Blood Magus Chapter 75

When Zeth awoke, he found several sensations all buzzing in his mind.

The first, and most obvious, of these sensations was the distinct tickle of a System notification waiting to be read. Or, rather, there wasn’t one, but several.

Lying in his makeshift bed as he groggily rubbed his eyes, Zeth looked over the notifications.

[Friend of the Unhallowed’s Rank has increased four times to 5.

+4 Skill Points. You have 12 Skill Points.]

That certainly woke him up. He’d expected to get a few Ranks from sleeping in such close proximity to Astrys, but four in one night—five, counting the one he got immediately after purchasing the Skill—was quite the increase. He’d almost recouped the cost of the Skill already.

And, now that his mind was on the Skill, he realized what the other sensation in his mind had been. Really, it was the distinct lack of a sensation. After spending so long in Astrys’s fear aura, Zeth was made extremely aware of the fact that it was now reduced to fifty percent strength.

Really, the difference was so great that it almost felt like it wasn’t affecting him at all anymore. Like his eyesight had finally been unblurred after only seeing fuzzy shapes all his life.

It became clear to Zeth, now, that as much as he had been able to operate under the fear aura, he certainly had been affected by it. And not just in the sense that it caused an annoying sense of unease when he was around Astrys. Even though he had been able to control his fearful heart, Zeth’s view of her had been completely warped. It was like he’d only ever been able to see her as a force of nature, rather than a person. Like he’d befriended a natural disaster. Sure, she’d been helping him, and he’d been learning more about her, but the common empathy that was shared between people had been completely missing from his mind.

Zeth’s mind flashed through all the interactions he’d had with Astrys, thinking about how things must’ve felt from her perspective for the first time. He thought about how he’d acted, and how she must’ve been feeling at this point. Regret pinched his heart at the callous attitude he’d had at first, and hope surged in his chest that he might be able to actually help her with her plight in the future, as thanks for her helping him.

But between all of those emotions, Zeth also identified something else. Now that he was looking at these memories with new eyes, some of them felt…notable. Lying in the forest, staring up at the stars together as she waited to be taken back home. Spending hours working alongside each other, sharing each other’s presence in silence. Sleeping in the same room together. It was only now that Zeth was realizing how…charged his relationship with Astrys had been. She’d trusted him deeply with her life story, coming to him for comfort. And he’d spoken with her about his own issues and emotions.

He’d been effectively blocked from seeing her as anything other than a killing machine that whole time, so he’d never really realized how some of those events could be interpreted. But there was no such aura of fear interfering with Astrys’s mind.

Zeth sat up, looking at her where she slept, curled up in a ball on the cold stone floor a dozen feet away from him. Gods, he could’ve at least offered her the bed while he slept on the floor, or something. But his mind kept going back to those moments they’d shared. Demons came from totally different cultures; it must’ve been that she simply didn’t realize humans would see a certain connotation to something like sharing a bedroom. Something like this was probably totally normal for her.

He was quite amazed at how differently he felt now that he had Friend of the Unhallowed cutting the fear aura in half. It must’ve been at this point that he was capable of fully resisting it, since he felt so mentally clear now in comparison to how he’d felt earlier. The change between last night and this morning was astonishing. Back then, he genuinely wasn’t sure he would’ve been capable of seeing Astrys, a demon, in any other way than a monster bent on human destruction. Sure, he might’ve been capable of seeing her as an emotionally complex monster, or a monster who had the capability of helping him or being reasonable, but she’d always been a monster in his mind, he was realizing.

Now…Well, she was a person. A person who theoretically had romantic and sexual feelings like anyone else. Not that Zeth felt that sort of way toward her—now that the fear aura had let up, he was aware of how things might’ve seemed, but she was still a demon. A clawed, horned, human-killing machine. She’d slaughtered that whole bandit camp on a whim. And besides, she was a princess. No matter how different the royal system was in the Thirteenth Realm from the First, the gap between a princess and a peasant like Zeth was just about as big as the gap between a human and a demon to begin with. Zeth was thankful he was more capable of empathizing with Astrys now; it would help him establish a more healthy, more professional relationship with her. Wouldn’t want her to get the wrong idea and get offended by some sort of accidental advance.

Still, Zeth felt his eyes linger on her sleeping figure as he sat in bed. He was reminded of the first moment he’d summoned her. Like all demons, her fear aura took a moment to kick in when he’d conducted his ritual, and Zeth remembered being particularly stricken by the way she looked in that split second before being taken over by fear. He’d forgotten about that split second when the fear invaded his mind, and now that it had receded, he was reminded of the moment.

She was obviously pretty, on an objective level. The way her black horns glinted in the soft light of the lines traced along the walls, the way her lips barely parted, letting out soft puffs of air with each breath—it was like he was staring at a painter’s masterwork. Though, he wasn’t quite sure why her appearance left so strong an impression on him. Maybe it was just an aftereffect of the fear aura; he’d once been so terrified of her visage, looking at her now just stirred up…some sort of emotion. Maybe remnants of that fear, now left unidentifiable since the magic was gone.

When he got up, a part of Zeth wanted to wake Astrys up so he could try talking with her and seeing if that felt any different, but he didn’t want to bother her. The idea of interacting with her right now felt weird. Plus, he had business in town. After his stunt giving away all that food, he wanted to know if any rumors were spreading as to who was doing the giving. Hopefully, the fact that it was him would stay under wraps.

So, after doing all the typical upkeep the base needed, he went back to town.

Walking through the streets, Zeth listened closely to the conversations people had as he passed them by. Really, what he wanted to hear was nothing. He hoped that each individual person would just find the bit of food they received to be a mild oddity and nothing else, not making a big deal out of it. And as he wandered, he thankfully heard no words about a Blood Mage sneaking through town or a mysterious package arriving on someone’s doorstep. That was good.

He continued walking, though, wanting to ensure he got an accurate gauge of conversation in town. So he headed toward the tavern where he’d first met with Erza, Alfon, and Rosalie. If there was a rumor around, it’d be bound to spread there.

When it came into sight, he started heading for the entrance. But as he passed one side of the building, walking along the wall toward the doors to get in, he heard a pair of female voices.

“Did you also have some weird pouch of food show up on your doorstep?” one of them asked.

“...Yes, I did,” the other responded.

That second voice was familiar.

Zeth stopped, listening carefully and trying to track down the location of these voices. It sounded like they were around the corner, standing by the side of the building.

As he nonchalantly turned around to pass by the alleyway between the tavern and the shop neighboring it, he glanced down it. Sure enough, there were two women standing there speaking with each other. One of them was completely unfamiliar, and the other one certainly looked like a stranger as  well, but he just barely recognized her face.

It was the woman who’d caught a glimpse of him the previous night as he fled from her house. The one who had shouted a ‘thank you’ out after him.

He quickly passed the alleyway and moved to lean up against the wall of the building near it, casually looking off into the distance as he listened in on their conversation.

“That was so weird, right?” the first, unfamiliar woman said. “It just showed up. Do you think it’s safe to eat?”

“Maybe. I’d definitely check it over to make sure it’s clean, and that no insects or rodents got to it first.”

“Yeah. Maybe if things ever get desperate. But, I mean, who would do such a thing, right? Couldn’t have been the town; they’d have made some sort of announcement. Do you think it was just some random person who snuck through and gave all that food away?”

“...It could be.”

“Who do you think it was?”

Zeth felt a tightness in his chest. This was the one person who had a clue as to who did it.

“Well…I don’t know,” the woman eventually replied. “It could be anyone. Maybe one of your friends or family members. But, if they did it in the middle of the night, they probably didn’t want to be seen.”

“Hm. I guess you’re right.”

He let out a breath. Seemed like she wasn’t going to tell. Whether it was out of fear or thankfulness he didn’t know, but at least the secret she held was safe.

But as he leaned against the wall, Zeth saw yet another familiar face walking down the street. Alfon was heading toward the tavern when he spotted Zeth standing nearby and stopped in front of him.

“Zeth,” Alfon said. “Hello.”

“Oh, uh, hey,” he said, trying to look like he hadn’t just been eavesdropping on the women in the alleyway. “What’s up?”

“I am going to get something to eat. Are you well?”

“Hm? Yeah, yeah, I’m fine.”

“That is good. I have heard people speak of hardship with their families taken by the Inquisitors.”

“Uh, yeah, it’s pretty messed up what they’re doing.”

Alfon nodded. “They focus on executing criminals, even if it means harming the people around them.”

“Well, y’know, it seems like they might be leaving soon, which is good. Hopefully everyone gets let go sooner rather than later.”

“What makes you say that?”

“Oh, I mean, just hearing people talk. Apparently they haven’t really found much actual evidence of any Blood Mages yet, and if they don’t find anything, they’re not likely to stick around for long, right?”

“That is true,” Alfon said. “They would not stay if they found nothing.”

“Yeah, so—”

“But that is not a likely outcome.”

Zeth frowned. “Why’s that?”

He paused for a moment, eventually saying, “I have interacted with Inquisitors many times in my days, and it seems that many people do not have an accurate view of them. People see them as executioners. And that is reasonable. Their role within law enforcement is slaughtering the criminals that have already been caught. However, while that may be their most common job, it is not the job their Classes were made to do. The role of their Classes is hunter. Their Skills are made to find those who hide from them. Their expertise is locating, tracking, and slaying those who subvert the Empire’s command. So yes; if they find no Blood Mage here, they will leave. But if a Blood Mage exists inside of this town, the Inquisitors will find them. That is a certainty.”

Zeth bit his lip as Alfon spoke. “You really think so?”

“They have Skills to read Statuses—that is their most commonly-known ability. However, they can do much more. They can also detect individuals who specifically have the Wicked Skill in a wide radius, they can detect magic usage, they can hunt people down by any means necessary.”

“Well, still—what if someone’s careful? I’ve heard of criminals using other people to do things like murder for them, that way they can avoid getting the Wicked Skill. What if they do something like that?”

“Yes, the wealthy hiring hitmen to avoid detection is relatively common. And, if an Inquisitor does not know to look more closely, surface-level tactics such as those can be effective in avoiding suspicion. However, that only works if the Inquisitor is not already aware that they should be suspicious. There are many ways known only to them that they can track people down.”

“...So you really think there’s no chance their targets get away? I guess that’s a good thing. Rosalie was talking about how this was a pretty big thing with a whole cabal, right? So if they deal with that…”

Alfon nodded. “In times of moral complexity, criticism of the Inquisitors is easy. All they look at is the law. They do not apply morality when conducting their executions. This is why most people do not like them, and do not trust them. They assume all who stand before them are worthy of death, whether that is a serial murderer or a starving child. They will use all they can to ensure their victims are killed. People hate them for that. However, in times when they stand before a genuine villain—someone who is truly worthy of death, and who requires the full force of the Inquisitors to be mobilized against them, they are the most effective power the empire can exert to slay that evil. If there is someone here using an illegal Class, I have no doubt that they will be caught. And if someone is caught by the Inquisitors, I have no doubt that they will either be forced to flee and die while running, or be forced to confront them and die while fighting.”

“I see,” Zeth said. “Um, I’m glad you think they’ll catch them.”

Alfon nodded once again. “It was good talking to you.”

And with that, he turned and began walking away, leaving Zeth standing in the street.

His fears that people might be talking about his actions the previous night had been assuaged, but they’d been replaced with new fears. Had he been underestimating the Inquisitors? Alfon certainly seemed to think the Blood Mages would be caught and killed. Zeth just hoped his confidence was overexaggerated.

He glanced around, suddenly feeling a little more paranoid. Maybe it was time to get back to base. It was clear he still had work to do before he could start feeling safe.