Free Web NovelThe special sacrifice chamber was hidden away in a remote corner of the settlement.
Though calling it a sacrifice chamber was generous.
In reality, it was little more than an ordinary prison.
The dwarf guards passed through the entrance watched over by a jailer and shoved Ian’s group inside. Iron-barred cells lined the interior, and the guards quickly chained everyone up.
One of the dwarves pulled a whip from his belt.
Unlike the crude improvised whip Keith used, this one was a proper whip—long, flexible, and clearly made for punishment.
Keith’s whip probably hit harder due to its weight, but this one looked satisfying in an entirely different way. It had the kind of sharp snap that made every strike sound vicious.
Sure enough—
CRACK!
The whip split the air and slammed against the floor with a crisp, ringing crack that echoed through the prison.
Why Ian was mentally comparing whip quality in the first place was another matter entirely.
“Hey. Be careful with them. They’re valuable sacrifices.”
“As long as I don’t leave marks where it shows, right? I didn’t like this bastard from the beginning anyway.”
The guard swung the whip toward Keith.
The leather lashed through the air like a striking serpent.
“Keith.”
“Yes.”
SNAP.
Keith slipped free of his restraints and casually caught the whip in one hand.
“What—?”
The guards failed to process what had happened.
Before they could react, Keith yanked hard, ripping the whip from the guard’s hands.
Then, having claimed the weapon for himself, he struck back.
CRACK!
CRACK!
One blow each was enough.
The sturdy dwarf guards collapsed unconscious immediately.
‘Does he secretly have some kind of ‘Whip Mastery’ skill?’
Ian found himself wondering.
Keith handled the weapon with disturbing proficiency.
Though, admittedly, he also happened to spend the most time on the receiving end of it.
Louise searched through the guards’ belongings and found the cell keys.
“Should we escape now? Or wake them up first and question them?”
“Let’s question them.”
Ian already felt like he understood most of the situation, but confirmation never hurt. freewebnσvel.cѳm
Louise immediately crouched beside one of the unconscious dwarves.
SLAP! SLAP!
“Ow! W-Who are you people?!”
“Quiet. Just answer the questions.”
Louise flipped the dwarf onto his stomach and pinned him down. Pressed flat against the ground, the dwarf could only squirm helplessly.
Sitting on his back, Louise pressed the tip of an arrow against his throat.
The cold metal instantly drained the color from the dwarf’s face.
“Don’t scream. I’ll shoot.”
“H-How... how did you...?!”
The dwarf glanced around frantically at Ian’s party.
Everyone still appeared properly restrained.
Their arms had been tied too, so how had they managed to overpower the guards so easily?
Ian had no interest in explaining.
“What’s a special sacrifice? What are you using it for?”
“I-I can’t tell you that— GAH!”
THUD!
Louise stomped on the side of the dwarf’s head while remaining seated on top of him.
‘How did she get this vicious?’
Ian genuinely wondered who had corrupted the once polite and loyal Louise.
This was exactly why children shouldn’t grow up watching adults too closely.
‘Ah. It’s Lord Ian.’
Sema watched Louise with admiration.
As a fellow archer, he found her imitation of Ian remarkably accurate.
“Answer properly. If you won’t speak, someone else will.”
Louise’s voice turned ice-cold.
The arrow pressing against his throat made the dwarf break almost instantly.
“T-The Devotees...! It’s for the Devotees’ ritual! You were chosen as sacrifices to be offered to the gods... T-That’s an honor...”
“‘Devotees’? Who are they?”
Louise glanced back toward Ian.
Keith answered instead.
“Devil Worshippers.”
His expression twisted with disgust.
“They massacre countless people to borrow the power of demons. Lord Ian, your suspicions were correct. They truly are Devil Worshippers. This entire village is heretical.”
The dwarf immediately sensed the murderous shift in atmosphere.
“N-No! I’m not a Devotee! I only follow orders! I’m not directly involved!”
“How are you ‘not involved’ when you’re helping them?”
Ian stared at him in disbelief.
“Whether you’re a Devil Worshipper or just one of their followers, what difference does it make? If they’re sacrificing elves, that explains everything.”
He spoke as though finally connecting the pieces from Genea’s route.
“But demons really grant power in exchange for sacrifices? I heard necromancers offer living or dead sacrifices to obtain ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) forbidden magic. How is this different from that?”
Sema asked curiously.
“Necromancers use sacrifices as substitutes for spells they themselves cannot perform. Devil Worshippers are different. They’re trying to summon actual demons into this world. ...But why don’t you know that? Aren’t you supposed to be a wizard?”
“My master always said, ‘Stop asking stupid questions and clean up first’...! Not because he was a bad person, but because he was busy!”
Sema hurriedly blurted out excuses nobody had asked for.
‘Why are you defending him?’
From Ian’s perspective, it sounded less like a defense and more like an admission that Sema’s master had never properly taught his disciple anything.
Ian had already concluded long ago that the master who dumped Sema into the ‘Ian starter party’ was incompetent.
At this point, even Sema’s terrible magical skills might genuinely be the man’s fault.
...Probably not, but still.
“Whatever. The important thing is that these people have been trying to summon demons for a long time.”
“No! Summoning demons?! We hate demons!”
The dwarf looked genuinely horrified.
“You prepare sacrifices for Devil Worshippers and yet you’re not trying to summon demons?”
Keith slowly drew his sword.
SHING.
“It’s a lie, Lord Ian. He’s trying to exploit your compassion and cloud your judgment. Allow me to cut his throat before he pollutes your ears further.”
“Put the sword away. Then what exactly are they gathering sacrifices for?”
Ian’s interest sharpened.
In Genea’s route, the Devil Worshippers absolutely had used sacrifices to summon demons.
Yet this dwarf’s reaction seemed sincere.
‘Demon,’ within the world of the game, referred specifically to the supreme demons who had taken the Seven Deadly Sins as their names.
They were entities so overwhelmingly powerful that they could not fully manifest their true strength within the mortal realm, yet still ruled over all lesser demons.
Most races simply used ‘demon’ as a blanket term for any especially powerful demonic being.
But the Devil Worshippers understood the distinction.
They sought to summon true demons—the genuine rulers.
Fitzmoff, one of the Devil Worshippers from Genea’s route, had especially desired to summon the Demon of Wrath.
The dwarf hesitated, as though wrestling with whether he should reveal the secret.
The arrow pressing deeper into his throat helped him decide.
“W-We...!” frёeweɓηovel.coɱ
He swallowed hard.
“We want to become demons ourselves!”
Silence fell.
SHIIING.
Keith drew his sword the rest of the way.
“To willingly seek transformation into creatures of evil... irredeemable heretics.”
His gaze was glacial.
“Simply breathing the same air as you is offensive. I’ll make this quick.”
“No, would you stop trying to kill him every five seconds?”
“Lord Ian, heretics multiply like vermin. If spared, they spread endlessly. The only proper solution is to eradicate them at the root.”
“So why does he believe something this ridiculous? If we kill them all, does that magically erase the root of the problem?”
“...Wouldn’t it?”
Keith looked genuinely confused.
‘Damn it.’
Arguing with fanatics was exhausting.
Ian immediately turned back toward the dwarf.
“Stop talking nonsense. How could a human become a demon? Who would believe garbage like that?”
“He’s clearly pretending ignorance to survive. Lord Ian is too merciful toward idiots.”
Louise added coldly.
‘Was that aimed at Sema?’
Ian was beginning to wonder what exactly the dungeon had done to Louise’s personality.
And more importantly—
Was it really safe to raise Momisia in that environment?
“N-No, I’m telling the truth! I saw it myself! Our boss is living proof! He used the power of a real demon!”
“The power of a demon? You mean he manipulated magical energy?”
Keith asked sharply.
“Yes! It’s true! Only a demon could possess that kind of monstrous strength! When he punched, an entire hill collapsed!”
The dwarf waved his arms frantically.
“He can do that too.”
Ian casually pointed at Keith.
“That’s absur— Hah...”
The dwarf laughed mockingly at first.
Then slowly stopped.
Because nobody around him looked like they were joking.
“...Could he really possess demonic power too?”
THUNK!
Keith’s sword slammed down, pinning the dwarf’s hat to the floor.
With the top of his head suddenly exposed, the dwarf instantly fell silent.
“That sounds exactly like the effect of some enhancement item. Your boss covered in jewelry—those all came from the Devil Worshippers, didn’t they?”
“R-Right... Wait...”
The realization finally hit him.
“...Seriously?”
The dwarf’s mouth slowly fell open as the truth dawned on him.
