In the deep hours of the night, a gust of wind rushed through the town of Marcelg.
Izayoi, using illusion magic on himself and traversing atop the roofs of residential houses with his inherent Demon Lord specs, was invisible to the eye. To an outside observer, it simply felt like a sudden breeze blowing through.
After hopping over several houses, Izayoi made a notably large leap, landing silently in front of a church.
The church at night, unlike in the daytime, suppressed its mystical aura, instead radiating an eerie atmosphere.
Unperturbed, Izayoi approached the church's door, sensing the presences inside. It seemed no one was in the sanctuary; only a painful silence returned to his ears.
Nevertheless, Izayoi did not let down his guard due to the presence of the adventurer he had seen during the day.
Although Izayoi was currently invisible due to his magic, it only affected sight. In other words, his scent, sound, and other elements were not concealed.
An S-rank adventurer would naturally be able to sense his presence. Being discovered wouldn’t necessarily lead to a battle, and even if it did, Izayoi was not in the least bit concerned about losing. However, he still wanted to avoid exposing his infiltration.
Cautiously, he slowly pushed open the church door. As the priest had said during the day, the church door was always open.
Softly and gently, he peered inside through the slight opening.
The sanctuary was dominated by dark night. Some moonlight shone in through the stained-glass windows, illuminating only the vicinity of the altar. The rest was utter darkness.
However, the Demon Lord's specs included night vision. This level of darkness posed no problem for Izayoi.
He slid into the sanctuary as if slipping through. As expected, the same oppressive force as during the day bore down on him, which Izayoi calmly countered with physical enhancement.
Moving somewhat laboriously, he headed straight for the altar.
"...Not here."
After thoroughly searching the area around the altar, Izayoi sighed.
What Izayoi was searching for was the Bible that the priest had been reading. He had thought that perhaps it contained facts that the priest had deliberately omitted. Unfortunately, the Bible was nowhere to be found. Likely, the priest had taken it home or stored it somewhere else.
A tad disheartened, Izayoi next turned his eyes toward a door leading further inside the church—where the young adventurer had disappeared during the day.
Silently, Izayoi approached the door and, being extra cautious, sensed for presences. But again, no one's presence was felt, and he carefully opened the door.
A passageway continued beyond the door. A dark passage that was entirely void of light. It was unusually dark and ominous for a church.
The first room contained several desks and chairs, presenting signs of use, but nothing particularly noteworthy.
The second room appeared to be a storage room, with wooden boxes and barrels placed around. A quick look inside revealed nothing of particular interest.
And then the third room—this was the hit.
When he pushed the door, a distinctive smell wafted through the gap—a smell of old books, familiar from the Demon Lord's castle.
The third room was compact, with one desk and chair. Shelves were mounted on the walls, filled with books.
Without hesitation, Izayoi headed for the bookshelf, searching for the Bible with the binding that the priest had read from.
His eyes scanned the spine of each book from top to bottom, but he found none with the familiar binding. It seemed the priest always carried that Bible with him.
With a slight drop of his shoulders but regaining his focus, Izayoi began perusing the bookshelf. He took into account that noteworthy information would likely be in older volumes. He chose several aged, worn books and began perusing them.
After generally sorting through the contents of the bookshelf, Izayoi exhaled a sigh.
Most of the books stored in the bookshelf were irrelevant. While there were slightly intriguing items, such as methods for concocting spirit medicine, there was absolutely nothing related to holy swords. It was as if it had been deliberately hidden.
Feeling a tinge of frustration at the lack of information, Izayoi was about to leave the place when—
"—What...?"
He stopped in his tracks, sensing a strange presence.
For a moment, he thought he heard a noise, but he couldn’t determine its origin.
Izayoi strained his ears, focusing all his senses on listening.
In the deathly silent church, a faint voice, barely audible unless one concentrated, whispered.
—Help... me...
Hearing the feeble voice, Izayoi raised his head and walked toward its source.
Standing before the nondescript stone wall, Izayoi started checking for any kind of mechanism by pressing here and there. After a moment, he discovered an unusual indentation on the right end of the wall and pressed it.
—CLUNK!
A sound as if something had been unlocked echoed, and the stone wall sank into the floor as if being absorbed by it, revealing a hidden staircase leading underground.
—Help... me...
The voice became clearer.
Raising his guard to the maximum, Izayoi cautiously descended the stairs, step by step. Normally, one would bring some source of light, but Izayoi didn’t need it.
Taking care to make as little noise as possible, what he found at the end of his descent was a room enclosed by iron bars—a prison cell.
"What is this..."
Izayoi murmured in astonishment. Inside the prison cell, a shadow moved.
Izayoi tensed for a moment but relaxed when he noticed that the shadow was lying down inside the cell. A meager gap opened in the wall opposite the iron bars of the cell. Illuminated by the moonlight seeping through that slim gap, just wide enough for an arm to pass through, the identity of the shadow collapsed on the floor comes into view.
It was a young girl, clothed in tattered rags.
Her limbs, visible through the cloth, were covered in bruises everywhere, and her face was severely swollen. Possibly unable to get a proper meal, her body was as thin as a withered tree. It was not difficult to imagine that she had been treated horribly.
And above all, this girl had ears growing from the top of her head and a tail from her lower back, reminiscent of a beast, which are not usually found in humans.
"Beastkin, huh..."
Whether Izayoi’s murmur reached her or not, the fallen girl twitched slightly in response.
"Wh...o..."
Though she seemed to have difficulty speaking, possibly having a cut inside her mouth, the girl managed to utter a voice. Slowly, she lifted her face. Although her eyelids were swollen and her pupils half-open, her eyes were indeed fixed on Izayoi.
"Can you see me?"
When Izayoi, slightly surprised, asked, the girl managed to nod with great effort.
"Ma...gic...sees..."
"I see."
Likely, this beastkin girl could see not Izayoi's form, but the magic he possessed. Magic couldn’t be concealed, even with illusionary magic.
Izayoi looked down at the girl, who lay crumpled within the cell, contemplating.
Surely Yuko would try to rescue her without hesitation. If such a young girl was imprisoned and subjected to such brutal violence, Yuko would undoubtedly try to save her.
However, Izayoi hesitated. Choosing to carelessly save her without knowing who this girl is, would be folly. Perhaps this girl could bring about a catastrophic disaster. Even if not, she surely must have some complicated background.
As Izayoi pondered what to do,
"Help...me..."
The girl, her body in tatters, lifted herself with one hand and stretched the other towards him desperately. Izayoi was unmistakably within her reach.
The girl’s golden eyes never left Izayoi. Her eyes, clinging to the last shred of hope, continued to gaze at him.
When did it start?
The moments where he, without a second thought, would kill heroes pleading for salvation, heroes despairing, heroes shedding tears, as if it were merely a task. Izayoi, himself, couldn’t recall – it felt like a thing of the distant past.
It didn’t matter. It was right. Otherwise, his mind might have gone mad.
But, since meeting Yuko, something gradually changed in Izayoi’s heart.
Whether impacted by Yuko's kindness, honesty, or stubbornness, the conscience and guilt that had sunk to the depths of Izayoi's heart had begun to resurface.
Even now, he found himself wanting to save the beastkin girl, without any ulterior motive. Thinking he should do it because he had the power to make it happen.
However, Izayoi suppressed the desire welling up within him.
His hands were already stained with blood. Doing a good deed, such as saving someone now, was too convenient.
So, gently placing his hand upon the fallen beastkin girl’s head, Izayoi--
"--Don’t give up yet. Don’t break. It’s just a little longer. Soon, a hero will come for you."
"He...ro...?"
"Yes, that’s right. An absurdly straightforward and much stronger person than me. They will definitely come to save you."
"Re...ally...?"
"Yes."
As Izayoi affirmed with strength, tears welled up in the girl’s golden eyes.
As she shed tears, the girl let out a silent sob. Even crying out seemed to be painful for her, so grievously was she hurt.
Gritting his teeth at her form, Izayoi slowly lifted his hand from her head. The girl seemed somewhat reluctant to let it go, but Izayoi didn’t show any sign of noticing.
Surveying the dimly lit basement, Izayoi cast one last glance at the beastkin girl before returning up the stairs.
As ever, only the vicinity of the altar in the cathedral was illuminated by the moonlight; the rest was plunged into total darkness.
Just as Izayoi was about to promptly leave the church--
"--Oh my, are you leaving already?"
A voice from behind, eliciting a shock akin to being struck by lightning, caused him to stiffen.
"I was truly surprised. An unseen entity, is it a unique ability possessed by demonkind?"
At the continuation of the words, Izayoi was stunned.
It would have been fine if his presence was just detected. However, he never thought his being a demon would be seen through.
Maintaining his composure so as not to reveal his astonishment to the other party, Izayoi turned around. Right in front of the altar, moonlight on his back, the speaker stood calmly.
"It’s been a few hours, hasn’t it, demon adventurer?"
The priest, wearing a gentle smile and holding that bible, gazed at Izayoi.