Chapter 67: The Sacred Duty and a Twisted Offering

Lema Valkyte carried out the order without hesitation.
He had always rather enjoyed acting on commands.
This time, the command came directly from Belmias, whom he served as his Lord God.
How could he not follow it like a mission?

Lema drew his sword. With a wide swing through the air to loosen his body, he immediately enveloped the entire blade in divine power. Flames wrapped around the sword, flaring brilliantly.

When monsters poured out from the Cursed Land, the holy knights of Lucilonia used torches and searing heat to purify the place. The reason the land now burned was because purification had been done by fire. With that common knowledge in mind, Lema naturally cloaked his weapon in flames to attack.

He then ran toward the area where people were most concentrated.
The Lord God’s order was clear:

Capture all the monsters.

Which one to handle first was entirely his responsibility.

His sense of fulfilling a sacred duty stirred the old habits from when he had been a holy knight. That long-standing habit led him to run toward where people gathered the most. And he shouted at the humans in his way, so they wouldn’t hinder his task of easily defeating monsters.

“Get out of the way!”

Though he had not been there long, he knew the terrain well—training diligently every dawn by circling the arena, and always dragging Bel around to look at this place whenever he had free time.

He merely drove the humans obstructing his mission along the fastest path.
But naturally, people thanked him for dealing with the dangerous monsters.

“Th-thank you, Sir Knight!”
“Blessings of Luxlon upon you.”

In the end, such phrases were always uttered while people fled. Even humans outside of order naturally sought Luxlon. Whether for kindness, miracles, or reverence, the words were seemingly set in stone.

“I-I’ll help too!”

Some even cried that out. Lema, having experience leading the holy order, gathered willing helpers and instructed them. Together, they dealt with the monsters.

He took the mission seriously, somehow looking emotionally fulfilled.

Bel watched Lema grow distant with a satisfied expression.

Good. He went. Certainly went. Far beyond sight.

Just to be safe, Bel confirmed one more time. She intended to take advantage of Lema being busy and consume a man.

Although Lema had willingly thrown himself into the fight, it still wasn’t enough until the summoner was found. That guy nagged her not to consume anything else but himself.

So, if Bel quietly ate a few humans in the confusion, surely Lema wouldn’t notice.

But would there even be a suitable one?

Hum humming to herself, Bel looked around.

“Any men worth eating?”

“…Men worth eating?”

“Huh?”

Bel turned toward the voice.

Ah, so there was still someone left.

A black-haired man smiled softly at her.

“Am I not worth eating?”

…Huh?

Was this man really offering himself up?
He looks tasty enough, though.

But this human shouldn’t be eaten. His name had been introduced already as Krughgal. Besides, since he knew Lema, suddenly disappearing would definitely raise suspicion. And given his ability, claiming he died in the chaos wouldn’t be convincing.

Let me remind again—Lema’s relentless nagging was quite extreme.

“He must be a stranger.”
“What a pity.”

Never thought I’d see a man here regret that. Well, Bel felt pity as well.

“Then, someone like that?”

Bel followed Krughgal’s finger and turned her gaze.

There was a man opposing the monsters, like Lema, while also trying to help people retreat.

No good. People would thank him and pass by, seeing his face.

“A man who can’t be suspected of dying.”

Krughgal nodded with a smile, as if fully understanding, and selected another man. Just like picking goods at a market.

“That one seems suitable.”

“Hm?”

Bel followed the man from a distance to observe.

At first glance, he looked like another human protecting others from monsters. He told people the safe evacuation paths. But the place he led them to was a trap.

A huge monster waited there. The man smirked as he watched the monster devour those who came.

“Why would he do that?”

“There are mana crystals in monsters. If mixed with human blood, they turn into magic stones with effects similar to sacred stones. He must be after that.”

“Oh. So he’s hiding.”

Either a creature used to hiding, or one who would hide later to conceal his misdeeds. If he was the type to hide, Bel could slay and eat him without a soul noticing.

“You’re very useful.”

“Oh, no trouble at all.”

Good. Then let’s kill him without Lema noticing.

As Bel approached, the man showed an odd expression—unaware of what she was planning, he grinned strangely as if to climb toward her.

“There are too many monsters here! Get out of the way!”

“Where?”

“Here, this way…!”

When no one was looking, Bel struck the man’s cheek with one hand.

Crack.

The heavy sound of a broken neck bone echoed as the man’s face twisted.

There was no need to remove his heart; even the area touched didn’t seem particularly tasty.

Bel wiped her hand as if brushing off filth.

“Hm, not good.”

“Is it because he’s too weak?”

“No, because he didn’t offer himself voluntarily.”

Meanwhile, the nearby monster—a frog-like creature that devoured humans whole—froze at the sight of Bel.

She kicked the corpse toward the monster, which, after some hesitation, swallowed the man.

Without paying further attention, Krughgal asked Bel.

“So voluntary offerings are better?”

“Exactly.” Bel nodded. “Free will is the most valuable.”

“…Free will? So if someone says, ‘Please kill me,’ that’s ideal?”

Krughgal, still smiling calmly as ever, answered. He remained unmoved, even after witnessing a man’s death.

“Ah, you mean the will of the offering matters.”

And as if having suddenly understood something, his expression brightened.

Krughgal laughed as though having grasped the key.

“I know tens of thousands of ways to make someone ask to die. Shall we try?”

“Fine.”

This guy… surprisingly easy to converse with.

“P-please… kill me! Just kill me already! I beg you!”

“Oh.”

This human succeeded too. Even using only a few of Krughgal’s tens of thousands of ways to make them ask to die, humans quickly understood to beg for death.

For some reason, quite a few deliberately lured other humans toward monsters. Bel captured them all.

“There’s someone here! Someone!”

But this time, the man could not be used as an offering. As the monster commotion began to wind down, other people suddenly entered the alley Bel had taken control of.

Tch.

Bel stopped her current actions and stepped back from the man she had been toying with.

The man who had been screaming for death now desperately crawled toward the newcomers.

“Help me!”

One of the men entering the alley tightened his grip on the spear he carried. It seemed like he was an experienced spearman, having been using it to protect others and defeat monsters.

He glanced over the three of them. Two burly men. And a woman covered in blood.

The spearman’s gaze then turned sharply to the man who had been tortured by Bel moments earlier.

“What the hell are you trying to do during all this chaos!”

Startled, the man tried to plead.

“I-It’s not me! That woman is the crazy one!”

“You filthy bastard, you! Trying to create magic stones by feeding humans to monsters, just like the other guy I caught earlier!”

“Th-that’s—!”

It seemed to be the same type of criminal, and the man could not deny it.

“That’s true! But that woman’s the insane one!”

“With all this evidence, you’re still trying to talk your way out, you idiot!”

“No! That woman broke all my bones and tortured me!”

He raved for sympathy, but the spearman looked at him suspiciously.

“Where are your broken bones?”

In fact, the man looked perfectly fine.

“…T-that woman broke them and treated them again!”

“You disgusting bastard, do you think I’m an idiot?”

Thwack!

The spearman struck the man with his spear. Despite screaming, the man could not even pass out.

“No! That woman… actually, I was wrong. I surrender. Please arrest me.”

Bel tilted her head once and watched. The man was quietly taken away.

“Are you all right? Ah, what a rotten fellow we almost saw. Hey! There’s an injured woman here. Could you please examine her?”