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The tavern’s waitress girl Lizith was wiping the table as always with a gloomy expression.

The tavern customers felt lacking that she wasn’t smiling as usual. Kufar, being the underlying reason, had still not come back.

The fact that she was attracted to Kufar was something all the tavern’s guests and the owner were aware of.

The only unaware ones were the two concerned. Or perhaps Kufar, having a mature atmosphere, had realized it, but he was knowingly ignoring it.

“Sigh…”
“That lad is still not back, huh?”
“Kufar? He said he would be away for a long time, but I didn’t think it would be this long.”

She responded to the drunken customer’s question with a grumble as she continued cleaning the table.

Seeing how she didn’t stop working despite feeling down, the customers felt that such a good wife candidate was being wasted away like that.

Adventurers were fundamentally wanderers like duckweed. One never knew when they would die, and there were no future compensations.

One such Adventurer stole her heart, yet they couldn’t deny her feelings and could only watch on.

Because the innocent exchanges of the two also worked to heal their hearts.

But then, the tavern’s doorbell rang noisily, and one Adventurer stepped in.

“Oh, welcom—Kufar?!”
“Hey, Lizith. I’m back. I was delayed a little.”
“Good grief, I was so worried! You should’ve contacted me at least.”
“I was too busy, you see. Oh, here’s a souvenir for you. It’s apparently a bottle of the World Tree’s sap.”
“The World Tree? Did you enter the labyrinth?”

Kufar, still dressed in dirty traveling clothes, pulled out a small bottle from his pocket.

When he traveled in the World Tree’s vessels, he had sucked up a lot of its liquid, so he took some of it out of his body and gave her as a gift.

“Yeah, I had some minor business there. More importantly, do you have some time now?”
“Huh, yeah, sure…”

She glanced at the owner… her father, as she spoke. Of course, she wasn’t actually free, given the busy hour full of customers.

But her father, being his only family, sensed her intentions and gave her a big nod.

“I don’t mind. But make it quick.”
“Yay! I have permission so let’s go, Kufar.”
“Excuse me. I will return your daughter soon.”
“If you will take responsibility, I don’t mind even if you return her tomorrow.”
“Come on, dad! Stop those jokes!”

Lizith pumped a fist in anger as her father and the customers saw her off with laughs.

Lizith ignored them, removed her apron, and followed Kufar to the outside.

“Um, Kufar. Are you sure we can leave the town?”

As she followed Kufar who was leading the way, she was taken outside the town. This area, like any other town, was dangerous beyond the town fences. The reason she followed him anyway was that she knew Kufar was a skilled Adventurer. But even so, she was still worried.

“It’s okay. I will properly protect you.”
“Eh, r-really? That makes me happy.”

Kufar simply didn’t want to wound a sacrifice candidate and nothing more. But Lizith took it a different way.

Her face flushed and she joined her hands before her chest, and started playing with her fingers. That showed that she was nervous.

However, there was only Kufar around who could understand her tension.

He took her outside the town, eventually reaching a small rocky mountain.

He took her hand a few times to pull her up, eventually reaching the top.

Beyond the rocky mountain, there was nothing to block the town view, so you could observe it from that slightly elevated area.

“Wow, I can see the town from here. Did you want to show me this scenery, Kufar?”
“Yeah, I’m still preparing, after all. I thought this would be a good place to show you something interesting.”
“Something interesting? What could it be? I can’t wait to find out.”
“You’re right to be excited about it. Okay, I’m going to use magic, so step a little away. Okay, just stay still there.”

Lizith stepped back like he instructed her, and was made to stand on something round drawn on the ground.

Then, Kufar chanted using a language she had never heard before, and a blinding light rose up from the four sides of the town.

“W-What?! The town is…!”
“Isn’t it amazing? It’s a summoning circle that surrounds the entire town. With this, all the town people can be offered as sacrifices for the Devil.”
“Devil…No, it can’t be…”

Lizith, being a resident of the north, fully knew the fear of the Devils.

Particularly the devil that led to Reid’s death twenty five years ago was already avoided like a taboo.

And now, Kufar said he was going to sacrifice the townspeople for it. She couldn’t believe what she heard.

“What…are you saying, Kufar… My father’s in there too! If you’re joking please stop already!!”
“Joke? Are you joking yourself? After offering so many people, I can summon quite a lot of Devils. Plus the goal is for them to rampage, so there is not even a need to designate masters for them.”
“Stop it! Please… I’m telling you to stop, you monster!”

Lizith tried to approach Kufar, but she couldn’t take a step out of the circle. It was as if an invisible wall was blocking her path.

“Let me out, please!”
“Monster…huh? Amazing, Lizith. You saw through me.”
“What…are you…”

Without waiting for her to finish her words, Kufar’s melted his body down. Or more accurately, he returned back to his original slime form.

There was only a dark-red, gelatinous lump left in his place. It trampled and spoke in Kufar’s voice.

“Lizith, you have quite a good intuition, huh?”
“Eek…S-Slime…No, this has to be a lie!”
“It’s not a lie. This is the real me.”
“No way… Did you devour Kufar and steal his appearance…!”

Among the Slimes categorized as Blobs, there were some species that could take on the appearance of their prey.

Lizith couldn’t believe what she was seeing, so her thoughts went there.

However, when Kufar heard it, he laughed while shaking his undefined body.

“Guhahahahaha, that was a good idea. But unfortunately, this is how I’ve always been, disgusting as it may be!”
“Why…Why did you…”
“How do you feel about falling for a Slime? Are you despairing? Don’t worry, I will send you to where everyone else will go soon. Look there.”

Kufar extended his tentacle and pointed to the town.

As it was wrapped in light, it released one big flash, and eventually, only the wasteland remained behind.

Houses, people, fences—everything disappeared…replaced by something that suddenly appeared.

“No, no no…dad, noo, dad, nooooooooooooo!!!”
“I like your scream. Now, which one appeared… Oh, it’s them. What a play of fate, huh?”

Kufar confirmed the Devils that appeared as he heard Lizith’s screams from behind. There stood Twin-Bladed Devils that numbered over a hundred.

Devils that were a match for Reid one by one, there were a hundred of them now. This was already a despairing sight.

Seeing that, Kufar trembled in satisfaction. Behind him, Lizith crumbled to her knees powerlessly.

“Okay, you’re next.”
“…Kill you….I-I will kill you… Kufar…Kufaaaaar!!”

Lizith screamed like a madman and punched the invisible wall. Her fingers broke and blood splattered everywhere in the process, but she continued without care.

“Yes, go mad, bloodthirsty, and hateful! Hate me more! The more you do, the stronger the summoned Devil will be!!”

Kufar once again started chanting the summoning spell as he screamed. The thing below her feet was the Devil summoning circle. It was a special version that didn’t allow the prey to escape.

And then, Lizith got wrapped in light…

And that took her place.

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Author’s note:

This was the final unpleasant scene. It was tiresome… But I had to include it somewhere so the story can proceed to the end…