91 Emissary
“What do you mean the emissary ‘warned you?’ Did you guys exchange letters?” Luke inquired, curious, after being called by Alexis to accompany her.
Just in front of the entrance to the Mansion, the half-dragon stopped and looked at Luke. “Ah! I showed it to Nathalia, but I didn’t show it to you, did I?”
Luke was confused. Alexis stretched her arm forward, and moments later, something emerged from sparks. With a beautiful green hue, something began to adopt a shape amidst the sparks, ultimately becoming the strange bird he saw in the half-dragon’s room.
She didn’t need to explain for Luke to understand. “Is that ugly little thing really a Summoner?” He inquired, poking the little creature’s face. Surprisingly, the bird seemed to take offense.
“Yes. He’s not a combat type, so he’s not very strong, but he sure is very useful and keeps me company in lonely times.” She said while stroking the creature’s neck.
“Useful? Useful how?”
“Well, there are many things it is capable of. Flying, storing objects, and we also have a hybrid ability that allows me to sense everything he hears and sees.”
“That explains… So, the white cube is… in him?” Luke inquired because he had already realized that the half-dragon was not carrying any bags.
“That’s it… Shall we get going? Apparently, the emissary isn’t that far away.” She proposed, causing the bird to disappear.
The half-wolf merely nodded. While being guided by Alexis, he kept thinking how a Summoner like the bird could have been useful on several occasions.
First, he would never get trouble gathering information for robberies, not to mention that it would be even easier to find easy people to rob.
‘It’s… a shame that if I ever get the chance to find one, I’ll definitely sell it.’
In silence, Alexis and Luke followed the dirt road from the Strogueher gate until the half-dragon recognized a sign. On the trunk of a tree, she saw the drawing of a carved cat’s face.
“We’re close.”
From there, they turned off the road and into the woods. This reminded Luke of when he entered that same forest to kill the Superior Goblins. If at that time he had known how complicated things would get, he would have done things more cautiously or not even gotten involved in other people’s problems.
When Alexis and Luke saw a man kneeling in the middle of a small clearing, they knew it was the emissary.
“Hello, Tenth. How are you?” The half-dragon greeted him.
The man opened his eyes slowly and remained intact. He had shoulder-length brown hair and a full beard. His clothes were thick and almost completely blue except for the brown leather gloves, boots, and belts.
“Alexis, I already asked you to stop calling me that.” The man said. Although he didn’t have his left arm, he stood up without showing difficulty. “What about you? Who are you?” He asked Luke.
“Just a chaperone today,” Luke answered him, remaining inexpressive.
“Huu~ I liked that tension between you two.” Alexis joked, placing her right hand on her chin while pretending to analyze them like an artist. “Rest assured, Tenth. He can be trusted.”
The emissary shrugged and asked, “Did you bring that?”
In response to the man’s questioning, the half-dragon made her Summoning arise again. Then she whispered a few things to the bird, and the white cube was supernaturally ejected from the creature’s green feathers.
Tenth picked up the white cube that lay on the green grass of the place. “Great job. I’m still amazed at the little things that this Summoner of yours is capable of doing.” He spoke while wiping the cube on his pants.
“So, did you guys manage to find out the name of this bastard?”
“Not only him, but the other one as well. The descriptions you sent were quite helpful. However, you know that these are just theories, you can never be one hundred percent sure until they actually die.”
According to Alexis, a demon’s name is the only thing that can kill it. Lacking this crucial information, it is still possible to seal up it or kill its vessel.
Luckily, most demons are not strong without a receptacle, and the demon found in the Dungeon proved to be an exception, so he was especially dangerous, even more so than the demon that escaped.
Luke was impressed by the short period of time it took to gather information to find out the names of the two demons.
“How do you guys manage to find out the names of the demons? I mean, you don’t have a little list of names, do you?” he inquired as he watched Alexis and the Tenth work in a sort of magic circle on the grass of the clearing.
“Yeah… sort of. We have a library with thousands of books that report encounters with demons, so we know them well. For some reason, it was never a custom of the other religions to kill the demons, so that was left to us in the Cardinal Church. I don’t know how they know which names fit either. Alexis would be able to explain more to you about that.”
“I understand, thank you for explaining.” Soon after, Luke stepped aside to let them continue.
The half-wolf now understood quite a bit about the demons because he had been finding out some things over the past few weeks, but he had no interest in knowing more than that, so he didn’t want to bother Alexis with any more questions.
When Tenth and Alexis finished the circle, Luke noticed several symbols drawn all over its outline.
“What are those letters?” He questioned, interested because he saw the same thing in the powerful ability the second demon used.
“They are runes. You’ve never seen them?” The emissary wondered that someone who was apparently trusted by Alexis never even saw runes.
“I saw them in the ability that the second demon’s receptacle used, but I didn’t really know what they were.”
“Runes are powerful letters that when combined can activate an ‘ability’. That’s ancient magic. Something that predates the advent of Gene’s Abilities.”
The circumference of the magic circle was only five meters and was composed of a white powder whose weight closely resembled iron dust.
“So, shall we begin? Luke, please just watch the process, for now, I will need you to help me with the second demon.”
The half-wolf just nodded and stood quite a distance away from the circle. He was curious to see how the Cardinal Church’s emissary would act and eager to see Alexis in action again.
Now he understood why they had chosen a place away from the city and the Manor to do this; after all, they would have to get the demon out of the seal in order to kill him.