"Yes, perhaps a treatment for this heart disease really will be developed in the future. Unfortunately, I won't live to see it."
The unfamiliar tavern owner raised the glass of water before him in a toast to Shade. Shade said nothing more, rose, and left the tavern.
He did not immediately return to Kael-Todd Town. Instead, he stood on the docks, looking out over the sea surface crowded with Cargo Ships. The tavern owner had heard a voice from the deep sea, and, unsurprisingly, it was likely the work of the deity who had once voluntarily given Shade divinity at Green Lake.
In fact, after Shade received the aid of those three ocean evil gods during the Battle of Moon Bay, their relationship could no longer be considered hostile. It had at least returned to neutrality. This warning meant that, at the very least, the Beginning Deep Sea Drowner held a fairly favorable impression of Shade. The effects of their mutual understanding back then still endured:
"The Fishmen and Water Ghosts were also controlled by that Demon, so those low-ranking demons were probably its work as well. Forcing me into the House of False Men may have been the Doppelgangers' plan, but perhaps the Demon is the one truly controlling everything. The Doppelgangers are merely the thugs it put forward."
He turned and looked towards the towering Fatumonst Snow Mountain behind him. Though every past incident involving demons had brought different troubles, never before had there been so many changes. Even Stone Mirror Demon-Goth, the most difficult Demon Shade could recall dealing with, had merely hidden behind Osenfott, the Demon Man whose heart had turned to stone, and continually contested with Shade.
As his rank rose, Shade had thought that helping Doctor hunt demons would no longer bring any surprises.