Reincarnated as a Phoenix

Chapter 145 – Spy

"...It was a pleasure to speak with you two queens again, should probably get moving along now though"

(Petra) "Heh, nice to see you as well Geld"

(Ikarus) "Yeah, bye..."

In one of the mornings me and Petra were walking around our snowy settlement, we just so happened to bump into the beastkin leading the Adventures guild out in the town. It turns out that little 'scare' about the golems and wraiths was unneeded as their guild have turned it into a subjugation quest for the members and we even found Geld destroying a small group of them.

We've only really spoken to him once or twice, one of those times being the demonic invasion itself. We haven't exactly discussed much except giving our thanks for the guild's help and small talk like about the weather but there is something a little iffy about him.

He's pretty slim but quite muscley, has blonde short hair and always carries around a big two-handed longsword. His clothing choice isn't exactly practical considering the guy basically just wears a tight tank top even if the freezing snow but his appearance isn't the reason why I'm cautious about him. I'll get onto that in a second...

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Ah, can't forget the gasmasks we all wear as well but that should be a given right now. Apparently, the dust is already starting to settle a little more so we may be able to finally remove these in a week or two, at least that's according to Aesa.

Oh, parents are still here as well but I'm focusing heavily on this guy right now, I can't decide whether he's friend or foe. I've basically been ignoring the entire conversation simply because of something I saw when doing his status check, something there is suspect as fuck.

As the beast Geld is walking off, I'm still glancing in his direction.

'Status check again'

[Name: Geld | Species: Wolf'oid | Level: 500]

[Health 30,000/30,000]

[Stamina 17,723/20,000]

[Magicka 0/0]

'That's suspicious, right Aesa? This isn't me becoming extremely paranoid or something?'

It's nothing to do with his stats since he holds nothing to me, but it's the level making me question things. Nearly every human or humanoid person we come across always seems to have a level that not perfectly rounded like that with only a few exceptions like with the dryads or boss fights. Another exception being Charlotte, who also is exactly five hundred as well...

[<Aesa is unsure on this as well. Maybe target -Petra- may be able to help?>]

'Right, I'll ask her then'

While the beast Geld is still walking off, I quickly start to whisper to Petra. Pretty sure she thought I was going in for a kiss there but a potential foe is more important than lovey dovey stuff right now... even if I don't want it to be.

"Petra... have you checked out his level yet? It's suspicious as hell, right?"

"It's five hundred Ikarus, why is that suspicious? We have loads of powerful people here already and he is representing the guild after all"

"It's not that he's powerful, it's the specific level itself. Priestess for example, she is also the exact same but hers is borrowed from a God. It's either an extreme coincidence, or he's also the same"

Almost as if you could hear a pin drop in the snow, Petra finally clocks onto what my problem is. Enemies who seem to have a level perfectly rounded like that are extremely rare so there is a small chance he could naturally be that level... but coincidences like that don't happen in this world. Shit always has a bigger meaning... I know it sounds like paranoia but I refuse to be naïve anymore! That guy is sus!

"Hey Geld! Come back here a second"

Without even giving me a warning, Petra calls him back and I can already sense how she's going to approach this. It's funny how I'm supposed to be the bloodthirsty one out of our duo yet she's about to attack him...

"Yes Queen Petra, what can I help you wi-"

And of course, Petra charges towards him blade in hand and goes for his neck while I quickly join her. We're obviously not going to kill him but need to make it seem scary enough.

Anyways, Petra's first attack gets parried by the huge sword the guy wields and my follow up also clatters against it, could feel the vampiric blade rattle from the impact there. We may have been holding ourselves back a load but damn, this guy knows what he's doing. The speed of his reactions were similar to Petra.

"...Why the fuck are we fighting!?"

"Spill the beans wolf! Reveal who you work for and we'll stop!"

"Heh, me and Ikarus aren't fools guild lackey. We know you serve someone else"

Both of us decide to go for another attack with Petra leading going for his neck again and me going for his shoulder, somehow he manages to evade us both jumping back and avoiding the swings. It's crazy how a guy wielding such a large sword can match our speed, it doesn't seem like he really wants to fight though.

"What the hell are you two on about!? I work for the Adventures guild, only! I serve no one else!"

'Eye of wisdom ability says that's a hugeee lie...'

"He's lying Petra"

"Heh, you can tell as well Ikarus? Let's continue then"

Both of us rush in unison towards the stumbling man and this time, looking to aim for his legs. There's only so much backing off he can do so he finally decides to fight back a little swinging towards us both. The length of his blade cause me and Petra to have to give up on that advance. That could have ended really badly if we didn't back off but that attack of his seemed reluctant as hell though.

"I don't want to hurt you two, but you're leaving me no choice! Just stop this already!"

(Ikarus) "Then answer what God you work for? It's not a difficult question wolf blood"

"God? I don't work for no God!"

Hang on, that wasn't a lie!? Then who the hell does he work for?

"If not a God then, who could it be..."

Think about it Ikarus, what other higher power creatures could potentially share power comparable to Gods? If I think about the strongest creatures I've come across, it would probably be dragons, that giant or... wait a second, the invasion!

"...It ain't a demon lord, is it? Are you contracted to one of those demonic bastards!?"

"..."

No response from the beast, bingo! I'm not sure why I'm happy finding this out, this is extremely bad, right? I'm really didn't want to piss of an entire guild but this may be the only cause of action now...

From finding out his answer, Petra's eyes darken and I now know things are about to get really serious. There's no doubt about it, we need to kill this guy now...

"Wait wait wait! I'll talk, I'll talk! Just get rid of those cursed eyes! I'll spill everything I can!"

The wolf'oid then precedes to falls to his knees dropping his blade into the snow in the process, that reaction from witnessing Petra's eyes was really unexpected. I guess it's scary as hell and she did get it from a demon or devil but still. At least he's not stupid enough to fight against someone who will fuck him up.

"Heh, surprised that worked"

Wait, Petra wasn't actually pissed at him? Huh, her eyes are back to normal as well, looks like I was mistaken there as well.

Anyways, I put my blade away and go to approach the terrified guy crouching down next to him in the snow while Petra still wields her blade making herself look like a menace.

"So then Geld... are you going to reveal who you're working for or not then?"

"I... I can't say"

"What do you mean you can't say!? Do you want your head ending up on a pike then?"

It's a crude response but this guy does work for a demon after all. Just because the guild he works for helped massively doesn't mean he is completely innocent. We did miss a great deal of the fight after all, so he could've been murdering our people for all we know. I mean, I know he didn't but still! Demons are the enemy, right?

"It's impossible. If I say master's name, my head explodes. I'm not exaggerating, it literally will go poof and the snow will end up a crimson mess"

...

Hold the phone, he's actually telling the truth? Maybe there's another angle I can approach this from.

"So, if you can't tell me his name, what if I were to hypothetically start listing names off? Like Asmodeus... or Belphegor?"

He has a surprising lack of reaction for me mentioning both those names, they're the only demon lords I've heard off though...

Before anyone says anything, I know they both seem to be based on the bible seven sins thing, but how the hell am I supposed to remember all their names or what sin they do? It'll probably come back to me one day but my choice was always Greek or Norse mythology after all. The bible was a little too much for my liking.

I remember a little, like the two animals on a boat thing that would've led to loads of inbreeding and the apple falling on someone's head... Wait, no. That was something else, it was stealing the apple that Adam and Eve did. Another inbreeding thing there, not sure why those are the first two things that come to mind though.

(Petra) "Forget names then, what's your reasoning for being here?"

The beast Geld pauses for a second from Petra's question, but then realizes he hasn't got much of a choice but to try and answer what he can. We will kill him if he doesn't, probably... eh, I'm not that evil.

"Erm... look, all I can really say is that I'm under orders to make sure you two and your settlement remain safe, that comes from both the guild and my master who has to remain nameless. Those orders seem ridiculous in hindsight spending time around here though! How he thought you'd need any help is beyond me, you might already be as powerful as him!"

He definitely believes that... I get that we're powerful and all but the same power as a demon lord? Just look what happened against that Belphegor guy, we did deal with him but that was cutting it close. What would happen if there's another guy much stronger than that? We need to keep getting stronger, even if I gained an absurd amount of EXP after the last battle ended.

It is strange that the Adventurers guild wants us protected as well though, not really sure why that's been stated to him. You'd think that they'd only care about their headquarters but they have been really useful for the most part. Not sure on who their actual leader is as apparently, they prefer to remain anonymous.

Enough of this internal monologuing though, there's still some more questions that need to be asked to this guy.

"If you're employed by a demon lord though, why the hell were you helping us in the invasion? Wouldn't it make more sense that you'd be on the side attacking?"

"Because, everything is crazy right now and my master is cleaning house, as he calls it. I really have no idea why he wants me here nor why we're going against other demons. I'm just his pawn till he needs me unfortunately"

Once again, he's only spilling the truth. I know not to completely rely on my lie detector but his words are spoke with true conviction though.

"Petra, it's not like we can really trust him but he doesn't seem to be lying about this"

"Agree Ikarus, he does seem to be telling the truth"

The thing is, I'm not sure what else to ask him now. He clearly isn't an enemy but he obviously works for a demon lord. I'm not saying that they're all bad but we did actually suffer some casualties even including Ariza, having an agenda against them should be pretty obvious.

"So... what do we even do about you Geld? If it isn't obvious by now, we really aren't fans of demons around here, even if you did help us out"

"Well... nothing really, I guess? My master is a fan of predicaments so my life has also tied to yours if you're worried about me attacking you. If one of you two were to die, then my head goes bye bye in that situation as well"

Wait, his life is attached to ours? What kinda cruel bastard does that?

(Petra) "Your master placed a forced servitude curse on you? Weren't they supposed to be forgotten?"

"Yes! He's terrible at times, but it does promote complete faith and devotion to him... and you two as well now. It's not like I hate him because of it but when you two flew off to kill Belphegor, I was shitting myself! Not literally, you get what I mean. Actually knowing you destroyed him makes me no longer worry"

I can't help but let out an inaudible sigh, this demon lord he serves sound like a piece of work. We've already got the heavens to fight off, now hell as well it seems.

"Considering you could die if one of us perish, I'm surprised you haven't been trying to stick around me and Ikarus more"

"Like I said, there's no real need for me to be here, you two really don't need any defending. It makes me think he just wanted some privacy while he conducts his schemes and made sure I kept quiet over here in the human world"

You know, it's bloody irritating he can't reveal who he works for, the only named demon we have is Asmodeus right now but it could be any of them for all we know. It may end up in a bloodbath if it's him, we did hear his name being used specifically in the attack.

(Ikarus) "Do you even get anything from doing this or are basically just his slave?"

"Not really. I think servant is better than slave but I can see why you might say that"

(Petra) "Would you like it if we could find some way of releasing you from your servitude Geld?"

Like earlier, he pauses before answering Petra taking a second to think. Oh, also he's finally getting up off the ground, at least it's okay he no longer views as a threat even if that thought would've gone pretty quickly. Petra's kindness can make even the most fearful of people change.

"It's... not as simple as that. It may sound like I'm complaining but my master has saved my mind and soul many times already. Gosh, I can remember him helping me out with one of my old bodies a thousand years ago, that's how far back I've been serving him"

A thousand years ago!? Why am I even surprised? This world is full of people like that at this point so this guy being a thousand years old isn't that unbelievable. He did say something about an old body so maybe his demon lord helps him switch bodies when a new one is needed? I'm not going to question him on everything though.

Petra now seems a little uncomfortable about something different, is it something to do with the time span perhaps?

"Geld... your master, would you say he looks pretty similar to you?"

"Erm... it's difficult to tell since he changes faces every now and then. He could look like me right now but also like one of you two! If you exclude the red skin and horns of course"

"Oh, don't worry about it then"

Petra almost seems depressed about his answer, is this regarding her deal with a demon?

"You think this is about you know what Petra?"

"Maybe Ikarus, he could be the same person but it was a very long time ago. Thought we were onto something there"

I haven't seen Petra start to get like this in a while so now, it's time to switch on the obnoxious side to me!

"Don't you be getting depressed Petra, can't be having my future waifu frowning gaining wrinkles. I'll personally kick the arse of the demon or devil who did this to you, mark my words! I'll also kick yours as well if you don't show me that smile again!"

"Heh... thanks Ikarus... You really make everyday better than the last"

"Jeez, don't be getting like that on me, you'll make me blush like usual..."

Urgh... what were we talking about again? Ah, Geld, I think we're pretty much done here though...