Chapter 50 - The Count's Knights (3)

An unfamiliar voice suddenly rang out from nowhere, startling Raguel so badly that he fell on his backside.

"Who's there!"

"The Hellfire of the Abyss! I am to receive a name from the great End!"

The furry imp stood atop Ilea's shoulder with his arms folded, looking down at Raguel with an arrogant expression. Raguel was apparently too taken aback to speak. His face grew tense.

Yohan said, "From now on, he'll read books to you in my place. Think of him as your personal reading bird."

Raguel stammered, "D-don't tell me he's a Demon?"

"More or less. I'll explain the details later."

The imp prostrated himself before Yohan.

"I shall undertake this great task! I shall recite the Book of Doom and spread a requiem of destruction throughout the world!"

There seemed to be some misunderstanding, but Yohan did not bother correcting it.

He turned to Ilea.

"More importantly, you're getting a little heavy. I'd appreciate it if you let go now."

Ilea had her arms around his neck and was leaning her weight against him.

'I never thought she'd show this much emotion. She must have been quite startled.'

Her life was bound to his. If something happened to Yohan, Ilea would not survive either. Given that connection, she had no choice but to worry about his safety. That was all Yohan read into her uncharacteristically excessive reaction.

"I'm not heavy."

Seemingly composed now, Ilea eased away from him. Her voice was a little curt.

"All right. Next time you throw yourself at me, at least give me some warning. I thought you were attacking me."

He chuckled as he teased her, and she answered with a small smile.

"Very well. Next time, take the hint and open your arms."

"I could manage that. So long as I'm not holding things like these."

Yohan moved both arms up and down. The lump of flesh in his hands jiggled, and the leather collar swung with it. The Great Saint's intestines and a collar of unknown name. Both were gifts from Garnish.

Ilea slowly examined the two objects, her gaze calm again.

"... These are treasures beyond even my ability to appraise."

Even with a witch's discerning eye, she could not readily guess their purpose.

"Apostle Garnish gave them to me. He said he wanted to help."

At the name Garnish, Ilea's pupils dilated slightly. Her expression grew serious.

"I think I'll need a more detailed explanation. What exactly happened in there?"

Yohan calmly began recounting what had just occurred.

* * *

Garnish, the Second Apostle, was the sovereign of all that had fallen and the father of corruption. An Archdemon who ruled over tainted phenomena and objects, corrupted flesh and minds. A truly transcendent being, yet now no more than a defeated wretch trapped in the Abyss.

After his defeat in the Holy War five hundred years ago, he had been sealed in the deepest reaches of the Abyss. Cut off from the world almost permanently, Garnish could not intervene in the mortal realm at this point.

That was how it was in the original novel.

Reality was somewhat different. Garnish had communicated with Yohan, a being of the mortal realm. The original novel's established rules were falling apart. Though this was deeply bewildering, Yohan was less shaken than he might have expected. He had encountered far too many such deviations lately.

'This world doesn't follow my expectations.'

Rather than cling to the original novel, he needed to think flexibly and deal with the situation before him.

Yohan went back over his encounter with Garnish as calmly as he could. Ilea spoke as she listened.

"The rift must connect to the depths of the Abyss. In all likelihood."

"I think so too."

Garnish could not leave the Abyss. To meet him, one had to descend into it. Yohan had met Garnish, which meant he had been to the Abyss. He had been summoned there through the rift.

Logically, that was the conclusion.

Ilea murmured, seemingly deep in thought.

"... A rift connected to the Abyss. It's a magically impossible phenomenon, and we have no way to verify it at present."

"I suppose discovering the rift's nature or its secrets right away would be difficult."

"Yes. We'll have to take this one step at a time. Let's start with the relationship between you and Garnish. That should give us a starting point."

Her bright eyes fixed on Yohan. She seemed to be expecting something, but he had nothing to tell her.

"Until now, Garnish and I have had no connection whatsoever. Why he's in that rift, what he's doing there, what he sees and hears, why he's helping me... To be honest, I don't know either."

Everything about the Second Apostle Garnish and the rift remained shrouded in mystery.

Ilea slowly nodded.

"You know that thing you always say? 'Our priorities are clear now.' It fits this situation perfectly. Let's approach it through the questions you've just listed."

Scholarly zeal shone in her eyes. True to her nature as a witch, the unknown excited her. Yohan found it nothing but frustrating.

Raguel, who had been listening to their conversation, murmured in a small voice.

"... It's like a cliché from a novel."

Everyone turned to him.

"Raguel, what did you say?" Yohan asked.

"N-nothing. Please pretend you didn't hear that."

Ilea smiled gently.

"Speak freely, younger master. You said it was like a cliché from a novel?"

With everyone's attention on him, Raguel flushed and scratched his head in embarrassment.

"It's just... you know those stories. A being of overwhelming power arranges for someone powerful in that world to help his son, and with that person's help, the son gradually uncovers his hidden bloodline and secrets. Just the sort of thing you see in cheap novels all the time..."

The imp, who had been listening intently with shining eyes, cried out.

"O great End! Are you saying that even Lord Garnish, the Second Apostle, is merely your underling? Were you truly conceived by the Source of All Demons?"

Raguel's voice dwindled to a whisper.

"... Please forget I said anything."

Yohan chuckled and ruffled his hair.

"Why lose your nerve after making a good point? You really could be right."

He glanced at Ilea. She was considering Raguel's words more seriously than he had expected.

"It's a good hypothesis. I'll add it to the list."

If things really did turn out as Raguel guessed, Yohan thought he would be quite pleased. It would be a straightforward development, with nothing complicated about it.

Still, one thought occurred to him.

'Would it really be as simple as we hope?'

Yohan was uneasy. His circumstances could veer toward an extreme at any moment. Suspicion and distrust always came before optimism.

He said, "We won't reach a conclusion right now, no matter how long we discuss it. Let's deal with the urgent problems first. I'll give each of you something to do."

Everyone looked at him.

"Ilea, find out more about Garnish. Share anything you discover, or any ideas you have, as soon as they come to you."

"Leave it to me."

Yohan turned his gaze to the imp.

"I'll give you your first mission."

"O great End! I shall obey any command!"

"Go out and bring me one wicked human. The very worst kind. Someone so vile that the Great Saint would forsake him."

He needed a living sacrifice to corrupt the holy relic. Yohan intended to transplant the Great Saint's intestines into the human the imp brought him, then place that person on the Unhallowed Array. The holy spear Espada would be corrupted into an accursed object, and White Horn would be able to act again.

The imp's eyes shone.

"Have no fear! I shall carry it out to perfection!"

Yohan looked at Raguel.

"And you, keep opening the forbidden library whenever Ilea wants, day or night. Bear with it even if you're tired."

The forbidden library held many forbidden books that no one was even permitted to read. They would surely be a great help to Ilea's investigation of Garnish.

Raguel nodded.

"I have more stamina than you think."

For the first time in his life, he had been given a role. He seemed rather pleased.

"At any rate, I expect all of you to do your best. I'll finish my business upstairs and come back."

Once each had answered, Yohan turned to leave. Count Staviana's knights were waiting for him.

* * *

'Kembel. Kembel...'

Yohan sank into thought on his way to the reception room. The name of one of the two knights who had come to the castle kept circling through his mind.

The knight Kembel. He certainly wasn't a major character in the original novel. If he had been a notable one, Yohan would have remembered his role immediately. Instead, the memory hovered just out of reach.

'That means he was only mentioned in passing.'

Even an avid reader like Yohan could not remember every minor character in Chronicle of Humans and Demons. There were far too many, and the original novel did not describe each of them in detail. In other words, there was a good chance Kembel had received at least some space in the story. His name had lodged in Yohan's memory, however faintly.

Perhaps he had played a supporting role in some major incident? That was probably not far off. But that was all. Nothing else about Kembel came to mind.

'I feel like I'm losing out for no reason.'

Yohan knew the power of knowledge better than anyone. How many advantages had he gained through his information so far? He deeply regretted being unable to use that edge here, especially in a matter involving Count Staviana.

Still pondering it to the last moment, he took hold of the door handle. Clicking his tongue, he entered the reception room. The two knights were sipping tea.

Sir Maira rose the moment he saw Yohan.

"You're here sooner than expected. Have you finished your business?"

"With the two of you waiting, I handled it as quickly as possible. Thank you for your understanding."

Maira shook his head with an affable smile.

"Not at all. Of course we should wait. We can only apologize for arriving unannounced. Kembel would also like to apologize for his earlier discourtesy."

As Maira finished, Kembel rose. Looking at Yohan, he slowly lifted his visor. The more of his face he revealed, the more Yohan's expression changed. His impassive look gave way to bewilderment, then, finally, the faint beginnings of a smile.

'Kembel the Blasphemer!'

The moment he saw the scars, information about the man flooded his mind. Before him stood a weak human, a tangled mass of guilt, shame, trauma, and self-pity.

'The Count has thrown me prey.'

Demons were creatures that exploited weaknesses. The deeper the void in a person's mind, the more a Demon rejoiced within that abyss.

Kembel was prime ground.

Yohan's lips stretched into a broad smile. Human though he was, he was unmistakably smiling like a Demon. A restrained chill seeped into his voice.

"Why have you been hiding such proud scars?"

Kembel's eyes wavered for an instant. He was deeply shaken.