CH 62

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Note: Devil and demon are the same in Korean. In this chapter I will be calling the demons contracted by a human as demons, but I will use ‘the devil’ as a reference to a singular entity - in here, Dietrich is referred to as ‘the devil’. 

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I didn’t see any stairs leading down to the basement but it was strange. Was someone sneaking in and out of the lab like me? 

“Hm.”

There was probably some kind of hidden staircase but it wasn’t visible to the naked eye. With a small sigh, I got up from my position and picked up the axe hanging on the wall. 

Kwang!

Kwaang!

Kwang!

“Phew.” 

Fortunately, it was an old wooden floor so with just a few hacks from the axe it quickly collapsed. 

‘When Josef comes back I’ll just say there was an intruder.’ 

It’s faster this way than looking for the secret entrance he had deliberately hidden. 

Before I knew it, I had wiped the sweat from my forehead and then pushed my head toward the hole in the floor. 

‘Someone might think he’s not a dreary alchemist.’ [1] 

It seems that Joseph, who had all the stereotypical traits of an alchemist straight out of a book, had a secret laboratory that even Derek didn’t know about. 

Without hesitation, I landed on the basement using the falling technique I learned from Baal. 

“Puek.” 

The dust rose up in an instant, blurring my vision for a moment. I found a flower vase lying on the floor and hurriedly checked the room. 

‘I don’t see any sign of anyone going in and out of here.’ 

But it’s impossible for the flower vase to fall on its own. 

“I’ll have to tell Marilyn to bring my meal here.” 

I laughed a little at the sight of the basement full of books and papers just like Josef’s laboratory when he was still here. 

The study, classified with keywords such as purification tree [2], Eredia, and shadow demon, was so vast that it could not be compared to what was available upstairs. Even if I spent a few nights staying up, I’m not confident I would be able to review all the materials. 

“Why did you bring so many sacred trees again?” 

I didn’t know what intentions Josef had, but there were more seedlings of sacred trees in the basement than in the laboratory. 

‘They don’t cast a shadow.’

The unusual thing was that there were no shadows of the seedlings under the lamp. I looked at the strange scenery as if possessed and then quickly opened the standard procedure of alchemy. 

‘The only tree that suppresses the power of shadows.’

‘The children of the world tree.’ 

Did this explanation mean that? I tilted my head and turned around, holding a seedling in my arms. 

‘I’ll find out if I check with the little demon.’ 

Fortunately, I saw a ladder and was about to climb back up but I caught sight of scattered documents on top of the table.

The candle wax that had fallen nearby had not yet hardened as if someone had really been there. 

‘A letter?’

The letter, addressed to Derek Lagrange, bore a familiar name. 

‘I think Josef intercepted it in the middle.’

[Dona Euclid and Camille’s babies are all dead. Only the nanny’s baby survived. I’ll return it to Lagrange.]

“I’m dead?”

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“Mon--monster! Aren’t you a total demon?!” 

The trembling man in front of Dietrich was three times older than him, but he didn’t hesitate calling the boy who only reached his shoulders a monster.

“Is anyone there? A demon is trying to harm a person!” 

The man, who turned pale in fear, looked around his surroundings and cried. 

However, in the vast battlefield, there were only two living beings -- the man and the boy; only dead silence echoed. 

The boy who was called ‘monster’ and ‘demon’ didn’t care about such malicious nicknames. 

Dietrich, showing no signs of being offended, moved as he watched the fumbling man retreating with an indifferent gaze. 

“Sa--save me! Please save me!”

The man finally began to beg for his life. The boy slowly approached the man with the tip of his sword on the floor. 

Sssk.

The sound of the sharp blade scraping the floor echoed in the silent battlefield. 

Sobane, a man, one of Euclid’s commanders, ran down a hill where the bodies of his men had already fallen and piled up like a mountain. 

“Baal.”

The demon, who bowed his head as if obeying the boy’s command, stretched out a shadow and grabbed the commander’s ankle. 

“I! And your father! Made an agreement! This round was supposed to be our victory in exchange for getting rid of you!”

It seemed that it was his last attempt, as the helmet decorated with blue feathers had already come off and the man who no longer looked like the commander raised his voice and cried out of injustice. 

“Agreement?”

Dietrich looked at the man and muttered briefly. 

“That’s right! We were supposed to win this round and Lagrange was supposed to win the next round!” 

‘That’s why it was like that.’

It was then that he realized why Euclid raised the white flag at every round that Alphonse led the army. 

<<It seems you’ve gotten hurt a lot?>>

Alphonse would smirk as he glanced at Dietrich’s body, where there seemed to be no corner that had not been stitched. 

<< Is it because my magic is too incredible? Those southern men usually get scared and run away. >>

Alphonse bragged about winning the battle without raising his sword and hung around the barracks. 

‘The successor who achieved the myth of being undefeated.’

The elders united and began to nominate Alphonse. 

There were even talks such as Alphonse was the only one who could stand as Derek’s successor, and how strong he was that the enemy would lower their tail even before fighting. 

Even though there was no one who didn’t know that Dietrich was thrown into battle alone for the sake of Alphonse’s glory. 

“If it’s going to be like this then that means Lagrange lied to us!” 

“No, all I did was play my part. Didn’t he just throw some words at you? Not being able to get rid of me, who’s alone, is the cause of your vain deaths.” 

“That, that is…”

Dietrich wiped the blood that splattered on his white cheek. The expressionless face of the boy who was close to turning seventeen was blindingly beautiful. 

Sobane mumbled that the devil must have descended and knelt down. 

“Maybe Derek Lagrange doesn’t know that you, Euclid’s most capable knight, isn’t capable of taking care of me, who's alone.” 

For Derek Lagrange, it was more important for Alphonse to succeed as the grand duke more than achieving victory in the rose war. 

‘If only you had taken care of me on this occasion, it would have been perfect.’

If he returned to the camp in one piece, he could already see Derek grinding his teeth as if resentful. 

<<You should go out alone this round.>>

As he gave a ridiculous order, Derek didn’t even avoid his eyes. It seemed that he didn’t feel any guilt even as he pushed his son to commit suicide. 

“You are really a demon! How could you smile while killing people!”

Sobane pointed at Dietrich with his trembling fingers. However, unlike Sobane’s delusion, he wasn’t smiling at all. 

He screamed in horror over and over again, as if he were hallucinating. 

“Grand duke Lagrange said so! You are not his son but the devil itself!” 

It was the demon’s red mouth that stretched out from Dietrich’s shadow. When Baal took on a human form, Sobane was startled and dropped his chin to his chest. 

He raised his sword high as if he was about to kill himself.

“I’d rather take my own life than die by the hands of a man who sold his soul to the devil!” 

Baal giggled at his words and picked a fight with him instead. 

“Then what did you sell your soul for? Money? Honor? Oh, it’s not honor.” 

“....what?”

“Did you lead a large army on the plains just to kill one boy? With an idea of easy victory, you drank alcohol and congratulated yourself.” 

None of the prominent southern knights spoke about the cowardice of this round. [3] 

“Urk!”

Baal clicked his tongue and twisted Sobane’s head, who couldn’t answer.

With agonizing screams, the man’s sword made a rattling sound as it dropped to the ground. 

“Anyway, the southerners’ behind stink more than me. Don’t you think so, your majesty?” 

Instead of answering Baal, Dietrich took out a white cotton cloth and started wiping his sword. 

Blood quickly dried up in the wilderness. He tried to wipe away the blood stains that had already stuck on him. 

“It’s already clean. What else are you wiping?” 

He cleaned himself with a meticulous hand as if he would not leave even an inch of dirt behind and the demon who had been circling around him turned his head and laughed.

“Did you originally have mysophobia?” [4] 

“You’re noisy, Baal.”

Dietrich pushed the demon sticking to him and shook off the handkerchief dripping with dried blood. 

“Ah, the princess sent another letter.”

Baal, who was looking at the drops of blood scattered on the floor, suddenly held out an envelope. The colorful letter envelope had the subtle scent of flowers. 

Dietrich stepped back as if he had a seizure and glared at the demon.

“Get rid of it.”

“You’re not going to read it again?”

The boy, who hesitated for a moment, quickly shook his head. It was a momentary conflict, but the demon did not miss it and waved the letter in front of his eyes. 

“I said get rid of it.”

“I’m sure she’s extremely disappointed that you haven’t replied to her at all.” 

At Baal’s unnecessary comment, Dietrich glared at the despicable demon. It wasn’t about Anissa being upset that Baal was worried about. 

“If your relationship with Miss Anissa seemed to have become estranged, it would only be your loss, your majesty. At this point, there’s no use in pretending that you don’t cherish her.” [5]

“............”

“Don’t you know it’s too late to turn around? Under Asmodeus’ judgement, she is your only sacrifice.” 

At the very least, Your Majesty's life should be spared. At Baal’s sincere voice, Dietrich crookedly raised one side of his lips in a smile. 

“Is the demon worried about me?”

“It’s my loss if you don’t become the grand duke. If you don’t become the grand duke, you will…”

Baal swallowed back his words and smiled broadly. 

“Your majesty, my noble little king. Don’t forget our contract.” 

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T/N: [1] [She’s stereotyping Josef that all alchemists are gloomy and dreary. So she’s saying someone might mistake him as otherwise.]

[2] Purified tree - in Naver it says fresh water; water drawn from the well at daybreak. [정화수 - but 수 is sometimes referred to as tree. Like the world tree is written as 세계수; I’m also confused here but it seems it all refers to trees - the seedings are sacred tree, the grown tree from the sacred tree will become a purification tree. ]

[3] [The idea of ganging up against one person versus an army.] 

[4] [the fear of contamination and germs]

[5] [Honorific -nim. I think this is the first time I read Baal using an honorific on Anissa’s name.]