Chapter 46 – I Saw a Demon

Not morning, nor afternoon. Not even evening, but a preternaturally late night.

A time when ordinary folk are lost in slumber at home. Not a time for movement like this.

“Halt! Are you perhaps Imperial Adepts?”

A knight from the scouting party spurred his horse forward.

Soldiers followed behind, their wariness poorly concealed.

Please, let them be the missing Imperial Adepts they’d been sent to find.

So this midnight foray could finally be done.

But as the world often dictates, things rarely unfold as desired.

“Adepts?”

The shorter of the two, the woman, echoed the word.

Even in the darkness, her eyes gleamed with an eerie light.

Their colour was far from ordinary, a blood-tinged crimson.

—NEEEEEIGH!!

The knight’s horse reared back, startled, hooves pawing the air.

As the knight, flustered, tried to soothe his mount.

“Ah. So you call those lower lifeforms Adepts.”

I seem to have accidentally flung them somewhere. Why don’t you go and find them?

With that, the woman waved her hand, and the knight and his horse went flying sideways.

“aaagh!!”

“Sir Knight?!”

“Enemy! It’s an enemy!”

“A mage? No, an Adept?!”

Alerting the others to the situation, the soldiers scrambled to spread out, attempting to encircle them.

Whether the foe was a mage or an Adept. Remaining clustered made them easy prey.

Better to disperse and make approaching easier.

Their reasoning was sound. Had their opponent been a mage or an Adept, it would have been the correct response.

The problem, however, was that the woman was neither.

“Shall we kill them all?”

“Using my power to eliminate these gnats seems rather wasteful, don’t you think?”

“Then allow me to do it.”

“You didn’t kill them before, why would you now. Besides, I don’t particularly enjoy squashing insects.”

“Or are you perhaps being lazy?”

“Just concentrate on opening the door.”

The woman with the crimson eyes clicked her tongue and made a dismissive gesture.

As if caught in a violent gale, the bodies of the soldiers were flung in every direction.

“aaagh!”

“Agh!!”

It was the sort of movement one might use to swat away a bothersome fly. Hardly an exertion of power.

Not a mage. Not an Esper. And, not a monster, either.

Had this been the first encounter, she might have been thrown into a fluster, at a loss for what to do.

But no, not that either. She had faced a being like that before.

The thought barely registered before Neferti reflexively shouted towards the knights.

“Everyone, fall back! No, retreat! Retreat without looking back!!”

A demon. It was unmistakable. Only *those* things could emanate such a presence.

The kind that crawled forth from beyond the Gate. The kind that made mere ‘monsters’ seem trivial.

She knew because she had clashed with one before. An ordinary human stood no chance.

Even Espers would struggle. She herself had shuddered at the despair of it.

At Neferti’s cry, the senior knights moved with swift efficiency.

They shoved the youngest knight, ordering him to lead the soldiers away.

Then they themselves stepped forward, drawing their swords in unison.

“What are you doing?! I clearly—”

“Surely the Lady Neferti has no intention of retreating herself.”

“That’s because *I* possess abilities. You all…”

“Are knights of the Duchy. Surely we must earn our keep?”

A quick glance behind her revealed that the soldiers had, thankfully, begun to retreat.

At least they had managed to avert a complete decimation of the Duchy’s villages.

All that remained was to avoid becoming the sacrifices upon that altar…

“Yaaawn.”

The red-eyed woman stretched languidly, yawning wide.

Eyes brimming with tears, she lazily regarded those standing before her and spoke.

“Finished playing your little games? I was starting to think I’d wasted my time. This is such a bother.”

“That’s not because catching the fleeing insects is troublesome is it now?”

“Shut up. You know too much about me.”

Catching those fleeing so far away would be no trouble at all.

But doing so would require using power, however slight.

And that fact, right now, was utterly abhorrent to Astaroth.

“Well then. If all those who wished to flee death have departed, then only those who will stand and die remain?”

“It seems this is what these lesser beings call courage.”

“Oh, really? I knew they were low-grade, but not able to distinguish between courage and recklessness.”

A malevolent light shone in the red eyes as they swept over those standing before her.

Then Astaroth made a playful smile.

“Hey. I want that one.”

“That one? Ah. That one, you mean.”

The two figures indicated Neferti, who stood frozen, a picture of strained tension.

“Yeah. That one. That one looks like it might be fun to break.”

“I fail to see much difference between any of them, myself.”

“Same difference, wouldn’t you say? If anything, their overall skill is several notches below those gnats. But! Still, there’s a certain spark in their eyes, no? Plus, they reek of the same appealing scent as those kids from earlier.”

*Those* kids. The man beside Astaroth smiles at the mention.

Come to think of it, there *were* a few of those lesser creatures that piqued his interest.

Amusing how they wielded such strange power. He’d toyed with them for a bit.

He’d even considered breaking them, but that wasn’t the objective, so he’d held back.

“Though you didn’t kill those ones, did you?”

“They hadn’t a clue who I was. This one, on the other hand, seems to know something.”

“Hm. Do as you please. Not like you’d listen even if I argued more.”

“You know me too well. Now scram.”

Ugh. The man sighs, and begins to leave.

His swaying gait subtly conveys to those before him: *’If you don’t catch me, you’ll regret what happens to those who escaped.’*

“I’ve no need for the others. You, little thing? Care to amuse me for a while? I have a feeling you’ll be quite the diverting companion.”

Neferti, the one Astaroth addressed, chews on her lip.

She knows, from their previous encounter, precisely what sort of being stands before her.

That she, in her current state, has no chance of even putting up a fight.

The knights move to step forward, but she waves them back.

It’s her he wants, after all. The man will take care of the rest.

She can’t refuse. This is merely a play, orchestrated to their whims.

If she doesn’t follow their script, they’ll simply move on.

A little further along that road lie villages. Innocent civilians will get caught in the crossfire.

As one who has awakened to her power, and as a duchess of the realm, she *must* stop them.

*’The only thing I can realistically hope for in this situation is that someone, somewhere, detects these abnormalities and sends other awakened ones from the Empire. And…’*

The hero of the Cradle. The slayer of devils. A junior colleague who she wonders if he can even truly be called human.

Deus. Yes. She awaits him more than anyone else.

“Yaaawn.”

The yawn from across the way snaps her back to reality.

It’s impossible to even fathom just how powerful the enemy is.

They seem like nothing at all. Absolutely nothing registers.

To look at her, one might mistake her for an ordinary woman burdened with ennui.

“Going to keep standing there? If things get any more tiresome, I might not feel like playing along anymore.”

“…”

“You’re waiting for someone, aren’t you? Then, until they arrive, you should try to make things at least a little more… stimulating?”

He knows exactly what she’s planning.

Neferti bites her lip and draws the fan from within her robes.

— *Snap!*

With a crisp sound, the fan unfolds with a flourish.

Astaroth gasps, “Ooh!” and even claps.

“That’s quite nice. Might I have it? I think I could wield it with even more flair.”

“Didn’t you grow weary of such things within a day of obtaining them?”

The man, who had felled all the knights in mere seconds, clicks his tongue beside him.

Fortunately, he still breathed. That fact alone brought Nefertiti a sliver of relief.

“I told you to stop ruining the mood.”

“I only speak the truth… My apologies.”

Astaroth, having swiftly dispatched the man, turned his gaze back to Nefertiti. “Now then. Shall we continue? What amusing thing will you show me next?”

*Show you? I’ll show you a wind like a blade that will slice your neck off, that’s what!*

Nefertiti swung her hand with all her might, and a fierce wind rose from the tip of her fan. Soon, a gale, shaped like a transparent blade, hurtled toward the foe.

The trajectory was perfect. The timing couldn’t be better. Above all, it was an attack launched with everything she had from the start. And it had landed successfully. Which meant, an attack of a higher caliber than this was simply impossible.

*I don’t ask for much. If only I could at least slice off an arm like last time!*

*Thwack!*

“…?”

The next moment, Nefertiti had to doubt her own eyes.

She had aimed for the other’s neck. Near the shoulder and collarbone. If it had struck true, it would have been instant death, or a fatal wound. At the very least, some kind of injury. Of course, she hadn’t really expected it to hit. She had anticipated either avoidance, or a block. Either way, she thought she could at least inflict a minor wound or some stamina loss.

“…A little tingle? Not bad for such a lowlife!”

But the opponent hadn’t dodged. He had simply stood there and taken it. As if a mere breeze had brushed past him.

“Duke. You’re bleeding from your neck.”

“I know. I *know*, so you don’t need to point out the obvious. Just shut up, will you?”

After muttering a final warning in an ominous tone. Astaroth ran his fingers over his neck, a smile playing on his lips. It stung slightly. Proof that it was more than just a scratch.

“Still, impressive for a squirming insect. I expected just a graze.”

“This isn’t over!”

She retracted the fan that had been extended. The wind, which had seemed to cease, stirred again. This time, from the outside in. Aiming not for the Adam’s apple, but for the nape of the neck!