The Knight on the Run from Baldur's Gate

On the third evening, Marvin returned to Ahli with the fifth revision of the contract.

Over the past few days, Marvin had eaten and drunk well and rested plenty. He was in excellent condition, and even his complexion had become rosy.

But the Cambion girl had eaten nothing at all, relying on only three cups of water a day to sustain her vital signs.

Moreover, Marvin had deliberately mixed diluted holy water into her drinking water, causing Ahli to grow weaker by the day. If this continued, it would inflict irreversible harm and permanently lower her rank.

In the Nine Hells, where strength reigned supreme, that was fatal.

Although fiends were far hardier than mortals, she had already been seriously wounded and then subjected to such torment. Both mentally and physically, she was nearing her limit.

Marvin summoned Mage Hand and spread the contract before Ahli, allowing her to read it carefully.

He himself sat calmly to one side and waited patiently.

"Take your time, Miss Ahli. We can go slowly. It would be no problem to drag this out another ten days or half a month. For a contract that satisfies both sides, I can wait."

"A contract that satisfies both sides?" the Cambion girl shrieked. "My true name! You actually want to know my true name?!"

"I've heard that devils are very vindictive. To prevent you from retaliating afterward, I naturally need some means to keep you in check. Don't worry. According to supplementary clause 1.2.7, as long as you do not act hostile toward me, I have no right to punish you using your true name. That's fair. Also, according to clause 5.3.6..."

Already on the verge of collapse, Ahli finally yielded beneath Marvin's endless prattle. With great reluctance, she said, "Fine, stop reading, stop reading! I'll sign!"

Gritting her teeth, she branded her true name onto the contract.

A devil's true name was written in Infernal, an immensely complicated, multisyllabic word that could not be spoken in the common tongue at all.

Marvin carefully committed Ahli's true name to memory, then placed the contract—signed by both parties and bound by the planar laws of the Nine Hells—into his storage ring.

Watching Marvin go about his business at an unhurried pace, Ahli felt deeply unwilling.

A devil was actually toyed with and controlled by a mortal, forced to sign such an unequal contract. If that bitch Mizora learns of this humiliation, she'll have the upper hand over me for the next thousand years. I can't accept this!

And not just Mizora. If Archduke Zariel finds out...

Ahli shuddered. She suddenly realized that the fact a mortal possessed her true name absolutely could not be known by a fourth party. Otherwise, she would have no place left in the Nine Hells.

Having finally recognized and accepted reality, the Cambion girl's attitude softened at once. She looked at Marvin with a charming, alluring smile.

"Wizard, now that the contract has been concluded and you possess my true name, could you return my freedom to me?

"It would be even better if you could give me some food. Fresh fruit would be preferable. Just as stipulated in the contract, whatever information you wish to know, so long as it has nothing to do with Archduke Zariel's past, I will tell you everything I know."

"Even if you volunteered information about the Nine Hells' foremost general, I wouldn't listen. That would just be asking for trouble." Marvin shook his head.

When Ahli saw that he was so cautious that he would not even say the name "Zariel," she knew her little scheme was utterly useless. A sense of defeat immediately filled her heart.

Before long, Miss Wuke arrived in the stone chamber where Ahli was imprisoned, carrying food.

Glancing at the tray in the other woman's hands, Ahli smacked her lips critically. "Roast chicken leg, mashed potatoes, fish soup... Why is there no fresh fruit?"

"You'd best recognize your circumstances, fiend." Miss Wuke gave a cold laugh and made as if to throw away the tray.

Because of the tragic experience of their ancestor Nie Rong a hundred years ago, the Infennar Family had always remained highly vigilant toward creatures from the Lower Planes. Naturally, they had no pleasant expression for a Cambion showing signs of pushing her luck.

Ahli put on a delicate, pitiful look and turned to Marvin. "Wizard, you already know my true name, so strictly speaking, I am now your property.

"As my master, shouldn't you protect my safety? Right now, a vicious bald woman is threatening my life."

After saying that, she turned to Miss Wuke again. "Wizard, your bare scalp seems rather ill-suited to your beauty.

"How about I cast a spell and decorate that bald head with a pair of horns? What style would you prefer? Goat horns? Antelope horns? Buffalo horns?"

"Ahli, you'd best not try to provoke Miss Zorana. I'm sure that if she teaches you a lesson, she'll know exactly how far to go, so I won't stop her. Only after you've tasted enough pain will I heal you and make sure you don't die.

"In the end, all you'll achieve is needless suffering."

Miss Wuke cast the Cambion a glance like a victor, then smiled without saying a word.

Seeing that the two wizards before her were impervious, Ahli finally abandoned her little tricks. She grabbed a chicken leg and bit into it as if venting her frustration, then began honestly revealing the important intelligence she knew.

The first thing she revealed was a bombshell.

"I came to Blue Creek Valley to find someone—Ailei Tesil Sterman..."

Ailei?

That duke's daughter?

That female knight who had kept the adventurers of Friendly Arm running in circles and defeated time after time?

A storm surged through Marvin's heart, but his expression remained unchanged as he listened to Ahli continue.

She was a spy sent by Zariel to infiltrate Elturel. Her purpose was to stir up internal conflict within the city and create chaos in preparation for one of the archdevil's plans.

Mizora, another of Zariel's subordinates, had successfully seduced the son of Ulder Ravengard, the Duke of Baldur's Gate, into signing a contract with her and becoming a warlock in service to Hell.

Driven by rivalry, Ahli also wanted to find a young man of noble status and exceptional talent in Elturel to use as her toy.

The person she chose was Eruien of the Shining Blade Family.

It so happened that Ahli received another commission at that time.

An arms dealer from Baldur's Gate named Enver Gortash had contacted Ahli through a devilish intermediary. Offering six soul coins as payment, he gave her a task:

Travel to the region east of Friendly Arm, west of Sharp Tooth Forest, south of the Chionthar River, and north of Beregost, and search for Ailei's whereabouts.

"...When that duke's daughter went to Cloakwood Forest to undergo Lathander's trial, she was captured by a goblin tribe controlled by mind flayers. However, not long ago, when the mind flayers were preparing to implant a mind flayer tadpole into the female knight, she seized the opportunity to escape.

"The mind flayers have dispatched many people to search for Ailei Tesil, but they have found nothing.

"Yet somehow, Gortash learned the female knight's approximate location.

"He hoped to find that noble young lady first and use her to establish a connection with Duchess Sterman. Heh heh, ambitious mortals like Gortash, always eager to climb higher, are our devils' favorite kind..."

It seemed the devils and mind flayers did not share the same objective. They were merely mercenaries accepting a third party's commission.

That let Marvin breathe a sigh of relief.

Ahli had cleverly combined her two assignments. While enticing Eruien to become an adventurer and head to Friendly Arm, she sent her subordinates to search the Blue Creek Valley region.

They also took the opportunity to capture any isolated mortals and drag them off to Hell to be transformed into devils, replenishing Archduke Zariel's forces.

Then, by unfortunate coincidence, one of those hunting parties encountered Miss Wuke.

What happened afterward was something Marvin had experienced personally.

But he still had a few questions. "Do you know why the mind flayers were so determined to implant a mind flayer tadpole into Ailei? Could it be that the female knight was exceptionally gifted and would become especially powerful after transforming into a mind flayer?"

"Wizard, you've asked the right person. Whenever I accept a commission, I always make a habit of investigating every major force and figure that might be involved.

"Those octopus-heads hiding underground think their conspiracy is flawless and unknown to all. In truth, Hell's eyes and ears had already uncovered everything.

"The mind flayers who captured Ailei Tesil came from a mind flayer colony called Shell Rock City.

"Although I don't know its exact location, I learned that a traitor once emerged from that colony. It actually broke free from the elder brain's control and escaped to Baldur's Gate.

"It concealed its identity, infiltrated Duchess Sterman's side, and even became one of her advisors.

"The Shell Rock City colony hopes to transform the duke's daughter into a mind flayer and obtain her memories, thereby locating that traitor.

"And while they are at it, they can learn all kinds of confidential information from Baldur's Gate's upper ranks, preparing for a future invasion."