episode_0136

“Great job, Shari! You’re really amazing!”

On a hill far away from the burning city where the Demon Lord’s army was stationed.

Sylphy was full of admiration for the abilities of the demon ghost Shari.

Shari spun around with a mischievous expression in front of Sylphy.

Shari’s ability to fly unnoticed and transmit all the surrounding situations she saw directly into Sylphy’s mind was a great help to her.

Sylphy had also mastered the technique of focusing her magical power on her vision, allowing her to know the Demon Lord’s movements even from a distance.

Since switching her weapon to a bow, she had achieved this through constant practice alone.

However, she couldn’t grasp the detailed situation as vividly as Shari, who could fly over and convey everything she saw directly.

“But… he really doesn’t seem to have any intention of moving at all… Why is that…”

Sylphy had a puzzled expression as she looked down from the hill overlooking the city turned into ashes.

The reason she had supported in monitoring the Demon Lord’s movements was because it was an opportunity to help Senior Yunoa in any way she could.

Lately, Senior Yunoa seemed to be preoccupied with various things.

It felt like just yesterday when they had met at the adventurer’s guild and together defeated the Arachne Queen, but now she had become a new hero helping the goddess.

“She’s really amazing…”

Sylphy felt like if she stayed still, Senior Yunoa would reach an incredibly unreachable position.

So these days, she would deliberately peek around Senior Yunoa to see if there was anything she could help with.

By helping Senior Yunoa in this way, she felt like she was getting closer to someone she admired.

“…Huh? Shari? What’s wrong?”

While she was thinking these thoughts and continuing to monitor from the hill, Shari frantically clapped her small hands with a worried expression.

Shari’s desired message appeared in Sylphy’s mind as if it were a scene.

Feeling like she should look somewhere, Sylphy looked in the direction Shari was pointing with her finger.

“That’s…”

A familiar female swordsman with long black hair and wearing armor was walking on the forest path.

Sylphy focused her magical power on her eyes to see who it was more clearly.

“It’s Lady Milaia?!”

The woman who appeared on the forest path was none other than Milaia, known as the strongest female swordsman.

“Why is she here…”

As far as Sylphy knew, Milaia had left with Senior Yunoa to escort refugees to the kingdom’s capital.

Her being here meant that the refugee escort mission had been completed.

“Did Senior Yunoa ask her for something? I didn’t hear anything…”

If Milaia had separate instructions, she would have surely told her as well.

But Sylphy hadn’t heard anything from Yunoa.

“If she deliberately didn’t tell me, I’ll be disappointed…”

Milaia was walking straight towards where the Demon Lord was, but there was no intention of hiding her breath at all.

“Come to think of it, she followed Senior Yunoa so closely… What kind of relationship do they have.”

With a pensive expression, Sylphy continued to mutter to herself.

“She’s a really famous person… Her adventurer rank is high… and she’s a great fighter. Compared to her, I…”

Sylphy compared herself to Milaia, who was walking on the forest path.

Milaia’s skills were unquestionable, and she was even a beauty.

Sylphy somehow felt inadequate and became gloomy.

“Well… if it’s something important enough to ask her, it’s natural that she didn’t tell me…”

As Sylphy inflated an absurd misunderstanding, Shari spun around in front of her, shaking her head.

“Nod, nod.”

“Indeed, there’s no way Yunoa senior would discriminate and treat people based on their benefits.”

Nodding.

“Then why did Milaia come here?”

Quickly dispelling the misunderstanding she had, Failphi was once again engulfed in doubt.

If she had come to subdue the demon army, she would have gathered a subjugation force.

But Milaia was alone.

There was no Yunoa senior or other colleagues with her.

And Failphi couldn’t think of a reason why she would confidently walk into the place where the demon army was, all by herself, based on her common sense.

“Right, the task senior entrusted to me is to investigate the situation of the demon army….”

Failphi eventually decided to refocus on the task assigned by Yunoa senior.

She thought that monitoring the demon army and directly observing what Milaia was doing was the answer.

“Shari, could you follow Milaia and report back on what’s happening? I’ll be here watching.”

Nodding.

Upon Failphi’s request, Shari nodded her head and flew up into the sky.

Then she headed straight for the forest path where Milaia was.

* * *

From a distance, Milaia was quietly gazing at the city that had been burned down by the demon army.

“….”

A city so thoroughly destroyed that not a single intact house could be seen.

Milaia recalled her hometown that had been cruelly destroyed in a similar manner.

It was all the doing of Bloodstain.

Becoming an adventurer at a young age, striving for strength to the point where people around her were too afraid to come close, it was all because of him.

She had faced off against Bloodstain several times before.

But each time, Milaia had missed the opportunity for revenge.

She closed her eyes and thought of Yunoa’s face.

He had asked her not to push herself into despair.

Although those words were heard when she went to deal with the rebel army in the kingdom’s capital, they still lingered in Milaia’s heart.

Was that why?

Without saying anything to Yunoa, she felt a strange sense of guilt for coming here in the end.

But knowing that Bloodstain was here, she couldn’t just stand by and do nothing.

Of course, she didn’t distrust Yunoa.

He was more special than any adventurer she had ever seen.

Surely, he would eventually be able to calm the chaos in this kingdom and defeat Bloodstain and the demon army.

But waiting until then would mean that several cities, including the kingdom’s capital, would be destroyed.

Yunoa clearly needed time to do so.

But Milaia couldn’t wait until then.

The goal she had pursued her whole life was right in front of her.

When she was evacuating refugees from the kingdom’s capital, her gaze kept involuntarily drifting towards where the demon army was.

It was inevitable for Milaia.

To her, the existence of Bloodstain was just that.

But no matter how capable Milaia was, she couldn’t face that demon army alone.

If there was no Bloodstain, she could somehow buy time, but she was still human.

Even when she used bait to lure monsters and fought them alone, there were limits to her ability to maintain concentration.

If the fight dragged on, mistakes would occur, leading to injuries.

If this continued, her body would no longer be in a state to demonstrate her true abilities, and she would be defeated.

Moreover, leading the demon army was Bloodstain, famous among the direct subordinates of the demon king for his prowess in martial arts.

He was a powerful demon to the point where even Milaia couldn’t match him alone.

In short, Milaia had no chance of winning a fight against the demon army alone.

However, the seasoned adventurer Milaia knew the truth.

She came here knowing that fact.

“….”

Milaia paused for a moment with her eyes closed before entering the burning city.

As a lifelong pursuer of vengeance, she knew more about the Bloodstain than anyone else.

Among the various races that made up the demon race, the Bloodstain was a very unique race.

With the head of a horse and a muscular, giant body, the Bloodstain race had no other living specimens.

The Bloodstain was the last of his kind left in this world.

And the reason his race was wiped out was because they loved to fight too much.

In the ancient war with humans, the Bloodstain race always led the charge in battle.

As a result, the Bloodstain race perished in battle, and the only surviving individual was still alive to this day.

The Bloodstain loved to fight.

Investigating the few records about his race, Milaia discovered one fact.

They never refused a duel.

No matter the difference in strength, they engaged in life-or-death duels one-on-one without any interference.

According to Milaia’s research, the Bloodstain race enjoyed such duels.

One cannot win against the demon army alone.

But if she could duel the Bloodstain one-on-one, there was a possibility.

So Milaia had come to challenge the Bloodstain to a duel based on the information she had gathered.

Milaia quietly drew her longsword.

And then she continued on towards the burning city.