Help, I'm in Another World and All the Men Are Are So Dangerous! [BL]-Chapter 297: The Ritual of the Demon

What... what was that? There was an undeniably ominous aura surrounding the very mention of it.

Just hearing about it was enough to make Rocco shudder. As he trembled, Laxus blinked in mild surprise before speaking.

"The Ritual of the Demon? Huh, I didn’t think anyone would actually go through with it."

"Hmm? Laxus, you know about... what was it? The Ritual stuff?"

"The Ritual of the Demon," Laxus corrected with a small sigh. "Yeah, it’s actually a pretty well-known ritual. Though... it’s mostly just a legend."

Rocco had expected Laxus to react with at least a little fear—maybe something like ’Th-the Ritual of the Demon!?’ followed by some trembling. But of course, Laxus was completely unfazed. Typical. The guy knew everything.

According to him, the Ritual of the Demon was something akin to an old folktale.

Just as Deimos had said, it was a forbidden ritual, one that supposedly granted an eternal life.

...And upon hearing that, Rocco suddenly had a very bad but very intriguing thought.

"If there’s a ritual like that, wouldn’t everyone want to do it? I mean, living forever—everyone dreams about that at least once, right?"

Tilting his head in genuine curiosity, he asked the question.

Rather than answering, Laxus ruffled his hair. "So cute, so cute."

"H-Hey! Don’t just start treating me like a kid all of a sudden!" Rocco huffed, puffing his cheeks in protest. What was that reaction supposed to be? He wasn’t a child!

After giving him a few more pat pat gestures, Laxus finally answered properly.

"Because it’s forbidden, Rocco. And something that’s labeled as forbidden... always has a very good reason for it. Among all the taboos in history, the Ritual of the Demon stands out as one of the most horrifying."

Rocco nodded his head slowly. He wasn’t sure he fully understood, but basically... it came with some really bad consequences?

It made sense. If someone got banned from a store, there was always a reason for it. If someone got scolded, it was because they did something bad.

If something was forbidden, it meant there was something fundamentally wrong with it.

So then... what was the penalty for the Ritual of the Demon?

Just as the question formed in his mind, Laxus leaned in and whispered in a low voice.

"The ritual only works if you offer a sacrifice. To put it simply, in a way even little Rocco can understand... you have to kill a lot of people for it to activate."

"WH—WHAAAT?!"

Rocco practically jumped out of his skin, his eyes going wide.

His whole body tensed, and he felt a cold sweat break out. That was way scarier than he expected!

No, seriously, that was just straight-up terrifying! He could cry!

The moment he grasped just how horrifying the conditions were, he yanked himself out of Laxus’s hold and bolted toward Deimos.

His legs carried him forward in a near-stumble as he practically skidded to a stop in front of him.

Tears welled up in his eyes as he stammered out his words, his voice high with disbelief.

"Y-You—! You actually killed a bunch of innocent people?! That’s not okay! At first, I was thinking, ’Oh man, this guy’s had it rough, poor dude,’ but nope! Nope, I can’t defend that! That’s just awful!"

"...Wow. That was blunt," Laxus muttered behind him, half amused.

Rocco ignored him. Instead, he fixed his watery glare on Deimos.

For a moment, the man was silent.

Then—he let out a small, sharp laugh, almost a scoff.

"What nonsense. The truly guilty ones are the foolish humans who refused to acknowledge me. The ones who turned away from the reality of interspecies discrimination."

Deimos’s voice dropped, filled with cold conviction.

"If history had erased my existence, and if this nation had continued on while ignoring the prejudice woven into its foundation... then one day, this country would have rotted into a place where discrimination was an unshakable truth."

This...

Well, what Deimos was doing was outright criminal, but what he was saying—Rocco had to admit, it was surprisingly accurate.

It was true that ever since the first king took the throne, this country had only strengthened its discrimination against beastman. In that sense, Deimos had a point.

But even if that were the case, why turn to the Ritual of Demon? What was Deimos really after?

Sensing Rocco’s unspoken questions, Deimos continued his explanation without hesitation.

"I told you, didn’t I? My brother stole the throne from me. I simply wanted to reclaim what was rightfully mine. And, I wanted to purge this kingdom’s corruption with my own hands."

Rocco tilted his head in thought.

Something about all this felt oddly familiar.

Deimos claimed to be the younger brother of the first king, but from the moment they met, Rocco had never found anything particularly off about him. That was because his personality wasn’t all that different from Ares, the man whose body he now possessed.

And that was what felt familiar.

Unable to ignore the nagging feeling, Rocco blurted out his thoughts.

"You... you’re saying the same thing as Ares. You both want to be king."

Deimos blinked his eyes at him in surprise.

Then, as if finding the statement amusing, he let out a soft chuckle.

Rocco frowned. What was so funny about that?

"Of course," Deimos said. "This body walks the same path I once did. The curse I left behind through the Ritual of the Demon still lingers in the royal bloodline. This time, the vessel happened to be this man. That’s all there is to it."

"A... curse? A vessel...?"

"Yes. Originally, this man wasn’t meant to be the vessel at all. It should have been someone far more suited for the role... A beastman, far superior to this failure of a vessel."

"Wait—what?"

Still struggling to piece it together, Rocco furrowed his brows.

Then, suddenly, Deimos’s gaze shifted—this time, toward Laxus.

Rocco turned as well, blinking in confusion.

Judging by his reaction, even Laxus seemed slightly taken aback.