“I am close.”

Just a few more hundreds of metres, and I will arrive at my destination. The clouds above me are breezing towards the area I am heading to, the graveyard.

I asked the shopkeeper and pedestrians about this graveyard, so I knew where to go.

Of course, it's the people in the Central district that appear to be resistant against the ‘Rebellion’ Irregular that I asked around.

“A graveyard in the middle of the City, a representative lawyer bailing Jacob out but didn’t hide where they actually come from, and the sudden appearance of the Irregular that shouldn’t no longer exist.”

It’s a blatant trap. The trap was specifically designed for Kunti, and I am on the verge of falling into it. Willingly.

“They didn’t anticipate someone else going there.”

It confused me a bit though, If they knew about Kunti's brother, then they should have known her house location. Why bother with Jacob when they can just go to Kunti's house?

Not enough information.

Then why am I going there? To the trap.

Despite lacking the tools or strength to protect myself from the trap,

I look at the item in my hand, the Camera.

Well, except for my Trump card.

Additionally, since I am heading to the graveyard, there should be plenty of corpses nearby. Some of which are also relatively fresh, considering what happened at that Castle.

“In that garden, there should still be some hidden corpses. Why didn’t the Castle servant and knight dispose of them? Or maybe it's not a corpse?"

Given that the scent I'm sensing in the garden is blood, I'm confident it's accurate. Anyway, I decided not to look for those corpses and didn't use them as an offering to the Grimoire of Desire.

Too risky. There are so many people watching, and I don't know how many powerful people are in that Castle.

I don't know the number of cor-

“Where are you going?”

A young female voice is ringing beside me. It was a voice that I had heard a few days ago. When I turned my head to the side, I saw reddish pink hair.

She is the Duchess of Valoy. Her red cloak, nearly identical to mine, conceals her clothes as she stands in an alley, hidden from most people in the shadows.

Her eyes glow in the dark, as if they were dancing fire.

Seeing her alone and non-hostile, I relaxed my grip on the Camera.

“Your grace, Duche-”

“Call me by my name. Do you still remember it, ‘Vaan’?”

She highlighted my alias name as if she knew it was a fake one. How could she have known that my name was a fake?

The only ones to whom I have told my real name in this world are either Kunti, Jacob… And the old man to whom I sold my candies and perfume.

The old man's shop had closed, possibly due to his death. She also had a subordinate stationed in front of the door.

“Anna, were you responsible for the old man Yarn shop mess? Did he die?”

“You remember my name! And who is the old man Yarn? Who was he? Oh, you're referring to that slightly stubborn man, correct? Then yes. Do you have a problem with that?”

He truly died, huh? Considering the old man's connection with the Wild Boys, it's not surprising that Anna's forces, who are at war with them, kill him.

“No, I just wanted to confirm things. Ah, I am going to the graveyard, someone I know may get kidnapped at that place.”

I saw Anna sigh in relief. Relief? Why?

"So, you aren't one of them. Then follow me, we can’t stay here for long as some of them passed by here.”

Anna gestured for me to follow her to a mansion located near the road and graveyard.

I followed her because I am curious and hopeful. Did she come here because of the graveyard?

While we were en route to the mansion, Anna unexpectedly inquired.

“Do you have any candies?”

Why is she asking that?

Indeed, given her involvement in Yarn's death, she ought to have been aware of the unique candy I sell at that location. According to Jacob, it's a rare candy that only high nobles would like to eat.

The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

I still remember both Jacob and old man Yarn misinterpreting me because of the candy and the perfume.

“I have some…”

“Give it to me, and I will take it as payment for helping you to escape that bitch, Susan.”

That’s… Well, I kind of forgot about that for a moment.

“Speaking of that, why aren’t you hostile to me? I was sure you saw me with Demon power that night.”

“I wanted to, but according to the Saintess that’s a Demon item. I don’t care much about Demon Items, unless they're dangerous, of course. The Saintess assured me you can be trusted with the Demon item.”

The Saintess… Didn't she vanish into the sea? Have they found her and worked with Anna for some time?

Most importantly, how did she know it was a Demon item? I am sure there were only six people left that night before I went unconscious.

Me, Kunti, Anna and her Twin Knights, and lastly, Susan Gremory.

Anna is evidently listening to the Saintess, it looks and sounds like the Duchess of Valoy works under the Saintess.

“And I am actually still suspicious of you, mostly due to the fact that you tell me an alias name.”

“I am sorry, it's kind of a habit from my line of work.”

We had entered the mansion's front yard, and she stopped at the main door. She turned around to face me with her hand out.

“That’s a bad habit, and aren’t you a librarian? Anyways, where are my candies?!”

I complied with her request, giving her a candy pouch. The last one Aite had given me. I am not in the mood to eat candy, so I am not that bothered by the loss.

“Thank you for helping me, I will give you more when I receive another batch of those homemade candies.”

“They are homemade? Be sure to introduce whoever cooks them to me someday if we meet.”

I should tell Aite that I gave away some of her candy in exchange for my life. I hope she forgives me for that when she hears the reason.

As for the sour candies that I sold to old man Yarn… It should be fine.

I have a feeling the sour candies are her protesting for my mistake in entering that Pocket Dimension recklessly.

“Just a reminder, they are very sweet, unlike the previous sour candies. Can I ask a question?”

I watched Anna immediately open the pouch and eat one. Her other hand then held the door's handle.

“It's fine, I love all candies equally. What are you going to ask?”

“From the sound of what you said previously, it seems Susan Gremory is still alive.”

She opened the door and said,

"Yes, She narrowly escaped, leaving only a sliver of life clinging to her decaying body. She now finds herself trapped in that graveyard."

~~~~~

He can feel his right arm tingling with pain. It's been days since he and his brother, Danny faced Susan Gremory. Fighting the little sister of the clan head Gremory was intense.

For more than twenty years, the wife of the Demon King himself, known as the head of the Gremory clan, has been missing.

The Demon race clan head system can only be changed if the old one has died. Otherwise, a self-proclaimed clan head won’t be able to control the demon clan as easily as an official clan head wants.

The Demon King did not approve Susan's designation as the new Gremory clan head. This led to conjectures that either the Gremory clan head remains alive or the Demon King harbours such deep affection for her that he desires to perpetuate her existence.

Although all of those theories are meaningless now with Susan coming to the Heart City and trying to reclaim the title that was once held by the Gremory clan head, Ghost of the Heart City.

“How is your stomach?”

He glanced at his own brother, who had sustained more severe injuries than him, including having his arm ripped apart. Daniel gave a quick glance at his own newly regenerated arm.

Daniel still recalls the day he lost his bearing due to the loss of his arm. When he is defenceless, his brother move to protect him.

Danny had to block a large pillar of flesh to prevent his brother from dying, leading to a hole in his stomach.

It’s a mistake on our part, we thought we had it in the bag as Susan lost all of her fuel of power, blood and flesh due to fire.

Who would have thought she wouldn’t hesitate to use her own limbs and body to escape?

Danny would have died from blood loss if not for the Saintess to be watching us, since who knows how long and heal him back completely with just one spell.

“I am fine, it's a bit weird when I am eating though.”

It’s not our first time getting such injuries, but that time was different. The Saintess revealed that Susan had inflicted some curses. Now, all curses have vanished, leaving only minor side effects.

“We are able to eliminate Susan that day, but we didn’t. Why are the Saintess so stubborn to hide herself?”

If she move, we won’t need to fight all night long. We didn’t even need to fight at all.

“Because we are hunting other clan heads and not Susan. If the Saintess appears to help us fight that night, who knows whether Alloces will run away in fear or immediately erupted all his secret plan into the kingdom after detecting her holy aura in the city.”

He is right. Alloces, the Demon clan head they are hunting, is somewhere in the city.

“I just can’t believe the Saintess will hide the fact that most of the nobles here would be under Alloces sche-”

We halted our conversation as someone opened the door to our room.

Our Lady entered with a pouch in hand. From her bulging mouth, it seemed a candy.

Where did she get it? He is a bit confused as there are no candies in the mansion since he personally confiscated all of them to reduce his Lady sugar intake.

Then Daniel saw the person behind her.

Oh, it's that guy. He finally woke up after two days of sleeping. Daniel knew they would meet again since the Saintess seemed to be eerily stalking the man non-stop.

His Lady must have been extorted the candies from him. What a glutton.

Daniel carefully inspects the man named Rivan, a name that was told by the Saintess. He doesn’t appear to be a Demon, both in race and class. In fact, Daniel instinctively feels that the man class didn’t exist in the first place.

Either way, what the Saintess once again said is true. He is using a Demon item to change into that slime-like state.

He listens to his brother speak.

“Why are you here?”

The one who answered wasn’t the man, but our Lady Anna.

“Apparently he must rescue someone in that graveyard.”

The man continued his Lady sentence.

“I am searching for a boy named Jacob. Someone appears to have taken him to the graveyard, setting up a trap for his sister to rescue him. I can't allow his sister to discover the situation and fall into the trap."

Jacob's sister should be the woman who tends to the man while he sleeps. She is the current Ghost of the city, right? We can't get Susan to get to that woman.

“That’s why we should move now.”

Hearing the words from both his Lady and the man, Daniel can’t help but ask.

“What about the plan? We didn’t have enough power to handle two Demon clan heads, although one of them is heavily injured.”

“It will proceed as planned, we are just going to get in and out for the boy. They already know we are watching them anyway.”

"Regarding power, Rivan, could you elaborate on that Demon item you mentioned in the stairs?"

We looked at Rivan as he opened his mouth. His hand reaches for his bag, as if he wants to bring something out.

“My Demon item can grant me power in exchange for corpses, and the more corpses there are, the stronger I could be. Corpses are abundant in the graveyard, but should I really use them?”

“Like I told you before, you can use the newly arrived corpses because the Saintess has arranged only corpses from the Castle can be assigned to that graveyard…?”

His Lady paused her speech as we all gazed at the book that Rivan had brought out.

Daniel had a singular thought upon seeing that book.

It seems the Saintess had planned for Rivan to help us from the start.