All Mutual Admiration Was an Act

Constantine paid the price for his offensive and irrational behavior, earning Lynn's forgiveness in a special way that let them both understand without saying it.

Once the two of them could finally sit down and have a proper conversation, Lynn learned the full course and cause of the matter.

Constantine was a magician, or a sorcerer if one preferred. He was proficient in many forms of magic and collected and voluntarily safeguarded numerous magical artifacts.

Because of certain boasts and mistakes from his younger days, Constantine had to atone for his actions. In his words, he had what it took to be a bad guy, but had been forced into becoming a good one.

Lynn remained skeptical of that.

Capturing demons that escaped into the human world was what Constantine did most often in the course of his redemption.

For certain reasons—though mostly out of greed—humans were easily tempted by demons. Some were tricked into helping set up magic circles and opening small passages from Hell into the human world. Others had it worse, being deceived into becoming vessels for demons.

Constantine had recently been hunting a demon that had luckily escaped from his grasp. According to his calculations, the fugitive should have been a very powerful demon, one of the rare high-ranking demons capable of coming to the human world.

Originally, Constantine had no leads. He only knew that the demon had appeared nearby recently, but not its exact location.

He had merely happened to encounter Lynn and sensed the smell of blood on him, along with the distinctive aura of a demon.

After probing him, it became obvious that Lynn was not the person he sought. The demonic aura on Lynn was too weak; it was nothing like the scent of an Advanced Demon.

Originally, he had only planned to leave a mark on Lynn and see whether he could deal with him after resolving the real trouble. He had not expected Lynn to be equally direct, countering him on the spot.

"To be honest, after I got off the ship, I really did intend to leave right away. But the way you stood there... how should I put it...

"It was like a demon arriving in the human world it had dreamed of day and night, with that look of familiarity mixed with strangeness in its eyes. Yet instead of heading into the crowd, you made straight for the outskirts. Naturally, I assumed you were going to set up some kind of backup plan, so I followed you to take a look.

"Honestly, I never imagined anyone could open a passage between the human world and Hell in such a short time."

With a cigarette in his mouth, Constantine looked at Lynn in utter confusion. "After I sent that demon back to Hell, I searched the place carefully. There were no old sealed passages, no magic circles, not even a demon-summoning ritual. Man, how did you do it?"

Lynn held his drink and noisily slurped it through a straw. Hearing Constantine's question, he tilted his head toward Kitty. "Because of him."

"Him? You mean this cat?"

"Meow! Show some manners! I have a name!"

Constantine knew that the cat Lynn kept was unusual. A cat that could talk, open doors, and help its owner trick people—how could it not be special?

But even though Constantine himself knew of some magical rituals involving cats, he truly could not understand how a black cat could accomplish something like this.

It made a master magician like him seem a little ignorant.

"You don't understand this, do you? Listen, let me tell you..."

Seizing the chance, Lynn told Constantine a magically altered and evolved fantasy story, blending together Doraemon, Tom, Garfield, Nyanko-Sensei, Inspector Black Cat, and an entire series of other scientifically impossible cats.

While Constantine was left completely dumbfounded, even Kitty himself began to believe it.

"Give that back! That's my 4D Pocket!"

"Stop it! Why are you lifting my clothes? Heh heh, sorry about that."

Lynn pinned Kitty down with one foot, then calmly lifted his shirt and took two cans of beer from a pouch stuck to his belly.

"Or perhaps you prefer coffee?"

"Huh? Ah... thank you..."

When it came to collecting magical items, Lynn was currently not even worth mentioning compared to Constantine.

But when it came to bizarre and ridiculous wonders, Lynn was somewhat mysterious.

The beer was even ice-cold...

Constantine suddenly fell silent. He drank by himself, but his eyes never left Lynn, who was playing with the cat that had gone wild after being given a cup of alcohol.

This guy might make decent material... no, a decent friend.

At the very least, Constantine could now be certain that Lynn was not a demon.

He was just a little ugly.

He looked like someone who had been badly burned, then run out of the hospital halfway through treatment.

"Lynn, may I ask why you want souls?"

To magicians, the existence of souls was no secret. Constantine had personally dealt with more than one clumsy Enchantress who toyed with souls, and he had witnessed Archdemons of Hell chew up someone's soul and swallow it whole.

In Constantine's understanding, ordinary humans might speak of souls and study the concept, but hardly anyone had any additional need for them.

Unless it was for some strange ritual or dark magic.

If that was the case, then Lynn's identity needed to be redefined.

"You're asking about that? It's nothing much."

A blue-glowing Chain Hammer suddenly appeared in Lynn's hand. "It's mainly for this thing. It eats souls."

And you fucking said you weren't a demon!

Constantine's gaze began to flicker, while a teasing smile gradually appeared beneath the bandages on Lynn's face.

"Lynn, could you do me a favor and tell me the truth?"

"Hahaha, don't worry about that. Anyway, I can tell you this: I won't casually take the souls of ordinary people, nor will I do anything like bring some Archdemon into the mortal world.

"I need souls—an unlimited number of souls—but I won't become evil because of it."

Lynn patted his chest. "I have principles, you know. Otherwise..."

"Otherwise what?"

With a shrug, Lynn said casually, "Your soul, Constantine, is worth a lot. Hell and Heaven seem to be betting over it. I already knocked you down with my hammer just now. If I wanted to, you'd already be in Hell."

I am in Hell.

Because of a guy like you, wherever you are is Hell!

Constantine rarely felt this way, as though someone had seen through him completely and restricted him at every turn. He had tried to fish for information, only to be inexplicably "threatened" in return.

This guy was definitely not the ordinary medium he claimed to be.

Constantine found him strangely familiar. At least, that feeling was familiar, like...

Like himself many years ago.

"Fine, I asked too much. I already promised you compensation in souls, and what you want really is demons rather than humans."

Fine. Since he had been targeted and crushed at every turn, Constantine naturally chose to admit defeat obediently...

Like hell he did.

"Lynn, you know what I do. Don't shake your head—you didn't hide it at all just now.

"Since that's the case, you should know that what I do most is exorcise demons.

"Interested?

"Let's work together. I save people, and you destroy demons."

So what if you know things in advance? I, Constantine, still have ten thousand ways to make you my laborer.

"Sure."

Lynn agreed readily, nodding at once.

"But first, I need to go somewhere and take care of some... personal business."