If my brain slowly woke up to emerge from the water and opened my heavy eyelid, the first thing I felt was the cold on the floor and the sore wrist that seemed to be tied to my rear hand.
... Oh, I did.
I'm trying to hold Mr. Marina back, you know, get involved.
It was captured by the devil's hand.
Tie up a woman and keep her rolling on the floor, that's a pretty good response.
Besides, I keep my whole body wet with Wal's water, and it's plain cold.
There are so many people around me who are equally restrained and lying around, and now they are all losing their minds. Young men who look naughty or aged women who look pale. I'm sure they're all captured spiritual users. I wonder if you've been imprisoned here forever...
I also find Mr. Marina a a short distance away and for the first time I am horrified that he is safe.
Then I crawled and managed to run my gaze.
Was the building originally used as a warehouse? Faded, decaying wooden columns with walls. A space of considerable size is loaded with barrels and crates in the corners. I can tell that they were all dusty, had spider nests on them, and let them go for years.
Beside that luggage, the Queen's sword had also been unravelled. I had trouble handling it and left it for now.
There are no lamps or other lights indoors.
Instead, the falling moonlight is blurring through the warehouse from a small window near the ceiling.
Above all, it catches my eye - the center of the room.
It's like a big big demon square, painted with black ink all over the floor.
Inside the double circle are depictions of things like numbers and elusive symbols, most of all disastrous such as "Satanic Rituals".
There are just ten red and black stones that emit a suspicious glow, arranged in equal intervals along the circle.
... Lore, I think I've guessed the number of your sacrifices.
The air is cloudy everywhere, and I don't feel any spiritual temper. I'm sure the demon possession is circling around the warehouse like a junction.
So even if a close spiritual user was kidnapped, the spirits could not find a place?
I tried calling Wal in my heart to try, but he didn't respond.
But if I'm working with the Queen, I might be able to get my partner, Wal, to follow my signs.
Then... would it be wise for me to pretend to have fainted too and make love until help arrives?
That's what I had in mind, all of a sudden the shoe sounded from the tip and blind spot, and I shook my shoulder with a stick. "Oh?" a calm voice strokes his ear.
The shoe stopped beside me.
If I gave up and raised my gaze - there was a man standing in a calm position.
About thirty years old.
He is wearing a peasant blue shirt with a large chest collar and black skinny trousers. I have a loose red cloth wrapped around my hips and I haven't seen much of it. Maybe he's not human in this country.
The same as Lace, but more lustrous than he is, with dark hair about the length of his shoulder, tied together in a leather string. You look serious and honest, but your eyes don't have light... maybe you're blind?
Still, what is happening to me seems to have been detected by the signs, leaning strangely towards my little neck.
That evil-looking trick is creepy the other way around.
"That's crazy. If it took that butterfly operation, it shouldn't have happened for another two hours. Even when I wake up, my consciousness is concerned... is it hard for you to work with the devil's technique?
"... are you the culprit of the 'Devil Possessed' who captured the people here, including me?
Ignore the other person's query, suppress the voice that scares you into realizing and about to tremble, and try to pretend to ask as strong as you can. The man lightly affirmed, "Yes, I am."
"That's amazing. I know the devil possessed."
If you stare silently, the man points softly at the Devil's Square.
From the gap in the collar on the clap, a slight but glimpse of the black upside down butterfly floating on the chest.
"Ten spiritual users. Anyone could have done it, if they were spiritual users. In anticipation of entering Saint Bell Festival, on a strong moonlight night, he releases a black butterfly, the devil's charm, to the king's capital. The black butterfly will look like 'someone dear' to those who see it. I was calling the spiritual man who hooked me up here as a ritual sacrifice... I can't believe the marina came to the last one."
"Omeke like you will come too. I was surprised," the man flaunted his shoulder in a relaxed manner.
I hope it was good for anyone, but it's a mouthful like you know about Mr. Marina. So I hooked my eyes on the man's finger.
A Citrine-processed ring that produces an elegant glow even in dim spaces.
That's... just like what was in Mr. Marina's finger.
I remember the words she was saying one day.
He said he was older, his hometown was this naughty kingdom, but he knew him in another country, and he had a blind lover.
No way... this killer?
"You, Mr. Marina's lover...... right? I was cheating on Mr. Marina."
"You know Marina, don't you? It's a coincidence we got close. It's just a satanic ritual where a demon user possessed me and taught me to fulfill a 'wish'. I've been looking at opportunities for execution for a long time, and the marina seemed to be available. Unexpectedly, I was lucky to get along with her."
"They gave me a lot of information. This place, it was owned by the Levion family," the man laughed without evil.
Are you saying that your mouth is light enough but nothing is wrong where I was given an outline of the plan? Instead, just saying I wanted someone to listen to me, the man speaks with pleasure.
Lore explained to me that demon possession can sometimes take over body and consciousness by demons as assimilation with demons progresses. About half of this guy is no longer being offended by the devil and reason is probably working.
... That's not what I was allowed to do.
Mr. Marina, she seemed so happy, talking about this man.
"... that's it. With the ritual of the devil, what is the wish you want to fulfill?
Before I thought about it, it was a question that came out of my mouth.
My inquiry sinks in a space as dim and breathless as the bottom of the water, pregnant with weight.
For the first time then, a man who was unnaturally upbeat and kept grinning reflects a shaking emotion in his lightless eyes. The slightly shredded look was the most human face I've ever seen.
The man bears the moonlight and shakes his lips slowly.
"It's been one thing since ancient times to take the hassle and the time to prepare so far, to give ten human lives with the special power of spiritual use and beg the devil, isn't it? … it's a ritual that brings the dead back to life."