"Besides that, it threatened me. If I told the Church about this in any form, my soul would suffer eternal torment."
The old curator's tone revealed boundless exhaustion. Shade could understand what he had done, but not the demon's actions. "Even then, it never considered simply killing you?"
"You may think it was toying with me, or you may think it was arrogance."
The old man spoke with his back bent. Shade now knew his entire story, but aside from learning that the demon was truly powerful, he had gained nothing especially useful. "Arrogance, is it? It disrespects the gods and kills without restraint. I'm not with the Church. You can tell me about this, and I won't inform them. So what exactly were the results of your research back then? What did you discover?"
"My memory was damaged."
Mr. Fernandes rubbed his head. "I only remember that I found out 'it' was some kind of ancient evil spirit that had existed since antiquity, older even than our Common Calendar. Also, the destruction of the ancient small kingdom once located on this land, the Stoneville Kingdom, was connected to it. It was an existence capable of overturning an entire nation through evil power alone."
It had previously been only a guess, but now it was confirmed that the destruction of the Stoneville Kingdom had been related to that demon.
"Then how can I continue investigating? I need help."
Mr. Fernandes nodded. "It fears crosses. Not ordinary crosses made of two wooden sticks, but crosses with special power. That is the only knowledge that survived in my mind. My instinctive desire to protect myself made me remember it. Or perhaps it wanted to give me hope, only to plunge me into deeper despair."
As he spoke, the old curator showed Shade