The Awakened Shadow Demon

In the game, searching Veronica's corpse yielded the Letter to the Noble Red Society from Someone.

This was a guaranteed early main-story quest item. Using it directly unlocked the next stage of the main storyline.

And this "someone" was the agent of "a certain minister" who would later be implicated in the incident.

Iver couldn't remember exactly who this someone was, nor which minister it was... But knowing the general range was enough.

It was like how teachers marked out the scope of an exam in advance for the Final Exam.

After eliminating the people Iver had no impression of, along with those he knew for certain couldn't be involved, there were actually only three possibilities left.

The Minister of Finance, the Minister of Justice, and the Minister of Trade.

Their common traits were that all three were powerful and influential, over fifty years old, kind and amiable toward others, well-liked, and middle-aged fat men who couldn't see their shoes when they lowered their heads while wearing ordinary clothes—that was Iver's impression of this "certain minister."

It was a classic three-choice question.

One of the three had been bribed by a spy sent by the Stibium Kingdom and was secretly supplying the Stibium Kingdom with top-secret intelligence on a regular basis. The other two were innocent.

--The medium they used to transmit the intelligence was the Noble Red Society.

The Stibium Kingdom behind the Noble Red Society intended to overthrow the Avalon Kingdom--this was the main storyline all the way until Version 2.0.

This minister was the mole acting as the liaison between the Stibium Kingdom and Avalon.

A genuine traitor to his country.

The letters exchanged with him were naturally top secret. Something so important certainly wouldn't leave his person.

After all, there were plenty of thieves in Avalon. If something like this were stolen without a sound and then made public, they wouldn't have enough lives to survive the consequences.

If the letter fell into the hands of the Bureau of Supervision, it might not necessarily be useful. If he had planted a mole in the Bureau of Supervision, the letter might simply be disposed of.

But if Iver got hold of it, the situation was different.

He could follow the letter and trace it back to that "someone." Then he would know which of the classic three choices was the traitor.

...My master.

A deep, rumbling, hoarse voice like a lion that had just woken up rang out beside Iver's ear.

It was the shadow demon beneath Iver.

A slender black serpent made entirely of shadow, about as thick as a young girl's arm, crawled up Iver's left leg, waist, and chest before reaching his throat.

The shadow serpent's eyes glowed scarlet, and it hissed, sticking out a smoke-like black forked tongue.

Thus, the lion-like voice became as hoarse as a snake's:

What are you... doing?

"As you can see, destroying my own evidence of criminal activity."

Iver showed not the slightest fear. He didn't even lower his head to look at the black serpent coiled around his neck.

He merely focused on searching Veronica for evidence and casually replied, "As well as searching for evidence of other people's crimes."

When dealing with demons, one absolutely couldn't appear tired or frightened.

Because the more afraid and fearful you were of them, the more they looked down on you.

The so-called "demons" were not otherworldly creatures from the abyss as in other fantasy settings. They were a type of phantasm.

More precisely, only phantasms from the Path of Transcendence were called demons. But after the term became generalized, phantasms from other paths who committed evil, phantasms with the Dark Attribute, and phantasms that looked like demons were all broadly called demons as well.

Phantasms were special lifeforms without material bodies or lifespans, which belonged exclusively to a single path, possessed self-awareness, and had the potential to grow stronger. Most of them were born by drawing power from different paths, though a small number were transformed from living creatures.

Iver's younger sister Yulia was in extremely poor health. More specifically, she was in a state of near-perpetual fever--this was because a phantasm seed was gestating inside her. From this perspective, she could be considered a sacrifice for the birth of a phantasm.

A Demon Scholar who advanced incorrectly could also transform himself into a demon through a complicated ritual. In other words, he directly became a phantasm.

These were the two main methods of transforming into a phantasm.

Because orthodox demons all came from the Path of Transcendence, they possessed the pure trait of "seeking to surpass the strong and despising the weak." In other words, they were extremely proud, ambitious types with the strength and drive to act.

A demon that had signed a contract could gain experience in practicing its path while its master walked the Path of Transcendence. They couldn't accomplish this on their own.

That was because native demons lacked desires of their own--they had no goal they wished to surpass.

As long as their future was promising and they possessed a clear goal and sufficient strength... In other words, as long as they demonstrated the resolve and ability to walk the "Path of Transcendence," a demon wouldn't betray its master for the time being.

If a demon acknowledged its temporary master, then even if the master fell into dire straits, it wouldn't defect. It would even fight for him until the final moment. Demons didn't vanish along with their masters when their masters died, so demons weren't afraid of death. If the master survived an otherwise certain death, that powerful fate of overcoming adversity would greatly satisfy the demon.

Therefore, if a demon felt that you lacked purity, lacked ability, and had no future, and that you couldn't provide it with enough nourishment through your act of overthrowing those above you, it would start scheming about how to leave you.

It didn't sound like much. If anything, it was perfectly normal--if you thought your boss wasn't good enough, you simply changed jobs and companies.

But after signing a contract, a Demon Scholar's death was the only thing that could free the demon from his body. So once a demon grew dissatisfied with the master it had contracted with, it would find a way to kill him. Demons couldn't harm their own masters, but there were still plenty of ways to cause someone's death.

Many Demon Scholars only summoned demons slightly stronger than themselves. That was because they were too wary of demons and worried that they wouldn't be able to satisfy the demons' appetites.

But Iver wasn't afraid at all.

Because in Iver's eyes, these demons were like highly ambitious wage workers.

He found them extremely relatable.

Some capable and ambitious ones would seek out large companies—in other words, they would submit their résumés to high-level Demon Scholars. But some demons preferred responding to low-level Demon Scholars, like wage workers who enjoyed joining startups.

Some lacked sufficient ability and weren't wanted by large companies. These were Lower Demons and lesser demons. Some wanted to start their own companies but lacked the capital, so they invested their skills in startups, intending to seize power one day. These were high-level demons that deliberately answered low-level Demon Scholars' summons, drawn by the fact that their opponents couldn't control themselves. And some had simply been tricked into coming— they had submitted their résumés to a large company, only to be assigned to a subsidiary with lots of work and little pay.

It was like being summoned by a high-level Demon Scholar, restrained, and then handed over to a low-level Demon Scholar for a contract. In the Stibium Kingdom, where the Path of Transcendence was legal, that was how their mentors captured demons for their students.

Iver's shadow demon was this type as well.

Of course, the shadow demon's situation was a little more complicated--because Iver himself was the sacrifice that had tricked it into coming here.

The salary card had gained sentience and turned around to become the boss, basically.

If only the shadow demon were a little stronger... Once Iver fed it other demons as nourishment and let it evolve one more time, it would qualify to be sealed as a great beast. At that point, it would no longer be a demon, and it would be impossible for it to betray him.

But for now, Iver still needed to demonstrate his abilities.

...There was no helping it. It was currently a worker's market.

He still had to put on a performance.

Once they signed a lifetime contract later, he wouldn't need to fear the shadow demon turning on its master.

Although Iver had sealed the shadow demon with his wheelchair, it had remained in Iver's shadow the whole time. It must have seen everything that had happened earlier.

That was another purpose of Iver's journey--to stabilize this deceived job applicant by displaying his ability to plan, his skill with schemes, and his command of lies along the way. He had to provide the shadow demon with enough spiritual nourishment for it to acknowledge him.

"What do you think of me now?"

Iver casually asked in return.

At that, the black serpent around his neck melted and dripped down, transforming into a pure-black hound.

It affectionately rubbed against Iver's calf and let out a deep voice.

Perfect, delicious, excellent...

The shadow demon was clearly very satisfied.

The black dog opened and closed its mouth, speaking word by word with dramatic emphasis: I eagerly await your future... our future.

"--In that case."

Iver casually tossed aside the letter that belonged to him. "Destroy it, then leave."

Hehehe...

The shadow demon gave a deep, rasping laugh.

Several seconds passed before it replied: As you command... master.

I look forward to the next time you awaken me...

At that time, I hope to gnaw on real flesh.

The black dog leaped up and caught the letter in its jaws. When it landed, it sank into the swamp-like shadow and disappeared along with it.

The letter melted into nothingness inside it. Like a plastic bag held over a fire, it blackened, shriveled, wrinkled, grew smaller, and vanished without a trace.

Without a doubt, if what it had bitten were a living creature, it would have been dragged directly into the shadows and melted as well.

This was definitely not something Iver could accomplish with his level-one Shadow Ability. It was the result of the shadow demon taking action itself.

--The shadow demon was showing off its "hunting" ability to its master.