Chapter 111: The Scene of a Massacre (2)
“What do you think? Oh, right. You too… Ugh…”
Jorgal sighed and crumpled the papers I’d brought with me without even looking at them.
‘I’ve been doing some research…’
My heart sank, but I swallowed hard. There was nothing I, a red-horn, could do.
After tossing the crumpled papers into the trash, Jorgal looked at me and spoke up.
“Hey, did you hear that the new recruits assigned to the Southern Division went to the desert and came back with a handful of sand?”
“That’s the first I’ve heard of it, but…”
I scratched my neck and replied, having been punched in the back of the head by Jorgal for disrespect.
“It’s their first time in the desert…assholes. If they’re going to the desert to bring back pieces of ‘otherworldly’ corpses, among many other things they should’ve done it properly instead of bringing sand everywhere.”
When I wasn’t sure what I wanted to say, it was best to smile. It was one of the survival tricks I’d learned.
“Hahaha, those are some funny guys.”
Overhearing my stuttering laughter, Jorgal hit me over the head with a nearby stack of papers.
“Hey, asshole, you’re doing the same thing. What, the hero reincarnated? You think you found him this time? And all you got for your information was a piece of stone? And the three humans you took for travel expenses are already well on their way to your horns?”
He slaps me on the head and throws a rock from his desk at me.
It hits me in the chest and ricochets off, and I catch it before it hits the floor.
“No… I was definitely sensing the hero aura……this is…”
I looked at the stone in my hand and tears welled up in my eyes.
I had definitely felt the aura of a warrior.
“Well… It’s my fault for listening to you so straightforwardly.
Jorgal sneered at me enthusiastically. He was the one who asked me to go on a business trip while I was quietly gathering information about the hero.
“Well, I’m afraid things are going to go a little wrong this time… I need you to take over.”
“What? What do you mean…?”
“What the hell, do you think I should be demoted because of your bullshit?”
He waved his hand in front of his face like he was telling me to get lost.
‘Demoted…?’
I staggered back to my seat, my legs giving out with every step.
There was only one place I could get demoted to, the western branch, the branch near the Holy Land.
‘I heard they cut your head off for going to work there…’
I didn’t want to be decapitated at such a young age without ever blossoming.
I had a dream. The same dream that all these assholes in this shithole have: black horns.
I’ve had people ask me what kind of black horns I have in this shithole, where I’m not a demon, where I’m not fighting for my life with honor, where I’m treated like a piece of paper.
There was a legendary demon at the bottom of this pit. A legendary demon who grew black horns with just a stack of papers.
It was said that the number of humans he received as a reward was in the thousands.
They call him a legend because of his accomplishments, but he is real. I believe he is currently serving on the staff of the Legionnaire.
He’s also the head of this organization, by the way.
I wonder if I’ll ever get to meet him.
“Whoa…”
I sighed and organized the papers on my desk.
I had to save my life first and if I didn’t want to be demoted, I had to find out what I could.
I needed something much more tangible than ancient texts so I stared at the stone in my hand.
It seemed to sense the faintest trace of the hero aura. More precisely, I suspected it was the energy of a holy sword.
In ancient texts, holy swords were said to have the power of the stars.
I placed the stone in the corner of my desk and pulled out a map, then I began to mark the map village by village.
Areas rumored to have seen meteors falling out of nowhere. Since they were rumors, I had to filter them out a bit.
The meteor was supposed to be a summoned holy sword and the stone fragments were probably debris from the summoning.
Again, it was just a guess.
“At a rough guess…”
I circled a spot on the map where the markings I had made based on rumors were particularly clustered.
‘…around here.’
The ancient texts of the humans said that it was very difficult for the hero and the demon king to escape their ‘bonds’.
The demon king’s resurrection was decades away at best, so the hero hadn’t been reincarnated, or rather born, for that matter…
Perhaps he was still a child and in that state, he would be very easy to kill… and what better news for the soon-to-be resurrected Demon King.
Becoming a Black Horn wasn’t out of the question, if I could find him.
‘…Do I have to go through all the villages around here?’
As I was thinking about it someone walks by my desk and taps me uncomfortably on the shoulder.
I frowned and turned to see Jorgal standing there with a sinister grin on his face.
“Hey…You’re working hard, aren’t you? I’m going home first, because a pretty young lady who lives nearby is looking for me…kihihihi…The one with the black horns…She must be in some kind of prestigious unit. She complimented me on my intelligence, saying I’m not like her. I guess she liked me. Ha-ha-ha!”
Jorgal laughs, then pats me on the shoulder and walks away.
‘Assholes…How dare they mate in no man’s land.’
Bastards can do what they want, I guess.
Dozens of minutes have passed since Jorgal left.
I tried to concentrate, but it wasn’t that easy.
“Aah…That was…”
I couldn’t help but think about what Jorgal would do next since it had been a while since I held a woman.
“Ugh…”
I leaned back in my chair and looked up. On the other side of the room, there was another flurry of papers.
No matter what I do, I’m going to lose my mind in this place.
‘Let’s go outside and get some air.’
That sounded like a good idea, so I pushed myself to my feet. It was getting late, and unless I had the misfortune to run into some knights, nothing would happen.
I scrambled out of my chair, grabbed my coat, and headed for the building’s entrance.
As I step to the door, I hear a commotion from the doorway.
“Hey, asshole, identify yourself properly.”
“Oh, we’re related…”
The first voice was clearly that of the demon standing guard. I had seen his horns once before, and they were a dark red color, but he was a demon that could be said to be much stronger than me.
‘Well, I wonder how many demons in this building are weaker than me…’
He was a good-natured guy, so how could he be so angry?
‘I was a little… Stupid.’
I peeked around the corner and saw a dark-haired man was being held back by the guard.
“So don’t show me that weird black thing, show me your horns or something!”
“No, don’t you think I don’t know the rules of this floor? From the moment I set foot in this building, I’m not allowed to show my horns.”
The man being held up was right but I didn’t recognize him either.
Most of all, I noticed the white bandages around his eyes so he might be blind.
As far as I could remember, there were no bandaged…blind demons. It was a completely unfamiliar face.
At least he knows the rules…maybe he’s new.
“Hey, is there a problem?”
I asked politely as I approached them before the commotion grew any louder.
The guard gestures with his free hand at the man clutching his fist.
“I’ve never seen him before…He showed me this weird black liquid and asked if he could pass, and then I asked him to show me his horns, and he didn’t, isn’t he human?!”
“Of course you’ve never seen me before…I’m new here…”
The man struggled to breathe as the guard lifted his arm in excitement.
“Now, now… Just calm down for a second…”
I say, holding up my palm, and the grumpy security guard thankfully relents.
“C’mon… Phew… Whoa… Thank you.”
The man smiles at me as he catches his breath. But it wasn’t over yet.
Even though there were countless demons here whose names even I couldn’t recognize, his features were all too recognizable.
‘He knew the rules…It means he’s new…’
I opened my mouth as I approached the man who claimed to be a newcomer.
“That…You said you’re new, but what’s the black liquid?”
“Oh, that’s…”
Soon, something like a slimy black droplet erupted from the bandaged man’s finger and moved around.
I wonder what this is.
The darkness of the energy was similar to that of a demon, but something was different.
As I stare at it wide-eyed and silent, the bandage man explains.
“…It’s because I have a bit of experience with spirits.”
“Spirits… You mean dark spirits…?! No, I mean, why did you come here instead of going to the combat unit…?”
Elementalists were rare among demons and one was supposed to be on the elite course to become one, but why did he come to this pit?
“Well… there was something that happened. It’s a family matter…”
“Ahhh… I see.”
From the look on his face, it was clear that he was demoted.
He was entrusted with the task of gathering information when he couldn’t even look at the documents. Still, it didn’t hurt to make a connection with an elementalist.
The guard still seems to be a little out of the loop, so maybe I should help him out here.
“By any chance, when you were assigned this time, you were given a card or something…? Do you have the card you got when you came in, the thin one?”
I stumbled over my words unintentionally, but I was quick to catch myself.
“Uh, card… I do.”
The bandaged man quickly pulls a card from his arm and hands it to me.
The security guard looks at it in wonder, as if he’s never seen one before but it was a device for identification on this floor.
‘Wait a minute, is this the first time the guard has seen this?’
…I figured he must have been stupid and forgotten.
“Here, if I infuse magick into this…”
I showed the guard the card and inserted magick on it. I didn’t need to show the man in the bandages, as he was blind.
The guard, who had read the card, let out an “Oooh!” and clapped his hands. Then releases the man’s grip and pats him on the shoulder.
“I’m sorry for the misunderstanding, Jorgal.”
“Haha, no problem.”
The man in the bandages smirked as he straightened his own collar.
Overhearing their conversation, I quickly flipped the card over to see what it said.
Jorgal, that’s what it said.
It was a very familiar name.
‘Didn’t Jorgal just… go outside…?’
At least this smiling man in front of me was definitely not Jorgal. But why, and for what purpose, is this man pretending to be him?
And where is the real Jorgal?
I felt goosebumps all over my body as I realized the uncomfortable truth.
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