The demon Palati was so shocked that he let out a loud cry, but he quickly regained his composure.
Th, this... If anyone finds out, I'm finished.
"You lot, get inside!"
Bang!
He barked at the demons as they crowded into the room.
"You. Where did you get this? Speak truthfully!"
"I found it by chance while passing through the Dark Forest. It seemed far too dangerous for someone like me to keep, so I merely offered it to someone worthy of becoming its owner."
The demon who had presented the horn trembled violently.
This is why lowly creatures are hopeless.
Palati clicked his tongue inwardly.
Not all demons were the same. Some were this lacking in judgment, this inferior.
The reason demon society revered strength was because creatures like these existed to serve higher demons like Palati, allowing them to fulfill their role as members of the Demon Realm.
Lowering his voice, Palati asked,
"Who else knows that you obtained something this valuable?"
"N, no one! The moment we found it, we ran straight here to present it to Lord Palati!"
The demon bowed his head.
"Well done."
Palati stroked the demon's head.
Then he grabbed a fistful of his hair.
The handsome, innocent-looking face twisted in pain.
What a waste of a pretty face.
For a brief moment, Palati considered sparing him and keeping him around for nighttime entertainment.
But he chose to act in pursuit of a greater ambition.
Just as he was about to snap the demon's neck, a metallic sound rang out.
The sound of a sword being drawn.
"What...?"
"Take your filthy hands off him, demon."
A low-ranking demon standing in the back row charged forward with a sword.
And that sword hurt like hell.
A holy sword...?!
Not a demon!
"Y, you bastards!"
"Run!"
The pretty demon—or rather, the one pretending to be a demon—shouted the order.
The one wielding the holy sword continued attacking fearlessly despite the command, but when the pretty one yelled, "Didn't you hear me?!" he finally turned and retreated.
"Lord Palati?"
"What happened?"
The demons serving the demon noble Palati came rushing in.
Caught off guard by the sudden attack, Palati had lost his stance for a moment. But as his subordinates arrived, his dignity and fury returned.
"The ones who just left! Capture them immediately. Kill them! They're suspicious!"
"Yes, sir!"
Then a booming voice echoed throughout the corridor.
"The demon noble Palati is trying to kill us! We found and offered him His Highness the Archduke's horn, and now he wants to silence us by murdering us!"
"..."
The moment they heard that, every subordinate in the room turned to look at their master.
They found His Highness Isiter's horn?
Has the Archduke already died? How did Lord Palati know that?
Could it be...?
One particularly cunning demon smashed his forehead against the floor.
"Congratulations! Allow me to greet the new Archduke!"
"...!"
"Long live the new Archduke!"
"I never doubted for a moment that Lord Palati would become the next Archduke!"
The more quick-witted demons immediately joined in with loud flattery.
Lord Palati killed the Archduke!
How in the world did he pull that off?
Palati could practically hear the gears turning in their heads.
"No! That's not it, you idiots!"
"Huh?"
"Go catch those bastards and shut their mouths immediately!"
Palati's fury became power that shook the building itself.
The demons had no idea what was going on, but they obeyed and rushed out.
Shut their mouths? Then he really did commit treason, didn't he?
Thinking exactly that.
But it was already too late to silence anyone.
Other demons had ears too.
"Treason!"
"Treason?"
"His Highness Isiter's horn has been found! Palati has the horn!"
"The Archduke's horn?!"
Who would dare sever the horn of a Demon Archduke?
At the very least, it could never be obtained from a living Archduke.
The Archduke is dead!
The eavesdropping demons felt chills race down their spines.
They immediately ran to the nobles they served.
Outside had grown noisy.
Louise recalled the orders he had received.
"Put the slaves to sleep, and help the captives escape."
Every worker in the demon castle was a slave.
Mamool lacked intelligence, making them unsuitable for menial labor. Even the smarter ones were too driven by instinct to handle the countless tedious tasks that required care and attention.
The demons who had crossed into the Middle Realm had no desire to clean or maintain things themselves, so they devised a simple solution.
The races they had captured from the Middle Realm and spared became their labor force.
These slaves worked diligently because they wished to survive, but their bodies were not strong enough to withstand the demonic energy permeating the castle.
The generous Demon Archduke had fed them mamool blood to protect them from demonic energy, granting them physiques far superior to those of ordinary Middle Realm races.
If we deal with them one by one, it'll get noisy.
Louise finally understood why Ian had assigned this task to him.
He admired not only his master but the way his master thought.
Whenever something happened, it was already a habit for him to consider how Ian would solve the problem.
"No deadly poison. It'll attract attention."
Louise eliminated several poisons from consideration.
"They're already undergoing mamoolization. Ordinary sleeping medicine won't work."
Several more candidates were discarded.
"If we're poisoning a large group at once, it has to be ingested. Strong tastes and smells are out."
That left only one option.
The poison from the toxicology encyclopedia Ian gave me...
Had Ian already anticipated using it this way when he handed him that book?
Had he trusted that Louise would master its contents in a single day?
A faint flush spread across Louise's cheeks.
He wanted to live up to that trust.
Watching him, Sema had only one thought.
...He's enjoying making poison!
Sema sincerely wished the young archer would stop sparkling with excitement while manufacturing toxins.
He suddenly remembered Momisia happily creating restraints.
Wasn't their dungeon a terrible environment for children?
Contacca had already reached the truth long ago.
Ian, what exactly have you been teaching them?!
"I, I think it's almost mealtime. Shouldn't we hurry?"
"It's finished."
Louise rose expressionlessly, as though his cheeks had never reddened at all.
The kitchen where ten human workers labored had every window and door wide open as ingredients were constantly being carried in and out.
And Louise had been preparing the poison in the building directly above it.
He glanced over the railing.
One worker was drawing water from a well.
Another was crouched beside it washing dishes.
The instant one man's attention turned toward the well and the other lowered his head, Louise dropped over the railing like an acrobat and slid through the kitchen window.
His landing was silent.
"Hey! Did you check the fire?"
"Yeees!"
"Don't let it stick! Screw up again and I'll kill you!"
The kitchen was deafening.
Chopping sounds.
Boiling sounds.
Workers shouting to be heard over the noise.
No one noticed the sound of Louise opening a vial and pouring its contents into a pot.
Ripples spread through the clear soup before quickly disappearing.
Louise calmly walked out through the door.
"Huh?"
A worker carrying water noticed the unfamiliar face and frowned in confusion.
But he didn't stop Louise.
Judging by the pretty face, the boy was probably a newly arrived slave.
Slaves kept for bedding often enjoyed their master's favor, and meddling with them could bring disaster.
The secret to surviving a long time in this castle was simple: mind your own business and do the work you were given.
The worker quickly forgot about Louise.
He had far too much work to do to worry about a strange slave wandering around the kitchen.
"It's done."
Returning upstairs, Louise addressed the next person.
The mage Sema clutched his heart.
He truly wasn't accustomed to carrying out major operations like this.
He had been a poor student.
Even the master who had accepted him had never expected anything from him.
Urgh...
What had Ian seen in him to place such trust in him?
What if he failed and ruined everything?
No. I can't fail!
Hundreds of demons lived in this castle.
If they were caught, they were finished.
Ian and Keith went to handle the most dangerous task. I have to manage at least this much.
Trying to calm the tension rising to his throat, Sema spoke to his companion.
"Will they really fall asleep?"
"Yes."
"W, what if the medicine doesn't work properly?"
"It will."
"What if someone wakes up while I'm casting magic?"
"They won't."
"My magic could wake them! Then they'll discover us! Even you couldn't beat hundreds of partially mamoolized people charging at once—"
"Do you really think there are hundreds of slaves in this castle?"
Louise stared at Sema as though he were being ridiculous.
"And why would I be fighting alone? We'd fight together."
"M, me?!"
They won't wake up anyway.
Why was this person so shocked by something obvious?
Clink.
While staring at one another, they suddenly realized the surroundings had gone silent.
The workers who had received their meals had fallen asleep.
"The workers in this castle eat in two separate shifts."
The information Ian had given them resurfaced in Louise's mind.
Louise never wondered how Ian knew these things.
Hadn't Ian himself said he received revelations from God?
If so, then that was simply how it was.
"It's your turn, Sema."
"...Hoo."
Sema extended his staff.
"."
Droplets gathered from the air and formed multiple spheres.
Sema launched the water bombs, each nearly the size of his face, toward predetermined locations.
Carefully avoiding the sleeping workers, he drenched the surrounding ground and buildings.
This should be enough, right?
Letting out a breath, Sema cast the one spell he trusted more than any other.
"!"
The water created by Water Ball transformed into blood, oil, and sulfur.
In an instant, the area took on the appearance of hell itself.
Then Louise loosed an arrow into it.
Fwoosh—
Fwoom!
A short time later,
a column of black smoke rose into the sky.
