The Deathbringer succeeded in tailing him on the plains, which was said to be the most difficult.

However, the Demon Knight's steps didn't stop even after that, so he had to cross the forest as well. The Demon Knight's pace was fast, making following him quite a chore.

'Where is he going?'

He debated whether he should turn around even now, but eventually concluded to keep following him for the time being.

After observing through various items, no matter how he thought about it, that was undoubtedly the Demon Knight.

The problem was that he had no idea why he was going into the forest alone.

"Here is..."

Fortunately, the Demon Knight reached his destination before the sun went down. The remnants of burned trees were scattered everywhere, and the ground was scorched pitch-black. It was also a place the Deathbringer knew very well.

"Did he perhaps chase after a demon?"

The Deathbringer examined that plausible hypothesis.

After all, this was the land where the subjugation of Biryuho took place, and at the same time, a new Great Demon—which the Inquisitor deemed to be like a Great Demon—had appeared.

Considering the Demon Knight's hatred toward demons, it wouldn't be strange if he came here to chase even the slightest trace.

"Boss, please..."

It wouldn't be strange, but couldn't he please take some care of his body? It had only been a few hours since the Archmage urged him to look after his health!

He smacked his face and hid behind a blackened pillar. Ash dust clung to his clothes and face, but he would lose if he cared about that.

The Deathbringer's eyes tenaciously followed the Demon Knight's back. Because he widened the distance as much as possible for fear of being caught, he couldn't see the detailed movements well.

"...?"

However, he could easily see him wandering around swiftly in bizarre directions.

He didn't know what it meant for him to go left, then right, then walk in a long straight line, then come back and walk a long way in another direction.

Now he was even circling round and round. He made such wide turns that the Deathbringer hastily had to retreat to the back of the forest.

Marks that looked like they were scratched with a sword remained where the Demon Knight slowly passed by.

'Could it be magic? No, putting everything else aside, he doesn't seem like someone who's proficient in magic.'

Moreover, the lines the Demon Knight drew were somewhat crooked—not crazily zigzagging, but more like he was drawing them straight without investing any effort in precision.

The Archmage said that precision and consistency were the lifeblood of magic, so it probably wasn't magic.

'Then what the hell is it?'

The Deathbringer tilted his head, unable to fathom the Demon Knight's intentions.

When the Demon Knight stood at the center of the burning land after a long while, a thought flashed through his mind: 'Ah, was this to gauge the center by any chance?'

But if that was true, the question was why he was calculating the center.

Because if tracking a demon was the goal, finding the middle of the scorched land would be meaningless.

"I don't know... It's not like the Boss is someone who moves without meaning..."

With those thoughts, he watched what the Demon Knight was doing.

"Gasp, he turned."

And before he could grasp the Demon Knight's intentions, the Demon Knight turned around. It seemed he was heading back to the city.

The Deathbringer hurriedly pulled his body away.

His legs were overworked, he had starved for dinner, and despite all that, it was a day where he gained absolutely nothing.

Although the biggest obstacle was that he had to return to the city even though the sun was about to set.

* * *

"You're late."

I returned to my lodging only when the sun was right at my feet. I didn't mean to be late, but it just ended up that way.

The place I went to after leaving the Information Guild was further than I thought. It didn't feel that far when I went last time.

"Would you care to sit with me for a moment?"

'More importantly, Archmage, have you been awake this whole time? Were you perhaps waiting for me?'

'Of course, I was late without saying anything... but is there a need to go this far?'

'I'm not someone lacking so much judgment that I need a guardian's intervention, and honestly, it doesn't look like an ability user capable of beating me is going to pop out of nowhere here.'

SCRAPE.

My mind was mostly filled with the thought, 'Is this really necessary?' but she was still someone who had waited for me.

I sat in the chair for now, gauging how long this conversation would take. A few candles lit only in the center of the table softly illuminated the surroundings.

"Have a cup first."

'Ah, tea.'

I accepted the teacup with complicated eyes. Smelling the scent, it seemed like the same one I was always given...

I slightly parted my lips, then immediately closed them. The heat of the tea took on the vermilion light of the candle and wavered upwards.

"It feels like it's been a while since we sat and talked like this. Doesn't it?"

'Well... I suppose it's not wrong to say it's been a while. Having tea just the two of us, in a situation where it's confirmed that no one else is going to join, is a very rare occurrence.'

"You're not going to tell me what you've been doing, are you?"

'More importantly, what is she trying to say that she's beating around the bush like this? I'm not in the mood to sit for long right now.'

"Get to the point."

I placed my hand on the teacup. The smooth cup, lacking a handle, was somewhat lukewarm. It was the kind of lukewarm that felt like heat was just spreading through something cold.

"... Did you know? Whenever this happens, I think you seem more like a Mage than I do."

'I always wonder, what kind of beings are Mages? I'm deliberately ruining my social skills because of my concept, but what the hell are Mages associated with this...'

"Huu."

In any case, the Archmage didn't easily back down. Her attitude of having gotten used to my shitty attitude over the past few months was somewhat funny yet sad.

'But since the fault ratio for this shitty attitude is 50% mine and 50% yours—for forcing me into this concept—if you're going to glare, do it to yourself first.'

"What is the problem?"

'I wish she wouldn't ask questions that are vague yet strangely close to the core like this. It makes it hard to answer.'

"Tell me. What is the problem."

I unconsciously gripped the teacup tighter at her words, which were somewhat out of the blue and an overall mess. CRACK. A dangerous sound came from the teacup that had been trembling slightly since earlier.

"If I say this, you'll tell me not to interfere. But, Demon Knight. How could I? Lately, you have been truly..."

"What is your intention in bothering to ask when you already predicted my reaction? Is it to prove your stupidity? Or for your petty self-satisfaction?"

'Ah, I messed up. I didn't mean to say it like this.'

"Remember your position, Mage."

But words could not be taken back.

Just as releasing the grip on a cracked teacup wouldn't return it to its original state. Just as dripping water wouldn't return back into the cup.

"If not for the goal of killing demons and their king, you and I would have never stood in the same space for eternity."

I poured the contents of the leaking teacup onto the table without hesitation.

Words and emotions that had already spilled over. If they couldn't be reversed, I figured I might as well use them.

"Furthermore, what I need is not your pathetic sympathy and understanding, but absolute and merciless judgment."

'I was thinking about drawing a line in the near future anyway.'

"Keep it in mind. Your job is to kill demons, and my job is also to kill demons. That is the one and only value you and I share."

The hot water spreading across the side table gave off a faint scent. It was the scent extracted after completely drying the remnants of dead plants.

The vermilion light of the candle reflecting on the rapidly cooling heat looked just like lava.

CLICK.

The Archmage looked at the table drenched in tea and the recently closed door of the Demon Knight's room.

Truly, his filthy temper was something else.

"He sure takes a long time just to say he wants to keep his distance."

She muttered a joke that since he was that bad at summarizing, he definitely couldn't be a Mage. It was a joke that even she wouldn't laugh at.

"... Merciless judgment, is it."

He never really seemed like a person who envisioned his own future to begin with. However... his statement just now had a far more explicit edge than his previous ones.

As if he had cast away even a sliver of hope.

"What could have...?"

What made him like that? Just what? Because of what change of heart since the fight with Moby Dick...?

CREAK.

Just then, the door to the lodging opened. The one who entered was a young man whose face was noticeably pale white even in the dark. His green ears drooped down and his lips trembled violently.

"... Did you hear?"

"..."

The other person didn't answer. However, the Archmage took it as him having heard. Silence was his answer.

"Do you know how to drink?"

"... Yes."

"I see. Then sit. Tonight is going to be quite long."

She let out a white breath and took out the liquor she had kept on hand just in case. There were no snacks to go with it, but it wouldn't be a big problem. Because their hands already held the sorrow that the night had left them.

* * *

'Ah... this is annoying. Was the corruption too excessive? I can't even withstand filtered divine power without the marble anymore. I thought the Mage made the filter quite well, but looking at it now, I guess not?'

「What... have you done...!」

'It's fine to be angry, but this is a bit unfair. This really isn't my fault. You know it too, don't you? That the more you become aware, the more dangerous it is... After all, wasn't that the whole reason you ignored that guy's desperate pleas in the first place?'

「...」

'That expression, nice. It's my favorite out of all the ones I've seen recently.'

「... Shut up.」

'Swearing because you have nothing to say? Anyway, these green horns... Ah. More importantly, shouldn't you wake him up soon? He's going to die at this rate.'

「... Why should I?」

'... Ah, right. That was more beneficial for you. But it isn't for me...'

'If you're not going to die like this, shouldn't you get up now?'

* * *

FLASH.

I lifted my eyelids and made a judgment based on instinct. I had to get out.

DRIP DRIP.

However, as I sat up with that thought, something dropped onto my pillow. It was blood.

I urgently touched my face. Sticky blood smeared from my philtrum. Since this wasn't the first time, dried and crusty bloodstains flaked off my cheek.

There was even a discolored stain on the pillow. It was the color of blood that had been left for a long time.

"Demon Knight, you've awoken—"

"Oh, Comrade. Sparing with me today... smell of blood?"

I hurriedly put on my clothes and went out into the hallway covering my nose and mouth with a handkerchief.

'If it was going to be like this, should I have gone outside following my intuition when things felt off yesterday? I didn't know the aftermath of missing a single marble would be this strong.'

A slight sense of regret crept in.

"Huh? Smell of blood?"

"Comrade, you..."

"Ah, hold on. You two, look at me for a moment."

"Yes? But..."

Fortunately, that regret quickly disappeared. It was thanks to seeing the results of yesterday's conversation with my own eyes—the Archmage detaching the people around me on my behalf.

'Looking back, I feel a little sorry because it seems I reacted more neurotically than I thought, but it can't be helped.'

'At the very least, the distance I wanted was created. That's enough.'

'This amount of distance is perfect for us.'

'Ah, of course, that doesn't mean I'm trying to leave the party.'

'I do feel skeptical about this journey itself, but hastily dropping out of the party would also cause a lot of problems.'

'In the short term, being with the Hero's party makes it easier to follow the ending—if such a thing exists—and in the long term, if an emergency happens, they can...'

'... Well, issues like that.'

'From the party's perspective, they're just being used, so I feel somewhat sorry, but if you ask if I have the leeway to be considerate of them, the answer is no.'

'So just this much. No more, no less, I hope the gap in our relationship widens at exactly this pace.'

'So that someday, even if we cooperate, we become a relationship where we don't pay attention to each other's personal circumstances.'

"Huu."

Shortly after leaving the Temple, dealing with a nosebleed that had stopped, I wet the handkerchief with water. Then, I wiped my nose and mouth again with the wet towel.

It was a moment I felt glad I had stocked up on drinking water in my inventory. The remaining bloodstains were wiped away.

'Well, as the price for that, this handkerchief has become unusable, though.'

I placed the red-stained handkerchief in my inventory. GRUMBLE. My stomach, which I hadn't had time to fill because I rushed out only wearing my clothes, rumbled.

'I should go to a restaurant first.'

'And since I don't have a handkerchief, I need to buy one too.'

'And...'

'And where do I go now? Should I go get the marble back? Ah, that would look a bit pathetic.'

'Or should I ask the Young Lord when the matter will be resolved? There is the option of sleeping outside during that time, after all.'

'Ah, right. I broke my longsword so I have to buy a sword too.'

I found a suitable restaurant while systematically organizing my schedule.

There were more things to do than I thought. The only problem was that even if I put off visiting the Young Lord, I could finish them all within the morning.

'Then what do I do in the afternoon? If this was modern times, I would just hole up in a cafe or library and read books while sipping coffee.'

'But in this place, let alone cafes, there aren't even teahouses.'

'There's a plaza but no park, making it awkward to take a walk. Because the illiteracy rate is high, the very concept of a library doesn't exist... but it's not like I can go to the Temple or the castle to read books.'

'So if there is a space where I can freely read books, it would be something like a bookstore...'

'I don't know if this city has a bookstore. Should I look for one?'

"Come on, come on, fresh fruit just came in! Cheap, cheap!"

"The play that brought even the knight city of Munmunt to tears is about to start!"

"That bastard, I knew he would. He'd beat them up whenever he saw green hair day in and day out... Hah, really. A rebellion? He should try something plausible!"

"When do they say the execution will take place?"

I looked around the various stalls and shops as I passed through the cluttered streets. The vibe was a bit different from modern times, but there were also similar aspects, so window shopping was fun.

And a restaurant I coincidentally entered was quite tasty. I couldn't find a smithy, but I bought a pretty good handkerchief.

However, a bookstore was nowhere to be seen.

'Since books are expensive items, I thought they would be located on a high-end commercial street.'

'Is it a bust? Should I give up?'

"I'm late, I'm late!"

Just as I was about to give up on the bookstore, I saw a young man running from the opposite side of the street with an armful of papers.

His destination was a very luxurious-looking restaurant. What he was carrying was paper for menus.

"I'm sorry I'm late!"

"Goodness! You're only here now? If you were even 10 minutes later, I would've been really angry!"

"I'm sorry!"

"Take it!"

'I wonder if I should call this prejudice against glasses. Or if I should say I instinctively smelled ink.'

"Phew... Thank goodness I wasn't late."

I approached the young man.

The young man of the Shaggy tribe, who reminded me of a yellow leopard, was currently breathing a sigh of relief as he brushed back his curly wheat-colored hair.

"Hey."

"Huh?"

"Are you a scribe?"

I checked his shabby yet neat attire and the ink stains visible between the hairs on his hands.

The menu papers that must have been his commissioned work, and the ink stains. I was certain he was at least a scribe. At the same time, I also formed a hypothesis that this person would know about bookstores.

"Ah, yes, yes! That's right! Are you perhaps looking to commission...?"

"I'm looking for a bookstore."

'Well, what else could I do? I had to ask.'

'It's fine to spend time running around sweating to find a bookstore, but my preference is to get there early and read more books.'

"A bookstore?"

Anyway, at my question, the young man adjusted his glasses once more and smiled brightly.

"You must be from a big city. There aren't any shops in Ednium that only handle books, you see. It's hard to make a living just buying and selling books."

'So there really isn't a bookstore.'

'However, it's just that there's no place that only buys and sells books; it doesn't seem like there's no place selling books at all. Otherwise, the other person wouldn't have affirmed that he was a scribe.'

"Of course, there are places that handle books while also taking on transcription requests! Shall I guide you to a shop?"

'See, I knew it.'

"What kind of books do they handle."

'In modern times, bookstores handle all kinds of books, but the world I've experienced is quite different. There are places that only handle incredibly expensive books, and places that handle poorly bound books.'

'And what I usually aim for is the latter. The former costs a tremendous amount of money just to look at, and if there's even a scratch, the amount I'd have to pay in compensation is at a level that makes me shudder.'

"They handle pretty much everything. Of course, you shouldn't expect things like scriptures or proper magic books."

"I don't need things like that."

'I can just go to the Temple for scriptures, and the Magic Tower for magic books. Besides, those things rarely have the information I want to get.'

'It's not like miscellaneous books contain the information I want to know either, but these at least provide information about the culture.'

"Then let's go! It's not far!"

'Fortunately, it seems they have a lot of those.'

The young man cheerfully guided me to the shop.