*
Chapter 25: 71st Demon King (3)
*
The village at dusk.
“Thank you!”
The young Pathfinder, Finn, stuffed his purchased items into his backpack.
Then, he moved on.
‘But what was I trying to buy again?’
Suddenly, his memory faded.
He stopped walking.
‘What was I trying to buy…’
At that moment, he noticed the flowers at a stall.
They were beautiful flowers, white and translucent.
‘That’s…’
He found himself drawn to the flowers.
As if she noticed him, a girl behind the stall spoke up.
“Are you interested in hyacinths?”
“Hyacinths?”
So that’s what the flowers were called.
Even from a short distance, their fragrance began to waft towards him.
‘So similar.’
The girl he envisioned in his mind looked remarkably like those flowers.
“How much for a single flower?”
“One coin for one flower.”
“Then can I buy this entire bunch?”
The girl’s expression brightened.
“Of course!”
She carefully bundled a bunch of white hyacinths and handed them to Finn.
“Thank you.”
“By the way, do you need to know the flower’s language as well?”
“Hmm?”
“You seemed like you wanted to give them to someone.”
His ears turned a little red.
That was enough of an answer to the girl’s question.
“The flower language means ‘the happiness of loving.’ The white hyacinth represents that.”
“The happiness of loving?”
“To be precise, it’s ‘the happiness of loving you at ease’… That’s what it means. I’m still too young to fully understand it, though.”
‘The happiness of loving you at ease…’
For some reason, it really resonated with him.
He tightly grasped the bunch of white hyacinths and bowed to the girl.
“Thank you for letting me know.”
He wanted to give the flowers to her as soon as possible.
Just then, as he passed through an open space, he spotted her.
White, delicate skin with icy, transparent hair.
She looked just like the flowers he was holding.
“Wai… s…?”
His voice, attempting to call out to her, faded away gradually.
Apparently, Weiss didn’t hear him.
However, the boy sitting next to her turned to look at him.
‘What’s up?’
Why was Weiss making that expression with that kid…?
He felt dizzy.
‘Why?’
She was making an expression she had never shown him before at that kid named Allen.
It was bewildering. He hastily hid the flowers behind his back.
‘No way.’
Even thinking that, he found himself stepping back.
Only then did Weiss seem to notice his presence and turned to look at him.
“Finn?”
Whatever the situation was, it was clear now wasn’t a good time to give her the flowers.
So he chose to run away.
*
‘What was that?’
As I watched Finn fleeing, an ominous feeling suddenly struck me, and I chased after him into the open space.
But Finn was already gone.
“Allen? Was that definitely Finn?”
I nodded at Weiss, who caught up with me late.
Suddenly, when I turned to call out to Weiss, there stood Finn.
But for some reason, Finn immediately ran away.
‘And he was definitely holding…’
The flowers.
Those white flowers thrown into the bushes over there.
‘No way…?’
*
“Damn it! Shit!”
After running for a while, he spat out curses one after another.
‘Why the hell am I running away?’
No matter how he thought about it, fleeing wasn’t necessary.
Weiss was probably looking at him weirdly.
‘There’s no way Weiss would like a kid like that.’
He had saved her, after all.
So he had every right to confess boldly.
But a momentary misunderstanding had ruined everything.
‘What the hell is wrong with me?’
This wasn’t the first time.
Lately, he couldn’t understand himself.
He kept doing things he couldn’t comprehend.
‘Things I can’t understand?’
What could that have been?
Suddenly, it became hazy, and he couldn’t recall.
Like a memory from a dream.
“Ugh…”
Something felt off.
He hurriedly looked around.
Where the hell was he, to begin with?
‘Huh?’
Only then did he realize the place where he was standing.
A dark, hazy ruin filled with swirling particles.
Outside the barrier.
‘When did I get all the way out here?’
Suddenly, he felt a hollow sensation.
He raised his arm and checked his wrist.
The bracelet that should have been there had disappeared somewhere.
“Freaking hell!”
How did he end up outside the barrier without a relic?
As an ordinary person without a stigma, he wouldn’t last a single second outside without a relic.
It was a miracle he hadn’t turned into a Chaos Beast yet.
‘I have to go back!’
Now that he looked, he had ventured pretty far from the barrier.
In a panic, he tried to run but tripped over his own feet and fell.
“Ugh! Hoo!”
He was going to die. There was no doubt about that.
Rolling on the ground with that thought, his sanity began to return gradually.
‘Why am I not dead yet?’
No relic, no stigma.
Yet he was still fine.
‘Why?’
That’s when it happened.
(Now you’ve calmed down a bit. Don’t worry, as long as I’m inside you, you won’t die.)
He looked around, startled by the sudden voice, but saw no one.
It was a strangely familiar voice.
‘Could it be…’
His head throbbed.
Suddenly, something began to surface in his mind.
“How much is this?” “Oh dear, young man. That’s not sold separately.” “Would ten coins be enough?” “Sure, just take it!” “Thank you!”
Why the hell did he buy a pig’s heart?
What was he going to do with it?
“But I heard that recently, the bandits outside the barrier disappeared. They say it was the work of a certain hero, is that true?” “According to the guests, it seems a hero stayed at our inn recently. I think they called him the Rose Knight. He’s quite a famous hero.” “A famous hero? Is he still at the inn?” “No, he’s left already.” “I see. I wanted to thank him…”
That wasn’t strange.
No, thinking about it, it was strange.
‘Thank him…’
He knew his own personality well.
He was quite timid.
He didn’t have the guts to say “thank you” to a hero.
‘When did I start acting like this?’
When did he begin to show such odd behaviors?
The moment he pondered that, bizarre memories flowed in.
“Hey, are you okay?” “What’s your name?” “Weiss? What a lovely name.” “But how did you end up collapsed here?”
A memory from when he was carrying Weiss, having saved her.
For some reason, it had been a hazy memory.
And that question was immediately resolved.
“Weiss? I feel something prickly on my neck…”
Only then did he realize the owner of the voice he had just heard.
‘Weiss? Is that you?’
(So you’ve figured it out?)
*
‘The abandoned flowers and the fleeing Finn…’
I glanced back at Weiss.
The girl who had been crying just moments ago had returned to her friendly face mode.
‘Incredibly suspicious.’
What had Finn just seen before he ran away?
I couldn’t help but think he might have witnessed Weiss about to do something to me.
The moment my suspicion toward Weiss turned into certainty.
‘No matter if she lost her hometown or faced some dire circumstances…’
I prepared to activate the inventory.
‘If she’s the Demon King, I’ll have to kill her.’
I wouldn’t give her a chance to resist and would eliminate her in one strike.
That was the technique I had been honing for this very reason.
Just as I was about to pull out the Relic Gravitas Replicant.
‘Huh?’
Something on Weiss’s forearm caught my eye.
It was a bracelet adorned with a luxurious pattern.
It didn’t look like an ordinary object.
Especially the emblem engraved in the center of the bracelet.
‘Those were patterns I often saw at the ruins, weren’t they?’
I immediately used item identification on the bracelet.
As expected, an item window popped up.
Category: Accessory
Type: Bracelet
Relic Rating: 1-star
Description: A relic excavated by a Pathfinder from the ruins of Basilium. It maintains a gentle warmth at all times.
I never expected this.
‘A relic?’
The existence of this item shattered all the suspicions I had piled up against Weiss until now.
After all, a Demon King and a relic would be fatal enemies, so one couldn’t wear the other.
“Miss Weiss, about that bracelet you’re wearing…”
“Bracelet? Why do you ask?”
Weiss lifted her arm to show the bracelet.
She looked completely oblivious.
“Did you always wear that?”
“Oh, now that you mention it! I’ve been wearing this since last week…”
“No, I mean did you have it on when you regained consciousness outside the barrier?”
“Oh.”
She shook her head.
“I got this from Finn outside the barrier. I was unconscious, but I clearly remember him putting this bracelet on me.”
Well, that makes sense.
Then only one question remained.
“Miss Weiss, do you have any memories of the time Finn saved you?”
“The time I was saved? I have memories of being carried, but…”
“Do you remember before that? The memories of when we first met.”
Weiss hesitated for a moment before finally speaking.
“…Please don’t tell Finn, but I actually don’t have that memory.”
With that, everything clicked into place.
‘There are currently two versions of Weiss.’
First, there’s the innocent, clueless Weiss in front of me.
And…
‘The Demon King Weiss, who is parasitizing Finn.’
*
The 71st Demon King can change her form using a certain ability.
And that ability is known as ‘Parasite.’
By parasitizing another person through their blood, she gradually takes over their mind, ultimately making them her own.
‘The problem is that it doesn’t show at all.’
Since she gradually consumes their mind and integrates, those around her can’t notice the fact.
Moreover, even after moving to a new host, the original host can continue living without significant side effects, just their memories becoming a bit unclear.
Thanks to this, if left unchecked, the 71st Demon King could eventually control an entire kingdom.
‘While her combat ability might not be strong for now, it would change if she were to acquire the hero’s body.’
That’s precisely why I aimed to eliminate her as quickly as possible.
But the problem started when I attacked the bandit group.
Originally, the game had the paths of the Pathfinders blocked outside the barrier due to the bandit group.
That meant the body that the Demon King would choose for reconnaissance in the village would have belonged to a foreigner from the bandit group.
It was rare for any outsider to come to such a remote village anyway. So I planned to wait for that outsider at the inn.
However, that plan collapsed with the emergence of Weiss and Finn.
‘The foreigner Weiss, and Finn, who had already interacted with her.’
Moreover, the fact that Weiss had come from the Ice Valley added credibility.
In the game, the 71st Demon King was described as hailing from the destroyed Ice Valley.
Then what mattered was whether the 71st Demon King still resided within Weiss or if she had already transferred to Finn.
It would take a week to figure that out.
I didn’t want to kill an innocent person unnecessarily, and I didn’t want to alert the Demon King by making a careless move.
‘Until recently, I had no choice but to suspect Weiss.’
Her ability to adapt so well after losing her hometown was deeply suspicious.
And that overly unnatural kindness made it hard not to be suspicious.
But somehow, I ended up learning the reason behind her behavior.
‘And I also gained definite proof that she isn’t the Demon King.’
I didn’t know why Finn ran away.
However, I felt a bit regretful for hastily assuming Weiss was about to do something to me after seeing that.
Weiss had opened her heart to me, but I had momentarily doubted her.
‘In any case, if there’s no Demon King inside Weiss…’
Then the remaining candidate was one.
I had to stop Finn.
He was probably almost ready to break through the barrier by now.
*
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