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The smell of the demons?
As he watched Lydon lightly rub the tip of his nose, Cadel recalled a memory.
‘Even if the Fairy Tribe is cut off from the outside world, we can still recognize the disgusting smell of the demons without much information.’
The fairy king Hyron said he could recognize the movements of demons by their ‘smell’.
‘Can the Fairy Tribe smell the demons?’
If so, it meant that traces of demons remained in Baskin Village.
‘Or maybe the demons are still here. I'd better be careful.’
The identity of the demons was still unknown, but they were more powerful than any other monsters in the game. Take the Witch of the Temple of Depollo alone. If Cadel hadn't known how to defeat her, Cadel's life, as well as Lumen and Van's, would have been in doubt.
Cadel, soon anxious, looked down at Lydon and asked.
“Can you feel where the demon smell comes from?”
“Umm…….”
He lifted his chin and sucked in air for a moment, then stuck his tongue out as if he couldn’t stand it.
“It's everywhere. This whole village is disgusting.”
……The whole village? Were there enough demons to fill an entire village? No way. It wouldn't be the time for the demons to be active in earnest just yet.
The demon realm liberation story progresses at a fast tempo from the moment the protagonist creates an official knight order. Until then, only signs of liberation are visible and clues are left.
As Cadel pondered the flow of the story he couldn't remember, Van, walking ahead of him, called out to him.
“Commander! Look at this!”
As Cadel followed the shout, he saw his two subordinates standing in front of a private house. As he approached with a quick step, Van pointed to the front door of the private house.
An old wooden building with a small courtyard. It was a house that was torn down as if it would collapse at any moment, but there was something that stood out more than that.
“What…… the hell is this?”
The front door was old and decaying. Cadel's expression grew darker as he stared at the dark wooden door.
‘The door is rotten black. It's not just because it's old or poorly maintained. This green liquid spread over the rot……. This seems to be the cause.’
The door was streaked with grayish, rotting black marks, and a greenish slime that clung to them. The slime was quite viscous, and it followed the black marks and covered the entire door.
“Hmm? I guess this is the smell?”
Lydon, who was observing the door together, said immediately. He paused for a moment, then nodded in assurance.
“This slime smells like demons. In the outside world, do demons spit as they please? Ahaha! That's dirty!”
This place wasn't the back alley of the demon realm, and there was no way the demons would spit here and there whenever they were bored. But instead of correcting the facts, Cadel paid attention to Lydon's words.
‘A terrible foul odor, green and slimy. Demon’s saliva?’
He couldn't remember anything about the story, but when he pieced together the keywords that came to mind, he could deduce a culprit.
‘I'm pretty sure I've dealt with a demon with that kind of nastiness before.’
Cadel was so offended by the way it looked, let alone the skills, that he always left auto-combat on except for his first run.
Cadel, who roughly selected the candidates, pursed his lips in anxiety. As if he had come to his own conclusion, Lumen raised his hand over the scabbard.
“Something's not right. Let's take a look inside first.”
Van rolled his eyes at Lumen’s brash behavior.
“Are you going to cut the whole door down?”
“You can't knock on this filthy door.”
“Does that mean you're free to tear down other people's houses? Are your hands gilded, oh noble young master? If it gets dirty, you can just wipe it off.”
Van accused Lumen of being ‘the best at pretending to be neat young master’ and Lumen sarcastically replied ‘Then you can knock on the door’.
Lydon watched the two of them in silence. He scratched his head as if he didn't understand.
“What are you talking about? Anything that touches that saliva rots, hand or sword.”
There was a brief silence, and as they questioned how he knew, Lydon must have been around longer than them. He had the ability to recognize demons by their smell, so his information about the slime should be accurate.
Lydon moved forward, cutting through the two who had become silent. He snooped in front of the door with curious eyes, muttered something, and suddenly reached out and poked the slime.
“What are you doin―!”
“Yah!”
Wasn’t he the one who just said ‘Anything that touches that saliva rots’? Van and Lumen yanked Lydon away, startled by the unexpected behavior.
As Lydon was being dragged behind, he only looked at his fingertips where the slime had touched. A thin layer of ice was covered like a thimble over his fingers, and the slime, as thick as his fingernails, sizzled and melted the ice.
Lydon shook his hand lightly to shake off the slime along with the ice and turned his head.
“Hmm. I guess I'm not going to be able to do much with my mana now. Cadel!”
“……Huh?”
“I think we'll have to burn the whole door down to see what's inside.”
Cadel, who was immersed in his own thoughts, belatedly came to his senses. The gaze that followed Lydon's words to the door was quite serious.
‘None of the residents are wandering around outside, which means they've either fled somewhere or are still in their houses. If it’s the latter, then…….’
The entire door was covered in slime so one couldn't even knock. The intention was simple and clear.
A kind of barrier to block outside help. Of course, it was for isolation, not protection.
‘I don't sense any activity in the house, which is not a good sign if anyone is home.’
They might not even be able to move. A village covered in demonic slime. Not a good sign.
Worrying from the back of the group, Cadel drew on his mana, thinking carefully.
‘Maybe they're already dead.’