Alice moved the black-clad intruder to the dungeon. The beaten man was limp and tied to a chair in the basement.
When Gremory appeared, the man who came to his senses a little laughed and grasped the situation.
"There were not one, but two witches living in the Grand Duke's residence."
"You're a petty witch, too. Must you have summoned a pretty strong witch? Because of the power of the contract, it is dark and invisible to you."
"I didn't summon a witch. I summoned the devil."
"Devil? They hate troublesome things, so they won't come down to the human world well. The demon who granted your wish must have been very bored."
Gremory grabbed the blood-stained man's chin.
"So why did you try to kidnap Alice?"
"It was to be used as a material to save my lover. My lover was a witch, but one day she died by my mistake."
The man confessed his purpose. It was because he decided that he could not deal with the two witches alone...
"She was a witch? What's her name?"
"Oppencia. She was a witch with good eyes and as tall as you."
Oppensia. When the familiar name came up, Gremory's frown furrowed. Isn't Oppensia a witch summoned by Severian?
'Is he talking about the Oppensia I know? But she died?'
The Oppensia was clearly alive. A nobleman she was dating had an affair, and she said she had to take revenge for it.
And did he say this?
'The Baroness of Cerpelia, who betrayed me and poisoned me. I'll just touch that.'
Could it be that this man is the ex-lover who poisoned Oppensia? But why did this man say that the living Oppensia was dead?
"What's your name?"
"This is Felix Cerpelia."
Cerpelia. After all, it seemed that Oppensia's ex-lover was right.
"Tell me in detail what happened to a witch named Oppensia."
"Three years ago, I fell in love with Oppencia, a witch I summoned, and dreamed of marrying her. But my father pushed for an arranged marriage."
"So?"
"I decided to make a love escape with Oppensia. However, on the day they decided to escape. My father held a poisoned tea in my hand. Cut off the Oppensia with my own hands."
"There's no way a witch can die from poison."
"I thought so too, but it wasn't. My father urged me to kill Oppensia, and I had to feed her poisoned tea without having time to explain anything to her. Still, because she was a witch, Oppencia, whom I thought would wake up quickly, died and disappeared."
Gremory shook her head, grasping the situation.
'It seems that she did not die and disappear, but that she pretended to be dead because her heart was broken and returned to the demon world?'
Felix continued to speak.
"So I summoned the demon with the sole intention of seeing Oppensia again. The demon promised to save Oppensia, so I gathered the bodies of the vagrants and unrelated people to recreate the body of the dead Oppensla..."
"Wait."
Gremory, feeling suspicious of the man's words, stopped speaking. No matter how devil or witch they were, there was something Impossible. This was typical of saving dead lives. Gremory, who had tried all kinds of taboos to bring the dead Lenka back to life, knew this better than anyone else.
'But the devil promised to save those who were not even dead? I'm sure the devil is playing with this idiot.'
Gremory untied Felix's rope. Felix, who was free, panicked.
"Why are you suddenly releasing me? Didn't you put me here to hold you accountable for kidnapping people?"
"I have something to do before that. Take me to your home base."
Gremory turned into a black cat. And she followed Felix to where he was going.
'It's a case that Chession is focusing on, and it's also a strong demon involved, so it's better to solve it quickly. If you leave it alone, the devil may rage even more.'
***
The place they arrived at was the basement of an ancient ruin. When Felix pressed the hidden button, a staircase leading to the basement was revealed.
Gremory, who had transformed into a human form, followed Felix down the stairs. The smell of dirt and stone dust filled the air.
Felix stepped forward and warned Gremory.
"Oppencia is very fragile and sensitive, so you should only look at it from a distance."
"I know, so show me around."
That's how Felix led her to the room where Oppensia was. To be precise, to the place where Oppensia's doll was.
Felix whispered into the doll of Oppensia.
"Oppencia, a guest has arrived. Isn't it very nice?"
The doll of Oppensia slowly opened its eyes. And the doll thread, which was only visible to Gremory's eyes, moved.
Gremory moved her gaze along the doll's thread. The thread extended to the back of her back, and at the end was a devil's finger.
The gray-skinned demon who was controlling the doll chuckled.
"Hello? It's our sphere, right?"
Gremory was quite surprised. She didn't notice the existence of the demon standing right behind her, who was excellent at sensing.
"Is it a high-level demon whose specialty is stealth? I admit your ability, but I don't know you."
"There is no witch in the demon world who doesn't know me."
"I don't know. Anyway, what are you doing now? Are you torturing hope in naive people? He's completely crazy right now."
The devil smiled leisurely and cast a spell to block out the sounds around him.
"Uh-huh, aren't we the ones who torture innocent humans with hope and extort their souls? Why are you feverish?"
"'We'? I hope you don't put me in 'us' as you please."
"Why do you have such a face, Gremory? Of course, this is our job! Pull out the disgusting side of humans and eat them!"
"What are you talking about? I don't want that. I..."
"Weak sound. You should be like the best witch you can be. No matter how much you have to live in hiding, aren't you living too quietly? Moreover, you make black magic stones for humans. Wow, it's disgusting."
Gremory's eyes flickered. Yes, that's exactly what ordinary demons and witches look like. To fill their stomachs with human suffering, build strength, and prolong their lives.
But she was different. She didn't want to ruin a person terribly like that.
She didn't want to be in the same category as those terrible things and be ostracized by humans.
"I'm different from you. Don't put me in the disgusting category."
"What? You're already like us. And you have an obvious reason why you can't get along with humans, right?"
"What are you talking about?"
"You have a history of spreading plague in the human world. I heard that the number of deaths was enormous. Whoa, you have done such a terrible thing to humans, and you are making black magic stones for humans! It's so funny! How will humans react when they know your reality?"
The demon persistently examined Gremory's expression. When Gremory's expression was not good, the demon giggled contentedly.
"You will definitely meet the worst end. You will be hated in both the demon world and the human world. There is no place in the world where you can stay comfortable."
"Be quiet, the plague wasn't spread because I wanted to. They are all witches...!"
"Anyway, in the end, you indeed spread it, right?"
"Shut up."
Chains appeared in Gremory's hands. It was a chain connected to the restraints around Oppensia's neck. When she pulled it, the chain was dragged in with a clattering sound.
After a while, a very angry Oppensia appeared.
"Oh, Gremory! What if I pull it into the deadlock like this? I thought I was going to lose my throat... Felix?"
"Oppencia!"
The real Oppensia and Felix's eyes met.
As soon as Oppensia saw him, she slapped him in the face.
"Dare! How dare you poison me? How I loved you! How I believed it! Do you know how betrayed I feel?"
"What? Why are you fine... Anyway, sorry! In fact, when you woke up, I was going to go out with you right away! I'm sorry I couldn't explain everything at that time! Please believe me!"
While Felix was spitting on Oppensia.
The devil's pupils glowed brightly.
"What is this, Gremory? There is a moral relationship between demons, so why did you touch other people's prey?"
"Who is talking about being like that?"
"I won't stay still like this. Never. As you know, I always take revenge."
There was a crackling sound. It was a contract between the demon and Felix. Since Oppensia was alive in the first place, there was no contract to bring her back to life.
The demon, who had no more contracts left, thought about whether to return to the demon world or stay in the human world for longer, and smiled sinisterly at Gremory.
"I'll see you again. My name is Marvas."
"I don't remember."
Gremory raised her middle finger and leisurely walked out of the ruins. Inside the ruins, all she could hear was the sound of Oppensia and Felix crying and fighting.
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