A Gently Lethal Presence

Azrael rubbed the back of his neck, looking sheepish at my reaction. It was rare to see him so flustered, but I still hadn’t quite recovered from the shock of that bizarre lore setting.

I mean… this isn’t the Emille Bell legend; even for an NPC, using human bones is… They really put all sorts of settings into this.

“Does this country have enough bone meal?”

“Well, since I am the one going this time, they won’t be making a weapon.”

“I have no idea what kind of logic that is… No, forget it. If I try to nitpick every single thing that clashes with my common sense, we’ll be here all night.”

Azrael simply laughed at my resigned attitude and rose from his seat.

“The Demon King is awakening, and until the weapons arrive from the neighboring countries, we’ll likely have to stay in the capital for a while. Get some rest. Have a peaceful night. I’ll be going now.”

“Uh, yeah, sleep well…?”

The door closed silently.

After Azrael left, I stared blankly at the clock. It was late into the night. It was definitely the right time for him to leave, but somehow, I think I had expected him to stay in this room for a long time. The moment he left, the warmth seemed to vanish from the room.

I climbed down from the comfortable sofa and lay on the unfamiliar bed. With a snap of my fingers, the lights went out, and darkness settled in.

It was a night where sleep didn’t seem like it would come easily.

Contrary to my guess that we would be leaving in a day or two when we first entered the capital, our group’s stay grew longer and longer.

The first reason was that while the signs of the Demon King’s summoning were clear, the location of the ritual hadn’t revealed itself in a way that could be easily pinpointed. The second reason was that the surrounding nations were making all sorts of excuses to delay sending the weapons.

Since I was stuck in the room anyway, I decided to stop roaming and focus on reading books from this world to grind experience for my minor skills.

Since it wasn’t a good situation for me to leave the room, the knights who had traveled with us to the capital took turns borrowing books from the National Library for me. They were kind enough not to just drop the books off; they stayed in my room to help alleviate my boredom.

I muttered to myself, something that had become as natural as breathing.

“Are these people all insane?”

The Demon King is being summoned, so why are they acting so casually? When I grumbled with that sentiment, John—who had become a true friend by now—nodded in agreement.

“It can’t be helped. Those weapons are quite important items,” Saul said politely. Despite the clear frustration in the air, the fact that he could speak so calmly showed that experience really does make a difference.

“However important they are, surely they aren’t more important than the safety of the world.”

When I muttered indifferently, Levi, the other senior knight, chimed in.

“They don’t only work against demons, so it’s unavoidable. They exert almost the same effect on things other than demons. Not just dragons, but even inanimate objects like buildings can be affected.”

“For the record, if used against a human, the crystal is shattered one hundred percent of the time.”

“Ugh…. Why did they make them so inefficient? If it were me, I would have made it react only to the demon attribute to maximize the effect.”

John spoke sarcastically.

“It’s because they wanted to use a weapon of such immense power for private purposes.”

John used to be a kid who didn’t know how to be sarcastic. I offered a silent prayer for the state of John’s personality, which Simon and I had teamed up to ruin.

Regardless of John’s corrupted character, it was indeed something worth being sarcastic about.

“If the crystal shatters in one shot, I guess it would be effective for removing political rivals…….”

“It’s a waste of resources and an act that fails to distinguish between public and private matters,” Simon said dismissively.

“Infusing that much divine power is no easy task. There is a reason the pool is restricted purely to royalty and not even high-ranking nobles. It’s not as if the royal family has total ownership over royal bone meal either; the Temple takes half, so it’s not a resource that can be used infinitely, no matter how many people are in the family.”

“What does the Temple do with the half they take?”

“They use it to create Divine Artifacts.”

I pushed up the glasses I was wearing to read. The eyeglass chain, which was one hundred percent decorative, swayed and jingled.

“Don’t tell me the Prince’s sword too?”

“Why wouldn’t it be?”

Yuck.

Even if it were released as an item you could buy with in-game currency, I would never buy it. Just hearing the story made me feel like I needed a purification ritual, so I scattered some white salt around the area.

“But compared to what I first heard… isn’t the Demon King’s summoning taking too long? I really thought it would happen in a few days.”

“The time it takes to summon a Demon King varies every time.”

“Does it ever take a few years?”

“No.”

“A few months?”

“It doesn’t take that long. The more time it takes, the more sacrifices are required.”

If it were me, I’d probably find this many questions annoying, but the knights’ patience was on another level; not a single one of them ignored me.

I stood up and opened the curtains covering the window just a tiny bit to peek outside. In the midday sky, a clear darkness was casting a shadow, obscuring the sun.

Just before closing the curtains, I unconsciously checked if anyone was at the training grounds. A few people were standing there. Who are they? As I glanced over, my eyes met with someone’s. I hurriedly closed the curtains.

……It must be my imagination. I only opened it as wide as a single coin.

Perhaps it was because I kept hearing that Azrael had many enemies, but despite it being nothing significant, I felt an uneasy sensation.

“Why that face?”

“It’s nothing.”

Simon stopped writing his documents and looked at me as if I were being strange. My gut felt weird, but since it was awkward to say I thought I made eye contact with someone from this distance, I just shrugged. When I didn’t say anything, Simon buried his head back into his paperwork.

I should have said right then that I felt like I’d made eye contact with some guy.

Regret always comes too late. The incident happened that very night.

Our group was, as always, having dinner and dessert together before tending to our own business. Even the older knights had started staying to eat and hang out before leaving.

Suddenly, someone knocked on my door.

Everyone who would normally visit this room was already inside.

Everyone in the room froze, exchanging looks. Confirming that no one had any idea who it was, I pulled my hood deep over my head. Saul stepped forward and asked.

“Who is it?”

“It is His Highness, the Crown Prince.”

I asked Azrael with just my mouth: Should I pretend I’m not here? Turning invisible was incredibly simple. Azrael shook his head and whispered silently.

‘He is a dangerous person, so be careful.’

It was a strange thing to say, but I nodded. It was the first time I had seen Azrael’s face so tense.

“Brother, what brings you here?”

“Does there need to be an occasion between brothers? I simply came to see your face and share a chat.”

The voice heard through the door was quite kind in tone. It was to the point where I wondered if this is what Azrael would sound like after growing a few years older. Based on the voice alone, he sounded like a brother who cherished and loved his sibling.

However, Azrael’s expression was lethal. The knights were the same. Azrael walked toward the door slowly, as if he were being forced to encounter the one thing in the world he least wanted to see.

And before Azrael could even open the door, it was pushed open rudely. It was the Crown Prince’s attendants who opened it. The Crown Prince had a face that was strikingly similar to Azrael’s. Well, they were family, so that was expected, but if Azrael had the image of an angel wielding a sword, the Crown Prince looked like an angel who loved culture and art.

“Oh, my apologies. It seems my attendants were trying to save you the trouble and made a mistake.”

“……It is fine.”

“Good boy.”

The Crown Prince reached out and stroked Azrael’s head. To my eyes, the gesture felt less like one for a younger brother and more like one for a pet. Azrael silently endured the stroking.

“Azrael, to be honest, I heard an interesting rumor while I was walking today.”

As the Crown Prince burst into the room without any intention of receiving greetings, the knights—who had missed their timing—bowed their waists in a formal posture. I clumsily mimicked the knights and bowed as well.

“A rumor that you, Azrael, brought someone of unknown identity to the dormitory of the First Knight Order.”

“Brothe—.”

“Of course, since you brought them, Azrael, I’m sure their identity is certain. However, since you and your closest subordinates frequent this room so often, I became curious as to just what kind of person they are.”

The Crown Prince smiled beautifully. He looked utterly noble, without a hint of a hidden agenda. It was to the extent where I thought a person could actually look this divine, even if they were just graphics.

“I simply took in someone who had nowhere else to go for a moment. It is just that the assignment is being delayed a bit because I am unsure where to place them…….”

“Simply someone with nowhere else to go?”

The man looked like a lily and spoke gently, but the atmosphere was like that of a Demon King. How can someone be so quietly, kindly lethal? I seriously considered if the Demon King had already been summoned and was standing right here.

“Then, as your elder brother, I must help resolve my younger brother’s worries. First, I must see their character, so you there—take off that hood.”