(Anna POV)
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"Is everyone here? 1, 2, 3...5... alright, all 10 heroes are here, perfect...LET'S GO!!!"
Sitting in one of 3 luxury carriages, I stare off into the horizon before turning back at my groupies. It's Ha-neul for the damage dealer, Me for the quick shots to incapacitate the enemy, a girl named Amari Akira for our healer and mage and finally, a Korean named Gong Suk for the tanking.
"Hey.....what'cha think's gonna happen in Jinjin?"
Trying to brighten the mood, Gong Suk starts small talking. To which, Akira responds very politely in butchered Korean...
'why is she so polite? Let him shut up already... FUCK! ITS DAMN ANNOYING!!!'
"Hey..... are you by any chance...nervous?"
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"You were bouncing your leg really hard"
"Oh, really?"
"Yeah, and it looked like you were clenching your fist pretty hard to"
"Then don't mind me"
'Ugh... shut up, Ha-neul. I don't need your sympathy when you were sleeping on his shoulder before. Fucking bitch.... tsk, FUCK! Why the hell is everyone so annoying today, anyways? It isn't my period, nothing different about today anyways. Tsk, whatever'
Calming myself down, I realize I've been closing my eyes for a while now. In fact, it's even nighttime. In fact in fact, nobody is with me. Nobody is here? What the...
Stepping out of the stationary carriage, I see multiple tents set up and the carriages parked out front. There is a makeshift fence and some men keeping guard. It seems like they just left me in the carriage, huh?
Sneaking out of the carriage, I find a cabin in the woods. Very suspicious since this should be demon country. Most likely, a hunter lives here, not to be taken for granted since hunter's senses should be more enhanced and especially demon hunters.
Holding out my daggers, I walk up to the house before smelling a peculiar smell... it smells like... burnt mint? There's also a bit of an unidentifiable smell along with it. What a strange place. However, this good smell isn't enough to keep my guard down.
Taking a rock by the tree, I throw it into the window before kicking the door down. Seeing that it's a regular cabin, I don't let my guard down, continuing to look up, down and around and despite her checking, double checking and triple checking, she can't help but feel an ominous feeling about this place.
A chair, a small bed, a burnt out lamp, some books on the side table, some crates and a demon boar head placed on the mantle of the fireplace. A very simplistic cabin but somewhere where some could live.
The floorboard sound very creaky, especially the boards near the bed. Touching the floor, I feel like it's loose... too loose. So I grab the fire iron and start slamming it into the floorboards. Easily breaking the old wood, it reveals a wooden box sealed with a lock.
Feeling that ominous feeling again, I decide to leave it untouched and hurry back to the camp. But not before seeing the engraving saying 'clients'. Before returning though, I feel a cool and chilly reflective thing placed at my neck. Damn it.
'They are fast, at least faster than i can react. There's also something on my back to paralyze me at anytime. Damn it'
"Why were you in my cabin"
"...I was curious"
"Leave at the count of 5. 1...."
Before she can even say 2, I dash off back to the camp. I have no plans telling on her since I was the intruder and there is something up with this war..... I don't think demons are as bad as they say they are.
Yes, they did commit mass genocides in the past and yes they descended from pure sin but they shouldn't have to pay for their ancestors actions. I'm sure that they are different and this is what bothers me.
It is literally impossible for demons to co-exist with us if they are as sinful as the texts says. It's not that I care for them, it's that our morals and goals for waging this war are getting very blurry right now.
If demons are so bad, why does Lambert Blacksmiths work with them? If they are so bad, why wait for the demon king to spawn and just go through this meaningless war? If they are so bad, who is waging the war first? From what I know, most of the 3rd party books from out of the academy record human always launching the first attack. Why is that?
Aria and the Gwanyan Trade Council are getting suspicious... well, not like I care. All I need to do is to ruin Do-yun, no politics, no fuss. However, if my suspicions are correct and we are waging war for the wealthy business owners to profit, then it may get in the way of my plans.
I would have to be away from Do-yun too much and that wouldn't be nice. Right now, he is staying at a Gwanyan hospital recovering from his burn injuries. He permanently lost his eye, his sense of touch on his fingers and toes, his nose is now flat and his skin is red and contorted beyond recognition.
Think of two-face but both his face is the ugly side. That's the situation with him. Honestly, I'm planning on how I'd get ahold of his severance package with his signed company, DW. Inc and take hold but Argent has that on lock. I could stop here... but why?
I've gone too far to stop now. And plus, I will get more chances to mess with Do-yun on Min-chul's behalf. Looking back, I see that the feminine owner of the cabin didn't follow me and I take a deep breath.... whats this?
Looking down, I see a piece of... something. I don't really know what it is since I this happens to be my first witness to it. A golden roll with some while white plant on it. I assume this was dropped by a merchant after it fell out of his cart or something. Picking it up, start examining it before reading the side of the roll.
"Michael & Chul's Mossy Emporium"
Huh? Chul is a pretty weird name. I mean, this world has a lot of different names but Chul isn't one of them. In fact, even in the old world, nobody was named Chul... the hell? Wait... why am I thinking about oppa? Isn't oppa dead? Because of me?
'I can't even start to understand why he would survive that, not that I didn't want him to, of course. Is he alive? Is he dead?...FUCK! This is so damn annoying... tsk tsk!'
Going back to the camp with the roll in my pants pocket, I fall asleep in one of the tents. I'm not even sure if this is mine but it'll do. Hahaaahhh... this is too tiring.
Waking up the next day, I see the soldiers preparing to block all highways, trails and tracks out of the city. Standing guard with them, I start my shift of checking for demons trying to leave the city. Honestly, for the right price, any demon can pass by me and I'm sure that's the same for the soldiers.
Seeing a massive caravan of 20 carriages that are big in and of themselves, she starts thinking about who can have that many. Looking over to her assigned soldiers, you can see the gold popping out of their eyes.
Looking over to the horseman, I see that it's a human. Well, I guess I'd have to let them go through. Checking the rest of the carriages, they are filled with wooden crates with the stamp "Michael & Chul's Mossy Emporium"..... so that guy owns Michael & Chul's, huh? Fuck, I got my hopes up for nothing.
Waving them through, they take about 5 minutes getting through out barricade and getting on their way. Before they left however, we hear a peculiar voice call out.
"Papa! Di-"
'....that sounds very familiar???... is it... that girl who took an interest in Min-chul? Why does she sound like a baby?'
Seeing the nearby station of Yamasaki Kin, it seems that she was taking a potty break near us and heard the voice. Running over to the cart where it came from, she starts crying while dashing as fast as she can.
Stopping her from doing anything rash, I take the young looking owner of the caravan and sit him on the roadside before questioning him. Even if that wasn't Aya, human trafficking is a crime punishable by 3 years of hard labor. And plus, getting this guys convicted will get me some money so why not.
"That girl... who is she"
"Girl? I'm afraid you will have to clarify, plenty of girls 'round here"
"The one who yelled "Papa!" Who is she?"
"I didn't hear anything and since there is no such girl you speak of, you won't convince me of ghost trafficking; not that it's a crime anyways"
'So a smartass, huh?'
Looking over to Yamasaki who was helping with search, I see her holding her hands over her mouth in shock. Going closer, I see a womanly figure that looks like Aya in a cage; with soot and other dirts covering her body... a sl*ve, huh?
Seeing the body move and look up at us, I instantly knew it was Aya. Those innocent looking eyes that tried to steal Min-chul from me, failing horribly. Yamasaki instantly breaks the cage with anger and adrenaline pumping through her body. Someone took her friend and make her this, who would be mad?
...Is what I believe how normal people react.
Bringing her back to the base, people start panicking and freaking out since another heroes that was though to be dead was found alive. More so, she was about to be sold as a sl*ve. This caused an uproar with the soldiers who firmly see heroes as deities. They were all equally as angry at the demons for capturing their beloved hero...
Except that the seller was a human... anything to hate the demons, I guess. Going back to the caravan alone and seeing 1 piece of gold in place of the seller that was sitting on the sidewalk, I gladly take it and don't try to investigate further. This guy knows what I like, huh?
The 20 caravans start moving again but this, they were all much faster than before; like they were slow on purpose before... what is wrong with this guy? Did he want to get caught? Whatever, none of my business.
Sneaking past my barricade and past the camp that is in a state of anger because of him, he quietly escapes into the distance and soon disappears at the horizon who their new found energy.
Wait... if Aya is alive... does that mean that the "Chul" in "Michael and Chul's Mossy Emporium"..... is... no, COULD be Min-chul?
..... a girl can dream, can't she?
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(A.N) wassup!!! Thanks for the support and I'm very surprised at the reception on this book. I started this as a passion project and wanted to write what came to mind but now it's gotten so much bigger than I am and for that, I thank you. The readers, the reviewers and the collectors... thank you, hope you enjoyed, peace ✌️!