Ffyr phased out the burial mound and called Tylith, Paula and Michael.

"It’s alright, Matt caught him. There’s no one else inside." She explained while they crawled inside the mound.

They were all surprised when they saw Matthew sitting on the couch and the Impiomancer kneeling in front of him.

"I have the Entice skill." Matthew explained. "He’s under my control."

"What is he doing here?" Paula asked, looking at the trash around the mound.

"I’m searching for the Harp of Dagda." The man said.

"What is that?" Tylith asked, hugging herself.

"It’s a mythical harp used by the Dagda." He said the obvious.

"Why do you want it?" Matthew asked.

"To bring our master to this realm." The man said.

Tylith’s blood froze. It became hard to breathe. She hugged herself harder and started to tremble.

Michael noticed it and hugged her.

"Who is your master?" Matthew asked.

"You and Paimon." The man answered, lowering his head to Matthew.

"Paimon? Not Vine?" Tylith asked with a hopeful tone.

"Yes, Paimon, the king of the west." He repeated.

"Not Vine?" Tylith asked for confirmation again.

"No. We do not worship the Black Rider." He was emphatic.

"We?" Matthew asked.

"The cult of Paimon." He explained. "We’re a devoted group of lord Paimon."

"Paimon." Tylith smiled widely in relief. "Vine hates Paimon."

"Who is Paimon?" Michael asked.

"He’s a demon king." Matthew said.

"He rules over Cocytus, since Lucifer has no interest in ruling and Beleth was destroyed." Tylith explained, sitting beside Matthew.

"Our lord is wiser than the wise. He guides us to our betterment." The man on the floor said.

Tylith laughed in mockery.

"What do you know?!" Douglas shouted in anger .

"Paimon cares not about you or your cult. He has no wish other than to serve Lucifer. What you call betterment? Is just him telling you to do your own stuff, since he doesn’t care." Tylith laughed at the man.

He tried to get up in anger, but just one look from Matthew froze him in place.

"Who are you to talk about our lord like this?" He gnarled at the demoness.

"I know your lord personally." Tylith said, removing the illusion she cast upon herself and revealed her demon form to the man. "I served him wine and ate from his plate. I can tell you that Paimon has no will of his own other than serving the Fallen Light." She crossed her legs and smiled at him.

The man’s eyes widened at her and he kept silent with his jaw clenched in anger and his faith shattered.

"Let’s go back." Matthew called the man’s attention to him. "How would you use the harp to bring Paimon to Earth?"

"I don’t know. Our leader said to find it that he would use it to bring Lord Paimon to us."

"Why do you think it is in this dungeon?" Paula asked.

"Our research led us here. It seems that the source of this dungeon’s power is the harp. There are tales of adventurers who’ve seen it but never managed to approach it." He answered.

"And you’re sure it’s not just a simulacrum like everything else?" Michael added.

"Our leader is sure." He said.

"And he is your leader?" Matthew asked.

The man just looked at Matthew and didn’t answer.

"Who is your leader?" Matthew asked again.

"I can’t say." Douglas was now trying to resist Matthew’s spell and struggled on the floor.

"Tell me his name." Matthew ordered.

"Please. Don’t force me!" Douglas had tears in his eyes.

Matthew touched the man’s shoulder and cast his Entice spell again, making it stronger.

"Tell me his name." He ordered.

Douglas looked at Matthew with a pitiful look. His face went pale as tears rolled down his face.

"Sa..." As soon as the man uttered the first syllable, he gasped for air. His face went blue, his eye twitched to the side in an unnatural way and he fell to the floor.

All of them looked at the man in confusion and then at each other. 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

Blood came out of his mouth and his nose.

Matthew knelt on his side and touched his neck, checking for a pulse.

There was none. He was dead.

"I’ve never seen such a spell." Paula exclaimed.

"What happened to him?" Michael asked, kneeling as well and checking the body.

"A curse." Tylith said. "He probably was cursed not to tell his leader’s name."

"I had no idea." Matthew said, the man’s face just before he died came back to Matthew’s face. He wasn’t resisting to protect the leader. He was resisting to not die.

"It’s ok, Matt." Paula put her hand on his shoulder. "Michael, go call the police. We have to report this."

Tylith cast her illusion back on her and went with Michael, while Matthew and Paula and Ffyr stayed there.

"I should’ve just asked him why he didn’t want to say the name, instead of forcing him to tell me." Matthew regretted his actions.

"There’s no way you could’ve known." Paula consoled him. "These demonologist types are all horrible people." She looked at the man with disgust. Her own ex-boyfriend was one of them and she had had a terrible experience with him.

Matthew sighed. He wasn’t sure how to feel. Of course he felt bad for being responsible for a man’s death, but on the other hand, he had killed before. Especially during the war in Nuilynn. He even killed Orson, whom he owed his life to.

He wasn’t feeling as bad as he did when he took his first life. But Douglas’ face was imprinted in his mind.

The police came and looked around. They were way more chill with the death than the police in Southport were.

They took their statements, they collected the man’s belongings and took the body away. They didn’t even tell them to not leave town or anything. They seemed to believe their word.

The truth was, that the police had no need to suspect them. Few were the ones that committed murder inside a dungeon and went outside to report it. It was much easier to just hide the body in the dungeon that would eventually turn it into mana to feed itself.

"It was Paimon." Tylith said, relieved while sitting on the chair of the dinner they went to after the police let them go.

"You said Paimon hated Vine." Matthew asked her, sitting across from her.

"He does. Hates him to his core." Tylith smiled. "They would never work together."

"Why?" Matthew asked, making room for Ffyr and Paula to sit next to him in the booth.

The demoness just showed him a knowing smile and then turned to Michael who was sitting in a chair on her side.

"What are you having, honey?" She flirted.

Matthew understood it was about her. She mentioned before she knew Paimon and that she served him wine. It wasn’t hard for him to put two and two together and know that was more to that than just wine.

"I’ll have a burger." Michael said to Tylith.

"I want to try this Agoyin stew." Ffyr said, reading the menu.

"I’ll have the burger too." Paula said.

"I’ll have 3 of these Suya." Matthew pointed to the picture in the menu.

"I’ll have the burger too." Tylith said, not breaking eye contact with Michael.

While they waited for the food, they exchanged small talk until Ffyr asked just when their food arrived:

"Are we going home after this?"

"It’s too late to go home now. Unless you want to drive at night." Paula said to Matthew.

"I prefer to get some sleep." He said, looking outside to the darkening sky.

"No." Ffyr protested. "What I meant was... Won’t we look for the Harp of Dagda?"

They all looked at each other waiting for someone to say something.

"We should also investigate the cult, don’t you think?" Michael said finally, disguising his greed as something noble.

"Yeah. We can’t leave them to find the harp for themselves and summon the demon to Earth!" Ffyr exclaimed. Coming from her it was very clear it was just an excuse to find a mythical item.

Matthew looked at Tylith, trying to discern what she wanted before saying anything. But she was the one who said something first:

"I think I want to see this harp."

"Guess we can stay and search for a few days." Matthew sighed and looked at Paula waiting for her reproval.

"I agree." She smiled at him, surprising Matthew.

While waiting for dessert, a cop came inside the diner and waved at them. He approached the table casually and told them they found out who Douglas was. He was a known criminal of the police who was wanted for kidnapping and murder. He added they didn’t have much information about the Cult of Paimon, but it seemed that Douglas was part of some cult.

"I guess that frees you all of any wrong doing." The cop said with a smile. "I mean, the guy was a murderous demon worshiper. The folks at the station actually wanted to thank you all for getting rid of him." He dusted his cap in his hand. "Thank you for taking him out. I’ll see you around."

"That was fast." Paula smiled and looked at Matthew. "The last time we had a whole trial." She joked.

Matthew chuckled and then sighed:

"Hope we don’t ever get there again."