Chapter 46: An Appetizing Guild Master

He had a hood covering half of his head, and it seemed no hair grew on that side.

His one living eye, unable to open properly, was mostly closed.

And his hands, clasped together, rested quietly on the desk.

He wore gloves indoors, but it was easy to guess that they were also a tool to hide scars.

Compared to such a hideous face, his voice was quite young.

It sounded gentle, but it wasn’t without strength.

Though not a thick and deep voice, it was smooth and clear.

His light, casual tone had an unidentifiable intelligence to it.

Also, for someone who didn’t even get up from his seat, his attitude was quite polite.

There was one more reason why Lema, who had been about to pour out his anger as soon as he saw the guild master, had stepped back to watch.

It was this.

“If it’s not a bother, may I know the name of the person standing over there?”

He had spoken first to Bel, who was waiting quietly behind Lema, who was much larger and had been leading the way.

An attitude as if he knew she was the one with the real power.

No matter how much of an information broker he was, he didn’t know the specifics about Bel.

If he had known, his guild member would never have made such a proposal to Lema.

That meant Guildmaster was showing such an attitude towards Bel simply based on his intuition.

“Belmias.”

“Oho.”

At Bel’s short answer, Guildmaster’s eyes shone with interest.

“Belmias… so. The name of the second moon that was said to have existed in ancient times. When the moon in that sky descended to the ground, the ground experienced destruction once, didn’t it?”

In fact, Lema Valkite had no such knowledge.

Judging by the fact that the humans he had been meeting lately had been saying a word or two about it, it seemed to be a commonly known story outside the Holy Empire.

“A person as strong and beautiful as the second moon. Are you perhaps the same person? Hahahaha.”

It was the same joke he had heard when he was in Mirgas territory.

Then and now, he didn’t find it very funny, so when Bel stared at him expressionlessly, the man continued to laugh before his laughter died down.

Even that reaction was the same.

It was even cliché to encounter it again now.

Bel just tilted her head and let it slide, but Lema, who had judged that he was showing a disrespectful attitude in front of his master, frowned.

“Show proper respect.”

“Oops. I was trying to show proper respect. Isn’t it right to first offer words of praise to a beauty that would make one’s eyes pop?”

“Do not dare to judge my master.”

“Oh my, oh my, of course. My mistake.”

The Guildmaster raised both hands in a gesture of surrender.

His one visible eye, it was hard to tell if it was open or closed, so it looked as if he were smiling the whole time.

“Ah, I naturally know the knight’s name. You’re a very famous person, aren’t you? Sir Lema Valkite.”

“…I shouldn’t be famous.”

“Ahahaha, of course, I mean famous only to people of the underworld like us. If you’re worried about the apostle’s pursuit, please don’t worry. The fact that your fingers have regenerated, or that the restraints on your arm have been released, is probably not widely known either. We just found out for the first time. In fact, we didn’t even know it was possible, you know?”

The Guildmaster immediately noticed Lema’s uncomfortable expression and changed his attitude.

The pattern that had been wrapped around Lema’s arm could never be erased by ordinary methods.

Because it was a pattern carved by an apostle.

What’s more, apostles who could perform that kind of ‘punitive act’ were rare.

Of course, those who could erase it were also limited.

Then, seeing Lema’s arm, which was now fine, there was only one possible guess.

Either he had cleared the misunderstanding of being a heretic, or he was not the person in question.

It meant that unless he met the apostle who was directly involved in the execution, he was not a target for immediate hostility from a complete stranger or someone who knew about the matter to some extent.

“If they saw you in your current state, not only the apostle but even the apostle’s grandfather wouldn’t be able to recognize you as the real Valkite, you know?”

Unlike his intimidating appearance, Guildmaster spoke very affably.

“First, regarding the incident that just happened.”

And while maintaining a smiling expression, he now rubbed his hands together.

“If you give me a chance, I would like to properly explain the situation. It was never in a way that would harm you, our guests. I swear on the Supreme God.”

It was a very subservient attitude, but strangely, it did not seem servile.

Lema glanced at his master, Belmias’s expression.

He was a knight with good intuition, and recently, he had been focusing all his attention on figuring out the intentions of his master, who rarely showed any emotion.

So, in fact, Lema was curious about Bel’s reaction.

Because he had an inexplicable feeling that his master would find this interesting.

“We know you wouldn’t believe us if we said we didn’t know such a thing would happen. In fact, those humans…”

“Lema.”

As expected, Bel whispered in a small voice and pulled on Lema’s arm.

She had simply called his name, but Lema had instantly understood its meaning.

He had thought it couldn’t be, but Bel even said it directly.

“That one looks delicious.”

“…Are you serious?”

Even though he knew she was serious, Lema couldn’t help but ask again.

“Didn’t I tell you that you shouldn’t just eat anyone…!”

“Why? You don’t like him?”

“Of course I don’t like him. Look at that state. He reeks of something foul and doesn’t look clean.”

Guildmaster unwittingly raised his arm and smelled himself.

He had been paying special attention to cleanliness because of his scars, but did he look like that?

What’s more, it was the first time he had heard such a thing to his face.

Not only was his appearance hideous, but he also had a rather intimidating aspect when encountered in a place like this.

It was safe to say that there were almost no people who would say such a thing to his face.

Besides, wasn’t this a very serious situation?

The other party had to explain a matter that could be a matter of life and death, but the ones who had to listen to it were not interested in the content, but only in the human who was delivering the message.

And in a direction the other party would never have expected.

“…Mmm, but I still want to touch him once.”

“He’s not even worth touching. How long has it been since I told you not to eat just anyone, and you’re picking the one who looks the worst.”

Even though they had come to argue about that matter, Lema had no choice but to focus more on this topic.

“Ahaha?”

Guildmaster, for whom this was truly a first, tried to laugh it off and move on from the topic.

“Excuse me? Guests? I’m asking just in case, but you are talking about me, right?”

He was clearly flustered, but he asked without erasing the smile from his face.

But Bel and Lema were talking among themselves, regardless of what he said.

“No way, you’re going to eat something like that? It’s obvious at a glance that that’s not right.”

“But he looks so… delicious.”

“…”

Guildmaster and Gerard stared at each other with dumbfounded expressions.

Naturally, there were more than one or two people who were surprised to see the guild master’s expression.

It was an appearance that would make even a child burst into tears.

Still, for a human who was once a noble holy knight to be acting like that to his face was absurd.

What’s more, he had even told him not to judge his master carelessly when he had praised her.

However, in fact, Lema was not judging his appearance.

In any case, they were the ones who had been rude to Bel, and he had not yet heard their explanation for that matter.

It was enough for Lema to judge them as low-quality people.

As a holy knight, he naturally did not want to offer such a human as a sacrifice.

However, it seemed that to Guildmaster’s ears, the words ‘looks delicious’ or ‘want to eat’ could only be interpreted in one way.

Who would interpret that as wanting to literally tear off and eat his flesh?

In the end, it was taken in that sort of meaning, but Guildmaster was not a human who would put up his pride over something like that.