Report
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HELHEIM SCANS
[Translator - Peptobismol]
[Proofreader - Max]
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Chapter 29: The Taboo of the Salt Mine (3)
“My name is Hamel Saint Gilmore. I am an exorcist priest.”
Dane's eyes widened as soon as Hamel finished speaking.
There was more than one reason to be surprised.
An exorcist priest.
Moreover, a priest bestowed with a saint's middle name.
A being he had only heard of in rumors, said to number less than ten on the continent.
And above all.
“Silver hair, blue eyes. And… Gilmore. You are….”
Dane, who had been a knight and horseman for the family, recognized who was standing before him.
“Young Master… is it you?”
He had heard stories of the tragedy that had befallen the clan.
The news that the mistress had been murdered by a monster and the lord had gone mad.
He hadn't been at the estate at the time, busy traversing battlefields, but he had seen the young master as a child.
It wasn't easy to forget those distinctive features.
'I heard that he went to the church….'
Dane reflexively lowered his body upon meeting the person he had served for so long.
Following suit, the villagers also awkwardly lowered their bodies.
But at the same time, their eyes were filled with fear and discontent.
It had been quite some time since the Gilmore clan had started down the path of ruin.
The lord had shut himself away in the mansion, and the management of the salt business, the main source of income for the territory, was in shambles.
With no income, the knights and soldiers had long since left the territory, and the deterioration of law and order in the territory was a natural consequence.
It wasn't for nothing that Dane, with his military prowess, held the position of village headman.
There were even grim rumors circulating recently about disappearances from the mansion.
“…What’s the young master doing here now?”
Someone's disgruntled murmur echoed softly through the mine shaft.
In the Heidern territory, the name Gilmore was already cursed in every way imaginable.
“Who was that?”
Daniel placed his hand on the hilt of his sword in response to their reaction.
Hamel would soon become the lord of the territory.
If he overlooked such an insult, it would damage his authority.
At his sharp reaction, everyone closed their mouths as if they had been stung by a bee.
At that moment, Hamel stopped Daniel's actions.
“It’s alright. It’s natural for them to be dissatisfied.”
“Hamel, we can’t just let this go.”
Daniel said firmly.
But Hamel also responded without backing down.
“I’m not here as a member of the family. I’m simply here to fulfill my role.”
Those were words meant for the other villagers as well.
He wasn't the lord yet.
Their grievances about the state of the territory could be addressed later.
Now was the time to solve the problem at hand.
Hamel looked at Aaron and his family, who were trembling before him.
“Are you afraid?”
Hamel asked, making eye contact with Aaron.
“…P-please, save us. I, and my family, are truly ordinary people.
“Don’t worry.”
Hamel said calmly.
Dane and the miners were taken aback by Hamel's composure, which seemed to offer mercy.
However, the meaning hidden in Hamel's words was far from warm.
"If you are not a demon, you need not fear me."
Hamel cut his own hand with the sword he had drawn.
Then, when his hand was filled with blood, he sprayed it towards Aaron and his family.
"Wh... What is this?!"
Aaron, suddenly drenched in blood, shouted in bewilderment.
Hamel didn't answer.
He simply continued with what he had to say.
"But if you are a demon."
Hamel's eyes were terrifyingly cold.
"You have every reason to fear me."
After muttering those words, Hamel immediately began to pray.
Whoosh!
Azure flames erupted.
The sight was so beautiful that people were momentarily mesmerized, their eyes drawn to the flames.
A fire that heals people with warmth.
But at the same time, it was a fire that fiercely and greedily destroyed demons.
"Ugggh... Aaaaagh!"
Aaron's entire family was engulfed in flames in an instant.
Dane, finally regaining his senses, stammered,
"Suddenly... What is the meaning of this...?"
"This flame is called 'Azure Flame'."
He reached out towards the raging fire.
For a moment, everyone was terrified.
But Hamel's hand, engulfed in the flames, was perfectly fine.
No, rather, the cut from the sword healed smoothly.
"It's a flame of natural order that heals human wounds and burns demons."
Aaron thrashed and burned in the flames in agony.
Soon, his face melted away, transforming and rising into the forms of dozens of people.
"S-so... futilely..."
Then, it finally changed into the face of a young child.
It was clearly the beginning, the start of everything.
"...That's me."
It was unmistakably Dane as a child.
Dane watched, his expression hardening.
With that final image, the monster pretending to be Aaron stopped moving.
Only blue embers flickered in the blackened form.
Dane realized then that the mistakes of his childhood had finally been settled.
"As you suspected, Dane, Aaron and his wife were demons."
Hamel walked into the Azure flames.
Blackened human forms.
But among them was a person without a single injury.
"...Den?"
Dane stared blankly at Aaron's child.
Den, unconscious, his eyes closed.
The child alone was perfectly fine, not a single hair on his head harmed amidst the raging flames.
"But thankfully, the child is human."
Hamel carefully lifted the child into his arms.
At the sight, Dane collapsed to his knees.
"I... I... Could it be...?"
He had almost killed an innocent child who knew nothing.
At that moment, Dane recalled the words of the monster imitating Aaron.
'Dane... Please spare my child at least. You'll truly regret it if you kill that child.'
Dane's face turned pale as he realized the meaning of those words.
Hamel approached him and carefully placed the child in Dane's arms.
"This is what demons are."
Beings who deceive humans in unimaginable ways and drive them into the depths of despair.
That was what demons were to Hamel.
Dane shuddered as he realized he had almost been deceived until the very end. Then, he recalled a memory he had forgotten.
"B-but Young Master, there are three Doppelgängers. There's still a monster remaining..."
"Ah, if it's that, don't worry."
Hamel calmly stood up.
Then, turning around, he spoke to the villagers.
"From now on, one by one, please pass through these flames."
"..."
"Come on."
Daniel stood blocking the entrance to the mine shaft.
One person closed their eyes tightly and crossed through the fire, and then the others, watching each other, began to walk into the flames one by one.
Thus, everyone passed through the flames, and only one person remained on the other side.
"It was you."
Hamel pointed his sword at the man.
The man, with a dazed expression, muttered,
"So it turned out this way."
Tom.
The miner who most vehemently defended Aaron's family.
Tom stared at Hamel with a vacant expression.
"...Tom was a demon?"
"..."
The miners and Dane were all speechless.
Turning his back on them, Hamel replied in a cold voice,
"How long did you think you could keep hiding and doing this?"
"No."
Tom, no, the last remaining Doppelgänger, slowly shook his head.
"If I had taken just a few more, I wouldn't have needed to hide anymore."
"...?"
"I'm sorry. This is the best I can do."
As the Doppelgänger muttered those words,
He plunged the dagger he was holding into his own neck.
Caught off guard by the unexpected act, Hamel could only frown, unable to react.
"Gah... ugh."
With a gasp, a fountain of blood gushed out.
The Doppelganger collapsed forward and died.
"..."
An ominous silence filled the mine shaft.
Flicker!
The lamplight flickered faintly.
Deep inside the mine shaft.
From that place, which held a deep darkness like an abyss, an unknown sound emerged.
It was like the cry of a beast.
Or like the sound of a rainstorm.
It was impossible to know what it was, but one thing was certain.
"From now on, you must follow my instructions."
"...?"
"Leave immediately."
This was not something to be dealt with lightly.
***
"What in the world was slumbering in this mine?"
"I don't know."
Despite Daniel's question, Hamel slowly shook his head.
The rumors passed down about the forbidden area were all bizarre and terrifying, but its origin and true nature remained unknown.
A monster with a thousand teeth that devours children.
Hundreds of eyes that chase you no matter how far you flee.
A shadow that swallows light.
Despite the abundance of rumors, Hamel had never doubted their truth.
But if they were true, this was no ordinary being.
'Perhaps... it could be the mastermind behind what happened to my family.'
The forbidden area, passed down for generations in the Gilmore clan's territory.
If this was its master, there was a possibility it was connected to the family.
Hamel tightened his grip on his sword.
Flicker, flicker!
It was then.
The faintly flickering lamplight finally went out with a 'pfft'.
Hamel immediately used the blood he had scattered to ignite the Azure Flame.
The Azure flames pushed back the darkness, illuminating the mine shaft.
"It's coming."
Hamel muttered under his breath.
There was the sound of stones scraping roughly, like a snake slithering.
Hamel's tension rose at the rattling sound of scales.
The snake was the most primal symbol of a demon.
Among the demons that took the form of snakes, there were few that could be underestimated.
It was then.
Something rippled and revealed itself from within the mine shaft.
Leap!
"...?"
A brief silence fell.
Then, Daniel muttered in a daze,
"...Hamel. What is that?"
"...It looks like a rabbit."
Hamel answered with a frown.
What emerged from the mine shaft was none other than a grayish-brown rabbit.
The rabbit was alternately looking at Daniel and Hamel with its characteristically round eyes.
He had never seen or heard of a demon that looked like this.
'I definitely heard something crawling.'
Why did a rabbit pop out of the mine shaft?
Puzzled, Hamel approached the rabbit.
No, it was the moment he tried to approach.
Tilt!
Losing his balance, Hamel fell to the ground.
What was happening?
Hamel looked at his legs, which had suddenly lost all sensation.
Gus!
He saw the cross-section of his missing ankle, gushing blood.
At the same time, his head went white with dizzying pain.
"Hamel!"
Daniel, finally noticing the situation, shouted urgently.
'I've been hit.'
When?
No, how?
Hamel reflexively prayed and looked around as he healed.
The bleeding stopped, and his wound was restored.
Clatter!
Once again, the sound of snake scales echoed in his ears.
Hamel realized that the sound was coming from all directions.
Shadows flickered.
It wasn't the flames swaying in the wind.
The shadows on the walls of the mine shaft slid and then swallowed the corpse of the dead Doppelgänger, bones and all, with a crunching sound.
The shadows took the form of a snake with sharp teeth.
"Be careful!"
Hamel quickly threw the sword he was holding at Daniel's feet.
The shadow, which was gliding towards Daniel, hissed like a snake and dodged.
Daniel hurriedly moved to Hamel's side, where there were no shadows, and thanked him.
"...Thanks to you, I'm alive. But what kind of monster is that?"
"...I don't know why it's here in that form, but... as far as I know, there's only one being with that shape."
The creature, seemingly disappointed that it had missed Daniel, retreated.
The creature that had sucked in and devoured the dead Doppelgänger with its shadow.
Finally, the creature that had bitten off Hamel's ankle and was now straightening its back against the wall behind the rabbit.
A snake's shadow with three heads.
A being with thousands of sharp teeth like thorns and hundreds of eyes.
The serpent that swallows death.
A special-grade demon.
Azi Dahaka.
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HELHEIM SCANS
[Translator - Peptobismol]
[Proofreader - Max]
Join our Discord for release updates!
https://discord.com/invite/dbdMDhzWa2
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