"Hello?"
"…"
Seeing Reed greet politely, Erel Baldschmidt glanced at Igtus.
"Prepare some tea."
Igtus walked past her down the hallway, and Erel went into the kitchen and took out some dishes.
The place Igtus guided Reed to was the living room.
'I know he's not the type to live modestly...'
It was said that this was the end of the luxury he could show off.
"I trust you brought that thing here for a reason."
'That thing?'
Reed was puzzled.
'Was there a deal with this old man? It must have happened before I entered this body...'
He couldn't guess at all, and Reed's time to think was limited.
"I'm sorry, but I didn't bring that."
Reed didn't know what it was, but he shrugged it off casually.
Igtus's face, which was already grim, became even more sullen.
"Then, with what face did you come here to find me? Are you planning to take more? Wasn't it enough to seduce my daughter and take her to the tower?"
"I remember her coming of her own accord."
At that, Igtus scolded Reed.
"No, no, you bewitched her. Didn't you seduce my daughter and lead her down the path of corruption?"
Reed was dumbfounded by those words.
What on earth are these people talking about?
Strictly speaking, the ones who pushed their daughter away were Dolores's parents, themselves. Reed couldn't understand why they blamed him.
Erel came in and placed tea and refreshments.
She didn't say anything and retreated as if she had been chased away.
"As I said before, if you don't give me that, I have no intention of releasing her."
"Her?"
"Dolores Jade. Who else but her, who is no longer a Baldschmidt?"
Reed asked in case there was another woman.
He knew her character was twisted, but it was unbelievable.
Calling his daughter a 'woman' so harshly.
"I don't have anything else to say about her now. I just raised an ungrateful beast, so go back."
The thorny words.
The thorns aimed at Dolores pricked Reed.
"How can Dolores be an ungrateful beast?"
"She's an ungrateful beast. She abandoned her father without even knowing the glory of being born in the Baldschmidt family!"
Igtus picked up a teacup.
His hand holding the teacup was filled with strength.
"I gave her talent, I supported her in every way. I made her able to do what I couldn't accomplish, even by creating debt in the empire. She was a dullard who wouldn't have even stepped on the threshold if she was born a commoner, and I made her a person, and she did what even a beast wouldn't do?"
It was only then that Reed realized what kind of people Dolores's parents were.
Extreme parents.
Exactly that type.
People who want to live luxuriously, thanks to their child, and become obsessed with making them elite, regardless of their own lack of talent.
In other words, they were people who forced sacrifices without knowing their place.
"So you want to take revenge on your child?"
He asked, suppressing his trembling voice.
"Isn't the root of all these problems you? If you hadn't meddled unnecessarily, she would have been the pride of the Baldschmidt family."
"You keep blaming me, Igtus Baldschmidt."
Unable to bear it any longer, Reed warned him in a lowered voice.
But Igtus continued to criticize without backing down.
"Who told you to give her affection? Who told you to care about anything other than her studies? Didn't you ruin everything by filling her head with such nonsense?"
He swallowed the words that almost came out as a curse.
Now he understood why he had called him a damn old man the last time they met.
"I just treated her normally, and it was you who pushed her so hard. If you had treated her properly, she wouldn't have been so obsessed with me. Why are you trying to blame me?"
"You're trying to deny your own mistakes! Do you know how much effort we put into making her...!"
'Making?'
People usually don't use the expression 'making' for their own child.
Although he was in conflict with Dolores now, the nuance was strange.
Feeling troubled, he tried to ask him about it.
"What's wrong with you... Ugh...!"
Igtus suddenly grabbed his throat, interrupting his words.
He dropped the teacup he was holding, and the ceramic fragments scattered.
It's common for an older person to feel strain on their heart when excited, but this was different.
"What's wrong?"
Reed asked, but Igtus didn't listen.
He just muttered, looking at his hand.
"Why... We've done so much for you...!"
Igtus, who was in pain, raised his head while holding his throat.
Reed could see it clearly.
Black eyes.
'De...mon?'
And then, a subtle change occurred on Igtus's face.
His blue hair mixed with white turned darker, and his fierce eyes and facial features became twisted and plain.
Igtus screamed while wiping the wrinkles with his hand.
"No... This can't happen..."
Igtus, who felt the change in himself, and Reed, who couldn't understand the situation, made eye contact.
Igtus was the first to yell.
"Hallumi...!"
[T/N: raw: “할루미……!”, it might be incorrect as its an incomplete sentence.]
Igtus's yell was cut off.
Reed's body enhancement with the runes inside him was faster than Igtus's yell.
Reed covered his mouth with his gauntleted hand and restrained him.
Although demons have a higher level of specs than humans, Igtus was an old man.
Reed had the upper hand in strength and exerted force on the old man's face with his magnesium gauntlet.
"Cough... Cough..."
With the sound of choking, the mana within him was drawn out.
Baldschmidt's mana leaked out like a broken dam.
When the charging rate reached 80% and only a tiny amount of the old man's mana remained, Reed took his hand off his head.
"Cough, cough... This, this is "Mana Drain"...! How could someone like you have that...?"
What Igtus mistook for "Mana Drain" was one of the features built into the magnesium gauntlet.
By wearing a magic absorption glove, it forcibly absorbs the mana of opponents who manifest magic.
"No need for you to know."
And there was no obligation to inform Igtus about it.
All he needed to know was that at this moment, Reed had the upper hand.
Reed, who had been polite, asked him with a voice mixed with disgust.
"Why did you suddenly become a demon?"
"Do you think I'm going to tell you that? I am...!"
Slap!
Igtus's face turned sideways, spitting out bright red blood and white teeth.
As long as he was a demon, there was no reason for Reed to show any mercy.
