Ruger thought little of it at first, but after a moment's consideration, he realized just how baffling it was.
The golden demon sipped his tea with a distinctive slurping sound.
"If I may ask, Lord Smith, have you ever revealed your Demon True Name under any circumstances?" Zorn asked.
"My wizard friends have always treated me with respect. They have never done anything discourteous. As you know, that name is very long. It isn't something I could casually let slip," the demon said in a deep voice, lowering his cup.
"Of course."
Zorn fell silent.
"Besides, I think it would be difficult to accomplish all this even with my Demon True Name. This is different from ordinary faith. With that, someone need only know roughly what I'm called and have a vague image of me, and they can hide away and pray. A faint trickle of faith power will reach me. But this is different. This isn't faith, understand? Someone is impersonating me to steal faith power from other gods, causing some of it to flow to me while he takes most of it... He isn't giving me a share simply to pin the blame on me. That's the baffling part. It's as though there really is another me. Otherwise, there's no explaining it."
Zorn remained silent, nodding to show he understood.
Ruger looked at the golden curved horns. In other words, there really was a thief stealing faith power. And now, they were following a different path from the wizards of the Foreign God Oversight Council, trying together to approach that ultimate target through different means.
"Have you ever assisted a wizard with any unusual experiments? Or have you been involved in any fierce battles here?" Zorn suddenly asked.
Smith, the golden demon, pondered the question, as though trying