“Ugh, what a mess this is.”
If earlier he had only been panicked by the inexplicable sharp pain in his right hand, now Gray could feel a bone-chilling fear seeping into his very core.
He stared at the longsword still trembling slightly in his hand as if it were a venomous snake ready to turn around and bite its master at any moment.
As someone who had just come out of the Third Labyrinth, even if the last part of that memory was somewhat blurry, he would never mistake this kind of power.
The fluid that could freely transform into various weapon forms.
The unique magical fluctuations that felt like they were connecting to another space.
“This is definitely that great demon’s power, Mammon’s ability… but why is it on me?”
Gray’s voice was as dry as sandpaper rubbing together.
He muttered a few words to himself before suddenly lifting his head, looking at Katy with a rare hint of fear in his eyes.
“Miss Katy, no third person can know about this. Please!”
The youth’s breathing was rapid, and his knuckles turned white from gripping the sword too tightly.
“This is the power of that Calamity Pillar from the Third Labyrinth. If the Church or the Military Department finds out, I’ll probably be treated as a heretic or someone possessed by a demon. I might even implicate you, Miss Katy…”
Watching the usually calm young man show such panic now, Katy felt an indescribable twinge in her heart.
‘Tch. Seeing my archenemy show this kind of panic… shouldn’t I be feeling delighted right now?’
‘According to the stories in anime, now would be the perfect time to make Gray experience what it feels like to be betrayed by friends and family, then find a good opportunity to have “Katy” die in front of him.’
‘Ideally, just before closing her eyes, she’d hold his hand and say something like, “Mr. Gray, please don’t hate others because of me…”‘
‘Then I could sit back and watch the corrupted hero fight the Church and the Military Department.’
‘That’s how it should have been.’
She stepped forward.
Her soft palm wrapped around Gray’s hand, which was still gripping the sword.
The warmth she transmitted made his tense nerves relax slightly.
Though inwardly she was still scolding herself for lacking conviction, letting this guy’s pitiful state sway her heart, on the surface, the golden-haired priestess still showed a gentle smile.
“I understand, Mr. Gray.”
The girl lowered her head slightly.
Gray could see his own anxious reflection in those azure eyes.
“You’re my party member. No matter what happens, as the captain, I’ll protect you. I promise I won’t tell anyone this secret.”
‘Liar! I’m totally lying! I’m going to tell the Demon Lord right away! Muhahaha!’
“Miss Katy…”
Gray was moved beyond words, feeling that his judgment was correct.
His captain was definitely an angel descended from heaven.
“But it’s too dangerous to talk here. The old folks living nearby—I mean the elderly gentlemen and ladies—are as sharp as Military Department spies when it comes to rumors.”
Katy looked left and right at the empty street, scratched her cheek guiltily, lowered her voice, then grabbed Gray’s arm and pulled him toward the apartment building without further explanation.
“Come with me into the room!”
Gray froze for a moment.
Before he could even ask a question like, “Is it really okay for a man and woman to be alone in a room together?”—a question Xiao Chunan would ask—he was dragged into the hallway by the girl with superhuman strength.
The youth sat awkwardly on a sagging cloth sofa, still holding the silver longsword in his hand, feeling completely out of place in this room full of life.
This wasn’t his first time visiting Katy’s borrowed apartment, but it was the first time he had seriously looked at the furnishings.
Mrs. Farley’s apartment had an old-fashioned, cozy style.
The living room had a thick carpet, and various dried flowers were arranged on the fireplace mantel—likely picked by Miss Katy on her outings.
The captain had mentioned that before they met, her daily routine involved going out to gather herbs to sell at the market or trade for goods.
That butter bread she shoved into his mouth on the day they met came from exactly that.
From the kitchen came the sound of the girl humming.
After pushing Gray onto the sofa without any explanation, she had disappeared inside to prepare tea and snacks.
‘It’s like waiting for a newlywed wife to cook dinner…’
‘No, no. How did I start daydreaming again? Eve once teased me that only guys who’ve never been in love think like this.’
But Gray really had never been in love.
Listening to the sound of water boiling and the crisp clinking of porcelain in the kitchen, the youth took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down.
Now was not the time to space out.
He needed to figure out what this power really was.
Staring at the longsword in his hand, he recalled the process of “projecting” this weapon.
He silently mentally commanded:
“Withdraw.”
As if understanding his instruction, the sharp longsword instantly melted, returning to a ball of silver metallic fluid.
Like a living thing, it flowed back along his arm and disappeared into the deep red mark on the back of his hand in the blink of an eye.
The burning pain in his right arm earlier had vanished, replaced by a strange fullness, as if he had gained an extra muscle ready to be used at any moment.
“What the hell is this?”
Gray stared at the back of his hand and tried to communicate with the voice that had sounded in his mind earlier.
“Hey? Is anyone there? No—is there a demon there?”
Complete silence.
No evil soul jumped out to tempt him into selling his soul.
No shrill voice of that greedy demon rang out.
The cold mechanical voice seemed to have gone dormant.
Only when Gray probed his mental energy into the mark on his hand did it mechanically pop up a stream of information in his consciousness, like an alchemy workshop inventory list.
“Projection… how did that longsword appear earlier?”
Gray recalled the earlier scene.
With a thought, he imagined a dagger.
A flash of silver light.
The fluid surged out and transformed into a gleaming dagger in his palm.
He thought of a spear.
The dagger immediately elongated and reshaped into a heavy knight’s lance.
“Is this a demon’s ability? It’s even more convenient than magic…”
As an experienced warrior, Gray had to admit that this was probably the kind of ability every hero dreamed of.
When exploring labyrinths—especially during long expeditions—carrying one less weapon often meant one more day’s worth of supplies or medicine.
Moreover, the weapons formed by this fluid were of excellent quality.
Even the most expensive dwarf-forged workshop weapons he had used before couldn’t match the toughness and sharpness of this silver fluid.
“Such an incredible power… so this is what we’ve been fighting against all along?”
Gray muttered, but his heart grew heavier.
Based on his understanding of magic, the greater the power, the greater the cost.
He didn’t believe there was such a thing as a free lunch without side effects.
Meanwhile, while Gray was playing with various weapons in the air, on the other side of the wall—a wall now decorated with an isolation array—in the kitchen, a kind-hearted priestess was conducting her own magical experiments.
“No, I can’t laugh yet. I’ll laugh when that small fry Gray falls for it.”
Katy struggled to suppress the smile on her face while busily casting spells into a teacup.
“‘A spell that makes people honest,’ ‘a spell that lowers their guard,’ plus a little ‘a spell that stops them from hiding their desires’… done!”
Satisfied, the girl nodded at the teacup she had actually infused with quite a lot of magical energy, all while hiding it well.
“This wooden block Gray is such a small fry. He’ll finally fall into my hands this time, won’t he?”
The girl stirred the doctored black tea with a teaspoon, watching the ripples on the surface.
She could already see Gray crying his heart out, hugging her legs, spilling all his secrets like beans from a bag.
The corners of her mouth couldn’t help but curl up.
“Hmph! I’m going to strip you bare of all your secrets!”
In Katy’s imagination, Gray was about to confess how cute he thought Miss Katy was, how he felt absolutely nothing for Lobelia or that big-chested elf assassin, and even what color his underwear was…
Ahem.
Better not think about that.
After taking several deep breaths to suppress the smile on her face, she placed the two cups of tea on a tray, picked it up, and walked out of the kitchen.
“Sorry to keep you waiting, Mr. Gray! The tea is ready~”
When Katy entered the living room with the tea tray, she happened to see a silver greatsword in Gray’s hands transform into a stream of light and disappear back into the back of his hand.
Hearing Katy’s voice, Gray jolted as if caught doing something wrong.
He stood up abruptly.
“Ah, thank you for the trouble!”
“No, no, this is just proper hospitality from the host. Though, honestly, I’m just a guest here myself.”
“Um, Miss Katy.”
Before the girl could even set down the tea tray, Gray spoke with a serious expression.
“I just tested it. This ability is exactly the same as the one that demon Mammon displayed.”
The youth clenched his fist, his tone uneasy.
“Not just the shape-shifting—even the nature of the magical energy… I don’t know why this happened, but it’s too dangerous for someone who holds such a dangerous power to be under the same roof as you, Miss Katy. If I lose control—”
Watching the youth earnestly reflect and even start worrying about her safety, Katy, holding the doctored black tea, suddenly felt the tray in her hands grow much heavier.
‘Tch. Here I am, trying to trick you into talking, and you’re worrying about me?’
The remnants of a demon’s conscience twinged painfully inside Katy.
Looking into Gray’s clear, iron-gray eyes, she suddenly felt a bit despicable.
“You… idiot.”
Katy lowered her head and muttered.
“What did you say, Miss Katy?”
“I said you’re an idiot!”
Katy stepped forward flusteredly and tried to hide her embarrassment by setting the tea tray down on the coffee table.
“Mr. Gray is not some monster! Even if he were a monster, he’s still my party member. I said I was going to change your life, and I’m going to see it through to the end!”
While she delivered these cool lines, she slammed the tray down on the coffee table a little too forcefully, inwardly marveling at how her acting skills had become so refined that she could say such embarrassing lines without a script.
However, neither Katy nor Gray expected to hear a crisp crack.
With a brittle snap, one of the legs of Mrs. Farley’s old, worm-eaten coffee table finally gave out under the strain.
It let out a dying groan and tilted sideways.
“Ah!”
The tray instantly lost balance.
Two cups of scalding black tea were about to spill everywhere.
“Watch out!”
Gray instinctively reached out and caught one flying teacup steadily in midair.
Katy fumbled and barely managed to snatch the other one.
“Phew, that was close. Did you get burned?”
Seeing the girl shake her head, Gray breathed a sigh of relief.
“The tea smells wonderful. Thank you, Miss Katy. You have excellent taste.”
Perhaps to cover up the awkwardness, or perhaps because he was genuinely thirsty, Gray raised the teacup in his hand, tilted his head, and took a big gulp, downing the entire contents in one go.
Katy froze, still holding her teacup, and watched helplessly as Gray’s Adam’s apple bobbed up and down as he swallowed the tea.
‘Wait a second.’
‘Which cup had I cast the spell on earlier?’
‘The left one? Or the right one?’
Ordinarily, this kind of dynamic vision wouldn’t be a problem for a Calamity Pillar.
But the sudden shock of Gray’s earlier apology had disrupted her sanity for a brief moment, leaving a shallow gap of a few seconds in her memory.
‘Oh no.’
‘Did Gray just drink the teacup I cast the spell on?’
‘Or is the one in my hand the doctored one?’
Looking at Gray’s expression showing no signs of abnormality after drinking the tea, Katy swallowed hard.
“Miss Katy? Aren’t you going to drink yours?”
Gray looked at his captain strangely as she stood there looking like she was facing a major life-or-death decision.
“Ah? Oh—I’m drinking! I’m drinking right now!”
To avoid arousing Gray’s suspicion, Katy could only grit her teeth, raise the teacup in her hand, close her eyes, and take a sip with the resignation of facing her death.
‘It’s fine, it’s fine—I’m a demon.’
‘My magic resistance is high.’
‘And even if I do get affected, the magic will definitely be much less effective on myself… right?’
Soon, Katy, who had never systematically studied magical theory, would realize that the effect of her own spell on herself could not be described as “ineffective.”
Rather, it was doubly effective.