Published: March 21, 2026
Two hours after we set out, Latissnail came to fetch us and we headed to No.7 just like yesterday. The difference from last night was that Noah had replaced Crow, and the group now included the hero, Kyousuke, Nanase, and Tsuda — quite a large party.
The four heroes still wore dark expressions, as if haunted by the gruesome scene of Morte they’d seen earlier or by the sight of a death they couldn't forget.
"Sorry I'm late."
Following Latissnail, we went down the stairs to the basement and entered the room. Someone had already started moving things; one shelf of liquor was missing. It was probably the valuable bottles Crow had been staring at as if drawn, so they must’ve been taken out first. I didn’t go to the shop in front, but it was likely already closed. Apparently we were lucky, as the master had said. Or maybe it was thanks to my skill "Luck."
The master sat on the sofa, a glass of amber liquor in one hand and smoke curling from his cigarette. Behind him stood three people with cloaks and hoods.
"I already heard what's happened, so that's fine. Quickly now, these three siblings are the ones I mentioned yesterday — they want you to help them escape to another continent as payment to you."
I took the same chair as yesterday. The hero sat in the remaining chair; everyone else stood behind theirs.
Sitting lowered my line of sight, and I could now see the faces under the hoods of the three behind the master. I recognized two of them and my eyes widened.
"Ringa and Sena?"
"Yo! Akira."
"Didn't expect to meet again here."
Ringa, the guild master of Uru’s Adventurer Guild whom I met the day we landed on the Beastmen Brute Continent, was here. Sena, Ringa’s younger brother, whom I teamed up with when the Brute Labyrinth flooded, was also there. The third person’s face, even with the hood pulled back, was unfamiliar — so I must not have met them before. Unlike the other two, this one didn’t have the raised crown or haunches of a beastman, so she seemed not to be beastmen.
Sena waved cheerfully; his grin made me narrow my eyes. I’d paired with him during the Brute Labyrinth flood and he’d left the impression of someone slippery and untrustworthy from start to finish. Ringa still looked the same: calm and expressionless like a mask. I noticed he’d been watching us as if monitoring. I remembered them because their behavior had been suspicious — I’m usually bad at remembering faces and names.
When the two of them tossed back their hoods, a leopard’s ears and a wolf’s ears popped out. Maybe from being confined in a cramped place, their ears twitched. If this weren’t such a moment, I would have happily observed the fluff.
"According to Crow's info, Ringa was supposed to be white."
"The informant who fed Crow that info is one of my people. So what Crow got was arranged by me. But that information wasn't Crow's mistake. It was simply that the specific info they wanted differed. Ringa really wasn't connected to Gram."
The master said lightly, and I frowned.
I didn’t plan to blindly believe whatever info I got, but once you obtain the information you wanted, stopping further investigation is dangerous. I should be glad I learned that sometimes you miss things beyond what you sought at the time.
Back then I’d tried to see if Ringa was connected to Gram, and apparently he really wasn’t. But the fact they were in Demon Clan territory now meant they had some tie to the Demon Clan.
"Well, whatever. Our future is in your hands now. If I’d known it’d end up like this, I would've done you more favors back then~"
Sena scratched the back of his head and grinned at me. At that moment the remaining hood came off.
"We’re enemies of the demon king and the Ten Demon Lords' Council. We can’t live safely on this continent. Please, help us. We will offer a suitable reward."
Her hair, cut straight at shoulder length, was red, matching red eyes. Amelia’s eyes were red too, but Amelia’s looked warm; these eyes were a darker, blood-like red with a tinge of black. Though her coloring was different, her face looked a little like Latissnail’s.