The Devil's Whisper

Yuren’s head, severed by Jed.

Before it even hit the floor, Ferda shot a magic arrow and blew it apart.

Crack!

Fragments of the shattered head flew in every direction.

“Aagh!”

Jed instinctively covered his face.

He spat repeatedly, wondering whether any of it had gotten into his mouth, and shouted at Ferda.

“No! Why did you suddenly blow up his head?!”

Ferda calmly wiped the blood from his cheek with his thumb and answered.

“I had to make sure.”

“He’ll die even if you only separate his head from his body. Did you really have to confirm the kill like that?”

“The demon isn’t the problem. At least this is better than having people wonder why the Regent suddenly became skilled with a sword and cut off his neck, isn’t it?”

“Ah, that’s true.”

Jed looked at Yuren’s corpse—the one he had cut.

The marks left by a stab and a single clean slash were clearly visible.

For a third-circle mage who had supposedly fought a messy battle, it looked far too physical.

Jed decided to damage the severed surfaces to make it look as though Yuren had died in an explosion.

“So….”

After finishing the groundwork, Jed looked at Ferda reproachfully.

“You said you only needed the eyes.”

“So did you bring only the eyes?”

Jed laughed incredulously.

“Do you seriously believe that just because you’re crazy?”

As expected, he had the makings of a master thief.

Even when given vague instructions, his ability to carry them out perfectly was reassuring.

“By the way, you’re later than expected.”

“It’s been quite eventful. I was moving around while avoiding people’s eyes, and I got unlucky and was caught for a bit….”

Jed recalled what had happened.

His expression briefly darkened, but then he grinned.

“Well, meeting that man made things safer and let me finish without leaving any trouble behind.”

“Who did you meet?”

“A man named Karl from the Extermination Squad. The man Your Excellency lured in.”

The moment Ferda heard the name, an “Ah” escaped his lips.

Karl.

The man Ferda had put a dog collar on.

“Thanks to him, things went more smoothly. I entered as a substitute storekeeper just now.”

“I see.”

“More importantly, is your leg all right?”

Jed asked, gesturing toward Ferda’s leg with his chin.

The bleeding had slowed, but it had not stopped.

Without waiting for an answer, Jed leaned toward Ferda’s leg.

“Let’s stop the bleeding first. We should at least apply pressure with a bandage or something.”

“I have a handkerchief, so I’ll handle it myself.”

Everything had to be done meticulously from beginning to end.

With that thought, Ferda wrapped the bandage around his own leg.

All he had to do was tie it off and secure it, but the knot was loose.

Ferda was already weak, and in his anemic state, he had trouble tying it tightly.

“Give it here.”

Unable to watch any longer, Jed moved Ferda’s hand aside and firmly secured the wound with the handkerchief.

“Let’s say you staunched the bleeding with the last of your strength. What can’t someone do when they’re on the verge of death?”

“Yes, that should work.”

“So what do we do? Do I carry you out of here? If so, there’ll be an extra charge for the additional cargo.”

Ferda shook his head.

“I’d prefer it if you carried out the commission as requested. Do you see that book with the black cover and silver chains?”

A book lay where Ferda pointed.

“Yes, I see it. Should I take that?”

“There should be some golden silk that was used to transport Gamigin’s Necromancy. Wrap it around the book and safely place it in the carriage we came in.”

Jed wrapped Barbatos’s Shadowcraft in the cloth he had brought.

His eyes never left Ferda’s leg.

“Are you really all right? Shouldn’t we call someone?”

“There’s no need to worry.”

“No, it’s just that you’ve lost this much blood. I’m worried.”

“People don’t die from losing this much.”

Jed scratched his head and pondered.

Ferda kept saying he was fine, but the injury was too severe to simply leave him like this.

“So, did you find the information?”

“Not yet. I heard a commotion below first, so I came to deal with that.”

“Then don’t waste any more time. Find it quickly.”

“Is that important right now? Your Excellency, you look like you’re about to die….”

“Wasn’t it information you wanted badly enough to devote your life to obtaining?”

The reason he fawned over ugly women and cheated at gambling to extort money from nobles was that he had a clear goal.

Jed had nothing left.

The Red-Eyed had been wiped out, and the only one who survived that place was his younger self.

The last thing he remembered was his little sister being dragged away by a stranger.

With no family left, that hope was all he had.

“A contract is a contract. You agreed to perform your work properly on the condition that you would get what you wanted.”

“……”

Jed wore an unhappy expression,

but at the same time, he felt as though he had no choice but to answer the resolve he had hardened so ruthlessly.

Jed rose and earnestly pleaded with Ferda.

“Don’t die.”

Jed moved.

Even as he ran at full speed, not a single footstep could be heard.

‘As expected, he was different from the moment he sprouted.’

Thinking that in admiration, Ferda leaned against the wall.

Ferda leaned against the display cabinet and caught his breath.

His mana was completely depleted, he was anemic, and his mind had been driven to its limit.

The fact that Yuren had entered the Sealed Vault had been recorded, and if he did not come out on time, an emergency response team would be dispatched.

‘Judging by the time… about twenty minutes?’

With even a single minute being a desperate amount of time now, that was far too long.

Especially in a place like this, twenty minutes was out of the question.

Ferda had weakened, and weakened prey was the finest prey for a predator.

And the ominous energy of the cursed grimoires began to eat away at Ferda.

-Won’t you play with me?

-How about making a contract with me? I’ll give you the power to destroy the world.

-Come here. I shall personally take you in.

From childish voices to solemn ones, they crept inside while feeling their way across Ferda’s entire body.

If one merely listened to them, they seemed like beings with truly powerful or strange abilities.

But Ferda knew them well.

These were miscellaneous demons whose names were not even known.

Their prices and conditions were terrible, and even the power they offered was pathetic.

‘Do I really have to listen to the words of things like this?’

Perhaps that was why.

Even in this tense situation, he felt a yawn coming on.

The malice they harbored was not enough to exploit an opening in Ferda.

After a while, all those voices stopped at once.

It was not because they had retreated before Ferda’s ironclad willpower.

Something of a higher order than them was approaching.

‘He’s here.’

A moment later, the darkness in Ferda’s field of vision grew thicker.

Just as he felt an instinctive sense of foreboding, a chilling cold enveloped Ferda.

Soon, someone appeared before Ferda.

-Damn mortal.

An old man with blue skin and a long white beard hanging down.

He stared at Ferda with eyes as white as though they were clouded by cataracts.

It was Marbas, the great demon who had made a contract with Yuren.

-How dare you lay a hand on my possession right after he completed our contract? Do you know what it means to earn a demon’s grudge?

Ferda looked at him and asked,

“What does it mean?”

-You will pay dearly for humiliating this Marbas! You shall suffer for a million years in the lowest depths of the Hell of Extreme Cold, where your skin blisters and your veins freeze!

Marbas thundered at him.

Then Marbas tapped the floor with the staff he was holding.

The frost of Hell scattered across the floor.

-I shall give you a chance to make amends. Make a contract with me. Take the place of my new contractor. What do you say?

A contract with Ferda.

That was why he had come here to threaten him.

“I refuse.”

-Do you mean to accept my grudge? No one who angers a great demon lives to return home.

“You certainly seem angry.”

Ferda already knew what he was really after.

“You just want an excuse, so you made a contract with that fool and pretended to hold a grudge, didn’t you?”

It was one of the cheap tricks demons used to tempt people.

He also wanted to test Ferda’s abilities while luring away the contractor he already had.

Marbas, who had been scowling fiercely, let out a laugh instead of shouting.

-Heh heh heh… You’re no ordinary man. So you have no intention of making a contract? I’ll make your price especially cheap.

He was talking as though he were clearing out a warehouse.

“Of course not.”

-What a shame. It would make me very happy if an exceptional soul like yours became mine. And when the day comes that you need me, you’ll have to pay an even greater price.

He exited rather casually for someone who supposedly held a grudge.

Ferda’s field of vision remained narrow, and the chattering voices were gone.

Something hidden in the darkness wriggled and approached him.

-The power you displayed was truly astonishing, Lord Ferda Valdrova.

It was a wet, sticky voice.

A toad in a suit emerged through the darkness.

-My name is Morax. Why not come and make a contract with me? I shall place power and authority in your hands. I shall lend you everything to create a great princely domain.

The toad’s enormous mouth curled into a fishy smile.

-Of course, you will pay the price someday.

Morax, one of the Seven Great Demons and the demon of contracts and payment.

He was the demon who granted the most power of all demons, making him a truly tempting figure.

He could turn even a feeble man into a Swordmaster and instantly make a great mage out of someone with no talent for magic.

But that path always led to a horrific tragedy.

‘That is Morax’s curse.’

Ferda had already witnessed those tragedies countless times.

So all that remained on his lips was a scornful smile.

“I know exactly what you’re going to do. You’re boring, so get lost.”

-Heh heh heh… I shall withdraw for now, but one day, the time will come when you call Morax’s name. I shall await that day.

The toad gentleman tipped his hat and returned to his own domain.

Soon, someone else appeared before Ferda.

-Hello, darling.

A wet, obscene voice whispered in his ear as its owner appeared.

Blond hair, blue eyes, and enormous breasts.

She looked exactly like Olivia Arken.

But she was not Olivia Arken.

Her lower body was that of a snake, not a human.

-What you showed us today was wonderful. I never expected you to land such a blow on Marbas’s contractor.

Sitri, the demon of lust and hallucination.

“I see.”

-Why are you making such a bored face? The greatest beauty in the Empire is standing right in front of you. I suppose I’m not your type?

She smiled slyly as she twisted her hair around a slender finger.

Her seductive appearance was more than enough to torment a man’s heart.

But not Ferda’s.

Even though he was at the height of his virility and looking at a pale, naked body, he felt nothing but calm.

Compared to Morax and Marbas, the power she was offering was the most pathetic of all.

-I guess you really aren’t interested. You said you married a dragon, didn’t you?

“Yes.”

-If you love that dragon so much, what would you say to embracing two women at once?

Ferda thought for a moment, then looked at Sitri and spoke.

“Tell me more.”

-What do you think is the reason I could take on Olivia Arken’s appearance? For a demon like me, this is as easy as eating rice cake while lying down.

She smiled deeply and whispered.

-Darling… Do you want to see Valdrova’s appearance?

Ferda’s desire stirred.

In the end, that wavering made him fall for Sitri’s ploy.

“Take Valdrova’s form.”

-Heehee, what a cute man. All right.

Sitri covered her face with both hands. Everything changed along with the movement of her hands.

Her blond hair turned red, two pairs of horns appeared on her head, and her eyes became golden, four-pupiled eyes.

-Well? What do you think of these beautiful features of mine?

Sitri had recreated the form of Valdrova, the one Ferda had dreamed of seeing so desperately.

Ferda gazed fixedly at her form, then said,

“That’s not it.”

Only disappointment showed on his face.

-What?

“My fiancée wasn’t that sharp-featured. Her eyes should be angled downward more.”

-Hmm, is that so? Like this?

Sitri altered her face according to Ferda’s words.

Ferda stared at the face for a long moment, then shook his head again.

“That’s not it. Her eyes are gentler. And her lips aren’t that thick.”

-Wait a moment. Like this?

“Why can’t you understand what I mean? Am I asking for something difficult?”

-Like this?

They bickered for quite some time as the great demon Sitri repeatedly changed her face.

After trying for a long while, Sitri suddenly sprang to her feet.

Deep disgust filled her eyes.

-You lunatic.

“What’s wrong? If you want, I’ll make a contract with you! I just have to reproduce everything exactly as I want. It isn’t difficult.”

-Get lost! If I get involved with a pervert like you, I’ll be the only one to suffer for it!

Even Sitri, the great demon of lust, vanished with a disgusted expression.

‘It seems she can’t replace Valdrova.’

To be honest, Ferda had been somewhat enchanted and had slipped a little under her spell.

He had thought that if he missed Valdrova, seeing a substitute might not be so bad.

But she was a woman for whom even a substitute was impossible.

‘I shouldn’t have done that.’

Because of Sitri’s shoddy disguise, Valdrova’s image only lingered more vividly before his eyes.

He missed her terribly, and even grew melancholy from loneliness.

‘Ah, my queen.’

Ferda called out to her yearningly in his heart.

‘You love the world this much, yet the world keeps trying to use you.’

The reason Yuren had attacked Ferda was to incur Valdrova’s wrath.

There was no way a plan capable of toppling the Empire had been carried out because of Yuren’s personal grudge.

‘But don’t worry.’

Ferda already knew who was behind it all.

And Ferda’s sorrow made him even more ruthless.

‘I will make someone answer for all of this.’

The rats among the Empire’s black mages were hidden in the underground waterways,

Yuren had been instructed to arrange the Regent’s death,

the crumbling Empire was being brought helplessly to ruin,

and someone prayed that every blood relative would die,

a beautiful flower blooming from the seed of calamity.

‘Olivia Arken.’

That was when it happened.

Ferda’s vision cleared completely, and his narrowed senses returned to normal.

He heard someone hurrying down the stairs.

They were undoubtedly the knights and mages dispatched in response to the emergency.

“By damn Alte, what is going on here?!”

“Isn’t that… Regent Valdrova?!”

“Is he breathing?”

“Yes, he’s breathing!”

“Hurry and fetch a priest! This is an emergency!”

“Your Excellency! Can you hear my voice?”

I can hear you perfectly.

So I suppose I’ll sleep for a little while now.