Chapter 19 - News
"Hmm."
Inside the cave used as a research lab, the biotechnician Golche's groan echoed.
"I finished, but…"
"Where?"
Beatrice narrowed her eyes, looking at the body tissue diagram Golche had placed on the desk.
"He seems tougher than other humans, but I don't see any clues that would allow him to overcome the sealing circles."
"Well, of course."
Golche said with a bewildered expression.
"No matter how much of a Hero he is, he has no physical body, so I could only draw based on the memories you injected."
"Are you saying the memories I gave you were inaccurate?"
"No, it's not that..."
Golche quickly waved his hand.
"The injected memories were a bit vague."
"Isn't that the same thing?"
"It's different."
Golche explained the details.
"He shouldn't be able to use holy power properly because of the sealing circles, but his heart was beating fine."
"His heart was beating fine? That seems normal, doesn't it?"
"You really don't know much about the human body."
"What?"
Beatrice stared with a cold gaze.
Golche avoided her eyes and quickly drew a human figure on a piece of paper he brought over.
And then he drew another thing: a heart.
"Right now, the flow of holy power in that person is disrupted. Even if you restored the channel a bit, it's only a temporary measure."
"Yes, I know that."
"But the strange thing is that ordinary humans usually die quickly if the flow of holy power is disrupted."
This is because the accumulated holy power can reverse or stagnate, damaging organs. In particular, the heart, which acts as a pump to circulate blood throughout the body, tends to fail almost immediately as blood pools or clots.
"The Hero's heart, which haphazardly gathers holy power, is in a normal state now? That itself is abnormal."
After finishing all his explanations, Golche chuckled.
"If there are no errors in the memories you gave me, then he has a secret, whether he knows it or not. Something chilling."
"It's not particularly chilling, so don't try to set the mood."
Beatrice said with a calm face, tapping her chin with her index finger as she listened to Golche.
"The fact that he survived an execution isn't normal to begin with, is it? I already suspected there might be a reason."
"Is that so?"
Golche, who had wanted to surprise Beatrice, spoke in a slightly disappointed tone, but as if he hadn't finished what he had to say.
"Anyway, we need his body to find out what happened."
Golche picked up his saw again, his eerie eyes gleaming.
"Cutting, reattaching, then cutting and reattaching again, while keeping him alive for the research…"
"..."
"...That's a method used to torture humans, isn't it?"
Golche changed his attitude in an instant.
"If I have his body, there's a lot I can find out. Even without opening him up."
"Hmm. Are you playing games?"
"No."
Although he wanted to dissect the former Hero thoroughly, he was a monster who knew how to value his own life.
"There really is a lot I can find out without causing much harm to the body. Look at that."
He pointed to an object that looked like a large coffin.
"It's a Magnetic Resonance Imaging device made by acquiring various artifacts."
"Magnetic Resonance Imaging?"
"Hehe, you wouldn't understand even if I explained it. It uses magnetic fields to measure information reflected from the human body."
He had utilized all the information he had gathered from dealing with countless humans, and by taking advantage of the chaotic war between demons and humans, he had obtained ancient relics and experimental methods, gaining knowledge worthy of being called a true biotechnician.
"My job isn't just repeatedly cutting and reattaching."
"As if it were that simple."
"Didn't you seek me out knowing who I am?"
Beatrice was silent for a moment at Golche's words, then spoke.
"Yes, whether it was infamy or renown, your name was well-known even within our Demon King's army."
"That's right. There's no one among us with skills like mine."
"Good."
Beatrice nodded.
"I'll let you meet Clay."
"Really?"
"But not here."
This place wasn't suitable for the dignity of the one who would become the Demon King.
"I'll have to take you."
"What?"
"And all the tools here too."
"W-wait."
Golche extended a hand.
"This is my hideout. I can't leave a place I've painstakingly built..."
Rumble, rumble, rumble.
But Beatrice's dragon eyes had already begun to glow red.
Amidst the vibrating surroundings, she spoke.
"Are you talking about a hideout that's about to collapse?"
CRASH! BOOM!
Stalactites attached to the cave ceiling fell haphazardly.
Golche, almost impaled by a stalactite, screamed.
"You crazy woman!"
"Yes, that's right."
Beatrice revealed her teeth with a smile.
"Wasn't I once called the Mad Dragon?"
Only then did Golche realize.
"Damn it..."
Whose hands he had fallen into.
♧
"So you brought him here?"
In front of the main gate of Barungenia, the Demon King's Castle.
Clay muttered with a voice full of bewilderment, looking at the patched-up giant known as the Butcher.
"This guy?"
The biotechnician.
That's what he heard, but the person in front of him seemed far from such a profession.
Even if you overlooked the stitched marks, his face was full of madness, and he held a saw in his hand.
To anyone, he was nothing more or less than a monster born to kill humans.
"Don't be too prejudiced based on appearance. His abilities aren't bad."
At Beatrice's words, the giant's eyes rolled.
As if asking if she was really the one to say such a thing.
"Well, honestly, I don't particularly like his appearance either, but you'll get used to it after a while."
"Heheh, how absurd."
The giant let out a hollow laugh.
"I have a lot to say, but first, let me introduce myself. I am the biotechnician, Golche."
With that, he extended his saw instead of his hand. It was an act no different from a provocation, but Clay didn't mind.
He had already heard there would be many challengers.
This wasn't even serious.
"Golche."
Clay called his name and slowly moved forward.
"Rin said you wouldn't be able to achieve anything."
"What?"
"She said she, as a magic scholar, could solve my problem."
At the fabricated story, Golche's brow furrowed tightly.
"Hmph! That little kid has a poor understanding of your body; she'll only make you sick!"
"Really?"
Clay approached him.
"Can you do your job?"
"My job?"
"I don't want useless people around me."
A moment of silence passed at his words.
Golche was the first to make a sound.
"Kuk, heheheh, heheheheh."
He shook his body as if he couldn't suppress his laughter.
"It would be better to enlist one more member of the Demon King's army. Is it time to be so picky already?"
"It is."
Thwack!
Suddenly, Clay thrust the hilt of the sword he had received from Kardine into the stitched body part on Golche's chest.
"Gah!?"
The seam split open, and the hilt burrowed into the stitched area.
"Golche, do you know how I defeated the demons?"
Clay applied more force to the sword hilt.
Golche, already struck in a vital spot, swayed, unable to maintain his balance properly.
"Information."
It was information about the demons.
Things like how to efficiently attack them, and the weaknesses of named individuals.
"Excluding the Demon King and the Four Heavenly Kings, there were many ways to subdue them even with less power. Golche, I certainly collected information on you too."
"St-stop."
"But..."
Clay mumbled.
"Conversely, you don't know much about me."
Before his death, he had never considered humans as enemies, so the information he had was naturally limited to what he knew from being born and active as a human.
"It's not that you know nothing, but there's a qualitative difference from what I know."
"Ugh! G-get this out quickly..."
"If you pull it out, you admit defeat."
Clay said with an expressionless face.
"Will you admit defeat with just this one strike?"
Golche gripped the saw in his hand tightly and glared at Clay.
'I can move.'
He could swing the saw and certainly deliver a powerful cut to this insolent human.
However,
'Interesting.'
The sight of him not acting like a weakling despite being weakened, and the fact that he possessed a destiny strong enough to return from death.
'I want to dig into this.'
If he were to make a foolish decision with such an interesting subject in front of him, the name of 'Biotechnician' would weep.
"Oh, next Demon King."
Golche said with a grin.
"I admit defeat."
Then Clay tilted his head slightly.
"Really?"
"Really."
"That's a shame."
Thwack!
"Gak?"
"I thought it would be good to find out how much I can do right now."
Golche looked at Clay with a dumbfounded expression as he quickly pulled out the sword hilt, expressing disappointment.
"That's recklessness."
"You only know by trying."
Clay looked directly at Golche.
"I always just try, and I've always gone all the way."
He truly was a foolish human.
That's probably why he could even aspire to become the Demon King.
"Next Demon King, now that I've agreed to your proposal, I want to relay one piece of news."
"What is it?"
Watching Clay tilt his head again, Golche chuckled to himself, as if anticipating his reaction.
"They say Yuru attacked Marpein."
"I know."
"Yes, You know… What?"
Golche's eyes widened.
"How do you know that?"
"Through the beacon left by the previous Demon King."
He said calmly.
"Back then, there wasn't much I could confirm, so I sent Gargoyles to dig up more details, though."
"You saw the beacon?"
Beatrice interjected.
"Did you see Yuru directly through it?"
Her tone was worried.
Clay let out a hollow laugh, looking at her.
"It's fine. Whatever that person does, it has nothing to do with me."
"Still, you could have waited until I returned."
Watching the two of them, Golche mused.
'It was true.'
Beatrice really cared for Clay.
It didn't seem to be just out of mere interest.
'Even when asked why she set up the former Hero as the next Demon King, she remained silent.'
Could one of the Four Heavenly Kings, once known as the Mad Dragon, have absurdly become emotionally entangled?
There was certainly nothing to go on for a guess, so Golche merely scratched his head.
"Beatrice!"
Just then, Rin burst out of the Demon King's Castle.
"Gasp! It's real!"
She spotted Golche and shrieked.
"You really came back with this monster!"
"Kid."
Golche swung his saw through the air.
"Watch your mouth. I was also part of the Demon King's army. There's no problem with me being here."
"Why did you bring him when I'm still making the reagent?! What if he just messes up Clay's body?!"
"Looks like you want to be butchered."
It was then, as Golche raised an eyebrow, annoyed at being called a quack.
"What? She kidnapped the Crown Prince?"
Beatrice gasped, having heard the rest of the news from Clay.
"The Crown Prince of Holy Kratia?"
"Yeah."
Clay said softly.
"They'll start fighting among themselves soon."
For him, that event was now nothing more than an opportunity.
"In the meantime, we should introduce Yuru as a demon's pawn."
To further fuel that conflict.