Rental Isekai Chapter 17 (Patreon)

Drakia and I pushed into the cave almost certainly leading to the demons that had been corrupting this area with Rose just behind us. The caves walls actually were well lit by the yellow and crimson veins of corrupted mana streaking through all the walls of the tunnel to the point that there was no fear of stumbling around in the dark.

And Rose quietly even told me that all the corrupted mana was the reason all the plants in the surrounding area had died. As the overabundance of mana was too strong for the local flora to survive being baked by it's energies in the long term.

But as we crept deeper into the cave loud cackles hit our ears and with my silver ring I heard their demonic tongues translated into my ears. "Really good, the farm's walls are super small and only keep out the wolves. The farmer is old and weak, with ripe daughters and well-aged wife."

The imps like goblins weren't exactly intelligent and as we slowly turned around the bend leading into the heart of the cave where the group of imps and the leading bloodletter demon was. It was easy to tell which was which.

As each imp was a nasty thing, cruel in their visage as they had grotesque plum purple skin with cruel-looking horns atop their head that heads that actually had spikes or thorns on the horns. Beyond their thin and gangly appearance, they were not much different in comparison to goblins either as they barely looked to be even four feet even.

The bloodletter on the other hand. He looked to be an actual challenge of a sorts. With crimson red skin that glowed with the mana-filled scars of light running through the surroundings reflecting off it. He had goat-like horns that cured back over his head from his forehead with thorns and spikes on the horns so that no one could grab them. Honestly the horns curled over his head in such a way that I realized that those horns actually made for a great damned helmet.

But when the Bloodletter spoke, although it was still in the demonic tongue and not the common tongue that most people of this world spoke. It was clear that his intelligence and eloquence was no different from any other sentient being. Even if... That sentience was only devoted to the existence of Evil.

"Dragging back some broodmares would only bring more attention onto us. The knights and armies of Lundhaven are too busy dealing with that bitch Necromancer Queen... We simply need to keep a low profile as we continue to map out the surrounding area's and take down notes for where the Lundhaven military keeps its dungeons." The Bloodletter spoke and my lips pursed hearing that.

And then after ripping off a large hunk of flesh from what looked like a deer's leg the Bloodletter continued with grease and blood dripping from his red skinned jawline. "Hmm yes we simply need to stay out of sight while the other four teams and the Baron finish the ritual. Then bitches will ours to break at our leisure."

'Why do the demons want to know where Lundhaven's dungeons are?' I thought before it hit me as I recalled a conversation with Carlos as he tried to win me over to Lundhaven's side and Queen Illyana's service... The dungeons in the land of Lundhaven recently have been booming due to excessive mana running through the leylines.

Which meant that with excess energy the dungeons had been growing and birthing monsters a lot more commonly.

'A dungeon break? Using Necromancy or something to control the monsters from the dungeon?' I thought but honestly, I couldn't just think up the answer as with the Bloodletter telling the two dozen odd imps that there wouldn't be any breeding sow raids... The demons had gone quiet.

So knowing I wasn't going to get an answer. Nor was I interested in torturing the demons as I was aware that answers from torture even if I was willing to do it. Woudn't be trustworthy.

Better to just drop the information on Queen Illyana and let her deal with whatever the hell was happening honestly.

I took a deep breath and as I made eye contact with Drakia I conveyed for her to deal with the imps while I took out the Bloodletter making her nod. While Rose already knew that her job was to make a holy light barrier that would lock all the demons into the cave with us. Not allowing them to escape our purge.

With no further sign of answers coming I gave Drakia a look and she nodded so I refocused on the Bloodletter... And then I teleported atop the Bloodletter!

Lightning screamed and arced off my body as my lightning coated sword slammed home through the arm the Bloodletter fearfully brought up to block my surprise attack and my sword slammed into his ribs cracking through it with a loud cracking noise as the sharpened tip of my blade sunk into his crimson flesh.

'Black blood?' I thought seeing the demons blood and then I hopped backwards even with lightning coursing through the Bloodletter's flesh he still managed to conjure some kind of solid blood axe he swung at my head directly.

"Dragonkin! You are ignorant of demons aren't you?" The bloodletter chuckled as he covered the wound that should have torn his heart apart and my lips twitched as I realized that demons probably had their hearts on the opposite side as humans.

But thankfully my wreath of lightning kept the Imps from stabbing me in the back... And Drakia had already dived into the battle with her silver spear of conjured moonlight becoming a whirl of steaming blood and spilled demonic gore. As the slight holy aura in her moonlit sizzled and boiled the demonic blood and flesh that the spear came into contact with.

"My bad then. I will try to keep it quick then... Unless you want to tell me about this baron's ritual?" I asked hefting up my magical sword as I used the conversation to let my teleports timer reset.

Along with allowing Drakia to continue her slaughter of the Imps and it was a little disturbing to see how the Bloodletter had literally zero reaction seeing his subordinates being massacred.

Hearing my question, the Bloodletter demon a demon of the sin of Wrath sneered and made a loud guaffal of laughter as he pointed his axe at me and retorted. "You truly are ignorant little Dragonkin... Demons can't betray their masters even if they want to! Now die!"

And he charged towards me with a deep roar that sounded like the baying of a bear and I met his conjured solid blood axe with my sword and as he tried to use the connecting points of where our weapons slammed together to slide the axe down towards my hands and wrists. I let go of my sword and then with my hands covered in lightning I hopped slightly upwards and both my hands wreathed in screaming lightning to slap his ears as hard as I could.

When my hands pulled back I saw how his ears had been burnt by the lightning and with the way his eyes rolled back I could tell his brain was rattled by the lightning that coursed from the ears destroying his equilibrium to say nothing of the actual electricity that reached his brain.

I kicked my sword off the ground back into my hand and then even as his eyes refocused I swung my sword and with the sounds of bones breaking and flesh being carved open. My sword succeeded in taking off the Bloodletters head.

-

After finishing up the rest of the imps with Drakia, Rose got to work purifying the area of the demonic taint pulling the excess mana up from the surface as this cave was the center of this section of demonic corruption.

"Jing come on out for a second." I spoke quietly as Rose was glowing gently with a golden light as she chanted under breath a litany of prayers to her goddess of light.

My shadow darkened and my face twitched as from my own shadow Jing's kneeling form with her head lowered in my direction was unveiled. Meaning that Jing had been camping out in my shadow for god knows how long.

"Yes hero. What is it you desire?" She asked formally and there was a pause as I considered how to ask before I decided to be blunt.

"Why didn't you try to keep the Bloodletter alive or push for him to be interrogated even?" I asked bluntly.

Jing was silent for a long moment until she looked up at me with her golden eyes staring into my own eyes deeply before she responded slowly. "The dungeons of Lundhaven are already on the precipice of going on a major riot and letting their dungeon monsters overflow into the surroundings was only a matter of time... The demons pushing them over the edge isn't unexpected but at the core of things. I am an agent of her Majesty Tilda..."

My face went flat as the assassin calmly continued and I was reminded of the callousness of royal affairs. "Her seditious sister Illya's fiefdom facing a catastrophe will only bring power back to the capital. As Illyana's forces will be depleted and wasted containing the hordes of monsters."

Instead of myself responding as I digested those words. Rose who just finished her chants with the glowing mana scars in the walls beginning to ever so slightly dim spoke out with indignance. "But that would leave countless farms, villages, and small towns to the mercy of those roaming monster hordes!"

And Jing nodded with her face cold as she responded softly. "The price of royal power struggles... Illyana has to deal with overflowing dungeons, the roaming necromancer Queen and her acolytes who raise armies of the dead and slaughter the living to add to their armies. Hadena herself has to face endless ice monster and the very encroachment of the ice gods from the north while still competing for the throne her sister holds."

Jing's voice was blank of emotion as she spoke and she continued with that same tone as she refuted Rose's justice filled demands. "Illyana and Hadena both steal from the capital with their privateer pirates stealing from the ports of Tilda's cities along with several bandit clans being sponsored by them. Which is why Carlos was so angry that he himself was being robbed on the road to Lundhaven."

Finally I spoke out as I tired of the political rhetoric. "That's good and all... But I am not going to let a bunch of mindless monsters tear civilians apart regardless of the politics." I finished as I collected evidence of our kills and without giving Jing another look I headed out of the cave while we still had light from the corrupted mana.

As we got back on our rented horses Rose rode up close to me and asked hurriedly. "Jake what are you planning?"

My lips twitched seeing how anxious she looked and I dryly said while giving her a poke on the cheek making the lewd nun pout. "I am going straight to Illyana. I don't know if she alreadly knows about this 'ritual' but letting her know the demons are working to destroy the area through some kind of dungeon event will be helpful." Whether they know alreadly or not doesn't matter.

Just myself popping in to tell Illyana that I had found this out, meant that I was more concerned about the lives of the people and that I could be worked with. Which was what I wanted. I didn't want to get wrapped up in a bunch of royal power games, and instead wanted to be independent of the three queens.

'That is... If I can.' I thought wryly as the hope of remaining an independent chess piece wasn't exactly going to be easy.