21 Years Before the New Era of Xin
Northern Countries · Count Granat Territory
At an open-air café.
Miles continued telling Serie and Guter the story of the merchant guild's past in a low voice.
In the past, under the master and madam's management, the Dallamonus Merchant Guild had developed tremendously and expanded its business on a grand scale.
The merchant guild's core business was crossing the Huyvia Mountain Range, exchanging goods between the cities on either side and profiting from the trade of supplies.
Given the natural barrier of the Huyvia Mountain Range and Count Granat Territory's proximity to the Central Countries, which gave it access to more sources of goods, the merchant guild's profits had been exceptionally considerable.
As everyone grew wealthier, they also began making preparations to establish the merchant guild's headquarters.
Unlike the master's wish to establish the headquarters within Count Granat Territory, most of the people in the merchant guild were fellow villagers from the same village.
Most believed that rather than pouring money into Count Granat Territory, where land was expensive, merely to obtain a small foothold, they should invest everything in their hometown and turn their original village into the Dallamonus Merchant Guild's headquarters.
Moreover, the village lay between Count Granat Territory and the Huyvia Mountain Range, so building the headquarters there would make it more convenient for the merchant guild's caravans to resupply.
In the end, the master respected the wishes of the vast majority of the merchant guild's members. He built the merchant guild's headquarters in the original village and moved his entire family there.
Young Miss Gumi was born and raised in that thriving, prosperous village.
As Miles recounted the merchant guild's glorious past, pride and nostalgia inevitably showed in his eyes.
Had everything gone according to plan, the gifted and intelligent Young Miss Gumi should have become the next heir of the merchant guild under her parents' guidance, leading everyone in the guild to even greater achievements.
But fate was unpredictable.
That day, Guillotine Aura, one of the Seven Demon Generals, personally led her remaining forces in an attack on the merchant guild's headquarters.
Because the headquarters had been built upon the original village and was located in such a remote place, even though the master immediately activated warning magic and contacted the Count's Territory for aid—
By the time Count Gulanat personally led the City Knights there as reinforcements, the merchant guild's headquarters had already become a field of ruins.
Following the guidance left behind by the master, the knights found and rescued Young Miss Gumi from a narrow safe.
Because the safe's material had been mixed with a small amount of Demon Sealing Ore capable of disrupting magic, Young Miss Gumi had escaped the Demons' detection and survived.
But—
For Young Miss Gumi, who had still only been a child, to witness her former hometown trampled into such a hopeless state, to see both her parents sacrifice themselves in the village to protect her, and even the severed heads of the master and madam still there—
By this point, Miles's voice had taken on a sobbing tremble he could not control.
Guter's mood also sank. So Junior Disciple Gumi carried such a heavy past. No wonder she bore such deep hatred for the Demons.
After recounting the devastating blow suffered by the merchant guild, Miles continued with what happened afterward.
"When the merchant guild's headquarters was destroyed, I happened to be in Count Granat Territory purchasing supplies for the festival on the master's orders, so I escaped disaster."
"Afterward, Young Miss trusted me enough to place the severely damaged merchant guild entirely in my care. Meanwhile, she herself embarked on a path to seek power, pursuing the strength needed to take revenge upon the Demons."
"I had never seen the once gentle Young Miss become so extreme, but I could not stop her."
"Because I knew that 'revenge' might already have been the only belief keeping Young Miss alive."
As Miles spoke, tears unconsciously streamed from the corners of his eyes, but he hurriedly wiped them away with the handkerchief at his chest.
"My apologies, you two. I have strayed too far from the topic."
Miles composed himself and began telling Serie and Guter what he knew about Guillotine Aura.
"Over the years, the Dallamonus Merchant Guild was neither her first target nor her last."
"Just as this gentleman analyzed earlier, throughout the Northern Countries, Demons have lingered around the outskirts of major human cities, harassing passing travelers and raiding nearby villages."
"Especially Demons like Aura, who can turn dead humans into their own soldiers. Their desire to attack is even stronger."
"Even though Count Gulanat, the lord of the city, gradually deployed the knights' forces outward and called upon nearby villages to relocate closer to his territory, massacres of entire villages by Demons remained common."
"But in these past few months, the Demons' movements seem to have suddenly quieted down. For a long time now, there have been no reports of Demons harming people or raiding villages."
"We had thought we had simply been fortunate lately, and that Count Gulanat's defensive strategy had made it difficult for the Demons to strike."
"But if the truth is really as you described, sir—if the Demons have voluntarily chosen to contract their forces and lie low—then this is troublesome."
Miles said with a grave expression, his voice tinged with apprehension.
"Could the Demons have shifted their target? Perhaps they have stopped watching Count Granat Territory and gone to attack other cities instead?"
After some analysis, Guter raised that possibility, but Miles thought for a moment before shaking his head.
"Unlikely."
"Because of business, the merchant guild frequently travels between towns and villages beyond the Count's Territory."
"If the Demons' plan really was to change direction and launch surprise attacks, then after such a long time, they could not possibly have achieved nothing."
"Especially an existence like Aura, who can transform human warriors into an army of the dead. In order to acquire more troops, she would surely commit countless massacres."
"But in reality, the towns and villages across a large area nearby have not suffered attacks by an undead army. There are occasional monster attacks, but their frequency has not differed much from before."
Miles stated calmly, "Unless the town Aura intends to attack lies within another Demon's sphere of influence."
"But Demons usually have no possibility of cooperation with one another. Leading their own forces into another Demon's territory is more often regarded by Demons as a provocation."
"Indeed."
Guter nodded in agreement. However, Serie, who had remained silent beside him all this time, put forward a hypothesis far beyond what either of them had imagined.
"Could it be that the reason that one has gone quiet is simply because someone took her out?"
"Or maybe someone beat her badly enough that she has temporarily gone into hiding to lick her wounds?"
"Hmm?!"
"This—"
Both Guter and Miles were stunned.
One of them knew the future plot and knew that Aura would launch a massive assault on Count Granat Territory in the future. The other was limited by his own strength and perspective. Yet neither of them had ever considered such a possibility.
"If that is truly the case, that would be wonderful."
After recovering from his shock, Miles spoke with anticipation.
At the same time, in a mountain cabin within the Huyvia Mountain Range.
Milo looked at his idol sitting beside the campfire and asked,
"Hero, have you faced any other thrilling battles recently?"
"In the Northern Countries, it has become difficult to hear any new stories of your adventures."
"Thrilling battles?" Himmel stroked his chin as he thought.
"There was one, though it was not recent. It happened a few months ago."
By the campfire, Himmel told his junior about how he had charged alone through an army of the dead and severely wounded Aura, one of the Seven Sages of the Demon Race.
I forced myself to write this on the subway and train—I got shaken half to death (T＿T), and someone almost stole my phone.
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