"I'm sorry... Myria... Haruto... but... I will save Scarlet on my own... This was my fault..."
As I left the royal castle, I felt my heart being crushed as I left in under the cloak of the night...
But that had been 3 days ago by now...
I was able to arrive at the 'Ellian desert' once again in that much time without much help or guidance... Now I know we had previously made it here in just a day and a half, but I still felt proud to get here on my own...
Even if I had paid some carriage driver to get me here... after getting lost just outside of Litherm's main entrance...
'THE SHAME!!!'
Of course, during all of this time, I had been missing both Myria and... reluctantly... Haruto... but...
'I need to save Scarlet...'
That single thought was what was basically driving all of this strange adventure I was currently going through...
...
...
...
Anyways... I was able to get the carriage driver to drop me off at the same village we took our night's rest last time we were here.
I thought that this town being so close to the demon territory would know where the threats would exactly come from... but oh-so-innocent me!
Nobody wanted to signal me where the demon territory was...
They townspeople had legitimately underestimated my strength just because I'm a girl...
"Oh sweety〜 You don't need to risk yourself〜" -Townsperson 1
"Little girl there is no point in sending a beauty such as you to the war would be a waste〜" -Townsperson 2
"You really shouldn't be doing things like these〜 What would your parents think?" -Townsperson 3
"Oh, this world is doomed... If it has come to a point where even a frail girl wants to enroll in the war..." -Townsperson 4
I was quite irritated by all of these comments... but my frustration immediately melted away...
...
...
...
Their reactions to seeing my guild card were way too funny for me...
"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH?!?!" -Townsperson 1
"... Appearances to fool most people don't they...?" -Townsperson 2
"How... did... you...?!?!" -Townsperson 3
"..." -Fainted townsperson 4
In the end, only after proving myself, a reluctant old man FINALLY indicated to me the way to the desert's center... yet due to his age combined with the surprise of seeing a young girl being an S-ranked adventurer almost sent him to the other side through cardiac arrest...
...
'I swear... I'm going to kill somebody out of shock one of these days...'
But, after barely surviving the false alarm, the old man finally gave me directions to the desert's oasis...
But I really am clueless...
"Umm, sir?"
The old man turned to me as he was still trying to catch his breath... But I guess that may have been a bad choice because as soon as he asked me what else did I need...
"Do you know how can I get to the demon territory...?"
...
...
...
The second my words carelessly left my lips... I guess he couldn't take it...
Because immediately after processing what I had just said, the man turned pale and fainted immediately...
...
...
...
'Yep, I have to stay from normal people from now on'
After asking uselessly a little more I ended up leaving the village in utter chaos... 'Now that I think about it consciously... people would panic if an S-ranked adventurer began strolling nonchalantly and asking for directions to the demon territory...'
After scolding myself for being so clueless, I finally decided to make my way to the desert's center... the oasis...
※
It took about 4 more hours of walking but in the end, I made it...
And just like I remember it... in the middle of such a beautiful oasis, still was a burnt, rotting corpse of a giant red basilisk and of course... the giant crater I fought in... To my surprise, the crater still remained with lit dark flames on the surface... I just stood in wonder as I walked closer to the crater but...
...
I could feel some cold sweat running down my forehead as I approached the ominous crater... For some reason, I was having vivid flashbacks of what had happened here...
And just the thought of Scarlet getting taken away, while I was left powerless was enough to make my legs become unstable...
'Ok... Reika... control yourself... This is for Scarlet...'
I thought as I slapped my cheeks gently with both hands...
In the end, decided to walk straight past the crater into an area that seemed to be uninhabited... I didn't know the exact position of the demon territory but judging from the fact that the demon king personally came to 'greet' us... it can't be far...
And as I convinced myself that what I was doing would ultimately lead me to Scarlet I decided to keep walking...
※
"AGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I SHOULD'VE THOUGHT THIS THROUGH!!!"
I yelled in exasperation...
I was currently in the middle of some creepy woods with a lot of fog surrounding me. It was quite honestly the typical depiction of a haunted forest. It was creepy and some random noises came from here and there...
I had probably been walking in this forest for at least 6 hours... BUT...
NOTHING...
ABSOLUTELY NOTHING HAD HAPPENED!!!
I had expected a haunted forest like this to be filled to the brim with monsters and demons since this supposedly is the demon territory, but NOPE. Nothing at all...
Seriously... I can't even go back anymore because even though I've been walking in a straight line... I'm too sleepy and tired to walk all the way back to the village...
"UGH!!! I SHOULD'VE DRAGGED MYRIA ALONG!!! SHE WOULD KNOW WHAT TO DO!!!"
I was hungry... tired.. angry... And to top it all off, I couldn't even resign this mission because while my other feelings were indeed strong... they got trumped immediately by my worries and guilt for Scarlet...
'Ahhhh... I'm becoming a masochist, aren't I?'
I just laughed off, at the small joke within my head when suddenly something finally happened...
*rustle*
As a nearby bush suddenly began shaking I took a fighting stance as a huge grin appeared on my face. 'Oh 'Boukyaku', you finally turned me into another battle-maniac Callum didn't you?'
*rustle*
While the bush only shook more and more and as my grin grew on my face, I became ready to unsheathe boukyaku on the spot... from the bush finally emerged...
...
...
...
It was a horned rabbit...
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...
...
Probably one of the weakest monsters one could find back in the 'Umbra Forest'
...
...
...
I had become excited about nothing... for absolutely nothing...
'You stupid rabbit...'
I just felt myself become triggered by the simple fact of a harmless rabbit appearing before me...
'You chose a bad day stupid rabbit...'
I really wasn't in control of my frustration by this point...
The journey had been so worrying, annoying and anticlimactic that I just needed something to vent all of my anger to...
Sorry poor rabbit...
Without hesitation and with quite a large amount of bloodthirst I chanted:
"[Master Hide Presence: Off]"
...
...
...
*Squeak*
In a single moment... the horned rabbit's eyes suddenly turned blank as it released a terrified squeaking sound... before dying out of the sheer fear I caused it...
'Poor little guy...'
But just as I had witnessed that quite hilarious death... something I had not been expecting caught my interest...
"""""""""AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!"""""""""
...
...
...
To my surprise... multiple strangely geared people suddenly began raining from the branches of the trees as they screamed for their dear lives...
*THUD* *THUD* *THUD*
...
...
...
'What...?'
*THUD* *THUD* *THUD*
...
...
...
10, 20, no, about 30 people had literally just fallen from the tree branches overhead when I activated my skill...
...
...
...
These strange events left me perplexed, quickly realizing these people wouldn't calm down anytime soon, I chanted:
"[Master Hide Presence: On]?"
...
...
...
Without a moment to spare, the 30 people went quiet...
Dead silent...
All of them staring at me in both fear and intrigue...
...
...
...
I was left confused as to what was happening. All of the 'fallen people' seemed to have a peculiar white hair... It was quite vibrant and even appealing. They were also wearing some sort of strange black clothing with cloaks over their faces preventing me from seeing them clearly... However.. these people made a slight... mistake...
Over their cloaks... were quite obvious mounds projecting outwards from their heads... 'Bad disguise choices 101...'
Immediately connecting the dots I asked nonchalantly:
"Are you guys demons?"
...
...
...
All of them were left speechless... 'Wait! Were they expecting me not to notice...?!'
I just kept becoming more confused by the second as none of the demons mustered the courage to answer me...
'Seriously! If these guys are supposed to be demons, how is there even a war in the first place?! I already deactivated my skill you know!?'
I'm serious... all of these demons were quite literally trembling with fear... And since none of them seemed to be willing to speak anytime soon, I decided to take the initiative:
"Do you know where I can find the demon king?"
"..."
In an instant, the 30 or so demons froze up completely... They were all wearing horrified expressions as they looked at me in disbelief...
'I'm getting kind of tired by this...'
But... FINALLY!!! As I was about to ask for a second time to these useless demons, out of the branches from overhead someone dropped!
The person before me had grey skin, ominous black hair and black beads for eyes. He had horns protruding from his shoulders and back... and to top it all off... HE HAD WINGS...
As the man oozed overconfidence he began speaking in a belittling tone:
"Huh? So you're supposed to be the great adventurer our king ran away from?! YOU'RE A FRAIL LITTLE GIRL! How did our great king run away... from... y...o...u...?"
"..."
I did not care about what he just said at all... All I could think of was that this guy might be fun to battle... He was literally emitting overconfidence...
As my excitement for a fight grew rampant an evil and expectant grin appeared on my face, while eyes waiting to for a battle made their first appearance in my gaze...
As soon as the winged-demon, just barely, saw my expression he flinched...
But while he had flinched the other 30 demons were quite clearly terrified by my simple grin...
But...
I did not care... I was waiting for some excitement... My frustration, anger, and worry had all distorted far enough with my tiredness and affliction... All that was left in my mind was...
'I want to fight...'
...
As I gently placed my hand over Boukyaku's handle... I became ready to unsheathe...
The demon looked a little uncertain, yet he was still overconfident and seemed to be itching for a fight just like me...
"Hou? What do we have here? You want to fight?! Sure〜 You won't even stand a chance against me..."
As he finished muttering those words dark energy began gathering over his body increasing the tensions around us... The very atmosphere had become sinister...
But... I, on the other hand, could only get even more excited... I immediately expanded my grin across my face as I began pulling Boukyaku out of its sheath...
but...
...
...
...
*BOOOOOOOOOM*
Out of nowhere a ray of holy light had shot from behind me, barely missing me by a hair's width...
However... it ended up hitting the winged-demon who wasn't able to dodge... And when the ray hit him with its full force, he was disintegrated in an instant...
I just turned to face the pile of ashes that had been that overconfident demon:
"Wha-?!"
But I was cut off immediately after...
Landing right in front of me, was the image of a cloaked girl, holding a bow...
It was quite obvious she had been the one to fire that shot... yet... that bow...
'It can't be...'
And as if to confirm my suspicions... as she let her bow down and took off her cloak, what was revealed left me in awe...
"Hello there, Reika〜"