“No, what's gotten into this child!”
The woman clapped a hand over the mouth of the little one clinging to her leg and shrieking. Even so, the child paid her no mind.
“Somebody catch that demon, right now! You monster! That demon killed Annie! He killed Mr. Balmer too!”
The child's crying spread little by little until the whole area was in an uproar. Countless eyes fixed themselves on Teron.
Leopold rolled his eyes in a fluster. He waved his hands at the crying child.
“There's no demon here.”
“A demon appeared, save me...!”
In the child's line of sight stood Teron.
“This is Teron, not a demon! What on earth are you looking at, talking like that?”
The woman, who hadn't paid much attention to the robed Teron, had her expression flood with terror in an instant.
“Oh my goodness, it's a black robe.”
Only then did Leopold realize the cause, and in a flash he yanked off the hood covering half of Teron's face.
Then, throwing an arm around his shoulder as he pleased and tilting Teron's face slightly to meet the child's line of sight, he shouted.
“How is this a demon in any way?”
Countless eyes observed Teron Meyer.
Reduced in an instant to a monkey in a zoo, Teron flailed to shove Leopold off. But it didn't work.
“Little one, have you ever seen a demon with a face this gentle?”
“Hic, hiccup! It was definitely a demon... wasn't it?”
“It wasn't. He was just wearing a robe, that's all.”
“Let go this instant. Would you like your wrist cut off in front of everyone?”
“...Well, judging by the way you talk, that's not entirely wrong, but anyway, no. This guy is Teron.”
“Teron?”
The child looked up at Teron Meyer with brimming eyes. Leopold nodded.
“He's my friend.”
“But he's black. Black from head to toe, and scary. Just like a demon. The demon that keeps killing people.”
“...Do people die in this village too?”
The woman scooped up the child and answered.
“A demon turned our village into a wasteland. The people who gathered to eat after their farm work and the merchants selling in the market were all slaughtered a few months ago.”
“...”
“We're only out here because we have to eat, but on the way home, if something trips up your foot, it's usually a corpse. Unlike the corpses of those who starved to death, the corpses the demon kills have all rotted black.”
“...Is there no chance it's a plague?”
“Plenty of people have seen the demon and come back alive, so how could it be a plague! A black robe, all of them, a single man in a robe...”
For the woman, who once again looked at Teron and took a step back, Leopold slung his arm over Teron's shoulder again and gently squeezed his neck.
“Seems this robe is the problem. Can't you go around without wearing it? At this rate you'll get stoned walking down the road.”
“Whatever I choose to wear is my business.”
Teron retorted quietly, but he was ignored.
“I'll talk some sense into him. And... there's a rumor that the royal court is stepping in to catch that demon. Once it's caught, things will be different, won't they? So for now-”
Just wait and see. Leopold swallowed the rest of his words. No matter how he thought about it, he couldn't tell if this made any sense.
There was no doubt about it, a criminal organization had spread nationwide.
This place was a village in a territory one mountain over from Luden. Was that why?
Why were they killing people? Even innocent territory folk, why?
The onlookers studied the robed man, that is, Teron's face, intently, then soon lost interest. Still, it was also true that many people had already taken notice of them. The murmuring began to swell.
“A black robe? They just let a black robe into the village? These people have lost their minds.”
“Judging by how they've stayed quiet so far, they seem like outsiders. Still, shouldn't we drive them out? The blond one's clothes look expensive, so why on earth did they wash up all the way out here?”
It all lodged itself in Teron and Leopold's ears.
In the end, Teron Meyer dragged the blond-haired boy out of the village again and into the mountains.
Leopold followed obediently. His mind seemed to be in turmoil. There was no doubt he was racking his brain over what could be the cause of this whole situation.
Now was the chance. Teron Meyer, resolved to get Leopold inside the Academy before he went mad and thrashed about doing something pointless again, drew a magic circle in an instant.
Leopold jolted in surprise and fled to escape, but Teron desperately wrapped his arms around him and cast the spell just like that.
“Teron Meyer, you crazy bastard...!”
Even after being teleported, Leopold grasped the situation right away and quietly edged away from Teron. But when Teron looked to be in pain, he found himself inching closer despite himself to observe Teron. That was when it happened.
“Your Highness, running away like that only makes things harder for me. If you keep this up, I'll leave Your Highness behind and go back alone. Whether you come with me or not, I'm going to use the teleport spell regardless. So just follow me quietly.”
“...”
“I want to hurry back and rest.”
In the end they landed in the pine forest.
“I'll be back within the day.”
At the same time, Teron Meyer replied graciously to Leopold, who was clutching the hem of his robe.
And then he vanished on the spot.
Demon spawn. Monster, murderer... These were words the black mage Teron Meyer had always heard. The name Teron Meyer was a symbol of terror, and in truth this was no exaggeration.
He killed people, and killed them again. Corpses always lined the roads he passed. It made no difference whether the target was a child or an old person.
Was there anyone more fitting for the title of demon?
The feeling that came over him upon hearing that familiar word again, a year after regressing, was comfort. A familiarity, as if everything had returned to its rightful place.
The mansion he now set foot in was the same. This place, too, was where the Teron Meyer of his past life had resided right up until his death.
Rather grand in appearance, yet the derelict mansion sat all alone at the foot of a mountain on the outskirts of the capital, boasting a chilling air as if a ghost might appear.
“How many have you dug out?”
Teron asked as he stepped inside.
“The ground floor's repairs are complete, and I made one more underground room.”
“Is the person still alive and well?”
A dwarf approached him. The dwarf's short, thick fingers pointed at one space.
“You'd best see for yourself.”
His intonation was distinctly different from the capital's people, and it didn't seem to be a regional dialect either.
To put it precisely, it had the look of a foreigner speaking the language of Deluah.
Teron followed the dwarf and stood before a square gap in the floor in a corner of the mansion. The dwarf pulled on an iron ring.
Creak, the square gap opened and stairs came into view. It was the way down to the basement.
Teron descended the stairs with satisfaction. The moment he stepped inside, a familiar shout greeted them.
“Save me, I'll give you gold coins, as many as you want! Can't you hear me? So let me go, you son of a bitch!”
Teron's mood shot up. It was reward enough to make him forget his entire pointless quarrel with Leopold earlier.
He drew open the screen in front of the room the sound was coming from.
There was a filthy, disheveled boy, blood scabbed over his face.
His eyes met Teron's head-on. The bewildered look in them was soon overtaken by hatred. His snow-white complexion gradually reddened with unbearable rage.
“You think you'll get away with this?”
“...”
“You demon spawn I'll tear apart. You're in league with them too, aren't you? Now I get it, seeing that damn black robe, now I understand!”
Bloodshot veins slowly rose in Edmund Rappel's eyes. He lunged at Teron and grabbed him by the collar.
Dragged in by the hand that slipped through the iron bars, Teron slammed against the bars with a thud.
“Die, just die!! You killed my whole family, so you die too, right now!!”
Teron replied slowly.
“You saw it for yourself. I'm not the one who killed them, Edmund. If anything, you ought to be thanking me for saving you.”
“Shut up! Let me out this instant, you, do you think you'll get away with pulling something like this? Filthy commoner, you fucking bastard...!”
“Still can't grasp the situation, can you...”
“Fuck, what did you say?”
Teron Meyer pried Edmund off with his hand. Thud, he slammed into the floor and let out a groan.
“You're not getting out, not for a while.”
“Filthy, commoner bastard, I'll kill you...”
“The bathroom will be finished soon. When it is, be sure to bathe. Eat your meals properly. If you hold out like that, someday a chance to leave will come. Maybe someone will come to rescue you.”
“...Why, are you doing this, to me, to my family? Is it because you have a grudge? Because I tormented you? Just because of that?”
Edmund's spirit was fragile. After a few bouts of resistance, he glared at Teron with bloodshot eyes, tears streaming down.
Teron Meyer, who had meant to beat him thoroughly if he resisted, felt all his steam fizzle out.
Well, he had confiscated the sword in case the boy tried to kill himself, and even laid protective magic over the walls.
He shouldn't be like this already.
