Chapter 15

　　Three believers, one woman and two men, were making their way along a forest path behind the temple. Cadel and Van trailed them, masking their presence as much as possible.

　　“Can you hear what they’re saying?” Cadel asked from behind a tree trunk.

　　They were keeping their distance, and with the night deepening, Cadel couldn’t even make out their faces. Van narrowed his eyes, focusing entirely on his hearing. Faintly, the believers’ conversation began to drift back to them.

　　“I’m sorry for the trouble, brothers. If it were anything else, I would have waited until daybreak to look for it myself, but…”

　　“Not at all, sister. It’s your father’s keepsake, of all things. You wouldn’t be able to sleep knowing it’s lost.”

　　The woman sighed.

　　“I lost it around here, so we should be able to find it soon.”

　　The three believers seemed to be searching the woods for the woman’s lost item. The two men comforted the downcast woman as they looked around, and for a while, they exchanged nothing but idle chatter.

　　The distance between the two groups grew. Just as Cadel and Van were about to stop eavesdropping and move on, the woman spoke up in an anxious, timid voice.

　　“If it weren’t for you two, I wouldn’t have even dared to look. I probably would have just stayed back and prayed.”

　　“That demon is testing our faith. We must never yield. In times like this, we must rely on Sir Roden’s bravery and the goddess Depolo’s mercy.”

　　“Of course! But… is it really a witch?”

　　…A witch?

　　Van’s brow furrowed at the unexpected word. Keeping his eyes fixed on the believers, he lightly grabbed Cadel’s wrist.

　　“Let’s keep following them.”

　　“Did you hear something?”

　　“I need to hear a bit more to be sure.”

　　He led Cadel to another tree trunk further up. Thanks to their dark robes and the deep shadows, staying hidden was relatively easy. And since their targets were only ordinary believers, the chances of being noticed were low anyway.

　　“Even if it is a demon, I’ve never heard of a witch eating people… Isn’t that too gruesome?”

　　“Shh! Keep your voice down. Didn’t the priest tell us not to voice our suspicions? If rumors spread, the temple’s reputation will suffer. A demon that only targets Depolo’s believers…”

　　Between the awkward distance and their hushed mumbling, Van couldn’t catch the entire conversation. But the words that did reach him were enough to piece together the source of the rumors. He relayed the key details to Cadel.

　　“It sounds like the believers aren’t missing. They’re dead, Captain. Eaten by a demon.”

　　“A demon?”

　　“There seems to be a demon targeting only believers. And they think… it might be a witch.”

　　Cadel’s expression hardened slightly.

　　A witch from ‘Hero of Knights’… I remember a few, but none of them are good memories.

　　He recalled how every witch he had faced was so tricky that he always struggled to defeat them. They had unpredictable personalities and monstrous magical prowess.

　　If it really is a witch, I need to recruit Lumen Dominic as quickly as possible.

　　Van’s skills were undeniably exceptional, but the problem was Cadel himself. Witches were demons, and most demons were proficient in magic, with witches standing near the absolute peak.

　　However, Cadel hadn’t yet fully mastered his own magic, let alone applying it on the fly. If he had to face a mage vastly superior to himself, he needed someone else to bolster their combat power.

　　“Let’s fall back for today. Since it came from the believers’ own mouths, we can be certain there’s a problem with the temple. Once day breaks, we’ll gather information in earnest—”

　　Just as Cadel made his decision to retreat, a sound cut through the forest.

　　“Aaaagh!”

　　A piercing scream rang out from the direction of the believers. Cadel whipped his head around, and what he saw made him freeze.

　　“S-Save, save me!”

　　Pitch-black flames had engulfed the three believers. Swathed in darkness deeper than the surrounding shadows, they were slowly sinking into the towering inferno.

　　Cadel dashed toward them almost on instinct. Condensing mana in his palm, he fired a Fireball. Not at the flames engulfing the believers, but at the ground right next to them.

　　With a sharp boom, dirt shot up and showered over the flames, smothering them. A thick cloud of dust scattered into the air. The screams abruptly stopped.

　　“Are you alri…”

　　Cadel pushed through the dust and reached the spot where the believers had been. As he tried to check on their condition, his expression instantly hardened.

　　Now what the hell is this?

　　They were gone.

　　“Captain! You can’t just rush out like that…”

　　The believers, who had been screaming while engulfed in flames just moments ago, had evaporated without a trace.

　　Van, who had followed right behind him, cut himself off when he saw the empty space. Only a charred, circular scorch mark remained before them. The believers who had been trapped inside, screaming, were nowhere to be seen.

　　Was it some kind of magic? Or had their entire bodies combusted in that brief moment, leaving not even bone ash behind?

　　Blinded by the dust from his own explosion, he hadn’t witnessed the exact moment they disappeared. Cadel bit his lip. He rubbed the toe of his boot against the scorch mark, the only remaining trace, as if trying to stomp it out.

　　How deep is this mark? No matter how much I dig, it’s still black.

　　At this depth, it couldn’t even be considered a scorch mark anymore. The flames had surged straight up from the earth. It was a trap. Cadel was very familiar with this kind of magic. He had fallen for it way too many times in the past.

　　“Did they burn away entirely?”

　　Van examined the surrounding traces with a deadly serious expression. Cadel quietly shook his head.

　　“This is a summoning trap.”

　　“A summoning trap?”

　　“It’s a nasty summoning magic that shaves off half the target’s HP—I mean, stamina—as soon as it activates. By now, the summoned believers won’t even have the energy to run away.”

　　“Who on earth would use such magic…”

　　A witch. Even among demons, the only ones who could playfully toss around such malicious, sickening summoning magic were witches.

　　The flames were black. A dark-attribute witch? A dark witch from the early story…

　　He had a guess as to who it was. Even accounting for the distortion of old memories, that witch was easily in the top five most annoying enemies Cadel had ever faced.

　　The very beginning of the game. A time when he had neither decent knights nor equipment. She spammed skills that were far too grating to deal with at such an early stage.

　　While Cadel frowned, recalling his past struggle, Van’s eyes flashed. His gaze instantly grew cold, locking onto the bushes to their left.

　　“Who’s there?”

　　Like a sensitive beast, his glowing golden eyes stared into the deep darkness beyond the bushes. Van’s hand was already on the hilt of his greatsword, and Cadel, who hadn’t noticed the presence, quickly condensed his mana as well.

　　Soon, footsteps broke the silence, and a young man wearing a hooded robe emerged from the bushes.

　　“I didn’t expect to be spotted.”

　　Cadel’s eyes widened at the sound of the man’s voice.

　　“You’re…”

　　“And I didn’t expect to see you here again, either.”

　　Lumen Dominic!

　　He stared at Cadel and pulled down his hood. Having already shown his face once, he seemed to judge there was no need to hide it anymore.

　　Cadel had to try incredibly hard not to flash a wicked smile at Lumen, who had appeared with such perfect timing. He put on the most natural, nonchalant expression he could muster, as if Lumen Dominic’s presence was no big deal.

　　“What were you doing lurking back there?”

　　“I could ask you the same thing.”

　　“We were just taking a walk near the temple when we happened to hear a scream and came running.”

　　Cadel deliberately rubbed the scorch mark on the ground with the sole of his boot for him to see. Lumen stared at the mark he was trying to erase, a mocking smile on his lips.

　　“Taking a walk near the temple at this hour? That’s a pretty funny excuse.”

　　“Yeah, well. I don’t need to go out of my way to make excuses for someone whose name and identity I don’t even know. I’d appreciate it if you just took the hint.”

　　A strange light flickered in Lumen’s blue eyes. He looked Cadel up and down as if intrigued, then glanced at Van behind him, who was growling viciously as if ready to slice him to death at any moment.

　　It seemed he was a step too late. He had come to verify the rumors about the temple, but he hadn’t expected someone else to beat him to it. Lumen pondered something for a moment, fiddling with the scabbard hidden under his robe, before slowly opening his mouth.

　　“I’m Luman. Just a wanderer scraping by on the occasional request.”

　　“…Luman. That’s a pretty lame name.”

　　“I think so too.”

　　Luman? He’d even dropped his last name. It seemed Lumen had no intention of revealing his true identity. Whether he suspected Cadel knew who he was or not, he was going to play dumb as long as possible. Fine.

　　Cadel decided to play along. He planned to recruit Lumen no matter what, and to get close to him, it was probably better to pretend he didn’t know his identity and act friendly. With that in mind, Cadel gently nudged Van, who was audibly scoffing, and held his hand out to Lumen.

　　“I’m Cadel. Captain of the Red Scale Mercenaries.”

　　“That’s a cool name.”

　　“I know.”

　　With a dry chuckle, Lumen took Cadel’s hand. Over the brief handshake, two gazes full of ulterior motives met.