"In fact, the skull piece was inside the fiends' lair, so if my group wanted to take it, defeating the whole horde of fiends was unavoidable… but we couldn't do that with our own strength. There were just too many of them."
"After judging the terrain and the situation, we made a decision."
Alaric's voice carried a hint of hesitation.
Curry carefully assessed each of the slave's words and asked,
" A bait, right?"
The slave nodded.
"That's right, and I did it for myself."
Curry sighed, as if he had already predicted what the slave would say. Surely, given the situation, the slave was fit to be bait… but he wondered why. Why was the slave the only survivor? Unless some unexpected factor had intervened.
The slave spoke.
"Everything should have gone according to our plan, but… a rockslide appeared and… you know, I'm the only one who survived because I was just beyond its range."
Curry frowned, but remembering the location where the skull piece lay near the mountain, the tale the slave told him seemed plausible. Especially since his blessing had barely sensed any worth-noticed trace from the slave, combined with the slave's wretched shape, he didn't need to ask anymore. The slave was simply telling the truth, not lying.
He spoke up in a bored voice, seemingly gradually accepting that his Butler had died in an unfortunate accident.
"I suppose you climbed up the cliff wall or something. The pack of fiends after you must have caused that disaster by chance. But I understand your actions—it's not your fault."
He turned his attention back to the slave and spoke with a serious tone, slowly fading.
"You did well. It must have been hard for you to find the skull piece behind all those rocks."
''I respect your courage in taking the role of bait and surviving until now. As soon as we get out of here, I'm going to free you. And, if you want…I'll sincerely appoint you as a part of my team in future. I always need a bold and committed one like you.''
Seeing the slave's confused expression, Curry smiled.
"Ah, I'm sorry. Someone suddenly gives you that kind of kindness—it's hard to believe, right?.. I reveal to you my blessing to show my sincerity: I have an ability related to predicting suspicious and dangerous things."
Nearby, Morris just sneered at his friend's clueless action.
"Are you crazy? Revealing your blessing means showing your weakness. You'll regret it. I guarantee it."
Curry smiled softly and shook his head.
"No, you're wrong. If you're always on guard, you'll never have real allies."
Morris chuckled as if he'd just heard the funniest thing in the world.
"I don't want to hear stuff like that from you, you sly fox."
Curry simply shrugged. Sure, if anyone looked at what he was doing, it seemed stupid—but if he wanted to handpick a potential person, it wasn't a bad option. Besides, he didn't have just a single blessing.
"I'll wait for your answer, my partner."
The slave blinked, then quietly nodded. He needed time to settle his thoughts at the moment.
"Damn it… if I had lied at that moment, I would have definitely died. His blessing is basically a tool to check my real words…"
Indeed, what had saved him was his experience in lying. He had learned a lot from his old world. The best lie was a truthful word.
He always told the truth, but… just by saying what he wanted as long as it was the truth. Luckily for him, that sly fox hadn't asked too much; otherwise, he didn't know what would have happened. What if Curry had asked him: Did you kill my butler with your own hand? or What did you do with my butler?
He definitely would have had no way to answer other than telling the lie. It seemed his current broken, weak, and frail body was the main reason the fox didn't ask any further. Someone like him could never kill both summoners.
While he gulped, assessing that fox—the dangerous enemy he had just passed—Morris approached and asked Curry,
"'We should begin.'"
Curry nodded.
The final moment had begun. As soon as they pieced the three skull pieces together into a full skull, a scarlet radiance burst from the crimson sky and descended down.
The slave squinted to see clearly as the biting wind from the impact ran through his whole body.
"You cannot land lightly. I can't endure that cold wind anymore."
Regardless of what he said, the demon also did it
''Well done, the potential candidates.''
An eerie voice from the cloud of dust rang out. Then, the demon slowly emerged with a bare body as usual, but at this point, it was a bit different. Not by his shape, but by his expression. The demon gazed at the full skull with uncontrolled expression. With a flick of finger, the crystal skull hoveled slowly toward his palm.
''My original power.''
After five seconds, the entire skull was crushed into the demon's palm, the pieces of skull gleamed the light of a ghost making candidates feel shivering.Then the fragments swirled around the demon and formed pieces of gorgeous obsidian armor.
Eventually, a majestic and mysterious suit of armor had taken shape. He stretched his black feathered wings, occasionally swinging the longsword to reclaim the old sensation dulled by countless centuries of rust.
The slave gulped, trying to calm himself in this circumstance. However, when looking at the haunting and bloodthirsty smile behind the demonic helmet, he just felt a chill run over his spine.
''I have a bad feeling.''