Episode 387

The last time I'd seen Delac was at Sandstorm Hill. A lot of time had passed since then, and quite a lot had happened. In other words, today's unexpected meeting was a reunion after a long time.

"Thank you for your hard work," Delac said as his gaze shifted behind me.

A guard passing by had followed me into the room. Seeing his frozen expression, he seemed to know the identity of the visitor.

He said, "You are flattering me, Your Grace."

"Can you give us some space?" Delac requested.

"Huh?" The guard's expression became stiff. He paled and stuttered out an excuse. "I-I'm sorry, but the rule is that you must be accompanied by one guard when visiting..."

"That is to prevent prisoners from going on a rampage. Do you think this lizardman can harm me?"

"That..." The guard trailed off. To be honest, it was clear that he didn't want to be here. He was just worried it would leak out and he would be punished.

The Iron-Blooded Lord looked at the guard's expression and asked, "What is your name?"

"It is Taylor."

"Yes, Taylor. I highly appreciate your commitment to the rules. You are a rare talent in this day and age. I will mention to the labor camp's director that there is a guard I am very impressed with."

The guard immediately bowed his head as if he realized that these words were both a consideration and a warning from the Iron-Blooded Lord. He said, "Please have a good time. The visiting time is normally thirty minutes, but I won't disturb you until your business ends."

"Thank you for your consideration."

"Don't mention it. In addition, this visiting room is thoroughly soundproofed."

I almost burst out laughing for a moment. He didn't seem to expect a secret talk between the Iron-Blooded Lord and a lesser race. From his expression, he seemed to be guessing that the Iron-Blooded Lord could be violent towards me.

The Iron-Blooded Lord nodded, not clearing up the unpleasant misunderstanding.

Click.

The guard left. For a moment, there was silence in the visiting room.

Delac looked at me standing far away and repeated his previous statement. "Sit down."

It would be strange to remain standing the whole time, so I sat down opposite him for now. The excessively soft sofa looked a bit ridiculous since it didn't take into account a lizardman's body shape at all. However, the one sitting in front of me took everything seriously, so I couldn't even smile.

"It has been a long time since we've met, but I want to see your face," Delac said.

"Aren't you seeing it?" I feigned indifference and stared at him.

I almost sighed inwardly. Leone was the same. I wondered why so many people wanted to see my bare face. I thought to myself, Well, I am really handsome.

Apart from that, it was true that this place was secure. I took off the Linchal mask.

Delac's eyes seemed to sweep over my face and body. Then he tilted his head and said, "You don't look hurt."

I replied, "Other than being healthy, I am basically a corpse."

"Is life here worth living?"

"If prison life is considered manageable, then isn't that a problem in itself? Well, it is still bearable."

"Have you been eating well—"

"Why did you come to the labor camp?" I deliberately cut off Delac. Uncharacteristically for him, he was talking far more than necessary. "What have you been doing? Why did you suddenly disappear without a word?"

"I thought it would be better to go alone."

"Huh?"

"You and I are complete opposites in the way we deal with and handle matters. As such, I determined there would be more disadvantages than advantages from accompanying each other."

In other ways, we had parted ways because our goals didn't align. It wasn't an unreasonable decision. In the first place, I couldn't imagine traveling with Delac all the time.

"Then please say something next time. I was surprised when you suddenly disappeared."

"That is true. I'm sorry."

Every time I saw him like this, I couldn't help thinking that this was a man who wasn't suited to apologies.

I felt uncomfortable for some reason, so I changed the subject. "How did you know I was here? Did you hear about it from Ludwig?"

"Yes."

"Do you know what is going on in this labor camp?"

"I know."

In that case, the reason why Delac was here had to be related to the Dark Church or the demon kings.

Delac looked at me and said, "The Dark Church is in the labor camp."

"Yes."

"You aren't surprised. It seems you knew that already."

"It happened by chance. Should I share the information I found first?"

Delac was a trump card I could rely on for now, but he wasn't without his weak points. He had lost a few of his blessings as well as his memories. He couldn't be called perfect at all compared to his prime. Still, he was stronger than me.

The moment Delac nodded, I told him most of the information about the labor camp.

It wasn't just church members, but also key officials like priests that had already infiltrated the labor camp. The demon king's descent was almost certain to take place. In such a situation, church members were competing to determine superiority.

I expressed all the information I was aware of and was once again struck by how absurd it was. I relayed the key details without any filtering, but I avoided mentioning Leone. That was partly because I was still uneasy about the fact that I was the Colorless priest.

Delac was expressionless, but he said when I finished, "It is ridiculous."

His expression and tone didn't seem to match the statement, but he seemed sincere. He knew that the Dark Pope was present, but he didn't seem to have been aware that so many priests had infiltrated.

He asked, "Do you know about the Golden Lord's plan?"

I replied, "She is planning to overturn the entire ritual by mixing in the blood of the lesser races, but honestly, I'm not sure that will work."

"Why?"

"I'm not sure yet. However, it seems that the church believers are even using lesser races as sacrifices."

Delac narrowed his eyes. He seemed doubtful of my words, but that came as no surprise. I would have been the same way too. I wouldn't have had this suspicion if not for the incident in the north.

However, the Dark Church was evolving. Those bastards had once only offered living sacrifices, but they had nearly summoned the demon king with corpses in the north. If they could use corpses, why couldn't they use lesser races?

I added, "I heard that Father is currently indebted to the Golden Lord."

"Yes."

"Then are you going to act according to the Golden Lord's will?"

At this, Delac looked down for a moment. He stared at the empty table for a while before slowly saying, "The Golden Lord will act soon. Even if it is late, she will try to wipe out 90% of the lesser races this month through a massive round-up."

"A round-up? Are you saying she will frame them and carry out executions?"

"There is a powerful monster beneath the labor camp. It has been three years since it has appeared, but no one has been able to defeat it yet."

This was the first time I was hearing about such a thing. I asked, "Why couldn't it be killed?"

"The reason is simple. They didn't have the ability to kill it."

If it was a powerful monster that no one had been able to kill in three years, it had to be at least legion-class or perhaps even higher.

Delac said, "Its strength is comparable to a demon legion commander."

"Mm."

The words "legion commander" made me shiver. It reminded me of the peculiar demon I'd fought in the north. Due to the demon that was accompanied by the sound of bells, many heroes, including the S-class hero Feed, had been killed or injured.

Delac continued, "The Golden Lord has been using that monster as some kind of executioner. It has the habit of never leaving the territory it has created underground.

"The Golden Lord has made one request of me. If the lesser races refuse to participate, I am to be the executioner and cut them down. I accepted that request."

I asked, "Is it because they are lesser races?"

"It is because they are prisoners before they are lesser races."

As expected, I tensed at the answer. I even swallowed down several words that were rising to my throat. It was no use blurting out a naive line like, 'They are living beings before they are prisoners!'

Even if Delac had lost his memory, he was still the Iron-Blooded Lord. I inwardly sighed, but I couldn't just accept it. Still, I wondered how I could persuade this man.

As I thought about it, Delac told me, "The date of execution that the Golden Lord decided on is the end of the month."

"Hm?"

"Today is the 17th, so there are under two weeks left. If you stop the demon king's descent before then, I will stop the Golden Lord."

"Huh?" I reflexively cried out.

Delac observed my expression and asked cautiously, "Isn't that what you wanted?"

"Ah, yes. That is true."

"I know you don't like this method. Otherwise, you wouldn't have gone through the trouble of infiltrating the labor camp in the form of a lizardman."

I stared at Delac with a dumbfounded expression. I'd never thought the day would come when this man would understand my principles of behavior.

I tried to hold back my nervous laughter. Then I remembered that the visiting room was soundproofed and laughed freely. "Hahaha..."

I stared directly at Delac, who had a rare expression of puzzlement. Until this moment, I hadn't known whether the choice to forcibly drag him to the south was right or wrong. I'd considered that it might have been better for him to carry out missions with the full support of Assad and the other elders. At the very least, that could have helped him regain his appearance as the family head.

However, Delac had changed due to the time he'd spent in the south, and the events, encounters, and experiences contained within it. The new stimuli had created different principles and thoughts in a man who had once lost his emotions, while also offering moments of reflection.

In that sense, it was impossible to know which of the two versions was more unhappy: the one who had lost his emotions or the one who had lost his memories. Perhaps neither of them was.

Delac asked, "Did I say anything funny?"

I grinned. "That isn't the case. I just hadn't expected to say this in my life."

"Hm?"

"That is very reassuring, Father."

"Mm." Delac nodded somewhat awkwardly. Then he looked at me and said, "I still have one more piece of information for you. In fact, I came to the labor camp in a hurry today to tell you this."

"What is it?"

"I have identified the location of the Dark Pope."

My eyes instinctively widened. He couldn't simply mean that the Dark Pope was in the labor camp. This place was just too big. What Delac was talking about was a more detailed position.

I asked, "Is it true? No, of course it is true. But how—"

"I was lucky. The one who knows the information came to me on her own."

"Ah."

Just then, I remembered what Leone had said. She'd told me that Dorothy had gone to have a conversation with Delac.

I wondered, "What happened to that informant?"

"Why?"

"I'm just curious. Did you kill her?"

"No. She is alive."

Why did that sound like the words 'For the moment' were attached? I thought.

In any case, it was a relief she was still alive. Dorothy's fate wasn't really my concern, but She was a woman with too many secrets. It seemed that there was still some information left to dig up, so it would be a shame if she died at this moment.

"Do you want to meet her in person?" Delac asked.

"If there is time later. By the way, has the Dark Pope's identity been confirmed?" I replied.

"She said she couldn't think of it."

"She couldn't think of it?" I repeated. Something about that answer sounded off.

"During the interrogation, her memory fluctuated again and again."

"Father's torture was too severe?"

Delac was stunned by my question, but soon shook his head. "Torture that breaks the mind is third-rate. My skills aren't that low-level."

A person who had lost his memory was saying this, so it didn't carry much weight. I looked at him with such eyes and Delac avoided my gaze.

He eventually said, "Above all, there was no physical pain during the interrogation."

"Aha."

Perhaps the Dark Pope had manifested Behemoth's power and directly interfered with Dorothy's memory. In any case, it was a good thing that this information had been delivered to me and Delac. There was a high probability that the two of us wouldn't forget the Dark Pope.

Delac coughed and said, "The Dark Pope is currently in the punishment building."