◈ Episode 369. Taking Up the Brush (2)
Dune.
The clan of red eyes did not waver even before the great evil. Eat, devour—though the Seven Deadly Sins’ Gluttony poured out status abnormalities without pause, there was not the slightest tremor in their crimson pupils.
Gluttony grew curious. ‘How can a mere human?’ Natural enemies, Akshan.
It was only natural that they would come to mind.
That they overlapped with the demon hunters who had never broken even before them?
Among compliments, it was the highest praise.
However.
“Lord Shahin, what should we do with them?”
Dune’s attitude was clearly different from Akshan’s.
The man who had asked Shahin for his opinion was looking at the residents.
They had already committed terrible atrocities, led on by Gluttony’s authority.
Cannibalism.
If they were human, it would not be strange for them to be terrified merely by watching.
But Shahin Dune was utterly calm.
His manner was as if he were accustomed to it.
“If it were Him, He would surely have saved even them. But we do not have that ability. Offer prayers to Ashara. And with all your heart, wish for their souls to rest in peace.”
If they dealt with Gluttony, perhaps they would return to normal as well.
But their memories would not disappear.
If it were Him, He could surely comfort even those wounds.
But they had no confidence they could do the same.
“I shall do so.”
Slice—Dune’s curved blade danced gracefully.
It was a solemn dance.
That was why the bewilderment did not leave Gluttony’s face.
“……
What on earth are you?”
The Seven Deadly Sins were such beings that it would not be an exaggeration to say they had watched the birth of the Arcana Continent since the beginning of time. If there were people with such bodies and mental fortitude, they would have made peerless vessels.
He himself would never have left them alone.
“And yet, how is it that I do not know you?”
Shahin Dune answered without hesitation.
“It’s only natural that you don’t.”
“……
What?”
“The only one who recognized us was Claudi.”
“……!”
Gluttony leapt to a conclusion.
It seemed that between those fellows called Dune and Claudi,
there was something close and unbreakable that he could not infiltrate.
If so. ‘I’m not inclined to, but.’ In the end, did he have no choice but to wage an all-out battle?
“Lord Shahin.”
At the voice calling him, Shahin Dune nodded.
Gluttony, who had possessed a human shell, revealed his true form.
Swaaaaak—!
His skin tore apart in all directions, and an enormous amount of flesh began to spill out from within. His bulk seemed to double with every second. Gluttony’s face, likewise covered in flesh.
Munch, munch—its form began to change grotesquely. Mouths appeared where eyes should have been. In keeping with the name Gluttony, countless mouths began to sprout across his massive body.
An insidious voice flowed from hundreds of mouths.
“Are you prepared to pay the price for disturbing my meal?”
The demon race grows. He was a great evil that had fed on the negative emotions of the Arcana Continent since the beginning of time. Gluttony, unlike Greed, had not even experienced death.
“Answer.”
The surroundings warped. In the terminology of players, the field was changing. As if he meant to swallow all things, Gluttony devoured everything and swelled his body.
His gaze, his mouths, turned toward the Dune clan.
“No, your will does not matter.”
This body was a great evil.
Claudi and the last survivor of Akshan. So long as he excluded that natural enemy, he was confident he could handle any being on the Arcana Continent. Just as he had not tucked his tail even before dragons, elves, and transcendents.
But Gluttony was overlooking something.
“Hey, let me ask you one thing. Demon.”
Shahin Dune’s place of origin.
Shahin Dune took in the great evil’s form at a glance.
It was so enormous it exceeded his field of vision.
But as stated, the important thing was that he had taken it in “at a glance.” Unlike “that time.”
Shahin Dune’s voice continued.
“Between you and the Demon King of the Demon World, who is stronger?”
Gluttony wondered what nonsense a mere human was babbling.
“What?”
Either way, it was unpleasant.
It had to be. If he was being compared to the mongrels who called themselves kings, it was an insult; if he was being compared to the Demon King of the Ten Thrones, it was close to deception meant to belittle him.
“How insolent.”
Gluttony answered thus.
And yet, the human’s reaction was even more outrageous.
Shahin Dune laughed.
“True, it would be difficult to admit it even with all those mouths. Then I shall evaluate you myself. Compared to that one, you are pitifully weak.”
“!”
Even if it was not revealed,
everyone had a background they had lived through.
The Dune clan was no different.
At this moment, the reason Shahin Dune could remain calm
even before the great evil, the Seven Deadly Sins’ Gluttony,
was entirely justified.
Shahin Dune recalled that day.
Back then.
It had appeared from the sky.
Shahin Dune’s red eyes trembled faintly for the first time.
“……!”
Gluttony noticed Shahin Dune’s agitation. This fellow who had been so confident even before him was being swept up in negative emotions merely by recalling the past…… ‘What memory did he remember?’ He was engulfed in doubt only for a moment before Shahin Dune opened his mouth.
“It was nothing more than a single forearm holding a sword. Isn’t it laughable? That the sky split open and what emerged was a single forearm. That our homeland, the Seorn Continent, was destroyed by that one forearm.”
“Seorn……?”
Only then did Gluttony realize.
The Dune clan!
So that was it. There was a reason he had not recognized them.
They were not beings of the Arcana Continent. However, his mind still did not become clear. The Seorn Continent was driven to ruin by nothing more than a forearm.
Such a thing would be impossible even for the Seven Deadly Sins’ “Wrath”……
As he denied the fact, suddenly,
the phrase “Demon King of the Demon World” flashed past.
Gluttony opened his mouth, thinking, surely not.
“The Demon King of the Ten Thrones……!”
“It seems that is what you call him.”
Shahin Dune traced back through old memories.
Strictly speaking, they were not his own memories.
The moment they fled from the destroyed Seorn Continent to the Arcana Continent.
They were the memories of his ancestor who had experienced it.
Memories engraved in red eyes that must never be forgotten.
Yes, for that will had guided his steps here.
Shahin Dune opened his mouth.
“His name was Baal.”
“……!!”
Gluttony’s mouths, which served in place of eyes, gaped even wider.
Everything made sense.
If it was Baal of the First Throne among the Ten Thrones, then even a single arm would be enough to bring a continent to ruin. Thinking that way, the very existence of these people instead became a mystery.
Gluttony asked with sincerity.
“How were you able to survive Baal?”
Until just a short while ago,
Shahin Dune would not have been able to answer that question.
Even though he had inherited the thickest blood of Dune,
it had not been easy to read the memories engraved in his red eyes in their entirety.
He could see the scene of that day,
but it had been endlessly blurry, as if he were gazing into dense fog.
However, he came to realize.
For some reason.
From a certain moment, that scene became clear.
Because the memory had grown distinct.
Shahin Dune smiled.
“I wonder as well. Why did I not notice it?”
At the moment of destruction,
Baal’s sword stopped for an instant, but stopped for certain.
Because Baal’s sword had turned toward empty air.
The voices of the Demon World’s demons, shrieking, passed through his memory.
-“Why are you wasting such an enormous sacrifice, Baal!! Do you know how great a sacrifice the Demon World paid for this day? The Demon World cannot be satisfied with a mere Seorn Continent. Fulfill the contract. Open the gate to the Arcana Continent with that sword!!”
The demons did not witness it.
But it was clearly visible to Dune’s red eyes.
At the moment of the Seorn Continent’s destruction,
the one who stood in Baal’s way was a silver-haired man.
That was right, Claudi.
And for some reason,
it was the head of Claudi whom he had encountered at the banquet not long ago.
-“Even if you do not show me, I know everything.”
-“Even the method to hunt you, Baal.”
-“I never expected understanding from an inferior race.”
-“Consider it an honor. I shall personally make you realize.”
He provoked Baal.
And thanks to the time he bought,
the Dune clan survived and set foot on the Arcana Continent.
“Why did I fail to recognize him, the benefactor of Dune?”
It was not something he said lightly. Even after accepting Claudi’s invitation, he had failed to recognize him and had not even properly expressed his gratitude. He was so filled with resentment toward himself that it was unbearable.
Shing—!
So now was the time to prove it, even if belatedly.
That his loyalty toward Claudi
was not merely because Claudi was a great house.
And so Shahin Dune no longer exchanged words.
“What have you been muttering to yourself about all this time……!!”
Thuk—!
Refrain from unnecessary conversation with demons.
For that was His teaching....
It was not something happening only to the Seven Deadly Sins’ Gluttony.
Splash—!
The Seven Deadly Sins’ Sloth opened his eyes to an icy sensation.
“……
Huh?”
When he opened his eyes, he saw himself bound to a chair, his limbs restrained.
Drenched in cold water.
Sloth searched his memories.
It felt like only a few dozen minutes had passed since he closed his eyes for a nap……
“Oh dear, Nepriphit. It seems you called me.”
The true-name demon Nepriphit, who had infiltrated the Goddess Church.
It seemed she had asked him for help,
and, receiving no answer, had already fallen into hell.
Apparently, quite a long time had passed.
Sloth exhaled languidly.
“Yaaawn. What a pity.”
Though his hands and feet were bound, Sloth felt no sense of crisis.
Was this the first or second time?
He had borrowed a human body, drunk riotously,
and, unable to pay the price, had been locked in prison.
That was Sloth’s last memory.
“……?”
However, the scenery entering his brightening vision was far from ordinary.
It glittered far too much to be called a prison.
Everything in sight was gold, silver, and jewels.
Clink—even the chains restraining his four limbs were among those treasures.
Sloth’s face, which had been utterly languid, began to distort.
“……
Ha?”
They were restraints made of silver.
Sloth realized immediately.
These people knew his identity.
A voice came from the darkness.
“You know, don’t you? I very much dislike lazy people, Assistant. There is one saying I like most of all. He who does not work, neither shall he eat. That saying did not come about for nothing.”
“I am aware. There are more than a few people who lost their jobs due to your exacting evaluations, Guildmaster. Thanks to that, I too am losing sleep every night. These days, I am troubled over whether I ought to offer you nothing but flattery.”
“Ahem. We ought to be showing intimidation, and you make unnecessary jokes……”
After a brief cough, the words continued.
“In any case. Our great evil, the Seven Deadly Sins’ Sloth, the root of the laziness I hate most in the world. Let us calculate how many gold coins I spent tracking you down!”
It would be one thing if they merely thought he was a demon.
But they had even grasped that he was the Seven Deadly Sins’ Sloth?
At that point, Sloth felt a sense of crisis.
Whether they were silver restraints or whatever else,
even if his arms and legs melted away, he had to throw them off.
But had they even realized that?
“For your reference, those silver restraints are dwarf-made. Dwarf-made, something you cannot easily obtain no matter how many gold coins you have. Just know that if you break them, this will not end peacefully.”
“……!”
“Well, not that you have the strength to do so.”
He did not have the strength?
Sloth flared up.
He was a great evil.
He was not an existence that could be restrained by mere restraints like……
Splash—cold water poured down once more.
Sssssss—!
No, it was not ordinary water.
“This is……?”
It was merely so hot that his senses had mistaken it for cold.
That was right.
What had been poured over Sloth’s head was an enormous amount of holy water.
“Because the holy land of the Goddess Church, Muon, disappeared, we ended up using an enormous number of gold coins to secure holy water too, did we not, Assistant? Exactly how much loss did our Diamond Merchant Guild suffer?”
“The price of holy water rose by roughly ten times. Transportation fees increased fivefold.”
“Ten times and five times on top of that……. These damn demon bastards.”
Scratch, scratch—!
What came from within the darkness
was only the sound of a pen nib nervously scraping parchment.
Even as he burned, Sloth worked his mind.
This was dangerous as it was.
Sloth strategically gnashed his teeth.
“How petty, human.”
“Petty?”
“Are you hiding behind the shadows to deceive me?”
“Ahh.”
If Sloth could meet his eyes, he thought he could manifest his authority on the man and escape this crisis. But contrary to Sloth’s wishes, the answer still came from within the darkness.
“Knowing one’s place is a merchant’s virtue. Only by objectively assessing my position and my opponent’s can I bring a deal to fruition. This is no different. Unlike Red Eyes, I am not strong. Well, money is all I have. I am merely hunting you in my own way.”
“……!”
The owner of the voice was Gamond Phil, master of the Diamond Grand Merchant Guild.
Gamond stood facing Sloth in silver armor and ornaments, and as if that weren’t enough, with holy water poured all over his body. It was clearly a different method from Shahin Dune’s, but its effect was no less outstanding.
Gamond said to his assistant,
“How was it? That line just now was rather good, wasn’t it, Assistant?”
“You ruined it by adding something unnecessary.”
“My, your standards are strict.”
Gamond spoke lightly, but in truth, he was in no such mood.
For Gamond valued money above all else.
And he could not help but harbor hatred toward the demon before him.
“Do you know? My Silk Road stretched all across the continent. But thanks to you demons turning the Arcana Continent into a complete mess, our Diamond Merchant Guild suffered tremendous losses. It pains me, but… well, let us say that was something like a natural disaster, which even imperial insurance would not cover. However…….”
Gamond’s eyes blazed.
“If you were going to smash everything to pieces, shouldn’t you have smashed the shadows just the same? Assistant, is that news true? The underground passages of Orc Auction did not suffer much damage and are safe?”
The Diamond Merchant Guild and Orc Auction.
The two merchant guilds that had divided the sunlit and shadowed sides of the Arcana Continent between them.
But because of the demons, that balance had begun to waver.
Gamond touched his forehead, damp and heavy with holy water.
“So this is what it feels like to be subjected to an unfair contract, Assistant.”
That was why Gamond had been overjoyed when he accepted Claudi’s order. It was something he had wanted anyway. He gladly poured in an enormous sum of gold. He devised a meticulous plan and put it into action.
“Did you not find it strange? How there could be a perfectly intact tavern on a devastated continent. How there happened to be a place just right for lazing about. How there happened to be an oddly generous proprietor.”
“……!”
“Then again, if you had cared about such things from the start, perhaps you would not have been a demon. It matters not. Everything was a trap to lure you out from the very beginning.”
Gamond coolly weighed profit and loss.
“I hate the lazy, and Lord Claudi hates demons. There should be no problem, then. Wouldn’t you agree? So it should be fine if I handle this creature even more cruelly, should it not, Assistant?”
For the first time, an eager agreement followed.
“The guild master’s words could not be more correct.”
At the same time, holy water poured down from the ceiling.
“You bastaaaards……!”
Sssssssss!*No questions asked.
Tempest tore into the great evil’s neck.
I gazed at the great evil.
No, at the prey, and spoke coldly.
“If you have forgotten, I shall remind you.”
If the grand design was so vast that it could not even be recognized.
Then I would carve the author’s intent directly into that inferior mind.
Beneath the demonic eyes (魔眼) embroidered across the night sky, I declared,
“I am your true terror.”