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.

the one being targeted, to how the demon seemed to be

is indeed strange; let's observe a little

words faded, the two figures

***

Amanda sat on her desk and completed her

route that she had grown accustomed to over the last year

Hunter guild, Board member

sunlight coming

—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 pair of glasses

It was Melissa.

what did you call me for,

she looked around the

in front of Amanda, she crossed her legs and

"..."

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

of seconds until Melissa could

me here to admire my beauty? Sorry, but

is the

finally opened her

It's going well; why? Has something come up

"No."

prompting

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

her cheek on

do know phones exist,

"It's not that."

barrier appeared, enveloping

"What are you doing?"

looked at the barrier that was slowly forming

startled, she didn't show much of a reaction. She

joking about the previous comments about you being into

"Here."

on her desk, a holographic video soon

image mid-air, the

the video began playing, multiple different scenarios started

those scenarios, there was a common thing:

difference was the last video, where the middle-aged

in Melissa's voice as she took her

looking for a partner to look at dramas

"No, look carefully."

towards the middle-aged man playing with the

"That's Ren."

"..."

moment, silence enveloped

and closing her mouth multiple times, Melissa didn't

by Amanda's sudden

until her face suddenly

Has all the work you've been doing

"It has not."

Amanda calmly replied.

Melissa snorted in response.

has now become some weird middle-aged man that plays

"I have proof."

"Proof?"

stopped and raised

head and taking out a small key, Amanda

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

"Here."

"What's this?"

the papers with a confused look on her face, Melissa

asked after a while, alternating her

of the people

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

her head, Melissa tapped on the names of the

their names, and the fact that his father looks similar to him...but this isn't nearly enough to

at this as

slid another paper in Melissa's

that paper was a detailed profile of the middle-aged

has long disappeared ten years ago. This

"..."

paper, Melissa carefully looked

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

after a couple of minutes had passed that Melissa

sure are you about

"Very sure."

Amanda replied.

this kind of investigation was a

done a background check on them prior to when they first

a better idea of who

behaviour had given Amanda another reason to believe that the man

"I see..."

muttered underneath

straight and tapping her finger on the armrest of the sofa,

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