The Sewer Rat and the Flint
I had made a wild, fat rat as my familiar.
I shall call her Mitsuki Mouse.
There was a possibility that someone would complain about this name, but it didn"t matter to me now.
After all, the meaning behind it was "a beautiful moon", nothing else.
I gave her magic power and intelligence and sent her to the surface.
According to what the dwarves told me, Sharltar had made the town on the surface his headquarters.
It was there that he tortured the captive dwarves and turned their dead into zombies.
It was horrible to think of, but it was the truth none the less.
There was a large building. A building that would have likely been the house of a chief. And from within it, came the pained cries of a dwarf.
I peeked inside and witnessed such torture that I nearly vomited.
Man or woman, it made no difference to Sharltar. Even children were nothing but objects for his experiments with necromancy.
He would bring the evil spirits of devils to dwell within the dwarves, turning them into devils. He would use the cries and screams of pain that leaked from the tortured prisoners and create cursed jewels.
To be honest, it was difficult for me to watch.
I wished I could take his head off right there, but that would hardly be possible with Mitsuki.
I held back the urge and watched this man called Sharltar.
The man who I would kill very soon.
Knowing him better would ensure that I could prevent his escape.
I see his face from afar.
His face was full of cunning, just like I had expected.
His twisted lips and slanted eyes. The swarthy skin. He reminded me of a dark elf, but he was clearly human.
"That"s a surprise."
I muttered, and then Eve asked,
"What is a surprise?"
"His actions seemed so devil-like. And yet he is human."
"Demon Kings have many humans as their subordinates."
"True. Even I have a few of them."
Hijikata Tos.h.i.+zou and Jeanne d"Arc came to mind.
However, they were not people to act this cruelly.
Was Sharltar really human?
As for that, Eve gave me a clear answer.
"Humans…and this is true for all monsters, but humans will at times act like devils. It has nothing to do with race. It merely means that Sharltar is pure evil."
"Indeed."
I thought back on the past.
War was an unending cycle back in my world.
It was the same on that planet called Earth that I had researched.
Every time it was humans that fought each other. They were constantly killing.
The Three Kingdoms. Cao Cao. The ma.s.sacre at XuZhou by the hero of a chaotic age.
The killings infidels by the Crusaders.
Oda n.o.bunaga"s religious purges after the reformation.
If you really thought about it, there were fewer years of actual peace.
And this world was full of chaos.
It was not surprising for it to give birth to such a cold-blooded person.
And perhaps it is my fate, as a formerly human Demon Lord, to kill these devilish humans.
With that in mind, I gave Eve an order.
"We will move earlier than planned. The tunnel has not been finished yet, but we can send the decoy troops to lure Sharltar here. I will adjust things so the tunnel will be finished when they reach the empty cave."
"Is that really possible?"
Bathing
I had Grulf escape into the house.
He had a very good sense of smell, which made him more susceptible to the harsh stench.
We all stared at the smoke after that, until Milka came out of the house.
Milka and Luchila had been cleaning the house for a while.
"Agh! That stinks!"
"We"re burning demon rat carca.s.ses from the sewers. It will be over soon."
"I"m surprised you would bring such things back with you!"
"It"s not like we just picked them up off the streets for fun…"
Maybe she thought it was some kind of hobby.
Well, Milka didn"t understand the system of Adventuring, so it couldn"t be helped.
After everything was burned, Ario said,
"Well then. We"ll go and deliver the magic stones to the guild."
"You must come with us too, Miss Serulis and Mister Locke."
You had to record the number of kills on your Adventurers card after delivering the stones.
The more you hunted the higher your rank. It was very important.
"You go, Serulis."
"What about you?"
"I"m fine."
To be honest, it would be rather inconvenient if my rank went up after killing so many monsters.
If my rank went up, they would run my card through their magic tools.
And then they would be able to tell that information was hidden on it.
They would know that I was really an S Rank Sorcerer and the Grand Duke.
I wanted to be an F Rank Warrior for as long as possible.
"But that"s such a waste!"
"It really is. We killed so many demon rats after the goblin lord"s horde. A promotion to E Rank is a possibility."
Ario and Josh said seriously.
And Ario was right, being promoted to E Rank was quite likely.
And that was exactly something I did not want.
That was fine and all, but it was also incredibly suspicious to not report it when you met the requirements.
And I did not want to draw attention.
"I…I don"t want to draw any attention to myself."
"Ahhh."
"Ahhh."
Ario and Josh looked as if they had just been hit with a realization.
They were quite sure that I was once part of an a.s.sa.s.sins guild.
In fact, they were looking at the mansion now and amazed at how much money a brilliant a.s.sa.s.sin could make.
They thought that I was afraid of being targeted by my old guild, and wanted to lie low.
They stopped asking me to go after that.
Of course, if I really was trying to escape the a.s.sa.s.sins guild I used to work for, I would not be living in a big mansion.
But Ario and Josh didn"t know what was normal for a.s.sa.s.sins.
Most people didn"t. It was what it was.
"Alright, we"ll go without you."
"Yes. That is for the best."
"But we"ll bring the reward money back and split it between the four of us."
"No, I don"t need that either."
Ario and Josh narrowed their eyebrows at this.
"But why?"
"Well, you helped me capture Kabino, after all."
"But we already received the reward for that…"
And so I explained to Ario and Josh.
That it wasn"t a request through the guild.
And because of that, it did not affect their rank.
Also, the guild did not take a percentage of the reward money.
That meant that as the person who hired them, I had not paid as much as I would have.
That wasn"t fair. So it was only right that I should pay them extra.
I said this as seriously as possible.
"But if we accepted your share of the reward…"
"I have faith in the dwarves. No, I have faith in Gottlieb."
That quiet yet honest man had promised to have it done in thirty hours.
I believed that he would keep his word.
"I understand. I shall inform Jeanne of this and have the dwarven soldiers dispatched."
"However," Eve said as she continued.
"This is a battle that could result in your death if even one thing were to go wrong. I can hardly believe that to be possible, but I ask that you give me a memento."
"We are just like lovers before a war."
I chuckled and then handed her two stones.
"What is this?"
"Flint."
"Do you think I"m incapable of igniting things with magic?"
"That"s not what I meant. It is a sort of tradition in the country of j.a.pan in another world. It is meant to give good fortune if a woman were to strike them twice while facing a man who is going off to battle."
"What an interesting custom."
"Tos.h.i.+zou told me about it."
"Well then, I shall strike them twice."
She declared.
Click! Click!
And she struck the flint twice.
It was a pleasant sound.
I felt as if it would ward off any disasters.
I told her as much and then gave her the order.
"I will return in several hours. I expect to drink your best cup of tea then."
"I know. The water here is mostly hard. I will have to search for some soft water for you."
"Thank you."
I lightly touched her head and then left.
It was because I had heard Jeanne shouting from a distance.
"Heeey! Demon Lord! We must depart! How can we win without our general?"
We had vastly inferior numbers in this fight.
Jeanne and I would have to do much in order for the decoy troops to do what they had to do.
A lot would depend on my ability as a commander and a fighter.
However, Eve had no doubts regarding either of them.
"I know that you will defeat this Sharltar, master. This is not a prophecy, it is merely an established fact."
My maid"s expression was both comforting and charming as she declared this.
Translator:
Thank you, Thedogcharly for donating.
The Sewer Rat and the Flint PAGE 2 I had made a wild, fat rat as my familiar. I shall call her Mitsuki Mouse. There was a possibility that someone would complain about this name, but it didn"t matter to me now. After all, the meaning behind it was "a beautiful moon", nothing else. I…
A Legendary Demon Lord"s Plan PAGE 2 The dwarves had gathered. And I decided to begin before they were all too drunk. "The plan I am about to explain to you all is very dangerous. And it will be difficult. If even one of you turns out to be a coward, then it could…
The Sprawling Underground Town in the Mines PAGE 2 The dwarven chief, Gottlieb, guided us towards the place of refuge. We pa.s.sed hidden doors, secret entrances and holes both vertical and horizontal. There were many traps along the way, and just as many dead monsters that were killed by them. "This is our…
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