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.

he was the one being targeted, to how the demon

is indeed strange; let's

those words faded, the two

***

usual, Amanda sat on her desk

route that she had grown accustomed to over the last year or so in her new position in the

Hunter guild, Board member

reflected the sunlight coming from the

—Knock! —Knock!

A knocking sound sounded.

"Come in."

her mouth, and the door

"You called for me?"

slim girl with long light brown hair and a

It was Melissa.

did you call

around the neatly organized office.

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

"..."

the stack of papers down, Amanda wordlessly stared at Melissa, sitting opposite

couple of seconds until Melissa could no longer take

admire my beauty? Sorry, but I'm not

is the project

comments, Amanda finally opened her mouth and

going well; why? Has something come up from your

"No."

her head, prompting Melissa's

you call me? Don't tell me you asked me to come here to find out about how the project is

her cheek

know

"It's not that."

a small barrier appeared, enveloping the

"What are you doing?"

looked at the barrier that was slowly

a reaction. She knew Amanda well.

joking about the previous

"Here."

small tablet resting on

the image mid-air, the video soon began

multiple different

scenarios, there was a common thing:

only difference was the last video, where the middle-aged man

she took her eyes away from the video and looked

you perhaps looking for a partner to look at dramas

"No, look carefully."

towards the middle-aged man playing

"That's Ren."

"..."

brief moment, silence enveloped the

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

by Amanda's sudden

her face suddenly twisted

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

"It has not."

Amanda calmly replied.

Melissa snorted in response.

So you are telling me that Ren has now become some weird

"I have proof."

"Proof?"

stopped and raised

her head and taking out a small key, Amanda inserted

drawer back. After taking out a couple of files, she handed

"Here."

"What's this?"

a confused look on her face,

her gaze between

the profiles of the people

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

the side of her head, Melissa tapped on the

looks similar to him...but this isn't nearly enough

at this as

paper in Melissa's

was a detailed profile of the middle-aged man who

to our investigation, that man in the video has long disappeared ten years ago. This

"..."

Melissa carefully looked through it without

unable to read her expression. Instead, she seemed to be lost

couple of minutes had passed that

are you about

"Very sure."

Amanda replied.

this kind of investigation was a piece of cake

Ren's parents due to having done a background check on them

better idea of who the

another reason to

"I see..."

underneath

tapping her finger on the armrest

is true; why did you tell me? Aren't you a little