Chapter 83: Stone Bracelet of Servitude

Denken lays out how Lernen looks into the Golden Land, noting first that he himself once entered and left it untouched even after Macht caught sight of him. To dig deeper, Lernen brings in Edel, a second-class mage; though she recoils at studying a demon, he produces its replica, the Stone Bracelet of Servitude, sole relic able to seize command of a demon's mind. Generations back, Weise's lord used the original to leash Macht, until the demon broke free and turned the whole settlement to gold. Macht reputedly wears it still, so Lernen sets Edel to unpicking its enchantment and rebuilding it.

Reaching the fringe of the Golden Land, the pair meet Fruh, another second-class mage from a scouting team Lernen sent ahead. Her party ran into Macht among the gold, she tells them, and fell in a blink, and Lernen presses her on how she alone got away, or why the demon let her live. The answer never comes: Fruh turns to gold too fast for Edel to lift any memory from her. Lernen takes it as proof that Macht slowed her end on purpose, a grim signal to frighten off trespassers, and grants that the demon has been gravely undervalued.

Lernen enlists Edel to probe the Golden Land, arming her with a replica of the controlling bracelet. At its edge they find Fruh, lone survivor of a scout party Macht had destroyed. Before she can explain her escape, Macht gilds her on the spot, robbing Edel of any memory to read and exposing how badly they had misjudged him.

Per the chapter, the Stone Bracelet of Servitude was forged by the Sage Ewig in the Mythical Era and stands as the one object able to bend a demon's mind, with Macht reportedly wearing it still. Tau and Fruh both debut here in flashback.