Interlude 02: A Room at the Inn

Interlude 02:
A Room at the Inn

Souen Litbeit sighed as he returned to the Lindworm Inn.

The innkeeper was human, but he hadn’t been very welcoming. This was only to be expected, given that Souen was rumored to be the person who’d spread poison throughout Lindworm. If it weren’t for a direct request from the City Council, he wouldn’t have been allowed to stay here at all.

Tomorrow, public opinion would change, and Souen would be lauded as one of the people who helped capture the true culprit. Arrangements for Auchraw’s arrest were in place. The rest was up to Skadi.

“Welcome back, Mr. Souen.”

His maidservant wore a hood as she waited for Souen in his room. She took his jacket; he sank onto the sofa and let out another loud sigh. The sofa was indescribably soft.

“How did it go?” the maidservant asked.

“It’ll all be taken care of tomorrow.”

The maidservant had brewed green tea she’d brought from the human realm. Souen took a sip and glanced at her. She didn’t seem to notice his gaze.

“Now I just have to take care of Glenn.”

She didn’t reply.

“He’s always been so weak. He won’t do anything if I don’t push him to. It was the same with the Academy. I had to make him want to leave home.”

“Surely that was the reason he had a falling-out with your parents.”

“I wonder.” Souen took another sip of the tea.

He didn’t care whether people saw him as the bad guy. Once the facts were revealed later, he could repair misunderstandings. As long as people had a common enemy, they could be persuaded to join forces, like Glenn and Sioux becoming closer through their disdain for their older brother.

“It’s the same for Lindworm,” Souen continued. “The citizens grow more united if they’re busy throwing stones at me.”

“And then you’ll do something else to make them hate you.”

“You don’t need to worry about that.”

“I do worry. You’re always so reckless. It drives me crazy.”

“Like I said, it’s not your concern.” Souen was indifferent.

The maidservant said nothing, but she definitely glared at Souen.

“It’s fine,” he said. “I also obtained the pathology reports on Demonitis kept at the Central Hospital.”

“When did you have time for that?”

“Show the reports to those old farts. They’re going to shit bricks.”

“Souen…when you say it like that, you sound twisted.”

“I know. I was joking. It has to be carefully planned out. If I don’t go about it the right way, I’ll just end up throwing human civilization into chaos.”

Souen had gotten the report on Sioux’s Demonitis from the aquatic doctor, Cthulhy. Apparently, Demonitis was a rare condition even in Lindworm—there were ogres in the city, but very few demons—so it was recorded as an interesting case.

Of course, Sioux hadn’t been sick. She was just a human with demon blood. These findings were proof of that.

“I haven’t decided yet whether to commission a paper on this or publish a book. It might be good to have Glenn write a paper. Something like, ‘Human or Demon?’ I’ll keep at it until humans understand that Demonitis isn’t a disease…and that they should allow anyone to get married.”

“Even if that’s true…” The maidservant removed the cloth wrapped around her head. She had the exact same horns as Sioux. “I have no intention of marrying you until you’re no longer at risk.”

“Like I said, don’t worry about it. I’m more anxious about you being seen when you come into this room. If someone found out about our relationship…”

“Please, don’t worry. Horns aren’t uncommon here.”

“Right.”

Souen sighed. Sioux seemed to be doing well in Lindworm. Maybe it would be better for Souen to move here with his Demonitis-stricken fiancée and get married. If he did that, maybe they could forget the hardships of living in the human realm.

That wasn’t the right course of action, though. There weren’t just humans with Demonitis living in Souen’s manor, but also monster subspecies who quietly inhabited the human realm. The woman Souen was in love with—Saki—represented that manor. She was slender, but she had the strength of a demon.

“Why don’t you go see the sights of the city?” Souen asked. “This town is friendly to demons.”

“If I go, we go together.”

“I’m trying to tell you that we can’t be seen together.”

“Well then, I’ll wait until we can.”

She was so stubborn. In the human realm, Saki normally couldn’t even walk outside, so sightseeing was completely out of the question. There were very few places where she was welcome.

But Souen’s feelings for her were real. That was why he’d gone to all this trouble to obtain his sister’s medical records. He would use all his power and money to keep Saki safe.

Ever since Souen was a child, he always got everything he wanted.

“Souen…”

“What is it?”

“I hear the bell. There’s a bell ringing.”

“What?” Souen listened.

He heard it, too. It seemed far away, but it was unmistakably a bell. It sounded…celebratory.

“I wonder if it’s coming from the north.”

“From the graveyard city?” Souen realized what the bells were for. He’d arranged it, after all. “They say you can’t fight blood.”

“What do you mean?”

“That my brother and I both have strange fetishes, like snakes and demons.”

“Are you trying to make me punch you, Souen?”

“Are you going to turn your future husband into minced meat?”

“If that’s what it takes to fix your twisted personality.”

“Okay, okay, let’s stop. Don’t come any closer with that fist. St-stop—it was all my fault. I-I’m sorry, Saki. I said…I’m sorry!”

Saki smiled as Souen’s voice cracked.

They were in a private room, hidden from everyone. They could be themselves here, away from their families and any other prying eyes. Just the two of them.

That night, the inn’s owner noticed the sound of blows coming from Souen’s room. He pretended he didn’t hear it.