Chapter Season 2 727

Translator: Alpha0210

Since he had anticipated their visit, Agolet had already considered how he would respond. Even so, he could not afford to take this moment lightly. There was an unforeseen variable present.

Residue had not been part of Agolet's expectations for this meeting.

"……."

When Agolet briefly glanced sideways at Residue, he was already wearing a look of complete disinterest, once again fiddling with the documents he had set aside earlier.

…There were plenty of ways to coordinate their stories even in a situation like this, but Residue did not seem inclined to play along with Agolet's intentions. Agolet decided to reserve judgment on Residue for the time being and spoke.

"Outsiders are strictly forbidden from entering this place. May I ask who our distinguished guests are?"

"Do not open your mouth without permission. Do you want to die?"

"……."

"You will answer only what you are asked."

The man spoke curtly, then sat down on a nearby sofa.

"What happened to Lamia beneath the temple? If you lie. If you feign ignorance. Or if you refuse to answer, you die. Answer."

Agolet slowly sank to one knee and said,

"Lady Noxtantine is dead."

"Who killed her?"

"That─."

"Wait, Las. Hold on."

An aged voice cut in midway.

It belonged to an extremely short old man. Gazing at Agolet with unpleasantly sunken eyes, he said,

"You haven't asked us anything, human."

"Lady Noxtantine often spoke of the great beings with whom she shared a bond."

"She spoke of us? To a mere human?"

"She did not speak of you in detail."

"Naturally. At the very least, she would not have told you about our appearances or distinguishing features."

The old man smiled with interest.

"Then you knelt without even knowing who we are? What would you have done if you were mistaken?"

"Then I alone would have embarrassed myself, and that would have been the end of it. But if I were not mistaken, I would have lost my life as punishment for my insolence. That risk cannot even be compared to a little embarrassment."

"I see. Lamia once mentioned that there was a human here who knew his place. I suppose that must be you."

"It is an honor."

When Agolet bowed his head, the old man chuckled.

"Then there is no need to waste time questioning every little detail. Las, may I conduct the interrogation?"

"Fine. You would be better at it than I."

"Then I will ask. What happened here?"

"……."

"Tell me everything you know. Leave nothing out."

Agolet deliberately remained silent.

He kept his mouth shut with a slightly puzzled expression, and even these arrogant Demigods waited patiently for a short while. That was only possible because their earlier exchange had earned him the tiniest sliver of goodwill.

Even so, patience was fundamentally foreign to their kind.

Agolet opened his mouth just as their shallow reserves of patience were on the verge of running dry.

"It seems there were people who had been tracking Noxtantine for a long time."

"Who?"

"The Grand Sorcerer's Party."

At that, the three Demigods exchanged glances.

"Grand Sorcerer? Who is that?"

"No idea. Never heard of him. Las?"

"Same here."

Of course, the current Grand Sorcerer, Lukas Trowman, was so famous that scarcely anyone on the continent did not know his name, but there was no reason Demigods would pay attention to rumors circulating among humans.

Naturally, all three turned their gazes back to Agolet, and as though he had been waiting for it, Agolet continued.

"They are currently the most famous group of heroes on the continent. There are five members in total, known respectively as the Grand Sorcerer, the Sword Duke, the Black Witch, the Sage, and the Warrior King. Collectively, they are simply called the 'Grand Sorcerer's Party.'"

"And?"

"They seem to have known about Lady Noxtantine for quite some time, and apparently came all the way to this desert in search of her."

"When did they arrive here?"

"It has been about two weeks since they arrived in Sarman. As for when they entered the Amakan Desert, I am not certain."

After thinking for a moment, the old man looked at the woman.

"Come to think of it, Hella. Didn't you say that pet you released west of here died recently?"

"Not exactly west, more southwest, I guess? It was the first successful one I'd made in a while, but then one day it suddenly turned up dead. Put me in a really foul mood."

"Was it weak enough for humans to kill?"

"Almost impossible. I don't know about destructive power, but in terms of sheer tenacity, it was beyond even us."

"But if they had enough strength to kill Lamia, it would be possible. Things are finally beginning to fit together."

The old man, Delatan, spoke in a low voice.

"There have always been ignorant insects who dared pursue us, but never merely five humans. It seems a considerable amount of luck allowed them to cling to life until today… but they have crossed the line. Now they must die."

"Where are they now?"

Even at that moment, Agolet still appeared to be looking directly at the three Demigods, but his awareness was entirely focused on Residue.

"They are still in this city. I suspect they intend to remain here for some time."

"Why?"

"They also suffered heavy losses."

Delatan nodded as though that made sense.

"Naturally, they could not have killed Lamia easily……. They themselves must be little better than half-dead corpses by now. Since they are already wounded, there seems to be no need to hurry."

"That's good news, isn't it? Means we can take our time playing with them before we kill them."

Hella shrugged as she spoke.

"Perfect timing. I didn't want to dirty my hands for no reason. Hopefully they'll let themselves be subdued without too much fuss."

Las looked at Agolet and smiled.

"You need not be afraid, human. We are not indiscriminate slaughterers. Of course, some among our Kin crush your kind to death merely to relieve their boredom, but I am somewhat different. Watching the flourishing Church of Las gave me much to think about. Where there are pests, there are beneficial creatures as well. Even among your lowly kind, there are apparently a few worth keeping."

"…Thank you."

Agolet bowed his head.

"Now then."

And at last, Delatan's gaze turned toward Residue.

"What is this?"

So this was where it began. The real crisis.

Agolet pictured several possible scenarios in his mind, but he could not readily bring himself to speak. In truth, there were plenty of lies that could get them through this situation, but none of them would mean anything if Residue refused to play along.

That was why Agolet could not answer so easily.

Surprisingly, it was Residue who replied.

"Don't mind me. Continue your conversation. Or would anyone like something to drink? It's my first time making tea, though."

The moment Residue spoke while lightly shaking an empty teacup, all three Demigods burst into laughter.

Delatan laughed and said,

"You're offering us tea? Very well. I suppose I'll have a taste."

At that moment, something like a swift whip flickered from behind Las and smacked across Residue's cheek.

Residue's head snapped to the side, and Las muttered,

"Hm. Your bones and muscles are sturdier than I expected. I held back, but I still intended to take your head clean off……. You must have trained your body quite well, for a human."

Las had intended to tear Residue's head off just now, then ostentatiously fill the teacup he had been waving around with the man's blood.

When that small amusement was ruined, Las found himself rather displeased.

"If you don't want any, you could just say so. There was no need to……."

The man had even survived by sheer luck and was now grumbling loudly enough for Las to hear, so Las decided there was no longer any reason to show restraint.

This time, he would make certain to kill him.

"Stop it, Las. Why are you bothering with this nonsense?"

Hella stopped Las. She was hardly forceful about it, speaking more in mild reproach than anything else, but Las halted for the moment.

Meanwhile, Hella looked at Residue and smiled.

"I like humans like this."

"What does your fondness for lunatics have to do with me being insulted?"

"You burned down one of the temples in my territory before, remember? You can consider that debt settled this time."

"……."

Las had not expected her to bring up something like that.

He spent a moment trying to think of a rebuttal, but nothing particularly useful came to mind.

Instead, he glared at Residue in warning and said,

"You are extraordinarily fortunate. Human, for the sake of my Kin, I will overlook it this once. But watch your tongue from now on. This is not a place where the likes of you may speak as you please……. Understood?"

"……."

No answer came, but since the man had taken Las's killing intent head-on, it was hardly strange that his jaw had locked up.

"──."

And at that moment, Las inexplicably felt a chill run across his shoulders.

It was a sensation he had never experienced before, and for a moment he was stunned.

Las's gaze naturally passed beyond Residue and settled on the human in charge of the temple. For some reason, the eyes of that religious man bothered him.

The priest was looking at him with emotionless eyes……. The absence of both reverence and fear was irritating, but there were surprisingly many believers like that.

Those who reserved all their reverence solely for the god they themselves followed……. Yet there was something about this man that felt different from the believers Las had seen before.

For some reason, Las could not bring himself to look away first, and that fact gradually began to irritate him. …Strange. He disliked both of them.

Should he just kill them here?

The moment Las had that thought, Hella spoke again.

"So where exactly are those insects who killed our Kin?"

"…They have split into three groups."

Agolet added in a low voice.

"Perhaps some conflict arose among them as a result of this defeat. There are signs that they intend to act separately from now on."

"That's troublesome……. It'll be annoying if they scatter and run away. Ah. Not having a handy movement ability is inconvenient at times like this."

Agolet calmly waited for Hella to finish complaining before continuing.

"I will explain each of the three groups separately. One of them is a woman known as the Black Witch. At present, she may be the most troublesome of them all."

"Why?"

"She hardly participated in the previous battle, so she is practically in perfect condition. On top of that, she is a master of Black Magic who has contracts with three Archdemons."

"A contractor……."

That was certainly not something to dismiss lightly, and Delatan's brow furrowed slightly.

The Archdemons of the Demon World were indeed troublesome opponents.

Now that most of the continent's dragons were either dead or reduced to a state worse than death, the Archdemons might be the only beings who, in terms of Rank alone, did not fall behind the Demigods……. Though admittedly, that was borrowing the way Lord had once described them.

Even so, if one asked whether the Archdemons posed an actual threat, the answer was no. In the first place, they and the Demigods existed in different domains. If an Archdemon forcibly manifested on the continent, its limitations were also clear.

Unsettling beings.

That was about the extent of the impression Archdemons currently left on the Demigods, but in truth, there were almost no beings of even that caliber left on the continent, so they were undeniably troublesome.

"The other group consists of the Warrior King Kasajin and the Sword Duke Lucid. They are currently staying at an inn in the southern district of the city, and they likely have not fully recovered yet."

"The Warrior King and the Sword Duke. A martial artist and a swordsman, then. In that case, I should go."

When Delatan muttered this, Hella questioned him.

"Hm? We're eliminating them separately?"

"That way, we won't let a single one escape."

"Then I'm not fighting the witch. I don't feel like fighting demons."

She gave Las a pointed look, and he nodded.

"…I have fought an Archdemon once before. They are troublesome, but I suppose it cannot be helped. I will take her."

"Good. Then I'll handle the Grand Sorcerer and this Sage fellow. Wow. Somehow I ended up with the easiest ones."

Though she had intended exactly that from the beginning, Hella grinned playfully.

And so, Delatan would go after Kasajin and Lucid,

Las would go after Iris PeaceFinder,

and Hella would head for Lukas Trowman.

They themselves could never have imagined it, but they had been positioned exactly as Agolet intended.

*****

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