242

Chapter 242 — Even in a Life Like This (5)

“What that man commissioned was information about himself.”

That was the information they had finally extracted after reaching a compromise.

The information broker, who had been driving a pole firmly into the ground, bent his knees and squatted down.

“What kind of information, exactly?”

“Exactly what I said. The Demon Knight bought every piece of information concerning the existence known as the Demon Knight. His past actions, speculation about his behavior, every question surrounding him.”

“…Why did he buy something like that?”

“You think someone buying information is going to tell me why?”

Deathbringer frowned at the information broker’s flippant answer.

After everything they had done, was the bastard withholding things again?

Or was he saying that because he genuinely did not know?

The two possibilities crossed his mind.

“Ah… now I understand.”

Meister, on the other hand, seemed to have realized something.

Both the information broker and Deathbringer whipped their heads toward Meister in surprise.

“What are you looking at?”

The prickly response came back immediately.

“You know?”

“Don’t tell me you actually figured it out.”

“Who knows. Let’s keep talking first, shall we? Or is that really the end?”

“You asked what information the Demon Knight bought. That’s the answer. So yeah, that’s the end.”

…Truthfully, Deathbringer wanted to grab Meister by the collar if necessary and shake out whatever was being hidden, but now was not the time.

Putting that conversation aside, Deathbringer kicked the information broker’s knee with the toe of his boot.

“You left something out.”

“I really don’t know why he bought it!”

“Not that.”

Deathbringer took over the task of driving in the pole and jerked his chin.

“Information about the Demon Knight falls within what I’m authorized to access. So why did you refuse to tell me?”

Not only could Deathbringer access the information itself, he could also find out who had purchased which information.

It was a privilege unique to Deathbringer, meant to help him select and track targets for execution.

So why had the broker hidden it?

Even knowing that hiding it would become suspicious the moment Deathbringer found out?

“…Damn it. Fine. Fine! Because it was a commission I never reported to the Information Guild, that’s why!”

“…The Guild would’ve had your hide if it found out.”

Even when the information itself was low-level, secretly selling information without notifying the Guild was still against the rules.

Only then did Deathbringer understand the man’s choice.

“You can keep things secret even from the Guild?”

“It’s possible. The problem is that if you do it and get caught, they cut your head off.”

“Hmm. Then why take the risk?”

“…It wasn’t my idea. He asked for it first. Since it was risky, he paid me a lot for it too. And more than anything, just look at what the request was. He wanted to buy information about himself. There seriously shouldn’t have been any backlash from a job like that.”

If someone sold information about another person, it was only natural for the person whose information had been sold to bear a grudge against the seller.

And if you were caught taking money on the side and had already been abandoned by the Guild, it went without saying how dangerous that could become.

“I don’t usually pull shit like this either. I only did it this time because I genuinely thought there wouldn’t be any trouble.”

“Hmm.”

“I mean it. How many people do you think I’ve watched die after taking under-the-table money while climbing this high?”

He really had seen far too many people die that way.

That was precisely why he normally tried to be cautious.

In the end, the Demon Knight’s request had seemed harmless because the man was merely buying information about himself, so the broker had accepted it.

“Besides, he’s… the Demon Knight.”

Of course, the fact that the Demon Knight’s previous commission had brought the Guild enormous profit had also influenced the decision.

Because this man happened to be the person in charge, plenty of benefits had flowed through his hands as well.

The Demon Knight might not have done it out of goodwill, but the broker had still profited enough to feel inclined to return some favor.

“As a member of humanity, how could I refuse to help someone standing on the front lines hunting demons? Besides, he wasn’t buying someone else’s information. He just wanted his own. I figured the least I could do was accommodate him that much.”

Not that he was about to confess all of that honestly.

The information broker shamelessly dressed up his motives, and the two who did not know the truth accepted the explanation well enough.

“Like hell an Information Guild member would be that much of a sucker.”

One person narrowed his eyes and remained suspicious to the bitter end, but regardless.

“So you really don’t know why he bought it?”

“I don’t.”

“You look like you do.”

“Goddammit, this is why I hate running into coworkers. Bastards never listen to a word you say.”

The information broker tossed out the complaint naturally, then lowered his voice as though checking their surroundings.

“Whatever… just keep your promise. Part of the reason I told you two was because I value my own life, sure, but I also want to honor my agreement with the client as much as I can.”

“If your agreement was to keep it secret from everyone, haven’t you already broken it?”

“Technically, yes. But it’s still not like the entire Temple or the entire Guild knows.”

If the Temple or the Guild caught him, how many people would learn that information?

Ten? Twenty?

“I think telling just you two and burying it here is still better than letting both organizations know. It’s the lesser evil compared to the worst outcome.”

Besides, neither the Temple nor the Information Guild was particularly well disposed toward the Demon Knight, while these two were different.

The information broker judged his choice to be the best one available.

“…Why are you protecting him?”

“Huh?”

“You’ve come this far. You must know by now that he has a demon inside him and that he ran away to avoid execution.”

Apparently someone found the broker’s best choice strange instead.

And understandably so.

The Guild’s policy was to sell information to anyone, but it also had a habit of subtly exposing information gathered that way whenever it decided someone looked shady enough that the person might as well die.

If it concerned something the Demon Knight had been hiding… there were quite a few branch heads who would have been inclined to approach the Temple and sell the information.

“Well… because he’s my client?”

But there was nothing especially complicated about why this man did not.

He felt somewhat sorry for the Demon Knight.

For that adventurer who, while stripped of his memories, had gone around slaughtering demons like some beast.

That was all.

So he was hiding the truth under the justification that the man was his client.

“You’re not going to give me shit over that too, are you?”

More importantly, these two were also moving around in secret without reporting anything to outside factions like the Temple or the Magic Tower.

They could hardly criticize him for doing the same.

“That’s not it.”

“Then we’re done here, right? I can go now?”

“You violated the confidentiality clause, so you owe a penalty.”

“What?”

“You took extra payment as hazard pay, didn’t you? Hand it over. I’ll give it back to Sir Demon Knight.”

“Goddammit……”

Deathbringer brazenly held out his hand.

In the end, the information broker reluctantly rummaged inside his clothes.

A pouch appeared shortly afterward.

“Maybe this is for the best. Figuring out how to dispose of the damned thing was giving me a headache anyway.”

Clack.

What rolled out was some sort of claw.

“You crazy bastard. You accepted this as payment?”

“If you’ve got a problem with it, complain to the guy who paid me! I was shocked as hell when he said he’d settle the bill with this too!”

The information broker shouted that much, then ground his teeth.

“I was planning to come to Bemurchen and turn it into money, but of course the damn city had to go and collapse……”

He seemed furious that all the trouble he had gone through to come here personally had amounted to nothing.

Though whether even that was an act or genuine frustration was impossible to say.

“More importantly, are we really done now? I can go?”

“Of course not.”

“Oh, what the hell now?”

“The information the Demon Knight bought. Sell it to me too.”

“Are you a stalker?”

“Shut up. Are you selling it or not?”

“Sh…it.”

But there was nothing more to be gained by holding onto the man here.

Deathbringer merely made it clear that, before letting him go, he wanted to purchase the same material the Demon Knight had bought.

There was nothing against the rules about that—the personal information concerning the Demon Knight could be purchased by anyone with enough money—so Deathbringer felt reasonably justified.

He might feel just a little guilty facing the Demon Knight afterward, but still.

“You want me to gather all of it again after I burned everything I collected……?”

“This time you don’t have to hide it from the Guild. The various factions are going to buy it anyway, especially the Temple.”

Now that the Demon Knight had fled, several organizations were bound to seek information about him simply to facilitate the pursuit.

Taking that into account, there was no need to make any special effort to gather the information in secret.

Everyone was going to learn about it eventually anyway.

“That’s true, but… haah. It’ll take some time.”

“How long?”

“A month?”

“That’s too long… Can’t you at least give me a rough summary of whatever you remember for now?”

“Do I look smart enough to remember all that??”

“You climbed high enough to reach your position. You can’t be that stupid.”

“Goddammit. Pay me more.”

Read only on MUGEX

Ultimately, the transaction concluded successfully.

It cost him a modest sum, but at least Deathbringer would soon receive whatever the broker could remember, followed later by the properly compiled information package.

“Damn it. Let’s never see each other again. And you know it’ll be a pain in the ass if the Temple hears that we met, right? Keep that Inquisitor from earlier under control.”

“Same goes for you.”

“Yeah, yeah. Now piss off.”

There was no reason to keep holding him.

Deathbringer and Meister let the man leave.

They had no concern that he would run his mouth; if he exposed them, the broker himself would be dragged down with them.

All that remained was to silence anyone who might have witnessed their meeting and spread some false information as a precaution.

“So, you know, don’t you? Why Sir Demon Knight bought that information?”

“I do. You don’t?”

“…No. Which is why I’m asking you to tell me.”

“Hmm. Don’t want to.”

“Are you kidding me?”

“Sorry, but I’m serious. I’ve got no reason to tell you.”

But before that work could begin, yet another compromise needed to be reached.

Deathbringer was appalled by Meister’s not-quite-betrayal.

“No, why……?”

“Why? The only reason I managed to figure it out just now is because of something the Demon Knight happened to tell me. And that isn’t something I can casually repeat. That’s also why I’m not telling you.”

“…….”

“You should’ve gotten close enough to him to hear things like that yourself.”

The problem was, yes.

Deathbringer had absolutely nothing with which to refute Meister’s point.

Unless someone made a profession of buying and selling information, it was normal not to go around talking about another person’s private affairs.

And it was also Deathbringer’s own fault that he had never become someone the Demon Knight would tell those things to.

“But I……”

“Separate question. I’ve been curious for a while—why do you follow the Demon Knight?”

Meister had questions too.

Judging both by the way this fellow talked and by the Demon Knight’s own attitude, the Demon Knight did not seem to assign much value to the people around him.

So why did Deathbringer follow someone like that so faithfully?

What did he like so much about him?

“Is there really a reason to care that much about someone who doesn’t care for you?”

There could hardly be anything more pointless or exhausting than waiting for an answer that would never return.

Even with those unspoken words hanging between them, Deathbringer’s rigid expression did not break.

“…What about you, then?”

After a long while, all he managed was the classic response of asking the same question back when one had nothing else to say.

“Me? I stepped in because I thought the Demon Knight was being treated unfairly.”

But Meister had plenty of confident answers to that question.

It was Deathbringer who had made the wrong move.

“Of course, now that he’s run away, whether his treatment was unfair or not doesn’t mean anything anymore. So I’m done defending him. If I kept doing it, I’d only get branded a heretic myself.”

“Then why did you come looking for the information broker now?”

“Because I was curious. Honestly, isn’t everyone like that? When something you thought would never change suddenly changes, people naturally want to know why.”

If one stripped it down, Meister had come this far with the mindset of a gossip-hungry spectator chasing an interesting story.

It was less about doing something for the Demon Knight and more about wanting to know why a person like the Demon Knight had made such a choice.

So there would be no next step.

Meister would no longer act for the Demon Knight’s sake.

Except, as basic human decency demanded, to protect his private affairs.

“…….”

Realizing that, Deathbringer bit his lip again.

『Have we failed?』

The regret shown for the first time by someone who had seemed utterly unbreakable resurfaced across his vision.

『Is there truly nothing I can do to help him?』

That impossibly stubborn, recklessly headstrong person, crying without even managing to make a sound.

『If salvation exists for him under the name of death, then I…』

The sight of light falling.

“…Can’t I do that?”

But did he have to give up?

That foolishly straitlaced person had broken down too.

Did that mean Deathbringer had to stop as well?

“Do you really need a reason to follow someone?”

Deathbringer remembered the candy that had suddenly been placed in his arms.

The candy he still carried with him because it was too precious to finish.

Its sweetness had been far too extravagant for the person he had been back then.

“If you tell me to explain it clearly, I could give you any number of reasons. Because I have things I need to apologize to him for. Because he isn’t someone who deserves what happened to him. Because he……”

Because… it had been so very sweet.

He wanted to share that sweetness with the Demon Knight too.

That was all.

“Were you really asking because you wanted an answer like that? Isn’t ‘it just happened that way’ enough?”

Truly.

That was all.

“No.”

At last, Meister lowered those eyelids.

“That can happen. Yeah. It can.”

For a single moment, those violet eyes took on a distant hue, as though picturing some time long past.

Brown lashes fluttered upward again.

“But… what are you going to do from here? Are you going to chase after him? You travel with the Hero.”

“…I don’t know. It’s not like I joined this journey because of the Hero in the first place.”

“You really have no plan.”

Meister shrugged at Deathbringer’s response.

“I still can’t tell you, though.”

The added remark drained the strength straight out of Deathbringer.

“But I’ll give you a hint. Unless your head exists solely as a flowerpot for your hair, you should be able to figure it out.”

“…What?”

“People buy something because they don’t have it.”

But disappointment had come too soon.

Deathbringer blinked at Meister’s hint.

You bought something because you lacked it.

And the thing the Demon Knight had purchased was information about himself.

Then the Demon Knight……?

“Oh, right. Take back the things the Demon Knight gave me too.”

“…Sir Demon Knight gave you something?”

“I needed something to show the Temple. There was no other choice.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“I mean… haah. Do I really have to spoon-feed you everything?”

I know you know a lot, and I know you’re smart, but damn, do you have to lord it over me this much?

Pouting, Deathbringer dragged a detailed explanation out of Meister.

Fortunately, it was not because the Demon Knight had valued Meister more highly and entrusted Meister with his possessions.

It was exactly what Meister had said.

There had been “no other choice.”

“This is……”

But when Deathbringer examined the things the Demon Knight had handed over to Meister—

when a thread bracelet, clearly braided by some child’s own hands and given as a gift, came to rest upon his palm—

Deathbringer could not stop wondering.

Was there really no other choice?

…Would a thread bracelet still be hanging from your wrist even now?

“…The Mountain Lord is moving.”

Before Deathbringer could finish sorting through his thoughts, Meister spoke while looking toward the scene in the distance.

With a deep rumbling sound, the Mountain Lord’s enormous body danced through the falling rain.

That long white body began surging through the storm.