The Northern Grand Duke’s Crazy Son-in-Law

35. Sinister

‘Oh no-.’

The demon, whose neck had been stretched out, collapsed, and its blood splattered everywhere.

Gilbert hurriedly raised his aura and blocked the blood.

The armor that the blood touched was rapidly corroded. Holes were punched here and there in the armor.

‘I’m going to get an earful from Tom.’

Gilbert cursed under his breath and assessed the situation.

The person he had been talking to and thinking was Galahad until just now was a demon.

The demon, whose identity had been revealed by Adrianna, pulled out its head and sprayed blood. If he hadn’t reacted quickly, he would have suffered major damage.

It was at least an upper-level demon, as it was able to deceive both Gilbert and the knights.

‘Why is there an upper-level demon at the entrance-?’

The higher the rank of the demon, the harder it was to encounter them. This was because they tended not to leave the depths of the Demon Realm. Upper-level demons were not opponents you would normally encounter at the entrance to the Demon Realm.

However, an upper-level demon appeared as soon as they entered. Furthermore, it was a spiritual demon, which was said to be the most troublesome-.

‘It even aimed for the captain.’

What was even more incomprehensible was that the demon had targeted Galahad, not Adrianna.

Demons always targeted Adrianna.

That was why Adrianna always took the lead.

This was the first time a demon had not targeted Adrianna.

“It was aiming for Captain Galahad.”

“Ah-.”

Adrianna’s usually expressionless face crumpled up. The cracks grew larger and larger.

‘This is dangerous-.’

The smoke that had receded once again enveloped them. The thick smoke was so dense that they couldn’t see an inch in front of them. It was even painful to breathe in the smoke.

Yes, this was the Demon Realm. Thanks to Galahad, they had forgotten the terrible and horrific feeling that gawed at them.

Adrianna raised a white aura all over her body. The aura extended out like wings, clearing away the surrounding smoke.

It was a range of about three steps. It was still great, but it felt small, perhaps because of Galahad.

“Lady Adrianna, you need to calm down.”

“······.”

Adrianna bit her lip in guilt. Her lips burst open and red blood flowed out, indicating how hard she was biting.

“Look for traces.”

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Adrianna, who gave the order, raised her aura even more. Her body trembled. It was clear that she was overdoing it.

“You’re too excited right now. Our captain is not someone who can be easily defeated.”

Gilbert said, trying to suppress his anxiety.

“It didn’t kill the captain, it took him away. It must have had other intentions.”

“······Other intentions?”

Gilbert scratched his head at Adrianna’s question.

“There’s something here!”

A knight shouted. As he turned his head, some of the ashes scattered on the ground were slightly clumped together.

Gilbert bent down to confirm. It seemed like the blood of a demon had been dropped.

“It seems like the blood of a demon was spilled. It’s Captain Galahad.”

He used such a method against a high-ranking demon. As expected, he wasn’t a man to be easily defeated.

“We will pursue him immediately. Follow me.”

Adrianna swung her aura, which was filled with white light, roughly. White lines filled the space.

The smoke that was approaching was scattered. It was a ridiculous display of power. The trail that continued below it could be seen.

Adrianna ran without looking back.

Gilbert followed right behind her, his aura fully drawn, and the other knights followed behind him.

At that moment, a monster popped out from between the smoke. Adrianna swung her sword without hesitation.

The giant monster was scattered without even being able to scream.

Even while taking care of the monster, Adrianna’s steps didn’t stop.

‘What kind of guy is he to cause such a fuss?’

Gilbert muttered quietly at the sight of Adrianna, who seemed angry.

However, Gilbert was just as anxious.

Galahad or not, this was the Demon Realm. He had even been kidnapped by a high-ranking demon.

It was definitely dangerous.

‘Just hold on a little longer. I’m coming now.’

Gilbert raised his aura even more.

How long had they been running?

“The bloodstains have stopped.”

The trail had been cut off.

He must have used up all the blood in the flask.

“Wait a moment!”

Gilbert hurriedly grabbed Adrianna, who was about to move.

Adrianna looked back at Gilbert. Her eyes were quite agitated. For her to react to this extent. Gilbert swallowed his saliva and opened his mouth.

“If he’s the captain, he’ll definitely send a signal.”

“······The opponent is a high-ranking demon. Even if it’s the mental world, it’s dangerous even for Captain Galahad.”

Adrianna’s answer was reasonable.

However, Gilbert somehow didn’t think Galahad would just be defeated.

“The captain will definitely give a signal.”

Gilbert said, looking into Adrianna’s eyes.

****

“Do you have something to drink?”

The demon’s eyes widened at the sudden request.

“Something to drink?”

“There’s so much dust here, my throat is parched. Do you have something to drink?”

Galahad naturally checked the flask on his waist.

It was completely empty. As soon as he realized something was wrong, it was a flask with a hole in it. When he calculated the amount inside and the size of the hole.

‘We’ve come a bit far.’

He touched the seam. It was a bit hard. Unlike humans, the blood of the Demon Tribe coagulated a bit slower.

It was hard to calculate exactly, but he had a rough estimate.

‘If it’s this much-‘

Galahad mumbled and took out a new water pouch from the inside. It was the water pouch that Adrianna had given him.

The Demon Tribe sniffed.

“Demon Tribe’s blood, is it?”

“Yes. Do you want to drink some?”

“No. My taste buds will be ruined if I drink something inferior.”

He had no qualms about drinking the blood of a fellow Demon Tribe member. It felt somewhat lacking.

“I mostly eat humans. And among them, I prefer young male humans. A sophisticated taste, don’t you think?”

The Demon Tribe said, raising the corners of his lips. He seemed proud of his sophisticated taste.

It was a gruesome story, but Galahad wasn’t particularly surprised.

It was well-known that the Demon Tribe ate humans. That was why there were many casualties during the Demon War, but few corpses.

It was because the Demon Tribe had eaten them all.

The Demon Tribe and humans couldn’t coexist.

‘That guy-‘

Galahad realized why things had turned out this way.

The plan was fine.

Adrianna seemed a bit excited, but the plan to just confirm Galahad’s abilities at the entrance of the Demon Realm seemed plausible.

It was probably true that intermediate-level Demon Tribe members appeared at the entrance of the Demon Realm.

The problem was that the guy had high-level Demon Tribe members on standby.

‘His intelligence network is surprisingly good.’

The moment Galahad tried to compress his mana-

“Oh, don’t do that.”

The Demon Tribe looked up slightly and pointed at Galahad.

Galahad’s five right fingers bent backwards. Thud. A terrible sound and intense pain surged through him. A moan escaped his lips.

Blood from his open mouth spilled out as he drank. Some of Galahad’s blood was mixed in as well. His insides were shaken up because they had twisted the moment he compressed his mana.

Galahad grimaced and assessed the situation.

‘It snapped the moment I compressed my mana-‘

It seemed that the Demon Tribe, who was sensitive to mana, had noticed.

This place had a high concentration of mana. Even the dense mana provided by the Seed of Pain had to be compressed once to use magic.

However, if the Demon Tribe was sensitive to mana, he wouldn’t be able to compress his mana.

In other words, it meant he couldn’t use magic.

It was no different from Galahad having his hands tied.

The opponent was a powerful Demon Tribe member. He was strong enough to safely extract Galahad from among the knights, including Gilbert-.

‘This isn’t good.’

Galahad mumbled, shaking his dangling right hand.

There was one strange thing.

‘He didn’t react earlier?’

At first, it remained still when I first lit the fire. But now it reacted.

The difference between the two was-.

‘Ah, so it reacts depending on the mana concentration.’

I compressed the mana slightly, and it didn’t react.

It seemed to react instinctively when the mana concentration was dense enough to harm it.

‘Enough mana to light a fire-.’

Galahad squinted.

The fact that it didn’t react meant that the magic couldn’t affect it.

However, the purpose of magic wasn’t just to attack.

Instead, I needed that subtle concentration that it wouldn’t care about.

Galahad began to count the time in his head. There was still some left.

“Where were we?”

At that moment, the demon asked nonchalantly. What a shameless bastard-.

“We were talking about the reward.”

Galahad tried to raise the corners of his mouth and replied.

At that moment, its eyes turned upwards and then came down. It was a split second.

“Ah, the reward-. I’ll be able to meet him.”

The demon said proudly. Judging from its reaction, meeting him seemed to be a considerable reward for it.

“You keep saying ‘him’, but just who is he?”

Galahad asked, trying to suppress his pain.

“Hmm, ah. You don’t know?”

The demon shook its head. It looked like it was about to start singing.

“He’s a very high-ranking person. So much so that a lowly human like you could never meet him.”

The demon said, its expression blank.

‘High-ranking, huh.’

Galahad muttered softly.

It was a little strange that it wouldn’t give me any specifics, but it was clear that it was one of the high-ranking demons.

‘A very high-ranking person-.’

If it was a demon as high-ranking as it said, it wouldn’t be an ordinary high-ranking demon.

It was the perfect person to find out information about the Demon King. Or it could be the Demon King itself.

This was the first lead I had on the Demon King.

I had to catch it.

The problem was the condition.

‘The assassination of the Emperor-.’

This wasn’t the first time I had been asked to kill the Emperor.

Galahad recalled how it had come to him. It had come twice. And it had been quite polite for a demon-. I didn’t have to accept it right away.

“Why do you want to kill the Emperor? He’s just an old man who doesn’t do much.”

“That’s why.”

The demon narrowed one eye. It was an emotional expression that felt somewhat dissonant.

I wanted to ask more, but its finger was pointed at Galahad. It seemed to be saying that this was as far as it went.

“Since there’s nothing to do, I was going to kill you-.”

It was a strange sentence. Could it be that having nothing to do was rather a hindrance to the demon? What did they want the Emperor to do?

Galahad’s head was spinning quickly.

At that moment, the demon’s finger pointed at Galahad’s neck. There was a faint irritation on his face.

“Are you not going to do it?”

It was an obvious threat. He was the one who had casually broken Galahad’s hand. Having such a person aiming at his neck was quite threatening.

However-.

“Don’t bluff. You can’t kill me.”

Galahad clicked his tongue and put the cigarette back in his mouth.

“······How did you know?”

It was the correct answer. Galahad smiled faintly at the demon’s question.

“He’s not interested in me. If he was going to kill me, he would have done it from the beginning. Would he have gone to such lengths?”

I felt like I knew a little about these demons.

“Oh, as the rumors say, you’re smart.”

“I hear that a lot.”

“That’s right. He’s interested in you.”

“Why? Just because I’m competent?”

The demon’s pupils moved up slightly. It was the same behavior as before.

‘Is it a habit? No, he does it when he’s struggling to answer. In that case-.’

Repetitive behavior was a clue.

Galahad didn’t miss it.

‘This is quite interesting.’

Galahad glanced up.

It was a ceiling that was so full of soot that it was hard to see properly.

How thick was it-. Galahad flicked his left hand. A mana arrow went up. Thud-. A dull sound. He flicked it again. Thud-.

He could roughly guess the thickness.

‘This will work.’

Galahad coughed slightly and flicked his hand.

This time it was a spark.

The demon didn’t seem to notice. Or maybe he didn’t care-.

‘Stupid bastard.’

Galahad clicked his tongue softly.

“The reason, you don’t know?”

“Yes, the Emperor-. I see.”

“Really?”

The demon’s eyes widened. It seemed that he hadn’t expected Galahad to accept it so easily. He removed his finger.

“But the Emperor is a man who is extremely cautious. Starting with the Imperial Knights and ending with the latest magical tools-. The budget for his security is probably larger than the entire Intelligence Agency.”

“You seem to know a lot. Were you trying to kill the Emperor?”

“There was something like that. Anyway, it’s not an easy task.”

The demon was sharp. Galahad coughed slightly and shook his head.

“Aha, I see. So you can’t do it? That’s different from the rumors. Rumor has it that you could even kill an emperor.”

“Rumors tend to be exaggerated. Besides, isn’t the situation quite different from when I was in the Intelligence Agency? You’re saying there’s no support or corners to cut to get information.”

“Ah, support-“

The demon’s eyes turned upwards again.

Galahad’s lips curled up.

“There must be unimaginable support.”

“You think too little of my imagination.”

The demon only raised the corner of its mouth instead of replying. It was quite grotesque to see only one side of its mouth raised. It was a face that seemed artificial.

“I need to know exactly so that I can make a plan. Whose lapdog is the emperor?”

“Whose lapdog-. Excuse me?”

“I’m telling you to tell me exactly how much support there is. You’re really old-fashioned.”

Its pupils moved up again-. Now it was certain.

I had to join hands with that person, but I didn’t like the plan yet. I thought I’d make a new one.

“W-well… First, would you like to receive the seal?”

“The seal?”

“Yes, the seal.”

The demon showed me the palm of its hand. There was a scar on it as if it had been burned by fire. It was a big eye. It was a drawing I had never seen before.

“Alright.”

The egg of agony trembled slightly.

‘Seriously. I’m just going to see what it is for now.’

The egg of agony shook more violently. It seemed to insist that it was enough on its own. It even bit my heart.

‘Trust me a little more.’

The egg of agony stopped for a moment.

At that moment, the demon came closer. Strangely, the demon was dressed like a human. It was a puffy dress like an ordinary country woman.

However, its face was unrealistic.

It was a difficult beauty to look at, but it felt eerily grotesque because it didn’t blink.

“It’ll hurt a little.”

The woman tried to bring her hand to Galahad’s forehead.

“How can I walk around if you put the seal on my forehead?”

“Then?”

“Put it on my chest.”

Galahad unbuttoned his shirt.

“You have a lot of scars?”

“It’s nothing.”

“······?”

“Hurry up.”

The demon’s eyes widened at Galahad’s urging. A human urging it to hurry up and give him the seal-.

The demon’s hand touched his chest. The hand was as cold as ice. It was full of the coldness of a corpse.

At that moment, a searing pain rose from his chest. It was a pain similar to having a sword stabbed into his chest.

“Wh-what the hell are you doing?!”

The demon’s hand flicked upward. The seal in his hand was red. For the first time, emotion appeared on the demon’s face. It was astonishment.

“How come-“

The woman exclaimed in a voice of astonishment.

“Two is not possible.”

Galahad clicked his tongue softly.

The woman’s face crumpled at the implication.

“What are you doing now?”

“Okay. Anyway, tell him I know. I’ll consider it positively, but the conditions are too poor. The support is also ambiguous-“

Galahad’s sunken eyes made the woman bite her lip.

“I don’t know your situation right now, but-“

“Can you shut up? I haven’t finished speaking yet. No, I’m not going to pass it on.”

Galahad pointed his finger up and flicked it.

The woman frowned. Was he going to use that now?

“You said ‘he’. You’re quite self-conscious. Anyway, next time, give me the detailed conditions. As you know, I already have one.”

Arrogant-. The woman’s crumpled face smoothed out. The expression disappeared. Like a doll.

“How did you know?”

“Whenever it’s difficult to answer, your pupils go up. How could I not know? If so···. Oh, here he comes.”

As the woman fumbled to pull out her power-.

The wall next to it was cut off as it was.

What appeared through it-.

It was the white goddess.

The demon’s neck popped up as it was.

It was an overly light end for a superior.

That’s how much of a monster Adrianna is.

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Galahad grabbed the head that had floated into the air.

“Bring better conditions next time.”

He whispered-.

The woman’s eyes drew a straight line.

“Are you okay!”

Adrianna, her face crumpled, appeared. Her face was filled with clear guilt.

It wasn’t Adrianna’s fault. Galahad was just popular.

At that moment, Adrianna, who was reaching out her hand, stopped abruptly.

Her already big eyes grew even bigger. Her large eyeballs quivered.

Galahad, who bowed his head at that, clicked his tongue softly.

His shirt was wide open. His body, covered with scars, was not something to be shown to others.

Galahad laughed and buttoned up his shirt.

“You’re a bit of a pervert.”

Adrianna’s eyes grew even bigger.