Chapter 123
A Different Person
Translator : PolterGlast
His expressions and everything were completely Guanza.
Seeing him right in front of us, the fact that Guanza had betrayed us
became an undeniable truth... but I felt a slight sense of incongruity
regarding this Guanza.
His magic power was slightly higher, and there was
absolutely no wavering in his body's axis. One could argue that the Guanza
I had interacted with until now had been intentionally creating openings, but I
couldn't fathom him having such a personality... and I couldn't shake the
feeling that the person before me was someone else who merely had Guanza's
appearance.
"Vwahahaha! You look quite surprised, don't you?! You
never imagined that I would be leading the Demon King's Army, did you?! Graham!"
The way he spoke was exactly like Guanza. In addition
to his attitude of looking down on people and mocking them, he also knew my
name.
Normally, this would be enough to confirm it was Guanza,
but if he wasn't faking his personality, this flawless stance was far too
unbalanced. It was something only someone with a serious and cautious
personality who had undergone thorough training could acquire. I could say with certainty: what is in front of me right now is Guanza,
but it is also 'something' that is not Guanza.
"I-Is it really Guanza-san...? W-Why did you
betray us?!"
"Ginia, calm down. What is in front of us is not
Guanza. It is something controlling Guanza."
"Haaah...? Are you saying you don't want to believe the
reality that you were betrayed? Vwahahaha! What a fool you are!"
"Graham! He doesn't look like he's being
controlled to me! The way he talks, his expressions... that's Guanza through and through!"
"No, it's not Guanza. It seems to be acting
well, but the subtle behaviors are far removed from Guanza."
"...Haaah. You're still saying tha—......"
He let out a sigh as if exasperated and tried to offer some
kind of defense, but stopped mid-sentence, fell silent, and looked down.
Immediately after, he raised his face... but that expression was no longer the Guanza-like
one from before; it had changed into the face of a different person wearing a
faint sneer.
"...It
seems it is futile to keep up this charade any longer. I thought I could throw
you into greater confusion, but I never expected you to see through it at first
glance. Furthermore, it was a miscalculation that the only ones here are you, Graham-san, and your party—the very
people against whom this has the least effect."
The 'something' controlling Guanza confessed far too
easily. Ginia and Aoi were frozen, their mouths hanging wide open
in shock at Guanza's transformation.
"If Salis or the others were here, it would
likely have been chaotic just as you planned."
"Yes. I planned to strike at that moment and crush you
all at once... but Graham-san. You are a person far beyond my
imagination. Even though I traced his memories and desperately learned his
expressions and speech."
"You should have paid attention to finer details.
Besides... even if it were the real Guanza, it wouldn't matter much to
me."
"Kufufufu, I suppose so. Seeing that it was only Graham-san
and your party, I had guessed as much."
It felt incredibly strange to be having such an
understanding conversation with someone who had Guanza's appearance.
Excluding the fact that he was leading the Demon King's Army, Guanza
himself was starting to seem like more of a villain than the thing controlling
him.
"In that case, let's make this quick—I want you to
release Guanza's body. If we're going to fight for real, it's hard for
you to move in that body, isn't it?"
"My impression from seeing you with my own eyes, Graham-san,
is that indeed, I would hate to fight in this body... but unfortunately, it is
a contract, so I cannot release him. The contract with Guanza-san is to
kill you. Until that condition is fulfilled—the contract does not end. That is
what a Demon’s Contract is."
A Demon’s Contract
means the true identity of the thing controlling Guanza is a Demon. To form a contract with a Demon
to kill me—he truly is scum.
If he were just being controlled, I would want to save him
even if it was Guanza, but knowing this makes my desire to save him
fade. ...Well, I will save him, though.
"Then, it seems I have no choice but to tear you off by
force."
"Hoh... I thought you would come to kill without
question, but you intend to save him. If that is the case, hijacking this body
was worth it."
"You seem happy about it, but you'll find yourself
thinking you should never have hijacked it."
"That in itself is something to look forward to. I
shall be waiting at the very rear."
The moment Guanza said that, he disappeared, leaving
behind something like black smoke. It was likely similar to the magic Bane
used.
Judging from the conversation and his demeanor, he seems
like a tough opponent, but fighting in Guanza's body is difficult. What
I told him earlier wasn't a bluff; he really will come to regret it.
Well, before that... clearing out the nearly two hundred
monsters in front of me comes first. After sending a signal to Ginia and
Aoi, I moved with full power to subjugate the monsters.
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