"Um… that's enough," Lily said. "This problem will not be solved by fighting like this."
They continued to shout as though they couldn't even hear what Lily was saying.
"Should I just leave?" she asked herself.
As Lily was contemplating this, the door to the meeting room swung open and someone entered.
When the demons saw who it was, they shut their mouths immediately. He was tall, and his entire 2.5 meter frame was covered in a silvery white fur. His hands were larger than his feet, and were equipped with large, menacing claws. It was a massive, humanoid, bipedal wolf. A werewolf. He wore a quilted leather armor with shackles around his neck, marking him as a 'slave'. He was a slave belonging to the highest ranked member of the 12 apostles, the vampire.
When the apostles saw the werewolf, they gave it a nasty look. However, the werewolf ignored the other apostles and headed straight toward Lily. He got on his knees and bowed his head respectfully.
"I greet you, Your Highness."
Lily smiled warmly after seeing him. She felt much gratitude toward him as he was the only one who showed her any decency within this terrible city.
"Why have you come?"
Lily tried to show as much authority as she could muster, but failed miserably. However, the werewolf paid it no mind and pulled out a letter from his possession.
"This is…?"
Lily opened the letter. It was sent from the Orc Commander, Karakul. It was a request for her to personally come to the strategic point on the battlefront. The Orc infantrymen had suffered a large defeat against the Hero's Allied Forces and were struggling, so the letter requested for her to come personally to raise morale.
When Lily tried to share the news to the other apostles, the werewolf stopped her.
"… The contents in the letter are top secret. Only the Demon Lord can know."
Lily was surprised at his words.
"The reason being?"
The werewolf whispered into her ear.
"The Hero's Allied Forces seem to be a little too aware of the Demon Kingdom's movements. Perhaps…"
"There is… a spy?" Lily muttered under her breath.
'A traitor among the demons?' Lily looked at the werewolf.
"What will you do, Your Highness?"
"I'll go personally."
Werewolf sighed in relief hearing her words and bowed again.
"I understand."
***
Ellin navigated through vines hanging from trees, passed through fields of grass, crossed a river, traversed a mountain, and finally exited the dense forest she had been in for some time. After having done so, she travelled through another set of vines, grass, river, mountain, and a forest. Noticing this seemingly endless, arduous adventure, her eye twitched.
"Just when… are we going to arrive!?"
Ellin was currently heading toward the Demon Kingdom. She had sworn vengeance upon Kelvin, but he was already dead. Now, all she could do in the name of revenge was gather intelligence, and to do so, she had to return to the Demon Kingdom. She had been heading back with that goal in mind, but a problem had arisen.
"And why are you guys following me as well?"
She sent a pointed look toward the group of demons that had been trailing behind her.
"I apologize. I'm sorry. Ah… it's just… we… don't know the way. Once again… Apologies… Apology? What was I trying to say again?"
The distractingly large ogre scratched his head in confusion. Ogres had monstrous strength that could crush boulders and incredible dexterity compared to their size, but spoke with frustratingly slow speech. He had even forgotten what he was trying to say in the middle of the sentence and looked toward Ellin strangely.
"Do you know what I was trying to say?"
"How would I know?! You're the one who's trying to tell me! Did you get hit in the head too hard by that apprentice Holy Knight?!"
"I am not so smart, so… I'm sorry. Huh? Ah! This is what I was trying to say!"
Ellin groaned at this frustrating conversation with the ogre. It was truly a pain. She had scoured the Golden Fief in search for the one that everyone called the Devil of Lania, but as the people within the area had already fled, she was unable to collect any useful information, and the devil was nowhere to be found. Also, she had wanted to bury Tom after his death, but his body had disappeared. Kelvin, the man who she wanted to take revenge on, had been turned into a grotesque sculpture. She recalled what Kelvin had been turned into and felt a chill crawl up her spine.
"Ugh. What am I doing thinking up something like that? He was killed in a truly horrid fashion. Shows how deep the grudge against him was…"
Ellin shook her head. It was a simple matter to get to the Demon Kingdom by herself. She looked like a human, so it was easy to cross human borders. However, the demons following her were the problem. Her schedule had been delayed as the demons that had been imprisoned within the Golden Casino were now following her. Now that news of the Devil of Lania had spread, there were extra guards posted in every community for public safety reasons. All these extra patrols made it hard to travel inconspicuously across human borders. Due to all this, they had to cross through forest paths that humans completely avoided instead of paved roads.
"Ugh… I want to see Miss Lily even a day faster…! Still, I have to do my best! There's not much left…!"
She continued to struggle through her journey, and the demons followed her.
***
"This isn't good."
It wasn't only Ellin that was lost in the forest.
"Where do we go? This is strange. Wasn't this the way?"
WIthin a forest in the mountains, an apprentice Holy Knight wearing a white uniform over his quilted vest —which made it easier to move in—named Tom, had also lost his way. He frowned as he looked ahead. All he could see were trees, trees, and more trees, not to mention another mountain range in the distance. He had walked for hours, but the scenery hadn't changed. Rather, as he had continued to change directions after meeting several dead ends, he now suspected that he had returned to where he started. He had walked in a big circle.
"Did I… get lost?"
It had been 30 years since he had returned to the world. It had been a while since he had undergone a journey, and as he had left the Golden Fief without any planning, he had lost his way.
In reality, he only had one destination. It was the Demon Kingdom's strategic point on the battlefront, the place where Karakul was. He had to notify him of Kelvin's death and receive any information he might have gathered. Truthfully, he could have sent out a crow, but as Karakul was preoccupied by the invasion of the Hero's Allied Forces, it wasn't so easy to contact him.
'I had thought to slowly stretch my legs and walk through the world after so long, but to become lost like this…'
His folly had been trying to hurry toward the Demon Kingdom's border from the Golden Fief through the shortest path.
He surveyed his surroundings. It was hard to find a traveler or mercenary, let alone an adventurer in a place like this. There also weren't any sentient wild beasts that could speak, and wild demons, ones that weren't sentient demons nor demi-humans, couldn't speak as well. So he had no way to get help from anyone in order to find his way again.
'Should I send out a crow?'
It was the easiest way. With a crow, he should be able to definitely understand his immediate surroundings at the very least. As Tom sighed, he could hear the rustling of grass.
"… Let's see. Is this it? Mm, this looks right. We'll cut straight through this forest, and mark this road… Ah! That large rock looks good! Other demi-humans should understand something like this well enough!"
Tom blinked and walked toward the grass. He hid his presence and approached the forest before sticking his head out quietly.
'… A Goblin?'
It was a goblin. He wore a massive bag that didn't suit his 130cm-tall, small frame, and there were all manner of things held within its bag. The goblin's hand held a hand-drawn map and a feather quill, and within the goblin's eye was a round and short magnifying glass.
— Ω —