WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Hydrogen B
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Whispers of a Scheming Demon ◈
Chapter 74: The Count's Domain (4)
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Just as she was about to pass through the iron gate, Ilea suddenly stopped.
She rummaged beneath her hood and pulled out some clothes.
Then she approached the naked woman and handed them over.
“Please wear these, at least.”
The woman looked back and forth between Ilea and the clothes, her face filled with fear.
“Th-thank you.”
“I’ll be going now. You should leave quickly too. The path you came through should be safe.”
Ilea returned to the iron gate.
Hakain looked at her suspiciously.
“You do not act like a Mage.”
Mages were fundamentally cruel. Because they gained Mana by making contracts with demons, most of them had been tainted by malice.
Naturally, they showed no respect for the weak or for life.
Ilea felt somewhat different from them.
As she passed Hakain, she said,
“Because I’m not a Mage.”
Ilea was a Witch. In some ways, she might have been far more vicious than a Mage.
“Pardon? What do you mean by...”
“You’ll get hurt if you know.”
Ilea smiled playfully and disappeared beyond the iron gate.
Hakain stared blankly at her retreating figure.
* * *
Once they passed through the alley and the iron gate, the first level of the Shadow Realm finally appeared.
The first level was, in a word, an underground city. Instead of the sun, purple glowing lights created from Mana floated along the ceiling, faintly illuminating the underground.
There was no day or night in the Shadow Realm. Beneath the purple twilight, its residents lived according to schedules of their own.
It was currently the Hour of Backlight. They called the time when demons were most active the Hour of Backlight.
By surface time, it was probably around one in the morning.
The Hour of Backlight was the busiest period in the Shadow Realm.
Mages, alchemists, apostates, fallen knights, heretics, drug addicts, and more. Those who could not live on the surface gathered in the heart of the city, each carrying their own ghosts.
They wandered the dreary streets, trading information and goods.
Ilea let out an impressed sound in the middle of the black market.
“It’s more organized than I expected.”
Countless shops stood before her.
There were Mana brokerage offices, Abomination stores, Corruptive Formation agencies, specialty bookstores for forbidden books, curse workshops, artifact general stores, and every other kind of shop that would tempt anyone who used magic.
Ilea’s eyes gleamed.
She wanted to take her time looking around, but she probably did not have the leisure.
She looked up into the empty air.
“What do we do now?”
Mapheltan had to be somewhere nearby, but she could not see him.
Mapheltan was hiding with the Authority of Nightfall Immersion.
‘You just need to stay still like this.’
When no answer came, Ilea looked troubled.
“Hmm...”
At that moment, a man in a jet-black robe approached her.
“You make a very good impression.”
He wore a friendly smile.
Ilea tilted her head.
“You can see my face?”
She was wearing both a mask and a hood.
Unless he was using a spell to see through them, there was no way to see her face.
The man replied,
“I meant your overall air. You give off a very positive feeling.”
Ilea felt a little awkward. She could not tell what the man wanted.
“I’ve never heard that before. Still, thank you.”
“Haha! And you’re humble as well. You seem like someone I’d like to get to know. Instead of standing around in the street, how about a cup of tea?”
Ilea looked into the empty air.
Her eyes asked what she should do.
Mapheltan did not react at all.
Ilea sighed softly.
“All right. Let’s do that, then.”
The two immediately headed to a nearby shop.
The tea house was more ordinary than Ilea had expected.
The man took a sip of black tea and spoke.
“Do you know about Evil?”
Evil was a concept completely opposed to Holy Power.
Ilea nodded.
“If Holy Power represents salvation, order, and discipline, Evil represents freedom, liberation, and detachment from the mundane.”
The man looked surprised.
“You are well educated. I study Evil as well.”
“I see. How far have you advanced?”
The man proudly answered,
“I broke through to the second tier the day before yesterday.”
“That’s impressive.”
There was no sincerity in Ilea’s praise.
The man spoke cautiously.
“If you do not mind, what stage have you reached?”
Ilea fell briefly into thought.
After a long pause, she opened her mouth.
“It is difficult to measure in terms of tiers.”
The corner of the man’s mouth rose slightly.
He quickly composed himself.
“Haha, perhaps you have devoted yourself entirely to theoretical study.”
“Yes, let’s say that.”
“I believe I can help you.”
“What kind of help?”
“My card.”
He held out a small piece of paper.
Ilea quietly read it.
“...The Cult of the Evil God.”
“That is correct. I am a missionary of the Cult of the Evil God.”
The Cult of the Evil God was one of the heretical factions and a fairly large organization within the kingdom.
Their goal was simple. To enthrone an Evil God. They intended to summon a demon ranked in the single digits of the Lower Realm and worship it as a god.
Ilea said,
“You want me to join the Cult of the Evil God.”
“Precisely. It will surely be of great help to you. The Cult of the Evil God offers a wide range of practical opportunities to those who have studied theory. You have not made a contract with a demon yet, have you?”
Anyone could see that Ilea, gawking around the black market, was an inexperienced Mage.
She was exactly the sort of newcomer who would be easy to recruit.
Ilea nodded.
“Not yet.”
The man gave her a pleasant smile.
“The Cult of the Evil God will help you make a contract. We will provide the summoning ritual, the offering, and the Mana. You only need to come with us.”
Ilea tilted her head.
“You’ll provide everything for free?”
Unless they were a charity organization, that was impossible.
“It is an investment in the future. Why don’t you take a look at this contract?”
He pulled a sheet of paper from his robes.
It was densely covered in writing.
Ilea’s eyes quickly scanned its contents.
Then she spoke playfully.
“I’ve read it all. Are you looking for slaves?”
There were far too many unreasonable clauses.
The moment one used anything provided by the Cult of the Evil God, they would be bound to the organization forever.
The man looked suspicious.
“I just took it out.”
“I read quickly.”
He could not believe it. No matter how gifted someone was, it should have been impossible to grasp its contents in just a few seconds.
Smiling, the man said,
“Then could you tell me about Article Three, Clause One?”
Ilea replied indifferently.
“Recipients of all assets provided by the Cult shall be regarded as immediately delegating to the Cult the right to summon and deploy their entire existence, including body and mind.”
The man looked somewhat flustered.
He immediately put the contract away.
“Y-you have an exceptional talent.”
Ilea stared into empty air for a moment without answering.
Then, with a sighing laugh, she said,
“Give me the contract again.”
“Haha, it seems I brought the wrong contract. I will return shortly with a new contract...”
Ilea casually cut him off.
“I’m going to sign it.”
“...Pardon?”
“I’ll join the Cult of the Evil God.”
The man was taken aback.
“Did you not just say something about slaves?”
“Everything has a price. I need to make a contract with a demon urgently.”
The man’s face brightened.
“Haha! You have a very reasonable way of thinking. I knew my judgment was correct. I had a feeling you gave off such a positive aura.”
He handed her the contract again.
Ilea immediately signed the bottom.
“Here is my signature.”
“Excellent. Please follow me.”
The man took the contract and left the tea house.
He headed straight for the center of the Shadow Realm’s first level.
A massive sinkhole lay at its center.
Figures in black robes stood guard around it.
The man said to Ilea,
“This is the entrance to the second level. Not just anyone can enter. You have been chosen.”
“I’m grateful.”
“Haha, please wait here for a moment.”
The man approached the sinkhole and spoke with the guards.
A short while later, he beckoned to Ilea.
Standing before the sinkhole, Ilea spoke.
“Are we going down?”
“That is right. Please board the elevator.”
An old elevator stood still within the bottomless-looking hole.
It was an artifact powered by Mana.
Ilea stepped into the elevator without hesitation.
The man entered with her.
A guard recited an activation phrase.
The elevator plummeted underground.
* * *
Screams and groans reached her ears.
The farther down they went, the louder the noise became.
When Ilea finally stepped onto the ground, a living hell unfolded before her.
The enormous cavern was filled with countless people.
All of them were chained up and suffering.
Acts meant to inflict nothing but pain and terror were repeated over and over.
One man was restrained from head to toe while his skin was flayed away.
An old man with no arms or legs struggled as he begged to be killed.
A centipede woven from human beings writhed on the ground.
It was a miniature hell.
The Cult of the Evil God missionary said,
“This is the Cult of the Evil God’s human farm. It is quite well made, is it not?”
Demons were obsessed with human pain and fear.
This farm existed for the demons belonging to the Cult of the Evil God.
Ilea said,
“This farm is more one-dimensional than I expected.”
This place produced nothing but low-quality pain and fear.
The truly skilled ones created situations that broke down the human psyche.
Betrayal by someone trusted, endless failure, a self that eventually shattered. To satisfy a high-ranking demon, a more sophisticated kind of suffering was needed.
The man looked embarrassed.
“Ahem. Please come this way for now.”
The two crossed the cavern and entered a large room.
Several newcomers had already arrived and were conducting summoning rituals.
Like Ilea, all of them had been recruited.
Thick blue Demonic Energy surged from beneath one woman’s feet.
“I-it worked!”
A grotesque old monster burst out from the summoning ritual.
She had summoned a Lesser Evil Spirit.
The price for obtaining such a Lesser Evil Spirit was lifelong slavery to the Cult of the Evil God.
The others were in similar situations.
Every one of them was making contracts with Lesser Evil Spirits.
The man said to Ilea,
“Please stand before an empty summoning ritual.”
Ilea approached a warped spell formation.
“What about the offering?”
An offering and Mana were necessary to activate the summoning ritual.
“You’re eager, aren’t you? Here it is.”
The man handed her a bone fragment.
Ilea let out a faint laugh.
There was not an ounce of sacredness in the bone fragment.
“What is this?”
“It is the first knuckle of Saint Antonius’s index finger.”
That was nonsense. Even a bone fragment from some random Ascetic would have been more brimming with Sacred Power than this offering.
“Yes, of course it is.”
Using offerings like this was why they could only summon Lesser Evil Spirits.
The man said,
“May we begin?”
Ilea placed the bone fragment atop the summoning ritual.
“Whenever you are ready.”
The man channeled Mana into the summoning ritual.
The spell formation blazed black.
At the same time, a thick haze spread around the summoning ritual.
“W-what is this?”
“The purity is a little strange.”
The rising Demonic Energy began swallowing the surroundings.
The lamps went out one after another.
Darkness descended.
The space itself was being consumed by darkness.
Everyone stepped back in panic.
Then red eyes flickered within the darkness. Massive wings spread wide to either side.
An immeasurable presence weighed down the entire cavern.
Every Ominous Book in the world began scattering purple light.
『 O all evils, close your eyes and meditate. The Evil God has descended. Hypocrites, close your scriptures. Your rules and order will be rewritten. 』
The summoned Lesser Evil Spirits trembled.
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