Ch.124Chapter 124. Resurrection of the Devil (1)

“Huh, huhk.”

“Mmm.”

Recalling the memory of that day, Arte felt the stump where her arm had been severed throb painfully along with the terror she had experienced.

When Satan removed his hand from her head, Arte exhaled a rough breath and trembled violently.

It felt as if she had relived that moment all over again.

“There’s someone irritating.”

“Haa, haaa.”

There was no need to specify who Satan meant by “irritating person.”

Ryuyeong, the leader of the Black Shadow Corps.

As Arte had expected, he was undoubtedly not an easy opponent even for Satan.

“That ability…”

The awakened demon trailed off, seemingly lost in thought.

Arte carefully opened her mouth while cautiously observing Satan’s reaction.

She had finished reporting everything that had happened and had clearly informed Satan about the person to be wary of.

Now, what followed was Arte’s curiosity.

“Um, Satan.”

“What is it?”

“There’s something I really want to ask.”

“Ask away.”

Gulp-

Unlike Satan who casually permitted the question, Arte swallowed nervously.

“What should I call you, Satan?”

Thump- Thump-

Arte tried her best to remain calm as she waited for Satan’s answer.

The reason her organization was called “The Nameless Organization” was because the demon had no name.

The demon who was said to have been sealed by Crescen, the first emperor of the Crescen Empire, and lost his name.

Now that the demon had been resurrected, it was only natural that his name would be resurrected as well.

And Arte was curious about that name.

“You mean my name.”

“Yes!”

“You’re fixating on something meaningless.”

“…!”

Arte flinched at Satan’s cynical remark and timidly raised her head.

The expressionless Satan was looking down at her.

“Call me whatever you wish. That will become my name.”

“Uh…”

“What will you call me?”

“H-How dare I!”

“It doesn’t matter. It’s of little significance to me anyway.”

“Th-Then…”

Arte took a deep breath and opened her mouth.

She spoke the first name that came to mind when she thought of ‘demon’.

“Satan. How utterly ordinary.”

“If you don’t like it, I can choose another name…!”

“No. It’s fine. Let’s go with that.”

A faint smile appeared on the lips of the demon—no, Satan—as he spoke.

“First.”

Satan continued, still smiling.

“I need to satisfy my hunger.”

**

I’m not sure how things ended up like this.

“Hehe. I guess we don’t need introductions here, do we?”

“I suppose not.”

Yuria glanced at me with an amused expression and spoke in a playful tone.

The one responding politely to Yuria’s words was Kassis Sinclair, with his neatly cut blonde hair.

Elaine’s older brother and the eldest son of the Sinclair Family.

“The official mission will be assigned starting tomorrow. I look forward to working with you from tomorrow.”

“The pleasure is ours.”

Kassis Sinclair bowed his head to Yuria, who smiled at him before leaving.

After confirming Yuria had left, Kassis turned his attention to us.

“As Yuria said, the official mission starts tomorrow.”

“Then today we should disband and rest…”

“That means unofficial missions can be carried out starting today.”

“…Excuse me?”

Kassis continued speaking, cutting off my words without hesitation.

I don’t think Yuria had any such hidden intention when she spoke.

“We’ll begin the unofficial mission now.”

“What do you mean by unofficial mission?”

While Cynthia, Emily, and I all had stiff expressions, only Elaine looked serious.

She was listening attentively to her older brother with a solemn expression.

Professor Amillion beside us was sighing deeply as if she had expected this.

“First, we’ll start by going around the camp to greet the other alliance members and familiarize ourselves with the surrounding geography.”

Six of us from Crescen Academy—students and professors—had come to the same place, the headquarters of Yuria’s “Peace” Alliance.

The reason we all came here was simple.

We decided to join the Peace Alliance during this vacation.

Emily, Cynthia, Elaine, and I ended up in the Peace Alliance thanks to Emily.

Emily, who had already decided to join the alliance before I returned to the academy, immediately tried to persuade me.

Since the academy was on vacation and I had nothing particular to do, I agreed to Emily’s proposal quite readily.

When I said I was joining the alliance, Cynthia and Elaine also said they would come along as if they had been waiting for this.

Because of that, Emily was slightly upset, saying “When I asked, you said you wouldn’t come!” but somehow things worked out.

As soon as it was decided, we went to Professor Amillion to deliver the news, and after some consideration, she said she would also join the alliance.

Following Emily, with three more students leaving, there was no reason for her to remain in Class S, or something like that.

Professor Amillion was within expectations, but…

‘How did this person end up here?’

When we arrived at Yuria’s alliance, we found we weren’t the only ones from Crescen Academy.

Kassis Sinclair, an academy professor and Elaine’s older brother, had already joined the alliance after applying on his own.

Elaine and Kassis were surprised to see each other, and soon we were all assigned to the same team.

That’s how the six of us became one team.

The so-called Crescen Academy team.

A team consisting of Kassis Sinclair, Professor Amillion Starpen, and myself, along with Elaine, Cynthia, and Emily.

“Let’s all head out now.”

‘Sigh.’

While I was inwardly sighing at Kassis, who was already heading outside with a rather firm tone, Elaine was the first to follow her brother.

As I noticed before, Elaine seemed to follow her brother quite well.

And Kassis Sinclair, while pretending not to, took good care of his sister.

“Ah. We haven’t even had a proper rest since vacation started.”

Cynthia muttered with a disgruntled expression, as if feeling wronged.

Having Kassis Sinclair, a Knight of Salvation and academy professor, on the same team wasn’t bad.

It’s good to have someone with the ability to protect the kids in case of any dangerous situations.

However, Kassis was indeed of the same blood as Elaine.

Not only was he unnecessarily serious about everything, but he also lacked flexibility.

Even though the team had just been formed and Yuria said work would start tomorrow, he was already taking the initiative to find work.

A very tiresome type.

I wonder if Elaine will become like that later.

“Let’s just go out for now…”

“Mmm.”

Emily responded to my dispirited reply, trying her best to sound cheerful.

The “Peace” Alliance was located in the northern part of the continent.

It took several days just to get here, and before we could even recover from the journey’s fatigue, we had to go around without rest.

“Come down quickly!”

“Ah, yes, yes.”

I responded halfheartedly to Kassis Sinclair’s voice from below and moved reluctantly.

**

‘There are quite a few famous people here, more than I expected.’

That was my impression while looking around the camp on our “unofficial” mission led by Kassis Sinclair.

True to its name as an alliance, the camp was filled with numerous powerful individuals from various countries.

Most were people I didn’t know, but occasionally there were faces I recognized.

Of course, those people couldn’t possibly recognize me.

I had only encountered them while wearing a mask as the leader of the Black Shadow Corps; I had never met them with my face exposed.

“To think that Jesri of Valdo is here too…”

Kassis Sinclair was muttering to himself, unable to hide his surprised expression.

The person we had just greeted was quite famous nationwide.

A knight known as Jesri of Valdo, a master of the Valdo technique.

He was from some country in the western part of the continent, but I forgot which one.

‘By the way, we’re quite close to the north. Dangerously so.’

I didn’t realize it when we first arrived at the camp, but as we looked around, I gradually got a sense of where the Peace Alliance camp was located.

I thought that even though it was in the north, it would be far from the front lines, but the camp was positioned closer to the front lines than I expected.

The front lines of the northern continent.

A place that could be considered the most dangerous region on the continent, teeming with all kinds of monsters.

I was quite familiar with the geography here, having worked as a mercenary in this area a few years ago.

I still remembered some teleportation points.

‘Maybe it’s fine because of the manpower here.’

I was worried it might be dangerous being near the northern front lines, but thinking about the individuals in the camp was also reassuring.

Including Jesri, whom Kassis was surprised to see, the alliance camp was filled with numerous powerful figures known by name alone.

All gathered with the single goal of stopping the “demon” trying to resurrect on the continent.

It’s impressive when you think about it.

For the peace of the continent, they’ve gathered in this remote place and are following Yuria’s plan.

“Now that we’ve finished greeting everyone…”

By the time we had gone around the entire camp, the day was already growing dark.

When we arrived earlier, the sun was still shining brightly.

‘Oh, come on.’

I’m sure Cynthia and Emily felt the same way I did.

Judging by her satisfied expression, Elaine seemed content.

“Let’s disband for today and…”

Ding-ding-ding-ding-ding-!

“Hmm?”

Interrupting Kassis’s words came a loud sound—the ringing of a huge bell.

‘This sound…?’

It was quite familiar to me as well.

A distinctive bell sound that, though from long ago, was still etched in my mind.

The bell that rings when monsters from the north are about to attack.

“We’re under attack!”

‘Now?’

I couldn’t believe it.