Chapter 4
“Who is it…? Were there any other followers scheduled to visit today besides ourselves?”
The bewildered priest turned to the prostrated followers and asked.
“No, it’s just us.”
“We weren’t informed of anything else… what’s going on?”
The followers looked at each other in confusion and began to rise hesitantly from their places. The room with the stage had once belonged to a wealthy merchant who used it to invite orchestras or performers for entertainment. To secure more space, it had been constructed underground.
Just as they were about to head upstairs to check the intruder’s identity, the door at the top of the stairs slammed open and a woman leapt down the steps.
“Hyaaaaa!”
“Aaaaargh!”
The followers struck by her feet toppled over like dominoes. The woman landed atop them and raised her head. Her eyes widened as she spotted the two figures on stage.
“What the—? Put that dagger down right now!”
“Miss Hunter! Wait for us!”
Damian and the Knights of the Holy Order, who had joined in after receiving the report, followed closely behind her. They spotted the scene on stage and immediately narrowed their eyes.
“Y-You bastard! Drop the dagger and surrender immediately! If you harm the hostage, we won’t let you off!”
“…Hostage?”
Only then did Descartes realize how he must look to the intruders. A suspicious man holding a bloodied dagger, and a naked, handsome man standing before him. They wouldn’t see a priest and a demon. They’d think he was about to sacrifice some poor soul.
“No, that’s not—!”
Descartes was about to make excuses but suddenly came to his senses and stopped speaking. He was so flustered he nearly said something unnecessary.
If they mistook the demon for a human on their own, that only worked in his favor. Never mind the possibility that his punishment might be lighter if the summoning hadn’t been completed, he couldn’t let the demon he’d worked so hard to summon fall into the hands of a Hunter or the Holy Knights.
‘Since it’s come to this, there’s no choice.’
Descartes pointed the dagger he had been about to stab himself with toward Beelzebub.
“Lord Beelzebub, forgive me.” He whispered low enough for only the demon to hear, then shouted threateningly.
“Don’t come any closer! Take another step and I’ll stab the sacrifice!
“Th-That vile bastard!”
The Holy Knights who had been arresting the followers, hesitated and couldn’t approach him further. Beelzebub looked down at the dagger pointed at him, then slowly shifted his gaze to the knights surrounding the stage.
‘What a nuisance.’
The crosses embroidered on their white uniforms, and the aura and stench that clung to them were all utterly unpleasant. As much as he’d like to slaughter them all and escape this place, doing so would only put the Church on his tail until he returned to Hell.
With no better option, Beelzebub decided to play along with the priest’s pathetic little act. There was nothing more effective in times like these than a good lie.
“…Please save me”
Beelzebub lowered his large eyes as if he had never been standing there expressionlessly. As his abundant golden eyelashes blinked once, a single teardrop rolled down.
Despite being a head taller and far more imposing than the priest, the sorrow on his face made him look nothing short of a victim.
Eden ground her teeth at that helpless expression.
“That angel-faced man…! You bastards are all dead.”
She took advantage of the moment the priest gawked at Beelzebub to lunge at him. The priest, well-versed in summoning demons but utterly talentless when it came to physical combat, flew off the stage and lost consciousness with a single kick from her.
***
The scene of the incident was quickly cleaned up. These kinds of demon worshippers, commonly referred to as Heretics, were difficult to catch since they stayed hidden. But once you caught their tail, the arrest was easy.
They spent their days praying or creeping around doing demon research. What real resistance could they put up?
“Hey! Walk straight. Single file! That’s it!”
After Damian said, “We may not have slain the demon, but you’ll still be paid for your efforts,” Eden threw herself even more enthusiastically into rounding up the followers. Nobles really were a different breed. Must be nice, having both money and generosity.
“Whew, that was close. You’re not hurt anywhere, are you?”
After roughly sorting out the situation with the followers, she turned to check on the blond man.
“No… I’m alright.”
He gave a faint, somewhat sorrowful smile. Maybe it was the effect of his good looks, but even Eden felt a pang in her chest. Come to think of it, the man was still completely naked in front of all these people.
“I’m not usually this nice to just anyone…”
Muttering something that sounded like a cheap pick-up line from ten years ago, Eden took off her robe and wrapped it around the man.
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