Chapter 5: Something Something Ill Weeds, Something Something Grow Apace, or So It Was Told

I really want to sit down for a bit.

Resisting the urge to drop onto the ground right then and there, Renya looked over to see how Shion and the others were doing against the humanoid forms.

Shion had managed to cut down two, Azu had roasted two more, and the last one’s head was gone, having exploded when Rona drove her mace into it with a full-body swing. Eradication was complete. He was relieved to find that his friends were fine. With that said, he’d be very worried if they actually had trouble against what were effectively a bunch of walking mannequins.

“Renya, looks like you’re done too, huh… You sure do have a weird way of using that sword, though,” said Shion as she approached him, her eyes brimming with curiosity. Apparently, she had been watching during a part of his fight, and found herself intrigued by his techniques of striking with the sheath and purposefully showing his back to his opponent in the heat of battle. While he was ostensibly leaving himself open, his pivots were also generating momentum for his next attack. It was a style of fighting that Shion and the others had never heard of.

“Yeah, I’d give you some lessons if we weren’t pressed for time right now.”

“Hm?”

“You do remember that there are a bunch of monsters trying to gobble up Azu’s party members in the other room, right? We need to get out of here and go help them, pronto…”

“Oh, right. Of course.”

Her cheeks colored slightly. Presumably, she had been so focused on the battle that she forgot about the preceding events. With quick steps, she made her way over to the entrance of the room. Despite the fact that the demon had been defeated, the door remained shut. She hit it with her fist and was rewarded with nothing more than a dull thud. Then, she tried swinging her sword at it. There was a shrill, grating sound. She looked at Renya with watery eyes.

“What’s wrong?”

“They’re numb…”

Her hands had gone numb from the impact of slamming her sword into a stiff object. The sword itself fared worse, having lost a chunk of its tip, and was rendered unusable as a weapon.

“I’ll try. Get back,” said Azu as he moved Shion out of the way and began an incantation. “By my power, I summon thee. Missiles of mana, strike!”

Employing a two-fold simulcast, Azu sent two mana missiles at the locked door, only to have them lamely dissipate upon touching its surface. The sight made Azu furrow his brows and glare at the resilient obstacle.

“This door has been imbued with magecraft. And it’s still alive.”

“You mean this,” Renya said as he pointed at the cusp of his katana where the demon’s head was still stuck, “is still alive?”

Azu shook his head.

“No, there’s no way it’s still alive in a state like that.”

“Then whose magecraft is it?”

“I don’t know. But, at this rate… Damn it!”

Azu gave the door a frustrated kick. He probably realized how ill-matched his friends were against the monsters that attacked them. His distress was, therefore, understandable, but a door that shrugged off a full-body swing of Shion’s sword was not going to budge because a mage kicked it.

“Renya, can’t you do something with that blade of yours?! Cut it open, maybe?!” asked Azu, pointing a finger at the door. His voice carried the strain of someone desperately trying to suppress their panic.

Renya wasn’t sure how to answer. A visual inspection told him nothing about what the door was made of. A certain frame of mind was necessary when cutting something, and it varied depending on the target. Parting flesh required a different technique than parting wood. There was a limit to what a blade could slice through with a haphazard swing. In addition, if the door was made of metal, it would be far too thick to cut through. If Renya had been thoroughly informed about the properties of his katana, he would have known that it could chew through even a gate of reinforced steel. He wasn’t thoroughly informed, though, and no one was currently capable of making him so.

“Um… Renya?” said Rona, who had been standing behind them during their repeated attempts to abuse the door.

“Rona? What? We’re in a bit of a fix right now.”

“Well, make that two fixes, then.”

He spun around. Something about the way she said it compelled him to do so.

“What’s wrong?”

“The bodies… are gone.”

Renya looked around. She was right. Altogether, there should have been eleven bodies, plus the two halves of the demon’s corpse.

Instead, there was nothing. They had all disappeared.

Something occurred to him. He quickly glanced at the tip of his blade. The demon’s head was still there.

Okay, so the whole thing where I took down that demon wasn’t a dream.

“What… in the world is going on?” said Rona.

“Everyone! Heads up! Something’s wrong!”

Renya didn’t even confirm that everyone obeyed his order before starting to carefully scan his surroundings, intensely scrutinizing every detail. Maimed and charred as they were, the corpses of what were once Zest’s and Harz’s parties should have been lying on the ground. Pieces of the demon’s body should also have been present. The fact that they weren’t meant someone or something — in this very room, nonetheless — got rid of them without being seen by Renya or any of his three friends.

The ground looked the same as before. The ebony desk still sat abandoned in the same place. Stiffened by some sort of coating, the earthen walls looked cold and hard.

“Wait, earthen walls?”

A discrepancy leapt out at him: why could he see earth on the walls? When they came into the room, the walls were white. Right now, he was staring at the same exposed earth on the walls as the ones in the passage that led here.

“What about the wall—”

Azu never got to finish his sentence. He went flying away from the door and crashed into the ebony desk, shattering it. He continued to tumble along the ground until finally coming to a stop against the far wall. A shocked Shion barely managed to get her wits about her and turn around before she was sent flying in a similar fashion and smashing into a wall. Her longsword, having been used to blunt the impact, snapped in two. Moments after, the hilt clanked onto the ground from her limp hand.

“Shion?!” cried Rona as she made to rush to her friend’s side.

Renya tried to stop her, but it was too late. Something that resembled a whip wrapped itself around Rona’s leg as she was about to run and dragged her down. Then, it picked her up and hurled her toward the wall. As she was thrown, he heard a sickening snap from her ensnared leg. She hurtled through the air, unable to even brace herself before colliding back-first with the wall at a breakneck speed.

In the blink of an eye, three people were out of commission. Renya had barely even moved. He turned toward the figure standing in front of the door to the room and narrowed his eyes.

“Hey… Didn’t I chop you up already?”

“I do believe so, indeed. A real good slicing and dicing you gave me,” came the lighthearted answer.

The one who had just slammed three people into the wall grinned at Renya, his hands held behind his back. Deep brown skin. Light purple hair. Slightly pointy ears. Almond-shaped pupils. A lab coat draped casually over his shoulders. It was him: the demon whom Renya had supposedly just sliced to death moments before.

Without losing sight of the demon, Renya glanced at the cusp of his katana. The demon’s head was still there, but it blanched and melted like butter before his very eyes. It dripped down onto the ground, collecting in a pulpy mess that flowed toward the demon’s foot. When it touched the tip, it disappeared, assimilating itself into his body.

“What the hell are you… A slime or something?” spat Renya, mentioning the first thing that came to mind. It drew a sigh from the demon.

“Just what would make you assume I’m one of those lowly mucous creatures?”

“Oh, I don’t know. Because you’re literally acting like one of them?”

“Well, I suppose that’s one way to look at it,” laughed the demon, who seemed terrifically amused as he glanced at Renya’s now-nogginless katana.

While keeping his guard up at the chuckling man, Renya took at look at his three friends lying at the foot of the wall. None of them were moving. He hoped they were only unconscious.

“I didn’t expect that white stuff on the wall to be your actual body.”

“Technically, I also covered the ceiling. The point is, what you fought was simply a sliver of my whole self.”

If he was telling the truth, that would imply he was also the one who had been lighting up the room. Renya couldn’t help but entertain the rather out-of-place thought that this demon was a real stickler for efficiency, getting a replicant of himself to do the actual work while he himself handled the room’s interior design.

“So, all this time, we’ve been playing into your hands. Or in this case, into you literally, I guess. Man, that’s gross. Are all demons like that?” asked Renya, keeping the banter going as he considered his next move. If what he just defeated was only a portion of the man, the main body should be much stronger, which was attested by the fact that he was entirely unable to see what had hit Azu and Shion. On top of that, Renya had already shown his hand with his surprise attack, so those techniques were off the table, too. He needed a plan of action, and he couldn’t think of one.

“Were we all like this, the remaining races on this continent would be extinct by now.”

“What the hell are you supposed to be, then?”

“Emil Raja, demon researcher. Pleased to make your acquaintance, short-lived though it’s sure to be.”

Renya gleaned two pieces of information from the demon’s self-introduction. One, he confirmed that demons did, in fact, have names. Stating the obvious, perhaps, but it was nice to know. Two, the demon in question seemed to have no intention of letting any of them leave alive.

“My field of study is known as bioengineering. I research how to fuse one thing with another to create a more powerful organism.”

Highly doubtful that actual biotechnology existed in this world, Renya figured the demon was referring to a branch of some form of academic study like magecraft or alchemy. Whatever the academic study, though, one thing was for certain.

“Can’t say I think very highly of you or your field, considering it’s an offense to all living things.”

Emil was doubtlessly referring to techniques that involved toying with the very existence of his subjects without their consent and turning them into different beings altogether. It was biological, and it was engineering in a sense, but it definitely wasn’t the bioengineering he was familiar with.

“A difference of perspectives, then. The way I see it, my research is a noble pursuit in which I elevate life to higher and higher stages—”

“Then use yourself as a test subject first,” hissed Renya.

“What are you talking about?” asked Emil in return, as though he couldn’t understand Renya’s question.

Renya’s eyes widened a little. The implications of Emil’s bafflement occurred to him, and he paled visibly.

“Of course I’d use myself as a test subject,” answered Emil, not disturbed in the slightest by what he was saying. Every other researcher in the world would probably fervently disagree with his opinion, but he simply appeared perplexed as to why he needed to state the obvious. “My body has been constructed using flexible cells that can greatly change their morphology. It’s one of the fruits of my research.”

“…I was expecting you to have a few screws loose, but man. I guess it wasn’t just a few.”

“Research. It’s all about the research. So long as it’s necessary, we’ll use whatever we need, whether it’s ourselves or others. That’s what it means to be a researcher, no?” asked Emil as his arms stretched themselves out and touched the ground. Long, thin, and whip-like, they were clearly the tentacles that had knocked Shion and Azu into the wall and hurled Rona through the air.

“You said something about this dungeon being your fishing hole and that you made it, right?” If the talking stopped, the battle would begin. Since Renya had yet to figure out a plan of action, a battle would be overwhelmingly in the demon’s favor. He racked his brains for ways to keep the conversation going while he continued to observe Emil. “That means this dungeon has no core, then?”

“Correct. You could, in a way, say I’m the core.”

Emil flicked his right arm lightly. Its supple end disappeared from view. At the same time, an impact to Renya’s left shoulder caused him to stagger, tearing his shirt and causing a welt to form on his skin. His muscle and bone, however, remained unharmed.

“Tell me now. Could you see it? You couldn’t see it, could you?” asked a positively jubilant Emil. He laughed, and then continued, “Now, then. Have you said your prayers? Though it was a replicant, you killed something that took my form. Expect suffering — much suffering indeed — before I turn you all into specimens for my research.”

Renya was of the opinion that a whipping was very much unappealing to watch when it was a man on the receiving end. He would have voiced this opinion, too, had he been in less dire straits. At the moment, he kept his mouth shut and braced himself with his blade in hand.

“All right… Ready? Here I come,” whispered the demon, his eyes narrowing like those of a predator marking prey. As soon as he spoke, the room’s lights went out.

Everything went black. All of a sudden, Renya couldn’t even see the tip of his nose. He did not panic. Instead, he curled his tongue. A loud click echoed in the darkness. His katana flashed. It grazed something; he felt it through the hilt. By the time his mind registered the sensation, his body was already in motion, withdrawing the blade and quickly stepping away. Moments later, there was a crack — the sound of a whip hitting the ground. He slashed in the direction of the noise. Score again; he felt a slight resistance at the cusp of his blade.

“Hm, I find it quite hard to believe, but… tell me now. Do you actually see me?”

Renya spun toward the direction of the voice and thrust out his blade, but the third time was not the charm; it caught nothing but empty air. While constantly changing his position through small, zigzagging steps, he answered into the darkness.

“You do realize human eyeballs need light to function, right? Do you see any light around here?”

“Well, for someone who is allegedly blind…”

Renya leaned away a little. Something whisked through the space in front of him, missing him by a hair. Before it could be retracted, he swung his katana upwards in a scooping motion. This time, the blade’s bite was firmer, and there was a small groan of pain. It was, however, little reason to rejoice; he figured it had done as much damage as nicking someone’s little finger.

“Your attacks — counterattacks, rather — are vexingly accurate.”

“Luck must be on my side, then. Maybe it’s because I’ve been a good boy all this time, and you look like you’ve been a very very bad one.”

The demon probably assumed there was no possible way for Renya to see him. As a result, his attacks were linear and predictable.

Renya, for his part, continued to dodge attacks he shouldn’t be able to see. Each step he took made an audible tap. At times, he clicked his tongue.

“Ah. I see,” Emil whispered after a few cycles of striking and dodging. “The sound.”

This time, the noise that Renya made with his tongue was closer to a tsk than a click. He made a sharp lunge in the direction of the voice and swung. His blade touched nothing. Realizing he had missed once more, he quickly turned around. At the same time, the ceiling began to emit its soft light again, and his vision returned. Directly in front of him stood Emil, whose expression was brimming with curiosity. Small, shallow cuts dotted his body.

“The sound of your tongue clicks. And your footsteps. You used their echoes to examine your environment. I must say, that’s a most intriguing technique you employed.”

“I see the whole ‘researcher’ bit wasn’t all talk, huh? You figured out my trick pretty quickly.”

Renya spoke in a bitter tone, but he had expected the demon to see through what he was doing. What he hadn’t expected was how little time the demon took.

“If you’re able to react like that in the darkness, then there’s not much point to hampering your vision.”

“So, that’s why you turned the lights back on?”

“It makes for easier observation.”

A slit appeared in each of Emil’s tentacle arms, growing outwards until they both split into two. He wriggled what were now effectively four tentacles and laughed gleefully.

“In the next experiment, we shall test your reaction speed. Come on, keep up now. Let’s see how fast you can go.”

White whips shot toward Renya. Unlike those employed by human hands, these required no windup, which made them feel unusually fast. He swiped them aside with his blade. If anything, Emil was the one hurting after these exchanges; it was his fleshy tentacles against Renya’s very metal, very sharp blade. Despite his increasing number of wounds, however, Emil showed no signs of letting up on his attacks. One after another, his four whips kept up a relentless series of attacks that kept Renya firmly on the defensive.

Nevertheless, Renya slowly edged toward Emil. The flurry of attacks raining down on him grew more intense with each step forward, but he had no choice but to keep pressing on until he was at least close enough to strike back. Emil, clearly aware of his intentions, matched each of his steps forward with a step back.

Unable to close the gap, Renya grit his teeth and kept a cool head. He was well aware that there was a world of pain waiting for him if he let frustration get the better of him and rushed ahead.

“Truly remarkable. It seems that so long as you have access to your sight, you’re quite capable of brushing off attacks of this level,” said Emil before chuckling. “How curious, then, for me to have landed that first hit on you.”

“You talk too much. Quit yapping and let me cut you already.”

Despite his best efforts to keep his composure, Renya found himself growing hasty. The four guys brawling against those meat chunks in the next room was cause enough for concern, but he also had three downed friends in the current room whose condition worried him to no end.

The way Azu was sent flying, in particular, looked pretty brutal. Rona, too, almost certainly had her leg broken after being thrown by it. Even Shion, who had at least managed to get her sword in the way, was hit by an attack that snapped the thing in half. He badly wanted to get them some medical attention as soon as possible, but it would take them a day by wagon to reach a town with a doctor. And that was assuming he managed to get them out of this dungeon right away.

The realization that he was running out of time further stressed his already-frayed nerves. As he continued to defend himself, grinding his teeth harder after warding off each lash, he desperately told himself to calm down. Though his eyes were gradually becoming used to following the motion of the attacks, a single missed parry would leave him down for the count. If he was down for the count, then their whole party would be incapacitated, and if the whole party was incapacitated — a party wipe — then no help could come. The only thing left to do after that would be to hope they were blessed with a quick death.

“Full points for endurance, as well. The ability to continue fending off attacks of this speed is an extraordinary display of stamina.”

Renya remained silent, lacking the spare focus to venture a response. Seeing that his comment fell on deaf ears, Emil grinned widely as though he just thought of something terribly amusing.

“Here’s a thought. Tell me now. What would happen if, in your current state,” he quipped at a wordless Renya, “you were to go blind again?”

His four tentacles that had been striking Renya one after another suddenly lined up and lashed out in sync. At the same time, he snuffed out the lights.

“—Huh?”

Renya deftly slipped past the four-pronged attack and dashed up, hoisting his katana high.

Emil watched, dumbfounded, as the blade’s sharp edge came swinging down at his head. Even so, his survival instincts kicked in and he reflexively twisted his body to evade. He barely dodged the strike, but the blade still bit into his left collar, severing his entire left arm clean at the shoulder, before snapping back and tearing a shallow gash through his abdomen.

The demon did not scream, possibly due to some kind of blockade of his pain sensation. In order to avoid any further attacks, Emil wildly swung his right tentacle at Renya while rolling away to safety. Renya tried to give chase, but was forced to leap back to avoid the long appendage’s furious thrashing.

“What… is the meaning of this…” panted Emil. He stared at the ceiling as dark-red blood spilled from his dismembered left shoulder. The lights that he supposedly snuffed out remained as bright as ever, illuminating their surroundings. The sight of the still-visible room had given him the slightest of pauses, but that brief opening allowed Renya to deliver an absolutely devastating strike.

“I figured you’d look for a chance to put them out again,” said Renya as he glanced at the tentacle on the ground. It was wriggling like a severed lizard tail. He kicked the appendage into the air, where it was battered by a rather excessive number of quickcast Firebolts and turned into crisp demon bacon. Then, he turned to look at Emil, who was pushing himself up with his right tentacle, and said, “So I threw my own up there over yours. Real handy technique, this quickcast thing.”

The smile had vanished from Emil’s face. His eyes were wide with shock. Renya wasn’t sure why the demon looked so astonished, but before he had a chance to ponder, Emil spoke.

“Who are you? No… What are you?”

“I’m a regular person, thank you very much. Well, technically, a Wanderer. Renya Kunugi, average everyday adventurer. Pleased to make your acquaintance, short-lived though it’ll probably be.”

After returning the favor with his witty retort, Renya rushed forward with his blade brandished. This time, Emil was forced to go on the defensive. Though the demon did not seem to feel the pain of losing his left arm, his breaths were definitely coming in shorter, harder gasps.

“Unbelievable. Tell me now. How is it that I, a demon, am running out of breath first?”

“Don’t ask me. You’re the researcher here. Go do some researching.”

The ever-dulling movements of Emil’s remaining tentacle failed to guard against Renya’s attacks. After chopping off the tentacle’s tip, Renya began to weave his slashes through the disabled appendage. Gash after gash appeared on the demon’s body. Eventually, his right arm went flying as well, entirely separated from his shoulder.

An exhausted Emil toppled backwards and landed on his rear. Renya raised his blade, preparing to deliver the finishing blow. Just as he began his downward swing, the demon spoke again.

“Let me cut you a deal,” he said. His expression was serious; his tone, devoid of his usual flippancy.

Renya let the demon speak. Then, he resumed his downward swing. He was not interested in a deal. Rather, he thought he wasn’t, but the demon’s next words forced him to reconsider.

“Those three friends of yours… You do realize that at this rate, a few of them are heading straight for the morgue?”

“What?” Renya’s katana paused mid-swing.

“Say what you want about demons, but I’ll remind you that I’m a researcher, and my research concerns the study of life. I’m versed in the practice of medicine as well. I’m well aware of the graveness of their injuries. After all, I caused them.”

Renya did not speak, but his gaze commanded the demon to keep talking. The armless Emil sat up, crossed his legs, and lifted his head to look up at Renya.

“The girl with the sword… the one who seemed a bit dense, she’ll be fine. The problem is the other two, that dour-looking mage and the lewd missus with those great honking—”

“You might want to rephrase that,” cautioned Renya. In the back of his mind, though, he wondered why the demon was so dead-on with his depictions. Was it that obvious? At the same time, he couldn’t help but feel a bit of pity toward Rona, who was described by even a demon to be “lewd.”

“I apologize if you took offense. The point stands, though. The mage and the missus are in bad shape. If you don’t get them to a doctor soon, you might as well get them a pair of coffins. Even if they survive, they’ll be heavily crippled for life.”

“So? What are you trying to say?”

“What I’m trying to say… is that there’s a doctor right here.”

The lack of arms limited his ability to gesture, but the context of his words seemed to suggest that he was referring to himself. Renya scoffed at the demon.

“All right. Let’s pretend you are a doctor for now. What do you intend on doing, then, with those zero arms of yours?”

“Wait a while and they’ll regrow. Let me go, and I’ll treat those two.”

Being obtuse in the ways of this world, Renya had no idea whether there would be any consequences in letting the demon go. It was quite possible that the act would be similar to knowingly allowing a criminal to escape in his previous world. Ethics aside, however, the fact that his two severely-injured friends would receive medical attention made it an undeniably appealing proposal.

“I can’t trust you.”

Appealing though the proposal was, he couldn’t blindly trust Emil when they had literally been at each other’s throats mere moments before. He thrust his blade at the seated demon as he spoke, hiding the rising tide of doubt inside.

Emil’s words were convincing. Even a complete medical amateur like him could tell that Azu and Rona were likely in critical condition. The former took the full impact of a hit head-on, and the latter was completely unprepared when she was slammed into a wall. He was worried about Shion as well, but seeing that she had managed to put up some sort of defense, he could believe that her life wasn’t in danger. He could put Azu and Rona, both of whom were in dangerous condition, onto the wagon and make a mad dash for the city. It would take him a day. In the end, though, would they be saved? He wasn’t sure. And he had no way to be.

“Remember now. I said I’m cutting you a deal. While I cannot speak for other demons, I am first and foremost a researcher; research is my absolute priority. Allow me to submit, though, that when it comes to other matters, I endeavor to be reasonably trustworthy. In fact, I’ll also free the four in the other room from their struggle,” Emil said before adding with a chuckle, “After all, I can’t experiment on them if they’re dead.”

“Then they’re still alive?” confirmed Renya. He wasn’t interested in having four lifeless bodies returned to him.

“Yes.” Emil nodded. “I guarantee you they are.”

“…You know, it’s at this point that I can’t help but recall that there were eleven other lives you—”

“Were those lives important to you?”

Good question. Upsettingly good, almost. There was a period of silence before Renya spoke again.

“I don’t see the need to answer that.”

“Fair enough. Well then, what shall it be?”

Two fresh arms slithered quickly out of Emil’s severed stumps. Renya tensed warily, but the demon simply shook his hands at him.

“These are just regular arms. The weaponized ones take longer to regrow.”

“…What’s the probability that both of them will recover?”

“Right now? One hundred percent. If you leave them to me, I promise to patch them up so they’re good as new. How about it?” asked Emil. The katana that was pointed at his forehead slowly retracted. Seeing that Renya had returned his blade to its sheath, Emil pushed himself up with a lively grunt of effort. He met no resistance from Renya.

“Shall I take this as confirmation that a deal has been made?”

“I’ve got a creeping feeling I’ll come to regret this someday, though. Anyway, once you finish treating them, I expect you to make yourself scarce, got it? My explanation to my friends is going to be that you managed to get away at the last minute.”

“I’ll make sure you won’t come to regret it. You have my word,” Emil said as he gave his chest a quick thump. His smile had returned, every bit as tenacious as before. “And I’m one to keep my word, if I do say so myself.”

Renya tilted his head back and sighed at the unseeable sky, wondering just how much trust he could place on a demon’s word.

The ceramic container was still sitting on the counter at the inn. Renya picked it up, his expression clouded with worry. Did it work? Slowly, he removed the lid.

Bubbles greeted him, popping one after another along the surface of the liquid. A fruity aroma filled his nose, mildly tinged with the scent of alcohol. A smile spread across his lips.

Looks like it did.

This was, for most intents and purposes, a smashing success.

Had he been assaulted by a sharp stinging odor, it would have implied failure — that the contents of the container were overwhelmed by the bacterial onslaught. A few more whiffs of the gaseous emissions, however, convinced him that his worry was misplaced.

Though it seemed a waste, Renya discarded the meat of the fruits. They had done their duty; the remaining liquid was what mattered. Once he strained it through a clean cloth, he would have what he was after: yeast water. This was to be mixed with wheat flour at room temperature, followed by letting it sit in a cool, dark place. Yet more yeast water and wheat flour would then be added, and the whole process would be repeated three times. At the end of all this, he would finally acquire that sublime prize he so desperately craved: bread starter. This meant a world of difference when baking bread. Mixing bread starter into the dough would not only impart to the final product a soft fluffiness to its texture, but also embellish its aroma with a hint of its fruity origins.

Sure, what passed for bread here had its advantages, but Renya didn’t care. He didn’t care that it kept well for long periods of time. He didn’t care that it was cheap. He simply refused to take another bite of that stiff, crusty garbage. Bread had to be soft and the tiniest bit sweet. Otherwise, it just wasn’t bread.

Of course, ingredients alone did not good bread make; he still needed to secure a location where he could actually bake the thing. He figured, however, that that was a problem he could solve by throwing money at it. As he idly pondered such thoughts, his mind drifted to the unreasonably exhausting events of the past two or three days, and he lost himself in his memories.

“In any case, hold on to this for now,” said Emil after handing Renya a clear-red stone the size of a chicken egg.

The two of them had moved Azu and Rona away from the dungeon walls and laid them out on the ground. The demon had then proceeded to examine their still-unconscious bodies before initiating his treatment, which involved potions, spells, and some sort of chiropractic manipulation that produced a whole lot noises one should probably never hear from a human body. At the end of it all, he had produced the stone.

When they were first set down on the ground, both Azu and Rona were bleeding in various places and their faces were pale. After the treatment, color returned to their faces and their breathing calmed. Considering the terribly unnerving noises Renya had just heard, the fact that they were lying there so peacefully now was jarring — so much so that he seriously questioned whether Emil had done something weird. Emil, for his part, vehemently denied Renya’s accusation.

Shion, who had been laid on the ground alongside the other two, also remained unconscious. Her wounds, however, consisted of only some bruising. After a simple examination by Emil, she was doused from head to toe with potions and left alone. It seemed to Renya that even if her injuries were healed, she would end up catching a cold like that, but he decided to leave her be. Emil said she would be fine, after all, and he was the medically-versed one among them, albeit self-proclaimed. Plus, catching a cold as the worst-case scenario wasn’t that bad. She could just put up with it.

“What’s this?” asked Renya, holding the stone in his palm.

“A manastone. Hefty, isn’t it? You’d need one of this size at the very least to claim it was a dungeon core,” replied Emil. He poked the manastone with his finger. That was all it took for a crack to shoot through the stone from where he touched it and split it in two.

“There you go. One fake dungeon core, ready for use.”

“Can people tell it’s fake if they take a good look?”

Renya held the manastone in front of his eyes and stared at it. It was in two halves, but they were still two very big halves. He could certainly sell it for good sum of money, but he knew nothing about the differences between dungeon cores and manastones, and he didn’t want anybody calling him out after taking a look and realizing it wasn’t a core.

“Not a chance. Besides, you’re showing it to humans; they don’t even know what to look for.”

“You think?”

“I do indeed. After all, humans aren’t even aware that dungeon cores are ‘intelligent’ objects.”

“They’re what?”

More terms that Renya had never heard before. He almost consulted the Help Function again, but decided that now was probably not the time.

“It gets complicated, so I’ll spare you the details for now. We’ll discuss it next time. You’ve got three bodies to lug out of here and four more in the next room. I’d recommend getting that done quickly. Here, I’ll even help you.”

The four who were attacked by rust monsters had almost all of their armor destroyed by rust. They also lost quite a lot of blood, but were not in any danger of dying. When they were rescued, they were merely unconscious. Being swallowed by sentient chunks of meat, however, was not without its consequences; on top of suffering multiple bone fractures, various parts of their bodies were missing. Emil treated the fractures but threw his hands up when it came to the second issue, claiming he couldn’t heal what wasn’t there.

“This is, of course, my fault…. Does the sight of this, perhaps, affect your willingness to let me go?”

“No. They’re still alive. You kept your end of the bargain, so I’ll keep mine.”

Being adventurers, they should have already considered the fact that they would be risking life and, in this case, limb. Emil gave him a shrugging look that said, “If you say so,” and hoisted two bodies, carrying one with each arm. The fact that each of the demon’s arms could hold the weight of a human adult served as a stark reminder of the difference in capabilities between the two races.

“I’ll carry the men, so you can handle the ladies, all right?”

“What, you have something against ladies?”

“Human females are a pain, after all. Besides…” Emil grinned. “Isn’t this your chance to grope to your heart’s content?”

“What’s the point? They don’t move. It’d be like playing with puppets.”

The demon looked at Renya in surprise, not expecting to be met with disinterest. Soon, though, he smirked.

“A shame. And such beauties, too. It won’t hurt you to enjoy yourself a little, you know?”

“If you’ve got the time to be flapping your trap, then start carrying them out already,” snapped Renya as he gave Emil a kick to the rear. It was both to hurry him up and shut him up. Otherwise, the demon seemed liable to make even more preposterous remarks.

Renya proceeded to pick up the two girls and carry them to the wagon, all the while insisting to no one in particular that his choice of carrying technique — princess-style — was definitely not influenced by any prior suggestions. Outside, he was subject to another round of teasing by Emil, who had already hauled Azu and his four guards onto the wagon. He answered back with a full-power roundhouse kick to the demon’s head. Emil, however, was entirely unfazed.

“For the record, I’m quite grateful to you, you know? You’re a… lifesaver to me, I suppose? Excuse me if the term is inaccurate. I’m no linguist, so the nuances of such terms are lost on me.”

There were too many people for a single wagon, so they chained multiple ones together and modified them to be pulled by two horses. Once they had everyone loaded, they let Zest’s and Harz’s horses go free. Finally, after they burned all the unusable luggage, Emil turned to Renya with a serious expression.

“It’s common sense amongst demons that when there’s a serious conflict between two sides, only one walks away breathing. That’s why, being the one who started this, I’m lucky to be alive. I owe you a debt for letting me go, and it is a debt I shall not forget.”

Renya was under the impression that letting Emil go was part of the deal they made, so he was not expecting to receive any gratitude from the demon. With that said, if Emil insisted on feeling indebted, he certainly wasn’t going to go out of his way to change Emil’s mind. There was, however, something he wanted Emil to change his mind on. Hope was slim, but he had to try.

“It’s fine. I don’t care about that. What I do care about, though, is that you stop doing human experiments.”

“That is an impossible request.”

The response came immediately. He knew it would, but that didn’t stop him from letting out a deep sigh.

“Then cut back a little, would you?”

“That is impossible as well. Allow me to give you this, though,” Emil said as he handed Renya a small metal rod. It had a pointed end that was not sharp, but rounded, resembling that of a ballpoint pen. Touching it revealed no further insight as to what it was made out of, so Renya used Appraisal.

《Notification: Marking Pen》

“…What is this?”

“Could you try using that to write a symbol on your palm for me? A symbol I’ll be able to recognize in the future, please.”

Renya did as he was told, writing the character for “Ren” in his native language on his left palm. Nothing happened. It didn’t even make a mark on his hand. Did the demon just pull a fast one on him? He shot a suspicious glare at Emil, who, with the expression of one who was genuinely hurt by the visual accusation, walked over and touched his left hand. Immediately, the character “Ren” appeared on his palm, glowing purple.

“Behold, the power of the mana craft — marking pen. By writing this character on someone’s body, I’ll be able to tell that they’re your acquaintance. Pick some place that’s easy to see. So long as they are marked, I promise to keep my hands off them.”

“Huh. So if I go around scribbling this on everyone…”

“You can only mark up to four people per day. I’d advise you to be a tad more selective.”

Renya scowled. Clearly, Emil saw his idea coming from a mile away.

“I’m not being spiteful, by the way. That’s how the mana craft works, so don’t blame me.”

“Let’s just say that’s the case for now… I’ll hold on to it, then.”

He stowed the pen in his inventory, figuring it was a matter of perspective; this way, he could at least save four people a day. Four was better than nothing. It did seem like the kind of thing he’d put away and forget about, though, so he first drew his mark on Shion, Rona, and Azu. Conveniently, all three were still unconscious.

“Now then. I shall be returning to my beloved homeland in the demon territories. I look forward to our next reunion, my dear Renya.”

“I sure don’t. I don’t feel like I can win the rematch. Make sure you plug up the dungeon before you go, okay?”

Renya was of the opinion that his victory hinged on Emil not making full use of the capabilities of his body from the start. Little by little, the demon had tried one thing after another while observing Renya’s responses, but the progressive approach resulted in him making a mistake that cost him the fight. He did, after all, hit Renya’s left shoulder with his tentacle. At the time, dodging was an impossible task for Renya, whose eyes couldn’t follow the attacks yet. Had Emil begun the fight swinging both arms as hard as he could, aiming for a vital spot, chances were that Renya would not be standing right now. Maybe that was what separated a researcher from an occupational fighter.

“Perhaps you won’t. But either way, while we may cross paths again, we won’t be crossing swords. You’re a most intriguing individual, and the fact that you’re a Wanderer has piqued my interest.”

“Please no. That sounds like such a nuisance…”

“Does it now? Allow me to remind you that maintaining a good relationship with me comes with many perks, my dear Renya.”

Afterwards, the two of them went their separate ways, and Renya drove the wagons back to town by himself with seven unconscious bodies in tow. During the journey, he found himself immensely thankful that he got a crash course from Shion on how to handle horse wagons.

It turned out to be a solitary trip, and his companions only began to wake up after he reached their destination. He was almost certain that Emil had a hand in the timing, but at the same time, he was almost equally certain that the demon didn’t do anything else to them. Also, the return of their consciousness was not accompanied by a simultaneous recovery of stamina, and the fatigue associated with blood loss and injuries yet remained. As a result, when he reached town, the first thing he did was ask the gate guard for directions to a skilled doctor. Then, he forcibly hospitalized all his companions.

Once he finished dealing with all the paperwork, he went to the guild and reported that both Zest’s and Harz’s parties were wiped out, and that the dungeon core was destroyed. Upon completing his report, he was abducted by Fritz and taken to another room.

“I trust you’ll fill me in as to what the hell happened out there.”

“It was a small dungeon, but there was a demon. He annihilated two parties. That’s all.”

“If what you say is true, then this is no laughing matter. We will need to verify your statement through the usage of the Judge grace. I assume we will have your full cooperation?”

“Sure, as long as you pay me. I’m not running a charity here.”

A priest who could use Judge was promptly summoned, and Renya’s questioning session began.

“Is it true that there was a demon in a dungeon so close to town?”

“It’s true.”

“And you say Harz and Zest were killed by that demon?”

“That is indeed what I say.”

“What happened to the demon?”

“We fought, but I didn’t finish him off. He escaped.”

According to the gracecraft, everything Renya said was true. This caused no small amount of commotion in the guild, which Renya discovered after he was released from his questioning. Scratching his head at what everyone was getting so worked up about, he grabbed one of the guild staff who was running around for some quick questioning. He learned that the appearance of a demon posed a significant risk to humans who lived nearby. If things went badly, it was entirely possible for a town or two to be wiped off the map. In other words, it was a pretty big deal.

As he idly gazed at the guild staff, who were gradually working themselves into a frenzy assembling new investigation teams and putting out missions to rearrange city defenses, he considered the value of the Judge grace. Or rather, the lack thereof; used improperly, it seemed entirely pointless.

When Harz and Zest were captured by Emil, they were in terrible shape, but still alive. The person who actually killed the two of them was probably one of the four people — Renya and his three friends — who fought the humanoid forms. He had a feeling that some of the bodies he had cut down bore a vague resemblance to the two, but it wasn’t like he went around memorizing the face of every head he sent flying. Had he claimed that Harz and Zest were killed by the demon, the gracecraft should have judged him to be lying. However, his answer was “That is indeed what I say,” which was judged to be true.

Renya wasn’t lying; he was just answering a slightly different question. After all, regardless of who actually killed them, he definitely was saying the demon did. Not a single false word was uttered from his lips. As for his subsequent statement, technically, it should be “We fought, but as a result of the deal we struck, I didn’t finish him off. He escaped.” Again, it was a tad misleading owing to the neglecting of some extra information, but it wasn’t a lie.

In actuality, even if they had figured out he was lying, he had intended to claim that answering would put his life in danger and forcibly keep his silence, but his concerns proved to be comically unnecessary — so much so that it left him feeling almost a little upset. He did come away from the experience with a valuable lesson, though: if he was ever in a situation where Rona was using Judge, he was going to pay a whole lot of attention to the wording of each question.

All in all, the news of a demon appearing was probably so great a shock to the guild’s staff that they completely forgot to examine what he actually said.

As the guild descended ever further into chaos, Renya strolled through its halls in an extremely that’s-none-of-my-business manner. At the counter, he reported the mission’s completion, presented evidence of the dungeon core’s destruction, claimed the mission reward of 24 gold — four parties’ worth — along with 10 gold for the core’s destruction. The core was purchased from him for another 60 gold, and he was given 6 more gold in return for his assistance to the guild. Finally, he stepped out of the door and left the guild, a whole 100 gold richer than when he entered.