Return

[In truth, the purity of the heart is a very ambiguous concept. Realistically, there is no one who has gone through life without ever harboring feelings for the opposite sex. Usually, such people are either asexual or have antisocial personality disorders.]

Amdusias looked back at Eunha and said. The various instruments jutting from his upper body blended with the heavenly song, playing a bizarre yet beautiful melody.

[Of course, on a personal level, I also prefer them over ordinary beings. Aren’t they an interesting sort of human? It’s only natural for a demon to be drawn to them.]

“…….”

[But... in this day and age, there are hardly any such humans. Most are ordinary, and as they grow up, they come to harbor feelings for one or two people of the opposite sex. If I dismissed even those people as unclean, I’d be left with no humans at all I could contract with. That would be a self-defeating move.]

So saying, Amdusias stroked his single horn with an arm that looked like a human hand and continued.

[I’m generously overlooking up to one of them.]

“……Even a demon compromises with the present world?”

[The losers who can’t keep up with the times have always been weeded out. We are no exception.]

Amdusias shrugged and looked down at Eunha with red eyes. The strings of the gayageum embedded in his back twanged sharply, and materialized notes slowly burst out like powder. They soon became sheet music.

[Take it. If you read it, you will gain knowledge and talent related to music. My music even includes the ability to control plants, so if you play the correct tune, you can adjust the size of trees or flowers, or make them grow rapidly.]

“According to what is written in the Lemegeton, you play an orchestra for your contractor any time and anywhere they wish. Why leave that part out?”

[Ugh…… damn that Solomon. He wrote down every last thing.]

Amdusias clicked his tongue and opened his mouth wide. A long hand crawled out from inside, then pierced straight through his upper body and forcibly tore out a small flute fused with his innards. Amdusias handed it to Eunha.

[If you blow it, an orchestra will sound. Keep that in mind. The moment you start wondering exactly where the orchestra is coming from, you’ll become one of the band members, too. Just let it sound when it sounds and leave it alone. In other words, don’t think about it.]

“……Very well, I shall bear it in mind.”

[Cut the goddamn Solomon act, too. Listening to it is irritating as hell. Tsk, that libertine king was nowhere near pure. He had a whopping 700 wives and 300 concubines. He tricked me into thinking he was a bachelor, then once the contract was signed he started really waving his dick around. Solomon was a bigger bastard than a demon.]

His voice carried genuine disgust and contempt.

Since Eunha wasn’t using that way of speaking by choice either, she let out a sigh, carefully folded the score, and slipped it into her pocket.

When making a contract with a demon there is no choice but to speak like this.

[Tsk, Solomon should have fallen into hell. I don’t know why God spared him.]

“Do not mock him.”

[A demon can do that. More importantly, you’re a young mage. How many demons have you contracted with so far? Surely you haven’t made contracts with all 72 great demons. If you had, there’d be no way the owner of your body would still be you.]

Amdusias brushed Eunha’s words aside and leaned in to stare at her. Eunha’s expressionless face was reflected clearly in his blood-red eyes.

[Even if you are Solomon’s successor, you haven’t become Solomon himself. You merely borrow his glory through the grimoire. Excessive greed and desire will taint you.]

“How meddlesome of you. I conclude only contracts that fit the vessel, so there will be no occasion for you to rule my body.”

[Is that so. A pity.]

Amdusias licked his lips and drew back.

The summoning’s duration was also nearing its end. The brightness of the constellation etched into the sky had dimmed considerably. Mint green was returning to Eunha’s eyes as well.

She glanced back at her hair, which had already begun turning black again, put away the Lemegeton, and closed her eyes.

“Our business is done. Return now to the place you came from. Amdusias.”

[Gladly, one who bears God’s radiance. But do not think I will forever bow at your feet. Demons must not be believed, must not be trusted, and must not be ignored.]

Amdusias replied in a sly tone. The violin stuck into his abdomen played a beautiful concerto.

[I sincerely hope that one day you will indulge in greed beyond your station. So that I may tear apart the flesh you hide beneath Solomon’s light, feast on your blood and organs, and scatter your bone dust across hell. So that even in hell, I can hear your screams. I pray for it earnestly in the name of God.]

Amdusias left those words behind, then melted away like a dark-red liquid and vanished. He had returned to hell. Only the summoning circle left alone on the floor testified that he had appeared here.

Eunha stood there for a moment, staring at the place where he had been, then let out a long sigh and opened her closed eyes.

Her irises, returned to mint green, settled into calm.

“…….”

The words Amdusias had said just before disappearing lingered in her mind.

The resentment and hostility of demons she had no choice but to endure as long as she possessed the Lemegeton. Lesser demons were one thing, but the naked killing intent of a great demon was hard to take in a human body. It felt like her head was buzzing. In any case, it wasn’t easy.

‘All great demons are probably like this, Seir excepted. Even while acting friendly, they’ll only be thinking about stabbing me in the back.’

Seir was the only great demon who treated humans kindly.

According to the records Solomon left behind, he cared for humans almost as much as an angel would, so the other demons were basically the kind you could expect to betray you at any moment. Keeping a tight rein on them was the right thing to do.

“Hoo…….”

Eunha exhaled slowly and dispelled all her magic. The constellations shattered and scattered, and the golden dust filling the air evaporated away. The flames covering Ian and Yuna’s bodies also died down.

“It is all over. You may come out now.”

She said, looking back at the two of them. Ian walked toward her, brushing away the Reptilians’ scales rolling around at his feet. Yuna also got up.

“Did the contract conclude properly?”

“Yes. It was sealed without incident. Read the score and you gain the ability.”

“The score…… I gain the ability if I read it too?”

When Ian asked the question that had suddenly come to mind, Eunha gave a bitter smile and shook her head.

“A demon’s power basically only works on the contractor. Even if Mr. Ian reads it, nothing special will happen. It’ll just be sheet music.”

“I see. Then may I check it, just once……?”

“Ah, yes. Of course.”

Eunha fished the score out of her pocket and handed it to him. Ian checked it together with Yuna, who had come over beside him.

“……Ugh. What kind of, uh, music is this……? The notes are all jumbled…… and th-there are not even any staves…….”

“…….”

Her words were right. On the pure white paper, hundreds of notes were packed tightly together, and there was nothing else that could really be called a score.

If you looked at it without knowing it was sheet music, it was so crude you might think it was just a child’s scribble.

Staring at it hard didn’t make anything unusual stand out. It just hurt your eyes.

“How is it?”

Eunha trotted over and tilted her head. Ian glanced at her, then gave a wry smile and handed the sheet music back.

“Looking at it makes my eyes hurt. That is quite literally all I can feel from it.”

“That is because a demon can only grant power to the summoner and the contractor. To anyone else it does nothing but harm.”

Eunha took the score and slowly skimmed through it. Her eyes turned gold for an instant before quickly returning to normal.

“Hoo…… done. Musical talent. I have it.”

“……That finished faster than I expected. Are there no other procedures? Playing the piece in the score, say. Or preparing an offering…….”

“Nothing of the sort. A demon’s power can usually be had by a method this simple. Solomon said it is because contracting with a demon in the first place is the hard part.”

“Ah…….”

It was a perfectly convincing reason.

Honestly, summoning a lesser demon was not especially dangerous. Ask whether it is perfectly safe and the answer is no, but nothing like a life-threatening crisis occurs. Since demons are generally ranked by how dangerous the summoning is, this doubles as proof that lesser demons are not all that impressive.

And the great demons, the seventy-two demons of Solomon among them?

Judged by the standard of not having the Lemegeton, summoning a great demon was effectively no different from suicide.

For a mage the situation might be somewhat different, but for an ordinary person it was the same as shouting “somebody please kill me!”

That is because a demon summoning fundamentally brings with it the legion the demon commands, along with brainwashing, the fires of hell, malign thought and mana, all at once.

The Lemegeton’s power puts all of that under control so that only the demon’s true body is summoned, but those without the grimoire have no such thing. They have to take all of it head-on in order to contract at all.

And if the terms displease it, or the summoner displeases it, it will simply kill them…… just how difficult a contract with a great demon is hardly needs explaining.

‘There is a reason the Clock Tower classified it as a top-grade grimoire…….’

Ian nodded, staring at the grimoire hanging from Eunha’s waist, then looked over the Reptilians’ scales scattered around them.

“Well then, our business is done, so shall we head back. After we collect the spoils first.”

“Ah, yes. I will help.”

“I-I’ll help too. Ehehe…….”

“Ah, thank you. Thanks to you too, Yuna.”

Ian didn’t bother refusing the two of them and, together, scraped up all the scales that had fallen to the floor. Thanks to that, they were able to gather quite a lot of scales.

It was a little disappointing that all that remained were scales, but they could still be sold for a good price, so it didn’t matter much.

To begin with, Reptilians had more commercial value than material value. Honestly, it didn’t matter that they couldn’t be turned into ingredients.

“Here, take some for yourself. You take some as well, Eunha. It is a gift.”

Ian specially handed a certain amount of scales to the two of them as well.

Not a lot, just a handful. Giving away more felt a little off.

After all, he had taken them down alone.

He had no intention whatsoever of sharing the spoils of a solo hunt and taking a loss.

“W-wow……! Thank you, Ian……! I’ll put it to good use……!”

“……Thank you. I will treasure it.”

Fortunately, the two of them seemed quite pleased with the gifts. Ian wore a satisfied smile, stuffed the sack of scales into his bag, and stretched.

Now it was truly time to return.

Fortunately, the exit route from here was very simple, so they could escape whenever they wanted. Just like when they came in, they only had to pass through a mirror. There was no need to rack their brains over it.

The escape mirror was also something Eunha had brought with her.

A small round mirror fastened to Gamigin’s side. Eunha unfastened it and ordered Gamigin in a cold voice.

“Thank you for coming all this way, Gamigin. You may return now.”

[What.]

Gamigin’s face, which had been waiting quietly for her, twisted. It was the kind of face you’d get if you searched “ugly horse face” on the internet.

[I sat here quietly watching you make a contract with another demon and even playing word-chain with that limb-severing onahole, and now you’re telling me to get lost because I have no more business here?!]

“Yes.”

[Then at least learn necromancy and spirit summoning first! Why make a contract with me if you’re not even going to take my power!]

Gamigin shouted as if in anguish. Eunha slammed the intact mirror against the floor and answered.

“If I take that, my soul gets put up as collateral to you too. Do I look like an idiot who’d fall for something like that, Gamigin? I won’t be fooled even if you talk while looking that ridiculous.”

At her cold voice, Gamigin’s face returned to normal.

Clank!

With a heavy metallic sound, the armored black horse let out a low chuckle.

[Hmph, Solomon, honestly. He wrote down even the pointless parts.]

“Be gone, Gamigin. If I have need of you as transport again, I will summon you.”

[I look forward to that day, successor of Solomon. I hope that by then you will need my power.]

“That will not happen.”

[Let us hope so.]

With that, Gamigin kicked off the ground and shot into the sky. Becoming a black dot in an instant, he vanished as if evaporating, and Eunha held up the broken mirror for everyone as she explained.

“Pass through this mirror and you will return safely to the place where you entered.”

“I-isn’t the mirror far too small……? It looks hard to get into…….”

“Do not worry. Just putting a hand in is enough for it to send you back on its own. Ian had a little trouble on the way in, but the return will be no problem. I asked Baal, so it is certain. My sight went a little blurry for it, but that is nothing a pair of glasses cannot fix.”

She answered, tapping the corner of her eye with a finger. Ian nodded and looked back at Mariang.

“If it returns us to where we entered…… then Mariang will appear somewhere else.”

“Probably so. If you intend to recover her, you had best find out where she was.”

“That is true. Please wait a moment.”

“Yes.”

Ian left the two of them behind and walked toward Mariang. She had been sitting quietly, but when she saw Ian, she smiled.

“Master.”

A voice filled with affection and trust. But Ian didn’t particularly react, and asked only what he wanted to know.

“You. Where were you last, before you came in here?”

“Uh…… Incheon. An alley in Incheon.”

“Do you know the exact address?”

“Ah, yes. I checked it on my phone before I came in. I think…….”

She told Ian the address she remembered. Ian thought about it for a moment, then recalled the face of someone living nearby and let out a sigh.

“That is…… near the cathedral.”

A Catholic cathedral that doubled as an orphanage. The address Mariang gave was less than ten minutes away from it. It was the very cathedral where Cecilia was staying.

Fortunately, it seemed there was no need to go to Mariang in person.