Chapter 164

“…How much did you hear?” Jade asked, his voice laden with a significance that betrayed a guilty conscience.

“Hear what?” Egru asked in return, his expression one of pure bewilderment. He had only just opened the basement door, and Jade’s voice had been too low for him to make out any of the words. Besides, he had little interest.

I need to start training!

As if nothing was amiss, Egru strode confidently into the room. He picked up a wooden practice sword from a rack on one side of the training hall, his arms trembling under the weight.

“It’s nothing. I must have misunderstood.” At Egru’s simple, almost bland, reaction, a thin smile touched Jade’s lips.

Undeterred, Egru began to do push-ups. To wield a sword, strengthening his muscles was the top priority. One, two. As he grunted with the effort of pushing his body up, Jade sidled up next to him.

“Did you come down here alone? Why are you trying to use a sword?”

“To b-become a hero…”

“You? Why go to all that trouble? I think you’re fine just the way you are.” Jade’s gaze was fixed intently on the area around Egru’s collar, where a shiny necklace was visible through the slightly stretched fabric of his shirt.

“U-Um…” Egru paused his push-ups and hesitated before asking, “W-Weren’t you the one who hated me?”

“Where did you get an idea like that? You’re breaking my heart.” Jade placed a hand over his chest, his face all smiles. “To think you saw me that way. Think about it again.”

“?” Egru tilted his head. He was about to do as the man said and mull over his past comments when Jade quickly cut him off, giving him no time to think.

“I was just expressing my interest in you. Have you already forgotten I called you pretty?”

“B-But just yesterday, you said demons should eat animal feed…”

“I already told you it was a joke. You must not have heard that part.” Jade’s hand surreptitiously caressed his lower back. “If I offended you, I apologize. There, happy?”

Egru gave a bewildered nod but stood up, a strange feeling of revulsion making him move. He needed to put some distance between them, to keep Jade’s hands off him. “A-Are you not going on the exploration today?”

“Ah, I’ll be going soon.” Jade’s eyes darted away. “My skills are so good that I was assigned a solo investigation. I’m just leaving a little later today.”

“I-I see. Good luck.”

Egru picked up the wooden sword he’d set down and began to edge away. He had just moved to a corner of the spacious training hall when an arm was suddenly slung over his shoulders. The arm tightened, choking him, and Egru let out a strangled gasp.

“What’s with that guy you’re always with? He’s got a nasty temper.”

“No, he’s… he’s not like that.”

“He is, though.” Jade grinned slyly, applying more pressure. Even as his Adam’s apple was being squeezed, Egru didn’t stop defending his brother.

“You just don’t know him. My brother is a v-very good person.” He deliberately avoided using D’Élysée’s name. For reasons he couldn’t quite pinpoint, he knew his brother wanted to keep it hidden.

“Whatever. Just tell him to cool it. He listens to you, doesn’t he?”

“Th-There’s no need. He’s already perfect.” When it came to his brother, Egru was fiercely resolute. “Don’t speak of him so carelessly. He only helped me because you said something n-nasty first.”

“…” A bitter sneer appeared on Jade’s face. He was clearly annoyed.

Beep-beep, beep-beep. The ring of a communication device suddenly shattered the silence. It was Jade’s. Egru, however, reflexively pulled out his own. It had been broken for a long time, but he couldn’t help but hope. Was it possible, by some miracle, that Lady Mayfield was calling?

“No! Give it back!”

In a flash, Jade had snatched the communicator from his hand. He held it up high, out of Egru’s reach, and took several steps back. Egru lunged for it in a panic, but Jade easily dodged him.

“This is an expensive one. A personal model.” Jade smirked. “These are hard to come by, but it’s broken. Want me to fix it for you?”

“…You do?”

“For a small price, of course. A little… service fee.” Jade’s narrow eyes raked over Egru’s body as he licked his lips.

“A service fee?”

“That’s right.”

Egru stared at the communicator in Jade’s hand for a moment before asking, “Wh-What do I have to give you?”

“It’s nothing much. You know that thing your brother interrupted last time?”

“?”

“You really don’t get it. I figured as much.”

Jade yanked him forward by the wrist. Even as he was thrown to the floor, Egru could only blink, his face a mask of confusion. The torches of the underground training hall flickered. Jade let out a sly laugh and lowered his voice.

“You don’t remember shouting in the corridor?”

“Ah.” It was only then that Egru recalled the events of a few days prior.

The tip of Jade’s index finger traced a line over Egru’s chest. The creepy sensation made goosebumps erupt on his skin.

“I-I’m sorry, but no. That’s something lovers do. I-Is there anything else you w-want?”

“…It would be easier for you if you learned this beforehand anyway.”

“What are you—Mmph!“

In an instant, a damp hand clamped over his mouth. He immediately began to struggle with all his might, but it was useless. Jade used his knee to pin his chest to the floor. The crushing impact and the searing pain stole his breath.

“Don’t talk back,” Jade chuckled. “A thing that should be in a cage…”

His free hand shot under Egru’s shirt. “This is your proper place, you know, demon.”

As the hand began to grope his bare skin without hesitation, Egru’s body went rigid. H-How could someone who calls himself a hero do this? King Röwughor’s words about fraudulent hero impersonators suddenly flashed in his mind.

“Why won’t this damn thing open?” Jade muttered, fumbling with the front of Egru’s pants. Nngh! Egru summoned every ounce of his strength to push him off, but he didn’t budge. The forceful hands were just about to pull his pants down when they froze.

“What… is this?”

Jade’s hand stopped.

“Kugh, argh—! Someone, someone make it stop—!”

He clapped both hands over his ears and began to scream. While Egru struggled to catch his breath, the whites of Jade’s eyes rolled back, and he collapsed in a dead faint.

“Ugh…”

Egru managed to wriggle his way out from under Jade, praying that the unconscious man, his tongue lolling out, wouldn’t fall on top of him. He was just starting to calm his frantic heart when he heard a cheerful voice.

“My timing was simply impeccable, wasn’t it?”

The communication spirit, Kunte, puffed out his small chest with pride. “What would you have done if I hadn’t arrived just in the nick of time?”

Kunte fluttered over to the twitching, disgracefully overturned form of Jade. He proceeded to kick him repeatedly in his blunt nose, letting out a wicked cackle. “I shot him with a dose of high-frequency sound far beyond what a human can endure. He probably won’t wake up for a few hours.”

“Th-Thank you, Kunte. You saved me.”

“Don’t mention it. But you should thank the wraiths[^1] who helped, as well. They were kind enough to lend their own terrible screams to the cause.”

“Wraiths?”

“Yes.” Kunte glanced at Jade and shuddered. “Seeing this many deaths clinging to him, he must be quite the sinner.”

“He’s, well, he’s supposed to be a hero.”

“Him? Please, your jokes are too much.” Kunte covered his tiny mouth with his hands and giggled. “The real hero is standing right before my eyes. My intuition was not wrong. I knew from the start that you were an extraordinary individual.”

Kunte flew about busily, dusting off Egru’s clothes. His hands were so small it took him a while, but his touch was gentle.

“Kunte, d-did you come here to save me?”

“That, and other business. You will be astonished when you hear the information I have brought.” Kunte began to rub his hands together like a fly. “I believe I mentioned it before? That I needed to collect a long-overdue payment from a former contractor.”

“Y-Yes. I remember.”

“The first piece of news is that I have finally caught that wicked thief!”

“Wow! Congratulations, Kunte…!”

“Huhu, thank you. To be honest, he’s a terribly stubborn old man who is not easily swayed, but thanks to you, Lord Egru, persuading him was much easier.”

“M-Me?”

“Yes, you!” Kunte chirped excitedly, zipping around Egru. “He’s nothing but a mummy now, but the fact that he’s still alive is quite a laugh. Still, just imagining the pain that stubborn old fool has accumulated over several hundred years makes my mouth water… gulp.”

Watching Kunte’s erratic movements was making him dizzy. The barrage of incomprehensible information was making his already jumbled head spin even more.

“U-Um, Kunte. Could you maybe summarize what you mean?”

“Ah, of course! Lord Egru! It means that a minnow like that…!” Kunte suddenly spat in Jade’s direction. Then, as if nothing had happened, he took a step back and bowed elegantly. “Will be able to reclaim a power that he could not even dare to approach.”