User Manual for a Dream Demon (2)

After roughly managing the situation, Maria and I headed back to the Black Skull’s guild building.

Maria still didn’t seem to have completely collected her thoughts, but she looked relatively calm.

[You’re going faster than I expected.]

‘Well, I think I need to quickly learn more about Maria’s abilities.’

If Maria’s power is what I suspect, it will be a powerful weapon.

That’s why there was a need to help Maria fully awaken her ability as soon as possible.

‘Originally, Maria’s abilities weren’t supposed to awaken for a long time.’

At least, nothing like that existed among the contents of the synopsis I had seen.

It likely meant she awakened far later or maybe never at all. The original Maria never had the leisure to come to Eintban to look for Rutia.

“You bastards… Why have you come back?”

When we went inside, the mercenaries who previously had a brawl with me glared at us fiercely.

Seeing even the vice-captain rush out immediately like this, maybe I had been branded as a dangerous person.

“More importantly, where’s Rutia?”

“Rutia? Come to think of it, you lot seem to know Rutia. What’s your relationship with her?”

“Why do you care?”

When I replied indifferently, the vice-captain’s face twisted sharply. And the expressions of the other Black Skull mercenaries weren’t good, either.

“I thought so yesterday, but you really have guts. You think you can get out of here safely again this time?”

“I don’t see why not.”

I grinned viciously.

The world of mercenaries is one of survival of the fittest. If you show weakness or back down here, you get devoured in an instant.

“This bastard…”

“Wait!”

Just as the vice-captain ground his teeth and reached to draw his sword, a woman with pink hair ran in.

It was Rutia, looking far more exhausted than yesterday.

“Wait.”

“Rutia, what’s your relationship with these people?”

“… The child next to that man is my family.”

She must not have been able to bring herself to say Maria was her daughter.

Naturally, with how Rutia looked, having a daughter the same age as Maria would seem strange—a definite cause for suspicion.

“…”

Of course, that aside, from Maria’s point of view, she looked quite displeased, her body noticeably trembling.

“I understand. But make sure there isn’t any commotion like yesterday. Even if she’s your family, I’ll overlook it only once.”

“Got it.”

The vice-captain stared at Rutia briefly, then turned his back.

Rutia, looking after his receding figure, let out a small sigh and looked back at us.

“… This way.”

Luckily, perhaps because a day had passed, the sense of urgency we saw yesterday was gone.

Though she looked pale, perhaps from lack of sleep, she seemed composed.

However, she seemed to lack the courage to speak with Maria first, so she turned to me instead.

“Actually, I have something I wanted to ask you, too.”

Rutia closed the door to the empty room and began quietly.

She must have been mulling over our last conversation after we left.

“What do you mean Fabian is dead?”

“I mean it literally.”

“How do you know?”

“Because I have abilities similar to yours.”

Rutia’s eyes widened at my answer.

She wasn’t the only one surprised. Maria, who heard the conversation, also looked quite startled.

Not only was Rutia’s prophecy true, but the fact that I knew it, too, was shocking to anyone.

I then drew the sword at my waist and showed it to Rutia.

“This is the proof.”

“Why are you suddenly… Wait, is this—?”

Rutia, looking flustered, rushed over and examined the sword in my hand closely.

No one else would know, but Rutia had to recognize it.

She knew better than anyone else who the original owner of this sword was.

“How do you have this? This is a sword that only someone who can defeat a calamity can possess!”

“Because I defeated it, of course I have it.”

“What?”

“The calamity of disease and demons that appeared in the empire—it was I who killed it.”

Rutia stared at me in a daze.

Then she glanced at Maria, who was standing quietly by my side, as if to check if what I said was true.

“You… are you the Clay Maria mentioned yesterday?”

“Who else would I be?”

“That’s impossible. There was no one like you in the future I saw…”

Of course. In the original timeline, I would have died in the war with Kainzel kingdom, so there’s no way I would show up in Rutia’s dream.

“Anyway, there’s something I want to ask of you.”

“A request? I don’t even know who you are, so why should I?”

“It’s about Maria.”

At the mention of Maria’s name, Rutia’s eyes instantly sharpened.

“You’re not going to do something to Maria, are you?”

“Of course not.”

“… Really?”

When Rutia looked suspiciously at Maria, Maria immediately nodded.

Only then did Rutia finally relax a little and let out a thin sigh of relief.

“Fine, I understand. Clay, was it? So what is your request?”

“There are two things I want to ask you.”

“Two things?”

“Yes. First, I want you to help Maria learn to handle her abilities.”

“Her abilities…?”

Rutia looked at me puzzled.

She didn’t know how strongly Maria had inherited her blood.

“As a Dream Demon.”

“… Maria inherited the succubus abilities?”

“You can tell just by her appearance, can’t you?”

“Uh, uhm. Okay. What’s the other thing?”

Rutia, looking nervous, asked me.

She must have thought that since the first request wasn’t too difficult, the second would be something much harder.

However, the second was actually much simpler.

“I want you to tell me in detail how Fabian acted in the prophetic dream you saw.”

* * *

After leaving Maria in Rutia’s care, I returned to Nabez, the capital.

I had my own business to take care of while Maria learned her abilities from Rutia.

[Are you sure it’s okay to leave those two alone?]

‘Come on, they’re family. What’s going to happen?’

[Family doesn’t mean everyone gets along. Especially since she’s the kid who thinks her mother abandoned her.]

Grancesia seemed concerned about Maria, whom we’d left back in Lintrea.

‘Don’t worry—Rutia truly loves Maria.’

[That’s a relief, at least…]

Her tone was oddly laced with concern, making me chuckle. She always grumbled but was really soft-hearted.

“Welcome!”

As soon as I arrived in Nabez, the first place I headed was the Thieves’ Guild.

Unlike before, when I reached the guild entrance, the members quickly rushed out to greet me.

Lined up in a row, they bowed in greeting, making me feel like the boss of some underworld organization.

‘The power of the empire really is something.’

[Isn’t the problem you, more than the empire?]

‘What did I do?’

All I did was show some paperwork and told them to behave themselves.

If anything, I was pretty merciful for not turning everything upside down.

[You’re the last person who should ever wield real power. Just stay as the count of your territory.]

Chatting like that, I entered the red room, where the guildmaster of the Thieves’ Guild, Jade, bowed at a ninety-degree angle.

“Thank you for visiting again, my lord Count.”

“It’s almost like you were waiting for me.”

“There’s no way that’s true, sir.”

Jade smiled innocently, looking like a genuinely upright young man.

Especially with his eyes narrowed almost shut, he gave off a good impression.

Just by his looks, no one would ever guess he was the leader of the Thieves’ Guild.

I quietly fixed my gaze on Jade and began calmly.

“There are some people I need to find.”

“People…? If you mean Rutia, she’s still at the Black Skull Mercenary band.”

“Rutia’s not who I’m looking for. In fact, they’re not even human.”

At that, Jade’s smiling face froze.

Then his eyes, previously narrow, shot open and turned sharp.

[… That expression changed in a flash.]

‘There’s a reason he’s guildmaster.’

While his profile lists him as a simple extra, among his skills there were a few things worth noting.

It wouldn’t be bad to keep that in mind and check for plausibility later.

“It’s demonkin I’m after.”

“… Are you certain there are demonkin here?”

“Yes. There’s already a demonkin hiding in Eintban. I need you to find it quickly.”

“Why?”

“A calamity is coming.”

Jade surely knew about the incident in the empire. That included the warning about the threat of calamities from Emperor Gideon.

“A plague is going to descend on Eintban…?”

“It’s not a plague. What will invade Eintban is a different kind of calamity. Recently, the sleeping sickness spreading in the capital is related to the calamity.”

“I didn’t realize it was related to the calamity.”

Jade fell silent in deep thought.

“… Do you know why the demonkin came to Eintban?”

“Probably because of the sword.”

“The sword? You mean, a sword like the one you have?”

“Yes. I’m sure.”

If what was written in the synopsis was correct, no doubt about it.

“Understood.”

With my answer full of conviction, Jade bit his lower lip and nodded.

“But how do you know about all this, my lord Count?”

“You know. I have this sword.”

I pointed to Genova at my waist.

Besides, the emperor of the empire had already designated me as the ‘hero who would face the calamity.’

“It’s only natural I’d find out. Otherwise, there would’ve been no reason for me to come all the way to Eintban, right?”

“I thought you came to find Maria Timmons’s mother, but…”

“That too.”

Of course, Rutia was a necessary figure to deal with this calamity, but there was no need to lay out every detail.

“So? Can you do it?”

When I asked calmly, Jade gave a bitter smile and nodded.

“It’s something I must do, whether I can or not. Otherwise, all my clients for information will be gone anyway.”

“A wise decision.”

“But in this situation, wouldn’t it be better to ask the king of Eintban for help directly?”

Sure, that would be easier.

But there was a reason I couldn’t do that.

‘The royal castle is also the site of the winter spirit’s base of operations.’

Centered on that site, the entire castle was under the winter spirit’s domain.

Any conversation within would reach the winter spirit’s ears.

If I asked for help from the king of Eintban, my plan would likely be exposed and cause problems.

[Let the thieves handle the demonkin. Shouldn’t you focus on dealing with the calamity as quickly as possible?]

‘Well, I’d like to, but I have no idea where it is right now.’

The area under the winter spirit Sior’s control currently amounts to about one-third of Nabez.

But if a month passes, the entire capital will fall under the spirit’s domain.

At that point, it will begin acting as the calamity.

Until then, I could only wait. It was impossible to chase after something slipping through spatial rifts.

‘Fine, go wild while you can.’

I reviewed the future Rutia claimed to have seen.

Then, as if placing puzzle pieces, I slotted them into the missing sections of the synopsis.

‘The moment you show yourself, I’ll end it right then and there.’

Certainly, the calamity of dreams had troublesome abilities.

But that only applied when you knew nothing. If you understood them fully, they weren’t hard to handle.

In fact, I could even use the calamity’s nature to my advantage.

‘If I’m lucky, I can settle everything in one blow.’

I grinned to myself.

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