Gourmet (2)

A man sat in a chair before an antique desk in the spacious room, a typical CEO's office. A nameplate rested on the desk: 'Chairman Arald Lemer'.

The man, Arald, had neatly trimmed brown hair and wore glasses, giving him an intellectual air. He was quite handsome and, above all, young – unbelievably so for the chairman of a large corporation like Hitchcock.

He was slicing something on a plate with a silver knife.

"I apologize. I was in the middle of a meal."

"..."

As Frondier stepped closer, he saw that it was a steak on the plate.

Chairman Hitchcock, Arald, calmly stabbed a piece of steak with a fork and brought it to his mouth, chewing thoughtfully.

"...You eat here? Without even going to the dining room."

"Yes."

Arald replied, wiping his mouth with a napkin before looking at Frondier.

"I prefer to eat alone."

"..."

Frondier's eyes narrowed coldly. Where the company chairman ate was of no interest to him. However, considering Paul's story and Arald's current meal, suspicion naturally arose in Frondier's mind.

"Is that human flesh?"

Frondier asked without hesitation.

Arald's cheeks bulged as he was in the middle of chewing another piece of meat. He chewed a few more times before speaking.

"This one is not."

Swish!

Frondier's Obsidian shot out like an arrow. The blades, transformed from the Obsidian, grazed Arald's body and embedded themselves in the wall.

Any slight movement would result in bloodshed. It was similar to what he had done to Lily.

Naturally, Arald's movements stopped.

"Do you want to play games with me?"

Frondier walked towards him, causing Arald's gaze to naturally rise.

"You know why I'm here. Yet you speak so shamelessly. 'This one is not.'"

Frondier glanced at the steak.

It was indeed ordinary beef, as confirmed in the workshop. But there was a clear intention behind Arald eating steak in front of Frondier and giving such an ambiguous answer.

"You are a devil who eats human flesh, and you have no intention of making excuses for it. So you are my enemy. Is it okay to understand it this way?"

"...Excuse me. That was not my intention."

Arald raised his hand as if to apologize. Naturally, Frondier's Obsidian cut him, causing blood to flow. Ignoring it, he continued.

"I cannot hide the fact that I have eaten human flesh in the past. You must already know that. So I answered that 'this' is not human flesh. I am not good at human speech, so please forgive me."

"..."

Arald's expression remained calm despite the blood flowing from his hand. Rather than being calm, he seemed insensitive to pain. It seemed that it wasn't just his speech that was awkward.

Swish, Frondier retracted the Obsidian. Arald briefly looked at his injured hand and then turned his gaze back to Frondier.

"Mr. Frondier must have come here with some certainty."

"At least I heard that this company is teeming with devils, and that there is someone with a cannibalistic desire among them."

Of course, that devil with a cannibalistic desire was Arald. Until just now, however, it was only a suspicion for Frondier. A suspicion close to certainty, but still a suspicion.

Arald asked.

"Why are you looking for cannibalistic desires?"

"To find the devils."

Arald nodded at Frondier's answer, seeming to have expected it to some extent.

"Then, it seems like a deal with me is possible."

Arald said that and picked up the knife and fork again. Blood dripped from his right hand, staining the plate and mixing with the blood from the steak. He cut the meat again with a knife and ate it.

Watching this, Frondier asked.

"A deal. You think I will make a deal with you?"

"Of course."

"How are you so sure?"

"If not, I would be dead by now."

Arald said, chewing the steak.

Frondier looked at him for a moment, dumbfounded.

Since coming to this world, Frondier had met someone more shameless than himself for the first time.

"You are calm. Talking about your own death."

"Hmm. Devils also fear death, but not as much as humans. This tendency becomes stronger as the rank increases. I thought you already knew that. Devils are actually more afraid of living. A life that continues without desire is the greatest fear."

At those words, Frondier briefly recalled the past.

Beelphegor, whom he had defeated himself, and Lily, whom he had imprisoned in the workshop. Both of them certainly didn't care about death itself.

Beelphegor was indifferent, even though he would suffer more than death, and Lily even offered her hand, asking him to kill her.

"Living is fear."

"Yes. Please keep that in mind the next time you threaten a devil. It will work well."

Arald put down his knife there. It seemed he had finally finished the steak.

He looked at Frondier and said.

"We, Hitchcock, promise full support and assistance to Mr. Frondier."

"...That's a rather favorable statement considering your shameless answers so far."

"Shameless... I see. I apologize. That was also a misunderstanding."

Arald's expression remained unchanged even while apologizing. Wearing glasses made it even harder to see the changes in his face.

"What specifically do you mean by support?"

"We will cooperate with Mr. Frondier's search for devils. We have also been in a difficult situation recently."

A difficult situation?

When Frondier tilted his head at those words, Arald spoke again.

"Recently, the crimes of devils hiding in the Empire have become increasingly bold, so as a fellow devil, I needed to eliminate them as quickly as possible. If the Empire starts to stir up all the devils within the Empire because of them, I am also in danger."

"...You speak well for someone who eats human flesh."

"That's true, but I made an effort not to get caught. If it weren't for you, no one would have known."

"Do you ignore the families of the dead with that logic? The people who are still looking for someone you ate?"

Arald tilted his head at Frondier's words.

"The humans I ate were originally meant to be eaten by the outer monsters. No matter who ate them, there was no way for their families to find out. Is there a difference between the two?"

"...You."

"Besides, I don't eat human flesh anymore. I realized it was too dangerous, no matter how I acquired it. In the end, it came back to bite me, so even though my judgment was correct, it was too late."

Arald shook his head.

Frondier, seeing that, momentarily considered cutting off Arald's head right there. It probably wouldn't be too difficult. Arald was currently unarmed, and even though he was a devil, his aura was barely noticeable at the moment.

But killing Arald here would complicate things too much, and above all, it would be of no benefit.

Arald was in a position to have eaten the corpses from the mana injection incident, so he had no connection to the murders. If anything, he was guilty of inaction.