I! Cleaner!

"Senior Alger."

Leon gently stroked the small flower in his pocket to confirm Princess Feiliya's condition was normal. He then extended the effect of the Secret Tail to include the burly man behind him and curiously asked:

"Is this your original appearance?"

"No..."

Upon hearing Leon's inquiry, the tall and burly Alger shook his head and cautiously replied:

"I originally was only about 1.6 meters tall, with a slender and small build, completely different from now.

But during a mission later on, I suffered severe body damage, so I had to apply for the 'Demon Nine Threads' and almost replaced my entire body, which made me look like this."

"I see..."

Leon had actually already learned some of this information from the Skin Thread's description; he brought it up just to find a topic. Seeing Alger pick up the conversation, he smiled and continued:

"Senior Alger, you seem to be somewhat... wary of me?"

"Uh..."

"Relax, I'm not really a particularly crazy person; you don't actually have to be so guarded against me."

Leon shook his head somewhat helplessly and explained:

"Regarding the matter of me eating the Three-Headed Canine Deity, it's really not as exaggerated as the rumors. At the time, both Nicole and I were swallowed by it, almost dying inside its stomach, with our souls mostly digested.

Nicole's soul was much stronger than mine, so she was mostly fine. But with the strength of my soul back then, even if I safely returned to this world, I wouldn't have been able to control my body and would have had to lie in bed for years.

Furthermore, the part of my soul I lost was inside the Canine Deity's body. My soul was yearning to be complete again, so I had no choice but to eat it. I was forced to."

"Oh... I see..."

"And the same goes for the Dream Realm incident; I had reasons for my actions..."

Seeing Alger still maintaining a respectful distance, Leon tried to build rapport by explaining his past encounters and the reason for his anger at the King of Nightmares, then sincerely said:

"Senior Alger, both you and Director Edward have some misunderstandings about me.

Those incidents about Killing True God or destroying the Dream Realm were all special cases. Normally, I am quite a stable person and don't usually act impulsively."

"..."

Indeed, he does seem quite mild-mannered and gets along well with others...

After hearing Leon's explanation, Alger found him not to be as maniacal as the rumors suggested, and his tight expression finally relaxed a bit.

But the strange feeling of possibly being controlled lingered in his mind, leading him to cautiously voice his doubts after some hesitation.

Ah, so he noticed this.

While walking towards the embassy, Leon slightly raised his brow upon hearing this.

Noticing the Skin Thread was labeled "Fallen" and within the I Am the Demon's command range, even before they let go of hands, he switched out this Devil's Badge.

After all, the Demon Nine Threads was quite special; besides being an abnormal object, it was also Algers's body. Testing its susceptibility to I Am the Demon's control was necessary for peace of mind.

Though Leon didn't give any command at that instant, the I Am the Demon in the slot flickered for a moment, proving that any body with the "Fallen" label would be influenced by it.

Presumably, this brief control effect, possibly sensed by Alger, was due to the badge flashing briefly...

"Rest assured, this is also a misunderstanding."

Looking at Alger, whose expression still held caution with a low favorability towards the Scorpio Branch, Leon decisively lied to win him over as an ally:

"You know, I was called the Demon Scholar, holding several demon abnormal objects, and had high compatibility with such demon-type abnormal objects, which might have led to your misunderstanding."

Also a misunderstanding...

Vaguely feeling something was still not right but unable to pinpoint the issue, Alger nodded and temporarily accepted the explanation.

After resolving the "misunderstanding" between them, he seemed more natural, though still subconsciously lagging half a step behind Leon, he at least started to engage in normal conversation.

"Leon, um... sir..."

Originally wanting to call Leon directly but instinctively adding a courtesy after, walking down the street with the sun behind him, his shadow covering Leon entirely, the burly man found himself nervously rubbing his clothes before cautiously asking:

"What are you planning to do next?"

"It's simple. First, return to the embassy area, bring out the two people left there, and then find the foreign minister."

After contemplating for a brief moment, Leon smiled and explained:

"Previously, when meeting Crolock Kingdom's foreign minister, I proposed buying long-distance communication technology, supposedly invented by a scholar in Crolock Kingdom's No.1 Research Zone.

I estimate last night, the foreign minister probably finished gathering enough technical data, so we can go now and, uh, bind him, then take the collated technology and inventor information, leading us to the No.1 Research Zone, and eventually locate Atifei-01."

"???"

"What's wrong? Is there a problem?"

You dare to ask if there's a problem?

Looking at Leon turning back with a bewildered face, Alger's cheek twitched slightly.

But you're supposed to have withdrawn from the mission? Why are you still investigating Atifei-01?

And didn't you just say you're a stable person? How can you casually talk about kidnapping a national minister? Where does that exactly seem stable? It's practically...

Hmm... Why is he so straightforward? Could it be I'm overreacting?

Exchanging glances with the visibly surprised Leon and recalling this junior's terrifying track record, Alger hurriedly found kidnapping a foreign minister increasingly palatable.

Nevermind the rest; he even kidnapped Crolock Kingdom's princess, who's now in his pocket. So taking a minister during a task investigation doesn't quite seem like a big deal, does it?

"It's nothing..."

Swallowing back a light-hearted remark, the lines he'd never intended to cross swiftly retreated. Alger shook his head, hesitated slightly, and then cautiously inquired:

"Mr. Leon, if you do locate the No.1 Research Zone through that scholar's movements, would you mind me informing Director Edward?"

"Of course, I don't mind."

Leon smiled gently at those words and warmly replied:

"In fact, by telling you this, I'm intending for you to do just that. Earlier on, I didn't inform Director Edward mainly due to the uncertainty of this approach, planning to update him once it proved viable. Yes... Please do inform him when the time comes."

Ah, well...

Unexpectedly finding the notorious Leon, Eating True God Demon, to be a remarkably generous person, not only disregarding their director's attempts to sideline him but even prepared to share hard-earned intelligence, Alger felt a wave of shame washing over him.

Truthfully, compared to Mr. Leon in front of him, the petty gestures of their own director hardly measured up. While the director schemed about taking credit and excluding people, Leon had been diligently striving to fulfill his investigative task, never once begrudging our director.

Honestly... Director, you've been utterly eclipsed...