ALL NOVEL Ch. 8
At the dining room of Count Hebron.
Sitting alone at a long table that could easily seat ten people, Deltain was cutting his meat when he suddenly let out a hollow laugh and rolled his eyes.
-You’re going to confess to me. Pathetically begging.
Agnes’ words wouldn’t leave his mind.
Deltain was furious at those words.
‘Stop talking nonsense.’
It would never happen.
Deltain could be more than certain of that.
After all, he had never asked anyone for anything in his life and had never been pathetic in any way.
This time would be no different.
Deltain vowed not to show even the slightest gap to Agnes, who provoked his temper.
“Count.”
In the midst of his thoughts, Gerhart entered.
“What?”
“A guest has arrived.”
“Tell them to leave. I’m eating.”
“… it’s Marquis Montbert.”
Deltain’s brows furrowed.
It wasn’t anger.
The expression that emerged on his face was one of complete
*
Marquis Parvien Montbert.
A sixty-year-old elderly gentleman.
The Head of Imperial Court Magician and one of the heroes who saved the continent alongside Deltain during the demon invasion, he was not a particularly welcome figure to Deltain despite their shared past.
“I’m sorry to intrude at this late hour.”
There was no other reason.
Whenever he came to see Deltain, it was always accompanied by troublesome matters.
Deltain spoke without even looking at him.
“What do you want this time?”
“Do I need a reason to see you?”
“You’re here because you have something you want.”
“I can’t deny it.”
Deltain let out a deep sigh at his words.
“If it’s troublesome, I won’t do it.”
“It’s a demon hunt.”
“I’m not doing it.”
“We need you.”
Clatter.
Deltain put down his utensils roughly.
He finally looked at the Marquis and spoke.
“Why should I do it? Did all the hunters go on vacation? That can’t be, none of the kids I taught would be that thoughtless.”
“Your students are on assignments. There’s no shortage of places swarming with demons.”
Deltain’s expression became even more contorted.
There was only one reason for this irritation.
Because he no longer saw any value in investing his time in unproductive tasks like demon hunting.
“I already captured the Demon King. I closed the dimensional gates too. What more do you want from me? I’m busy.”
“Even if the gates are closed, there are still many demons left. And no one knows more about high-ranking demons than you.”
“I’ve done enough. No, I’m still doing enough.”
His words weren’t just idle talk.
Since the day the disaster ended, the achievements Deltain had accomplished in the past three years were nothing short of miraculous.
Why wouldn’t they be?
The streetlights illuminating the city of Tardan, and the geometry embedded in their arrangement were all part of a meticulous magic circle devised by Deltain.
<4th Tier Magic: Saint Hall is in effect.>
The city of Tardan was enveloped in a barrier.
The flames kindled by the great magician protect their night.
Marquis Montbert chuckled softly.
He didn’t seem at all angered by Deltain’s irritable attitude.
“This time, it’s something that might pique your interest.”
“I can’t be interested in anything related to demons.”
“The Heart of Gaias. They say you’re looking for such an item.”
Deltain’s body froze for a moment.
The Marquis continued with a gentle smile.
“The Cuckoo is an organization under the Montbert family. How could I not know?”
A translucent window appeared in front of Deltain’s retinas.
‘Damn it.’
Deltain’s expression twisted.
“… so, what is it?”
“Join me in the underground waterways.”
“That’s truly disgusting.”
Deltain clicked his tongue.
Marquis Montbert, who had been with him since he was a fallen noble with nothing, understood.
That was an acceptance.
“Thank you.”
“Shut up.”
Deltain Hebron.
The first demon hunter was about to go on a hunt.
*
Beneath the city laid a vast network of waterways.
These waterways had existed since the founding of the empire in the distant past.
Their structure was as complex as their history was long.
Emergency escape routes for wartime, traps to deter invaders, and disorderly hideouts for stray vagrants.
Deltain frowned as he stood at the entrance to the waterways.
It was the clinging humidity and the stench that assaulted his senses.
“So, are this all the people going in?”
Marquis Montbert smiled wryly and said.
“Yes.”
“They’re just kids.”
Some flinched at his words.
They were young knights wearing the imperial crest on their chests.
The Marquis laughed softly in response.
“This time, it’s demon hunters trained by the imperial family. They’re rookies, but each one of them is highly capable, so don’t worry.”
“Since when did demons care about their opponent’s abilities? I didn’t know that.”
Deltain scoffed, but no one disagreed with him.
It was natural.
Demons.
They were a species fundamentally different from any other creature that had existed on this land.
Demons targeted the soul, not the body.
They inflicted mental, not physical violence.
Thus, unless one’s mental fortitude was extremely strong, even a knight of the highest rank could be brought down in an instant.
“Doing a babysitter’s job now… I’m really being used to the fullest.”
“Don’t speak so harshly. You owe me a debt, don’t you?”
“Don’t forget that the only reason I listen to you is because of that debt. And that debt is being reduced even now.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
“Damn old man.”
It was a long time ago.
Not long after Deltain had been sucked into this game.
It was Marquis Montbert who reached out to him when he was floundering, unable to grasp the situation.
Therefore, the notoriously ill-tempered Deltain showed him kindness—because of the debt he owed from that day.
Deltain Hebron was not one to live with debts.
“… let’s finish this quickly and go back.”
Deltain entered the waterway.
The knights followed him, guided by Marquis Montbert’s gestures.
*
Two hours after entering the waterway, all Deltain had done was listen to Marquis Montbert’s information about the demon hiding there.
Considering that briefings were supposed to be completed before departure, it was quite an illogical action, but no one cared.
Deltain and Marquis Montbert always operated with immediate feedback like this.
“It seems to be a demon with a name.”
“Why do you think so?”
“Several merchants in the commercial district are complaining of heart pain. And they all say they have the same dream every night.”
“So, what’s the reason you think it has a
“Because they all heard the same name in their dreams.”
Marquis Montbert said with a sly smile.
“Gaias.”
A sharp light flashed in Deltain’s golden eyes.
“Got it. You came to me because you knew this could be useful as soon as you heard that name.”
“Please don’t speak so harshly.”
“Stop talking like that, it’s disgusting.”
Deltain’s face contorted.
It was because he reminded him of how Agnes used to speak.
“Why do all the nobles of the empire talk like that? They always try to irritate people with their sarcastic words.”
“You’re a noble too.”
“From a fallen noble family. And I don’t laugh and chatter at banquets like they do.”
“You should attend banquets sometimes.”
“Mind your own business.”
Deltain said and then fell silent.
He shook off his rising irritation and began to think.
‘Gaias. It’s definitely a demon.’
His initial guess was correct.
No. 2
Even as Marquis Montbert’s words irritated him, this fact delighted Deltain.
‘Gaias, Gaias, if it has a name, it must be a high-ranking demon.’
The biggest criterion for classifying demons was
Those with a species-wide name were lower demons.
Those who served as the focal points of these lower demons were mid-level demons.
And those with a unique, individual name were high-ranking demons.
Among the demons, who generally had a collective intelligence, high-ranking demons were special.
They gained power by embedding their names into the consciousness of living beings.
‘What’s its trait? Considering the heart retrieval part and the people complaining of heart pain, it must be related to the heart…’
Deltain’s thoughts continued.
He was piecing together the identity of the demon Gaias using both his game knowledge and the new insights he had gained since arriving here.
As Deltain fell silent and the waterway filled with silence.
Rustle-
A sound came from somewhere.
Deltain stopped.
The knights following him also stopped.
“… it seems to be vagrants.”
One of the knights said.
At the end of the sound, there were several women huddled together in tattered clothes, looking this way.
The peculiar thing was that all of them appeared to be heavily pregnant.
“What will you do?”
Deltain ignored Marquis Montbert’s words and just stared at the pregnant women.
The women shrank back even more under his gaze.
After a brief standoff.
“… she’s getting up.”
One of the knights said as one of the pregnant women stood up.
She clutched her belly protectively and staggered towards Deltain.
“Please, food… for my baby….”
Her dry, desperate voice was enough to evoke sympathy.
A few of the knights began to show pity on their faces.
That was probably why what Deltain did next felt so shocking.
Thwack-!
Deltain kicked the pregnant woman’s belly.
Her belly burst.
Sounds of shock came from all around.
Blood splattered and pieces of viscera scattered in an unreal scene.
The knights felt a deep sense of revulsion at Deltain’s actions.
No matter how great a hero he was, such actions seemed unjustifiable.
“Hey.”
Deltain’s cold voice broke the silence.
His gaze was now fixed on the knights.
“You were trained, right? What’s the point of just standing there while this thing approached me?”
The knights stared at Deltain in astonishment, then followed his finger to where he was pointing and hardened their expressions.
“A demon of craving. It uses human sympathy to catch people off guard. I put this demon on the first page of the manual, didn’t I?”
What was there was no longer a pregnant woman.
It was a grotesque creature, a mass of red flesh with sharp teeth emerging here and there.
“Useless fools.”
Deltain’s expression grew fierce.