CHAPTER 15………………………….
Laseil could somewhat guess the reason.
It was thanks to Yujire, the spirit user, who was walking right beside him.
‘Spirits themselves used to be demons in the past.’
A demon that happened to live alongside humans for a long time eventually became gentler and kinder—thus becoming a spirit.
It was similar to how wolves eventually became dogs that lived with humans.
‘These days they’re even spotted together with fairies.’
Both spirits and fairies had the common trait of being able to put humans in danger.
The difference was: spirits did it on purpose, while fairies did it out of pure naïve goodwill.
‘Anyway, the real issue is that demon summoning is easier than spirit summoning.’
To summon a spirit, one needed five types of gemstones, thirteen types of tea leaves, and three additional rare materials.
To summon a demon, all one needed was human blood, a space to draw a magic circle, and one treasured item.
Some people used a goat, but even without it the summoning could succeed.
So many people who wanted to summon spirits but couldn’t afford the materials ended up summoning demons instead.
And in most cases, they failed spectacularly, blowing up every nearby territory in the process.
“The stairs are longer than I expected.”
“There is an end… right?”
Despite walking for some time, lost in thought, the 3rd basement level did not appear.
Around this point, Laseil began doubting the path and made a small slash mark on the wall with his dagger.
‘Are we walking in circles?’
After walking a bit more, his suspicion turned into certainty.
After only a few steps, the slash mark appeared again.
“What are you doing?”
Irenes asked as she saw Laseil immediately pull out the sword at his waist.
“Cutting it.”
“…Huh?”
A completely incomprehensible reply came back.
Before Irenes could process it, Laseil swung his sword.
Kakak! Kak!
With an unpleasant sound, long marks carved themselves into the wall.
After a short breath, Laseil swung his sword again—this time wrapped in aura.
The wall sliced away like soft pudding.
“…?”
Irenes blinked, still lost.
She understood they were looping the same space, but she couldn’t understand why he suddenly started cutting the space itself.
‘Venting frustration? …No way.’
Laseil was not someone who acted on emotion.
Even if he did get emotional, there would certainly be a justified reason.
“Shall we go?”
“…What?”
While Irenes was still confused, Laseil had already cut down the rest of the wall and began walking again.
He had given the place a warning—so it should know to open the way now.
Irenes gave up trying to understand and simply followed.
“I think this is it. Closer than expected.”
The 3rd basement floor was even more ominous than the upper levels.
It was the kind of place that shouldn’t exist in reality.
‘Feels like I’ll get cursed just by stepping inside.’
The magic circle drawn in blood had smudged over time and had become even more grotesque.
Animal fur—likely from a goat—littered the floor.
And even before entering, the place radiated a suffocating sense of dread.
There was no need to think about where the demon’s remnants were.
‘The middle.’
Only that spot was charred completely black.
Human hair and what seemed to be fresh bloodstains were also there.
Without hesitation, Laseil strode inside.
“So the demon did… succeed.”
“Succeeded?”
“…Seems it’s been hiding until now.”
One of the most troublesome things about demons was this:
Even when successfully summoned, demons sometimes pretended the summoning had failed.
Usually to find a human suitable to use as a host.
Demons had different perceptions of time than humans—so hiding for hundreds of years was nothing.
‘Judging from how long it hid, it must not be very strong.’
Stronger demons didn’t bother with tricks like this—they simply devoured humans outright.
So this must have been a low-ranking demon.
Which was actually fortunate.
Low-ranking demons were at least easy to deal with once found.
Clatter, clank—
While Laseil estimated the demon’s position, noise erupted from outside.
It seemed another problem had arisen with the ghosts upstairs.
“Can I go check for a moment?”
Irenes asked, seeing Laseil hesitate.
She likely wouldn’t be of much help dealing with a demon anyway, and she could now cut ghosts, so it was better she stepped out.
“It would be helpful, yes.”
Laseil waited until she left, then closed the door.
Dealing with the demon ahead would likely get very loud.
‘Handling demons is similar to taming spirits.’
Spirits were just as hard to control—although less dangerous—because they still had demon-like power and fairy mischief mixed in.
Only those capable of firmly controlling spirits could become spirit users.
‘For demons, you need to be even more forceful.’
As he wrapped his sword in aura, Laseil froze for a moment at a memory.
‘Was it the knight sister who told me this?’
The one who had helped him ever since the day he first went to the Duke of Resean’s estate.
Even the swordsmanship he used now was what she had taught him.
When learning swordsmanship, he had also learned spirit and demon suppression methods.
‘She said everything can be solved with aura and a sword.’
And if it didn’t solve it, then Laseil simply wasn’t strong enough.
Her solution was simple:
“Come out. No? Come out. I said come out.”
You beat the demon until it comes to its senses.
Laseil had no objections to this method.
If a demon obediently came out because a human summoned it, why would it suddenly resist afterward?
If it didn’t want to obey, it should’ve just not come out.
Why make things troublesome?
“Don’t you think so too?”
Laseil asked the dim basement now wrapped in blue aura.
He had swung at every spot where the demon might hide; hence the basement looked like a disaster zone.
“…Not coming out, huh.”
After a short sigh, Laseil sat down on the ground.
He hadn’t expected an easy resolution.
“Fine. Then I have my own ideas.”
He felt something tremble faintly nearby.
But since it still refused to show itself, it must still think the situation wasn’t too serious.
“This one? Oh, here.”
Laseil grabbed the hair scattered on the floor and set it aflame.
Thanks to an artifact Yujire had given him, the fire burned only the hair and then extinguished.
“And next, this.”
He lit the goat fur next.
Somewhere far away, it sounded like a faint scream echoed.
‘That should be about it.’
The knight sister had told him:
A demon often loses power if the items used in its summoning are destroyed.
Of course, no ordinary person could carry out this method.
‘The required materials are a bit… much.’
Fire capable of burning demons, the courage to touch revolting ritual items barehanded, and the strength to protect oneself.
Laseil just happened to have all of those.
‘But I didn’t expect the demon to thrash around this much.’
A demon wouldn’t sit quietly and wait to be erased.
Now, chairs and desks and other items flew randomly through the air.
‘Annoying to block them all…’
At that moment, Laseil’s hair tie snapped with a soft twip.
It was the hair tie he had received from the head maid at the mansion.
‘…?’
The moment it hit the floor, the surroundings went silent.
The hair tie shriveled into dry black husk and crumbled into ash.
“Hm.”
Laseil scanned the area and nodded.
He still didn’t know what exactly had happened, but the demon’s power was definitely weaker now.
And that was the most important part.
“Still not coming out?”
Laseil flipped his sword and asked.
Without waiting for an answer, he moved.
He felt the sword sheath tap something hard.
A demon’s horn.
