"Three days. That's the absolute minimum I'm willing to accept. Frankly, even if all I gained was Shiroyasha alone, this trip would still be worth it."
Pest raised three pale, slender fingers, her expression calm yet resolute. Three days was her limit.
Ren Kuroda didn't hesitate.
"One day. Yes, Shiroyasha may be the strongest here—but we have no shortage of five-digit powerhouses on our side either."
He met her gaze evenly.
"We're wagering our freedom against you, and in return we only get three days? That's hardly fair."
"And let's be honest. The reason you want to stretch the suspension period as long as possible is to ensure the participants are too weakened to resist."
His tone sharpened slightly.
"But I can tell you this with certainty—aside from a small handful of people here, almost no one else poses any real threat to you. And the ones who do pose a threat? They just happen to be the kind who won't collapse from the Black Death."
Ren spread his hands lightly.
"So whether the Gift Game restarts in a week or in a single day won't change the outcome very much."
The Black Death originated as a human plague—a rat-borne epidemic. Naturally, it was most lethal to humans.
But among Ren's group… how many of them were even normal humans?
That wasn't to say Pest's Gift was weak—far from it.
The Black Death could infect other races as well.
But there was a condition.
Pest's own power had to surpass that of her target.
If she wished to infect physically powerful races with the Black Death, her strength needed to stand above theirs.
Pest fell silent for a moment.
Then—
"Very well. One day it is. The Gift Game will resume after twenty-four hours. And if you lose… all of you will become members of my Community."
After careful deliberation, she accepted Ren's proposal.
The reason?
She was tempted.
And she knew he wasn't wrong.
From the very beginning, the core of this Gift Game had never been the seven-digit Communities of the North District's lower levels. The real contest lay with the people gathered in that conference hall.
Extending the suspension to a full week would only result in the deaths of some insignificant fodder. The true threats wouldn't diminish at all.
If that was the case, she might as well trade for terms that benefited her more.
There were indeed many five-digit elites among Ren's side. If she won this Gift Game—even as a rookie Demon Lord—acquiring Shiroyasha, Ren, and the others would catapult her into prominence within the Demon Lord Alliance.
She would become its brightest rising star.
And there was another advantage to this decision.
It would make the participants' second victory condition far harder to achieve.
Truthfully, if she allowed them a full week to analyze and unravel the mystery, Pest wasn't entirely confident in her odds.
She had sealed Shiroyasha through clever manipulation of the rules, and at first she had been brimming with confidence.
But then she realized something troubling.
Aside from Shiroyasha, there were several other troublesome opponents among them.
Even more concerning—this group didn't just have strength. They had brains.
Izayoi's earlier analysis had nearly brushed against the edge of the so-called "True Inheritance."
After weighing it carefully, Pest concluded that granting them a full week to solve the riddle would be foolish.
But one day?
With only twenty-four hours, she was confident they wouldn't uncover the "True Inheritance."
Even if her side was inferior in raw combat power, simply defeating her through strength alone would be meaningless.
As long as the True Inheritance wasn't established, 『GrimmGrimoireHameln』 would remain undefeated.
Meanwhile, on the other side—
As Pest departed, members of 『Salamandra』 and the others hauled in stacks of books. The room quickly filled with the rustling of pages as everyone began searching for information related to "The Pied Piper of Hamelin."
They had one day before the Gift Game resumed.
They couldn't afford to waste a single moment.
"Break the false inheritance and establish the true inheritance."
How exactly were they supposed to interpret that victory condition?
If the 130 children who died in the Grimm fairy tale from the Black Death represented the "true inheritance," then how were they meant to shatter the false one?
Despite Jin and Izayoi staying up through the night, combing through countless volumes, the only solid lead they uncovered was the origin of the 『Hamelin's Piper』 Community within Little Garden.
The so-called 『Hamelin's Piper』 was actually the name of a subordinate Community belonging to a greater Demon Lord faction.
That faction was known as 『Fantasy Grimoire (Grimm Grimoire)』—a group led by a prodigious summoner who had once summoned demons from more than two hundred magical tomes.
『Hamelin's Piper』 was merely one chapter among those grimoires.
Pest, Weser, and Ratten might simply be demons that appeared within one of those books.
Ren leaned back slightly, arms folded.
"I haven't been in Little Garden very long," he said slowly, "but I'm not a complete rookie anymore."
"If Weser and Ratten are demons summoned by that summoner, that's believable."
He paused.
"But that spotted loli earlier—judging from the aura she gives off, she's no mere demon."
"And as a subordinate Community of 『Fantasy Grimoire』, 『Hamelin's Piper』 is just one volume among over two hundred magical books."
He glanced around at the others.
"If Pest alone has reached the level of a five-digit Demon Lord… can we interpret that to mean 『Fantasy Grimoire』 contains at least a hundred Demon Lords?"
The room went quiet.
"Come on," someone muttered.
"These are Demon Lords. Not stray cats or dogs."
"If there were over a hundred Demon Lords, how terrifying would 『Fantasy Grimoire』 even be?"
"And the summoner who called forth over a hundred Demon Lords from more than two hundred grimoires… what kind of absurd existence would that make them?"
"A three-digit? No… could they even be a two-digit?"
At Ren's speculation, everyone who had been flipping through books stopped.
They all looked up at him, stunned.
Because what he said made perfect sense.
"So where's the mistake?" someone finally asked.
"The leader of 『Hamelin's Piper』 being a Demon Lord can't be wrong. You all saw the black contract at the start."
As leaders of 『Salamandra』, Sandora and Mandora were undoubtedly the most anxious people in the room.
Several members of their Community were already showing adverse symptoms.
Clearly infected with the Black Death.
And as the newly appointed Floor Master of the North District, if such a catastrophe spiraled out of control under Sandora's watch, her position would be finished before it had even truly begun.
So when Ren voiced his theory, they clung to it.
Desperately.
Unless—
Izayoi suddenly snapped his fingers, a look of realization spreading across his face.
"Unless Pest—the Black Death Demon Lord—isn't originally from the story of the Pied Piper of Hamelin at all."
He grinned.
"That would explain everything."