The Academy’s Ankle Reaper

The demon that appeared from the hut couldn’t maintain an aura of arrogance for long.

Having his limbs severed and his horn smashed by a Squirette made of rare metal, he realized just how unbelievably unlucky he was.

[Wow… you are really strong. The demon Cartmore from the dark hell of the southeast… I’m impressed!]

I tried to sound nonchalant, but no matter what I said, it just came out funny.

[Uh… um, excuse me, Sir Knight? The sword is pressing against my temple; could you please remove it? It already hurts where my horn was sliced off, but I can’t stand this!]

“When did you get here, and why?”

[…Let’s see. It’s been about 30 days.]

The demon lay flat on the ground like a caterpillar, monotonously stating the information it knew.

At first, it tried to act solemn, but after lying down, its original tone came back.

[I was just lying low because the humans who summoned me made a contract to block other humans from approaching this place.]

“So, the other humans you’re referring to—are they the ones in robes with masks, or those without?”

[Wow, you know about that! They were wearing skull masks!]

The skull-mask wearers are not ordinary believers but evangelists.

Those zealously working under the Bishop to convert believers and spread conspiracies; this meant at least one evangelist was hiding here.

“Is it related to demons again…?”

“Tragically so. Isn’t it that behind every horrific act in this world, demons are involved?”

Of course, it’s not just demons; there are plenty of plots involving other things as well.

Internal strife within the royal family, cruel slave traders abducting beastmen crawling out recklessly from the plains outside, elves using world-tree standards instead of the common continental regulations… This world is overflowing with misdeeds that aren’t connected to demons, but it is ultimately based on the story of the “Devil Slayer” from the Academy.

Behind really terrible conspiracies, demons always have their foot in the door.

“What is this open area and the hut being used for?”

[Other than me, other demons have been called here for gatherings every now and then.]

“When was the last gathering?”

[A month ago.]

Since it seemed there was no more information to extract, I used the Squirette to decapitate the demon.

As the demon’s head fell to the ground, it scattered into magic energy.

“There’s nothing else left to do here. Let’s go somewhere else.”

“Weren’t we headed to exterminate monsters? Wasn’t the main goal to find demons?”

“I was hoping to do both at once, but I really didn’t expect to find one.”

“What about these people?”

Gemma caught back the thieves who had been fleeing in chaos.

They were gasping for breath, exhausted as if they’d pushed themselves to their limits.

Just as I was pondering what to do with them, I spotted the adventurer Aran, who was sprawled on the ground in a panicked state.

“We need to move to another place, so you handle the rest. You know how to get out of the forest, right?”

“M-me??”

Seeing the scene of me cutting down demons made Aran’s tone shift to a more respectful one.

We left the surviving thieves to the adventurer Aran and decided to move to another location.

.

.

.

Once again, we materialized in the hand of Gemma, who was in her Gold Dragon form, at the next location.

“Ugh… hold my hand…”

Lucia, anxious as her feet dangled above the ground, clung to me.

She was trembling and showing symptoms of dizziness, as if experiencing motion sickness.

I wondered if anything would change, but it seemed she just wanted to cling to something.

“Having dealt with the dire wolves and thieves, where to next?”

“They say slimes have come out in the river.”

“Ugh… slimes?”

As soon as River heard the word slime, he scrunched up his face.

“Who likes slimes?”

“It’s not like anyone would!”

Seeing him so visibly disgusted, I became curious and asked more.

“Well, some people raise young slimes because they are less acidic and fun to touch.”

However, slimes that crawl out of damp places become terrifying monsters with strong acidic bodies when they mature, able to engulf their prey.

Nevertheless, the young slimes are small enough to fit in the palm of your hand, and their mild acidity makes them merely tingle when held for a long time, so many people keep them as pets.

Nobles might end up either killing them if they grow too big or controlling their diet to prevent them from becoming permanently acidic, but sometimes farmers mimic that and raise them, resulting in tragedy.

All in all, they’re among the more popular monsters, so why does he hate them?

River hesitated before answering my question.

“Slimes… don’t feel good to touch, and they stick to weapons, so I dislike them.”

That sounded quite like River’s reason.

Slimes are slimy, and the experience of cutting one feels like merely slicing through a tomato, which doesn’t offer much satisfaction, and to defeat a slime, you need to swiftly cut through its core hiding inside, making it a tedious opponent.

“Slimes always show up after it rains in the stream that runs through our territory, so I’ve been hunting them repeatedly… it’s tiresome.”

“I actually like them quite a bit.”

As I said we were going to hunt slimes, while River grimaced, Lucia had a rather excited expression.

“Slimes… they’re cute, right?”

“The stickiness?”

“Yeah… I even raised one before. It grew too big, and I had to take care of it myself…”

It seemed one of the nobles I referenced earlier was right in front of me.

“I like slimes too.”

Gemma, who was listening to the conversation, chimed in.

“Not the muddy swamp slimes that smell like dirt, but the clear stream slimes are deliciously tangy, a delicacy for dragons.”

When the mention of eating them came up, both of their expressions turned sour.

“Atlas, about what happened just now…”

“When you say just now… do you mean giving the thieves to Aran?”

“Not that. It’s about the demons. We weren’t just finding them by chance; we were searching for clues.”

“Right.”

“What happened…?”

River gazed at me with a concerned expression.

It was too obvious.

However…

‘Is it better to tell the truth?’

It wasn’t particularly pleasant news.

It was going to dig quite deeply into family matters, but Amy and Casey already knew the truth.

It would be better for them to know only as much as they needed to.

“Yeah. It seems that the demon’s reach extends to this place, so I was checking for traces elsewhere as well.”

“Is it serious?”

“Because I found something at the mansion. It is serious enough. Before we leave, I want to get to the bottom of this. It doesn’t sit right knowing there’s a Demon Church nesting in my hometown.”

Just that was enough for everyone to understand.

“A demon? Are you talking about that strange black creature that just appeared?”

“Yeah. Don’t you know anything about demons?”

“My father used to say that if you don’t sleep well, demons will come and take you away.”

That meant he didn’t know anything specific.

However, that was about the extent of how demons are perceived in this world.

Some unknown ominous something.

An image that is consumed as a creepy tale.

Most people don’t even know that the demons from those creepy tales are roaming right near them.