IBYVS 50

Chapter 50

I was honestly a bit surprised by Cedric’s words.

How did he know that Mephisto was the Grand Demon, Lord of Deception?

“Wait… you’re saying this is… the Grand Demon, Lord of Deception?”

Caleb pointed at Mephisto, who would later become his business partner.

“Hey, you don’t talk like that about a prospective mentor,” I thought.

Yet it seemed that Caleb already knew about Mephisto’s existence.

“This can’t be. How could someone like this be a sage of Indigentia?”

Huh? Sage?

I was left dumbfounded at Caleb’s words.

It was right after Cedric had completed the oath of loyalty ceremony.

He had now officially become a member of Indigentia, swearing his loyalty directly to the family’s deity.

Once this oath is made, a person becomes an embodiment of Indigentia itself.

In other words, they can respond acutely to everything happening in the Grand Duchy.

As soon as Cedric emerged from the underground, he sensed a dark aura.

“Edwin, I’m going ahead.”

“Huh? Where to?”

Cedric didn’t answer and suddenly vanished.

He arrived at Caleb’s room—just as the chandelier was about to fall.

Despite being a mage, Cedric’s athletic reflexes rivaled a knight’s, and his visual acuity was excellent.

He immediately raised a protective barrier, shielding Elia from the debris of the shattered chandelier.

What he faced next was something peculiar.

Cedric instinctively recognized it:

‘Mephisto?’

Hanging on the corner and puffing, it was none other than the sage bound to Indigentia—the Grand Demon, Lord of Deception, Mephisto.

“Wait, wait a minute,”

Elia interrupted the flow after hearing Cedric’s story.

“So, Cedric drew his staff even though he knew that thing was… like a guardian of the family?”

“Yes. Even if it’s a sage, I couldn’t just let him torment Caleb.”

“But didn’t you take the oath of loyalty? If you harm Indigentia, won’t your bones and flesh be consumed?”

“That’s true. But if I can reduce my brother’s suffering, I can manage it.”

“Brother…”

Caleb seemed touched by Cedric’s words and choked up.

“But I… I wish you didn’t get hurt either. So please, don’t do that again.”

“Got it.”

The brothers tightly held each other’s hands.

Watching this, Elia muttered an incomprehensible “Ohh.”

Then she gestured for Cedric to continue.

Clearing his throat, Cedric began to explain.

“The Indigentia family has a long and proud lineage. They gained the Grand Duke title through a royal marriage with the Iflicent Empire, but even before that, they were dukes.”

Elia listened with the curiosity of a child hearing an old story from her grandmother.

Caleb, having learned this in a family history class, seemed less interested.

“In the past, when the Elfinum Empire, the nation of fairies, ruled the world, wars with other races were common.”

The royal family of Elfinum was fairy-blooded, so the existence of non-human races was not unusual.

“They were at war with dwarves, renowned Vikings, over the river flowing on the western border.”

Predicting Cedric’s story, Caleb quickly drew a picture with crayons.

A stocky man wore a horned helmet, braided orange beard, wielding an axe bravely.

“Though composed entirely of dwarves, they had excellent weapons but slightly lacking intelligence,”

Cedric tapped his own head.

“They couldn’t handle humans and fairies. So, they resorted to summoning demons said to exist in the lower or demon realms. They sought demons with intelligence on par with humans and fairies.”

Caleb quickly drew a Viking dwarf lying atop a magical circle.

He seemed to have a talent for drawing.

“The Elfinum royal family judged that if the dwarves succeeded in summoning demons, there was no hope. The demon’s terrifying power combined with dwarven weaponry would make them invincible.”

A black silhouette with horned features wielding magnificent weapons appeared on Caleb’s drawing.

Thanks to Caleb’s drawing, Elia could more easily grasp the complicated history.

“The Indigentia family was chosen to prevent the demon summoning. Gravity magic, being the strongest magic on land, was perfect to face demons from other realms.”

This time, there was no drawing. Caleb seemed unsure how to depict it.

Frowning in thought, he looked adorable, prompting Elia to gently pat his head as she listened.

“But demons were stronger than humans, and even gravity magic alone couldn’t defeat them. Just before the mage corps faced annihilation, a demon proposed a deal.”

With Elia cheering him on, Caleb quickly drew a smiling demon extending a hand.

The depiction was impressive.

“‘You’ve blocked me so well… teach me your gravity magic. I won’t harm you, and I’ll even help you develop your abilities.’”

“So that demon was Mephisto.”

“Yes.”

Elia glanced at the floating, opaque soap-bubble-like figure.

“To avoid annihilation, Indigentia allied with the demon. Of course, the Elfinum royal family wasn’t informed. They couldn’t say the knights sent to hunt demons became the demon’s knights.”

It could have been seen as rebellion.

Elia nodded at Caleb’s drawing showing humans and demons shaking hands.

“Of course, no secret lasts forever. Rumors of Indigentia and the demon spread. But thanks to Mephisto, gravity magic could be refined considerably. Indigentia fully protected Mephisto, even making him a sage.”

Cedric stroked his chin as he spoke.

Elia thought:

‘So it’s not unusual that Mephisto became Caleb’s mentor in the original story. I thought it was some transcendent friendship thing…’

She had assumed Mephisto appeared to Caleb merely to deceive the world.

‘Turns out, it’s all about bloodlines, connections, and study.’

Even the pact with the Grand Demon seemed just a matter of practicality.

The history of Indigentia wasn’t in the original story, so she had no idea.

Well, readers didn’t need to know the roots of the villainous family or recent history.

“But in the book, he was so powerful and cool-looking…”

Caleb muttered, staring at the floating, deflated Mephisto.

Thankfully, it seemed more disappointment than trauma.

Then, suddenly:

“That’s rude!”

Mephisto, who had been quiet, shouted.

He hadn’t been unconscious, just restrained.

“Apologize!”

Somehow, he floated above the three of them, still trapped in the opaque bubble-like form.

“Why should I apologize? You’re a sage of Indigentia, yet you tormented me. I’m the Grand Duke, you know.”

Caleb’s exasperation made Mephisto shrink back a little.

“Th-That’s… because I was… hungry…”

Mephisto said pitifully.

Cedric and Elia exchanged bewildered glances.

At least they realized Mephisto was rather trivial.

Elia asked:

“You mean you made Caleb have nightmares because you were hungry?”

“Woman, why are you speaking informally? And it’s all this woman’s fault I was hungry! That’s why I tried to kill him! She’s bad!”

Mephisto said indignantly.

Elia, puzzled, asked:

“Why do you speak like that?”

This wasn’t in the original story.

Elia muttered to herself, but thankfully no one heard.

Mephisto, enraged at the critique, went berserk.

“Woman! Insolent! How dare you point that out to Mephisto!”

“Geez.”

Elia got irritated hearing that. Imagine a deep baritone voice, yet with such words.

When Elia stood up incredulously, Mephisto flinched and flew behind Cedric.

Even though Cedric had tried to kill him, Elia seemed scarier.

“Hmm.”

But Cedric didn’t hide Mephisto. He slyly tilted his upper body forward.

“Eeek!”

This caused Elia and Mephisto to confront each other directly.

Elia glared through her pink jewel eye, and Mephisto muttered pitifully:

“I-I am a great demon, with the perfect nine eyes of a sage… th-That’s why I boast…”

In Izanae’s magic, nine was considered the greatest number of all.

Ten was considered incomplete, being 1 followed by 0.

Thus, nine was seen as perfect and supreme.

The magical circles went up to nine, which explained why a demon with nine eyes would boast.

‘But why is he so pathetic?’

As Elia thought this, Mephisto wailed:

“Why are there fairies where I, Mephisto, am? Fairies and demons are natural enemies!”