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“You bastard! Come out!”
He slammed the door open and shut, shouting in the garden. As he fumed, surprisingly, the axolotl's voice drifted out as if it had been waiting.
<You're too harsh. I'm an axolotl, not a doggyy.>
The moment he heard those words, Rahan looked up and glared at the roof.
Just beneath the eaves, a pink axolotl nestled in a crevice of the hut was poking its head out, flicking its tongue.
<And what did I dooo? What exactly am I accused of doingoo?>
What a brazen Underground Creature. Rahan gnashed his teeth as he looked up at the axolotl.
“I should have just stepped on you and killed you the first time I met you.”
There was nothing new about the axolotl's true identity. The axolotl was, in fact, the demon that had followed Rahan on the expedition.
It happened when Rahan was fourteen, six months after he had set out for Til Nebe Cedric under the guise of the Expedition of Glory.
To reach Til Nebe Cedric from the edge of the Foldenbach continent, ships were required. The expeditionary force consisted of about 20,000 people. To transport them, hundreds of ships were needed.
Unless one was a demon, it was impossible to build hundreds of ships suddenly. Rahan's expedition was delayed there for a year and a half.
It wasn't entirely unexpected, but he hadn't imagined it would take that long.
Sixteen-year-old Rahan, stuck in place, felt his frustration mounting. That was when the axolotl appeared.
Demons naturally live beneath the earth and cannot ascend to the surface without a contractor. Thus, Rahan assumed the axolotl's contractor must be nearby.
However, the axolotl claimed it had been exiled from the Underworld and begged Rahan for just a single sip of blood.
At the time, it was merely a lizard no larger than Rahan's pinky finger.
<Aaaah... seeing your Red Eyes... the great blood... flows within you as well... Please, share a single drop of life... with this pitiful Underground Creature...>>
He wouldn't deny it. Rahan was sixteen and hot-blooded, and it was the first time someone had spoken of "great blood" regarding him, a boy who had always been looked down upon.
Of course, the typical sympathy and curiosity of a boy whose head was still full of dreams played a part.
A lizard the size of his finger was begging for a drop of blood; he felt pity, and figured, what's the worst that could happen?
After consuming Rahan's drop of blood, the axolotl regained its strength in an instant. The story it then revealed was absurd to Rahan.
<I am Leviathan, the great demon who once ruled the seas of the Underworld!>
Rahan was not unfamiliar with the name Leviathan.
It was a demon among demons, said to take the form of a sea serpent. Naturally, Rahan did not believe the axolotl's words.
'You?'
<Gah! To inflict such humiliation upon this Leviathan!>
Underground Creatures—demons—cannot ascend to the surface without a contracted mage.
That was why, when the last mage perished a hundred years ago, the demons were all driven back underground and vanished from sight.
And yet, this thing claimed to be Leviathan. It wasn't even funny.
Of course, Rahan later came to believe that this axolotl truly was a demon. Something happened that left him no choice.
But that wasn't important now. What mattered was that Rahan was furious.
“The Potato Blight spreading in this region—that was your doing, wasn't it?”
<My goodness.>
The axolotl lifted its two front legs as if bewildered. It looked so much like a human shrugging that Rahan grew even more irritated.
This thing isn't even a real axolotl!
<Child. If this body possessed such power, why would I cling to your side and survive on mere drops of blood?>
“Don't give me that! The prank you played on Robbie a few days ago was also your doing, wasn't it?!”
<Hmm, I certainly have no excuse for that. But that wasn't intentional eitherrr.>
The axolotl—no, Leviathan—flicked its tongue and slowly shifted its position to a spot where Rahan's hand could never reach. Then it spoke again.
<I was simply talking to myself, just as I am talking to youuu.>
Originally, only the contractor or those with demon blood in their lineage could understand a demon's speech.
<It seems one of that person's distant ancestors mated with a demon.>
Leviathan argued that it was inevitable for Robbie to be startled after accidentally overhearing the lizard's mutterings.
Rahan was speechless.
“Then what about the Potato Blight?!”
<I told you, child.>
Leviathan descended a bit closer and flicked its tongue.
As this demon had done for several years, it seemed to be tasting Rahan's negative emotions; its eyes were sparkling and its cheeks were flushed.
<This body is a Void Body without a contractor. An Underground Creature without a contract is nothing more than a lowly creature on the surface. My current state is such that I must perform all sorts of tricks just to beg a drop of blood from you; how could I possibly cause a plague?>
“…”
<If you're reallly curious, if you were to contract with me...>>
“Stop your scheming.”
Rahan cut Leviathan off and fell into thought.
'Is it really not Leviathan's doing?'
To be honest, the first person Rahan thought of after discovering that the Potato Blight could be cured with divine power was Leviathan.
He had assumed that Leviathan, who had followed him, had scattered the plague in this region.
But come to think of it, demons usually love to brag about the atrocities they commit against humans.
Of course, the only demon Rahan had ever met in his life was Leviathan.
Regardless, Rahan had no doubt that if Leviathan had caused this, it would be jumping for joy, shouting <Did you see? The power of this body!> while trying to tempt him into a contract.
This axolotl already had a history of doing similar things in the past.
“Then does that mean it's the work of another demon?”
<Eehee. I'm not sure about that. But as I said, if you just contract with this body, you could find out...>>
“I'll burn this whole hut down.”
<You're too harshhh.>
Leviathan grumbled in its characteristic slow drawl.
Everyone thinks demons aren't afraid of fire because they live in a hell of flames, but the thing this sea creature hated most was fire. It was evident from the fact that it always stayed at least one cubit away from the hearth.
“Then why haven't you shown yourself until now?”
<Do you even have to ask?>
Leviathan asked back, sounding incredulous.
<I've been struggling to survive since we arrived here. Moreover, you bathe every single day in that person's Sanctuary. I hate being attached to this hut!>
Ah, was it because of Eridrahan's Sanctuary? It seemed the Wind Rock Monastery had a significantly stronger influence over demons than he had thought.
But wouldn't it be fine as long as he didn't stay close to the priests? Was the building itself the problem? When he asked, Leviathan tapped the hut.
<Ignorant thing! To not even know why the name Wind Rock is a shudder-inducing one for mages!>
“Of course I don't know. I'm not a mage.”
<Listen well. The name Wind Rock... comes from the fact that tens of thousands of winds are pressed down beneath the rock.>
To hear the history of an Imperial monastery from a demon rather than a historian. It was absurd.
<Wind is originally the lingering grudge of demons who rebelled against Him...>>
“Hey, I'm ignorant, so put it simply.”
<Gah! I have no strength! I accidentally consumed a priest's blood and suffered for three whole days!>
Rahan was naturally horrified by Leviathan's irritated outburst.
“What, you crazy thing?! Did you actually eat a priest?!”
<Gah! How could that be! I told you I have no strength!>
It was just before Rahan started climbing the hut that he learned Priest Marid had simply scratched his finger by mistake.
“Anyway, that means there's another mage in this area...”
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