"A contract that takes one being’s soul and flesh as the price. But... we are extremely many."
"Mad bastard."
At his words.
I could not hold back the rough curse that burst from my mouth.
The Green Manes tribe conceive many children at once.
It did not take long for those born that way to grow into a single warrior.
That mass was not an exaggeration to say it was born for war.
At the same time...
"It also means there is enough body and soul to offer to a demon."
It is.
A deeply unpleasant story.
"At first it was efficient. When a warrior who had just reached adulthood offered himself, a far stronger demon’s minion would appear and fight for us."
"...Ha."
"When we offered the bodies and souls of enemies we had hunted to the demon, those warriors’ strength swelled. If we offered up dozens of warriors strengthened through [Offering], the strength of the entire tribe would rise greatly."
Traits and skills the Demon Contractors possessed.
[Offering], which lets you raise your stats by offering hunted enemies.
[Contract], which lets you fulfill a wish by offering yourself.
Now I understood that structure.
The more a human grew strength through [Offering].
The stronger the wish that could be begged through [Contract].
"A considerable part of the strong power our tribe members now possess comes from the contracts made with demons back then."
Now each one has a massive frame, of course.
They are powerful monsters that register yellow on the [Combat Power Meter].
From what I hear.
In the past they were not this strong.
Their appearance was very different from now, and their power was weaker than now.
"As they gained power through contracts with demons... even their appearance was distorted."
He said it had not been inefficient.
Maybe because I heard that.
What Seosu-hyeok said when we clashed not long ago came to mind.
"You must be calculating the value of your soldiers’ lives one by one."
Even then I thought Suhyeok was a bit much.
These guys went far beyond ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) that.
Blatantly.
They measured efficiency by the value of life.
"That way worked well?"
"Our tribe’s warriors were always prepared to lay down their lives for the tribe. A contract with a demon was regarded as no different from going to die on the battlefield."
"Madmen... there is nothing to call it but madness."
"Yes... it was madness. At the time no one realized it."
He might be forced to open his mouth because of my cooking.
But at least on this part the regret was heavy.
A shadow fell across his face.
"As I said, it was not bad at first... but as time passed the number of souls the demon demanded grew."
"..."
"Later on, only after we offered a warrior who had strengthened himself through Offering would a single minion return, one only slightly stronger than that."
Only then.
The tribe could realize it.
It was all well and good that they had held out with strong minions until now.
"But because so many tribe members were offering their lives like that... the number of newly born tribe members dropped drastically."
So few children were born.
There were even moments when there were not enough warriors to teach them.
In the end, contracts with demons were temporary makeshifts.
They could not be a long-term solution.
On the contrary, by entrusting everything to an external existence.
The power they originally possessed ended up weakening.
"Around the Great Chieftain. All tribe members gathered and held a great council."
As a result of that council.
The tribe finally decided to halt contracts with demons.
However.
"If only it had stopped there, even though we had done a foolish thing, it would not have been a big problem."
"You decided to void the contract, you said."
"Demons were smarter than you think."
Kkadeudeuk...
"That existence whispered enticing words to some tribe members and captivated them."
"No..."
"Even though the Great Chieftain gave the order to halt contracts, those who served the demon began to appear. They coaxed other tribe members and kept increasing their followers."
"..."
"If their influence grew any larger, the tribe would inevitably be annihilated. In the middle of being busy fighting the beings from another world, we had to wage a civil war to remove those demon followers."
Tribe members who served demons.
And tribe members who rallied around the Great Chieftain to stop them.
A great civil war broke out between them.
To jump to the result.
It was the Great Chieftain’s side that won the civil war.
The problem was.
"By the minions of the demon they summoned... the Great Chieftain went up to the Hill of War."
That very Great Chieftain.
Lost his life then.
They had already offered many warriors through contracts.
They lost what few warriors remained in the civil war as well.
And they lost even the Great Chieftain.
They were.
Driven to a state where they could not survive against the onrushing monsters from another world.
"The God of the Steppe... extended a helping hand to us, who had once forsaken him."
Because of the contracts with demons.
It was the God of the Steppe who had been cast off by the tribe.
Perhaps that god of the steppe had a deep attachment to this tribe.
He extended a hand to those whose destruction was sealed.
"Thus we opened a dimensional gate and fled."
So they could run to another world.
He wrung out the last strength and opened a gate to cross dimensions.
The place they arrived.
Was.
"Here."
Perhaps overcome with emotion.
The shaman, breathing rough, shed tears.
"The price for abandoning the tribe’s tradition and laying hands on borrowed power was far too great."
"..."
"We tried to set right the tradition we had lost here, but we had already lost too much."
The result.
Was their defeat in the war against us last time.
"What was more miserable..."
By the contracts with demons.
They had lost much.
They had thought at least they had succeeded in exterminating the demon followers.
"Even though we paid such a huge price to remove the followers... there were still followers in hiding left...!"
A survivor in hiding.
Was among them.
Kkadeuk.
"To think it was even my friend, once so wise... the High Shaman."
At the last moment of the previous war.
That monster called the High Shaman.
What he summoned at me was... an existence which stands opposite the Spirit of the Earth.
The Spirit of Darkness.
A demon’s minion.
Honestly.
I still do not know why that one targeted me.
"If he wanted to target someone, he could have targeted Gwangil. What did I even do there."
I did not do much in that battle.
When a spirit lunged at me, targeting me like that, truly...
I was honestly very aggrieved.
Anyway.
"A contract with a demon is a sin far more serious than rebellion for the tribe."
The moment the entire tribe witnessed.
The High Shaman summoning the Spirit of Darkness.
"Things like victory or defeat in the war... ceased to matter."
Not just any shaman.
It was exposed that the High Shaman himself had a contract with a demon.
I could guess a little.
How the civil war he mentioned broke out.
The head of the shamans had a contract with a demon.
"You, as his subordinates, must have been suspected of being in league with the High Shaman."
"...I and the other shamans protested. It was only the High Shaman... Kurdan who betrayed us. We did not even consider such a thing as a contract with a demon."
"Sorry to say it. If it were me, I would not believe it either."
With the head having a contract with a demon.
How easily could one believe that the other ordinary shamans had not.
He said discord had already been piling up between them.
Trust in the shamans inside the tribe hit rock bottom.
Trust that went through the floor.
Turned into hatred.
"The warriors pinned even the cause of our defeats on us shamans. On top of that we were branded as having contracted with demons."
"So in the end."
"The hunt began."
The tribe’s warriors started hunting their own kin.
The shamans would not have just sat and been hunted.
To survive the hunt they must have banded together and gone into defense.
In short.
"A civil war."
It was a time when it was not enough even to try to recover from the damage suffered in the war.
The Green Manes tribe raised weapons at each other.
"As expected."
Why Changsu could move so easily in their territory.
Only now did I understand the reason.
"With the civil war raging, how could they have leeway to mind an external enemy."
Only...
As I heard it.
"...Tsk."
It was hard to think of it as someone else’s story.
"Because we were also attacked by those called Demon Contractors."
The Demon Contractors I saw.
Were all made up of humans.
A situation where we were already busy focusing on the fight with monsters.
We too were placed in a situation where we had to fight the same humans.
"...Oh. Hold on."
If so.
"Do you know any weaknesses for those Demon Contractors?"
"Weaknesses, you say."
Turn it around.
It means.
This one.
Has already fought the enemy we will have to fight.
"About the minions the demon sends, I know the gist."
"Oh...!"
"We went through a long civil war. We built up know-how to face the followers."
Crazy.
It was a dish of [Honesty] I fed him thinking at worst I break even.
"It is more important information than I thought."
If I had just cooked him on the spot.
This was information we could never have gotten.
"But this is only about the minions’ weaknesses."
"...?"
"As for why those bewitched by the demon are bewitched... as for exterminating the followers themselves who serve the demon, other than killing them I know no method."
Bewitched by a demon.
Those who even tried to wage war on their own kin.
Could it be.
"Are they in some brainwashed state... something like that?"
If that demon possesses a brainwashing-type ability.
It is not impossible.
"It is not just someone else’s story to me."
Even I am in a position to exert a brainwashing-like ability.
That presence that looked down at me from above the 423rd Battalion.
If it is such a one.
It would not be strange even if brainwashing were possible.
"Who knows. I do not know that far. But they were, how to say... they seemed to have a sense of mission."
A sense of mission?
"I do not know with what the demon enticed them... but it did not feel like they moved for selfish greed."
"Hmm."
"Even the High Shaman. I do not know why he betrayed us, but he was clearly a friend who devoted himself to the tribe more than anyone. That is why he willingly yielded the High Shaman’s seat. He was not one to betray the tribe for self-interest, yet why he betrayed us..."
Hmm.
It would have been nice to have an answer even to this part.
Well.
I cannot demand something he does not know.
"I heard you."
Thinking I had heard roughly what I needed, I stood.
"...What happens to me now?"
"Hm? Well."
I had taken the information well.
In the end this one is a monster who handled humans as slaves.
It was hard to let him go out of gratitude.
"For the time being, you will be a prisoner."
Conveniently, Vimana has a prison facility.
I cannot say there is no part of me that wants to kill him.
He said he knows about those demon’s minions.
I would keep him alive.
And keep squeezing him for information...
So I thought.
"...I see."
At my words.
He drooped his head matter-of-factly.
From that sight.
What should I call it.
"...He is relieved?"
At hearing he was headed to prison.
I felt like he was relieved.
From what he says.
It seems this one is fairly old.
Shamans are not likely to be strong in stamina.
If he is unlucky he could even die in prison.
So why does he seem relieved at that treatment...
"Ah, come to think of it."
"Krrk?"
There was one question.
I had not asked yet.
"Then, what were you trying to do?"
I can accept that a civil war had arisen in the tribe.
If so.
"You did not participate in the civil war like the others. You said you were circling the outskirts alone."
He did not act with other tribe members.
He was alone on the outskirts of the territory when Changsu spotted and kidnapped him.
What on earth.
Was he aiming for by being there alone.
"...Huuk!"
The dish of [Honesty] was still applied.
I expected an answer to the question to come at once.
"...Huh?"
Right before he opened his mouth to answer my question.
He.
Raised his hand with a trembling motion.
"Crack!"
His jaw that was about to open.
His own jaw.
"...You maniac!"
Thud. Thud. Thud.
He drove his fist at his own mouth that was about to open.
To go that far.
There is only one reason to stop his mouth from opening.
"This bastard...!"
He is hiding it.
Something I must never be allowed to know.
