Chapter 53
As the sun set and darkness approached, a woman with flowing white hair trudged into Viscount Raymond’s manor, leading a horse.
The Viscount, who had been waiting only for Eden’s return, rushed out to the entrance as soon as a servant brought him the news.
“Good heavens! When I heard you had disappeared alone, I was beside myself with worry! Why are you walking instead of riding the horse?”
“I worked it hard all day. It needs to rest too.”
When the Viscount gestured toward the horse, the servants following behind took it from Eden. Eden massaged her stiff arms as she headed inside the Viscount’s manor.
In the drawing room, everyone except Eden had finished their respective tasks and gathered together. The moment Eden stepped inside, Bezel sprang to his feet and approached her.
“Eden, are you all right? You’re not hurt anywhere?”
Eden lifted one hand to indicate that she was fine. She was too tired to even muster the energy to joke around and say, “Of course. Who do you think I am?”
Bezel, looking at her hand, suddenly drew in a sharp breath. Only then did Eden realize her hands were covered in blood.
“Ah. Don’t worry about it. It’s not my blood.”
Eden had gone around the Viscount’s territory exterminating demons. It seemed that demons of any notable rank had already left, leaving the cleanup to the lower-ranking demons, and the only ones remaining were those that could be easily dealt with.
The lower-ranking demons were filling their bellies by eating the corpses of already dead humans. When she saw one eating a child’s corpse, she was so angry she killed it without even giving it a chance to answer questions, and when she caught one wandering aimlessly and asked about Marbas, she only got the useless answer “I don’t know.”
Still, it wasn’t completely without gain. Eden pressed her tired eyes with her blood-stained hand and sat in her empty seat.
“You’ve worked hard, Eden.”
“Did you exterminate all the demons by yourself?”
Greetings and questions from the Holy Knights poured out, but she ignored them all, finding them too bothersome to answer. Right now, she had to discuss something more important than exchanging pleasantries.
“That bastard Marbas seems to be scheming something strange.”
Marbas. Even when the name of the highest-ranking demon left Eden’s lips, the Holy Knights did not appear surprised. Since they had gone to capture demon worshippers, they seemed to have heard some stories from them.
“We stayed behind because of that matter as well. We wanted to hear what you learned while killing the demons.”
The atmosphere in the drawing room turned grave in an instant. The Viscount gestured for the maids bringing in food for the weary Hunter and Holy Knights to leave. The maids who had been carrying in trays quickly backed out of the room.
“This isn’t something I heard from a demon, but one of the people I rescued said that the demon threatened them, saying that if they did not pledge loyalty to Marbas, they would all become sacrifices for the gate.”
“I heard the gist from Johan. Sacrifices for the gate… so they plan to open a gate again.”
Unlike Eden, who had fixated on the name Marbas and rushed out, the Holy Knights focused on the gate.
“What we heard from the worshippers was similar. They said the gate that opened this time was just practice, and a greater calamity awaits.”
“Have you heard of the New Era Church, Eden?”
As soon as Oscar finished speaking, Johan, seated beside him, asked the question. He had already reported to Oscar about the situation with Eden and had also been briefed on the worshippers the Holy Knights had captured.
“What, you’re already close with Miss Hunter? Dropped the formalities?”
“We knew each other before.”
“No wonder you volunteered!”
As if trying to lighten the heavy atmosphere, Oscar joked. Johan smiled slightly, as if to say they could discuss that later, and turned back to Eden.
“It’s the religion followed by the demon summoners who summoned Marbas. It is central enough that one could say most of the Empire’s heresies branched off from it, and it is a sect with great influence.”
“I know. How could I not?”
Eden gritted her teeth. The New Era Church was a religion that surfaced because of the incident seven years ago.
Before that, this heretical group had been regarded merely as eccentrics who advocated bizarre doctrines. They operated so secretly that people only heard rumors, “There’s such a heresy,” without ever encountering its true nature.
They had existed ten years ago, even a hundred years ago, but since they did not particularly engage in recruitment activities or do anything harmful to anyone, the church did not issue active orders for pursuit.
Meanwhile, the New Era Church had gradually expanded its influence beneath the surface. After lying low for over a hundred years, they revealed themselves to the world after completing the magic circle they had so longed for.
What emerged from the gate they opened with that magic circle was none other than Marbas.
The descent of a great demon. Marbas wiped out an entire village, slaughtered countless humans, and dragged away the survivors as his subordinates. This unprecedented calamity brought immense fear and shock to humanity.
It goes without saying that after that day when they experienced the power of a great demon firsthand, demon worshippers began to increase. Not just the New Era Church, but the New Nation Church, the New State Church, the Hell Church… heresies derived from the New Era Church imitated their magic circle and opened gates.
As demons began to run rampant, humans became miserable, and naturally occurring gates to Hell opened more frequently. It was around this time that the prestige of Hunters began to rise.
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