TW: This chapter contains mention of rape and graphic torture.

It’s around noon the same day the cat eavesdrops.

Once per day, supplies and food are brought into the demons’ mansion.

Access to the house has been heavily restricted since the theft of the cargo two days ago.

Even demons have to eat though, so they replenish their supplies in order to perform their duties.

Of course, they don’t let humans help bring in the food and they use magic to check if it is poisonous or not.

Demons are gathering in front of a pile of goods that has been brought in.

“We’ve been waiting for you.”

Standing in the center of the circle of demons is Jens, a senior demon, ruler of the town and owner of the mansion.

He speaks with a happy chuckle.

In fact, he’s enjoying himself right now.

He has not been in a proper state of mind since the theft of the cargo due to his anger at the culprit and his anxiety about the possibility of the Demon Lord finding out.

The person who can solve all of those problems has finally appeared in front of him.

In front of him is a barrel of wine with the lid opened and in it is—

—a human girl.

Her body is shaking and her eyes are filled with a mixture of anxiety and fear as she looks at the demons around her.

She’s an intruder.

She’s unquestionably a suspicious intruder without a shadow of a doubt.

Nevertheless, Jens isn’t surprised. As he said before, he has been waiting.

He still hasn’t found the person who stole the cargo nor has he found the cargo. The worst that could happen is the culprit and the cargo might have already escaped from the premises somehow…so the demons are half in despair.

However, Jens is different. If the culprit’s goal is the Divine Weapon, then Jens can predict what he’ll do next.

He would come for the key to the Abyssal Box.

There’s no other way to get a Divine Artifact out of that box, so it would be the natural course of action.

Jens ordered the demons to spread a small rumor in town, “Jens has a mysterious key in his hands.”

To the uninformed, this information would be meaningless, but to the criminal who stole the Abyssal Box, it would be something that can’t be overlooked.

He would have already prepared for the risk of entering the house and stealing the cargo, so he would definitely show up again even if the security is tightened.

The only time they would be able to break into the house would be when they brought supplies in once per day.

It’s all going according to plan.

Jens laughs.

“Normally, the rule is to kill anyone who breaks in here immediately, but I’m going to give you a chance at survival. Tell me the location of the items you stole the other day and I’ll guarantee your life will be spared.”

It is a lie.

As soon as the stolen cargo is found, this woman will be tortured in every way imaginable and killed in such a horrible way that no human form will be left.

If she has companions, they will be killed as well.

They’ll make them eat her flesh and hurt them so much they regret being born.

The girl doesn’t say a word. All she does is tremble in fear.

Jens couldn’t tell if her reaction was honest or a bluff.

He takes in information with his sharpened senses…the sound of her heart beating abnormally fast, the smell of cold sweat breaking out all over her body, the stiffness of her muscles from the strain. It all says that she’s afraid, but he still wonders if the person capable of doing such a daring thing would be frightened at this level.

(Hmm, well, it doesn’t matter anyway.)

He gently reaches out his hand at the girl who shrinks down into the barrel.

“If you’re trembling like this, you can’t speak properly? Why don’t we go inside the house and have a cup of tea to calm down?”

He orders one of his men to take her inside the house.

As soon as they confirm that she has disappeared into the house, the demons ask with a bit of anxiety.

“What are you going to do?”

“It’s obvious, she’ll tell us everything.”

“If she calms down but still doesn’t talk…?”

“Then we’ll take her to the basement and torture her. I don’t care if you rape her, skin her or cut off her fingers.”

The demons smile lecherously as they receive the answer they were hoping for. Some of them were even drooling uncontrollably.

“But don’t kill her until you get the information, okay? Up to that limit, do as you please.”

While his subordinates rejoice, Jens cools his thoughts and stills his excitement.

As a person in charge, he can’t be optimistic that everything is going to be okay.

What if she dies before they get information?

What if she had nothing to do with the person who stole the cargo in the first place?

What if the Demon Lord comes to town on a whim?

There are too many bad possibilities to relax.

For example—what if she can’t give them any information about the thief?

(Do we go around the town searching repeatedly…?)

That’s a bad idea.

The greater the turmoil, the more likely the Demon Lord will find out about it.

(Should we call in a high-ranking detection magician? No, such resources aren’t immediately available to the Demon Lord’s aide. What if I’m asked, “Why do you need it?”)

He couldn’t find a better way though.

Besides, if he waits too long, the thief and his cargo might escape from the town. No, the worst thing that could happen is that they may have already fled to a distant town.

(If that’s the case, I’m going to have to make up my mind…)

Even if he’s a high level demon that can kill humans like insects and presides as a member of the Demon Lord’s inner circle, Jens’s worries are endless.

(I wish I could live without any worries like one of those cats walking around town…)