The game difficulty
was insane.
“Are you serious?”
Glen’s solemn gaze fixed on Romina.
“I am.”
A clear light dwelled in the amber eyes looking back at him.
“Why would I bother lying to you about something so pointless?”
That was true.
Romina joked around often, but she had never lied to Glen.
“…Explain it in detail.”
“At first, I thought it was just my imagination.”
Romina said she first sensed demonic energy that did not belong to her when the head of the family entered the reception room.
“I thought it was just my mood. Or maybe I wondered if it was demonic energy leaking from you, Glen.”
“But you drink my demonic energy every morning without fail.”
Romina nodded.
“Then, while we were talking, the moment that human’s emotions flared up, I felt it clearly.”
There had indeed been a moment earlier when the head of the family had raised his voice.
But throughout the conversation, Glen had felt nothing unusual at all.
“It was definitely demonic energy.”
And if it were anyone else, maybe it could be doubted—but Romina’s confidence carried weight.
As long as she possessed her unique innate ability, Kin Devourer, that was.
As mentioned many times, Romina consumed the residual demonic energy left behind by other demons or monsters, turning it into her own strength and life.
Because of that, she could confidently say that when it came to sensing demonic energy, she surpassed anyone else in this world.
Her ability to detect demonic energy had been proven several times in the original story.
There was a scene where she relentlessly hunted down and killed another Demon King candidate who had gone into hiding after losing to her.
There was also a scene where she sensed the demonic energy of a monster hundreds of meters away and struck it precisely with magic.
In any case, the fact that Romina had sensed demonic energy from the head of the family meant this was not something that could be brushed aside lightly.
“Then why does he have demonic energy?”
Glen pressed his forehead and accelerated his thoughts.
As for Henry Wordsworth, Sung Yohan had no particular knowledge about him.
In the original story, Henry Wordsworth died along with his territory the moment the first scenario began.
“Could it be that he has a constitution like yours, with both holy power and demonic energy? He is your father, after all.”
“No. That’s impossible.”
Glen shook his head.
Since they shared blood, it was possible that Henry might also possess an innate ability allowing him to use demonic energy like Glen.
But if that were the case, Henry would need some kind of tool to hide his demonic energy, just like Glen.
And Sung Yohan, a veteran of the original story, could guarantee that Henry possessed no such tool.
Therefore, the probability that Henry had the same innate ability as Glen was zero.
‘Then there’s only one possibility left.’
That Henry Wordsworth was not human, but a demon with demonic energy.
The moment that thought surfaced, several possibilities flashed through Glen’s mind.
The first possibility.
‘The father that Sister Tris and I knew was originally a demon hiding his identity.’
The hypothesis that Henry Wordsworth, a demon, had lived secretly among humans while hiding his true nature.
But both Glen and Tris were clearly born with holy power, so this hypothesis could not stand.
Then the second possibility.
‘The head of the family was replaced without us knowing.’
In other words, the Henry Wordsworth here right now was a fake.
This one sounded far more plausible.
‘After all, Sister Tris said something like that earlier.’
Glen recalled what Tris had said to him not long ago.
“Isn’t it strange?”
“I’ve never seen Father avoid a conversation like that.”
“Sure, he does that when you act strangely, but this time the topic was pretty serious, wasn’t it?”
“The Father I remember always reaches a conclusion on serious topics like that… Well, he does that to you a lot.”
If the head of the family was a fake—someone carefully acting the part—then the sense of discomfort Tris felt was easily explained.
“Well, look at that.”
Glen let out a dry laugh.
Of course, all of this could still be nothing more than speculation.
But the fact that the head of the family possessed demonic energy was undeniable.
Because of that, Glen became almost completely convinced of the “fake head” hypothesis.
Then came the next question.
‘Where is the real head of the family?’
There was no way to know.
It was possible that he was simply staying in Istirenne, or just as possible that he had already been killed by the fake head.
‘I hope it’s not the latter.’
Cold sweat ran down the back of Glen’s neck.
If it was the former, fine—but if it was the latter, it meant the fake head had defeated the real one, a Seven-Star Holy Knight.
No matter which hypothesis was true, Glen’s next course of action was clear.
‘Capture that fake head, take the family seal from his finger, and send the letters to the vassals’ territories.’
Night fell.
Glen climbed onto the roof of the estate.
Catching the fake head was important, but first he had to accomplish the original purpose of coming here.
The reason he came here was, above all else, to secure the heretic inquisitors operating in Wordsworth as reinforcements.
‘I don’t know when they’ll arrive, so I should call them in advance.’
Glen untied the inquisitor’s rosary hanging from his neck and raised it toward the sky.
Then he lightly stirred his holy power and infused it into the rosary.
The red cross began to glow slowly, and then shot a beam of light straight into the sky.
Piiiiii—
After that, nothing else could be seen.
He half-expected something flashy to explode like fireworks, but since it was a light only heretic inquisitors could see, he accepted it.
In any case, the summoning signal had been sent, so any inquisitors within a 50 km radius would come here.
How many would come.
What star rank they would be.
How many hours it would take.
He couldn’t know any of that.
He could only leave everything to chance.
‘Feels like pulling gacha.’
“Hoo…”
Glen stretched.
Now all that was left was to wait for the inquisitors to arrive.
‘Even just one would be fine, as long as someone arrives first.’
Only then could he rely on the strong support of a heretic inquisitor to go after the fake head.
Of course, since he needed to send the fake letters as soon as possible, he had to hurry and seize the seal.
