“The situation is quite severe.”

At the office of the Zilgus Embassy, Miranda spoke with a truly serious tone. In front of Miranda was Kyle, his arm wrapped in bandages. She had just received the reports from both Kyle and Seran, encountering a demon. In order to capture the perpetrators, Miranda had just sent out an emergency situation notice for all guards present in Callan, limiting all exits.

“Adding to the amount of casualties, we have other problems arising. Capturing the perpetrators takes utmost priority, but we can’t ignore the diplomatic problems that have surfaced through this.”

“Diplomatic problems?”

“The fact that both me and Kyle-san had been present at the murder scene of a Galgan Empire’s court mage is problematic. At the very least, many of the Empire’s workers at the embassy assume that we have a connection with the murder..but the real problem is the Empire itself.”

As other people had been present to witness the murders happening, they surely wouldn’t doubt Miranda and Kyle. However, that doesn’t go for the Empire themselves. They will surely use this situation to their benefit. If they fail to capture the killers, they would push the fact that the ambassador of Zilgus and equally an emissary of Zilgus had been spotted in that very room, using it as a weapon for further diplomatic activities, is what Miranda is saying.

“What a strained interpretation, really. Even though Kyle himself had gotten injured.” Urza sighed in disbelief, while looking at the bandages on Kyle’s arm.

“Surely, with the amount of casualties piling up from the Empire’s side, and not a single person from Zilgus having been killed, they would try to forcefully connect the dots. That is how international relationships work.”

If I was from the Empire, I would do the exact same—Miranda added in her mind.

“Well, there’s nothing we can do about all that diplomatic stuff, but..was that really a demon?” Lieze tilted her head.

She merely saw a shadow for a split second after all.

“Yeah, no mistaking it. That was undoubtedly a demon.” Shildonia confirmed it. “That destructive power didn’t come from magic any humanfolk can use. It’s limited to demons and their vastly greater mana pool. When it comes to the amount of mana and regenerative abilities, they surpass humans by a landslide after all.” She let out a bothered snort. “Well, that’s why their magic is not all that versatile. It’s all magic prioritizing power and overwhelming destructive force. Even though the versatility of magic is its true power..In the first place, magic uses mana to create and change matter and phenomena, eventually bringing all of creation under your rule. That’s why we study its laws and logics, and yet they just give in to the power..”

“Um..so basically, there’s no doubt that it was a demon, right?” Lieze stopped Shildonia, who was about to go off on a tangent about magic.

“Cough..Anyway, that’s what this is. With them being involved, the worst case scenario is that Callan in itself falls to ruin. Just to get it out of the way, but I mean that we will be blown to smithereens.”

“You’re not helping any of us even if you tell us with all honesty..” Miranda put one hand on her forehead, massaging her temple.

She already had enough problems to worry about, so the entire annihilation of Callan was something she really didn’t want to consider.

“That’s just how dangerous demons are. As it’s been three hundred years since the last war with the demons..it seems like your sense of danger has suffered from it.” Shildonia said with a bit of irony in her voice.

At the very least, during the era of Zaales, something like this would not have happened. However, humanfolk of today had forgotten the danger of demons, and barely any human alive ever even encountered a demon. If anything, demons were now part of old stories of the past. Even Lieze, who had been raised in the village adjacent to the demon territory, had no idea about them anymore.

“If that was a demon..then are all demons such monsters?” Seran, who had been quiet this entire time, asked.

“Rest assured. The one we encountered today seems to be on a stronger level than the average demon. On top of that, compared to us humanfolk, they are far less in numbers.”

“I see, that is reassuring to hear.” Seran answered, and once again went silent.

It seemed like Seran’s first encounter with a demon was quite shocking for him. Seeing him oddly quiet and devoid of his usual energy, Urza asked Lieze.

“What’s with him?”

“Well, his head is always full of flowers and women, but even he sometimes gets serious. Rarely, but it happens.”

“Oh, that’s quite unexpected. I thought he would never worry about anything.”

“It happens very rarely, yeah. He’d worry about something, and then return to his nonchalant self. Will happen soon enough.”

“I see. Well, it doesn’t seem like being serious fits him in any way.”

“..You two, I can hear you.” Seran complained, but the two ignored him.

“Not to mention, he’s even more quiet than me..” Urza commented on Kyle and his complicated expression, as she simply crossed his arms.

“Yeah, I haven’t seen him like that for a while. Whenever something shocking happens, he ends up lost in thought.” Lieze let out a sigh, and showed a somewhat worried expression.

As for what Kyle was so lost in thought about..He was trying to figure out why a demon would be here, right now. During their war with the demons, humanfolk tried to acquire as much information as possible about them. However, before the Great Invasion, demons barely got themselves involved with their enemy, and no stories of this happening in Callan surfaced. If such a homicide had happened in the previous timeline, Kyle surely would have heard of it.

So it’s because of my actions after all..Damn it!

If demons had been working in the shadows here, and Kyle’s own actions irritated them to cause this slaughter..In order to prevent or at least prepare for the [Great Invasion], Kyle knew that sacrifices would have to be made, and this clearly wasn’t his fault alone. However, he still felt the heavy responsibility weighing down on him.

“Last time I saw him this seriously lost in thought was when he was seven, and our neighbour Aida-neesan got married to someone in another village. Back then, he thought about ways to run away with her, right?” Seran was the first to recover, telling the story of a woman who was about ten years older than them at the time.

“Oh yeah, that was probably Kyle’s first love.” Lieze commented with an awfully displeased tone.

“He tends to get hung up on this sort of stuff. Last year, Aida-san came to visit us with her child, and he made whatever reason possible to not meet her.”

“Even though she herself wasn’t bothered at all, it’s weird.”

“You folks really love saying whatever you want..This is why childhood friends are such a pain..”

As the two were digging up an embarrassing part of Kyle’s past, the person in question simply held his head, and stopped his thought process.

“Isn’t it the truth?”

“Doesn’t mean you can just bring it up like that.” Kyle let out a sigh, annoyed that his thoughts were interrupted for something so insignificant.

“But, you’re far too tense. Rather than that face of yours just now, a more idiotic face like the one you have now is much better of a fit.” Lieze tried to cheer up Kyle with a gentle tone, silencing him who was about to push out another complaint.

To Kyle, a demon was an existence that made his heart race in terror, an individual that would completely rob him of his composure. Because he just survived a direct encounter, his heart was in disarray. However, giving in to anger and vengeance would only lead to ruin, and he knew that. At times like these, he had to stay calm. Even though she had no way of knowing how Kyle felt, Lieze still managed to assist him in that. Kyle shook his head to rid himself off the exhaustion and headache plaguing his thoughts, and focused on what he should do next.

“..First, we should check if Mayor Bucks was involved in this.”

With the intel gathered from the people who attempted to abduct Gou conveyed to Miranda, that was the next choice in action.

“Were you aware of people disappearing without a notice?” Kyled asked Miranda, who nodded with a stern face.

“I only figured out and confirmed the victims a brief time ago. At first, only insignificant people disappeared, but now even higher-ups have started to vanish, so I’ve been trying to do damage control. However, we have no traces of them actually leaving Callan.”

With that in mind, she prioritized the safety of the people who had disappeared, and started a thorough investigation, but no results could be seen so far.

“However, I never would have considered that Mayor Bucks was involved. At the very least, he didn’t seem like the person to accompany such drastic measures like abduction and kidnapping.”

He simply felt forced to act the way he did because of his position, but Miranda seemingly didn’t take him for that kind of person.

“However, if the mayor really was involved with all these disappearances, then that would explain why the situation suddenly escalated like that.” Urza spoke, reminiscing about the attack.

“Maybe it was an act born from desperation because of the deadline?” Seran commented, referring to the meeting that would happen tomorrow.

“Most likely. I don’t know what goal he would have with the abductions, but it’s basically written in stone that he’ll be removed from his position as the mayor, so the abductions so far would stop.”

“I see. So, the attack on the embassy might be under his orders as well.” Kyle guessed, to which Seran agreed.

“Probably..If not for Kyle-san, I might have been killed as well.” Miranda’s facial color grew pale, as she remembered the grotesque scenery.

If Miranda had been killed there, surely the mayor’s term in office would have been prolonged.

“So, while the slaughter at the embassy was happening, the abductors could move in broad daylight..Two birds with one stone.” Urza sighed in disbelief.

“But, that would connect the mayor to demon activity..is that even possible?” Kyle started thinking.

Humanfolk and demons are mortal enemies, so at least to Kyle’s knowledge, they would not work together.

“In every world, there’s traitors. It wouldn’t be weird for a human to work with demons.”

“I guess that’s true..” Kyle showed consent to Shildonia’s comment.

“Either way, we’ll find out if we squeeze it out of the mayor, right? Simple stuff.” Seran seemed to have gotten tired of thinking, so he pushed an all-too-simple answer.

“It’s not like we’ve confirmed the mayor to be the mastermind.”

“I personally pray for him to be the guy behind the scenes. Would suck if he wasn’t.”

Urza tried to reason with Seran, but he simply formed a fist, pushing his own logic.

“The Holy Sword Rand, huh..If I was a criminal, I’d definitely try to snatch that. Even if he isn’t the mastermind, as long as he’s involved in some way, he needs to take responsibility.”

Kyle agreed with that. He heard about the Holy Sword Rand himself, but he didn’t know that it came from Callan, and he never saw it before. However, if the mayor truly possessed it, then Kyle would love to acquire it no doubt.

“I agree with that. Or rather, I need him to take responsibility.” Miranda spoke up.

Basically, she wants someone she can press all responsibility on.

“Then, would it be fine if we headed to the mayor’s home early tomorrow morning?”

“No, let’s go right away.”

Although the sun had set, with night approaching, Kyle suggested immediate action.

“Now that the demons are involved in some way, we cannot even waste a single hour.”

“..I understand, I will deal with the procedures.” Miranda said and moved to leave the room, talking to Gou in the process. “Gou-kun, there’s a good chance that you are still a target, so please stay over at the embassy for now. Here, you should be safe to some degree,” she said.

“My house ended up in shambles, so that would be a great help.”

“I’ll tell Gazas....Gazas-san that you are staying here.”

“Sorry to give you more work like that. We’re always in your care.”

“Don’t worry about it. Your talent is crucial for Callan as it is, so if there’s anything troubling you, don’t hesitate to contact me.” Miranda said with a gentle smile, leaving the room.

“..I’ve been wondering for a while, but you and Miranda are pretty close, huh?”

Kyle looked at Miranda, thinking that he had never seen her smile like that.

“Rather than me, it’s my father. He and Miranda-san are lovers after all.” Gou explained with not a shed of hesitation.

“L-Lovers!? Those two are!?”

“At first, they simply were working together, and Miranda-san couldn’t quite deal with my stubborn father. However, he eventually opened up to her, and showed considerable kindness. Even my mother who had passed away fell in love with him because of this gap. It’s the same here.” Gou said.

“Wah, those two were like that..I had no idea.”

“A human and a dwarf, huh..I really feel like the difference in race hurts quite a lot here.”

Both Lieze and Urza seemed awfully interested in that topic all of a sudden.

“She would often come visit, talking about financing and loans..Well, she was probably trying to build a positive relationship with me since I might become her son-in-law, and because she wants to get bonus points with my father.”

“Even if you think that, don’t you dare say it out loud, you hear me.” Seran let out a sigh in the face of Gou’s poisonous tongue that didn’t fit his cute face.

“However, things ended up a bit awkward as of late, like my father is distancing himself from her..However, since Miranda-san is clearly more of a workaholic, with barely any experience in love, and because of her age, she probably sees this as her last chance, and is trying her hardest.”

“I didn’t need to hear that.”

“I’m cheering for her, you know.” Gou said, with all his honesty.

“But, are you sure that telling us about this was the right choice?”

If the public found out that the ambassador of Zilgus and a candidate for the next mayor of Callan were a couple, it’d surely end up in a scandal.

“As both Kyle-san and my teacher Shildonia are my supporters and I rely on you, I don’t want to lie to you. So please, put that information to good use,” Gou said, his eyes sparkling.

For a moment, Kyle lost the confidence in his decision to support this kid, but he decided to not think about it for now.

“I remember, she mentioned something like that.” Kyle muttered with a quiet voice.

He first met Miranda in the middle of a battle (which happened a lot at the time), and she never once smiled. Back then, she was responsible for the delivery of supplies and gathering information, which made her a crucial existence for humanity, but her personality was always calm and composed, ready to cast aside not only her allies, but even innocent civilians. Once, she happened to get drunk (after being forced by her allies), and told her stories with men, and she did mention an individual that would fit Gazas’ description.

Since I didn’t hear any name back then, I assumed she was talking about a human..but to think it was a dwarf.

With the death of a loved one as a trigger, she said that she sealed off her heart. All she could feel was regret at being unable to save him. And then, Kyle caught on to something.

“Maybe he died during this incident? If so..”

The second Kyle felt danger for Gazas’ safety, he stood up, only for the door to swing open, Miranda storming inside.

“Big trouble! A fire broke out in the mayor’s residence!”