The Author's POV

Khhhhh—!

The static sound of the radio sounded.

"...I guess he hung up."

A trace of pity flashed across my eyes as I put the radio transmitter away.

Standing up and putting my coat on, I nudged the others to follow me.

"Alright, let's go."

Now that I had taken care of the annoying flies swarming on my back, I could now go to my destination without too many worries.

"Ren, how long do we have left?"

Ryan asked from behind.

"We're almost there."

Our current destination was Henolur, the dwarven capital.

After travelling for the past four months, we had almost arrived at the location.

"Precise time?"

"About one more week of travel, I would say."

Originally we were supposed to take a lot less time to arrive; however, to slow down Xavier and the other's pursuit, I decided to take a slight detour and travelled near the elven border.

Fortunately, during our fight right now the elves didn't get involved, but in all likelihood, they were already aware of our presence.

"Let's go before we run into trouble."

"Are you talking about the elves?"

Smallsnake arrived by my side and followed along.

"That's right."

Playing with the dimensional spaces that he had collected from the people we had just killed, Smallsnake handed them to me.

"...Do you think they'd attack us? I heard that they don't attack humans."

"Sort of, but you can never be too safe."

With humanity's advancement these past few decades, all three races started viewing humans in a more 'favourable' light.

That being said, this didn't mean that they still fully trusted us.

This was why a conference was going to be held soon.

It was made with the purpose of talking about the potential third cataclysm that was soon going to hit the earth and the possibility of allowing humanity to join the alliance.

Well, that was well into the future.

Right now, my goal was to enter the dwarven domain and increase my strength by leaps and bounds.

"Let's hurry for now. I don't want to meet any trouble along our way."

***

A few kilometres away from where Ren and the others were, Gazing at them from a distance, were two obscured figures.

With each breath the two figures took, the mana in the air would follow their breathing rhythm. Almost as though they were in complete synch with the mana in the air.

"Should we attack?"

Looking right, one of the figures asked as a melodious voice rang out.

Judging from their subservient tone, it was evident that the figure they talked to was higher ranked.

"...no"

The other figure shook its head.

"What about the demon?"

The higher-ranked figure pointed towards the distance, revealing a delicate white hand devoid of imperfection.

"Did you sense the mana of the people they were fighting?"

"Mhm, it was tainted with demonic energy."

"Right, for that female demon to work with humans and kill multiple contracted individuals, we can assume that she is no longer on the same side as the demons."

Although most demons worked with each other, in the end, what they cared for most was their self-interest.

Just because they were from the same race didn't mean that they had to help them.

This was a natural occurrence that occurred in all races.

"...That's true. However, I've also noticed that the demon follows that human with long hair. Strange."

The whole time they observed the fight in the distance, they noticed that everything revolved around a specific human with long black hair and blue eyes.

was the one being targeted, to how the demon

is indeed strange; let's

faded, the two

***

on her

accustomed to over the last year or so in her new position

guild, Board member

sunlight coming from the window

—Knock! —Knock!

A knocking sound sounded.

"Come in."

her head, Amanda opened her mouth,

"You called for me?"

girl with long light

It was Melissa.

what did you call

the neatly organized office. It was

sofa in front of Amanda, she crossed her legs and propped her elbow on the

"..."

Amanda wordlessly stared at Melissa, sitting opposite

continued for a couple of seconds until Melissa could no longer take it

admire my beauty? Sorry, but

is the

Melissa's comments, Amanda finally opened her

Has something come up from your

"No."

prompting Melissa's brows to

Don't tell me you asked me to come

grumbled as she rested her

do know phones

"It's not that."

hand, a small barrier appeared, enveloping

"What are you doing?"

that

much of a reaction. She

know, I was joking about the previous comments about you

"Here."

resting on

onto the image mid-air, the video soon began

video began playing, multiple different

there was a common thing: a middle-aged man playing with

video, where the middle-aged man hugged a couple before

could be felt in Melissa's voice as she took

Are you perhaps looking for a partner to look at dramas

"No, look carefully."

towards the middle-aged man playing with the girl

"That's Ren."

"..."

a brief moment, silence enveloped the

and closing her mouth multiple times, Melissa didn't know what to

dumbstruck by

was until her face suddenly twisted

it? Has all the work you've been doing finally fried your brain into

"It has not."

Amanda calmly replied.

Melissa snorted in response.

are telling me that Ren has now become some weird middle-aged man

"I have proof."

"Proof?"

stopped and

taking out a small key, Amanda

twisted it and slid the drawer back. After taking out a

"Here."

"What's this?"

on her

alternating her gaze between the video

profiles of the people in the

"Mhm, they're Ren's parents."

head, Melissa tapped on the

that his father looks similar to him...but this isn't nearly enough to prove that

at this as

slid another paper

paper was a detailed profile of the middle-aged man who visited them

in the video has long disappeared ten years ago. This was the first time in ten years

"..."

the paper, Melissa carefully looked through it

her, Amanda was unable to read her expression. Instead,

after a couple of minutes had passed that Melissa finally

are you

"Very sure."

Amanda replied.

this kind of investigation was a piece of cake for

background check on them prior to when

to get a better idea of who the people

recent behaviour had given Amanda another reason to

"I see..."

muttered underneath her

straight and tapping her finger on the armrest

say what you said is true; why did you tell me? Aren't you a little too trusting