I Became the Main Character’s Demon Sword

18

While the inn had decent security, it wasn’t an extremely expensive place. True to its worth, the inner room was not cramped and seemed fairly clean, but it was sparsely furnished with just a small table, a chair, and a bed, without any other notable furniture. Since the chair had already been claimed by Lexia, Arpel set Rohan down on the bed.

Arpel, sitting in front of the child, stared intently at Lexia. His gaze seemed to pressure Lexia to get to the point. Lexia burst into laughter and began to talk about the request he wanted to ask of Arpel, though he couldn’t quite hide his curiosity.

“Actually, the reason I wanted to ask for this request is because there were some interesting ones among the requests Arpel has solved so far. The beast extermination request at the breeding ground received through the guild, and the unofficial request about the Count’s daughter at the lord’s castle. These two.”

He pretended to have a kind voice while counting on his fingers, but it had little effect. At least, that’s how Lexia felt. Arpel’s eyes, meeting his gaze directly, had become incomparably colder than before.

“You don’t need to glare at me so fiercely.”

“Is it related to the cult?”

Although there wasn’t a hint of respect for the other party, Arpel always used polite speech. But now, he had even abandoned that.

I might actually die at this rate. Lexia broke out in a cold sweat down his back at the suddenly changed tone and the increasingly intense killing intent.

“It’s not unrelated. My partner really, really hates those guys.”

Although his suspicion hadn’t completely subsided, Arpel softened his piercing gaze with just that.

This was because it had been mentioned several times in the original novel that, typical of cult members, those belonging to the cult couldn’t tolerate even slightly negative comments about the cult.

“People are afraid of specters and don’t dig deeper. They think it’s something that only those with holy or magical power should deal with, that it has nothing to do with them for their entire lives. But it’s different for the ‘Salvation Church’ that worships the power of specters and evil gods.”

As if his back was stiff from sitting in the rather hard chair, Lexia straightened up and patted his back a few times. Glancing at Arpel, who was still silently staring, he put on a somewhat aggrieved voice.

“Could you react a bit? This was information I only share with trustworthy people.”

“You don’t trust me.”

“Ah, are you completely using informal speech now? Fine. Well, you caught me. You’re quite perceptive.”

His grinning face was not at all trustworthy. Just as Lexia didn’t trust Arpel, Arpel didn’t trust Lexia. His constantly smiling face in response to Arpel’s firm reactions grated on his nerves.

“What I know is that Arpel is strong and surprisingly interested in specters. There’s a saying that the enemy of my enemy is my friend, right? So I concluded that Arpel was the most suitable person to ask for this request.”

Please forgive me since I told the truth?

Lexia, whispering softly as if sharing a tremendous secret, pulled out a piece of paper from his bundle. With an “oof,” he dragged the chair he was sitting on closer to the bed and placed the paper in front of Arpel.

“My partner and I invested a lot of time to find suspicious circumstances and locations. Those guys are so good at hiding, you know. To think they even dug underground tunnels to hide. Bad guys are unnecessarily sensitive, I tell you.”

The paper had a map drawn on it and neatly written descriptions of the request content. Naturally, Arpel’s eyes went to the map first. If the geography hadn’t been familiar, he would have immediately read the text beside it.

“This is…”

“That’s right, it’s near this village. Actually, I was going to ask when Arpel was staying near the lord’s castle, but you left in a flash. Fortunately, you headed to a nearby place. I was worried you might have gone far away.”

“It’s a place I know.”

“…Pardon?”

For the first time, a clear crack appeared on Lexia’s face, which had been smiling all along. Somehow, it felt like the indigestion that had been weighing on Arpel’s mind was completely gone. Is this what they call getting even?

He didn’t particularly intend to explain. If only this guy hadn’t tried to cling to his coattails.

Unable to kick him away outright but looking at Lexia with eyes that said he was annoyingly tired, Arpel eventually gave a rough explanation about the fraudster who had been posing as a priest at the lord’s castle.

“I see… So he didn’t just treat the Count’s daughter?”

Lexia had a knowing look. Although Arpel hadn’t mentioned how he dealt with the fraudster, Lexia probably knew he had killed him. He was still an unpleasant fellow.

“But what’s your secret for extracting information? No matter how much we interrogated them, they wouldn’t say a word. Any chance you’d share your secret?”

“I have no obligation to tell you.”

“That’s too harsh. If we could extract information, we could eliminate many of the cult’s branches, you know?”

His eyes twinkled mischievously.

With his bangs swept to the side revealing his face clearly, harmonious features, and long-drawn eye corners that reminded one of a fox when he smiled. However, his target was wrong. Even objectively, it was a handsome face, but to Arpel, who had no interest in faces other than Rohan’s, it was just that.

Anyway, that secret was a method only Arpel could use. The fraudster had mistaken him for a high-ranking member and blabbed information, so what kind of secret could he possibly share?

“It’s a method only I can use, so don’t worry about it.”

“Hmm. That’s interesting.”

It was annoying how he gave ambiguous answers when a simple “I see” would have sufficed. Since awakening as a Demon Sword, this was the first person besides Rohan who had continuously evoked such clear emotions in him.

Although that emotion was annoyance. It was a skill in itself to draw such reactions from a Demon Sword that barely felt any emotions to begin with.

Arpel chose to examine the request paper Lexia had handed over rather than respond to him. The map, as he had seen earlier, pointed to a location he already knew.

“Unlike nobles, when commoners disappear, it often doesn’t cause a problem. There’s a security force, but they don’t look into the poor corners where impoverished people live. Wherever you go, there are always people who exploit this gap.”

Lexia reached out and pointed to the content written in the middle of the request paper. Specifically, it was the number of missing persons that had been increasing around this area.

Those living in slums can’t appeal even if they suffer injustice. They beg for money or earn pennies by running errands, barely surviving day by day.

They often go hungry, and especially when the weather suddenly turns cold, it’s common for someone you saw the day before to die and disappear the next day.

As a result, even the security forces didn’t pay attention to their safety. Unless it was a blatant murder case or a noticeable fire that anyone could see needed verification, they had long since given up on handling what could happen at any time.

To intervene would require a comprehensive reform of the slums, and reform requires a long time and money. So this indifference had naturally continued for a long time.

No matter how peaceful a place looks, if you dig deeper, there’s always some part that’s festering. Moreover, if disappearances were happening in slums neglected by the nobles, then probably…

“I think this is the cult’s doing.”

Once might be a coincidence, but if something happens repeatedly over a long period, there’s always a cause. Lexia smiled brightly.

“We focused on this area where disappearances of slum dwellers frequently occur, and thanks to that, we luckily discovered one branch. It’s a bit disappointing that it’s information Arpel already knows, though?”

“How many people should I bring for interrogation?”

“Well… it doesn’t matter, but I think three would be plenty. Should I provide you with companions?”

“No. Not necessary.”

Arpel folded up the paper he had been holding. This guy, who kept smiling as if harmless, was indeed the most dangerous person he had met so far.

Not only did he know about the affairs of the slums that even the security forces didn’t properly understand, despite claiming disinterest, but he had also found a branch based on that information. This meant he also had quite useful informants.

Arpel’s gaze briefly turned to Lexia.

“Think carefully. I’m going to kill the rest.”

“Oh.”

It was a suggestion to reconsider the number of people for interrogation. Since three was really enough, Lexia shrugged. What piqued his interest was rather the bold statement that he would kill the rest.

He was a person who could be described as not just cold-blooded, but truly heartless. Having seen countless human characters, Lexia didn’t feel fear or terror at Arpel’s demeanor, but… To think such a person was helpless against that small child.

Unable to resist, Arpel was already stroking Rohan’s head, his eyes softly melted with warmth, unlike the cold aura they had emitted just moments ago.

It was quite an interesting relationship. Lexia found himself inappropriately excited by the fact that, for the first time in a very long while, he had found an interesting person besides his partner.

“Those belonging to that cult are all out of their minds anyway. You can do as you please, Arpel.”

“Do you have time today?”

“Are you asking me out now? I’m a bit flattered.”

Arpel’s eyes turned cold as he looked at Lexia. Under a gaze that seemed to ask what nonsense he was spouting, Lexia had no choice but to change the subject, saying it was a joke. The atmosphere was so fierce that it felt like Arpel might strangle him if he joked one more time.

“I’ll be back within tomorrow, so please take care of the child while I’m gone.”

“Well, it’s not a place suitable to take a child, is it?”

Arpel trusted Lexia’s abilities, separate from his annoyance with him. He also knew, though unpleasantly, that Lexia viewed Rohan favorably.

Of course, he wanted to take Rohan with him. But unlike when he killed the single fraudster, what Arpel was about to do in a few hours was a one-sided massacre. Arpel had his own lines he wouldn’t cross, and that line screamed that he shouldn’t take the child along.

Moreover, what business would there be to bring slum dwellers? They would likely face the same fate as the maid who had disappeared and then returned to the lord’s castle only to die.