The banquet seemed as though it would never end.
"It was a little different from what I imagined, but not bad, either. After all, I wasn't there..."
Seated upright in the black chair, the Demon looked at Ruger and spoke unhurriedly.
He became a probationary Demon Hunter Wizard?
So you came after all?
Different from what he imagined?
Ruger unconsciously straightened his back. This Demon had appeared out of nowhere and said things that made no sense, but all he needed was an identity. Then none of it would seem inexplicable anymore, and everything he had said would fit together.
"Teacher?" he ventured.
That was the key to this entire string of mysteries: his nominal teacher, who advanced at an astonishing speed, had given him a token and even marked a destination on it, only to disappear without a trace-Lord Emmanuel Caputo, the disciple of the Demon Wizard who had, according to rumor, vanished long ago.
Once he matched the identity to the face, everything made sense. Ruger knew that "so you came after all" did not refer to his arrival in the Endless Sea. It meant that he had honored their agreement, accepted the invitation, and gone looking for his teacher. Of course, judging by the next remark from this teacher whose condition remained unknown, the two of them should indeed have met in the vast Black Valley Domain, surrounded by more than seventy Grotto Cities. It also seemed that his teacher had other plans for him after their meeting.
"Very good, my chief disciple."
The Demon smiled silently. He was about to say more when a voice beside them interrupted him.
"My lord..."
Zorn, who had been standing nearby for a long time, finally spoke.
Ruger stole a glance at him, then looked at Kurt. Compared to Zorn,