Demonfolk—they are regarded as the other ruling force on this continent of Loindars, commonly seen as the archenemy of humanfolk. What the humanfolk of current day and age knew about demonfolk and demons was awfully limited. Although their numbers were few and far inbetween compared to humans, they greatly surpassed them in individual strength, with the Demon Lord reigning absolute control over them—that’s about it.

Not a single country managed to grasp any valuable information about this race, and although a few brazen soldiers dared to invade demon territory, none of them had returned alive. In the span of the 300 years, as the demons showed no signs of infiltration and conquering of humanfolk land, humanity as a whole had dropped its careful mindset towards them. Most of the humanfolk members currently alive likely had never even seen a demon.

However, as an exception to this rule, it took Kyle only a second to understand that he was dealing with a demon. Although their general appearance oftentimes overlapped with that of a human being, there were still peculiar differences amongst them. Some had more limbs, others were exceptionally big or small, some others had wings growing from their backs, the variations seemed endless. However, the most prominent and common feature amongst them, and a trait that stood out like a sore thumb, was the horn they had growing from their heads. Naturally, the demon in front of Kyle had such a horn.

At the same time, since Kyle was experienced with demons, he could feel the peculiar pressure only given off by a demon. Seeing Kyle storm into the room, the female demon inspected Kyle, let out a faint sight, and acted. Her graceful right hand suddenly changed shape into something that resembled a fierce monster’s claw. Immediately after, she moved towards Kyle. Her speed reached Kyle’s level after he strengthened himself with magic, or maybe even faster.

At the same time, Kyle’s body moved faster than he could think, all on instinct. This was all thanks to the thorough experience in battle against demons, nothing less. However, with no sword or armor on him, any half-baked defense would mean an instant game-over. Seeing no other option but to go on the aggressive, Kyle started running ahead. That choice of action seemed to have surprised the female demon as her eyes opened, but she immediately swung her claw at Kyle.

He at the same time intercepted this attack with his left arm. It was a sharp slice of a claw, which dug deep into Kyle’s unprotected arm, penetrating it. With speed and impact added to the attack, any normal humanfolk’s arm would have been torn off without a doubt. However, Kyle’s sturdy left arm managed to withstand that fate. Naturally, the intense pain wasn’t anything to joke about, but Kyle forcefully ignored that, and started his counterattack. He gathered mana in his clamped right hand, creating a faint light.

This brought forth a common-grade magic spell [Energy Bolt], a type of magic that sacrificed speed and accuracy for sheer impact. With this in his fist, he aimed at the demon. Any other high-level magic was impossible for Kyle to use at this particular moment because of the pain and the brief window he had to prepare himself. At the same time, without a sword at his disposal, this was the best he could manage when it came to a functional attack. The female demon seemingly didn’t expect that attack, as Kyle managed to connect it right into her stomach.

“Gah!”

The female demon’s body was shaped like a sideways V as it was blown off, but she immediately regained her posture. Any normal human being would have probably died from that attack, as Kyle put as much impact and mana as possible into that attack. However, although the demon pressed her hands on her stomach to suppress the pain, she quickly stood up strong again. That being said, her facial expression was distorted in agony.

“Seems as if that worked like a treat. How about I let you taste another two or three?” Kyle spoke up with a provocative tone, showing composure to the best of his ability, but he was evidently bluffing.

That attack just now was basically like a final trump card in case he had to fight without his equipment, but Kyle’s mana was still not fully trained to the point he wished it to be. Through the fusion of his soul from the previous world and the current one, he managed to gain a tremendous amount of mana which could assist him in becoming an elite, but he knew that he needed to be above an elite status if he wanted to even graze a demon.

Without his equipment, he could only fist with his bare hands. Although it was inevitable that he didn’t have Shildonia with him, not even having a second or supplementary sword with him was a clear sign of negligence.

I wasn’t careful enough..

If this was in the middle of the Great Invasion, Kyle most definitely would not have made that mistake. The blood loss from his left arm was getting severe, and the longer this battle continued, the more at a disadvantage Kyle would be. And as he was thinking about what to do, he heard voices from behind him. They must be Miranda and her guards. The second Kyle prepared to scream ‘Don’t come!’, he heard the female demon clicking her tongue. Following that, she turned around, headed towards the courtyard side of the room, and jumped through the already broken window.

“Did she..run away?” Kyle muttered.

Judging from Kyle’s experience, a demon running away from battle was an exceptionally rare occasion. Naturally, the situation back then was far too different to this encounter. In a rush, Kyle headed towards the window, looking outside at the courtyard, he saw a sea of blood. The wyverns Aluzard had called over were slaughtered without any sign of compassion. Far in the distance, Kyle spotted a silhouette that resembled the female demon he just fought.

If his condition had allowed him to, Kyle would have wished to chase after her. There was so much valuable information she may hold, and more than anything, killing a demon was a necessity at any given moment. However, she had already moved far away to the point she turned into a small rice grain, and taking Kyle’s situation in consideration, that was evidently impossible.

“Just what is..Eeek!?”

Miranda entered the room, only to almost let out a scream in the face of this hellish scene. Somehow, she barely managed to keep herself from collapsing. Things didn’t end so well for the employee though, who couldn’t even stand anymore. At around that time, screams from all around the embassy could be heard, creating a mass panic. As for Kyle, he pressed his unharmed hand on his injured left arm to suppress the pain, and sank to the ground.

Through several checks via the embassy, it became clear the amount of victims and damage done was unfathomable. Not only had the banquet hall turned into a red murder scene, but mostly half of all employees present at the Galgan Empire’s embassy were slaughtered. The true shock came from the fact that all the survivors had actually not witnessed any killing in the process, nor did they hear any sounds that could have alarmed them.

They merely looked away for a moment, or moved away from their seats for a few minutes, and yet most victims had been killed without producing a sound. At this revelation, all parties involved felt true terror running through their bodies.

At around the same time, at the home of Gazas, Lieze and the others had just finished taking in their lunch, now drinking some tea.

“I’m sorry that you even had to make a meal.” Gou spoke, evidently uncomfortable.

“It’s fine, we ate some ourselves.” Lieze, the person who prepared the lunch, reassured Gou with a smile.

“But, you even cleaned up the room..” Looking around his now tidy home, Gou once again apologized.

“Was that too much, I wonder?”

“Of course not! You really helped us. Both me and my father..aren’t very good with housework, which is why things turned this messy in only a month.”

“Well, that sounds plausible in a place with only men.” Lieze let out a snicker.

“That reminds me, where is Kyle-san today?”

“He’s having lunch with some higher-up from the Empire. Since he’s an emissary of Zilgus, he needs to meet them or something like that. I personally can’t deal with that though,” said Seran.

“I thought all of you were emissaries?”

“Well, we’re the bonus, so to speak..That being said, he’ll probably have the most luxurious shit.”

Or so Seran grumbled, but he probably never would have imagined that Kyle was inside an ocean of blood.

“Still, Shildonia-san’s knowledge really is amazing. Even today, it feels like I made progress that would have normally taken me months.” Gou looked at Shildonia in respect, having received constructive advice from her all morning.

“You’re not half bad yourself. Even if I grant you the knowledge, you need the fundamental basics to apply it. Having so much skill in this day and age is quite commendable.”

“Eh? T-Thank you very much..” Gou felt a bit of discomfort at the phrase ‘Day and age’, but still accepted the praise.

“Seems like your morning was used well..Can’t say the same here.” Seran muttered.

It was his goal to ask Gazas in regards to the sword, but said Gazas was not present today.

“Apologies, my father has left early. He did not tell me where he went, so I have no idea when he might be back.”

“Well, it can’t be helped..Oh yeah, do you know anything by any chance? He seemed to know something about swords that could rival Shi..Kyle’s sword, so do you have any idea?”

“Hmmm..He may be talking about the Holy Sword Rand.”

“Holy Sword Rand?”

“Three hundred years ago, it was created by the most famous dwarf in Callan. With this sword, the hero Randolph struck down the past Demon Lord.”

Taken from the hero’s name, the legend of the Holy Sword Rand was born.

“My father mentioned he had laid his eyes upon it once, so maybe that’s what he meant?”

“The sword the hero used to strike down the Demon Lord..So, where is this Rand sword now?”

“Since Randolph never had any children, the original creator seemingly took it back in, so it might be here in Callan, but I don’t know the details either..I think that Mayor Bucks might have it on him, he was quite interested in gathering tools like that.”

“I see..Now that was a great piece of information. A Holy Sword..Yeah, that’d be a worthy sword for me.”

“Um..even if it would be here in Callan, I believe it is treated as a national treasure..”

“National treasure? Now that sounds difficult..Guess I should use my position as an emissary of Zilgus then. I could ask for that as a reward from the princess. Power is everything after all..Soon enough, I should force a meeting with the Mayor. Then, I’ll squeeze any possible info about it out of him..” Seran was thinking, only to look around like he realized something. “By the way, Gou, are you being hated by people?”

“Eh? I mean, that’s not..Well, I tend to get in a bit of trouble because of money and all, I guess.”

“The folks from yesterday, huh? But, those weaklings would never be able to emit such killing intent..So, are they aiming for us? Even without Kyle around..?” Seran thought about something for a moment, but immediately gave up. “Whatever, thinking isn’t my strong suit. I’ll have Kyle think later..Oi, we’re dealing with a raid.” Seran put his sword on his hip, and spoke up to the others.

“A raid? You’re kidding, right?” Lieze said, clearly not having expected this.

This house was quite the distance away from the residential district, with no barely any people around, but it was still noon time. Naturally, there would be witnesses around, so this clearly wasn’t a proper time for an attack.

“No, there’s no mistaking it, there’s folks surrounding this place, emitting clear hostility. At least ten folks. I guess it’d be best to go out and get on the offensive.” Seran pulled out this sword, and headed for the entrance. “I’ll draw the attention of the main body. However, two or three might make their way inside, so be prepared. Prioritize your own safety, or at least buy us time.” Seran said, and stepped out of the room.

“S-Seran-san seems a lot different compared to before.”

“He basically only has talent for fighting, so with everything else, his brain is rotten beyond belief.” Gou said with a bit of surprise in his voice, as Lieze swiftly put on her gauntlets.

“To think that Seran would be saying that..Yeah, this situation is serious.” She bumped her fists together, as a metallic sound rang out.

“Indoors, a fire would be bad..If so, [Gnome]!” Urza focused her mind, until the lump of rocks turned into the shape of a human, creating the Earth Spirit Gnome out of thin air.

Generally, spirits don’t possess a physical body, but a spirit user could grant them mana through an established [Contract], and grant them a physical body like this.

“My Gnome is sturdy and strong, so he’ll act as a shield. We’ll have it stand in front of us, with the wall to our back so that we can’t get attacked from behind.” Urza gave formation orders, and the rest listened.

“Awawawa!” Gou started panicking amidst all of that.

“Calm down, there’s no meaning to you being flustered. Just believe everyone, and stay down.”

Shildonia herself held no fighting power either, but she equally could not suffer any wounds in her spirit form. In a way, she was the person who could keep her composure the easiest.

“Y-Yes!”

Gou couldn’t help but admire how calm and composed Shildonia is despite looking the same age as him, once again looking at her in respect.

“Let Kyle give you the repair fee for the door, ya hear me!” Seran scrambled as he walked down the hallway leading up to the entrance, and cut up the door with a few sword swings. As pieces of the door were scattered everywhere, Seran stabbed his sword into the man’s shoulder that appeared, and jumped out of the house with the momentum he had. There, he was greeted with several men wearing clothes that made them seem like average citizens. They faltered because of this unexpected attack, but immediately readied their weapons.

“Hmm, seems like I was right..For starters, that’s one.” Seran said, and kicked away the guy with the injured shoulder.

The man raised a groan, and fell to the ground again, but his life clearly wasn’t in danger.

“Let me give you one last warning. If you don’t want to die here, run. Lucky enough, and you might live to see another day.” Seran spoke with clear bloodlust in his eyes, as he licked his tongue.

Immediately after, he started slashing at them.

Although Lieze was a bit surprised to hear the sounds of a sword fight from the outside, she knew how strong Seran was, so she wasn’t that worried. There, two men stormed inside the home from the backdoor. These two men had already pulled their weapons, equipped with small daggers fit for the narrow inside of the house, dripping with a purple liquid which indicated the use of poison.

“It’s Berada poison. Just a small touch will paralyze you, so be careful!” Urza gave out a warning, dropping the name of a man-eating plant.

“Understood!” Lieze readied herself, and stepped in front of Gou to protect him.

Urza gave Gnome an order as well, and the battle began.