Is He a Demon?

"Uncle Glenn, is he really a warrior?"

Theresia was somewhat surprised as she watched Galan's masterful assassination techniques.

She had worked with Glenn many times and seen many outstanding warriors, but this was the first time she had seen anyone fight like this.

In Theresia's eyes, Galan was more like an assassin than a warrior.

Reno seemed interested too, and he looked at Glenn along with her.

But Glenn only spread his hands without saying a word, as if to say, "Don't ask me. I don't know either."

For one thing, he didn't really know much about Galan's fighting style himself. For another, Galan didn't seem to like revealing much about himself, so since he wanted to keep a low profile, Glenn couldn't very well go talking about him.

"Phew—"

Galan pulled out his shortsword and watched the monster dissolve into a pool of mana particles and dissipate, then calmed himself a little.

His training over this period had paid off after all. At the very least, his reaction speed and agility had improved significantly.

Fighting people was different from fighting monsters and demons. If he stuck to his old methods, he would suffer a serious setback sooner or later, so he was trying to change, though traces of his old ways inevitably remained.

Two were still on the street, while the rest were in the houses farther away. At this distance, he couldn't take them out without making a sound.

Galan thought it over, then finally made up his mind to use some of his supplies...

A pebble suddenly rolled out from the corner of a wall, and the sound drew the attention of the two monsters.

They turned their heads and slowly approached, moving on their sturdy limbs.

Hot breath drifted between their sharp fangs. They thought a new prey had appeared, but when they looked behind the wall, poised to attack, there was nothing there.

Galan was hanging in midair by one hand from the eaves, carefully watching the monsters below.

He had completely concealed his presence and applied a powder to mask his scent, so the monsters failed to notice him.

One of them looked around, then lowered its head and sniffed the pebble. Finding nothing unusual, it prepared to walk off in another direction.

Swoosh—

A gleaming sword point descended from above and plunged precisely into the brain of the monster at the back. Galan then drew another alchemical longsword and, in one fluid stroke, cleanly cut off its head.

In the blink of an eye, Galan had dealt with another one.

The monster in front sensed danger and was about to turn around and charge with a roar, only to find that it couldn't make a sound and had lost all strength in its body. It could only collapse limply on the ground and watch Galan approach with his longsword.

He had mixed a medicinal scent that monsters liked with a potent anesthetic powder on the pebble. He had hoped both would come over for a sniff and save him some trouble, but their positions had given him an excellent opportunity anyway.

Another cold flash swept past, and two clouds of mana particles rose slowly into the air, leaving no trace behind.

"Impressive, kid."

After seeing Galan deal with the remaining monsters and give them the all-clear, the three came out of the woods, entered the village, and hid with him in a relatively intact house.

"Just how much medicine are you carrying? If you keep fighting like that, couldn't I just follow behind and reap the rewards?"

Seeing the sly look on Glenn's face, Galan could already guess what he wanted to say next. He rolled his eyes and said speechlessly:

"It's not that easy. This medicine is a real pain to make, and what I have left is from a batch I made months ago. There's hardly any left, so if you're thinking of buying some from me, I don't have any to spare... Besides, I'm here to gain experience, not test medicine."

"Tch, cheapskate."

Seeing his little scheme come to nothing, Glenn grumbled sulkily.

"Mr. Galan is a very capable warrior."

Reno still wore his friendly smile. After seeing Galan's performance, there was an unusual look of expectation in his eyes as he looked at him, and he spoke up of his own accord for once.

"Uh, haha... Those few moves were just something I picked up on my own. I really wouldn't call myself capable."

"No."

He shook his head.

"Your movements and footwork are very practiced, and your physical coordination is top-notch too... I may only be a monk, but I've seen plenty of warriors. I even met the hero Himmel and Lord Eisen back in the day."

Galan froze. His curiosity about the monk grew even stronger, but at the same time, he was afraid his identity would be exposed. If that happened, he would have to prepare for the worst...

"You need to be careful of that Sith."

"Huh?"

The three were caught off guard. They all turned to Reno with puzzled expressions, unable to understand why he had suddenly said something like that.

"Why do you say that?"

Galan was the first to ask.

He had long felt there was some kind of connection between the two. Now that Reno had brought it up himself, Galan naturally wanted to ask him about it.

"He's a demon."

"Captain, is it really all right for us to do this?"

The monk holding a holy book was somewhat afraid of the unfamiliar captain before him.

The old Sith had been arrogant and overbearing, but he would never have stooped to anything like this. Now his gaze was always ice-cold, devoid of emotion no matter whom he looked at, like a machine.

"Latte, you're not scared, are you? We've already done it, so there's no turning back now."

The seductive woman looked mockingly at the somewhat frail man,

"Besides, didn't you hear the captain? There's a demon disguised as a human in the other party. By luring the monsters out of the village to attack them, we're just setting dogs on each other."

"But... there are humans in the other party too..."

Latte looked timidly at the woman before him. He had never had much say in the party and was often bullied by her. He had joined the group because Sith had happened to save him, and he wanted to repay the favor.

But while they were carrying out a monster-subjugation commission, Sith had suddenly disappeared for a long time for no apparent reason. The three of them had searched everywhere but couldn't find him. In the end, he had emerged from a thicket on his own, saying he had gotten lost in the forest.

Ever since then, Latte had felt that he had changed, becoming someone utterly unfamiliar to him.

He believed this Sith was a fake, but no matter how he tried to sense him with magic, the results always told him that the man before him was the genuine Sith.

Still, deep down, he trusted his own judgment—Sith was gone, and there was no way the man before him could be him.

Even though the man could perfectly reproduce every detail and habit of Sith's daily life, those emotionless eyes could not be disguised. Whenever Latte met his gaze, he felt as if he were looking into the eyes of... a demon!

"Humans? Ha! Don't tell me you've taken a fancy to that red-haired girl."

The woman looked at him mockingly,

"Men really are animals who think with their dicks, hehe! You see a bitch and can't pull yourself away. Didn't you see how happily he was chatting with that old man and that young guy? It's disgusting..."

The blond youth stood off to the side, humming a tune. Watching the two quarrel, he found it rather entertaining.

He didn't care whether there was a demon in the other party. All he knew was that if the entire other party died at the monsters' hands, they could claim the full commission reward.