The moment he said that, a terrifying aura burst out from Idria’s body.

Flutter.

Something fell to the ground.

They were the forest birds that had been hiding among the dense trees.

Before they could even take flight, they were crushed to death by her overwhelming presence.

With eyes blazing, Idria said,

“You are not Batore.”

“Hm. Well. I’m not sure how I should answer that.”

“Where are my children? What have you done to them?”

“To put it simply, I kidnapped them.”

Idria moved to strike…

But before she could unleash her power, Aktion spoke again.

“Ah, I just thought of how to answer. I am Batore.”

“……!”

“At least, this body is Batore’s.”

“What are you talking about…?”

“It’s not that complicated. Let’s just say Batore ate something rotten.”

Idria understood instantly what he meant.

Batore could absorb the memories of those he devoured and take their form.

The “rotten meal” he spoke of must have been something or someone that had warped him.

“But who are you really? None of Batore’s meals should have contained a monster like you.”

“Well, outwardly I looked like an ordinary young man.”

“……”

“That’s the only way you would have allowed the meal without suspicion.”

In other words, he had let himself be eaten.

Deliberately devoured by Batore, to take over his body.

And then, remaining beside Idria as one of the Fingers of Lies, he had been watching her all along.

‘Watching me?’

She quickly realized.

“You’re working with Velosian. You were planted to spy on me through Batore’s eyes!”

“Correct.”

“You bastard.”

“But that doesn’t change the fact that this body is Batore’s. So? Will you kill me?”

“Kh…”

“If you have calmed down, let’s get to the point.”

He spoke with unhurried ease.

“I have a request for you.”

I sat on a rock, legs swinging.

‘Trail. Show me again.’

[No. There really aren’t any secrets.]

‘…….’

[There aren’t, I swear.]

Judging by how he had suddenly switched to formal speech, my expression must have looked nasty.

Anyway, he projected the screen.

<Selection condition: ‘A secret between Idria and Sobius.’>

Idria had said she needed a moment to summon her subordinates, but there was still no word from her.

Naturally, I had checked the secrets of Sobius, Pirensha, Batore, and Sabach…

But not a single one was relevant to this situation.

It had already been an hour of this nonsense.

‘Wait. Maybe…?’

I asked Trail again.

‘This time, show me the secret between Idria and Velosian.’

[Ah, got it.]

But it was useless.

<Selection condition: ‘A secret between Idria and Velosian.’>

Damn it.

Neril said, “Looks like she is not coming.”

“……”

“Cheer up, Mide. What kind of hero gets depressed just because the Demon King stood him up?”

“It’s not disappointment, it’s that things are getting complicated.”

“I get that.”

“Even if Idria doesn’t show up, we still need to find out why she didn’t.”

Whether it was a simple change of heart or something beyond her control…

We had to know, so we could prepare accordingly.

Then Lisel said, “Even if there was some unavoidable reason, it’s still too much not to send any message. With a communication orb or spatial power, she could easily reach us if she wanted.”

“You can’t expect human courtesy or common sense from that Demon King.”

“That’s true, but still. At this rate, we might as well have eaten earlier.”

It was clearly a joke meant to lighten the mood, so I just laughed.

The others joined in too.

Xenia, of course, nodded seriously as if she meant it.

Lisel, pleased by everyone’s softened expressions, smiled brightly.

“Actually, I think I might be able to imitate Serad’s cooking recipe.”

“Impressive.”

“Not really. I’m still lacking a lot. But next time, I will get it out of her for sure.”

That banquet had indeed been incredible, if you ignored how heavy the topics had been.

Like Velosian’s authority, or the mention of Impelium’s other party members…

“…..”

Ah!

I shot to my feet.

“Wh..what is it?”

“Lisel! You’re brilliant.”

“Ah… it’s nothing. I just hate losing when it comes to cooking.”

“No, not that. I mean, you have this uncanny habit of suddenly hitting the key point out of nowhere.”

“Uh, well… thanks?”

Half unsure if it was praise or not, Lisel thanked me anyway, that was just like her.

I shouted at Trail,

‘Show me the secret between Aktion Oscar and Idria!’

[Aktion…?]

‘Impelium’s former party member. You remember how stiff Impelium’s face got when his name came up, right?’

[Of course.]

The expression Impelium had worn then was disgust.

Even when Velosian had been mentioned, he hadn’t looked like that.

And besides…

I recalled my previous conversation with him.

‘Impelium probably killed Aktion.’

[Huh?]

‘That’s how he broke his vow of no-killing, lost his power… and then…’

[Was killed by Velosian and Adin?]

I nodded.

Impelium wouldn’t have killed Aktion for no reason.

Aktion must have committed a sin so unforgivable it shattered Impelium’s faith.

Maybe… no, almost certainly, he had betrayed Impelium.

A betrayal so deep that Adin’s later treachery would have seemed trivial by comparison.

‘Velosian was supposed to be asleep in the special room, right? So he is not the one behind this.’

[Which means it’s Aktion.]

‘Yeah. We might as well check, there’s nothing to lose.’

[Alright. One second.]

Click.

The screen appeared again.

It was a scene that made me rub my eyes in disbelief.

Idria stood at the starting point.

Aktion urged her on.

“Hurry up.”

“If it’s Mide, he will be able to see this scene. Technically, it will be Bion though.”

“Hmm. I doubt he even knows my name.”

“…?”

“To view a secret, both parties’ names have to be known.”

Idria didn’t ask, ‘How do you know that?’

In fact, it would have been stranger if someone connected to Velosian didn’t know that.

Instead, she asked another question.

“Isn’t your name Batore? Can’t he use that name to view it?”

“Sobius is Padania, Pirensha is Serein, and Sabach is Hyran. But I’m in a completely different position from them.”

“……”

“When I am the one in control, I’m not Batore. Meaning, the secret between you and me can’t be viewed under that name.”

“Then what name can it be viewed with?”

At that, Aktion gave a sly smile.

“Digging shallow traps, are we? You’re really trying hard to help Mide now.”

“……”

“But the one you should be helping is Kaeld. Stop talking and open the dimensional prison Mide created.”

“I can’t. A hole, maybe, but not one big enough for him to escape…”

“I will help, so shut up and open it. I’m not the kind of man who repeats himself.”

Idria bit her lip.

As the Demon King of Lies, obeying such a pathetic order was humiliating.

But since this man held the whereabouts of her children, she had no other choice.

In the end, she thrust her hand into the air with all her might.

Crackle.

But all she managed to create was a small tear.

Aktion stepped in beside her.

“Alright. On three, we pull together.”

“……”

“So stiff. One, two, three.”

Riiip!

Space itself tore open.

And from within it, a lunatic burst out.

“Kuuaaaagh!”

Kaeld Wake.

He writhed and crawled along the ground, looking, if one were to draw a comparison, just like a cockroach.

“Wh-who? Idria?”

“……”

“Heh. So you have finally come to your senses and decided to help me.”

“Shut up.”

“Right. You couldn’t possibly abandon me now. Let’s just forget the past with grace. Next time, I will be more careful…”

Thud!

Idria’s kick slammed straight into his gut.

Kaeld flew through the air and crashed down pitifully.

Aktion rubbed his forehead.

“To think he is like this even after borrowing a tenth of Velosian’s power.”

“……”

“Well, I suppose it makes sense. Part of his soul was erased, after all.”

“Are you satisfied now? Give me back my children.”

“I can’t give them back. But I can let you see them.”

Aktion walked over, grabbed Kaeld by the hair, and dragged him along.

“Let’s go to the special room. Your children are there too.”

Snap.

The screen disappeared.

For a while, I said nothing.

Then Neril spoke up.

“You saw that just now, right?”

“Yeah. Come to think of it, you can move in a frozen world now too.”

“It’s not just me.”

Neril gestured at Adwin with her chin.

He brushed his bangs back and said,

“Ha! This is a masterpiece. So that’s how the ‘Frozen World’ works.”

“Get back here while I’m still asking nicely.”

“Yes, my apologies.”

“Mide, what did you see?”

I calmly explained the scene I had witnessed through the Eye of Omniscience.

Everyone’s faces went pale.

Serein muttered in disbelief,

“What are those bastards, onions? Every time you peel one layer, there’s another underneath.”

“This should be the last one. Impelium’s party had four members in total, including himself.”

“Oh, that’s comforting to hear.”

“Anyway, Aktion kidnapped Idria’s Fingers and used them to threaten her into freeing Kaeld.”

Offense groaned.

“So Aktion had Adin’s face?”

“Yeah.”

“Which means…”

“Yeah.”

Of course, it didn’t mean Adin had been resurrected.

Last time, Idria said she had fed Adin’s corpse to Batore.

And according to my pre-regression memories, Batore could absorb the memories and faces of those he devoured.

In other words.

“The third Finger of Lies, Batore. That bastard was Aktion.”

“I can’t make heads or tails of this.”

“I don’t know when Batore and Aktion became one and the same.”

Xenia sighed.

“So basically, the Kaeld we worked so hard to seal is free again?”

“Yeah.”

“Why is that guy so damn persistent? Can’t he just die already!”

For someone a hundred times more refined than Serein to curse like that, Kaeld truly was something else.

[You sound impressed.]

I tried to calm her.

“I’m just as frustrated, but complaining won’t help.”

“That’s true.”

“And honestly, Kaeld isn’t even the biggest problem. Idria, the sacrifice that was supposed to elevate our fame, was taken too.”

I swallowed hard and said,

“To the special room.”

Whoosh.

A cold wind brushed past us.

The “special room” meant only one thing, Velosian himself.

The reason I had been trying to use Idria to raise my fame…

Was to kill Velosian’s true body, sealed inside that chamber.

In other words, with my current lack of fame, I couldn’t even get close to it.

Aktion had taken Kaeld and Idria to the safest refuge in existence.

‘Now what do we do?’

After a moment of thought, I said,

“Let’s return to the capital.”

“Huh?”

“We will regroup somewhere close to the special room, plan things out, and act immediately once we have a strategy.”

“Ah, yes.”

Xenia called for Agril.

We quickly climbed onto its back and flew toward the capital.

As I looked up at the sky, one name echoed in my mind.

‘Aktion Oscar.’

What does that bastard want?

Adin had betrayed Impelium to become a god, to be loved by all.

Then why had Aktion betrayed him?

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