Tus was mentally shivering in fear inside as he calmly watched the two figures who could shake the land walk out of the room. He couldn’t figure out how they could find the area he was in already, but he knew he had to lay low and disappear when they chose to search through the higher-ups. Even though the danger was high, he ‘knew’ that he was safe. He didn’t have the so called demonic energy that he read about or the ability to control monsters like the infamous H’raol. There was essentially no way for them to find him, but it was better to be safe than sorry.

After the intrusion of the duo, the meetings were called to an end until the alliances’ search was over. Tus felt relieved as his group left the capital building, because he felt that the entire time he was there he was being watched with increasing intensity.

‘Was it only my imagination?’ Tus thought to himself.

“Alright since the meetings have indefinitely stopped, we should probably return to the Golden Flame.” Worill suggested.

Yarla shook her head slightly as she stared in a direction towards one of the gates. When Worill and Shel saw who was coming, their faces subtly distorted. Tus looked over and found a group five people who were leisurely walking over.

The one in the lead was a man in his mid-twenties whose skin had a paleness that appeared to have never greeted the sun. He wore black robes with the crescent of a waning moon that was yellow. His face was proud as he walked in front of the four others who kept in step. They all had masks that denied their identity and were his bodyguards.

“Well, isn’t it the Massacring Witch, the blundering butler, the grandma assassin, and...” The man furrowed his brows as he stared at Tus who also blankly stared at him. “Well, no matter.” He switched his gaze back to Yarla, “Massacring Witch, I have been allotted the dueling token from the head regime, and I can finally bring down your false prestige.”

The man showed a black diamond that had no particular designs. Besides its color, it looked like a regular gem, but the ever worsening expressions of Worill and Shel said otherwise.

“Why are you doing it here in the enemy’s’ capital city!” Shel exclaimed while Worill kept silent. Tus looked between them, still wondering what was going on.

“Are you scared of your master losing to me?” The man momentarily switched to Shel before he looked back at Yarla, “When I attained this token, she got the right of no refusal, especially since she recently became the same grade as I... Remember this, Massacring Witch, come to the center plaza in the city on the afternoon two days from now. I’ll give you chance to do your preparations.” The man then promptly left with a self-satisfied smile on his face.

“…” Tus didn’t dare ask what that was about. The atmosphere seemed to be extremely delicate as any disruption on his part might spell his demise.

Worill heaved a sigh, “I should’ve predicted that scoundrel would have done this.”

“It doesn’t matter.” Yarla started speaking with the same indifference as usual. “He has the right to challenge me. I have to use the power mother has given me to crush him and not disappoint father. If I lose, then I have no choice than to become an outcast of our family.”

“To increase his own ranking within the regime like this is despicable. Milady, you have to crush his skull.” Shel spoke her own part with her teeth grinding together, mostly from Yarla’s circumstance and some from being called ‘grandma assassin.’

‘Can she talk about something besides death, insanity, or crushing skulls? I came back to this world to get away from monsters, not to join more. If it isn’t these people who kill me, then it will probably be those alliance assholes.’ Tus seriously debated about his surroundings.

…………

It was near evening when Haya’s five-manned squad stopped in one of the streets with Froir. They entered smoothly without any interruption using the authority of Rotalia and began their search for the ‘demon’ immediately.

“Captain, we should take a rest and search more tomorrow.” Talian suggested dispiritedly. The city was large and looking for something that could change its appearance would make the situation a lot more exaggerated than finding a needle in a haystack. It would be like trying to find a very specific hay straw within a haystack.

“I think we can stop here.” Haya agreed after thinking for a moment. “We already went through quite a bit of the city.”

As they were leaving, the tracker, Arl, stood in place with a confused expression as he looked down one of the alleyways connecting to the street.

“Arl, what’s wrong?” Haya noticed his strange behavior and asked.

He responded to Haya by making a few gestures and pointed to the alleyway.

“Beggar?” Talian also stopped as he yawned while he sarcastically said, mimicking Haya’s voice, “There are beggars and this is a city.”

Arl shook his head vehemently and repeated his other hand signs while adding a few more gestures. All of them stopped and their eyes widened in disbelief.