The Demon's Temptation

When Hai Na returned from the Tavern Basement, she felt as though she had nearly eaten her fill of dust.

When she went down, she was actually quite tense and uneasy. Hai Na kept feeling that there might be traps, mechanisms, or curses in the basement—or perhaps some familiars were being kept there, or she might even see a Synthetic Beast in a jar.

But to her disappointment, after carefully searching for a long while, she found nothing at all.

There was not even the altar covered in blood and severed limbs described in novels. Apart from a few places that showed signs of habitation, everything was covered in dust. The things taking up the most space were all kinds of liquor bottles and barrels she did not recognize.

The double bed in the corner was damp and moldy, probably because of the poor ventilation and lack of sunlight. She even felt a little sympathy for these Demon Scholars—their quality of life was far too poor.

She found the copy of Alchemical Cipher that Iver wanted with ease.

It looked very much like a textbook, thick enough to cover a semester of required lessons. It was only about two fingers thick and a palm and a half long. Unlike a textbook, it had a special dark-red leather cover that felt like cowhide.

It looked expensive at a glance.

It had to be worth... at least ten White Coins, right?

Perhaps more, but that price alone was enough to make someone think about stealing it.

Iver was far too lacking in life experience—if he went out carrying something like this, people would definitely set their sights on him. Even a thief who knew nothing about the supernatural world or forbidden knowledge could easily judge the book's value from its material.

Besides, that evil Bald Female Sorcerer must have cherished the book as well.

It had been placed on the bedside table, next to a wineglass filled with clear water—one of the few dust-free places in the basement.

Clearly, the dangerous Bald Female Sorcerer from earlier had been reading the book just before they arrived.

Hai Na had indeed seen a Ritual Site in the open space of the basement. To clear room, the tenants had obviously moved all the wine barrels into the corners. Two of them had even been stacked upright on top of each other, making room for this vacant area, which was only about five paces in diameter.

Inside a Ritual Circle, ten names of unclear significance had been inscribed. Strange geometric patterns had been drawn in the middle, and she could barely make out that one of the markings meant "moon."

There was no blood or severed limbs above the Ritual Site, either.

She saw only an empty swaddling cloth lying quietly in the exact center of the ring. To be safe, she did not lift the cloth.

But to prevent the ritual from activating on its own, she first used the sword in her hand to sever all the ritual lines. Only after completely destroying the Ritual Site did she dare begin investigating.

This was also the method they had been taught at school—if they saw a ritual arranged by a follower of the Path of Transcendence, they were not to casually step inside or remove anything from it. First, they had to lightly cut across every line with a sharp object that had been blessed or cursed. For example, with a circle, they could cut it once anywhere; a triangle required three cuts, and a hexagram required six.

Hai Na remembered this knowledge very clearly.

That was because, while learning it, she had been gripped by the thrilling illusion that she was fighting demons. She had carefully studied everything from techniques for dealing with illegal supernatural practitioners to methods of fighting demons.

But now, with graduation approaching, she had only just learned from her colleagues that... in reality, more than ninety percent of Inspectors might never see a living demon in their entire lives. And if they did see one, they probably would not live long enough to brag about it to anyone else.

That was because a demon could not manifest alone. When a demon's summoner died, the demon would be banished back.

This meant that whenever a demon was discovered alone, the evil sorcerer who had summoned it would definitely be nearby—and had most likely already noticed them. Yet they might not have been able to find that person.

And when they truly encountered such a powerful enemy, the matter was generally handed over to the White Gloves of the Court of Inspectors. It was not their turn to act.

Thus, Hai Na had fallen into an intensely frustrated mood.

She clearly possessed a great deal of professional knowledge, but in reality, she had no use for it at work.

Most of her work consisted of checking taxes, verifying all kinds of identification documents, maintaining public order, inspecting sanitation, identifying safety hazards, and confiscating prohibited goods. It was meaningless, extraordinarily busy work with none of the excitement of adventure.

Most of the time, she did not even need to draw her sword. Ordinary fools and thugs could be fixed in place simply by shouting at them. As for anyone who could not be stopped by a shout, they at least required a human-wave tactic—facing an enemy who could not be swiftly defeated alone was a serious violation and would earn them confinement.

And once the human wave arrived, there was even less need for swords. In such situations, close combat with criminals would only make it harder for her teammates to intervene. Using guns was much more efficient.

As a result, the combat tactics tested during recruitment were practically useless.

Hai Na was extremely dissatisfied with this.

If she had known the Bureau of Supervision's work would be so boring, she might as well have joined the army and become a Sky Knight!

Her griffin had already been going through the procedures for two months, yet she had not even seen a single feather! Hai Na had originally dreamed that once her equipment and griffin arrived, she would ride it in armor with her sword at her side and show off at school. She would look incredibly cool. Her classmates and juniors would surely gather around to admire her heroic bearing, and the teachers would surely hold her up as an example to instruct the younger students—

...But now, it seemed she might not even get to touch her griffin before graduating.

Hai Na coughed as she pushed the door open with her left elbow. Her right hand gently fanned the air in front of her, while her left carefully carried the book, as though she were carrying a tray holding teacups.

She saw Iver sitting safely and obediently in his wheelchair, far, far away from the corpse with its horrifying death expression, as though he were afraid of the smell of corpses.

"Does it smell very fishy?"

Hai Na asked casually as she came over and handed the book to Iver. "Put it away quickly... An Inspector from the Lloyd District will be here soon. Don't let him see it."

As she passed the corpse, the intense smell of blood surged through the air, making her cough even harder.

"This is the one. Thank you, upperclassman!"

Iver happily accepted the book and replied sweetly.

The corners of Hai Na's lips lifted slightly. She liked the feeling of being needed.

She had not noticed it during the battle, but now that she had nothing to do, her eyes kept drifting toward the corpse. The smell was also growing stronger, choking her more and more.

Finally, Hai Na could not stand it anymore. She tugged a piece of white cloth from the nearby table and covered the upper half of the female sorcerer's corpse.

"If you found it unpleasant, why didn't you cover it?"

"Because I thought we needed to preserve the scene..."

Iver spoke hesitantly. "Wouldn't covering it with cloth destroy the evidence on the corpse?"

"What?"

Hai Na froze.

She glanced back at the corpse and instinctively felt that he seemed to have a point.

...But why had the school never taught her about this? Unable to think of a reason for the moment, she turned around and stubbornly said, "There's no need to worry about clues. We already know she was shot to death by you... What is there left to investigate? I saw it all clearly. I'm a witness myself, so we don't need any other evidence.

"Of course, this isn't your problem. Your shooting was a brave act of righteousness. I'll make that clear to the Bureau of Supervision."

At this point, she could not help sighing— Iver really was an obedient, polite good child.

Completely unlike herself.

Hai Na sighed sadly.

So she decided to come clean after all.

She hesitantly spoke up. "Mr. Iver."

"What?" Iver froze for a moment.

"There's something I need to apologize to you for..."

"No, no, there's no need to be so formal, upperclassman... Aren't we friends?"

"That's precisely why I have to tell you."

Shame appeared on Hai Na's face. "When I was looking for your book downstairs, I couldn't resist flipping through a few pages."

In truth, she had been worried that the book might contain some kind of curse or deadly poison.

She felt that she had a strong constitution, so she decided to test it herself.

But there was no need to say that aloud. It sounded too much like an excuse. It was better to simply admit that she had wanted to read it.

...Because she really had wanted to read it a little.

If this had been Hai Na before today, she would certainly never have accepted the temptation of such heretical teachings. But on the way here, after hearing Iver's words, she had suddenly felt that she might have been too rigid before.

Wanting to become an "upperclassman"—that was a thought belonging to the Path of Transcendence. Thinking that Iver was handsome, elegant, gentle, and cultured— that meant she had been influenced by the Paths of Beauty or Love.

By the same logic, after seeing this book and becoming curious... that meant she had been infected by the Equilibrium Path and the Path of Wisdom.

The Equilibrium Path represented knowledge and science. It was a path of understanding the world through equal observation. The essence of the Path of Wisdom was connected to mystery, rationality, and the pursuit of truth. All of this was perfectly normal, a part of being an ordinary person.

There was nothing to be ashamed of.

What truly deserved an apology was touching someone else's possessions and reading someone else's book without permission.

And what made her feel ashamed was... she had to admit that some of the contents of the book really were appealing.

She had only flipped through a few pages, yet she had become immersed in that mysterious and wondrous world, broadening her horizons considerably.

Hai Na had spent about fifteen minutes downstairs, more than ten of them reading the book. But she could only skim through it once before feeling that she had to go out and take a look... Otherwise, Iver would surely be frightened to be alone in a room with a corpse.

Besides, this was the Lloyd District, where public order was poor.

What if criminals arrived outside at a time like this? Iver was too frail to protect himself properly. If he fired a shot, he might accidentally kill someone.

Killing a Demon Scholar was nothing to worry about—in fact, she might even be commended for it. But if he shot a civilian to death, he might end up in prison.

And what if there were more of them? He probably did not have many bullets left. He might also be afraid to fire, or his weapon might be taken away...

With these thoughts in mind, Hai Na had hurried upstairs in great concern, only to find Iver safe and sound.

Then she began to itch with curiosity again.

That first reading had done nothing to satisfy her thirst. Instead, it had only made her more curious.

"I'm a little curious."

After taking a deep breath, Hai Na frankly admitted her desire. "I still want to look at... that book.

"Can I come to your house and see it sometime afterward?"

"But as an Inspector, if you keep coming to our house for no reason... that wouldn't look good, would it?"

Iver politely declined. "Whether for my father or for you, upperclassman, it would lead to some gossip. You know that some Inspectors do take money from merchants and engage in actions that are obviously biased—my point is, even if you haven't done anything, you wouldn't be able to refute such accusations once people made them. Because what you were actually doing would be even harder to explain."

"...That's true."

Hai Na nodded dejectedly. "You're right."

"But," Iver changed tack, "you saved me, helped me get revenge, and even helped me retrieve this book. In terms of both emotion and reason, I have to thank you for your help.

"So if you want to read this book, you can invite me out at regular intervals during your free time. You should know the kind of relatively private space I mean, right? If that doesn't work, I can also bring it to school. There are always places like that at school."

Iver narrowed his eyes and revealed a kind, gentle smile. Like a cunning fox, he patiently lured her in. "Work must be tiring sometimes, right? If there's anything you want to complain about, or if something major has happened at the Bureau of Supervision recently, you can tell me about it and chat with me then."

She was actually interested in alchemy?

Iver's heart stirred. Now that he knew her personal interests, things became much easier. Hai Na could easily become the informant and spy he planted in the Bureau of Supervision.

...It really was much harder to learn good habits than bad ones.

The originally upright and righteous Hai Na had been so easily tempted by him the instant her firmly held beliefs wavered.

He wondered who the real demon was.

Perhaps it was only his imagination, but Iver felt that if he became a demon, he would probably be much more professional than a shadow demon.

When Hai Na heard this, she was extraordinarily grateful.

She respected Iver's generosity and his considerate gentleness, which made him put himself in other people's shoes. Before she knew it, she had begun using honorifics with this junior of hers. "Thank you, Mr. Iver! But... wouldn't this trouble you too much?"

Iver merely smiled and waved his hand. "It's fine. It's no trouble. This is called mutual benefit.

"—After all, I'm also very curious about the Bureau of Supervision's daily work."