closed-off Great Forest.

Even if only the information censored by the Great Chief and his aides was delivered, it would still be profitable enough. If the exchanges continued, eventually someone in the Great Forest would be recruited by the Information Guild.

I didn't think the Great Chief would just sit back and watch that happen, but well, that was their own problem.

Just in case, I had written a warning in this letter.

"Take it away."

"Do you not like it? It's a liquor we're confident in."

Thinking it was a good idea to write down that advice out of concern, I placed my left hand on the bar table.

Before my palm could touch the table's surface, something appeared.

TAP.

A letter rolled up in well-dried calfskin was placed on the table.

"Oh..."

"It's a delivery."

"Same place again?"

"No reply is needed."

There was a high probability that I would leave before a reply could arrive. I made that clear and withdrew my hand. As if tagging in for a relay, the shop owner was the next to touch it.

"The deadline?"

"None."

"Hmm, if that's the case. I'll do this as a service."

‘Then I'd be thankful.’

"This is a separate request."

"Huh?"

"I will buy all the information you have gathered about 'me'."

‘But of course, expecting to get this as a service too would be unreasonable.’

I voiced what I had hesitated and given up on every time before. I could no longer take it back. That thought crossed my mind.

It felt similar to when I first started my interview with the Lord of Bergart.

"... Wait, wait. Selling it isn't an issue, but why your own information?"

"Was information not a commodity here?"

"... Ah, well, that's true, but."

If information exchange wasn't the goal, there was no reason to answer him. Instead of a freebie, I pulled out the payment I had prepared in advance.

"An advance payment."

"Huh?"

A couple of claws the size of a child's fist dropped onto the table.

The white-gold claws emitted a light completely different from that of an ordinary beast, as if to prove they were by no means ordinary.

"What is... this?"

"It is Biryuho's claw."

"What!?"

‘What's there to be so surprised about? You should know that I have Biryuho's corpse. Or are you so incompetent that you don't even know that?’

"No, I knew you had it, but to think you'd actually..."

Fortunately, that didn't seem to be the case.

I slowly prepared to get up from my seat. At that, the shop owner grabbed me.

"Wait—!"

SNATCH!

‘Good. I pulled my hand away before he could grab it. Nice.’

"I'm not finished talking yet."

"Is it impossible?"

"It's not that...! Argh, seriously."

The shop owner vigorously scratched his head, then took long strides toward the shop door. He then lowered the latch to lock the door completely. CLANK, CLUNK. The four windows received the same treatment.

The shop returned to its pre-opening state.

"Let's be exact on the conditions. All the information our guild has on you, is this what you want?"

"If there are any guesses or opinions based on that information, I will buy those as well."

"Alright. It literally means you'll buy every single story about you. In this case, it'll take some time to compile the information..."

Saying so, the shop owner glanced at the claws.

"Do you have one more claw?"

‘Of course I do. I brought all fifteen of them.’

I dropped one more claw. The shop owner's expression turned peculiar.

"Maybe I should've asked for two."

‘He's talking about ripping me off right to a customer's face. Well, I'm using him because I know he's the type to talk like that.’

I thought back to the Information Guild in Camberer and inwardly clicked my tongue. If the Information Guild in Ednium had been like that too, I would have postponed my investigation request until later.

CLINK.

Anyway, I dropped another claw. The shop owner's eyes widened.

"I wasn't asking for more, though? Advance payment or whatever, this is enough for the information fee."

"Keep your tongue heavy. Even to the place you belong."

"... Ah, right. So it just needs to be kept a secret that you bought this information, just between you and me?"

"You must make sure that even the fact that you know doesn't spread."

"Then the price is a bit lacking. Do you know how hard it is to hide things from work?"

‘Really? Then take more.’

"No, Sir Knight, can't you take a joke?"

"Keep your tongue as heavy as the amount you've received."

I added one more claw. At that, the shop owner adjusted his glasses and let out a sigh.

"One claw is enough to buy my silence. But instead, satiate a minor curiosity of mine."

One claw returned to my hand. HISS. I quickly shoved it into my inventory before my palm could burn. This couldn't be discovered.

"Is there a special reason why you're buying your own information?"

Separately, this development wasn't particularly good from my perspective. It was natural since the value of money felt less than the value of my personal information.

But, well. Looking at the other person's expression, it didn't seem like they would let me substitute it with a claw.

"This statement must also be kept confidential."

"Ah, of course, of course. I'll be the only one who knows this too."

I gauged whether I could trust those words, then soon gave up.

Although I was in the position of urging him to keep the secret, I didn't actually believe him even as I asked.

After all, how could I trust this guy when I barely knew him? I was just trusting him with the same feeling as trusting a bank teller not to leak my account number.

"From a certain point, my memories are unclear."

And honestly... even if this fact spread, it wouldn't be much of a blow to me. This wasn't an issue directly tied to my combat power, and it was too delicate a topic to be used as a weakness, wasn't it?

Worst case, I have no memories, so what are they going to do about it? Rather, if this spread, even if I made a character setting error, people might just brush it off like, 'Ah, it must be a memory issue.'

In the end, strict secrecy was nothing more than a 'good if it happens, whatever if it doesn't' level of concern. I told him feeling relieved.

"Your memories...? Why?"

"The answers end here."

However, I absolutely had to stay silent about why my memories had vanished. If the sparks flew and people suspected it was the fault of a demon, then I'd be in a bit of a tight spot too.

"Well, alright. This much has satisfied my curiosity, anyway."

"The information."

"Didn't you ask me to make sure not even the guild knows you bought the information? In that case, the method of delivering the information becomes tricky. Same goes for retrieving the information scattered across each branch. So it'll take some time. About a month and a half...? Let's generously say two months."

‘Two months, huh.’ It seemed longer than expected, yet it wasn't a long time at all.

It generally took about four days to a week to travel from city to city, and if even a single incident broke out, we'd be tied down for two to three weeks. If I collapsed after a fight, I'd usually be out cold for about two weeks.

Then it'd pretty much be like... I'd receive it after passing through two cities. I'd probably get it right in the middle of the eastern region.

"Wow, looking at it like this, it's super annoying. Give me the claws back."

CLATTER.

"You're actually giving it to me."

I handed over the claw without hesitation. Since money was something easily earned if I just focused on adventurer work, it didn't feel like a waste.

"The problem is the delivery method... Do you happen to know which city you'll be in two months from now? If you don't, I'll have no choice but to report to the Information Guild what kind of information you bought. That way, there's a way to track your location and deliver it."

Separately, this part was truly inconvenient. I missed the internet all over again as I thought of the schedule that was decided on a whim.

Suddenly, I remembered that our next destination was quite far.

‘So, I'm pretty sure it's supposed to take over a month to get there, right? Plus, if that city has the biggest Magic Tower in the east... wouldn't at least one incident happen there?’

‘Then wouldn't I be there exactly by the second month?’

"I will be in Bemurhen."

"Bemurhen, alright. Then I'll send a letter via the Adventurer's Guild there. I'll definitely send it before the two months are up, so you can go pick it up yourself."

"Understood."

‘Whatever. If it doesn't arrive by then, I'll just park myself there for a bit.’

With such a haphazard thought, I left the shop.

Two months. The newly given grace period made a part of my heart feel both relieved and heavy.

* * *

"I wonder when this dog hole is going to get blocked up."

The Deathbringer dusted himself off, debating whether he should tell them about this before he left or keep it as his own secret. The dirt and dust he had accumulated while squeezing through the dog hole scattered into the air.

"Well, thanks to it not being blocked, I get to come see you comfortably."

Then, he uncorked the leather canteen he had brought. What he had filled it with instead of water was strong liquor.

"Right, Emmit?"

He chuckled and took a sip of the liquor. The alcohol—something he hadn't touched during his travels, but had often drank before that—went down smoothly.

"I say this every time, but this is alcohol, so you can't have any. Have this instead."

But coming to someone's grave and drinking alcohol all alone just wouldn't do.

The Deathbringer pulled out a couple of candies he had been saving and placed them on top of the grave. Hoping they could taste the candy in death that they couldn't eat while alive was an added bonus.

"..."

However, after doing all that, he ran out of things to say. Visiting consistently over the past few days and rambling about all sorts of stories was too big a factor.

The process of escaping this place until meeting Skylar. The events he had done and experienced afterwards. And the hero's party he met at the very end. Their faces.

Now, he truly had nothing left to tell.

"Emmit."

‘No, do I really not have anything?’

"Were you really okay?"

He sat comfortably in front of the grave and took off his hood.

"No, there's no way you were okay."

The green hair he had kept hidden for various reasons—but the root of which was probably what had happened in this land—entered the domain of the sunlight.

Golden light flowed smoothly over the dark green hair.

"Because that's what death is like."

The radiance was so dense that it even cast over his eyelashes and pupils.

The Deathbringer slightly furrowed his brow at the unfamiliar sensation.

"... You know, Emmit. When I die, I probably won't be able to go to the embrace of the gods. Someone might say my revenge was justified, but in the end, I caused a lot of innocent people to get hurt too. Because the fact that I... that people died because of me won't change."

However, he would get used to it someday.

"But... I've decided not to regret it anymore. Yeah. Even in death, I won't be able to go to your side, but still, I won't regret it. Even if I chose the wrong method, I've decided to consider it as me simply being unable to stay silent against injustice."

Just as melting into the shadows had somehow become as easy as breathing.

"So Emmit, please don't be mad at me for not being able to go meet you. Because this was just the way I lived. It was exactly me who couldn't stay silent and didn't have the brains to choose a better way..."

The moment when standing out in the sun would no longer be unfamiliar would surely come to him too.

"If you're pissed off about that, come back to life. Got it? Rise from your grave and yell at me, asking how I could live like that after you saved me, demanding I give up my life if I'm going to act that way. I'll welcome you back with a smile."

So, there was only one thing left for him to do now.

"Instead, until that moment comes, I'll live like this. I'll survive like this."

He lived on. He lived on with the weight of lives upon his shoulders.

Because he knew this was wrong, he would mend his ways moving forward. But never forgetting the weight of the sins he had already committed.

He would continue to live while getting angry on behalf of those who still couldn't get angry themselves.

"Ah!"

The Deathbringer rose from the front of the grave.

Thinking it might rain, he looked up at the sky, but the strong sunlight was still pouring down. It was sunlight so intense that it brought a prick of tears to his eyes.

"This is why I promised myself to come in the evening, but I forgot again today. Am I a dumbass?"

Blaming his memory for no reason, he pulled his hood back on. Sincerely, aside from his feelings, the sunlight was so strong that he needed the hood to see ahead.

"... Huh?"

But over there, what exactly was that figure walking across the plains? That direction wasn't even a regular road; it was a path leading to the forest, so hardly anyone went that way.

Unconsciously, he focused his eyes and scrutinized the other person down to the smallest detail. It was hard to see well because of the distance, but... he could make out a few features.

Like, the two hair colors of black and gray, or the sword slung diagonally across their back.

"... Anyone can tell that's the Boss?!"

No, why had that person come out of the city? And without a single companion, at that!

"Contact, contact... As if something like that is possible!"

He debated whether that was a trap or not. He lamented once again that he wasn't a Mage, then finally made a choice.

‘Let's follow him.’

The probability of it being a trap wasn't zero, but if that really was the Demon Knight... wouldn't that be a massive disaster?

They still had an incredibly awkward relationship, but even so, he couldn't let a person who had been bedridden for over ten days go out alone.

The Deathbringer's legs swiftly dashed and hid among the wild grass of the plains as he chased after the Demon Knight.