DHATP 07

Episode 7

Kyria tilted her head when—
she suddenly heard unfamiliar footsteps behind her.

“Finally, the king’s new meal has arrived!”

Startled, Kyria turned around.
It was a boy who looked about 17 or 18.
But the sharp horns on his head, his tail, and glowing red eyes proved he wasn’t human—he was a demon.

The boy, Gaul, grabbed Kyria’s wrist.

“Hmm… your mana is so tiny. Oh? You’re bleeding? You’re hurt?”

The pain Kyria had been ignoring suddenly hit her again.

“Ugh…”

Gaul frowned, then glared at the wyvern.

“I told you to bring her to the king carefully! And you injure her? Useless creature.”

Kyria also glared at the wyvern.
The wyvern, nervous, shuffled backward like it was guilty.

“…Wait. Did you panic and grab the wrong one?” Gaul muttered.

“Ki—kiuu!” The wyvern flapped and pointed at Kyria as if to explain.
But Gaul ignored it.

“You’re useless trash. Hey, human. You’re coming with me.”

“W-wait—!”

Kyria had no chance to resist.
Gaul simply slung her over his shoulder and walked off.

The wyvern whined pitifully, but no one cared.

Boom!

A black door slammed shut in Kyria’s face.

“What is this…?”

The demon had tossed her into a food storage room.
Even when she showed him the apothecary recruitment notice, he only laughed.

“Herbs? Humans turning weeds into medicine? Lies.”

Then, to make things worse, he tied her hands and feet tightly with rope.

“Why are you tying me? I said I’m an apothecary!”
“I hate humans. And apothecaries are the weakest of them all.”

He left her there, ignoring her bag of herbs.

Kyria, angry and hurt, muttered toward the closed door:
“If I die, I’ll haunt you, you jerk… ow ow…”

Her side still hurt badly, but at least the bleeding slowed.
She dragged herself across the floor to her bag.

“Just you wait… you ignored my herbs, didn’t you?”

Inside the bag were not only herbs, but also knives and tools.
Kyria cut herself free, wrapped her wound, and finally took a breath.

“Much better…”

She picked up the recruitment notice again and frowned.

“I knew this wouldn’t go smoothly, but I didn’t think I’d be tossed in a storeroom like this…”

Still, the fact that humans were being kidnapped meant the duke’s health really was failing.
So why didn’t the demon believe her?

“Maybe the demons here act on their own?”

Either way, Kyria needed to meet the duke directly.
To cure her brother.
To discover the northern herbs.
To survive.

“Fine then. I’ll ask the boss himself for a job.”

But first—she had to escape.

Kyria pulled out a portable lamp, some herbs, and her gas mask.

“I haven’t been able to research in days. Time to get back to work.”

That night, the storeroom door opened.
A short green-skinned gremlin came in.

“Human, come out, come out.”

But the ropes were already cut. The place was empty.

“Human? Where?”

The gremlin sniffed the air… and suddenly collapsed unconscious.

Kyria stepped out from behind the door, wearing her gas mask.
She had burned a bundle of herbs that released a knockout gas.

“…Wow. Poison herbs really work well on demons.”

Originally, those herbs weren’t even that strong.
But here, their effects were much more powerful.

If she studied this, she could even publish a paper!
But—no, now wasn’t the time.

Kyria hurried out of the storeroom.

The castle halls were dark and silent, with only a few candles lit.

‘The duke’s room should be on the 2nd floor… right?’

She crept upstairs.
The old, shadowy corridors gave her chills.

‘Not scary. Not scary. It’s just dark…’

She pressed against the cold wall and moved carefully.

Then—she saw a faint light leaking from under a door.

Someone was inside.

Kyria tiptoed closer.
Through a crack in the old wood, she peeked inside.

A man was taking off his shirt.
His broad back and shoulders were covered with strange glowing magic circles and runes.

A priest placed a hand on his back, pouring holy power into him.

The man groaned in pain.
It looked unbearable.

Kyria almost screamed when she noticed something else—
His skin was turning stone-gray.

She knew that reaction too well.
It was Medusa’s disease.

‘Why does he have it?!’

But then, as the priest’s holy power faded, the stone-like skin also disappeared.
The man put his shirt back on.

Yes. This had to be the Duke.

The duke asked calmly:
“Rohannen. Two more people were kidnapped today, right?”

“Yes. I planned to deal with it after your treatment. Should I let them go now?”

“Mm. Make sure they escape through the back gate.”

“As always. I’ll bless them so monsters won’t chase them.”

So it was true—the duke had been secretly freeing the kidnapped people.

‘Of course… he used to be the holy knight commander.’

But then—

“Lord Duke, the escapees still suffer a lot in the forest, even with my blessing. The villages are spreading bad rumors.”

“Is that so?”

“Should I make the blessing stronger?”

“No. Just weak enough so they survive.”

“…Excuse me? That will make the rumors worse.”

“I don’t care.”

“…Well, I do!”

The priest pouted like a child.
“You never listen. I’m always the only one serious here.”

With that, he stormed off.

Kyria hid against the wall as the priest walked past and disappeared down the corridor.

“Phew… that was close.”

But—
Why was it suddenly so dark?

She looked up—and froze.

It wasn’t the corridor.
A large shadow was covering her.

The man who had appeared without a sound was none other than… the Duke.