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 seemed to be following

strange; let's observe a little

faded, the two

***

usual, Amanda sat on

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

Hunter guild, Board member - Amanda

reflected the sunlight coming

—Knock! —Knock!

A knocking sound sounded.

"Come in."

Amanda opened her

"You called for me?"

the room, a slim girl with long light brown hair and

It was Melissa.

you call me

asked as she looked around the neatly

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

"..."

of papers down, Amanda wordlessly stared at Melissa,

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

just called me here to admire my beauty? Sorry, but I'm not really

the project

comments, Amanda finally opened her mouth

going well; why? Has something come up from

"No."

prompting Melissa's brows to

you asked me to come here to find out about

grumbled as she rested her cheek

do know

"It's not that."

small barrier appeared, enveloping the two of

"What are you doing?"

the barrier that

show much of a reaction. She knew Amanda well. She

about the previous comments about

"Here."

onto a small tablet resting on

image mid-air, the video soon

began playing, multiple different scenarios

common thing: a middle-aged

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

voice as she took her eyes away from

a partner

"No, look carefully."

pointed towards the middle-aged man playing with the girl in the

"That's Ren."

"..."

a brief moment,

and closing her mouth multiple times, Melissa didn't

was dumbstruck by Amanda's sudden

until her face suddenly

work you've been

"It has not."

Amanda calmly replied.

Melissa snorted in response.

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

"I have proof."

"Proof?"

stopped and raised her

small key, Amanda inserted the key

taking out a couple of files, she handed them to

"Here."

"What's this?"

with a confused look on her face, Melissa slowly

a while, alternating her

of

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

of her head, Melissa tapped on the names of the

and the fact that his father looks

at this as

paper in

was a detailed profile of the

investigation, that man in the video has long disappeared ten years ago. This was the first time in

"..."

carefully looked

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

was only after a couple of minutes had passed that Melissa finally opened her

are

"Very sure."

Amanda replied.

of investigation was

information on Ren's parents due to having done a background check on them prior to when they first met and when

to get a better idea of who

Nola's recent behaviour had given Amanda another reason to believe that the man in the video

"I see..."

muttered underneath her

her finger on the

why did you tell me? Aren't you a little too trusting of