Night falls on Latesia.
　Shrouded in the darkness of night, the steppe region sprawling across the Peterland.
　Among them, only the holy city of Schmerz, surrounded by the pure white Great Sacred Gate, was shining white.

　Under the moon that gleamingly illuminated the earth - a large mansion that rose in the "Holy Light District".
　In that one room, a beastly charming voice resounded.
　The scream, which resounded fiercely, gradually became high-pitched and eventually broke off with a pout.

''...... tch.''

　A man snaps his fingers to distract himself from the frustration in that room, where the sweet scent of the brain's prodigal scent is in the air.
　A number of sub-human women were lying unconscious at his feet, and the man put his foot roughly on one of them.
　The man scratched his head, which was covered in short, cropped yellow-green hair, and let out a gasp.

　What had gone as he had hoped was frustrated by an unexpected spear.
　The two men who were running the orphanage - George and Lily - still had a lot of work to do.

'Fools,'

　The man - Marcus Pietro Sandalphon - muttered this in a low voice as he stepped over the head of the woman at his feet.

　Originally, I was prepared to just rub it out if the existence of the orphanage was exposed.
　He wouldn't be able to find out that George and the others and himself were involved by scavenging the basement of the orphanage.
　I set out to investigate the orphanage myself, just in case, but there was no evidence left that I was involved.

　That's fine.
　The question was what happened to those two.
　There were faint traces of battle in the basement.

　Markus suspects that they were attacked and killed by someone.
　Then who killed the two men?
　Marx still hasn't been able to get hold of that vital piece of information.
　Even though he is using the Knights of the Holy Hall to investigate publicly and is also gathering information behind the scenes using his subordinates.

　That's what irritates Marx.

''Ah ...... ah.''

　Suddenly, the woman at her feet let out a small moan.
　It was a werewolf species, a werewolf species that had been kidnapped a few months ago.
　Its long and beautiful limbs were etched with countless scars that made me want to cover my eyes.
　The light was already gone from those eyes that were shining like jewels.

''Shut up ....... Did you say I could open my mouth?

　Marx's kick plunges into the abdomen of the werewolf-species woman.
　Her eyes are open, but she is unconscious and doesn't even pretend to feel pain.
　That's a good thing, as Marx kicks the woman over and over again.

"React to something. 'Yes?　Boring, try to entertain me.
Ka, is ......

　Just in time.
　Marx's thick fingers tightened around the woman's neck.
　The white skin became increasingly congested, and that's when the woman bubbled and tried to peel the whites of her eyes away.

'Mr. Marx,'

　The door was opened and a man entered.
　He is a member of the Order of the Holy Hall, and is a subordinate of Markus.

''Don't interfere when people are having fun!　As Master Melt said!　Respect your superiors!　Are you so high and mighty that you can stand in my way?　Oh!?

　Throwing the ashtray in hand to his subordinate, Marx yelled at him.
　'Excuse me, sir,' the man screamed, and left the room in a hurry.

'I'm going to eat you ......, you incompetent.

　Spitting that out, Marx removed his hand from the woman's neck.
　His subordinates have made him lose his entertainment.
　With a glance at the women of the werewolf species lying around, Marx squints uncomfortably.

'You ugly beasts.'

　It was when Marcus stopped the demonic incense that was driving the werewolf species crazy and settled down in a big chair.

''- You seem to be doing pretty much whatever you want, don't you?

　A hoarse man's voice echoed in that room, which was supposed to be empty except for Marx.

'......!　Who are you? Where are you?

　Marcus rises from his chair and looks around the room, but the voice is nowhere to be found.
　The voice lets out a low, clucking laugh in front of an increasingly wary Marcus.

'...... show yourself. Unless you want to be killed.'

　Towards the presence of the unidentified opponent, Marcus unleashed a strong intimidation.
　It wasn't that of a refined knight that he unleashed, but the pressure of a greedy beast devouring its prey.
　In response, the owner of the voice revealed himself.

'......!'

　The only light that illuminates Marx's private room in the darkness of night is the moonlight streaming in through the window.
　No light reaches the room, and there is a part of the room covered in darkness.
　From there, as if the darkness had taken shape, a man emerged.

''Oh, scary, scary!''

　Dull red hair and dull red eyes.
　A man in his fifties or so, with a disgusting smile that reminded him of a wolf.
　The face, and the jet-black robe that surrounded his body, Marcus recognized it.

'You're Leuzas Gilburn ......?'

　The sorcerer of the kingdom who, just two months ago, defeated the Earth Magus and defeated the Abyssal Labyrinth.
　"The man who is awe-inspiring by the two names of the 'Great Magician' was standing in front of Marcus.

...... How did you get to this room?
I go in like any other. We just try not to bother you, all right?

　The building was guarded by Marx's men and also by several traps against intruders.
　Beyond that, Marx increased his vigilance on Liuzas, who said 'normally'.

Hey, hey, don't look so scared. We're all on the same side, okay?　They killed Amatsu, one of them.
...... did you come all the way up here to say that?
No way. It's not like we're celebrating the 30th anniversary of killing Amatsu, is it?

　Marcus' eyes sharpened at Liuzas' antics.
　It's a good thing that you've got a great deal of experience in this field.
　In order to teach him this, Marcus unleashed a part of his power.

''Don't lick me too much, Lord Liuzas. This isn't the same as when I was a hauler in the Fourth Squadron.''
...... Looks like it. You've got some interesting stuff.

　Seeing this, Liuzas gently stroked his bandage-wrapped right arm.

''Well, let's get down to business, shall we?
...... and the subject at hand?
Don't you want to know who killed George and Lily?
............!

　He squinted his eyes, which shone with a sticky, dull light, and smiled like a fierce animal.
　Liuzas tells us.

'I killed those guys: ----


You're not going to be able to do that.

Phew. That's refreshing.

　Night.

　Elfie, who had gone to the bath, returned to his room with a satisfied look on his face.
　As the inn in the Holy City (a good place), it's well-equipped.
　That's why the lodging fees are quite pricey, but there's no problem because there's plenty of money to spare.

　Elfie muttered that it was hot and took off his clothes as a matter of course.
　Turning away from her exposed nudity.

"Hm.

　Elfie, sitting in a chair, went over to me with his eyes, telling me to come over here.
　I knew what this guy was thinking, even though I didn't want to.
　'Dry your wet hair,' he said.

"Get dressed anyway, clothes. I'm wearing light clothes.
Yeah.
I won't let it dry.
'Mmm. ....... You selfish bastard.

　This guy .......
　After making sure that Elfie was dressed, I went around to Elfie's back.

　Elfie's silver hair was shiny and shiny from the water.
　I popped the cloth I'd bought at the Empire earlier against Elfie's hair.
　Holding it down, I used the cloth to remove the moisture from her hair.

'Mmm. Good work, as usual.
Yeah, sure.

　Once the water air is removed, I now use magic.
　He used flame magic and wind magic at the same time to create hot air and apply it from a little distance away.
　Then he put his fingers in the root of his hair with one hand and adjusted it so that the hot air could reach the back of his hair.

　Using hot air as a hairdryer was a technique he had developed during his travels in his heroic days.
　"I remember being told that there was originally a magic called 'hot air' (burning blast), but using it to dry my hair was revolutionary."

　--I think I might like having Amatsu-san dry my hair for me.

　...... I once dried that woman's hair, too.

'Hmm. Iori, what's wrong?
...... No. Isn't it hot?
Hmm, no problem. You may continue.

　...... As great as ever.
　How many times have I dried Elfi's hair this way already?

　Was it in the middle of leaving the Empire and heading to the Church State?
''It's a pain in the ass to do it myself!　But if I don't, my beautiful hair will be mussed up!　Do it Iori! He asked me disgustingly, and I had no choice but to dry off.

'Huh. You may bite the honor of drying my hair.
............
Hot?
Huh. ......
Iori hot!　It's hot!

　After a few minutes, I finally finished drying it off.
　Every time, it takes quite a while.
　It would be a little easier to dry them if I could just give them a quick chop.

　As I was thinking about that.

"Ei.
"Ugh.

　From behind, Elfi snapped my hair out of my head.

'...... What the hell are you doing?'
No, I'm just curious.

　Look, said Elfie, showing me the hair she had pulled out.
　It wasn't grey hair ...... between her fingers, but grey hair.

'I've got a couple of other strands,'

　While you're looking at your hair, Elfie pulls his hair out in a series of buzzes.
　Stop it, you're pulling out your regular hair too.

...... gray, huh?

　That's the color of my hair when I was an Amatsu.
　Due to the influence of the huge amount of magical power in my body, my hair changed color and became that color.

　The reason why my hair is gray now is probably due to the influence of 【Hero Reenactment (The Wraith)】.
　Although it's only for a short while, it's no wonder that I'm using the same amount of magical power as I once did.
　If I use it too much, my hair might turn all gray.

　Well, I'm still not clear on the conditions for activating it before I use it too much.
　I was able to use it easily in the fights against Ryuzas and Olga, but it doesn't work well at other times.
　I wonder if it only activates against opponents that I can't beat with a bare me.
　I'll need to verify that ...... is a difficult one.
　I'd like to somehow keep the activation conditions in check.

　...... Now it's more than that.

'Huh, kuhuhuhu.'

　He got so excited pulling them out in the middle of the show that he started pulling other hairs out too.

Stop it.
Aha!

　I put a chop in and stopped Elfie from pulling out his hair.

'Ugh. ...... Now I remember, those homunculi were made out of Iori's hair or something, right?

　You mean Olga and him.

Yeah. It looks like they also used other magic patterns like claws and skin, though.
'I can't believe they can make a homunculus out of it: ....... What if they made my homunculus too: ......

　I heard he was using lost magic, so it's not something that can be created easily.
　As for my homunculus, I've erased all the data, so it shouldn't be possible to create another one.

You're not going to have a similar body?

　Elfi's torso is a fake, made of magic.
　The real one is sealed somewhere in the remaining labyrinth.
　It would be quite a skill to recreate the lost body with magic power.

That's a whole different story. Unlike the homunculus, the altered body can be controlled by its own will. This is the magic of the demon race. It requires an enormous amount of magical power and a very precise skill at manipulating magical power.
I see. Can other demons use it too?
'No, Ortegia and I were the only ones in the Demon King's Castle who could use it.

　Well, I guess so.
　If this kind of magic is easily used, it's not just a nuisance.

''You were able to use ...... Ortegia too?

　I fought that guy once, but he couldn't do enough damage to cause me to lose my body.
　Considering that even if you take the trouble to lose a limb, it will regenerate, this magic is really nasty .......

It's a very good thing that you can't get away with it. It's very kangaroo, but that guy was better at using it than I was. Well, this one can only grow its own body. I don't think it has anything to do with this case.
...... Right.

　Let's leave Ortegia out of it.
　All we have to think about now is the next person to take revenge on.

　--Marcus Pietro Sandalphon.

　Knight of the Holy Hall, Captain of the Second Squadron.
　Until a few years ago, he was the second captain of the second squadron, but after the death of the previous captain, he was promoted and rose to his current position.
　He is a skilled captain who fights using both swordsmanship and sorcery.
　He also has the ability to lead, and has a number of subordinates in Squad 2 who adore him.
　He usually resides in the Second Squad's dormitory in the "Holy Light District".
　He also has a residence in the "Holy Light District" and his men seem to frequent his residence.
　He is also known to be a follower of the anti-Ajin group Mert.

　That's all the information I found out after the incident at the orphanage.
　I haven't been able to connect with Lily and the others yet, but I'm sure it was related to Michelle's words.
　It's unlikely we'll be able to get any more information, and it's probably time to sneak into the quarters and mansion.

　I want to carefully research the information on the target of my revenge, if possible.
　It's possible that they're hiding something troublesome like Lily and the others.
　Plus, it will help us think of a way to get revenge on the guy that deserves it.

　Good.
　Tomorrow we'll begin our investigation of Marx's neighborhood.
　I can't stand the idea of a traitor living in peace for even one day longer.

　I decided that, and it was soon enough.

'......!'
!

　With a bang, there was a knock on the door.
　There's only one sign of life outside the door.
　But we can't let our guard down.
　Because it's possible that the numbed selectors have attacked us.

'...... Elfi.'
Yeah.

　Be prepared to fight at any time.

...... who is this?
I'm sorry to bother you this evening. I just want to have a word with you.
............?

　What I heard was a young man's voice.
　It also sounded familiar from somewhere else.

　Slowly, he opens the door and sees a man standing there with a hood over his eyes.
　The man checks his surroundings and slowly removes his hood.
　What was there was a man's face that he hadn't expected to see.

　Short indigo hair that had been groomed.
　The man with the sharp eyes was familiar.

'...... You're Leo William Disfrender?'

　Knights of the Saint's Hall, second vice-captain of the second unit.
　There was a subordinate who was the target of his revenge.