In a private room, Roxwell and Ex sat facing Barile.
Perhaps because she was a demon, her severed tendons had already regenerated.
That saved them the trouble of grunting and struggling to carry Barile around.
“Master, we’re the only ones who know about this.”
“I know what you’re getting at. Fine. Do whatever you think is best for now.”
For the time being, they kept the fact that Barile was a demon hidden from the other members.
Telling them would only throw everyone into confusion.
Besides, Barile had a role to play precisely because she was a demon.
“Start by telling me how to get to Lower Hell.”
Barile, a demon whose black bobbed hair and gloomy purple eyes somehow made her entire presence seem faint, answered.
“Until you tell me that, I’m not doing anything.”
She was a lot more shameless than Ex had expected.
“What, so you can kill yourself and get sent back the second I tell you? Do I look insane?”
“What if you’re lying to me?”
“You can’t expect a payoff without a little trust.”
“Cut the bullshit. You think I don’t know you’re planning to stab me in the back the second I sell out my comrades?”
Ex flinched.
That was exactly what he had been planning.
He had a rough idea of how to reach Lower Hell.
Of course, he had no intention of giving that information away so easily.
‘She’s smarter and more suspicious than I expected. No wonder her Intelligence was freakishly high when I checked her stats earlier.’
Ex reopened the Character Information he had seen before.
『Character Information
「Basic Information
Name: Barile Bentley
Race: Demon
Special Traits: Human Possession」」
「Base Stats
Stamina: 1.1
Intelligence: 4.9
Agility: 2.6
Magic Power: 1.2
Demonic Power: 1.2
Charm: 2.1」
「Talents
Lowest-Rank Familiar Summoning(F)
Shadow Leap(E)
Shadow Manipulation(E)
Presence Interference(A)」
「Titles
Nameless Demon(F)
Useless Sacrificial Pawn(F)
Unfortunate Unbeliever(F)
The Betrayed(F)」』
‘Her Intelligence is almost 5. She’s basically a bargain-bin Circe.’
Aside from her Intelligence, her abilities were almost pitifully bad. Presence Interference was the only thing in her arsenal that was genuinely useful.
‘What the hell is with these titles…?’
Ex couldn’t even begin to imagine how many times Barile must have been betrayed to end up with titles like those.
No wonder suspicion was her first instinct.
Still, the fact that she was sitting here quietly instead of immediately resisting meant there was at least some room for negotiation.
Life in Upper Hell was that miserable.
Ex had no choice but to shelve his plan to stab Barile in the back for now.
“Let’s at least introduce ourselves properly first. What’s your true name? Do you have an epithet?”
“A piece of trash from Upper Hell like me doesn’t have a true name or an epithet. If you need something to call me, use my human name. Barile.”
For demons, true names and epithets were practically achievements in themselves.
Usually, a demon received a name after earning recognition from a higher-ranking demon.
Then the recipient swore loyalty to the demon who had bestowed that name upon them.
That was how demons lived.
Ex had a feeling Barile wouldn’t be easy to persuade.
But what this demon wanted was painfully obvious.
And if Ex could exploit that desire, there was a way to bring her around.
“Fine, Barile. Then let’s make a bet. If I win, you cooperate with me. If I lose, I’ll tell you how to get to Lower Hell. Naturally, I’ll guarantee your safety too. And even if you end up cooperating with me, I’ll still tell you how to reach Lower Hell.”
“Ha. You really think I’m going to trust a human’s word? Demons are already desperate to stab each other in the back, and you expect me to trust a human? If you want my cooperation, tell me how to get to Lower Hell first. Once this job is over, I’ll be able to go there anyway.”
“You could die to us before that happens.”
“…You underhanded bastard.”
“So? Are you taking the deal or not?”
There had never been a choice to begin with.
When higher-ranking demons died, they returned to their own territories, where their safety was guaranteed.
Lower-ranking demons had no such luxury.
Especially those whose return coordinates were fixed in Upper Hell.
They lived constantly surrounded by pain and the terror of being devoured.
That was why they struggled so desperately to reach the safety of Lower Hell.
Ex knew that, which made Barile’s desire easy to see through.
And once you knew what someone wanted, bringing them over to your side became much easier.
Barile sank into deep thought before finally opening her mouth.
“…What kind of bet?”
A smile slowly spread across Ex’s face, already certain of his victory.
“I saw earlier that you’re working under a high-ranking demon, right? I’m guessing that demon promised to give you a name.”
“…And?”
“The bet is simple. Will that demon keep the promise or not? For the record, I’m betting they won’t.”
“…”
Barile’s eyes sharpened.
No matter what else could be said, it was still a promise made by a high-ranking demon.
And some mere human had just dismissed it like it meant nothing.
As a demon, Barile couldn’t help taking offense.
Demons had pride and honor too.
“Then I’ll bet that the promise will be kept. Don’t you dare treat the word of a high-ranking demon like it’s worthless, human.”
Ex answered without losing his relaxed smile.
“Then let’s find out. I’ll tell you the plan.”
—
By the time everyone had fallen asleep.
Something crawled into the Downtown Branch hideout.
Skitter-
A tiny insect.
Smaller than a fingernail, the creature slipped freely through cracks beneath the doors and wandered around the hideout as if searching for something.
After crawling through the sleeping quarters, it slipped into a room where the lights were still on.
At last, it had found its target.
“Ex, what do you think? About tomorrow’s Grand Assembly.”
“They must have prepared something.”
It was Roxwell and Ex.
Ex rested his chin on one hand and murmured thoughtfully.
“A Grand Assembly being called the moment I arrive here is far too convenient. They’ve undoubtedly prepared a trap for us.”
“But we can’t just stay away. We don’t have any support, either. And right now, you’re a fugitive from the Imperial Family. A wanted man.”
“There’s nothing we can do about that. Even so, I have no intention of abandoning my convictions. The Empire needs change if we care about its future.”
“You idiot… You really think one man can change the world?”
“I’m not alone.”
Ex deliberately looked around the room before continuing.
“Every member of the Revolutionary Front attending the Grand Assembly will be with us. All we have to do is find the demons hiding among them and eliminate them. We have a way to identify the demons who were secretly working with the Imperial Princess.”
“Are you really sure you can pull that off? We could hide for now and wait for another opportunity. This is too dangerous.”
“This is just my suspicion, but if we don’t appear, the demons may hurt not only ordinary members of the Revolutionary Front, but innocent civilians as well. That is the one thing I absolutely cannot allow.”
Ex stared at Roxwell with determination in his eyes.
“I believe in the strength of the Revolutionary Front. I’ll lead them, and I’ll see this revolution through to the end. Whatever trap they’ve prepared for us, the Revolutionary Front and I will overcome it together.”
“…If that’s what you’ve decided, then fine. I’ll help you.”
“Then as for the details of what we’ll do afterward…”
The two soon lowered their voices and began discussing their plans.
Their voices were so quiet that no one could hear without moving closer.
But if the insect approached any farther, there was no doubt they would notice.
Skitter-
The tiny insect turned around and crawled back through the gap it had entered from.
The moment it made it outside, it spread its wings and rapidly flew away.
Never realizing there was something hiding in its shadow.
The insect eventually arrived at a deep underground chamber hidden somewhere beneath one of the city’s alleys.
Someone wearing a dark hood waited inside.
The insect landed on its master’s finger and vanished as though being absorbed into the skin.
“Hmm…”
The insect’s master quietly opened his eyes.
Several figures were seated around a meeting table in front of him.
All of them had their hoods pulled low, but the sinister gleam in their eyes made their identities easy enough to guess.
Every one of them was a demon.
“They realized it’s a trap.”
The insect demon spoke immediately after opening his eyes.
Before the others could frown, he continued.
“But the plan doesn’t change. They’re underestimating our trap. They intend to come without making any real preparations.”
The demons reacted in their own ways.
One particularly cautious demon considered the situation for a moment before voicing a concern.
“Are you certain this is wise? Acting on our own while Lady Andras is absent is far too dangerous. Our opponents are the Hero and a 7-Star martial artist.”
“Then what, you want us to keep hiding like rats?!”
A hot-tempered demon slammed his hand against the table and shouted.
“Because of that bastard exposing Lady Andras, our preparations for the grand plan have been thrown into chaos! Ripping him apart right this second wouldn’t be enough to satisfy me! I want to fry him alive in hellfire!”
“But we haven’t taken control of the Downtown Branch. I can’t recommend launching a direct assault there.”
The cautious demon calmly answered the hothead’s rage.
“Besides, don’t we only have one demon stationed there? The one from Upper Hell. There aren’t enough of us inside to order any kind of internal operation. Ah, right. She hasn’t been exposed, has she?”
“They don’t seem to have noticed.”
The insect demon recalled what he had seen.
“The Hero apparently bragged that he had a way to identify demons, but the fact that he failed to notice in the end tells us everything we need to know. If they knew a demon was among them, that entire branch would have been in an uproar. Instead, they were all sleeping peacefully.
The insect demon rested his chin on one hand and gave a vicious smile.
“Well, it hardly matters. All they need to do is come to the Grand Assembly. Once they do, no matter how desperately they struggle, they will die. Isn’t that exactly why we’ve been preparing so carefully all this time?”
The demons thought about everything currently unfolding within the Revolutionary Front and broke into delighted laughter.
“Hehehe. We originally prepared all this to kill the Sword of the Revolution, and then the Hero went and joined them at just the right time. Things couldn’t have worked out better. Make sure everything is ready for tomorrow’s Grand Assembly. Take every possible precaution. Not a single piece of information can be allowed to leak.”
At those words, everyone rose to return to their respective branches.
Just then, the cautious demon seemed to remember something.
“Ah. There is one matter we still haven’t decided.”
“What is it?”
“Shouldn’t we order the demon at the Downtown Branch to withdraw? It will be difficult to distinguish friend from foe during the Grand Assembly. If she doesn’t want to die, perhaps we should warn her to leave beforehand…”
“What are you talking about?”
The insect demon answered as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.
“Who cares what happens to some vermin from Upper Hell? Once she gets sent back there, we’ll never see her again anyway. If she tries to withdraw and creates some unexpected variable, that would only put our plan at risk.”
“You’re rotten.”
“I’m a demon.”
And with that, the meeting ended.
The demons vanished one by one like smoke, each returning to wherever they had come from.
“…Hm?”
The cautious demon was the last one remaining.
As he turned around to make sure he hadn’t forgotten anything, something caught his eye.
“…What’s this fly doing here? Did that fool forget to take it with him?”
A tiny fly was sitting in the corner of the meeting room.
“Well, I suppose it doesn’t matter.”
The underground chamber was old, run-down, and completely neglected.
Of course there would be insects.
He had never seen one quite so tiny and difficult to notice before, but he couldn’t care less about the species of insects that existed in the Human Realm.
The cautious demon also dissolved into smoke and disappeared.
The tiny fly simply remained there, watching everything.
—
Inside a private room at the Downtown Branch.
Barile, who was supposed to have gone to sleep, had once again gathered with Ex and Roxwell.
They were there to confirm the outcome of the bet.
Barile’s hand covered Ex’s right eye.
It was necessary for them to share the familiar’s vision.
“Wow. I guess demons really are demons. Backstabbing is practically second nature.”
Naturally, the conversation between Ex and Roxwell had all been an act.
Before making the bet with Barile, Ex had learned that someone would be coming to spy on them, so they hurriedly prepared everything.
Barile created a familiar and hid it in the shadow of the insect sent to watch them, then had it follow the spy back.
That familiar was the tiny fly in the meeting room.
“Those bastards! I wasted three years of my life working for them…!”
After listening to the demons’ conversation, Barile ground her teeth in fury.
The bitterness in her voice carried the unmistakable weight of someone who had been deeply wronged.
“They promised they’d give me a name and support me until I reached at least Third Rank. I was supposed to escape Upper Hell and finally make it to Lower Hell. And they never intended to do any of it from the start…!”
“Half-baked demons like those never keep their word. Promises only start meaning something when you’re dealing with an Archdemon. At that level, their very existence and renown bind them to their promises.”
Ex stepped away from Barile, whose hand had been resting over his eye.
They no longer needed to share the familiar’s vision.
“…Damn it.”
Barile’s fury died almost as quickly as it had erupted, and her shoulders slumped.
She understood all too painfully that getting angry changed nothing.
A weak demon could be betrayed and still be powerless to do anything about it.
“I won the bet.”
“…Do whatever you want.”
At Barile’s defeated response, Ex breathed a sigh of relief.
He had been the one to suggest the bet, but even Ex hadn’t been completely confident about the outcome.
He only knew from the setting that Dantalion, the demon leading them, treated weak demons like vermin.
That alone wasn’t enough to guarantee Ex would win the bet.
『[Win the bet] Required Points: 10,000』
『Current Editing Points: 18,400』
So he had spent Editing Points.
‘That was ridiculously expensive…! Was this seriously worth it? No, I fooled those demons and recruited one of their own, so technically it was worth it, but still…!’
There were several reasons Ex wanted to bring Barile over to his side.
The first was to feed Dantalion false information.
The second was to obtain information that even Ex didn’t know.
Dantalion had only appeared briefly during the Imperial Schism Scenario for the sake of staging a scene.
Ex knew what kind of demon Dantalion was according to the setting, but he didn’t know much beyond that.
That meant he needed information from the one demon who had an actual connection to Dantalion.
Only then could he properly prepare for whatever trap awaited them at the Grand Assembly.
“Now you cooperate with me. There’s nothing waiting for you if you stick with those bastards except another betrayal. Wouldn’t it be better to screw them over instead and get the method for reaching Lower Hell from me?”
“So what do you want me to do?”
“First, tell me everything you know about Dantalion and the demons in the Revolutionary Front. What kind of trap they’ve prepared, what’s happening inside the Revolutionary Front, everything. Don’t leave anything out.”
Barile looked troubled when she heard that.
Even after being betrayed, perhaps she still felt reluctant to sell out her comrades.
For a demon, she seemed strangely committed to loyalty.
But that wasn’t the reason.
“I don’t know.”
She simply didn’t know anything.
“Hm? What did you say? I think I misheard you.”
“I said I don’t know.”
“No, no. That’s not what you’re supposed to say. ‘I don’t know’ is not an acceptable answer coming out of your mouth. That phrase should not exist in your vocabulary right now.”
“I don’t know. Do you really think they’d share information with a disposable grunt at the absolute bottom of the hierarchy, especially a lower-ranking demon? The only thing I learned over the past three years is that Dantalion had been secretly monitoring this place without telling me.”
Ex felt his vision go dark.
He had just thrown ten thousand Editing Points into the void to recruit a demon who knew absolutely nothing.
At this rate, the only benefit he had gained was feeding false information to the enemy.
The return on his investment was catastrophically bad.
“If that’s the case… do I really need to tell you how to get to Lower Hell? Wouldn’t it be easier if I just killed you right now?”
“W-Wait! If you kill me now, we’ll have a problem the next time that demon comes to spy on you. And I have to report to them every morning and night. Besides, none of this would’ve happened if you’d said from the start that the information you wanted was part of the deal. This is clearly your mistake, isn’t it?”
Sensing the anger leaking through Ex’s smiling face, Barile hurriedly defended herself.
The fact that she could prove her usefulness and argue her case even in a situation like this showed just how quick her mind was.
‘No wonder her Intelligence is so high for a lower-ranking demon…’
Ex forced down his irritation.
“Damn it, I just burned all those points for nothing… Well, this one really is my fault. Fine. Like I promised, I’ll tell you how to reach Lower Hell. But until tomorrow, you follow our orders.”
“…You really mean that?”
“You think I’m lying?”
Telling one lower-ranking demon how to reach Lower Hell wasn’t going to cause some massive catastrophe.
The method itself was closer to a loophole that only existed in the setting anyway.
Once it was used, it would be permanently closed off.
Barile looked genuinely surprised when Ex said he intended to keep his promise.
Apparently, she had expected to be betrayed again.
Of course, Ex had never intended to break his promise.
He was just about to explain the method when Barile interrupted him.
“Wait. Before that.”
Barile abruptly took Ex’s hand as if offering a handshake.
“What?”
“Just give me a second.”
Caught off guard, Ex instinctively tried to pull his hand away.
But Barile wasn’t doing anything threatening, so he let her continue.
At that moment, Ex felt something resonate within him in a way strangely similar to divine power.
The sensation was familiar, yet alien.
It was unmistakably demonic power.
“…Is this even possible? No, but this is definitely…”
Meanwhile, Barile seemed to be thinking deeply about something.
After a moment, she released Ex’s hand.
Then her expression turned serious.
“Forget about the method for reaching Lower Hell. Instead, promise me you’ll grant me one other request. It’ll be something completely trivial for you.”
“…What does that have to do with you grabbing my hand just now?”
Barile didn’t answer.
She simply stared directly into Ex’s eyes.
Strangely enough, there was no malice in Barile’s gaze.
“Fine, whatever. I’ll hear what it is first and decide.”
“Later. It’s something you can grant whenever the time comes.”
For some reason, Ex felt as though Barile was starting to drag him along at her own pace.
For a demon who had never even appeared in the original novel, she was strangely confident.
Still, Ex was the one holding the upper hand, so he decided not to make an issue of it.
“Do whatever you want… Oh, right. What the hell happened to your ring? You demons use Soul Trap Rings to get around surveillance, don’t you?”
“Those go to important humans or higher-ranking demons first. Grunts like me naturally have even those taken away from us.”
Barile leaned back against the chair and answered without much emotion.
“Besides, I didn’t possess this body using a Soul Trap Ring. I got lucky and possessed a human who was already on the verge of death. So there isn’t any captured soul inside me. If I’m purified, this body dies too.”
“Hmm. That complicates things…”
For Ex’s future plans to work, the other members of the Downtown Branch couldn’t discover that there was a demon among them.
The entire point was that neither side had realized the other’s identity.
Which meant Ex needed some insurance in case the worst happened.
“Use this for now.”
Ex handed over the ring he had used before switching to Beatrice’s.
It was the ring that had once contained two years’ worth of divine power, only to be completely drained when Ex recreated the Hero’s pillar of light.
“I don’t know whether it’ll work properly without a soul inside you. Still, if you’re lucky, it should at least divert some of the divine power.”
“…”
Barile accepted the Soul Trap Ring with her eyes wide open.
For a long moment, she simply stared at it in a daze.
Her expression said she couldn’t believe what she was seeing.
「Aaaagh! Sir Ex! No!! You can’t!! No, no, no! Absolutely not!! Not even if you die!! Not even if the world ends!!!」
“Lady Beatrice? Why… Ow, why? Why are you doing this?! I just gave her a ring I wasn’t using anymore. What? That’s the problem?”
Only after enduring Beatrice’s horrified scolding for quite some time was Ex finally released.
He had absolutely no idea why she was reacting like she was having a fit.
「How can the first one be some random demon?! Some damn demon bastard!! It doesn’t count! This is invalid!! Wait, if we’re being technical, wasn’t I the first? Right. Technically, I was the first. Of course I was!」
‘Why is she making such a huge deal over one ring…?’
While Ex stood there bewildered, Barile composed herself and quietly slipped the ring onto the index finger of her right hand.
Ex sighed and waved his hand dismissively.
“All right, that’s enough for tonight. We’re done here. If we stay up having a meeting too late, the other members might start getting suspicious for no reason.”
With that, the three dispersed and headed back to their respective rooms.
Barile also returned to her bed, replaying what had happened earlier.
When she had shared her familiar’s vision with Ex.
And when she had taken Ex’s hand.
‘There was definitely demonic power inside him.’
But there was something even more important than that.
‘It was faint, but I could sense the presence of a high-ranking demon.’
Why would someone with demonic power be capable of wielding divine power?
Why would someone bearing the stature of a high-ranking demon pretend to be human?
Why would he interfere with fellow demons who were preparing their grand plan?
‘No. None of that matters to me.’
One thing was certain.
Ex was not human.
What Barile had sensed when they clasped hands was unmistakably demonic.
And not just any demon.
A high-ranking one.
More importantly, Ex wasn’t possessing anyone.
The sensation had been so faint that it almost seemed as if someone had deliberately hidden it.
But with Barile’s own ability to manipulate presence, she could still uncover it with certainty.
Ex was definitely a high-ranking demon who had descended into this world.
‘If he’s a high-ranking demon… then I have a chance too.’
The Nameless Demon couldn’t stop thinking about the ring on her finger.
–TL Notes–
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