Chapter 44: Difference in Approach

Perda returned safely to Valdrova Castle.

Arwen, after escorting him to the main gate, immediately returned to the territory of Count Consilus.

At the entrance, Ruri received Perda and his group.

“How was the trip?”

It was a formal question, and Perda responded in the same manner.

“Peaceful. There were no attacks, and with an escort it wasn’t boring.”

“I see. But it seems there is one more person than when you left.”

When they departed the castle, only Zed, Perda, and the coachman had gone, but now there was a man carrying a pile of luggage.

“Regent! I already placed my things in the cart, should I also carry your luggage?”

Malcolm, who was organizing his belongings on the wagon, noticed Ruri late.

“Eek! You are the intruder from that time!”

Malcolm trembled in fear.

It was not because of Dragon Fear. Even if she were emitting it, he was wearing a resistance ring.

He was simply a coward.

“I see you brought someone useless.”

Ruri sighed through her nose.

“He is useless, but also an excellent specimen.”

“What kind of specimen?”

“What else? One for experiments.”

“……Are you researching black magic?”

“I have to research it, but it’s not that.”

Saying that, Perda tried to enter the castle.

Then Ruri blocked his path.

“What is it?”

“Are you really asking because you don’t know?”

Ruri’s gaze slowly moved until it stopped on Perda’s right hand.

“Don’t you think entering the castle with that stench is a serious crime?”

“……”

Perda felt a strange chill at those words.

Instinctively, he looked at his body and noticed something slightly sticking out of Ruri’s pocket.

It was a rough towel stained green.

If that towel touched the skin, it would rip off the dirt along with the skin itself.

And the pain of tearing flesh could not be avoided.

Bang! Bang!

The towel moved with Ruri’s hand, causing small white explosions.

Ah she had been waiting for this moment.

Ruri had a justification.

The scent of another woman on Perda’s hand could cause a misunderstanding in Valdrova.

And those kinds of misunderstandings had to be avoided.

Perda understood that but did not forget the screams of the knights.

Screams like those of children in front of a demon.

He did not think he could endure it better than they did.

Perda looked at Ruri again.

Unlike his concern, she had an expression full of anticipation.

“Can I ask you something?”

“Say it.”

“At least do it inside that isolation magic.”

He said it like the last words of a condemned man.

Ruri nodded solemnly.

“Of course. I can’t go around telling others about Perda’s masochistic preferences.”

“……Fine.”

He did not have the strength to respond.

Perda followed Ruri inside.

That day, what happened in the bath remained a secret between Ruri and Perda.

***

Perda, completely clean and shining, barely managed to get dressed.

Every time the fabric touched his sensitive skin, he felt a painful tingling.

‘I have to endure.’

From now on, he had to concentrate.

He looked at the book on the desk.

Shadow Technique of Barbatos.

The demon of intrigue prefers to act in secret and specializes in manipulating shadows as if they were limbs to attack blind spots.

Since it is a grimoire focused on stealth, sealing it was complicated.

If it was not kept with silver chains enchanted with shape fixation, the book would melt and move elsewhere.

What this technique emphasizes is one thing.

‘The shadow must be me, and I must be the shadow.’

Just like with Shadow Hand, if it is not perceived as a third limb, the user will suffer intense phantom pain.

‘But there are things I need.’

The greatest advantage is that it does not require a magic circle.

And it is not only used as a magic hand, but as real limbs.

That means Perda can use Shadow Hand to cast other spells.

‘It does not stand out in offensive power.’

As befits a demon of intrigue, it is different from other circles of black magic.

‘But it can attack blind spots.’

Weak in frontal combat, but with infinite possibilities in strategy.

That is why Perda chose this technique among many.

‘To read it I have to remove this chain.’

To break it, he had to deactivate the spell, and for that, decipher the runes.

So he went to find Echidna.

“I want you to remove this chain. Can you do it?”

“Y-yes, of course. I’ll do it right away, hehe.”

Echidna smiled while looking at Perda.

Her expression was somewhere between that of a girl in love with a prince and that of a witch with dark thoughts.

“I appreciate it. How do you want the reward to be?”

“R-reward? It’s not necessary, really…”

“If you do a job, it’s only fair to pay for it.”

Giving compensation according to the work done.

That was the best way to work with a witch without problems afterward.

“Reward, huh…”

Echidna’s eyes moved.

She looked at the blonde girl standing next to Perda.

Morida.

“S-so… could you let me spend a night with Morida?”

Sleep with Morida?

If thought of as spending a night between people of the same sex, it was not that strange.

But the other party was a witch.

And quite a disturbing one at that.

“Is that fine with you?”

Perda looked at Morida.

Mori responded with a note.

– According to Echidna’s behavior pattern, sleeping with her will reduce work efficiency by 30%.

30% was too much.

What kind of behavior did she have to lower it that much?

“I cannot accept that.”

“Eh… well, then there’s nothing to be done…”

I shouldn’t have said it…

Echidna muttered, disappointed.

Perda decided to propose something he had already thought of.

“How about I give you time with Zed?”

“With Zed?!”

Echidna’s face immediately turned red.

She nodded excitedly while letting out steam from her nose.

“S-so… how much time would it be…?”

“Something like this.”

Perda raised three fingers.

She was completely satisfied.

“30 minutes?! Mmm…! That’s fine! Deal!”

“……Alright.”

Perda had actually meant 3 hours.

But she herself reduced the amount to one sixth and was still happy.

‘If I had said 3 hours, it might have been counterproductive.’

Everything in excess brings problems.

Now that he had a standard for the reward, he thought about adjusting it in the future.

“Alright, let’s see.”

Echidna, excited, placed the shadow grimoire on the work table.

She put on large glasses and began to examine it.

Not only with her sight, but with all her senses.

“Mmm… the material isn’t hard, rather soft like clay… the smell… sniff… ah, that sulfur scent from hell is special. It has that stale touch, you know? like an armpit…”

“Enough.”

“Ah, yes. Hehe…”

Perda stopped her before she drifted off.

After analyzing the book, she moved on to the silver chain.

When she injected a bit of mana, blue letters appeared.

Runes.

“Mmm…”

Echidna’s gaze became serious.

It was hard to believe she was the same woman who chased men.

‘She’s the same type as Vernell.’

When she focused on her work, she became completely different.

‘If you can create runes, you can decipher them.’

What she was doing was like disabling a trap.

If she deciphered the runes, she could understand the spell and foresee side effects.

“There’s shape fixation magic… and if you break it by force, there’s a trap that strikes the one who breaks it. A normal mage would die. And this signature… it seems to be from the Church of Alte.”

“Can you undo it?”

Echidna smiled.

“There’s no need to undo it.”

“Why?”

“If we remove the fixation, the book could escape. Do you plan to read it only once?”

Perda shook his head.

Even if he learned everything, letting the book go would be problematic.

“Then… we loosen the conditions.”

“How?”

“Instead of completely releasing the fixation, we allow a certain margin. Enough to read it.”

“Do it.”

“Understood!”

Echidna struck the runes with her pen and recited a spell.

Shortly after, a magic circle appeared.

At least fifth level.

She manipulated the circle with her fingers.

‘Manipulating a magic circle…’

Even when he was an archmage, Perda did not do it like that.

It was easier to destroy and rebuild.

‘Rune creators are different.’

They can touch magic itself.

That is why, instead of destroying it, they adjust it.

“If I change this like this… done.”

She struck the rune.

The circle disappeared into it.

At the same time, the silver chain loosened gently.

“Can I read it here?”

“Yes! Of course!”

“Bring me some thick books.”

“Books? W-wait a moment!”

Clatter! Rummage!

Just as he said, she took out several thick dictionaries.

“But what for?”

“I need to adjust it to her sitting height.”

“Sitting height?”

Perda placed about three books on the chair.

He arranged them to match Morida’s height.

“Is this fine?”

Morida nodded.

“Then, let’s begin—”

“W-wait a moment!!”

Just as they were about to start, Echidna intervened and hugged Morida.

“Don’t tell me the one who’s going to read the book is our Morida? Making a child do something worse than death?”

“Then why do you think I brought her?”

“I thought it was because Morida really wanted to see me. Isn’t that right?”

Echidna smiled while looking at Morida, and Morida wrote on a note.

– That’s not the case.

“Uh…? I thought we had become f-friends… was it only me who felt that way?”

– That is correct.

Morida clearly drew the line.

Faced with that devastating response, Echidna sobbed.

“This is a task that only this child can do.”

“But facing the demonic language written by demons…”

“Yes. People gradually go mad.”

“And even so you’re going to make her do it? Isn’t that too cruel?”

Echidna hugged Morida and rubbed her head against her cheek.

Now it was clear why her efficiency dropped.

“It doesn’t matter. In any case, it’s impossible to corrupt this child.”

“R-really?”

Echidna asked, and Morida nodded.

“If that’s the case…”

Even at the last moment, Echidna continued stroking her hair with concern.

“Start.”

At Perda’s command, Morida opened the book.

At that instant, something inside the book began to emanate.

A piercing smell of sulfur filled the air, and it felt as if something impure ran through the body.

That was the meaning of the demonic language.

Just seeing it was sacrilege.

Just reading it left a mark.

Goooo—

Perda and Echidna averted their gaze from the characters.

The demonic language was something born from hell itself.

Whoever sees it glimpses fragments of hell.

And whoever comes into contact with those fragments is marked, hearing demonic whispers for the rest of their life.

An endless trial.

If they do not overcome it, they become followers of demons or madmen.

And they end up becoming a channel for demons to enter this world.

‘I went through it too.’

The demonic language cannot be blocked, since it comes from the very essence of the characters.

Perda had also learned it to master demonic magic.

In fact, he was able to learn Shadow Hand thanks to that.

‘But afterward I erased it all.’

The best approach was to learn the magic, understand it, and then erase the demonic language from the mind.

That was why Perda knew those magics without being controlled by them.

‘I no longer need to learn it.’

There was already someone who knew it.

And someone who could interpret it for him.

The wise slave, Morida.

She would be the one to write it for him.

Morida observed the demonic language clearly.

An intense red fire ignited in her eyes.

It was as if her eyes had become a spear to look inside it.

But it could not disturb her.

Not because she was perfect.

Even the perfect can waver before demons.

But she had no ego.

Without ego, there was nothing to shake.

There was no foothold.

So the demons could not reach her.

Morida took the pen and began to write.

Even with the “window of hell” open, she maintained absolute rationality while translating.

She ignored the whispers until the end and finished quickly.

Then she closed the book.

In her right hand was the original, in her left, the translation.

“Did you finish everything?”

Perda asked to confirm, and Morida nodded.

Perda gave the final order.

“Then forget everything you have seen.”

At that instant, the red fire in her eyes disappeared.

They returned to their original color.

With a single command, she truly forgot everything.

Something impossible for a normal person.

But possible for Morida.

Shortly after, her body began to sway.

Her eyelids grew heavy.

She had spent too much energy.

“Go to sleep early today.”

With Perda’s permission, Morida leaned against the backrest and closed her eyes.

“Echidna, take her to her room.”

“Of course!”

Echidna looked at her with a suspicious expression.

“Uhe… uheh… uhehhehe…”

She even started drooling.

Now it was easier to understand that “-30% efficiency.”

Perda added.

“Leave her on the bed and come out. I will not allow any further contact. Understood?”

“Y-yes! Of course! I have no other intentions! None at all!”

She said it, but her disappointed face was not very convincing.

Perda took the translated manuscript she had prepared.

First, he read the part of Shadow Hand within the shadow technique of Barbatos.

‘She wrote it exactly as I understood it.’

With that, he concluded that he could understand the magic just by reading the translation.

Perda returned to the beginning.

‘The reason I needed this grimoire.’

It was the mana training method.

One of the ways to go from the third circle to the fourth.

‘Shape of Shadow.’

That page caught his attention.

Despite reading an infernal grimoire written by a great demon, he suffered no side effects.

‘How long did it normally take to reach the fourth circle?’

From the fourth circle onward, one was considered a true mage.

That was why it was so difficult; even the talented needed years of effort.

With the Red Circle, it was not very different.

‘In fact, it was even more dangerous.’

As the Red Circle advanced, madness and risk increased.

‘When did that ever matter to me?’

Perda had grown strong through hatred, and he did not hesitate to take risks to become stronger.

If anything had changed, it was that now he did it for Valdrova.

Perda decided to begin the training method immediately.

The process was simple.

He lit a candle in a completely dark room.

Then he placed the light behind his head, creating a long and deep shadow.

And he began by observing that shadow.

At first, it was only about using magic through the shadow.

But later, one could become the shadow itself, or even the shadow of another.

To transcend common sense and seek freedom through it.

‘The shadow is me, and I am the shadow.’

With that in mind, he stared intently at the shadow trembling with the candlelight.

At that moment—

He felt his body being pressed against the ground.

As if he were trapped in a flat, limited space.

He had entered a state of total concentration in the shadow.

‘Now I close my eyes.’

Maintaining that sensation, he directed his consciousness toward the circle in his dantian.

He concentrated for approximately an hour.

He had to make mana flow within the shadow.

‘I feel nothing.’

His state was too calm.

For the Red Circle, calmness acted as a brake.

‘For now, it’s impossible.’

If something did not work, he abandoned it without hesitation.

Perda was still young, and he had many things to do.

He left the dark room.

It was night, with the moon already tilted.

Much more than midnight must have passed.

He did not know how many days had gone by.

Only the sound of his empty stomach indicated how much time had passed.