“Is this the place?” Ryuk inquired, standing in front of the mountain range located five miles away from town, looking at the man who guided him here.
“Yes,” the man replied with a trembling voice.
‘….’ Ryuk observed the man’s trembling demeanor and sweating face, understanding his state but before he could say something, Esme interrupted.
“You can go back and feed this medicine to your son. I will come in a while to check on him,” Esme said, passing a pouch to the man. She then glanced at Ryuk, motioning forward and adding, “Let’s go.”
.
.
.
.
“Can you clarify things for me?” Ryuk asked about the information Esme had provided after they had rested in the morning.
As they continued walking through the path filled with bushes, occasionally dense enough to obscure their view until they reached less dense areas, Esme continued speaking from ahead.
“Naturally, the curse is related to the corruption of energy, like mana,” Esme explained, walking ahead. “Meaning that the larger the mana reserves, the higher the contamination could occur, indirectly pointing towards the reason for Dariants suffering in larger amounts, because—”
“Because they have higher mana density than normal humans,” Ryuk finished her sentence.
“Bingo,” Esme said, showing a thumbs up without turning around, before continuing, “though it was about the inner reason for the curse to spread. The outer reason is the demonic aura leaking from several places inside Titanora, and the nearest one to the town is this place.”
“But how did these things form here?” Ryuk inquired, looking at the huge black ominous aura oozing from half a mile away, intense enough for him to sense it from their current location.
“Remember when I told you that the disease was a gift from the Demon Queen? Well, in the previous head seat battle, she came here in hiding after getting injured,” Esme explained, finally stopping at the edge of the cliff and looking towards the black foggy area that stretched over a vast piece of land inside the forest.
SWOOSH
Suddenly, stairs started materializing in mid-air, leading downwards from the cliff, and Esme’s legs moved towards them.
“Isn’t this an illusion?” Ryuk narrowed his gaze, watching Esme’s foot step directly onto the first solid step, prompting him to remember her perfect illusion abilities. ‘Isn’t this just reality manipulation?’
“… It’s definitely not what you think it is,” Esme replied, turning towards Ryuk and offering her hand with a smile.
However, he ignored her and took a step onto the next stair, which had not yet fully materialized.
“Wait, what if I can’t make it in time?” Esme asked, increasing her pace as she noticed Ryuk moving two steps ahead of her.
“Nah, I trust you,” Ryuk said, preoccupied with thoughts racing through his mind.
‘System, I’m feeling a nostalgic energy here. Is it him?’ Ryuk inquired.
[Yes, Host. It’s indeed the signature of Demon Belial.]
‘So, he’s being summoned here now,’ Ryuk thought, recalling how he had eradicated the Monastery due to their repeated involvement in child kidnappings and sacrificial rituals, all to awaken a demon.
Someone whom Ryuk had personally fought in a previous life, the demon who had possessed Bella, indirectly leading him into battle to protect the Selvius kingdom.
At that time, Amayara and he had faced off against that demon together. Physical damages were caused by him, and spiritual damage was done by her.
Thud
Ryuk jumped down from a meter above the ground, landing in a completely different place filled with black forest, crystal black leaves, and trees enveloped in a dark fog.
It wasn’t dense enough to blind them but was enough to obscure their vision beyond twelve meters.
“This place is filled with demonic energy. Seems like a summoning site,” Esme said as she came forward, observing the trees around with narrowed eyes. Walking beside her was a black-masked young man who also surveyed the area.
…..
“By the way, I noticed people not showing much reaction to your face,” Ryuk inquired casually as they walked. He was curious about why her charm didn’t seem to affect the natives here.
Naturally, although her face resembled someone he knew, she was still quite pretty, likely due to the presence of mana or absence of body impurities due to her strength.
Seeing the lack of reaction from people even after seeing her face yesterday was puzzling.
“Huh, it’s because I always use an illusion on my face,” Esme replied, turning towards him.
Ryuk had already guessed as much, but his concern was, “How are you managing the illusion for such a long time?”
Naturally, she was at an adept level, with 100 Unit Energy stats, equivalent to the amount of energy used by minor battleship cannons for a single shot.
“Let me put it this way: my energy only acts as a guide for the outside mana; it doesn’t exactly control them,” Esme explained as they continued walking together, her hands making way towards his, holding them tightly, while adding,” Will you hate me if I lied to you?”
“…It depends, but right now, your words will not hurt that much,” Ryuk’s meaning was clearly that she didn’t have that deep a place in his heart to make her words have a profound effect on him.
He wasn’t insensitive, but somewhere he knew the reason for his approach towards her was solely due to her outer appearance.
And somewhat, he was starting to understand her even more.
However, living with her for two months wasn’t enough to make him completely head over heels for her.
Though one thing was certain: he would give this relationship a chance.
Somewhere, he wanted her presence beside him. So, until he started loving her for who she actually is—not just her appearance—he would wait.
“….So you still haven’t fallen, huh?” Esme averted her gaze, murmuring something while tightly holding his hand and moving forward.
“By the way, what was that lie?” Finally seeing the fog disappearing, with her hand in his grip, while his ability passively kept her protected from the effects of this fog.
And now that he held her hand, he completely nullified any residual corruption which she seemed oblivious to.
Walking carefree inside this mist, not caring about consequences, as if completely trusting the person beside her.
“Um, it was about sleeping one,” Esme stated, finally stopping towards a huge debris of a battleship fallen on the ground, with black tree roots taking their place by tearing through the metallic structure.
Turning her gaze towards him, meeting his eyes with a completely expressionless face, she informed, “I know how children are made; I was just teasing you.”
‘…..’ Ryuk stood, not having anything else to say on the matter. He was somewhat already accustomed to her antics, though it was his fault to even think something like that. To break his attention, he inquired, “What’s with this battleship here?”
“I did it,” Esme stated with an obvious tone.
“Sorry?” Ryuk inquired, having already heard her words and processed them, but he wanted to hear it directly from her mouth. Who knows, it could be another prank.
Esme’s hand left his finger, her figure approaching the battleship. With her hand stretching out and finally touching the metallic surface, she informed him, “Three years ago, I killed the Head of Devereaux-Blairs, with his battleship crashing in this place”
‘!?’
