"He’s gone..."
"He really vanished..."
Alicia and Mariana stood there, stunned, watching the spot where the demon had made his grand appearance only to beat a hasty retreat a moment later.
"Ho-ho, it appears you’ve been rejected, Young Master."
"Are you serious...?"
Was it even possible for a demon to respond to a summons only to immediately decline the engagement? What was that all about? And what, exactly, was the deal with that "Sweet Potato" guy? The encounter had left us with nothing but questions.
As we all stood there in a daze, Sebas spoke up.
"My, my. It seems the reputation of the Abandoned Land has reached even the depths of the other world."
"There’s no way!" I snapped.
If that were true, it would be a massive blow to my ego. To think that even demons looked at this place and thought, "Oh, it's that Abandoned Land"—we’re doomed!
"But can something like this actually happen?" Alicia wondered aloud.
"Ah! I’ve got it!"
At Alicia's murmur, Mariana suddenly thrust her hand into the air and stepped forward with a flourish.
What did she "get"? What could she possibly have deduced from that nonsensical situation? The only thing I’d learned was that the guy’s name sounded like a tuber.
"Fufufu... the mystery is solved."
Mariana adjusted her glasses with a rapid-fire flick of her fingers—scritch-scritch-scritch-scritch. Every time she did it, the basement light caught the thick lenses and flashed a blinding glare directly into my eyes. It was incredibly irritating.
"There was some sort of incident involving demons in the past, wasn't there? I bet the local demons have been terrified of House Brave ever since!"
"Ho-ho, a bullseye, Lady Mariana."
"Yes!" She pumped her fist.
Was he for real? I found that a little hard to swallow. When I narrowed my eyes at him, Sebas simply stroked his beard and chuckled.
"Ho-ho, House Brave has a history of demon subjugation, you see."
"But the demon I fought recently was plenty aggressive," I countered.
"Demons are a diverse lot. I suppose some of them simply aren't well-versed in the terrors of House Brave."
"Are you sure about that?"
"Young Master, the scent of Lord Onyx clings strongly to you. Even a demon cannot hope to triumph over a dragon."
It was true that the demon possessing Jelasis had been terrified of Onyx. Still, something felt fishy. I’d never beaten Sebas once in my entire life; was it possible the demons were actually just terrified of him?
"In the first place, just how did they kill them in the past to make demons this afraid?" Alicia asked, her voice tinged with exasperation.
She had a point.
"Well, there was the time a previous Master was carved up in bed by the Wife... in various fashions."
In various fashions? Yikes.
"According to the history of House Brave passed down through the generations—which, admittedly, consists primarily of records detailing the gruesome ways my predecessors died..." Sebas continued to recount our macabre family history while stroking his beard.
I suppose there was no point in overthinking it now. Why start doubting things just because Sebas managed to startle a demon? It was thanks to Sebas that House Brave functioned at all. He was the reason I could enjoy a peaceful life at the Academy. I’ll say it again: thank you, Sebas.
"At that time, the only son was a man highly gifted in the Holy-attribute. Infuriated by his father's murder, he manifested a mana so divine that his black hair was said to shine gold. He reportedly obliterated both the Wife and the demon in a single, holy instant."
"...What even is that? That doesn't even make sense."
The House Brave of old was truly on another level of ridiculous.
"Including the wife? That’s... quite something," Alicia noted.
"Wait! Alicia would never do something like that! Right, Ragna-san?!" Mariana cried out, stepping in front of Alicia as if to shield her.
"It’s fine. I’m not the kind of guy who’d make a blunder like being attacked in his sleep."
Since one’s sleep is the time of greatest vulnerability, I’d already set up perfect countermeasures. More importantly, I had no intention of letting things reach a point where Alicia would ever feel the need to do that. That was precisely why I had resolved to walk the path of the henpecked husband.
"The more I hear, though, the less I understand about how to actually kill a demon."
"But Young Master, that is how you kill them."
"Well... I guess so."
The Holy-attribute was certainly the most effective tool against them. Light against dark, holy against unholy, positive against the negative-side attribute. Since demons were fundamentally composed of negative-side attributes, the opposite was "super effective."
"But if that were enough, I would have finished it already. I can use every attribute."
I had mastered every form of magic specifically to handle any possible attack. After all, to reconstruct a barrier, one had to understand its components deeply.
"What do I do against an opponent who has fused completely with a host and refuses to die?"
"I would usually say that you won't truly learn unless you figure it out for yourself... but since Lady Alicia and Lady Mariana are here, shall I provide a simple countermeasure?"
"That would be a huge help, Sebas."
Usually, learning through experience hits home faster than being told, and physical memory is more reliable than mental understanding in a crisis. But for now, I’d take the shortcut. I was just going to summon another one and fight it anyway, so it didn't really matter.
"Whoa! A lecture on how to defeat them! This is so rare! Huff, huff!"
"Mariana, don't get so worked up."
She was going to end up breaking her glasses again. What generation was she on now with those bottle-bottom things? Honestly, where did she even buy them?
"Still, if we're going to be part of House Brave, this is knowledge we definitely need," Alicia said.
"If a demon shows up, I'll protect you."
"I'll handle my own defense. It'll be more efficient if you focus on killing the target in the meantime, right?"
"I can't argue with that."
Once she put it that way, there was nothing left to say. She was almost too perfect a wife.
"A fine attitude to have," Sebas said, bringing the conversation back to the task at hand. The Demon Subjugation Lecture officially began. "Since demons do not possess physical bodies, they cannot exist in this world without a medium. This means that their physical forms are constructed entirely out of magic power."
"I see, I see! Huff, huff!"
Mariana had shifted into full-blown study mode, and her eager panting was getting loud.
"Is she always like this during lessons?" Alicia whispered.
"Yeah," I replied.
Her glasses usually broke at some point, bringing the whole class to a standstill. I’m sure she thought she was being inconspicuous, but in reality, she stood out like a sore thumb. My disappointing former protagonist.
"The extent of the sacrifice offered determines how much control is surrendered to the demon," Sebas explained. "Whether it is a part of the body, the whole body, or finally—the soul."
Come to think of it, in the world of the game, the original Alicia had sold her soul to a demon.