When the sun had fully set, and night had begun, we set up camp.
I say 'we' quite liberally, as I mostly did nothing, and the family knights set up camp.
It was nothing particularly luxurious.
Currently, we were on the countryside roads stretching between the capital and the Castellan Duchy.
The roads were quite safe as many merchants travelled through them, meaning the empire had to take care of them.
Our camps were set up in a small forest next to the road, and I got in my tent.
Evelyn and the guards had their own tents, so I had a decent amount of room to move around.
I felt that the tent was quite cold, even though it was still autumn, and winter had not fully set in.
Wrapping myself in blankets, I fell asleep fairly quickly.
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"Hey, Bill, don't you think it's really cold? It's just autumn."
A knight of the Castellan family called out to his colleague, yet he received no answer.
"Bill?"
The knights were currently on guard duty and were watching over the small camp.
"...The guy probably went to take a shit or something."
The knight who had called out to Bill, James, muttered under his breath.
But a small part of his gut made him want to check up on Bill regardless.
Even though it was a vague feeling, knights were taught to trust their gut.
He walked towards the area where Bill was supposed to be.
"Hey, Bill, what's up with you, not answering me?"
He saw that Bill was standing in his position, and went over to grab his shoulder.
'This guy... did he fall asleep standing up?'
As soon as he made contact with Bill's shoulder, he realized something was up.
Bill's body was ice cold.
His instincts screamed at him, and he quickly pulled out his sword.
Walking in front of Bill, he saw that the man was dead.
He had died standing up, and his body was frozen.
"Shit!"
Bill immediately ran to wake up the rest of the guards, realizing there was some sort of attacker.
"Icicle Impale."
Bill did not miss the sound of someone casting magic, and realized mana had gathered around his back, forming a magic circle.
He focused his aura to protect his back, but sadly, the one hunting him was far above his pay grade.
His back, which had been reinforced with sword aura, was torn into by an icicle, causing his heart to burst and for Bill to instantly die.
A female demon stepped out from the darkness of the woods.
Her eyes and hair were the same shade of light blue, and every step she took froze the ground.
She wore a black and blue dress, not at all standard for travel.
Her face revealed an amused expression.
'Honestly, this mission is a bit silly...'
She, a high rank demon, had been requested to take on a few knights and some children?
She felt that it was a bit overkill, but apparently the commanders found the boy in the tent to be particularly troublesome.
They did not want to risk failure by sending a low or mid rank demon.
'Well, I suppose it's only a gain for me... I'll receive good merit for this.'
Her heightened demonic senses immediately recognized where the target was.
There were four tents, two tents held two guards each, one tent held a girl, and one tent held a boy.
Four jagged pillars of ice rose from the ground, impaling the sleeping guards.
'Well... I honestly am curious about why this boy is so valued.'
The commanders refused to divulge the reason that the boy was desired, stating it to be classified information.
They had specifically requested her to take on the mission, requesting that she keep his body in perfect condition, preserving it with ice magic.
Raising her hand, several small magic circles were created, sending a flurry of small icicles to the two remaining tents.
The tents were torn through, their material blasted aside, revealing the two within the tents.
The boy instantly awoke, creating a magical circle of light in his hand, ready to attack.
'That light magic... It's not half bad.'
She gave it a half hearted compliment, recognizing that it could harm her.
But just because it could, did not mean that it would.
The boy was still far too slow in casting magic, and in an instant, she froze the boys arm, shattering the magic circle.
"Wait! Wait! You're a demon, right!"
The boy shouted at her, asking if she was a demon.
Right now, she had hidden her demonic horns and wings, appearing to simply be a beautiful human woman.
"That is correct."
She gave a curt response, waiting for what he might say next.
"Listen, your commanders don't know it, but I've actually defected to the side of the demons!"
'...What?'
She was confused by what the boy had said.
Her confusion washed away after she realized the boy was most likely coming up with a story for her to not kill him.
It was a ridiculous notion, that the commander class demons would not know about the ranks of their own army.
"Hmmm.... Sorry~ But I think you're lying! The commanders know everything regarding the demonic forces!"
"No, that's because my recruitment was a secret! The demon king himself, Zaroth, recruited me!"
Her previously amused expression went blank.
No human alive today should know the name of the Demon King, and even if they still existed, some random child should not know his name.
"....Explain."
Her killing intent washed over the boy, and he flinched, yet he continued his explanation.
"The reason that your commanders want to kill me is because I received a divine revelation from the Sun God! But I have no intention of serving under him, the Demon King contacted me through 'the voice' and I became a secret member of the demonic forces!"
Three pieces of what he said shocked her.
The boy had received a divine revelation from the Sun God...
The only other person who was known to have received one in this age was the Saintess.
He even mentioned 'the voice' the creepy bastard who walked around acting as the mouthpiece of his majesty.
The situation had developed in a way in which she could not recklessly kill the boy.
"...If you're a member of the demonic forces... It should be fine if I take you back to headquarters, right?"
If she acted in this way, she could verify the truth of his words whilst still obeying the orders of her superior.
"No, that can't be the case! To his majesty, the demon king, I am a hidden ace! You may not know my status, but I am the firstborn son of a duke! If you take me to the demonic continent, my position will be revealed. His majesty's plan will be ruined, and he will be enraged."
The female demon squinted her eyes, trying to see if the boy was lying or not.
His heart was beating quickly, and he was sweating bullets, even in this extreme cold caused by her.
But she did not feel as if he was lying, the symptoms were simply out of fear for her.
"....Then... I apologize. I treated my comrade rather harshly. I'll report your status back to my commanders, 'the voice' seems to have failed to notify them of your unique status."
The killing intent she had radiated earlier completely disappeared after she recognized the boy as a comrade.
Her demonic wings unfurled, and she blast up in the sky, leaving the destroyed camp behind.
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I have one regular chapter left to publish today, and then I think six extra chapters.
If any of you are upset at the fact that the demon could not tell his lie, check back to the first chapter, he has a trait named sly which allows him to get away with his bullshittery easier.