A contract with a demon.
Say it out loud and it sounds like something grand.
‘But in the end, they were ordinary people living ordinary lives just a few months ago.’
Those people.
Not only do they make a contract that requires them to throw away their own lives lightly.
They even use that contract to attack soldiers?
‘No matter how much time has passed, turning that far in just a few months isn’t something you do easily.’
It’s this kind of world.
If someone turns a little selfish, I can accept that as something that happens.
It’s not one or two who became raiders. If anything, it’s common now.
Same goes for attacking us, a military unit.
If it was to survive.
If they launched an attack to get things they needed, I could have thought, sure, that can happen, and moved on.
But.
“Making a contract by throwing away your own life.”
I don’t know what their group exists for.
But their top priority isn’t their own survival.
It lies in something else.
If it’s for that something.
They’re ready to throw away even their lives.
‘That’s not normal.’
We were the ones attacked first.
If it were up to me, it wouldn’t be strange to sortie troops the moment we found their location.
But.
These are people who, up until just a few months ago, lived ordinary lives.
This is my intuition, but still.
The reason people like that would throw away their own lives.
What exactly they’re trying to achieve by going that far.
‘If it turns out they were brainwashed... then they aren’t simply a target to be wiped out.’
It felt like something I had to know.
Besides...
“I don’t like it.”
Not bragging, but...
I still sometimes flash back to the Day of Ruin.
The juniors who died so pathetically in front of my eyes.
The sight of a monster ripping out a throat and scattering organs everywhere.
I can’t forget it.
A human death.
It was far uglier and more sickening than I had known.
“Kills my appetite.”
To avoid that kind of death.
I’ve busted my ass until now.
And yet there are humans who choose that kind of death lightly.
That’s a bit.
“It ticks me off.”
****
Srrrip...
[Trait — Environmental Assimilation]
With my body turned transparent by the trait.
I eased myself into the city.
Into the interior, where the enemy had dug in.
Crunch...
‘Hm?’
I was closing in without thinking much.
But when I glanced down at the sound underfoot.
I saw snow drifted high.
Environmental Assimilation only blends you into your surroundings.
It doesn’t stop footprints from being left when you step on snow.
‘Which means don’t step on the snow.’
They had cleared some of the snow along the routes people here used.
But there didn’t seem to be that many such places.
‘In that case, hmm.’
Conveniently.
I had just learned a skill that fit this situation.
From the cooking tools inside my shadow.
I drew out a large griddle plate for Griddle Fry.
‘It proved handy for defense in combat.’
Grandpa Park’s griddle that also shines when cooking.
I looked at the tool.
And triggered the skill.
[Assistant Chef]
The ability to summon an invisible “assistant cook” who flies through the air.
‘It is that, but.’
Any trait or skill.
Depending on how the user uses it.
‘The ways to use it are limitless.’
The invisible Assistant Chef.
He lifted the griddle into the air...
And I.
“Up we go.”
Climbed onto it.
A griddle floating in midair.
Me standing on it.
In other words.
‘Flight.’
Not long ago.
I had one hell of a time against a monster bigger than me.
My fighting style is very effective against enemies with a build similar to mine.
But as the size grows, I can become helpless.
‘Even if I identify a weak point with [Chef’s Eyes], if it’s somewhere I can’t reach to stab, there’s no answer.’
Assistant Chef’s offensive power and accuracy have limits.
Last time I managed with poison.
But there can be times when that won’t work.
So I thought.
It would be nice if I could personally fly.
This is the result.
‘It chews through a ton of mana, and using it in combat makes my head hurt a lot more.’
Anyway.
It’s a flight technique that lets me get my body into the air.
Fortunately, this isn’t a combat situation.
I only need to avoid stepping on snow, so I don’t have to fly high.
Maybe because tools in contact with my body are treated as part of me.
The [Environmental Assimilation] trait is shared.
Maintaining stealth.
I skim-flew and slipped deeper into the city.
Creeping inward with care like that.
Thoom...
I felt it around me.
The presence of something massive.
‘Hup.’
Holding my breath, I looked toward where it was.
Then.
[Ingredient Appraisal (Enhanced)]
[Hell Knight]
A black shadow in the shape of a knight.
A hulking monster over three meters tall moved off somewhere with heavy footfalls.
‘...Looks insanely strong.’
On the [Combat Power Meter] the color read green.
Same as that enormous beast I met last time.
A step just below boss-class monsters like Ariella.
With our unit as we are now, we could handle it.
But it would be anything but easy.
‘Dangle those out as freebies to entice them... no wonder the Green Manes tribe would be tempted.’
After that.
I spotted several more monsters moving through the area.
‘As expected, quite a force.’
The first one looked incredibly strong.
And individuals on par with it kept appearing.
Each single one was formidable.
There were a lot of them.
And the types were varied.
‘If we’d engaged without any intel... we’d have had a hard fight.’
However.
We did get intel from Borjin.
More importantly.
[Trait - ‘Chef’s Eyes’ activates.]
[Advanced Culinary Secret — ‘Insight into Cooking the Hell Knight’ acquired.]
[Once noble, but fallen by offering its soul to a demon, the knight of hell, a Hell Knight.]
[Its proud soul was tempered in the hellfire until its light was lost, and now, bereft of reason, it is bound within a twisted suit of armor.]
[For processing, first remove the hard shell, then focus on the parts you could call its viscera...]
Even intel Borjin didn’t know.
I was confirming through my eyes, which was a relief.
Anyway.
‘If these are troops assigned only to defense, that’s why they’ve been quiet until now.’
Back when the monsters at the army base were released.
If the monsters stationed here had attacked at the same time.
I suspect we wouldn’t have been able to block that, no matter what.
They’re loaned-out defensive troops from the demon, after all.
It’s at least fortunate they’re monsters that can’t be deployed outside.
‘Feels similar to our Dragon Fang Troopers, specialized purely for defense.’
The problem is.
Even if they are defensive monsters.
‘We still have to subjugate them.’
No.
Not just those monsters.
‘Once fighting starts... the humans here will start doing that thing called a contract too.’
There are already a lot of monsters roaming around.
We should expect even more enemies to stand in our way.
‘This is going to be a pretty heavy subjugation.’
Thinking that as I slipped further in.
Step, step...
A presence, like the monster’s earlier.
I sensed it from somewhere.
I again held my breath and lowered my body.
But unlike just now.
“Haa...”
What appeared wasn’t a demon’s minion.
It was a man with an ordinary look, walking while letting out a sigh.
In other words.
‘A human.’
[Ingredient Appraisal (Enhanced)]
[Primate — Human]
[Class: Demon Contractor]
The purpose that brought me here.
A Demon Contractor.
****
“Haa... what should we do.”
He seemed to have a lot on his mind.
A human moving with sighs.
‘Don’t get careless.’
He looks ordinary.
But looking like that or not, he’s a human who made a contract with a demon.
The worst of the worst.
‘I don’t know for sure, but he’s probably similar to the raiders we exterminated last time.’
I don’t know why he was walking around sighing.
To extract as much information as possible about them.
I followed behind the man.
Creeeak...
He arrived in front of a building.
He opened the door and went inside.
‘Following him all the way in... would be tricky.’
I’m confident I won’t be easily detected.
But the interior of a building is tight.
Who knows what this griddle I’m riding might bump into.
‘In that case, hmm.’
Before I knew it the man had started up the stairs inside.
And the stairs had windows connected.
‘Go outside.’
For low-altitude skim, riding the griddle is more than enough.
But when I try to gain height.
Maybe because of my weight, the mana consumption spikes drastically.
Still, well.
There’s a way around that too.
[Assistant Chef]
I triggered the skill again.
This time my cooking tools lined up in front of my eyes.
I put my foot on the handle of one of them.
With my current ability I can have Assistant «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» Chef handle about ten items at once.
When I put weight on my foot, Assistant Chef brought the next cooking tool to serve as my next step.
It felt like stairs forming automatically in midair to match my movements.
‘It’s not ideal to step on cooking tools, but.’
I stepped on the parts that were least problematic, like handles or the tops of lids, and lifted myself.
It’s hard to use this in combat.
But if I only need to float upward, it’s an efficient method with low mana cost.
Heh.
‘It hits me again how I’ve ended up able to do all sorts of nonsense.’
Anyway.
Matching the man’s presence as he climbed the stairs beyond the wall, I stepped up on Assistant Chef.
One step at a time, I rose into the sky.
Soon.
Apparently he reached the floor he wanted.
The man went into a unit.
‘Hm?’
I slid sideways to match.
I moved to where I could see the window of the room he entered.
Then.
I could see people talking beyond the window.
‘There are more of them than I expected.’
I cancel the costly [Assistant Chef].
I clung to a small protrusion on the building’s outer wall.
And listened to the sounds from inside.
“How... did you say there was a doctor?”
“No. It looks like there isn’t.”
But.
The conversation I heard made me frown.
‘A doctor?’
Wondering what that meant, I looked.
In the middle of them, a child was lying down.
“With this many people, how is there not a single doctor. Does that make sense?”
“Well. It’s not like there weren’t any.”
“Huh? What do you mean...”
“Unfortunately they were all sent on the last operation... and it seems they made the contract.”
“...Ah.”
...Hmm.
I didn’t really understand what situation this was.
‘No. I get the situation itself...’
Apparently there was a sick child.
And they were like this because they had no way to treat the child.
‘Illness, well, it’s winter. You can catch something.’
Winter, along with summer, is when the most diseases circulate.
I imagine similar things are happening elsewhere too.
But.
The part I couldn’t understand was something else.
‘If it were a small group, maybe. But an organization this size can’t treat a single illness?’
Judging by all the human presence I felt.
It’s not like there are few people.
Even the area protected by monsters is considerable.
Most of them are Awakened with the class [Demon Contractor].
Their physical abilities should be decent, so getting medicinal herbs shouldn’t be hard either.
Even if, by bad luck, they had no doctor.
If they had even one healer-type Awakened like a Priest...
“Times like this make me jealous of other people.”
“What do you mean.”
“They say ordinary Awakened with a Priest-type class can cure disease. On the other hand, unless we have this class, we don’t even get the monsters’ protection.”
The man sighed.
Only then did I understand why they were like this.
Those monsters only protect the ones who agreed to contract with the demon.
Meaning.
‘There isn’t a single other class among them.’
Naturally they all end up choosing the same class.
And among them there are no healer-type classes like Priest.
I get the general picture.
But how to put it.
‘This isn’t the scene I expected.’
This is the stronghold of enemies who attacked us out of nowhere.
I assumed it would be full of scum.
Villains huddled in a dark place, going “kuk kuk...” and scheming evil.
That kind of scene is what you expect.
I planned to glean detailed intel about them from a scene like that.
‘But this is...’
A kid is sick, and they’re fretting because they can’t get treatment...
This kind of scene.
I didn’t see it coming at all.
Adults, looking at the suffering child.
Sinking into thought.
“...It will be hard for the child to live long anyway.”
In the midst of that.
A middle-aged man carefully opened his mouth.
“We all know it isn’t a simple cold. We did our best with what medicine we had and got no effect.”
“...”
“It’s an illness that needs proper treatment, but we don’t have the capability. The child will probably die soon. In that case, rather.”
He hesitated a bit.
Then he spoke.
“Wouldn’t it be best to proceed with the contract quickly.”
What came out of his mouth.
Contained the vicious idea I had first expected.
Contract.
It sounds like nothing much.
[Skill - Contract]
[You execute a contract with a demon. By paying the price, you can present a demand commensurate with that price.]
If what I heard from Borjin is true.
That price is a life.
In other words.
‘A child who will die anyway, so let’s trade the child’s life for gain, is that it?’
Utter nonsense.
My face tightened.
And I was about to conclude they really were the vicious bastards I thought.
At that very moment.
“Mister!”
At the middle-aged man’s words.
The others reacted with shock and pushed back.
“The child is still a child!”
“So what if it’s a child. Weren’t we all prepared to make contracts with our lives when we came here?”
“That’s... true, but.”
“The ones who already gave up their lives probably didn’t want to die like that either. Whether adult or child, people want to live.”
Didn’t want to die like that, he says.
‘The ones who died in front of my eyes tossed their lives away with real gusto.’
They did scream at the end.
But before I could get a word in, they offered their lives and summoned a monster.
“But... they gave their lives for the greater cause. This child must have that resolve too, that’s why the child succeeded in Awakening.”
“...”
They kept trading words I couldn’t accept.
“We weren’t coerced into taking this class. Hm? Anyone here who begrudges their life?”
“You already know the answer.”
From my perspective, a life is precious, of course.
What are they talking about.
“We do not begrudge our lives.”
The man I first found, the one walking around sighing.
He shook his head and spoke.
‘What kind of crap is that.’
From my perspective.
It sounded like nothing but crap.
“If it’s for the greater cause, we are ready at any time to execute the contract. This child would be the same.”
“In that case...”
“But that must be when the moment to make the sacrifice arrives.”
“What?”
The middle-aged man widened his eyes and asked what that meant.
“What are you trying to say.”
“Just because we are resolved to die does not make our lives cheap.”
“Hm?”
“We resolved to throw our lives for the greater cause, but until that moment arrives, I believe we must live as hard as we can. Only then can our sacrifice hold value. A life thrown cheaply... is bound to lose value.”
“...”
“To corner a child like this one who is dying, telling the child to make a quick sacrifice before death. That is not right. We are still human, are we not.”
“That... is true.”
At the man’s persuasion.
The middle-aged man let out a small sigh.
“I’m sorry. I think I was being a bit hasty.”
“N-no. It’s this situation. Everyone’s a little desperate. It can happen. There’s nothing to apologize for.”
Having succeeded in persuading the middle-aged man.
He looked over the people gathered in the room and spoke.
“In any case. We failed to find a doctor immediately, but we did relay word about this child to the Guide.”
“What did the Guide say?”
“There is no method right now. But he said he will try to arrange means as best he can. He will probably take some measure soon, so let us trust and wait. Until we execute the contract, let us each do our roles diligently.”
“Hoo. Understood.”
“It can’t be helped. It doesn’t look like the child will die right now, so we do what nursing we can.”
“Then let’s get back to our work. I noticed the water is almost gone. It’s also our drinking water, so let’s replenish it right away...”
And just like that.
After a conversation with a note of grim resolve, the humans broke up warmly.
‘So then.’
Watching that.
I could only fall into confusion.
“...What is this.”
