-----

"A Half-Demon Boy? What are you even talking about? That should not be possible! We cleaned our entire territory from demons two years ago! We even burned a dozen in the stakes, any demon that had tried to actively live with a human and somehow tried to have a child should have been burned to dust or escaped from here already," said Duke Frank, he was a young man on his mid-twenties, with a weak complexion and thin legs and arms, but with a large and comically round belly. He had short blue hair and a refined mustache, with bright yellow eyes. ​​

"B-But my lord… that is what the rumors in the Evergreen Village say," said one of the Duke's servants.

"Rumors? Like I care about stupid rumors made by lowly villagers, what do they know? Those poverty rats must be trying to get some gold coins out of us by trying to sell us a goblin infant as a half-demon!" said Duke Frank… what he was talking about actually happened five times this year, and three out of the five times the villagers ended up getting some gold coins by doing 'good deeds' for the church of the Bright Gods Supremacists. The Goblin Infant were burned before any expert in monsters or demons could analyze them… however, that changed later on. And the people that tried to trick the Duke were sold as criminal slaves.

"But my lord… what if it's true? The Church of the Bright Gods and the extremist faction are known to be too paranoiac, what if it ends up leaking that my lord ignored the notices about a Half-Demon Boy being reported and then is punished?" asked the servant.

"What?! That's… true… Sigh… just how many times will we have these stupid reports? I would prefer to just burn these poverty rats than…! …Hm, well, I got a nice idea," said Duke Frank.

"My lord?"

"How about we just teach that village a lesson? If the report ends up being true, I will gladly reward them for their effort and faith in the Kingdom! But if not… we shall burn the entire Village. Hopefully, this serves as an example to the rest of these commoners trying to pull tricks on us," said the Duke.

"But my lord… isn't that… they are still citizens of our-"

"So what?! I do whatever I want with my citizens! If I say so, they will all have to die!" shouted Duke Frank, saliva spitting from his mouth. He was a young Duke, and grew spoiled rotten, having a selfish and hypocrite personality due to not having been taught basic human decency.

"Y-Yes, my lord, it will be done as you say!" shouted his servant, running away from the office.

"Hmph, who does he think he is? Questioning what I say… Next time I will dispose of him and get a new secretary," said the Duke, sipping some tea while removing the sweat from his forehead.

Approximately two years ago, the Kingdom of Aquaria did what it's now called the 'great demon cleanse', or called by commoners as the 'demon purge', where any demon and even several subspecies of beastmen were chased out of the Kingdom, with hundreds of them being killed indiscriminately.

Who issued such orders? The King himself, not because he hated demons without any reason, but because he was pressured by the extremist of the Bright Gods Church, the greatest church in the entire Kingdom, and several others, perhaps in the entirety of the Human Continent of Anir Hands.

The Human Continent of Anir Hands was a giant landmass that floated above the ocean at the center of Kritias. It was often referred to by other continents as the 'central continent' as well. This continent had the shape of a human hand with five fingers and a palm, hence why it was called 'Anir Hands' by the Bright Gods, who then shared this information with the Humans.

The church of the Bright Gods is more than just a place where people gather for their faith, but it is an incredibly complex organization that continuously seeks the annihilation of beastmen and demons.

Such church was already an extremist for many years, but recently they had become more open about the annihilation of these races, due to the recent war that waged between the Dark Gods and the Bright Gods a few hundred years ago.

In this historical event, the Bright God Bestellen was betrayed by the Dark God Razdall before he could annihilate all demons and most beastmen. A war between gods often called 'Ragnarök' was then unfolded, and the mortal representants of both Gods (Human/Elves/Dwarves Kingdoms and Demon/Beastmen Kingdoms) fought in countless wars, most demons were exiled from the Human Continent and several species went extinct.

Bestellen was deeply wounded by Razdall, and had to escape to the center of the Anir Hand's continent to rest, while his siblings protected him against the Dark Gods. However, the Dark Gods did not desire more pointless fights or mortal slaughter and retrieved their mortal tribes of demons and beastmen, refuging themselves in the Demon Continents.

And like this, a seeming era of 'peace' came… but in the shadows, Bestellen ordered his church to exterminate any demon or beastmen remnant in the Human Continent. And like this, a crusade to kill all of these races started one hundred years ago. But humans, elves, and dwarves were slow, so it took many years for such things to reach Aquaria.

The King himself saw that Demons and Beastmen were not truly worthless or deserving of complete annihilation, even more, when there used to be several noble families with demon and beastmen blood.

However, an organization that was run by the Gods themselves could not care less about what he thought. If he had rejected them, he would have been 'mysteriously killed by poison on his food', and then a more obedient and faithful (to the church) son would have taken his seat on the throne of the Kingdom.

In such times of the 'Demon Purge', Ervas mother gave birth to him and then had to run away for her life, going back to the Demon Continent with a few other demons and beastmen.

Duke Frank's servant, named Percy Miller, who belonged to the Miller Noble Family which had served the Aquaria Kingdom with knights and well-educated servants for many generations began to contact his family for this issue to be resolved as fast as possible.

However, his father seemed conflicted about what they needed to do if the rumor were to not be true.

For knights, it was fine to slay demons or beastmen that were not considered 'people', but to kill innocent humans… and to completely burn a village… that was not the work he was raised for, but the work of bandits or illegal mercenaries.

In the end, Percy was recommended to contact the mercenary guild, where he finally found some people willing to do such a barbaric act for a few silver coins.

"As long as we are paid, and it is an official order of our lord the Duke, then there isn't any crime, isn't it?" said the Mercenary Leader, a bald man with a scarred face.

"Yes… it is fine… After all, the Duke words are the law of Sapphira, he was granted such power by his grandfather, the King," said Percy, his blue eyes glancing at the floor of the mercenary guild room where he had decided to meet with this group of very suspicious-looking people.

"Then we can… do whatever we want with them, right?" asked an ugly looking sleek man behind the bald mercenary boss.

"W-Whatever you want?" asked Percy, confused.

"Yes, whatever we want. You know what we are talking about, young boy, do not act so innocent. You know, it has been harder and harder to find night worker women in here," said the bald and scarred mercenary boss.

"Y-You… Do you mean…? But…" Percy muttered.

"You don't have to worry, young master! Everything will be done as our lord Duke Frank says so! We will just have our own fun before that, of course… I hope you do not mind. I don't think the Duke does," said another man.

Percy was going to retort to the request of the mercenaries but stopped himself, as he remembered the harsh words of the Duke. If he were to enrage him any longer with his selfishness, he may end up getting fired as a servant or even sold as a criminal slave.

Duke Frank was young and hypocrite and liked to abuse his power without thinking about consequences or his public appearance. He didn't even care about the opinion of Nobles and barely of fellow Dukes or Marquises.

"…But please, finish whatever things you want to do quickly, and clean things up if possible so rumors about this incident do not spread around," said Percy, giving up in the chase.

"Gahahaha! That is what I like to hear! We are about to get some fun, boys," laughed the bald and scarred man, maliciously. The rest of the band did as well, celebrating and jumping around.

"In what fate have I condemned these people…? Oh, Bright Gods, forgive my sins…" grimaced Percy. He was no one compared to the Duke, he had to only obey his orders and do it as swiftly as possible… no matter what task was given to him.

This mercenary band was the only one responsible as of now, so he had to bet it all on them as his father did not want to let his knights do such barbaric acts. And because he agreed with him and did not want to force his own father and his family, he ended up choosing this option.

The people from the Evergreen Village that had reported such rumors to the Sapphira Duchy were completely unaware that if the rumors they were spreading were to be wrong… they would have a fate worse than just death. And perhaps, due to the suspiciousness of these mercenaries, even if they were to find a Half-Demon Boy, they would most likely still do as they pleased with the villagers, as no one of importance really cared about these people, and these barbaric acts could be easily masked behind the 'order of the Duke' while bringing the Half-Demon Boy as evidence.