""...""

Kazuki and Yoko both stared at Umi with strange gazes.

"W-what is it?"

Umi asked nervously.

"It's just that... you're the last person I expected to give such a musclebrain answer... Normally, that would be Kai, or Kei when he's impatient."

Yoko spoke for both of them.

"N-no, just think about it! We couldn't find anyone trailing us all this time, but they managed to get eyes on us as soon as we entered the next city. And not only that, aren't they the same people?"

Kazuki's eyes widened.

"I see! So you're saying that the people spying on us have ways to transport themselves!"

"Yes, so if we manage to capture one of them like we did before, or at least manage to trail them on our way to the next town..."

"Then we can use whatever they're using to get ahead of us! That's genius!"

Kazuki stood up and laughed out loud.

Having gotten a lead as to what they should do for the first time in a while, they were all feeling ecstatic. Yoko, however, as someone who thought of herself as someone to keep the group together at times like this tried to regain her composure and asked.

"But how are we sure that it isn't the peaceful faction that Kai is talking about?"

"If it was the peaceful faction, I doubt they'd have to spy on us like this. Also, we still don't know how they managed to see through our identities."

They suddenly appeared one day, which wasn't all that suspicious considering how they were only doing some odd jobs. Like the human continents, the population in this continent, as well as the rest of the world, isn't as closely observed. Without a census to go through or a system to count population other than taxes and house numbers, the estimated population for most countries was outside of the margin of error.

Having three people suddenly appear wasn't all that strange, it happened every other day. And, there was no way that a run-down town would have so many resources to spy on every outsider for weeks at a time.

It was a mystery contained within a mystery, and they had no way of solving it.

In this place where none of their influence and knowledge matter much, it was a nigh-impossible task.

"But if we were to manage to get a hold of their means..."

Kazuki was making an evil smile, causing both of them to reel back.

"Your Highness... I saw Kai on your face for a second."

"..."

Umi nodded repeatedly causing Kazuki to stop his smile and turn his head with a snap.

"What do you mean? In what way do we look like each other?"

He was asking while looking offended. While they did trust and respect Kai, they didn't want to be like him at all. In fact, it was even a running gag in their group that if one of them were told that they look like Kai, it meant that they either looked evil or were acting stupid.

In the end, Kazuki tried to argue for his innocence for a few minutes before they managed to make a plan of their own.

"You know, it's been pretty quiet."

Angie talked to Date while taking a bite of the food on her plate that looked like steamed potatoes but were just a bit different. Demon delicacies looked similar, but they tasted very different from their counterparts. The potatoes that Angie was eating tasted like meat.

It had been around three weeks since they had arrived at the capital, Goetia. Luckily, with the number of people entering the city, there was a lack of security against newcomers and they got in pretty easily.

On top of that, they got insanely lucky and were able to start a business. It was a new one, but it was generating a lot of profit. With their reputation as gladiators who came from a distant town atop a dragon. Having a mercenary business was paying off, as the demons didn't have a system like an adventurer's guild here.

To top it off, mercenaries were pretty expensive because they thought of long-term benefits. Not needing to stay here for that long, Angie and Date didn't have to worry about making that big of a profit. Making enough money just to make a surplus after getting by was enough for them.

"Yeah... For a city that's going to be a meeting spot for the continent's greatest powers, there isn't even a preparation to receive any of them..."

Could they call the queen brave or stupid? As far as they knew, nobility acted nearly the same as theirs. There were many ceremonies that they went through, even if they were all just formalities. If they were going to receive a large number of nobles, the city would be decorated from top to bottom.

But let alone full decorations, the streets were even littered with trash.

"Anyway, that's not what we're talking about today. You see, I was just told that some mysterious merchant appeared a few cities away from here, it'd take over a month by carriage, but if it's master..."

"Then he can get here pretty quickly."

"Yeah."

Since they started their business, the two of them rarely met up with each other. Sometimes they were hired for overnight contracts, and sometimes they were hired to go pretty far from the town. Nevertheless, they didn't accept any contracts that they couldn't complete safely.

"Well, for me, I've heard about a couple of people destroying a bunch of hideouts... I can only guess that Kei is with whoever that is and that the people they're attacking are the same people who have been spying on us since we got on this continent. We did lose them when we were riding the dragon but it didn't take long for them to find out where we are."

Angie shrugged.

"Well, there's nothing we can do about that. And... we're in the capital, so we can't exactly cause that much trouble without being detained."

The two of them were at S-class and although Angie was still the stronger one among the two of them, they weren't anywhere near the top of the hierarchy in this capital. Even though there were still many nobles who had yet to enter the city, they could already feel the presence of over ten people at S-class, and some above that.

But... the most threatening of all was the presence in the middle of the capital, a pressure that they hadn't felt even from Kai. Even without actively imposing itself, it was enough power to make them want to bow before it.

"So, what do you think we should do now? Should we try and meet up with one of them or—!"

Angie paused. Her eyes widened and her entire body trembled. Sweat started dripping down her face and she gripped her chest with her hand. Date, who was in front of her, wasn't any better. In fact, he was doing worse than Angie. His eyes were already unsteady, his consciousness was flickering.

It lasted only for a few seconds, but it was the most painful seconds during their entire time here. The two of them could do nothing but lean their bodies on the table for support. The other people in the restaurant had already fainted.

"T-that was... a burst of mana?"

It was just mana used to sweep the field, to search for something within an area. Everyone used it, Kai, Erina, Angie, even the Immortal used it frequently.

It's used much like an animal's echolocation, the mana sends out a signal, and if it hits something with mana, it'll be known to the user.

"If they're able to do this much with just their mana..."

Date couldn't help but tremble in fear. His hands were unsteady and his skin was very pale, he looked like he would collapse at any moment.

"Someone on the level as the queen... No, maybe a bit weaker..."

Angie bit her lower lip.

"Master..."

"Hmmm..."

Erina had her legs crossed and was tapping her knee.

"We've pretty much dealt with all of them... But, I still feel eyes on me."

"I guess that just means there are more of them than we can deal with. So... what do we do with this thing?"

Kei was holding a small pentagon-shaped object tied with a thin chain, it was on one of the leaders of the hideouts.

"Considering how the gazes are becoming more intense... I'd say we figure out what it is and use it. It'd be easier if they just spilled it out but nobody's talking..."

Even with the threat of death and seeing their comrades dying one by one, nobody talked. Not even those who looked like they feared death the most.

The two of them had gained a reputation these past weeks—having been going around the city destroying buildings and whatnot. Though the town's guards wanted to capture them, they were just too strong for anyone to deal with. It would've been different had they not been enhanced with Emi's mana.

"I think this is about all we can do."

Erina looked around. They had spent far longer than they thought they would, but it wasn't a fruitless effort. At the very least, they knew that someone was targeting them, and for an unknown reason. The strangest part was still the time of the surveillance, it began as soon as they entered a town.

Unfortunately, the underlings they beat up didn't know anything and their superiors were tight-lipped.

"Then, should we leave?"

Kei nonchalantly wore the pentagon necklace and asked. They had also pilfered quite a bit of money from the various hideouts and seeing as their operations were illegal anyway, they had no remorse in adding it to their coffers. And it wasn't as if they spent their entire time fighting, they had also done plenty to prepare for travel and gather information about where they needed to go.

All in all, they could proudly say that they've done all they could to prepare.

"We don't really have much of a choice—"

Erina paused mid-sentence and turned her head to the side. Kei was a beat slower, but he also looked over at the same direction.

"...I guess we have to run."

Erina roused her mana and made her body transform into a mist of cold ice and immediately headed towards the town's exit. Kei kicked the ground with explosions of flames and followed right after her.

At the very moment they ran, the figures that were watching them from a distance all attacked at once. They could do little to Erina who could barely be seen with the naked eye, but Kei was just a moving target. Many attacks launched at him but he didn't even look at them. An explosion of flames originated from his body and erased every attack headed towards him.

He took the sword from his waist and after channeling his flames, slashed at the bunch nearest to him.

They all burned into ashes in an instant.

With the power he recently gained, along with the appropriate weapon provided to him by Kai, his power was leagues above before. He could even say that if he were to face himself from before, he could deal with himself in just a few seconds. The demons spanning from C to A-class were all unable to last more than instant against them.

However, the presence that appeared in the distance wasn't just of that level. There were multiple S-class that just entered the vicinity of the city and while they could hold their own for a little bit, they had almost no chance of winning in a direct confrontation.

Erina stopped a little bit away from the city's exit and materialized herself. Her right eye shined a golden color—her eyes that could see through the truth.「Truth Seeker」.

She took out her rapier and her mana rose to its peak. Her surroundings were being covered in shards of ice and even the ground beneath her was being frozen. The cold air was visible enough to mask her figure slightly.

"I'm assuming that you won't just let us go free."

"Correct."

A demon man stood at the city's exit. He was tall—nearly three meters tall. His body was large, as if he had never stopped battling for a day in his life. The man had his hands on top of a large claymore embedded into the ground. He also had a black-reddish armor made of bone-like material surrounding his entire body.

It was an SS-class, and while he was only at the beginning, he was still far stronger than Erina or Kei. He masked his presence so well that Erina didn't notice him until she was only a few tens of meters away.

After gripping her rapier tightly, ice began covering Erina's body slowly and formed an armor. Much like Kai's Armor of the Frost Giants, it covered most of her features, save for the fact that it looked like it was built for movement.

"[Cascading Shards]."

An enormous amount of water—no, ice shards, appeared right on top of the man. It was enough to blot the sun that illuminated them just moments prior.

With a wave of her hand, the giant accumulation of ice shards crashed into the man.