Goldie’s weapon was a prized sword… but despite the name, only its scabbard was adorned; the blade itself held no remarkable features beyond a gemstone set in its hilt.

It was said to be a symbol, a requirement for the ritual of sealing an evil god, and proof that its bearer was a knight sworn to the Duke’s house.

In times of peace, the sword’s bearer was a holy man, guarding the seal on the evil gods. But when he drew the sword, he fought as a knight.

However, this prized sword was now pointed at Baldiria, another of the Five Knights of Alcrem, serving the Duke’s house.

Leaving Goldie’s unconscious companion on the room floor, Baldiria raised a pair of hatchets, one in each hand. They weren’t her preferred weapons, but all she could manage in the confined space of this hidden chamber.

Goldie noticed there was no one else behind Baldiria.

“…So, you have not brought the other knights—Bravatiyu and Serjio. Do you truly believe you can apprehend me alone?” he asked, glaring at her with a perplexed expression, a furrow creasing his brow. “No, perhaps evacuating His Excellency is paramount? Given Ralmeya’s current state, I suppose you had no choice—”

“No, I haven’t reported this to the Duke or the other two. However, I have ordered my subordinates to report to them, should I fail to return,” said Baldiria.

“…What?” Goldie muttered, unable to grasp her words.

Baldiria did not lower her guard, but her eyes held a sadness as she looked at Goldie. “Confess your crimes and accept your arrest honorably. If you do, His Excellency will be lenient in his punishment. At the very least, I will look after your wife and children. I swear it, on my knightly honour.”

As a comrade and ally, Baldiria was showing mercy, offering Goldie a chance to surrender.

“What…!” Goldie gasped, his eyes widening, the point of his prized sword lowering in disbelief.

Indeed, surrender here might bring him some leniency.

Ordinarily, Goldie would face public execution. His house would lose its court rank and fortune, and his wife and children would be cast out. But if he surrendered, and his past accomplishments were considered, perhaps he would be given the option of drinking poison, a private death, and his house would lose only its court rank.

“When did you begin suspecting me?” Goldie asked. “I noticed you were investigating with methods different from Bravatiyu. But neither I nor my companion left any evidence, and our alibis should have been airtight. There should have been nothing to suggest my companion even exists.”

The point of Goldie’s prized sword remained lowered, but he did not release its hilt.

“As you say, I had no reason to suspect you,” Baldiria replied. “Your actions, your financial transactions, your relationships, your past, contacts with the victims… I found nothing suspicious. As for your companion, there was no record of him in any of the Guilds… or even any criminal organizations. To be honest, I still don’t even know his name. And yet, he possesses quite the assassin’s skill. I have no idea where you found such a partner…”

She sighed, recalling the trouble she’d taken to capture Goldie’s companion alive.

There was no record of Goldie’s companion working as an ordinary craftsman, let alone an adventurer. The source of his assassin and scout skills, his livelihood, remained a complete mystery.

Baldiria would likely need to question both Goldie and his companion, conduct her own investigation, to uncover the truth. It was possible a far greater shadow lay behind these events than she and the others suspected.

However, this was only possible if Goldie surrendered.

“Like the city guards, we too reached a dead end in our investigation,” said Baldiria, continuing to speak, urging Goldie to abandon resistance. “That’s why I decided to change my approach, like Bravatiyu. He had the creative idea of using a ‘Spiritualist’ and finding the spirits of the victims, but I decided to suspect those I had no reason to suspect.”

Changing her approach, Baldiria had conducted her investigation under the assumption, ‘What if this person were the Face-tearing Demon?’ This investigation included her master, Duke Takkard Alcrem, his son, the house’s main retainers, and the other members of the Five Knights—her comrades.

In doing so, she found something amiss in Goldie’s recent speech and actions.

There was nothing conclusive enough to label as suspicious. However, even though Baldiria, a dwarf appearing as a teenage girl, was older than Bravatiyu (despite his greying hair) and even older than Takkard, she had known Goldie since the previous ‘Knight of the Collapsed Mountains’ was still alive.

Her years of experience told her something was wrong.

Investigating Goldie thoroughly, she discovered a cheap family heirloom, an item box, taken from his residence. Furthermore, a shadow had been lurking.

“The most damning evidence was that several criminal slaves were transported by a slave trader to the sacred wastelands where you guard the seal on the evil gods, supposedly to maintain the seal,” Baldiria continued. “I had the slave trader draw a sketch of the criminal slaves, and… one of them resembled the face skin discovered yesterday.”

“I thought I could trust that slave trader, but I see he was not only a man of good memory, but also a loose tongue,” Goldie muttered.

“I used the authority of the Five Knights to make him speak, so don’t blame him,” Baldiria said. “But in retrospect, it’s only natural. Crimes covered up not only by criminal organizations, but by city guards, knights, and high-ranking nobles, could only be uncovered by His Excellency, with his network of spies, and us, the Five Knights of Alcrem.”

“Indeed… Hmm? Wait, Baldiria. What in the world are you saying?”

“I will say it as many times as necessary, Goldie. As a knight, I will show mercy and offer you the chance to surrender as the ‘Knight of the Collapsed Mountains,’ rather than being forcibly arrested as the ‘Face-tearing Demon.’ I understand your desire to punish those beyond the law’s reach. But as a knight, you have crossed a line that must not be crossed! You must face punishment!”

Her criticisms of Goldie’s actions were sound. Even if his motives were rooted in justice, he had pledged his sword to the Duke’s house, receiving payment for his service; he was a knight who was supposed to judge through law and authority, not brute force.

As a knight, even if criminals couldn’t be punished officially, he was to continue fighting so that they could be punished one day. It was unacceptable for him to disrupt society by assassinating them in grotesque ways, displaying their bodies to the public.

“Your justice has already failed! Among those whose faces were torn off, some were indeed criminals, but their crimes did not warrant execution. And yesterday, you tore off the face of a criminal slave, already judged… You are no longer judging criminals; your objective is to continue your crimes as the Face-tearing Demon!” said Baldiria.

Indeed, the justice behind the recent crimes was questionable. The Face-tearing Demon was not an assassin acting in the name of justice; he was a grotesque serial killer.

Hearing her argument, Goldie let out a small groan, his expression twisting—then he burst into laughter.

“W-what is so funny?” said Baldiria, bewildered by this unexpected response.

Goldie looked at her with a smile she had never seen before. “This situation! It is indeed very funny! I have been imitating the true criminal’s crimes to incriminate him, but to think I am about to be held responsible for the true criminal’s crimes instead!” he laughed. “How long will you remain asleep? Divide, partner!”

At Goldie’s command, the sound of tearing leather echoed through the room, and two arms emerged from behind his unconscious companion.

“What?!” Baldiria cried in surprise.

Her defenses were open for a single moment, and the two arms delivered overhand blows, striking her. Their movements were swift, and she was unable to deflect them with her hatchets.

However, the only injury she sustained was a scratch on her cheek. Responding to her companion’s inhuman movements, Baldiria stomped on his spine, crushing it, using the momentum to retreat.

Giving up on convincing Goldie to surrender, she attempted a martial skill, partly to alert Bravatiyu and Serjio, who were also on the villa grounds.

But in the next moment, she gasped as strength drained from her body. She fell to her knees, both hatchets clattering to the floor.

Goldie and his now two companions breathed a sigh of relief as they saw Baldiria collapse.

“That was dangerous. If you had come here with a halberd instead of hatchets, I would have been swept away along with my arms.”

“Yes, our venom, too…”

“It is useless if it doesn’t enter the body, after all.”

If Goldie used his true power—not his strength as the ‘Knight of the Collapsed Mountains’—Baldiria would be no match. However, he couldn’t afford to be noticed by the other Five Knights… or by Vandalieu.

Goldie’s companion, whose spine she had crushed, began to grow not only more arms, but a new head and torso… as if a human were undergoing fission like a Slime.

Baldiria was astonished, but managed a weak utterance. “Venom… Impossible, I have the ‘Poison Resistance’ skill…”

She tried to reach for the antidote potion in her pocket, but her arm was useless, as if the bones had melted away.

“I know you possess the ‘Poison Resistance’ skill. However, it seems it cannot resist the venom granted to us… the venom of a god,” said Goldie.

“God, you say?” Baldiria murmured. “It can’t be, you people, recently…”

“Don’t think we’re the same as those potential heroes who have been popping up recently, with divine protections from the gods,” Goldie said. “We have served a single god for over a hundred thousand years. We are—”

“Partner, the previous partner is at his limit,” said Goldie’s newly-formed companion, interrupting him. “He will die at this rate.”

“Ah, yes. This isn’t the time for me to explain my secrets to you,” said Goldie.

The companion whose spine Baldiria had crushed writhed on the floor, unable to rise.

“There will be no need to transfer the ‘Rapid Regeneration’ skill. Return to me, partner,” Goldie said.

“Very well. I will fuse with you,” said the partner on the floor.

He took Goldie’s hand, and a disgusting slurping sound filled the room. His body shriveled, vanishing completely, leaving only his black clothing.

Baldiria was in shock, but unable to speak further due to the venom’s effects. Goldie’s remaining companion grabbed her and dragged her into the hidden chamber.

“I suppose even a person like you would be shocked to learn one of your fellow knights is a monster mimicking a human? I believe I had no relationship with you outside of work, and I conversed with you no more than strictly necessary, but… it is difficult. Even if I mimic appearance, words, jobs, and skills of a human, I cannot become one,” said Goldie.

Goldie was not human. He was a creature similar to a Mimic Slime, created by an evil god, mimicking a human.

He possessed greater mimicry abilities than an ordinary Mimic Slime; he could acquire human jobs, even take over a human’s status and steal their skills by infesting their bodies and devouring them from within.

If Baldiria knew this, she might have recognized Goldie’s true nature and the god behind his actions.

Within the army led by the Demon King Guduranis, defeated by the champion Bellwood, there was a god named Zerzoregin, the Evil God of Cannibalism, who created abnormal monsters.

The monsters created by the Evil God of Cannibalism specialized in disguise, particularly as humans or animals.

Many of the monsters created by the Demon King and other evil gods were simply strong—enormous monsters with incredible physical strength and resilience, or the ability to breathe fire or ice, or produce deadly venom. The monsters created by Zerzoregin were different.

These monsters, perhaps to be called Mimic Humans, could generate copies of themselves, like certain plants growing underground rhizomes for propagation.

Mimic Humans attacked humans, taking their forms, causing chaos within the champions’ army.

However, this was only at the beginning of the battle. Once the champions’ army was at a disadvantage, and humans were concentrated, there was no gap for Mimic Humans to infiltrate, and each human had grown stronger due to the Status System, so the Mimic Humans were quickly discovered and destroyed.

An evil god, Forzajival, the Evil God of Pillaging, resented Zerzoregin’s success; once that success began to wane, he attacked Zerzoregin to steal his power.

As the Evil God of Cannibalism and the Evil God of Pillaging fought, Farmaun intervened, striking them down into the mountain range in the northern Bahn Gaia continent. There, Borgadon, the God of Mountains, whose soul had been almost completely broken by the Demon King Guduranis, sacrificed himself and the mountains to seal the evil gods. The mountains then collapsed, leaving a wasteland.

This was the legend of the ‘Knights of the Collapsed Mountains,’ who had protected the seal on the evil gods long before the Alcrem Duchy or even the Alcrem Kingdom.

Goldie is a surviving Mimic Human from that legend… No, he isn’t just capable of mimicking humans; he has become a superior race of Mimic Humans, strong enough to become one of the Five Knights. Did his rank increase? No, even if so, what god or gods is he talking about? Is it Borgadon, the God of Mountains? Baldiria wondered.

It was said that Borgadon, the God of Mountains, was in a deep slumber, and the only place he was worshipped was the holy wasteland where the sealed evil gods were, the one protected by Goldie’s family.

Did he send Goldie and his family divine messages or revelations to take control of them? But why would Borgadon do this… Was Borgadon himself not the one who sealed the evil gods away? Why would surviving Mimic Humans created by an evil god obey him?

Baldiria, her body immobile but her mind working, grew hazy. Goldie grabbed her by the hair, lifting her face, and looked into her eyes.

“Hmph,” he muttered. “I wonder why. When you came in here with my partner, I saw you as nothing but an obstacle, but now, I feel like I want to share my secrets and future plans with you.”

“Humans are apparently creatures who want to share their secrets with others, partner,” said Goldie’s companion. “Perhaps you have spent so long acting as a human that you have picked up some of their traits?”

“I see. Indeed… It has been over thirty years since I became Goldie. I took over the previous ‘Knight of the Collapsed Mountains,’ took on this appearance, and gradually changed it over time so that I looked like I was growing and aging like an ordinary human. I picked up human traits during that time. It is not an absurd idea,” said Goldie.

Goldie did not kill and take on the appearance of a previously existing human known as the ‘Knight of the Collapsed Mountains’ Goldie. This Mimic Human’s mimicked appearance had, from the very beginning, been known as the ‘Knight of the Collapsed Mountains’ Goldie.

In fact, for over a hundred thousand years, every head of the family that had protected the seal on the evil gods, and several people related to the family, had all been Mimic Humans.

Baldiria wondered, why would a Mimic Human created by Zerzoregin, the Evil God of Cannibalism, protect the seal on the very same god? The question was obvious, but the truth was simple.

Zerzoregin, the Evil God of Cannibalism, had never been truly sealed.

Over a hundred thousand years ago, during the battle between Zerzoregin and Forzajival, the Evil God of Pillaging, Zerzoregin was heavily wounded by Farmaun and struck down into the mountain range, and Borgadon, the God of Mountains, tried to seal him away. This much was true.

However, the moment Borgadon attempted to seal him, Zerzoregin devoured the Evil God of Pillaging, whose wounds were deeper than his own.

Having recovered some strength, he broke through Borgadon’s seal and devoured him as well, absorbing and assimilating him.

Zerzoregin, now the Evil God of Cannibalism and Pillaging, having stolen the powers of the Evil God of Pillaging and the God of Mountains, used those powers to the fullest to fake his own death… and pretend to be sealed away.

Zerzoregin had absorbed and assimilated two gods, but both were heavily wounded at the time; even after becoming the Evil God of Cannibalism and Pillaging, he was far from his original strength.

If he were to return above ground in such a state, he would have been slain by the champion without a chance to fight back. Thus, he was forced to pretend to be sealed away.

Zerzoregin had made this decision and has been kept alive to this day by Mimic Humans such as Goldie.

Even after the Demon King Guduranis was defeated, and Vida and Alda fought, and even over a hundred thousand years passed, Zerzoregin maintained the false seal.

He created Mimic Humans, living under the pretense of being a family entrusted with guarding the seal, creating legends of a god who protected the seal and the evil gods within, spreading among humans. As Zerzoregin was both the god protecting the seal and the god sealed within, he received power from both human prayers and fear, healing his wounds.

However, he had refrained from the actions of other evil gods… He had not forced followers to offer living sacrifices, orchestrated monster attacks, or interfered with the world’s repair.

In fact,