Chapter 3

The great sinner, Matias Rutius—two weeks have passed since the hero Sieg Andreas took on his form and was sent to a border village.

The nearby territory is governed by Viscount Gystar.

With the defeat of the Demon King, the Demon Kingdom's army was rapidly losing its momentum. Gystar had traversed many battlefields during his military service but had finally secured a well-deserved rest and returned to his territory.

He had just accomplished a great task.

There was no reason for him to be criticized for going falconry.

Under the clear sky, Gystar galloped across the plain, skirting the dense forest to his right. On his arm perched his prized hawk, which had spotted a flock of waterfowl by a nearby pond.

He left his attendants behind, increased his speed, and released the hawk.

The hawk, sensing the danger, targeted one of the waterfowl and pursued it fiercely.

With its sharp talons gleaming, the hawk caught the waterfowl mid-air.

The soldiers watching from a distance cheered.

However, the hawk could not return to its master.

Gystar had vanished from his horse without anyone noticing.

It happened in an instant—truly just an instant.

Everyone, including Gystar, was captivated by the hawk catching its prey.

Blinded and gagged, he was taken from his horse.

Despite the open plain and the nearby forest, no one noticed.

When his vision cleared, he found himself surrounded by trees, deep in the forest.

But what puzzled Gystar more was the young man standing before him.

"Is it you, Matias Rutius...?"

The young man with black hair and eyes and a well-defined face matched Gystar's memory.

However, he knew it was impossible for him to be here.

The young man wore a collar around his neck.

The "Warden's Collar," a symbol of a criminal, contained various ancient and lost technologies, including "communication magic." If it detected any abnormalities, it would alert the receiver in the Holy Capital, and he would be sent to the guillotine.

Abnormalities included leaving the designated area or using a significant amount of magic.

At the very least, the former applied.

No, what was even more unbelievable was—

"Where are your companions? You don't have the strength to abduct me alone!"

"Companions? There's no way I have any. I'm not a coward like you."

His tone was different from the one Gystar knew.

"I need you to tell me who set us up."

Despite his curiosity, the man was a complete failure with both sword and magic. Gystar couldn't trust his claim of having no companions and cautiously reached for his sword—

"Go ahead, resist if you can."

Thud. His arm fell to the ground.

"Ah, aaaaah!?"

The pain followed, spreading through his body from the wound.

What had he just done?

A man with ordinary skills in sword and magic, who had fought on the front lines against the Demon King's army, could not possibly have injured him...

It wasn't a remote attack by his companions; that was clear.

The man before him radiated visible magical energy.

"Shut up. Stop screaming and talk."

The bleeding stopped, but his arm remained on the ground, and the pain continued.

This was clearly a high-level magic, even if it was just to stop the bleeding. He hadn't even noticed it being cast.

"We have time. No one will hear your screams. Suffer as much as you can."

Gystar trembled with fear at the inevitable 'death' before the completely expressionless young man.

Gystar was the one who had led the demons to assassinate the hero.

His friend was killed by demons in a place his unit was supposed to guard, where no demons should have been.

However, it couldn't have been the work of a single mid-level noble.

After torturing Gystar, nine conspirators, all nobles of the Terium Holy Kingdom, were revealed.

Sieg wanted to kill each of them slowly and meticulously.

But he didn't.

(Not yet.)

Revenge was just one of his goals.

He had attacked Gystar to uncover the conspirators.

His primary goal was to restore his friend's tarnished honor.

He left Gystar's body to be eaten by beasts and abandoned on the spot.

Then he hurried to another location.

On a rocky outcrop south of the Holy Capital, there was a small cave entrance.

Inside, the cave was long and winding, with a large hollow at the end.

When he entered the hollow, sealed by an iron door, the walls glowed faintly. Shelves lined the walls, filled with books.

"Wow, a thousand or two won't do it, with this amount..."

There were also half-finished magical tools scattered on the floor and shelves.

The supreme sage, Matias Rutius, had been a teacher at the Holy Capital's academy, and all his personal belongings in the school's laboratory had been confiscated.

However, they were all known magical research materials.

This was the secret workshop where the supreme sage conducted his advanced research.

It contained advanced research materials and magical tools, especially those related to ancient lost technologies, hidden here without anyone knowing.

His friend had known about it, and now his friend's successor had come.

(Hmm? What's that...)

In a corner of the hollow, he found something unusually covered with cloth, about twice the size of a person.

When he removed the cloth, he saw a transparent container filled with liquid, in which—

—a beautiful woman floated.

"Human... no, a half-beast?"

At first glance, she looked young and beautiful, with a human-like face.

But she had animal-like ears on her head and a fluffy tail swaying behind her, both silver like her hair.

Her eyes were closed, but if they were red, she undoubtedly belonged to the realm of demons.

Next to the large transparent container, several books had fallen. They were thick notebooks. When he picked them up and looked inside, they contained Matias' design specifications for her.

"An artificial human... and autonomous at that?"

Creating a mere doll was possible with current technology, but an autonomous being with a self-aware mind was something only found in stories.

"But this is almost complete."

He found design diagrams. The parts were in a box at his feet.

The core was a simplified magic furnace modeled after the "Netherworld Magic Furnace," which, theoretically, could keep her moving semi-permanently with regular magic supply.

"How did you achieve a soul? The details on that... are probably over there?"

He surveyed the nearly three thousand books, feeling overwhelmed.

In any case, the artificial human should be his top priority to take.

"Studying and researching aren't really my thing."

He had always disliked it. But—

"Just a small part of what you could have achieved..."

He would accomplish it himself.

And thus, he would restore the supreme sage Matias Rutius' reputation.

Could he do it?

He had always relied on his friend for all the thinking, being just strong.

But he had decided to do it.

He would see it through, no matter how long it took.

His family would live as if he were dead.

The title of the strongest hero, the name and form of "Sieg Andreas," were no longer important to him.

"First, I need to fix this tone and attitude."

He had to be careful not to let his true self show.

Sieg resolved to read through the sage's legacy, starting with the books.