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“After that, we came to an agreement. I will never again devote my energy to something pretentious like conquering the human world.”
Conqueror of the human world had a good ring to it, but Keira didn’t know there was no real benefit in conquering a single race.
After all, the ancient history she had learned had frequent invasions.
Erez added when he noticed her puzzled look.
Erez: “It’s not like going to the human world is as easy as crossing a mountain. If that were the case, there would have been more merits. However, we can only go there by crossing a dimension, and it would take a long time to reach the place where humans active lived. So the costs far outweigh the benefits[1].”
Keira: “I see.”
Erez: “And wouldn’t it be possible to maintain an army only if there was a hostile race?”
“…”
It wasn’t part of the old story he told her, but Keira thought maybe that was the key.
Why would they eliminate beings beneficial to them just by living and breathing freely in another dimension far away?
Moreover, there was no merit in bearing such a disadvantage.
They had a high, long-held vested interest. So there was no need to go ahead and lessen their benefits.
Keira: “I didn’t expect that, but I heard that there were often invasions before the barrier was formed…”
Keira: “Because that was when we were young.”
Keira: “Huh?”
“It’s strange to see them still running at that age and wanting to fight.”
“It’s great to be full of energy.”
“It’s fascinating to see it sometimes.”
“Will they be held accountable if a sacrifice is made?”
Some demons reacted to Erez’s words with sarcasm.
As Keira watched them, she thought that their relationship could be as bad as the one between her grandfather and Count Weinberg.
The demons, gossiping with each other for a while, came to their senses.
“Ah, so that’s the important thing. It seems like they are plotting something in the human world, so it should be stopped. It will be troublesome if she instigates the young people to break the barrier and start another war.”
“Ah… there was an agreement between us in the past, remember? Can’t we just stop her from breaking the rules?”
Ajai: “Oh, there’s a problem with that too… don’t you think it’s strange how Ragibach got to the human world?”
The group paused at Ajai’s words. He continued.
Ajai: “Apparently, she made a contract with a human. We don’t know their exact terms. However, the problem is that even if we ask her why she’s in the human world and she says it’s because of the contract, we have nothing to say.”
“Wait.”
Then the devil with three eyes spoke.
“So there’s no evidence of what exactly she’s planning? So how can you be sure she’s re-invading the human world?”
“Yurr will explain.”
Then, their gaze turned to Erez. Keira looked at him curiously.
‘Why wouldn’t they be sure? We returned to the past. We wouldn’t have gone back in time if nothing had happened. Did he not tell them yet?’
Erez answered.
Erez: “That girl will explain it to you.”
Keira: “Huh?”
At his words, the demons stared at her.
‘Why won’t you talk about going back in time?’
She soon realized that he didn’t want to reveal his abilities.
Keira: “That’s because… Cosette, I mean Ragibach, has tried to break the elemental stone multiple times.”
Keira added that she thought Cosette had been aiming for Keira’s elementalist position and that it’s for more than just fulfilling a contract and trying to figure out the elemental stone’s location.
Keira: “The spirit stone is just a medium to prove the contract with the spirit. If she’s trying to find it, it means she wants to destroy it and try to damage the barrier.”
“Hmm… That’s suspicious.”
Keira: “If revenge were her goal, she would have just stabbed and killed everything. Why would she sit there in boredom?”
The demons gathered in the conference room nodded.
Because they’ve known each other for so long, they hated each other. But they also knew each other so well.
“By the way, that old woman went into the body of a young girl and acted all cutesy? I’d love to see that.”
“I want to record it and watch it whenever I’m depressed.”
“Is it the body that the contractor prepared?”
Erez: “Ah, that’s right.”
Erez suddenly spoke.
Erez: “Speaking of the contractor, we have yet to find out who Ragibach’s contractor is.”
“Isn’t it someone who practices black magic?”
Erez: “I thought so, too, but I couldn’t find a single black magician all over the country, and if they had signed a contract with Ragibach, I wouldn’t have overlooked it…”
“What if they’re already dead?”
“Oh, that’s a possibility.”
As Keira listened to their conversation, she stiffened.
Already dead. And someone who’d ask for revenge on her grandfather.
Keira could only think of one person who fit the bill.
One of the demons noticed Keira’s expression and said.
“I think that girl has something on her mind.”
“But if they’re already dead, there’s no point in looking for them. Are you going to dig for evidence and grab the bone?”
If Rowena really were Ragibach’s contractor, it would have been when she was pregnant when she first summoned the demon to the human world.
While the demons argued, Keira spoke up.
Keira: “I have a question.”
“What is it?”
Keira: “If the spirit of a demon enters the body of a dead human… Can it do anything more than move and live? For example, grow.”
As she spoke, she realized that the example was right there by her side.
The demons pointed it out right away.
“Of course. The point is to make the body look alive in the first place.”
“There is an example right next to you.”
“–!”
Yurr did say that when Erez had an accident when he was young, his soul escaped, so he took over the body.
But now, this Erez was an adult. Besides, seeing that he was friendly with the people in his family, Keira could only think that he had been in contact with them for a long time.
Keira remembered again the possibility she thought of when Count Weinberg had brought a witness–that Rowena Weinberg had twins.
Her grandfather said that a son was in Rowena’s stomach.
If she was pregnant with twins, what would happen to the daughter?
‘Perhaps the body the devil is using…’
What if the body Ragibach was using was her unborn half-sister? A chill ran down her spine at the thought.
Maybe that’s why she could control the spirits and why she looked just like Father.
But then.
“Well, it doesn’t matter who the contractor is.”
The demons interrupted her thoughts.
“I mean, there are circumstances in which she might want to destroy the spirit stone.”
Keira: “Yes.”
“Does that mean there is no concrete evidence to say that such a situation exists?”
Keira: “That…right.”
She had come to that conclusion because she thought Erez needed a reason to turn back time, but she didn’t have any specific evidence.
The demons shared their thoughts.
“We can’t go to the human world. You have to come up with concrete evidence first. If you want to cooperate with us, that will give us a reason to move.”
“Without evidence, we cannot punish our own people for violating an agreement between us by your hunch.”
“If there’s concrete evidence…”
“Proof that Ragibach is about to wage war again with the human world.”
Keira paused for a moment and said.
Keira: “If you can punish them just because they broke the agreement… Isn’t it the surest way to really just let the war start? You can stop them the moment they show actual movement.”
“Ah, that’s what it is. It’s a bit ambiguous.”
“We have agreed that the intervention of the goddess may cause fatal harm to the entire people, so it is forbidden to act at risk…”
“If you broke the real barrier, it proves that she can break it, too. Then the condition that it could cause fatal harm to the entire people becomes invalid.”
“…”
It was a little confusing, but after thinking for a while, she understood what they meant. Then, immediately, she found it absurd.
‘This guy… No, aren’t you being too open about how these devils didn’t really have a heart for their kind from the time they set the rules?’
If this were a meeting between human aristocrats, they would have pretended to be for the cause even if they had their own self-interests.
She felt another sense of culture shock.
Keira: “Anyway, to summarize– Evidence of starting a war should be found, but it would really be too late after the war has started.”
“Right.”
Keira: “Then…”
Keira pondered for a moment.
It would be impossible to obtain a confession from Ragibach herself. However, it was also unlikely to get testimony from people around her.
Except for Count Weinberg, it is unlikely that others in the family would know her true identity. Searching the mansion and finding physical evidence also failed, so all that was left was to find out.
Keira: “I’m going to have to move on my own and create evidence.”
“How? As I said, we can’t lend a hand, except for Yurr. It’s not that I don’t want to help, it’s that it’s impossible.”
“Of course, the reason, as you know, is because of the barrier.”
“But what does it mean to move on your own and create evidence?”
Keira: “I meant it literally.”
All she had to do was make Ragibach move.
If only one condition could be met instead.
Keira: “If I could find evidence, how quickly would you respond?”
[1] 배보다 배꼽이 더 크다 is an idiom that literally translates to “our belly button is bigger than your stomach.” It means the unimportant parts of what you want cost more than the thing itself