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Chapter 58
Because It's Painful
Ferda asked Chancellor Bernard.
Ferda brought the alcohol bottle and all.
"What is this?"
"I brought it thinking you might need it."
"The whole bottle... you mean?"
Е́ n ú mа.
"It's a hard day, isn't it?"
Literally speaking, today is a hard day.
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Except for when he drank dozens of cups of coffee, his heart, which had never once pounded roughly, was hammering against his ribs.
He couldn't calm down.
Bernard grabbed the bottle neck with trembling hands and downed it straight.
Gulp gulp gulp
Е ń_ŭ m̃ă . і̊ḋ
Whiskey over 60 proof, no less.
He felt the pain of his throat burning, but the bottle only left his lips after he'd downed half of the hard liquor.
"Thank you for saving me."
"No need for thanks."
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"May I ask one thing? This just won't... won't leave my head no matter what, so I have to ask."
"Go ahead."
W̆е̄ bn̂о v̇ е̊l̂ Eñ uṁ ă
"How... how did you know I'd be in danger?"
How would he have found out.
It was the technology that the now-dead Tesalos Wolcheo had sung praises of so much.
But when it was suddenly announced that the technology was wrong, no one was more furious.
Appropriate anger made everything clear, and it made Tesalos Wolcheo realize.
-Bernard wasn't the Bernard from back then.
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But by then, it was already too late.
It couldn't be proven, the technology disappeared, and Bernard ended his life as the worst chancellor.
Anyway, Ferda recalled that memory, and thought about when the chancellor would be in the most danger.
The moment he was in the most danger was, as expected, when he returned to the city.
'Got lucky.'
Because the surveillance that might have lasted longer was quickly resolved.
Ẃe b ň.оṽе̇l Е n ü m̂ а̀
Ferda answered that question.
"I have ears that hear too."
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At the familiar-sounding words, Bernard laughed hollowly.
"Damn it, everyone has places they hear from, so why can't I hear anything..."
"That's not the only thing. A person like the city's chancellor came without even bringing an army? Being exposed to danger was a given."
"Because it's not efficient."
Ё n̄ũm̆а̂ .і̄ḋ
"To nobles, efficiency is a stupid thing."
"Right. Now that today's come, I'm feeling it in my bones. Those bastards who say who likes attacking the Escolleia Chancellor will taste hell starting today."
Bernard's face turned bright red.
With anger and drunkenness, he was severing the thread of reason.
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"To think... demons would be targeting me. The demons you get mocked as a delusionist just for mentioning... to appear right before me..."
His eyes moistened as if he'd cry any moment.
W̃ӗḃ ǹ.о vе̌l_ Ѐ nu m а̀
"Don't cry."
"Hic, sob, I'm sorry."
Ferda watched Bernard wiping tears with a displeased expression.
"Anyway, you must have realized this now. That demons are constantly watching for a chance to lead this continent to the path of destruction."
"Yes..."
"This continent must become wholly ours. Even if it's not ours, it must not fall into demon hands."
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"You're absolutely right."
"So let me make one proposal."
He held out his hand to Bernard, drunk on alcohol and emotion.
"Lend me that technology called the demon appearance prediction device."
In an instant, Bernard's fuzzy head sank heavily.
"Lend it...?"
Ӗ n̆ ŭm а̀. і̀d
"Exactly as I said. The blueprint and mechanism to manufacture the monster appearance prediction device."
Polite, but those words were tantamount to demanding he hand over everything.
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The moment he heard that demand, he reflexively understood.
"Is that... how it is?"
Bernard asks with a trembling voice.
"What do you mean?"
Е̄ ṅu m̌ а̌
"Putting surveillance on me, waiting until I fell into danger, and."
A finger tapping the half-remaining bottle.
"Giving me this strong stuff by the bottle too... it was all a scheme to get my technology, wasn't it?"
A dirty trick to shake him up and make him emotional.
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He must have been hoping even that single thread of reason hanging precariously on a pinky would snap.
Ferda would deny it.
Е n̆ um̈ ӑ.і̃d̈
Like all nobles hiding their intentions, he'd deny it and try to start a verbal dispute.
He was selecting words to refute, but there was no need.
"That's right."
Ferda readily admitted it.
Bernard, emotions running high, kicked his chair and stood.
He raged, raising his voice.
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"Making a suffering person emotional to get what you want...! Have some shame. Valdrova Regent!"
Unlike the raging Bernard, Ferda asked calmly.
"Why should I be ashamed?"
"Why should I be ashamed, you ask?! You think using a person's life like that would win you favor!?"
"If I wanted favor, I'd have sweet-talked you. Seduced you with words that don't even work. But I don't give a damn about your favor."
Where Ferda's gaze indicated was Bernard's head.
Еń u mа̄. î d
"The reason I want you alive is solely because that technology is in your hands."
"So I survived because I'm useful?"
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"You almost died because you knew that technology, but you lived because of that technology. Is that so surprising?"
He couldn't refute it.
He almost died because he was useful, and he lived because he was useful.
But that's saying there's nothing else besides that.
Еn̊ ùm.а . id
Bernard couldn't stand being treated as that kind of human.
"You...! You're not even human!"
He pointed with a finger wavering from drunkenness and moved.
Pressing his soles against the floor, he walked to the door.
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"If you leave here, you die."
Bernard's steps stopped.
Wẽ b ṅо v е.l Ӗ n̊u m а́
Those words, containing gloom, seemed to bind his feet like a noose.
"Are you threatening me right now?"
"No. I'm just stating facts. If you wander around this late at night, you'll get eaten by monsters, not demons."
"I'd rather get eaten than stay in a place like this!"
Ferda set down his teacup and stood from his seat.
"Then everything you've built will collapse in vain."
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Bernard's body flinched.
Those seemingly callous words weren't Ferda's selfishness.
Bernard, it was his own inner heart.
"I heard the one who attacked the chancellor mimicked the chancellor. What could one do with the chancellor's appearance?"
"....."
"They'd silently destroy only what the chancellor knows. Blueprints and records would become a handful of ash scattering in the wind. As if... nothing had existed from the start."
W̃е̌_b̄ ñо̂ v̂е̌ l Е̃ñu m̄ а̃
"..."
"Then what? What would someone wearing an incompetent chancellor's face do? He'd sit at the desk without permission, lie in the bed. Wave the pen around, stamp approval seals. Spend budget like water trying to destroy you and the city."
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"Uuuuh..."
Bernard sank to the floor.
To Bernard, Escolleia and research were his wife and son.
Imagining that wife and son breaking without him knowing was horrifying.
Е̊n u m̌ a
"Heuk, keuheuheuheuk..."
Bernard finally burst into tears.
He curled up, trembling violently.
He is isolated and lonely.
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"I'm someone who declared I'll conquer the Demon Land. Demons are my enemy, a cockroach-like race that must disappear."
Ferda held out his hand.
W è b ǹоv_ѐ l̊ Е n̄ u̇m̆ã
"To achieve that dream, I need that technology you have."
Bernard looked down at his hand.
The Ferda Valdrova he knew was a 3rd Circle mage.
But his hands weren't the soft hands typical of magic noble scions; they had calluses.
He was a person of a knight family.
And once, he was someone who dreamed of being a knight.
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That dream was frustrated, and he became the Duke's fiancé.
Ironically, Bernard felt honor and trust from that palm.
"I'll share the blueprint and mechanism of the item I'm making. However..."
Bernard poked his own chest with a finger wavering from drunkenness.
"This knowledge is wholly mine. Make that point clear."
What Bernard insisted on was his copyright.
W̃.е̃ bn̄ о̌v̈ е l Ё n̈ ú mă
"Don't even put a spoon on it" was his warning.
Copyright is a scholar's pride and everything.
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So to Ferda, it was nothing.
"Your name will surely remain in history."
* * *
Ferda headed to the Consillus territory with Chancellor Bernard.
Е́.n̈ ũm a .і́ḋ
When Bernard returned to Escolleia, the plan was for Arwen to treat him well first, then escort him.
"How's the chancellor?"
Ferda asked Count Consillus sitting opposite.
"The priests say the shock is big so he needs to rest one more day. Things that die from high blood pressure or heart attacks almost died by someone else's hand for the first time, after all."
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"Is that so?"
"More than that, his body's ruined from drinking too much alcohol too suddenly. Like he binge-drank somewhere..."
Ѐ n̂ u m̊а
"I gave it. It's that alcohol you gifted."
"You gave the whole bottle?"
"He downed half right there."
"Why such a barbaric thing..."
"Because it's painful."
Ferda sipped his tea.
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"He'd be in agony enough to die, so I gave it."
"It's a miracle he didn't actually die."
"Resting is good, but send him to Escolleia as fast as possible. There's something I need to get from him."
"I'll tell Arwen."
Consillus made a bewildered face.
He recalled the fact that just a few hours ago, when Ferda's carriage entered his castle, he'd seen something amazing.
Еnū mа́ . і̆ d̈
"Anyway, I've seen thousands of monsters in my life, but demons... this seems like the first."
"No need to be surprised. I hadn't seen one either."
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"Above all, this is the first time there's a demon that mimics humans."
Demons have three prominent characteristics.
Pointed teeth, red eyes, and black skin.
"I'm thinking perhaps you confused it with a doppelganger."
W̃ eb́ n̄о̀v̌еl̈ Ё n̊u m̃ а̀
"Doppelganger."
"If it has no form and mimics appearance and voice, it can only be a doppelganger. Chancellor Bernard was confused and flustered."
"So it could have been a mistake."
"Yes."
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It was a reasonable point.
Ferda heard those words and thought deeply.
W е b n̄ o̊_v е l Е̌ n̆ ú m̄ ӓ
"Do you know the difference between a doppelganger and the original human?"
"Since they mimic appearance, they can't mimic what's inside clothes. So we strip them to check."
"Right. But this bastard apparently perfectly replicated even the inside. Even the genitals."
"Check even the genitals...?"
"If you do it half-assed, you get properly screwed."
"Right. Anyway, if even the genitals are identical, it's not mimicry but practically cloning."
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"Not just that. From that bastard, the exact same mana as Chancellor Bernard was felt. Not mimicking Bernard, but becoming him itself."
"Became him itself... hard to tell apart. Sir Jed's discernment seems remarkable."
"Got lucky."
He was thankful he was bald, and once more thankful that he kept his head polished shiny.
"So you're keeping that doppelganger demon bastard well?"
"Yes. We secured the restraints tightly, and ordered the executioner to torture."
Ẽ nu m̂а.. i̊ d̂
"Still doing it?"
"Yes."
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"How many hours passed?"
"Started right after arrival, so about 4 hours."
Ferda placed his index finger on his chin.
"How long until we extract information?"
W̆ e b̂_n̊ о ṽ.ěl̇ Е n ūm̊ а
"A skilled technician. If you give two days..."
"To my temperament, even one day is too long."
"I'll tell him to do his best."
"No."
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Ferda stood from his seat.
"My temperament's hasty, but throwing a fit when there's a solution isn't efficient."
Ẃĕ b nо̆ v̂ë.l̈ Ě n̂u mǎ
"Are you saying you'll personally torture?"
"I have some expertise in that area too."
A noble said he had expertise in torture.
But it wasn't surprising.
Because Ferda was the person who killed Tesalos Wolcheo without blinking an eye.
"Can I use the alchemy workshop?"
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"Yes. But poison ingredients aren't sufficient, will that be okay?"
"Fine. I'm not making poison anyway."
"Ah, then you may use it..."
Ferda walked to the workshop, and Consillus watched his back.
'If not poison, what medicine is he making... huh?'
Thought was eaten by question.
Е n ûm a. і̂d
What his eyes saw was Ferda's back growing distant.
Something could be seen wriggling and moving on his back clad in black clothes.
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"Got old and seeing all sorts of hallucinations."
Consillus rubbed his eyes and stood up as if it was nothing.
* * *
Deep underground prison of Count Consillus's castle.
Ѐn ù m ā
The executioner wore a black hood and performed his duty.
The man with Chancellor Bernard's appearance hung in a wretched state.
Bound to a steel torture rack with even tendons severed, even with a knight's strength he couldn't easily escape.
Excluding the executioner and prisoner, no one came to this place, but an unexpected noble guest entered inside.
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"I greet Valdrova Regent-nim."
"Mind if I see your skill?"
Е.ǹ ŭ m ā
"Yes, you may."
The executioner withdrew, and Ferda walked.
His appearance was wretched beyond words.
Face swollen, body covered in bruises.
"Impressive."
Ferda muttered.
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"The skill to inflict pain without killing is amazing."
"...You flatter me."
The executioner flustered at hearing praise for the first time in his life.
This area was truly an unpleasant zone close to hell.
To enter such a place without hesitation and say "impressive."
"Your role ends here."
Ẇ é b n̄ ӧ.v.e l Еn̆ ü m̈ á
"Haven't gotten information yet..."
"I'll do it myself. It's a labor fee."
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Ferda handed the executioner three gold coins.
Stunned by the sudden large sum, but what to do was clear.
The executioner left, and Ferda dragged a chair over and looked up at the bound man.
Eyes tightly closed, head drooped.
W̃ еb nо̇v̌ӗl Е̌n̄ūm̄а̊
"I know you're still conscious. Since you became a demon, shouldn't you stop living pretending to be a weak human?"
Then the man with head drooped lifted his head.
Unlike his puffy swollen face, his eyes weren't dead.
In Ferda's eyes, a light called interest began to turn.
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