Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Author’s Note: This is a completed fic which I’m now posting here on AO3 as well. It has my interpretation of how the world of MGE ended up in its current state. It’s not a full match to the MGE books, so you could consider it AU.

It was a cloudy day. The sky was filled with grey and white from one horizon to the other. Not the best weather for hunting, Adam thought, but it would be irresponsible to delay.

He prepared his armour. First, he put on his breastplate, a masterpiece of steel that had saved his life far too many times to count. To complement that, he pulled an armguard on his right arm and greaves on his legs. His head was protected by a simple steel helm, which provided adequate protection while not hindering his eyes and ears—keen senses were vital in his line of work. Last of all was his shield. A simple heater design, wood with a steel frame, yet it was marked by the scars of many battles. The shield bore his coat of arms, a golden angel on a blue field.

Now for his weapons. An arming sword, forged by the finest blacksmith in Merith. It was his primary tool of the trade, and he meticulously kept it sharpened and cleaned. A dagger, no longer than his forearm, but still a deadly weapon in a pinch. Both were sheathed at his hips.

He then added his more utilitarian, but no less essential items. A map, which depicted the entire continent with a fair amount of detail. A waterskin, which he filled at the local well. His coin-purse, which he made sure to secure tightly. After some rummaging around, he found his flint and steel—couldn’t forget those. And of course, he took his plate, the symbol of his faith. It was a simple wooden disc inscribed with a five-pointed star, the symbol of the Chief God.

Before he set off, he decided to perform a quick prayer. Holding the plate close to his heart, he closed his eyes and murmured a request for success in their venture. From what he’d heard of the enemy ahead, they’d need it.

Suddenly, a rude voice shattered the silence.

“Oi, we’re dying of old age over here!”

Adam blinked several times. Then he laughed, and left the room.

Four men were waiting for him outside. As he approached, one of them, short and fair-haired, said, “Hey, what happened in there? Did you slip and knock yourself out for a bit?”

Adam blinked and started rubbing the back of his head. “I don’t know, Marcus,” he said. “Why… what if that happened? It could be serious—I have to see a healer right away!”

All of them laughed, with one exception, a tall man who merely continued to tend to his equipment.

Marcus sat down. While tapping his fingers against his bow, he said, “Well, just make sure you don’t faint on us today.”

Still chuckling, Adam turned to the next man, who was bulky and carried an axe. He asked him, “Morning, John. How—how is your family?”

John averted his eyes momentarily, then said darkly, “There’s a lot of things I could say about them, but all of them would get me sent to hell.”

“Ah. The same as usual, then?” Adam said, trying to be delicate.

John nodded morosely.

“Well, on the bright side, you won’t have to see them for a while,” Adam said.

This elicited a faint smile from John, but that only depressed Adam. When he was training to become a hero, one of his goals was to be able to help people with issues like this. But in the three years he’d known John, the latter was no closer to being accepted by his family—if anything, it seemed to have gotten worse. Still, he couldn’t give up.

Then Cutter spoke up. He had blond hair, an unusual colour in this region—he seemed to have come from somewhere in the north. His features were stern yet handsome, especially his clear grey eyes, and had drawn the attention of more than a few women.

“Hey, boss. What are we doing today? Is it playing with bandits, or—”

“It’s a hunting expedition, Cutter,” Adam replied. “There’s been sightings of werewolves up near Valeria, and we need to sort the situation out.”

Cutter smiled and tightened his grip on his spear. “In that case, I hope that we find plenty of them,” he said.

Adam couldn’t find the words to respond to that. He knew some of Cutter’s past—not all, but enough to know that he could never fully understand the man. After all, none of Adam’s family had been devoured by monsters, nor was that likely to happen in the foreseeable future.

Finally, Adam addressed the last of his subordinates, the same man who hadn’t laughed before.

“Hogan, how are our horses—and donkeys?”

“All in good condition,” Hogan said, not taking his eyes off his work. “We can leave at any time.”

Hogan was never the most conversational of men, but his reliability was without question. He was always the first to begin his work and the last to stop. Whenever one of the other men had drank himself into a stupor—something that certain individuals were more prone to than others—it was Hogan who’d drag him out of the pub and back home.

At any rate, it seemed that all of their preparations were finished. Despite the dismal weather, it was still perfectly possible to see. That said, darkness would arrive much sooner than usual for this season. There was a common saying that, out in the wilderness, darkness equalled death. The popular reasoning was that night was when the dark power of monsters was at its height, though Adam privately suspected that it was simply because monsters had superior hearing and smell than humans, so were less disadvantaged by darkness. Regardless of the reason, they needed to reach the next village before the light disappeared, so they set out the moment they finished their preparations.

Adam, John and Cutter rode on horses, while Marcus and Hogan rode on donkeys. These arrangements caused much grumbling on Marcus’ part, until John then offered to trade steeds, provided that the former first find a donkey capable of carrying John’s weight.

They passed through fields of wheat and barley, through rows of verdant orchards, through the pastures where cattle and sheep grazed. It was a peaceful environment, but one that was only possible thanks to the efforts of men like them.

In a matter of hours, they came it to the village of Idris, which lay on the path to Valeria. When it first came into sight, the group began to relax. Marcus was in the middle of explaining how, five months ago, he’d ended up outside a bar wearing a golden crown and a woman’s dress, when they saw the first ruined building. The moment they saw it, the five of them spurred their steeds into a gallop. As they got close to the devastation, the horses and donkeys stopped and struggled against their riders. With Hogan’s coaxing, the animals relented but didn’t stop trembling.

They entered the village, passing empty house after empty house. Every building had at least one door or window destroyed, and many were outright missing walls. No one called to them. There were no craftsmen toiling in their workshops, no women tending to their homes, no children playing in the streets. There were only remains. Bones, picked clean of all of their flesh, a few even cracked open for the marrow. The signs of a struggle could be discerned here and there—stirred up soil, broken axes and spears, scraps of cloth.

As the group moved deeper into the village, they saw a few houses that had been practically levelled, with just a few sorry remnants of wall remaining. Rubble was strewn everywhere. There were even more bones, many of them visibly fresher than those in the outskirts.

Finally, they came to the village square. On one side, wooden pillars had been erected, the kind that criminals were tied to so that they could be publically humiliated. These were battered and covered in dark red stains, while the ground around them was strewn with bones and bits of rope.

Here, the men slowed to a stop. All of them were unnerved, and John in particular seemed on the verge of vomiting. They’d seen the aftermaths of several monster attacks… but never anything on so large a scale.

Countless tracks littered the soil—most of them human, but several that clearly weren’t. Bending down, Cutter examined the tracks. Each one was a continuous trail as wide as a man’s shoulders, as if a heavy sack had been dragged across the earth. He grimaced.

“Lamias,” he said, the spear in his hand shaking.

That put them all on edge. Lamias were among the more powerful monsters, having both great strength and magical ability. Their bodies were like enormous serpents from the waist down, but their upper bodies were similar in shape to a human’s. The resemblance was purely superficial, however; their entire bodies were covered in armoured scales, their hands were tipped with claws, and their heads were grotesque, as if they’d been designed by a mad artist combining elements of reptiles and other beasts.

They scanned the surroundings warily. It wasn’t uncommon for monsters to attack human settlements that had already been invaded by other monsters. Adam cast a spell, one that sent out a small wave of spirit energy which would react with the demonic energy of any monsters in the vicinity. There was no response to this spell, which could mean that the coast was clear… or that there was a monster skilled enough in magic to cloak their own energy. Either way, they couldn’t let their guard down.

Next, they debated what to do. There wasn’t nearly enough time in the day for them to reach Valeria, and there wasn’t any other source of shelter nearby. They’d have to stay in Idris for the night, a stomach-churning proposition for all of them.

First, Hogan and Marcus took the horses and donkeys outside the village to feed and water them. The rest searched for the most defensible structure that was still standing. They settled on the village inn, which was largely intact and had a stable. After cleaning up the mess inside, they began to fortify the building. The inn’s windows, like several of the other buildings’, had been boarded up, so all they had to do was repair any damage. The door had been torn off its hinges, but they deliberately made no attempt to repair it: if there were no available entrances, any monster would suspect that there was someone still barricaded inside. As a final measure, Adam cast spells over the inn, to suppress both their physical scent and their spirit energy signatures.

Night fell all too quickly. The men ate their dinner, dried rations from their packs. The horses and donkeys were lulled into sleep with the help of Adam’s magic, to prevent them from alerting anyone or anything. Soon after, the men went to bed as well, with two of them remaining on guard at all times.

In less than an hour, the anticipated threat had arrived.

Adam and Cutter were the ones on watch. They heard the sound of flapping wings, faint initially. As it grew louder, it sounded vaguely like a colony of bats was approaching the village. But soon, they heard the shrieks—unearthly sounds that seemed to pierce into the depths of their minds. Harpies.

The two of them didn’t need to wake up the rest, since the harpies’ shrieks had done that for them. They quickly checked on the animals to make sure they were still asleep, then carefully moved to the windows and peered outside.

Fortunately, the clouds had mostly dispersed. Innumerable shapes were visible against the backdrop of the starry sky, moving at high speed. A terrible cacophony of noise filled the air.

The harpies began to descend. At first, they looked indistinguishable from giant birds in the darkness. As they approached, the humans saw their true appearances: vaguely human faces with mouths full of sharp teeth, wings that spanned twice a man’s height, brown feathers matted with filth, and scaled legs ending in vicious talons.

Cutter started to move towards the door, spear in hand. His friends tried to hold him back, and it took three of them to stop him. Trying to fight harpies in the open would be suicidal, even if they weren’t horribly outnumbered.

The harpies began to land, and the screech of talons on roof tiles joined the unearthly shrieks. They had to be searching the village, scavenging for anything left to eat.

After a minute or two, one of them spoke, in a harsh yet still coherent voice, “Damn it, there’s nothing here! The snakes must have gotten them all!”

“Keep looking! There’s bound to be something!” said another harpy, this one visibly larger than the rest.

Cutter struggled, but the others held him firmly. In the worst case, if the harpies found them, it would still be safer to stay inside. The windows and doors would act as bottlenecks, and the confined space would remove the harpies’ advantage in speed. It was the only chance they had at survival—and even then, it was virtually guaranteed that only some of them would make it.

They waited out the attack, keeping their weapons at the ready for the entire time. Several times, the harpies came close to the inn. There seemed to be nothing else but bloodcurdling screeches, which slowly but surely wore down the men’s resolve.

After what seemed like an eternity, the harpies gave up on their search. With screeches of disappointment, they took flight and disappeared into the black sky.

Marcus swore. “That was a close one. We wouldn’t have stood a chance if they’d found us.”

“Harpies aren’t good with magic,” Hogan said. “If it had been another kind of monster, they might have found us from the spells we used to hide.”

“Regardless, we can’t afford to let down our guard yet,” Adam said. “It’s still possible that more monsters will arrive.”

This statement drew nods from all of the men. It may have been pessimistic, but in this world, optimism had a very short lifespan.

Chapter Text

The next morning, there was a small argument over what to do next. Cutter and John argued strongly in favour of the aggressive approach, going after the lamias that they knew had attacked humans, as opposed to the werewolves that had merely been sighted. Adam and Marcus were more cautious, pointing out that the number of tracks suggested that there were at least a dozen lamias, a force too powerful for them to defeat. Neither mentioned the harpies: the high mobility of these avian monsters meant it would be nearly impossible to locate their nest. The argument came down to Hogan. He pointed out that they couldn’t fight the lamias with their current force, but also that they were the best fighters of their town.

They therefore continued towards Valeria, going at the quickest pace that their steeds could sustain. The plan was to first find and kill the werewolves, then to recruit soldiers from the town guard and deal with the lamias.

Eventually, they came to a forest. The countless trees provided enough cover for an army—no, several armies to hide. The road forked near the edge of the forest, with one road leading around the forest and the other cutting straight through it.

They argued again, this time over how they should proceed. The forest separating Merith and Valeria was immense, so taking the long route around it would prevent them from reaching Valeria before nightfall. On the other hand, cutting straight through the forest was faster, yet it also meant taking a terrible risk. It was the kind of situation where there simply weren’t any good options. Eventually, they decided to brave the danger.

Adam enchanted the group to suppress as much of their presence as possible. Even with that preparation, the atmosphere was tense.

They proceeded slowly, cautiously. All still seemed normal, yet all five of them were tense. Every chirp of a passing bird, every rustle of leaves in the wind, elicited a jump or a nervous look from at least one of the men. The trees were perfectly normal, but to their eyes, they seemed to be giants, reaching out with clawed hands. None of the men dared to raise their voices above a whisper, and even then, only when strictly necessary.

Eventually, there was a noise. It was distant, muffled by the intervening vegetation, yet it sounded like a wolf’s howl. Adam immediately started casting an enhancement spell, which would bolster their physical strength. Marcus pulled out his bow and nocked an arrow. The five of them scanned the surroundings, perusing every angle. Suddenly, Cutter shouted “There!” and pointed his spear at a group of dark shapes rushing towards them.

They shifted positions, with John, Cutter and Hogan in front, towards the incoming threat, while Marcus and Adam were behind them. Adam finished his magic, sending out a burst of spirit energy that fortified their limbs.

The shapes became clear—they were werewolves. Masses of black fur and teeth and claws, currently running towards them at speeds rivalling horses. Adam quickly reviewed his lesson on them: werewolves could move on two legs or four; the latter was used for speed, the former allowed them to make use of their formidable claws, which could fell a small tree in a single swipe. Werewolves could also smell prey from beyond the horizon; this both explained how these ones had found Adam’s group, and also guaranteed that they could not escape, only fight.

Marcus fired, and his arrow struck one werewolf in the shoulder. It fell to the ground, but that left four more. When the werewolves were nearly within spear-distance, John’s horse suddenly reared up in fright, throwing its rider off balance. John tried desperately to right himself, but a clawed arm struck him in the chest, easily piercing through his armour.

“John! Shit!”

Cursing, Cutter charged at the werewolf that had just attacked John, running it through with his spear. With the added momentum of his horse, he managed to force the werewolf to the ground.

At the same time, Adam spurred his horse into a gallop, charging at a third werewolf. Holding his shield at an angle, he deflected its attack, then swung his sword, landing a solid blow on the werewolf’s stomach. It flailed around in pain, trying to hit Adam. An arrow struck it in its open mouth, piercing its brain, and the werewolf collapsed.

Meanwhile, the werewolf attacked by Cutter had fallen, but another almost immediately took its place. The werewolf swiped fiercely at Hogan’s horse, practically decapitating it, but Hogan himself jumped away in time. Hogan and Cutter worked together to engage the newcomer. The two warriors inflicted several wounds, none of them major, but the werewolf couldn’t land a blow on either of them.

Adam looked around, searching for the remaining werewolves. He spotted the one that Marcus had shot at a distance—it had dragged itself behind a tree, presumably wary of further arrows. But where was the last one?

There was a bloodcurdling scream from behind. Whirling around, Adam saw Marcus impaled on a massive clawed hand. With a triumphant howl, the werewolf lifted Marcus into the air and threw him at a nearby tree. He slammed into it with a sickening crunch.

Before Adam could react, before Marcus’ body even fell to the ground, Cutter lost control, getting off his horse and charging the werewolf on foot. He attacked the werewolf wildly, holding absolutely nothing in reserve.

Adam moved in to back up Cutter, but suddenly spotted a dark blur out of the corner of his eye. Straining his body, Adam twisted around and slashed blindly at the incoming werewolf. His sword sliced through the werewolf’s arm, diverting a blow that would have otherwise taken off his head. However, the werewolf nevertheless scored a hit on the flank of Adam’s horse, sending it into a panicked frenzy. Adam leapt off, and a second swipe passed through his previous position and snapped the horse’s neck.

Forced onto his own two feet, Adam was wary. Without his horse, he was now at a significant disadvantage in height and weight. But the werewolf didn’t immediately rush in to attack, either. It was the one that Marcus had shot at the start of the battle, and with both the arrow in its shoulder and the large gash in its arm, it also couldn’t fight at full capacity.

There was a brief pause, then Adam and the werewolf clashed once more. The werewolf swung its uninjured arm with blinding speed, no doubt gambling on winning with this one attack. If it hit, Adam would be pulverised even through his armour.

In response, Adam moved his shield upwards and managed to deflect the werewolf’s arm. Due to putting all its strength into the attack, the werewolf was thrown off balance. It was only for an instant, but an instant was all Adam needed. The hero swung his sword and cut through the werewolf’s neck.

Just as Adam turned around, he was greeted by another horrific sight. Cutter, transfixed by a clawed hand through his stomach, while the werewolf bared its teeth in some grotesque imitation of a grin.

“Sod… that!”

But Cutter didn’t let it end that easily. With strength born of pure rage, he pulled out a hidden knife from his sleeve and swung wildly at the werewolf’s arm, slicing through the muscle.

“Not that easy, you piece of—”

Growling, the werewolf reached forward with its other arm and crushed Cutter’s head to crimson pulp.

“Cutter! No!”

Adam charged at the werewolf, giving in to his rage. He attacked again and again, no longer caring about defence. The werewolf was caught off guard, and received injury after injury.

Eventually, Adam swung his sword in a wide arc, cutting open the werewolf’s stomach. But it counterattacked, with a mad swipe that struck Adam’s helmet, the impact resounding through his skull.

Dropping his sword, Adam staggered. Fortunately, his opponent collapsed from its own injuries.

Unfortunately, there was one werewolf left.

A great weight slammed into Adam, knocking him off his feet. It was Hogan, his throat savagely ripped out. Adam struggled to get up, but he was pinned by Hogan’s body. He could only watch, helpless, as the final werewolf advanced.

Then something entirely unexpected happened. There was a white flash and the point of a spear suddenly burst from the werewolf’s chest. The lupine monster looked down, with an almost-human expression of shock, before keeling over.

His limbs shook with fatigue and fear, but Adam refused to give up. He heaved Hogan’s body off of himself, then quickly inspected the man’s wound. But it was clear that Hogan was beyond help. He then rushed towards the other three, hoping that one of them might still be clinging to life. But it was no use.

Adam saw movement at the edge of his vision. It had to be his rescuer. A local woodsman, perhaps? He sat up, intending to thank them.

The figure resembled a human woman, but with very clearly inhuman features. Curved horns protruded from her head, similar to a ram’s. A pair of snow-white wings, with the general structure of a bat’s, fanned out behind her. A long tail of the same colour flicked around near her legs. Her hair was an unnatural shade of brilliant white. Her eyes were red and seemed to glow with a faint light.

Adam looked at the monster—the succubus—for a few seconds, then immediately threw himself in the general direction of his sword. As long as he didn’t meet its eyes, he could avoid its influence—

“Wait, I’m not going to hurt you!”

I must not listen to it—it will say anything to tempt me—

Adam reached his sword and rushed towards the monster, ignoring the pain in his ribs. He had to kill it quickly, before it could gain any influence over him.

“Just listen—”

But before he could reach it, the succubus took flight, retreating to a high branch. She looked down at Adam, seemingly frustrated.

“Honestly, did your training involve replacing your brain with muscle? I’m here to help you!” The succubus shouted.

“Only a fool would believe that!” Adam answered, brandishing his sword. He looked around, trying to find some way to attack the succubus. Climbing the tree would be pointless… but Marcus’ bow and arrows lay on the ground, intact. Archery was never something he was good at, but there was no other choice. He’d yet to learn any ranged attack spells in his hero training.

The succubus spoke again, “Alright, just listen to me! There are arachnes coming, at least a dozen of them. You need to trust me!”

Adam didn’t even bother to reply. He drew back the bow to its fullest extent, but the succubus took off, flying into the distance. Adam turned around slowly, scanning his surroundings for any trace of white.

Those who were known as heroes received training to handle all kinds of threats, including flying monsters. But human beings were, fundamentally, made for a terrestrial existence, and it was difficult to go against old instincts.

Consequently, Adam didn’t look directly up and so didn’t notice the falling tree branch. It broke across his helm with a loud crack. While the blow failed to knock him out, it did leave him dazed. As a result, he was unable to resist the unnatural drowsiness that spread through his body.

-ooo-

From her high vantage point, Lilith peered down at the prone figure. It certainly looked as if her sleep magic had worked on him… but she couldn’t take any chances. The heroes of the Order were tougher than ordinary humans, and she couldn’t discount the possibility that he was merely acting.

Lilith decided to gather her demonic energy as if preparing to cast a spell. If he was conscious, the hero would definitely sense it and try to defend himself. But there was no reaction.

The succubus descended from the tree, landing a short distance from the hero. She carefully prodded him with a long stick, with the wariness of someone approaching a sleeping dragon. When there still wasn’t a response, she lifted him, struggling a little with the weight, and carried him up into the canopy.

Then she considered what to do with the rest. Two of the horses had run off, and would almost certainly fall prey to some other danger, while the other three animals had been killed by the werewolves. Because of that, the arachnes wouldn’t know for certain how many humans there had been. As for the bodies… it might be suspicious if there were too few human bodies compared to werewolf bodies. But at least one might be possible –

Then she heard the sound of countless spider legs, skittering against the forest floor.

Lilith quickly cast an illusion over herself and the hero, covering both of them in a film of mottled greens and browns. Illusions weren’t her specialty, but the thick foliage of the canopy would aid in concealing them.

There wasn’t time to do anything else. Three inhuman silhouettes emerged from the darkness, stirring up fear even in the succubus’ heart. They each had the lower body of a colossal, twisted spider, capable of devouring an entire human with their great fanged mouths. Like many other monsters, they were tauric in form, with humanoid upper bodies—but these could only be considered humanoid in the vaguest of senses, being covered in hard exoskeleton, having pincers instead of hands, and possessing multiple pairs of unblinking eyes.

The arachnes advanced, a wave of legs, venomous fangs and piercing cries. As they approached, Lilith could hear them speaking in a strange dialect. She had to use a translation spell, one which allowed her to understand the fundamental meaning of the words.

“—so much meat! And so many different kinds!”

“We’re having a feast tonight!”

“Not just tonight—with the wolves gone, this forest is ours! We’ll be having feasts every day from now!”

Cackling with glee, the arachnes began to feed. Lilith closed her eyes and tried, futilely, to ignore the sounds of flesh and bone being torn apart. Eventually, the arachnes stopped feeding and began dragging the remaining bodies away, presumably to their lair.

Once she was sure the arachnes were gone, Lilith slumped against the trunk of the tree. She let out an anxious breath.

-ooo-

Dull pain filled Adam’s head. Groaning, he opened his eyes.

He was bathed in a soft sunlight, which gave his aching limbs some much-needed warmth. In front of him was a leather bag—dirty and torn by werewolf claws, yet it was unmistakeably one of the saddlebags from his horse.

Adam turned his head, allowing him to notice the figure standing behind him. She was quite tall, with long white hair that reached her waist. She wore a long brown dress that was faded from exposure to the elements—the attire of a traveller.

Strangely, she also had horns, bat-like wings and a tail.

That can’t be right, Adam thought. Either this was all a dream, or he was still in a delirious state.

Shaking his head, he continued taking in his situation. He was lying on the grass, with no bedroll—slightly uncomfortable, but it was the height of luxury, given the situation. If anything, it was an amazing stroke of luck just to still have the one saddlebag.

As Adam continued down that line of thought, he remembered. John, Marcus, Hogan and Cutter, all eviscerated by werewolves. He could feel their blood, still coating his hands.

For a few moments, he reasoned that it all had to be some hellish nightmare. It was too calm, too peaceful for something like that to have happened. But he was an experienced hero, and he knew that monsters had nothing but complete disregard for such things. And he couldn’t deny, no matter how hard he tried, the absence of his friends.

Adam closed his eyes. He held a handful of grass in his clenched fist, tearing the green blades. His breath quickened, and he struggled to bring it under control.

A voice broke the silence, the kind that brooked no argument.

“You’re awake, now? We need to talk.”

Adam looked at the succubus again, with a clearer head. After taking in her inhuman features, his mind shifted into its combat state. He scanned his surroundings for anything he could use as a weapon. His sword, dagger and shield were propped against a small boulder, too far for him to get to in time. However, there were no shortage of rocks and large sticks around, and he still had the traditional weapon of mankind—his own body. Against most monsters, this wouldn’t be nearly enough, but succubi weren’t built for direct combat.

“I know that we started out on the wrong foot, but—”

Adam leapt to his feet and charged at the succubus. Before he could get anywhere near her, she flew to refuge on a tree branch.

“Alright, just stop this!” the succubus said, “Okay? Stop it. We’ll never get anywhere at this rate.”

“You think I’d be foolish enough to listen to you?” Adam retorted, hefting a branch as a makeshift club.

“Fine, I’m going to pretend that you’re listening,” the succubus said, grabbing her hair in frustration. “My name is Lilith, and I’m a monster who doesn’t attack humans.”

Meanwhile, Adam was considering his options. Throwing something would be pointless. It took a combination of skill and a specially-made weapon to throw with any degree of power or accuracy. However, a few years ago, he’d been taught about one of humanity’s earliest weapons, the sling. It could be made from a wide variety of objects, its ammunition was omnipresent, and it was far deadlier than most people expected.

Before he could tear off his sleeve, Lilith—no, the succubus, did something surprising. She jumped down, landing right in front of Adam.

“Look,” she said, spreading her arms wide, “I’m unarmed. I’m not going to hurt you. Happy?”

Adam held back, confused. While monsters were generally unpredictable, they still valued their own lives, like all other living things. For one to put itself in such a risky position—was it simply overconfident in its own charm? Or was it powerful enough to not consider him a threat?

Adam cautiously backed away from the succubus, but lowered his weapon slightly.

Sighing with relief, the succubus continued, “Alright, so you’re ready to listen now?”

Adam considered his words carefully. Every instinct in him, every lesson instilled by his teachers, emphasised the treacherous nature of monsters. Logically, the succubus had only saved him in order to gain access to a powerful puppet, through which she could inflict significant damage on the Order’s defences. Why else would she have stepped in just when he was the only one still alive? And yet… there was something odd about all this, something that Adam couldn’t quite put his finger on.

“I’m listening,” Adam said.

“Good,” the succubus said. “Now, we need to make sure that we’re on the same page. I know that a monster who doesn’t attack humans must sound impossible to you, but it’s the truth. It’s—put it this way, there are hundreds of different kinds of monsters, most of which number in the thousands, even tens of thousands. Do you really think that all of them could uniformly desire the death of humans?”

Adam was still suspicious, but he decided to play along for now to. “That’s what we’re taught,” he said.

“Okay… I won’t deny that most monsters want to kill—and eat—humans,” the succubus said. “But that’s something that we’re taught, not something that we’re born with. The parents pass this way of life on to their children, who pass it on to their children, and so on. For monsters who don’t care for their children, they have to grow up fending for themselves, so they don’t learn kindness towards anyone else, whether humans or other monsters.”

Adam considered these words carefully. In many ways, they made sense. Humans were born ignorant, being dependent on their parents to gain a sense of morality. And wild animals faced the risk of death every day; a monster with a comparable lifestyle might well consider humans to be prey like any other animal.

…Of course, this was all assuming that the succubus was telling the truth. Adam’s teachers had emphasised to him that succubi were among the more dangerous of monsters: while they were not particularly strong or durable, they possessed an unrivalled talent in deceiving and manipulating humans.

And besides, why would normal logic even apply to monsters? Adam thought. They’re already different from humans and animals in their appearance and unnatural strength…

“If that’s the case, why are you an exception?” Adam asked.

The succubus lowered her head. It was several seconds before she could reply.

“To explain that, I’ll need to tell you about my past. I come from a small village of succubi on the edge of Royal Makai. When I was growing up, the only other people I knew were other monsters: mainly other succubi, but there was the occasional demon who visited our village. The point is, I didn’t encounter a human until I was six.”

Adam narrowed his eyes. According to his lessons, succubi were born as creatures of unnatural lust and depravity. It was said that they could not reach adulthood without consuming a man’s life. However, he decided to keep listening.

“The first human I saw was a man who couldn’t have been older than twenty, brought to the village by two of the adult succubi,” the succubus continued. “I was intrigued by him, since he looked somewhat like us, but didn’t have the horns, wings or tail. I wanted to talk to him… and then I saw why the adult succubi had brought him here. It wasn’t long before they reduced him to a shrivelled-up corpse. Then they dragged his corpse out of the village and returned to their lives, as if they hadn’t just murdered someone. I snuck out of the village, a few hours later, and found the corpse—what was left of it—being eaten by ghouls.”

The succubus paused, taking a deep breath.

“Thanks to that incident, I couldn’t stand to be around the other succubi anymore. When I became an adult, I told them that I was heading out to explore the world. I did just that… and I never came back. That was three years ago. I disguised myself as a human and wandered through three different human countries. Eventually, I passed through this forest and I heard the sounds of a battle. That’s how I came across you.”

For a few moments, the only sounds were those of the forest. Adam spent these moments thinking about the succubus’ words.

Then he remembered the village. He remembered his friends being ripped apart, like meat before a butcher.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t get there earlier,” the succubus said. “I—”

Adam began to laugh. It wasn’t the laughter of someone who’d experienced something amusing, nor of someone expressing their joy.

“I can’t believe it,” Adam said. “From what I was taught, succubi were masters of tempting humans. I was expecting a speech that could make a king throw away his kingdom just for the chance to kiss your feet. But this is all you have? A pathetic sob story that wouldn’t fool a child?”

“I—look, I’m—”

“Stay away from me!” Adam shouted.

Adam quickly picked up a sharp rock from the ground and held it to his neck. The succubus was reaching out to him, but she quickly pulled her hand back when he did this.

“Whatever you want with me, you need me alive, don’t you!?” Adam said. “That’s something easy enough to prevent!”

“Please, just put that down!” the succubus said, in a voice that sounded desperate.

“If you don’t want me to die, that’s also easy,” Adam said. “Stay away. Let me leave this forest. If you can’t even do that, how do you expect me to trust you?”

Adam walked over to his belongings, keeping a wary eye on the succubus. Fortunately, she did not attempt to approach him. He returned the dagger to the sheath on his belt, dropped the rock, then picked up his sword and shield. He decided to leave his saddlebag behind; it would only slow him down, and he didn’t have any particular attachment to the contents.

“I’m leaving,” Adam declared. “Don’t even think about following me—I can end my life before you even get close.”

“Wait, you can’t just go off on your own!” the succubus insisted. “There are arachnes roaming around, you—”

“So?” Adam replied flippantly. “What do I have to worry about? I’m a hero. It’s my job to deal with monsters.”

Adam strode off into the forest. He looked over his shoulder several times, but the succubus did not follow him.

Good, Adam thought. Still can’t let down my guard, there’s always the chance she’ll try again.

Now, what should I do? I could go on to Valeria and tell them that their werewolf problem is dealt with, but they might not believe me without proof. Just being a hero wouldn’t be enough—a few months back, they had a problem with a hero abusing his privileges, so they still have some distrust towards heroes.

Proof… hmm. If I look around, I should be able to find some. A single werewolf head should be enough.

Adam spent almost twenty minutes searching the forest for signs of the battle. He went as quickly as possible, since the sun would soon set. Eventually, he discovered traces of monsters: tracks left behind by numerous two-clawed feet, small pieces of chitin caught on bushes, and threads of silk that were far thicker than a normal spider could produce.

So she was telling the truth about the arachnes after all… it doesn’t matter. Those arachnes almost certainly found the remains of our battle and scavenged what they could. I just need to get a werewolf head from them.

With a complete lack of concern, as if walking through a garden, Adam followed the arachnes’ tracks. The light of day disappeared, but Adam merely created a small ball of magical light to illuminate his path.

After ten minutes of walking, Adam came across tracks that were extremely fresh.

Now that I’m this close, they’ve definitely noticed my light. They should be making their move right about…

…Now.

Adam ducked, evading the clawed leg that sliced through the former location of his head. He swung his sword to the left, piercing through chitin and splashing green blood across the ground. The arachne leaped back, hissing in some strange language that Adam didn’t understand.

Two more arachnes appeared, leaving Adam entirely surrounded. In this situation, a hero from the legends would have been able to prevail, but Adam was far from that level. In this situation, Adam could only hope to slay one of them before he was brought down.

Suddenly, Adam felt a wave of demonic energy strike him. It was an unpleasant sensation… yet it was also startlingly familiar.

Did one of the arachnes just—no, wait!

To Adam’s surprise, the three arachnes were in a worse situation than him. The spider monsters swayed unsteadily and shrieked in confusion.

This is sleep magic, Adam thought. Arachnes aren’t good with magic, in general—but these kinds of magic are the specialty of succubi!

A winged silhouette landed on one of the arachnes, plunging a spear into its upper body. It leaped into the air and repeated this feat on a second arachne. However, the third recovered from the mental assault and swung its arm, knocking the attacker to the ground. But before the arachne could finish the attacker off, Adam lunged forward and cut off its head.

Adam turned to his rescuer and snarled, “I thought I told you not to follow me!”

“Is that how you thank someone for saving your life?” the succubus—Lilith, retorted. “And were you seriously trying to kill yourself right now!?”

There was a tense silence, then Adam laughed humourlessly. “I was. And it would have worked if you didn’t interfere!”

“You… I can’t say I understand what you’ve gone through, but—”

“That’s right, you don’t understand,” Adam said. “There’s no way a human and a monster can ever understand each other. Like I said before: stay away from me.”

Using a nearby tree as a support, the succubus got to her feet. “Fine. If you’re going to be that stupid, I won’t stop you,” she said, glaring at Adam. Then she picked up the spear, which she’d dropped when the arachne struck her, and began limping away.

Adam leaned against a tree and tried to put the succubus out of his head. He looked back at the bodies of the three arachnes. Each one was soaked in blood, both green and deep red. And from the smell, Adam knew that some of the latter was human in origin.

That’s right… I need to bury their bodies, Adam thought wearily. I can’t let them be eaten by animals or monsters.

Sheathing his sword, Adam walked towards the direction the arachnes had come from.

I didn’t make a mistake… Monsters are evil beings that prey on humans. I—we saw countless examples of that, in the past. People torn apart, villages burned down, not even children spared… In all of history, there hasn’t been a single monster that wasn’t hostile to humans.

Adam looked back. His magic light allowed him to just barely discern the succubus in the distance. Due to her slow gait, she hadn’t made much distance between herself and him.

…slow?

That’s right, she was injured saving me just now. But—but it could be a trick, to make me lower my guard.

Adam examined the arachne bodies again. Even in death, their massive frames spoke of the fearsome strength they once possessed.

And from my training and experience, I can tell: that arachne was not holding back when it attacked her. On top of that, succubi are relatively frail for monsters, so a single unlucky hit would have killed her.

…It can’t be.

Adam burst into a sprint. He soon caught up with the succubus—with Lilith. He now realised the extent of her injuries: the arachne’s pincers had left two gouges in her left leg, deep enough that the muscle was visible.

Lilith turned around. “What are you—?”

“Wait—I’m sorry!” Adam said. “I’ve—I’ve been an idiot. Please, let me make it up to you.”

-ooo-

Adam and Lilith both sat on a log, the former laying his hands on the latter’s leg. A soft white light emanated from his palms, causing torn muscle fibres to reconnect and skin to regrow. It was fortunate that the wound wasn’t more severe, such as a complex fracture or damage to the internal organs. Only true mages, those who had dedicated their lives to the craft, had the skill needed to heal such wounds.

“You didn’t need to do this,” Lilith said quietly. “Something like this would have healed on its own.”

“And how long would that have taken?” Adam replied. “Even if you can fly, having an injured leg should still be a hindrance.”

If he was honest with himself, Adam wouldn’t have left the wound alone even if it was a simple scratch. He had grown up in an orphanage run by the Order, and his caretakers had impressed upon him the virtue of helping those in need.

Though the same people also taught me that monsters were all evil beings, Adam mused. Not that I can blame them, since that’s true for the vast majority of monsters.

After the healing was complete, Lilith helped Adam bury the bodies of his friends. It was an unpleasant task, but it needed to be done. While they dug the graves, Adam explained his own mission to Lilith.

“—Now that the werewolves are gone, that mission is complete,” Adam said. He emptied out his saddlebag—which Lilith had brought here—and placed a werewolf head in it. “If I was on my own, I would recruit a—a new group, and continue acting as a hero. It’s not uncommon for those who fight monsters to suffer casualties… But what do you want to do?”

“I had a plan for this situation, but I wasn’t expecting it to happen with a hero,” Lilith replied. “To be honest, I don’t really have any major goal. I just want to see the world and, at the same time, prove that monsters aren’t just vicious brutes. Even if I can’t exactly announce that publicly… For now, I think we should head to Valeria; it’s the biggest town around here, so it’s the best place for gathering information.”

Adam agreed with this idea. They finished burying the bodies, then proceeded towards Valeria. Fortunately, they encountered no further obstacles along the way. The sun was rising as they finally reached the edge.

Working alongside a monster… it’s something I never imagined could actually happen, Adam thought. Even now, I have trouble believing it. But I can’t deny that she risked her life, twice, to save me. Now, I just have to make the best of this situation.

Chapter Text

In the distance, they could see Valeria: a town more than twice as large as Adam’s home of Merith, with a population of over seven thousand. Adam had been here a few times before, as part of his duty as a hero.

As they walked through the fields surrounding the town, a question arose in Adam’s mind.

“Lililth, how are you going to enter the town?” Adam asked. “You may look more like a human than most monsters, but—well, any human would recognise you as a succubus.”

Lilith raised an eyebrow. “You don’t know? Hmm… I suppose it would be easier to just show you.”

Before Adam could ask what she was talking about, Lilith transformed. Her horns, wings and tail all withdrew into her body, leaving no trace that they were ever present. Her hair darkened to a light brown, while her skin gained the tan of someone who spent most of their life outdoors. And the transformation wasn’t just limited to her body. Her dress was previously backless, to allow her wings and tail to move freely, but the fabric expanded until it covered her back.

Now, the succubus was indistinguishable from any human peasant woman. The spear in her hand didn’t detract from this image at all: in this world, a weapon was considered an everyday item.

“We succubi can change our appearances, including our clothes,” Lilith explained. “Though there’s a limit to what we can do: we can’t make weapons or armour, for example. Didn’t they tell you that in your training?”

“No… they didn’t,” Adam replied.

Adam was struck by a growing sense of dread. In his lesson on succubi, he’d been taught that these depraved monsters snuck into human dwellings to seduce men in their beds, relying on their unnatural beauty and mind-affecting magic to compensate for their monstrous nature. There was nothing about succubi being able to disguise as humans… and judging from Lilith’s explanation, this wasn’t a rare or unusual ability for them.

Lilith looked concerned as well. “You could try contacting your colleagues and telling them this. You wouldn’t be able to tell them the truth about how you learned it… but you might be able to pass it off as a rumour you heard from someone else.”

This suggestion was, judged purely on its own merits, a sensible one, but it also re-ignited the conflict in Adam’s mind. It was his duty as a hero—and as a human—to communicate any information that would help in combating monsters. Yet that very same duty forbade him from working alongside monsters, or even allowing them to live.

Adam shook his head and tried to suppress these feelings.

With no further distractions, the hero and succubus entered Valeria. They attracted relatively few glances, despite the former wearing bloodstained armour.

Under normal circumstances, Adam and his friends would have split up at this point. Marcus and John would take their gear to undergo maintenance, Hogan and Cutter would restock their supplies and find them an inn to stay in, and Adam himself would go to the local church to report the outcome of his mission. They would then meet up and have breakfast while they planned their next move.

But they’re gone now… there’s no changing that, Adam thought.

Returning to the present, Adam showed Lilith around the town of Valeria. From doing this, he learned more about his new companion.

“What is he doing to that meat?” Lilith asked, pointing towards a street merchant who was frying some chicken. “Is he trying to destroy it?”

“No, it’s actually a method of cooking it,” Adam replied. “They put the food into hot oil to—well, I’m not sure of the details, but it helps to cook the food, and leaves it with a brown crust on the outside.”

“Huh… back where I come from, we don’t have anything like this,” Lilith said.

“In that case, why don’t you try some, young lady?” The merchant called out, having heard Lilith’s words. He pierced an already-cooked piece of chicken on a skewer and held it up.

Lilith glanced briefly at Adam, who shrugged. She paid the merchant with some copper coins, then accepted the food and began eating. She took small, measured bites at first, then started wolfing down the chicken in a manner that would probably cause a noblewoman to faint.

The merchant laughed. “I don’t know where you’ve come from, but welcome to Valeria, young lady. Hope you two enjoy your stay.”

Adam decided to buy a skewer for himself. After the two of them finished eating, they moved on.

Their next stop was a blacksmith. Adam dropped off his sword to be resharpened—cutting through the sturdy bodies of monsters quickly wore down even quality blades—and his armour to be cleaned and repaired. Here, Lilith was fascinated by the variety of metal goods on display, which ranged from weapons and tools through to ornaments.

Next was the church, as Adam didn’t want to spend more time than necessary carrying a decomposing werewolf head. Lilith refused to enter with him: it was only natural that a monster would refuse to enter a bastion of the Order.

Adam told the priest in charge that his group had succeeded in killing the werewolves and also a band of arachnes, but not without the loss of everyone save Adam himself. He also reported the presence of lamias and harpies nearby, resulting in an alarmed reaction by the priest.

“This couldn’t happen at a worse time,” the priest said, his brow furrowed. “All of our forces with experience at fighting monsters—our heroes, our mages, our war priests—are away on their own missions. That’s why we called for your help. All we have are new recruits who’ve yet to see true combat. If you were to lead a group of those—”

“—They would break upon facing monsters,” Adam finished. “We would all be killed, with nothing to show for it.”

The priest nodded grimly. “It seems that the monsters have grown far more active in recent years. In the past, we never needed to deploy more than half of our best forces at any one time.”

Adam remained silent. His job was to track down and slay monsters that were reported to him; speculation about the large-scale strategies of monsters was outside his purview.

“Regardless, I must thank you for bringing in this information,” the priest said. “Do you have anything else to report?”

“No… although, I do have one question,” Adam said. “I heard that there was distrust towards heroes here, because one of my former colleagues abused his position. But you haven’t doubted anything I’ve said.”

A slight smile appeared on the priest’s face, one that contained no trace of mockery. “Because, Hero Adam, I’ve been performing my duty for the Chief God for over forty years. I’ve provided guidance to hundreds of lost souls. Because of this, I can tell when someone is grieving… even when they try to hide it. That is how I can be certain you are telling the truth.”

“I see… that’s all I wanted to know,” Adam said, before turning in an attempt to leave.

“Hold on just a moment,” the priest said. “Listen to me, Adam. You must stop acting as a hero, at least for now. Not just because there is no one here capable of accompanying you, but also because you will die an early death unless you take time to recover. It won’t be an easy process, I’ll admit… but if you choose to stay here, know that you may consult me at any time.”

“I understand,” Adam said. “Thank you for the advice, Father.”

Adam left the church. He found Lilith leaning against a nearby wall and doing her best not to attract attention.

The two of them then spent some time browsing the market, during which Adam related what had happened in the church. When the sun reached its zenith, they went to an inn near the town’s main entrance to have lunch. After obtaining their food—which took longer than expected as Lilith had trouble deciding what to eat—they sat down and began discussing the day’s events.

“This is something I’ve been wondering about,” Adam said, while stirring his pork-and-vegetable stew. “You don’t seem to know much about… how people around here do things.”

“That’s true,” Lilith replied. She glanced around, then leaned forward and said quietly, “Before meeting you, I didn’t go into human towns except for when I needed supplies that I couldn’t find out in the wild. I didn’t want to—didn’t want to take the risk of anyone discovering who I am.”

“It must be rough, living like that,” Adam said.

“It is, I’ll admit, but it’s better than staying at home,” Lilith replied. She leaned back and took a bite of her chicken roll. “The… village I came from didn’t have much contact with the rest of the world. We had a visitor once every few years, on average. Yet from what I’ve heard, a town like this gets merchants and travellers every single day, and even small villages don’t go for more than a few months without visitors.”

“…How on earth did your village survive like that?” Adam asked. “I mean, I suppose if you just focused on the essentials, you could technically survive, but it wouldn’t be comfortable by any means.”

“Everyone being able to use magic helped, but you’re right: now that I’m here, I realise just how uncomfortable it was,” Lilith replied. “And it isn’t just limited to my village: none of the other m—the other villages in the region tried to maintain a friendly relationship with the others. When I decided to leave my home, I didn’t stop in any of the other villages. At best, they wouldn’t have let me in, and at worst, they wouldn’t have let me leave alive.”

These words left Adam dumbfounded. He, along with everyone else he’d known, didn’t waste time thinking about how the everyday lives of monsters. However, now that he’d met and talked to a monster, he’d started forming expectations of them. He’d expected that at least the more humanoid monsters would have something resembling human society.

“For these reasons, our technology, our culture, everything is behind the rest of the world,” Lilith continued. She gestured towards her meal. “Even something like this, something that’s completely ordinary to you, is a major luxury where I’m from because su—my people don’t raise animals. We only hunt them, so meat’s only eaten by those on top of the hierarchy. The last time there were any major changes in our society… was during the last invasion by the Demon Lord.”

This time, Lilith’s words sent a chill down Adam’s spine. The Demon Lord was one of very few beings whose name was known by every person in this world, no matter their race or allegiance. The Demon Lord was the ruler of all monsters, the one being who could make them put aside their differences and attack humanity as a cohesive army. The Demon Lord possessed power unrivalled by anyone else on the surface world, power exceeded by only the gods. The invasion by the previous Demon Lord had been among the most devastating in history: until the Demon Lord was slain by Hero Justinia, three countries were destroyed and over a million humans had died. Even now, a hundred years later, the scars of that invasion could still be felt… and it was only a matter of time before a new Demon Lord rose up and repeated the process.

It’s always been this way: the Demon Lord appears and incites the monsters to attack humanity, then a hero slays the Demon Lord and the monsters retreat, Adam thought. There’s a legend written for every turn of the cycle… but the legends don’t talk about those who died without anything to show for it.

“Adam? Are you alright?” Lilith asked. “Are you thinking about… well… your friends again?”

Adam silently nodded.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have brought up—”

“It’s fine… this is something I have to learn to deal with regardless,” Adam said. He looked around at the interior of the inn: the rough stone walls, the furniture that had seen countless patrons come and go. “You know, I first met Marcus in a place much like this. Marcus is—was the archer in my group,” he added for Lilith’s benefit. “When I first met him, he was drunk and had started a fight with random strangers. It wasn’t the first time he did that, and it certainly wasn’t the last. He was—he was the person who was always trying to enjoy life, no matter the consequences.”

“He sounds like an interesting person,” Lilith said. “But why did he end up joining you?”

“I actually wondered that myself,” Adam said. “Back then, I wondered if he was just joining my group for the thrill: if he was, I would have turned him down, since someone who didn’t take the job seriously would just be a liability. But when I asked him, you know what he said?”

“What did he say?” Lilith asked.

“Um, you’re not supposed to—never mind, it’s not important,” Adam said. “Anyway, Marcus said to me, ‘I’m here to protect everyone who can’t fight like I can, so they can enjoy their lives without being afraid of the dark.’”

After hearing these words, Lilith lowered her head. She murmured, “I’m sorry I couldn’t—”

“It wasn’t your fault,” Adam said emphatically. “I’ve been in this line of work for years. I know what it’s like to be too late… and I also know that it doesn’t help to get lost in what you could have done.”

This was one of the lessons that Adam had learned in his training. Of course, neither or nor his instructors ever expected that it would be used to cheer up a monster.

After that, the topic turned towards what Lilith had been doing recently. She explained that, after leaving the region dominated by monsters, she had spent ten months wandering the continent. Initially, she’d avoided contact with humans outside of the occasional visit to a town. This changed when she encountered another monster attacking a human. Specifically, it was an alraune, a monster with the form of an enormous flower with tooth-lined petals and digestive acids in place of nectar.

“That was the first time I killed a monster,” Lilith said. “Although it wasn’t like how I met you. I set fire to the alraune and, once I made sure that the human was free and the alraune would eventually burn to death, I ran off without letting the human see me.”

Lilith related several more incidents in which she’d killed other monsters to save humans, still without revealing her own identity as a monster. In these, she had only intervened when there was one or, at most, two monsters. It may have been cold, but Adam didn’t blame her for this, since succubi were not well-equipped to fight other monsters.

Suddenly, they were interrupted by a shout from outside the inn:

“Monsters! In the forest! They—you have to—”

Adam immediately stood up and went outside, Lilith close behind him. He spotted a dishevelled man running through the street. A few seconds later, the man collapsed to the ground. From his trembling body and heavy breathing, he was clearly exhausted.

Adam hurried to the strange man’s side and examined his condition. Aside from the signs of fatigue, he had various small cuts and scrapes—consistent with someone who’d been running carelessly through a forest—but nothing worse.

“It’s nothing serious: as long as he gets proper rest, he should make a full recovery,” Adam announced to the gathering crowd.

The man suddenly reached up and grasped Adam’s hand with his own. “Wait!” he said hoarsely. “You have to listen… there are monsters, just…”

Out of the corner of his eye, Adam saw Lilith flinch slightly. He asked, “What monsters did you see? What were they doing?”

“They were… lamias… the ones with the snake tails…” the man gasped. “I was at the edge of the forest… saw them in the distance.”

Adam’s breath caught in his throat. It could only be the lamias that had devastated Idris. With the werewolves and arachnes eliminated from the forest, it seemed that the lamias had moved in.

And if they’re so close to a large town… they must be getting bold, Adam thought. Or they somehow learned of this town being short on defenders. Either way, it’s only a matter of time before they attack.

Adam confirmed that this was all the information the man had, then asked two bystanders to bring him to the church for treatment. He was then surrounded by the crowd, who were desperate for answers.

“First werewolves and now lamias—what should we do!?”

“Hey, you’re a hero, aren’t you? Can’t you defeat the lamias?”

“Don’t trust heroes! They say they’re here to save us, but they’re just here to eat our food and rape our daughters!”

“Don’t you dare insult a hero! That’s no different from insulting the Chief God!”

Not only were there too many questions to answer, but some of the townsfolk were actually on the verge of fighting. It was a great relief to Adam when the town guards arrived to disperse the crowd.

Once everything had settled down, Adam and Lilith returned to the inn. They rented a room so they could talk privately, leaving their unfinished lunch behind for the innkeeper to clear away.

“Sorry I stayed out of that,” Lilith said. “I, well, I still can’t deal with crowds of humans.”

“It’s fine, I had trouble with that crowd as well,” Adam said.

“More importantly… what are you going to do now?” Lilith asked. “Before we left the forest, you said you were going to recruit more allies here and continue acting as a hero. But from what you told me before—”

“Yes, the situation has changed,” Adam said. “All of the people here who are capable of fighting monsters are away. There’s just me and you… but you don’t have to—”

Lilith shook her head. “I do. You don’t have to worry: this is what I want. If anything, you’re the one who needs to rest, aren’t you? Isn’t that what the priest said to you?”

“…I’ll be fine,” Adam insisted. “And if it’s about Marcus and the others, you don’t have to—”

“That’s not why I want to do this—at least, it’s not the only reason,” Lilith said. “How should I explain this… alright, let me ask you one question: why do you want to be a hero?”

“Huh? I… well, when I was growing up I wanted to become a hero so I could protect humans from monsters,” Adam replied. “Obviously, this was before I met you and learned that the world is more complicated than that.”

“Thank you, but that’s not what I meant,” Lilith said. “Why do you want to be a hero, specifically? Why not be, say, a healer who treats injuries and leaves the fighting to other people? From what I’ve seen, you have the skill for that. Or any other job that doesn’t put you at risk of being killed and eaten by monsters?”

This was a much more difficult question, one that required Adam to spend the better part of a minute to answer.

“If I have to say why… well, I could say that it’s because there’s always a shortage of heroes, due to the high death rate, so I want to make up for it. But to be honest, I want to be a hero so I can fight monsters personally. I… wouldn’t be satisfied just sitting back in a safe place while others are fighting. It’s not rational… and I know it’s insulting to every person who doesn’t fight, since their jobs are no less important… but that’s why I’m a hero.”

This was something that Adam had only previously revealed to his late friends. He was therefore nervous at revealing it to someone who was a relative stranger. Fortunately, his fears were unfounded.

“It’s the same for me,” Lilith said. “I could have just kept myself disguised as a human and stayed far away from any other monsters. But I kept wandering around, fighting other monsters, because I wasn’t satisfied with just keeping myself safe. As long as there are monsters who see no problem with attacking and eating humans, it’s my responsibility to stop them.”

Adam raised an eyebrow. “That’s a never-ending task, there’s as many monsters like that as there are stars in the sky,”

“But that doesn’t stop you from fighting, does it?” Lilith said. “Nor does it stop any of the other heroes.”

“…That’s true,” Adam said, chuckling slightly.

“Anyway, I know that I can’t deal with every other monster by myself,” Lilith continued. “But I won’t run away when those monsters are right in front of me. That’s why I’m coming with you. I won’t let you fight on your own, especially not after what you’ve been through.”

These words reminded Adam again of his friends. Although their reasons were different, every single one of them had insisted on joining.

I never expected a succubus to say the same thing to me, though, Adam thought. It’s… unsettling, but not as much as when we first met.

After a few moments of thought, Adam said, “Alright. If you’re fine with someone like me, welcome aboard,” and held out his hand.

Lilith stared at the hand awkwardly, then said, “Sorry, I’m not sure what this gesture means.”

“Oh! Um… it’s used for various reasons, but here I’m using it to seal an agreement,” Adam explained. “Two people hold each other’s hands and shake them. It’s… well, it’s just called a ‘hand-shake’”.

“You learn something new every day…” Lilith muttered to herself. She shook Adam’s hand, using slightly more strength than needed. “More importantly, I accept!”

Working with a monster, for the express purpose of killing other monsters… it must be the first time in history that this has ever happened, Adam thought. If any of my colleagues, any other human were to hear of this, they would think I’ve fallen. But to me, it feels like my eyes have finally been opened.

Chapter Text

The next morning, they left Valeria and returned to the forest.

Adam, now wearing his armour again, said, “This should be far enough. At least, I can’t sense anyone nearby.”

“I can’t either… though there are some monsters that could theoretically be here and able to hide from us,” Lilith commented. “Though if there was a baphomet around here, we’d have much bigger problems… Anyway, time to fly.”

Lilith reverted to her succubus form and took to the air. She soon disappeared from view.

The plan was for Lilith to locate the lamias’ nest. A succubus in the air could scout much more effectively than a human on foot, and, in the worst-case scenario of her being discovered, she could quickly escape. It wasn’t without risk, since there was the chance of an archer or mage being present among the lamias, but it was the best option available.

In the meantime, Adam could only wait. This was something he was very familiar with: hero work didn’t consist solely of fighting monsters. On more than a dozen occasions, he’d had to set up an ambush. There were monsters in this world that were too powerful for Adam’s group to defeat in a fair fight. There were also monsters that preferred weak prey and would flee if faced with trained warriors.

John always hated those times, Adam thought. He accepted that they were necessary, but it didn’t stop him from complaining.

…I never thought the day would come when I would miss those complaints.

Adam shook his head. Now wasn’t the time to dwell on the past. And if he wanted to honour John’s memory, he ought to focus on training himself to avoid a repeat of the ill-fated battle with the werewolves.

While he waited for Lilith to return, Adam decided to train. He drew his sword and held it in front of him, such that the tip of the sword was just above the level of his eyes. He imagined a monster charging at him: a lamia, whipping its tail to propel itself so that it could tear him apart and feast on his flesh. Then he stepped forward and slashed, cutting through the lamia’s flank, through the muscles connected to the tail. He ducked, avoiding a retaliatory swipe from the lamia’s claws. Finally, he stepped forward once more and decapitated his foe.

Adam repeated this process, each time trying out a different approach against the imaginary lamia. Once he’d exhausted all the possibilities he could think of, he moved on to other types of monsters. The harpy was the most troublesome opponent: though it was fragile enough that only one strike was needed to take it down, its speed and agility made it a formidable threat, even in a cluttered environment like this forest. After going through the simulated battle six times, Adam concluded that he had a low chance of defeating a harpy, due to being alone and having no means of ranged attack. If he was genuinely attacked by a harpy, his best option would be to retreat into the dense undergrowth and wait for the harpy to lose interest.

No wonder my trainers always told me that having allies is crucial, Adam thought. Now, what monster should I try next? Another flyer?

Adam imagined another type of flying monster, one that was slower than a harpy but compensated for this with greater intelligence and magical prowess. Moreover, their magic focused on disrupting their victim’s heart and mind. Fighting such an opponent would be troublesome, but Adam needed to think of ways to do so, as—

Adam’s sword slipped from his hands. He quickly snatched it up again, but this did nothing to quell his shock. He then sat down on a log and took several measured breaths.

I thought I’d already managed to get used to working with her… it seems that two decades of being taught that monsters are evil isn’t something I can escape that easily.

A few minutes of anguished thinking later, Adam heard the sound of flapping wings. He looked up to see Lilith descending through the canopy. The succubus landed next to him.

“I found them,” Lilith said. “They’re about four hundred paces east of here, using a cave for their nest. I only saw one of them outside the cave, the rest were sleeping inside, but from the number of tracks I saw, there’s about six in total. And… I saw one of them throwing away some human bones.”

“…I see,” Adam said. “Even if there are no more lamias beyond what you saw, they’re still too much for the two of us to deal with.”

“Yeah… when I first saw the cave, I wondered if it would be possible to collapse it while all the lamias are inside,” Lilith continued. “But they wouldn’t have chosen a cave that was unstable. With just our power, we wouldn’t be able to collapse it before they notice and escape.”

The two of them discussed various options for slaying the lamias. All of them proved to be impractical. Some of them, like the proposal to start a forest fire around the lamias’ nest, had the additional problem of causing collateral damage even if they succeeded.

In the end, it turns out that it’s hopeless to try to defeat a group of monsters with just two people, Adam thought. We just can’t…

Wait, ‘people’?

Adam glanced at his succubus companion again. Her form was clearly different from that of a human, yet at this moment, she was just as lost as he was.

That’s right… I mustn’t forget that monsters are people as well. And because of that… perhaps I could try strategies that would normally be used against humans?

“Lilith?” Adam said. “Do you remember the harpies I told you about earlier?”

“The ones that attacked the same village as the lamias?” Lilith replied.

“Yes… I think that we might be able to use them,” Adam said. “We can’t defeat the lamias with just the two of us… so why don’t we ‘borrow’ the help of other monsters? We could kill two birds with one stone—that is, we could solve two problems with the same action.”

Lilith’s eyes widened. “That… could work. How many harpies did you see back then?”

“If my memories are correct, about a dozen of them,” Adam replied.

“In that case, if we could somehow get the two groups in the same place at the same time, they should fight each other,” Lilith said. “Harpies don’t normally try to contest other monsters for territory, but with that much of a numerical advantage… Though getting them in the same place won’t be easy. And even if it works, there’s still… Either way, first we need to find out where the harpies are.”

“Will you be alright?” Adam asked. “Tracking lamias is one thing, but tracking other flying monsters—”

“I understand why you’re worried, but I should be fine,” Lilith said. “I’ve dealt with other flying monsters before.”

In the end, despite his misgivings, Adam had to let Lilith go out again. Exploiting the harpies was their best option in this situation—which showed just how dire the situation was, as this option still came with considerable risk.

And if Adam was honest with himself, he was glad that Lilith was gone. After what he’d imagined during training… it was difficult to face her.

-ooo-

Lilith flew through the sky above the forest canopy, holding her spear in her left hand. Numerous birds shared the sky with her. Normally, these birds would have been disturbed by a monster passing by. They were only calm because Lilith had hidden herself with an illusion that reduced her apparent size, making her appear no larger than any of the birds.

Though this isn’t perfect, Lilith thought. Especially not against harpies, with their sharp eyesight. I just have to hope that I see them before they see me.

Now, where could they be? Time to review what I know.

First, harpies nest in high places. They have no fear of heights at all. And the higher their nest, the safer it is from attack. That narrows down the list of possible locations. If they’re nesting in this forest, they’ll be in one of the tallest trees. If they’re nesting somewhere else, they’ll be on the summit of a tall hill or mountain.

Second, harpies are extremely mobile, so their idea of a ‘convenient distance’ is different from everyone else’s. They don’t need to live close to water or food or any other resource. For the same reason, they don’t care about rugged terrain that would be a hindrance to most other monsters or to humans. That… increases the list of possibilities.

No, wait, that’s not quite accurate. They do care about rugged terrain, since it also makes it more difficult for others to attack their nest.

Alright. Taking all this into consideration, where would the harpies be?

Lilith spent over two hours searching. Even with her knowledge of harpy psychology, it was still an arduous task to search such a big area. It didn’t help that she couldn’t fully put herself into the mindset of a harpy: while harpies and succubi were both flying monsters, the latter were much weaker fliers and spent most of their time on the ground. By the time she finally found her target, the sun had reached its zenith and Lilith was sweating in the heat.

In the distance, Lilith spotted a moving blur that was considerably larger than any bird. She immediately began to descend—though she was careful to do so gradually, to avoid attracting attention. She landed on a branch, altered her illusion so that it now camouflaged her against the foliage, and continued observing.

The blur moved around the area at a leisurely pace: the behaviour of something, or someone, searching for food. Eventually, it started moving in Lilith’s direction.

Lilith pressed herself against the trunk of the tree. She clutched her spear tightly, ready to fight in case she was discovered.

A harpy flew overhead. It had dark brown plumage and a wingspan that was twice its height. What drew Lilith’s attention the most were the sharp talons: designed for the purpose of tearing apart humans, they were equally threatening to a relatively fragile monster like a succubus.

Lilith remained in her hiding place until she could no longer detect the harpy at all. Then, careful not to make any noise, she descended to the forest floor and headed in the direction of where she’d first seen the harpy.

Lilith spent half an hour on foot, during which she traversed two hills and a stream. She eventually encountered more signs of harpy presence: avian droppings too large to have been made by normal birds, large brown feathers matted with filth. Following these signs, she reached an enormous tree, one that seemed to touch the clouds. Harpies flew to and from the tree’s upper branches.

Lilith spent ten minutes watching the harpy nest. She observed a total of fifteen harpies, which would also be the entirety of the flock: harpies, like many monsters, didn’t care for their young, so there wouldn’t be any chicks in the nest. She noticed that the incoming harpies were carrying loads in their talons. However, the distance prevented Lilith from discerning if these loads were humans. Unfortunately, Lilith didn’t know any magic that could improve her vision, and it would be suicidal to climb a tree for a better view.

After gathering as much information as she could, Lilith began to return. Along the way, she thought about the plan.

With this many harpies, it should work. We just have to trick them into fighting the lamias. One side will eventually win, but they’ll be so weakened that the two of us can finish them off.

As she walked, Lilith thought about how lucky she was to encounter a hero who was willing—eventually—to work with her. If she was still alone, she wouldn’t have been able to achieve feats like this.

And there was another advantage to this situation. By using her looks and her magic, both tailored specifically to beguile human men, she could break down the hero’s resistance and make him her puppet. She could use his knowledge and connections to infiltrate the Order and weaken it from the inside, by corrupting and assassinating key individuals. She could—

Lilith dug her fingernails into her palm with enough force to draw blood.

No…. I won’t. I won’t do anything like that. I am not like other monsters.

After taking several deep breaths, Lilith continued moving. She took to the air once she was a safe distance from the harpy nest. It took a few more minutes to return to where Adam was waiting.

The hero had prepared lunch from their rations and various forest plants, so they ate while Lilith told him everything she’d learned. After lunch, they settled on their plan. They needed to be quick: they had only a few hours before the sun set and the lamias all woke up, which would force them to postpone the plan to the next day.

First, Lilith needed to conduct a test. She pressed her palms together for over ten seconds: a posture that had no inherent meaning, but she often used it when she was casting magic that required intense concentration. She then thrust her palms forward, conjuring up four illusions of humans: translucent at first, but after a few seconds they were opaque and—to her eyes at least—indistinguishable from the real thing. Each of the illusions was armed with a spear or an axe.

“That’s all I can manage while making them look realistic,” Lilith said. “And I still have trouble with voices: I can make them shout and scream, but they won’t be able to form coherent words.”

“That should be fine for what we need them to do,” Adam said. “But do you have enough energy for this?”

Lilith lowered her hands and dismissed the illusion. “When the time comes, I’ll be able to maintain this illusion for roughly a minute, that should be enough. But when I combine the cost of that and the cost of hiding myself from the harpies… I won’t be able to do much afterwards. It’ll be up to you to take care of the ones who are left.”

“I can handle that,” Adam said.

Lilith nodded and took to the air once more, this time carrying Adam. She deposited him near the lamia nest, then continued flying towards the harpy nest. She was careful to maintain a low altitude, such that she was practically skimming the canopy. When she spotted a harpy again, she descended to the ground, camouflaged herself and then recast the illusion of human travellers.

It took about thirty seconds for the harpy to spot the illusion. Upon doing so, the harpy reduced its speed and began flying in small circles. They spent several seconds looking at the illusion, then flew away in the direction of their nest.

It… worked, Lilith thought. Now… just have to hope that the next part goes as planned.

Lilith dismissed the illusion and flew back towards the lamia nest. She landed in a nearby tree, concealed herself and began to wait.

Around twenty minutes later, Lilith heard a raucous cacophony: the birds and other forest animals were all calling at once. It didn’t take a scholar to recognise that their calls were fearful. Behind her, Lilith heard the sounds of scales sliding over earth: it seemed that the lamias had also noticed the commotion. Lilith took this as her cue to recast the illusion.

The harpies burst into view. There were fifteen of them: it seemed that all of the flock was eager to taste human flesh.

Lilith manipulated the illusion, causing the apparent humans to turn towards the harpies, cry out in shock, and then flee… in the direction of the lamia nest.

The harpies dived in pursuit of the illusory humans, moving as fast as arrows. Just before they reached their targets, Lilith dismissed the illusion, causing the harpies to fly through empty air and end up right in front of the lamias.

My part… is done, Lilith thought. Now… I can only leave it up to him.

The two groups of monsters were both shocked at each other’s presence. At first, there was a confusing mess of voices that made it impossible for Lilith to hear what was being said. However, it wasn’t long before the largest harpy and the largest lamia shouted for their respective groups to settle down. These were undoubtedly the leaders: power was the main determinant of leadership in monsters, and for the vast majority of monster races, power was correlated with size. Additionally, judging from their body shapes, both of the leaders were female.

The lamia leader slithered forward and declared, “This is our territory. Get out, and stay out, if you value your lives.”

“So you’re the ones who cleaned out that human village near here?” the harpy leader asked.

“We are, what of it?” the lamia leader replied.

“Then it’s your fault that we haven’t tasted human in months!” the harpy leader shouted, accompanied by angry screeches from her fellows.

“Your failures have nothing to do with us!” the lamia leader shouted back. “If you want humans, why don’t you visit that town over there? Or are you too weak to even do that?”

The harpy leader shook with anger at these words. “Weak? I’ll show you just how weak we are! Once we take your territory, we’ll have all of the humans to ourselves!”

Letting out war cries, the harpies and lamias clashed.

The next minute was a chaotic flurry of feathers, scales and blood. A lamia crushed a harpy in their coils, only for a second harpy to land on their back and slice their throat. Two harpies worked together to inflict fatal wounds on a lamia, but the lamia used the last of their strength to smash them with their tail.

Then there were the two leaders. They fought more skilfully than their subordinates: the harpy leader dodging most attacks, the lamia leader blocking them. But eventually, the lamia leader clipped her opponent’s wing with a strike from her tail. The harpy leader slowed down, allowing the lamia leader to grab her and immediately snap her neck.

By this point, there was only one harpy remaining. They fled after seeing the death of their leader. However, the lamia leader coiled her tail around a large rock and threw it into the air, striking down the harpy.

“That’s the last of them!” the lamia leader said. She looked around and grimaced, likely because there was only one other lamia left alive.

Then Adam made his entrance. He emerged from his hiding place in the nearby bushes and walked up to the lamias.

“A hero?” the lamia leader hissed. “Then… the harpies coming here, that was you!?”

Adam didn’t say a word in response.

“Damn you… if it wasn’t for you!”

Both surviving lamias charged at Adam, swinging their claws and muscular tails.

In a single motion, Adam dodged the attacks and decapitated the lamia leader. The surviving lamia froze at the sight, an opening that allowed Adam to finish them off as well.

He defeated both of them… so easily? No wonder the others always taught me… to be careful around heroes…

On top of that… working together, the two of us were able to defeat two groups of monsters. But neither of us is all that strong… not in the grand scheme of things. If humans and monsters could work together, what could we achieve?

…No, that’s just wishful thinking. Now… I really need to rest.

Lilith tried to return to the ground by jumping down and using her wings to slow her fall. If she was in her normal condition, it would have been an easy task. Due to her current state of exhaustion, she made a mistake in the landing. However, a firm hand grasped her shoulder, keeping her from falling over.

“Are you alright?” Adam asked. Despite his gentle tone of voice, he seemed to be straining to look her in the eye: presumably, it was still difficult for a hero to be friendly with a monster.

“I’m… fine,” Lilith replied. “I just need some sleep. More importantly, are you alright? You’re the one who actually had to fight them.”

“I’m fine as well, it wasn’t that difficult since they were already wounded and exhausted,” Adam replied. He helped Lilith walk over to a nearby log so she could sit down. “Anyway, I need to collect their heads as proof.”

Lilith watched Adam walk over to the corpses, remove the harpy leader’s head, and place it and the lamia leader’s head into bags. While he performed this grisly work, Lilith chewed on some of the remaining rations.

“You know, until now I never thought about trying to turn monsters against each other, even though I did know that they’re often chaotic and disorganised,” Adam said. “I thought… I suppose I thought that their common hatred of humans would stop them from truly fighting each other.”

“Don’t blame yourself… it’s hard to understand just how chaotic monsters are until you’ve had to live among us,” Lilith said. “In my case, I had thought of this strategy before, but I could never do it by myself… if any of the monsters managed to survive, just like now, they would have killed me.”

“A human and monster working together… it still sounds strange to me, and yet the two of us were able to do something incredible,” Adam said.

Lilith blinked in surprise. “I was thinking the exact same thing.”

Adam laughed—but in a manner that was pleasant rather than mocking. “It seems we have more in common than I first thought.”

For some reason, Lilith felt her cheeks grow warm.

Chapter Text

Adam knelt down in the bushes. He checked to confirm that he was well-hidden, then turned his eyes to the lake in front of him.

To the untrained eye, the lake would appear calm and peaceful: water glistening in the light of the afternoon sun, birds diving into the water to catch fish, countless insects buzzing in the air. But to an experienced hero like Adam, there was clearly something wrong with the scene. Specifically, there was a small patch of water that, no matter how long he watched, was never approached by any of the animals.

“There’s definitely a monster here,” Adam murmured.

“And they’re good at hiding, too,” Lilith said. She was currently in her human form. “I couldn’t sense their demonic energy at all until I got this close. Even here, it’s very faint.”

“Still, it looks like it—they couldn’t control their hunger,” Adam said. “They must be devouring every animal that gets close, causing the rest to avoid them. Anyway, now that we’ve found them, time to lure them out.”

First, Adam held out a torch for Adam to ignite with magic. He then picked up a stone and threw it at the unnatural patch of water. The “water” rose up and spilled over the lake’s edge. Upon touching the earth, it formed a large blue blob roughly equal in mass to a bear. The blob had no defined shape, instead constantly shifting and stretching.

This was a slime: an amorphous monster composed entirely of blue liquid. They were relatively common and also relatively dangerous, as most weapons were useless against a monster with no blood to spill, no bones to break and no organs to crush. They were capable of engulfing a grown man and dissolving him until there was nothing left but bones. This particular slime had already devoured three humans.

After leaving the lake, the slime flowed towards Adam at a speed surprising for a monster with no legs. Before it could reach him, a fireball flew past Adam and struck the slime head-on. Steam filled the air, accompanied by a sizzling sound and an acrid smell.

The slime had lost nearly half of its mass to the attack, but it did not retreat. It flattened itself to the ground, presumably to make itself a smaller target, then extended a tendril towards Adam.

Adam deflected the tendril with his torch, at the same time raising his shield to block any splashing droplets. Then Lilith took flight and shot down a second fireball, boiling away most of the slime’s remaining substance. Only a small blue puddle was left.

Adam cautiously approached the puddle, then prodded it with the torch, but there was no reaction beyond some of the liquid boiling away. His training was indeed correct: slimes had a minimum mass that was needed to stay alive, and below this mass they were no more than inanimate liquid. Adam took out a small glass vial and scooped up some of the liquid.

With their mission complete, the two of them walked away from the lake.

It had been two weeks since Adam and Lilith had first met. They had left Valeria and begun travelling across the country. This was the third time they had taken a mission to kill a monster, or group of monsters.

They soon arrived at a nearby village. It was small, with a population of less than two hundred. There were few agricultural fields nearby, as the land in this area was not fertile enough to support most crops. Instead, there were numerous nets and fishing lines lying around, the sign of a village that depended on fishing. None of these tools showed signs of being used recently. It was only natural: a slime may have been vulnerable to fire, but a few torches would not be enough to kill it.

Even the weakest monsters were too dangerous for the average human to fight. This was why the Chief God created heroes, humans with divine blessings that made them strong enough to fight monsters on equal terms.

Adam and Lilith walked through the main street. They passed between buildings with storm damage that had barely been repaired. They passed by people whose bodies were unhealthily thin, though not yet to the point where it would cause permanent damage—that, at least, was something to be thankful for.

In the centre of the village was a wrinkled old man: the village chief. Despite looking as if he’d seen more than sixty winters, he was standing tall and overseeing the repair of one of the houses.

Adam approached the chief and, holding up the vial, said, “We have completed the mission. The slime is dead and the lake is again safe.”

The chief took the vial and tilted it. The liquid within flowed slowly: few things were as viscous as the substance of slime monsters. The chief then nodded, a gesture that caused the surrounding villagers to cheer.

“Thank you for your service,” the chief said, handing back the vial. “Still, these are troubling times. Even though there is no Demon Lord at present, monsters continue to be a plague on humanity. And there are rumours of other things… the last trader to pass through spoke of a village whose people had all been killed, yet their bodies had all been given a respectful burial.”

“That incident, can you tell me more about that?” Adam asked.

“Unfortunately, that is all I know—the trader was himself terrified and didn’t stay in the village for long,” the chief said. “More importantly, your reward—”

“There is no need for an excessive reward,” Adam said quickly. “All we ask is a meal and lodging for the night. We’ll be on our way tomorrow.”

These words elicited another cheer from the surrounding villagers.

The chief blinked, then bowed his head. “Thank you—on behalf of my village, I cannot thank you enough for this. It’s reassuring to see someone who embodies the virtue of generosity to such an extent. Please, allow me to offer you my own house as lodging.”

For a moment, Adam wondered whether he should accept the offer or ask for another, more private building. The former option would make it difficult to talk with his partner. On the other hand, asking for other accommodations would be selfish and potentially arouse suspicion. He eventually decided to accept.

The chief led the two to his house, which wasn’t much larger than the houses of the ordinary villagers. He led them inside and to a guest room. This was also a simple affair: two beds with straw mattresses and pillows, and a table with an oil lamp. However, it was practically a luxury to people who spent much of their time sleeping out in the wilderness. After showing them to their room, the chief left.

Adam and Lilith each put down their baggage and selected a bed. They then began to discuss the strange news they’d just heard.

“It doesn’t make any sense,” Lilith said. “There are many different kinds of monsters, with many different ways of attacking humans: eating them whole, eating only specific organs, drinking blood, or… the method that my kind use. But none of them would take the time to bury their victims.”

“Indeed,” Adam said. “And neither would human attackers, for that matter…”

They continued talking about this topic for over an hour. By the end, the most plausible explanation they could think of was that the massacre had been exaggerated by the trader, or it was simply a complete lie.

Evening arrived. The two of them left the chief’s house to join in on a feast. To celebrate the killing of the slime, the villagers brought out what had to be most of their remaining stored food. There was trout, catfish, pike, salmon and a dozen other types of fish that Adam couldn’t name, cooked and seasoned with various herbs.

During the feast, Adam was repeatedly approached by villagers who wished to thank him personally. This happened frequently enough that Adam had to be careful when he was eating, lest he find himself with a mouth full of food while trying to answer the villagers. However, Adam wasn’t annoyed at all by this minor inconvenience. Rather, it was times like this that gave him the will to do his duty, to continue fighting against monsters that could kill him with a single lucky blow.

Whenever he had a free moment, Adam checked on Lilith. She was also the recipient of the villagers’ thanks, despite her own best efforts to appear inconspicuous. She initially deflected them with replies such as “Just doing my job” and “It was no problem”, but over time she was able to hold brief conversations. There was one occasion when Adam had to intervene, when Lilith had trouble answering questions about her past. Still, she had definitely gotten better at interacting with humans.

After the feast, they returned to their room in the chief’s house. They were both too full to go to sleep immediately, so they sat on their beds and talked. They didn’t bother turning on the lamp, as the darkness wasn’t a problem for a hero trained for night fighting or a monster.

“I’ve noticed that you’ve been taking proof from each of the monsters we’ve killed,” Lilith said. “From what you’ve told me, you didn’t do that before.”

“That? Well, it actually started because of an issue in Valeria,” Adam replied. “A few months ago, there was a hero there who abused his position, to make merchants sell to him at unfair discounts and to coerce women into sleeping with him. That led the townspeople to distrust heroes, so I decided to bring proof of my kills when taking a mission from there. Since then… I suppose it’s just become a habit for me.”

“It just sounds foolish to me,” Lilith said. “I could understand if it was just someone pretending to be a hero, but you’re telling me that this was an actual hero, who must’ve fought monsters personally. He should’ve known how dangerous monsters can be, and that abusing his position would weaken human society, making it easy prey for monsters. But after the things I’ve seen… I have no problem believing it.”

“I think it’s because, well, most people don’t think in the long term,” Adam said. “If you’re not sure if you’ll have enough to eat tomorrow, why would you care about what happens a year from now? And while that specific problem doesn’t apply to heroes, we do have the problem of being more powerful than other humans thanks to the blessings of the Chief God. It can… lead some of our number to think they deserve more than others.”

There were a few moments of silence.

Eventually, Lilith responded, lowering her voice to a whisper, “You know, I used to look up to humans. I saw your kind as being much better than monsters, able to work with each other without needing a Demon Lord to force them. Then I left home and entered human territory and… realised how stupid I was. You can laugh if you want.”

“I won’t, because when I was a child, I used to think the same thing,” Adam whispered back. “The Order teaches that humans must be unified in order to stand strong against monsters. When I grew up, I saw, time and time again, that reality wasn’t that simple. And I should have seen it sooner… in the orphanage where I grew up, there were children who’d been abandoned by their parents, and it wasn’t uncommon for the children to bully each other. But I didn’t realise what it meant back then…”

“So… we’ve both been idiots, then?” Lilith said. “Is that what we take away from this?”

This time, Adam couldn’t help but laugh. “That’s one way to look at it. But a better message might be that humans and monsters aren’t so different. Even if that’s because we share the same flaws.”

“Hmm… it’s still an uncomfortable message, due to the reason behind it, but I agree that it’s better than the other one,” Lilith said. “Anyway, it’s getting late. We’d better get to sleep soon.”

“Yeah, I’m starting to feel sleepy as well. Goodnight.”

“Goodnight.”

Adam closed his eyes and relaxed his body. Soon, he heard Lilith’s breathing shift into the characteristic rhythm of sleep.

Looking at it objectively, this was a bizarre situation. A hero sleeping in the same room as a succubus without trying to kill her, and the succubus not trying to assault him. But after two weeks, Adam no longer felt anything wrong about the situation.

-ooo-

The next morning, Adam and Lilith left the chief’s house. As they walked through the village, they saw the villagers picking up their tools and heading out towards the lake. All were happy at being able to engage in their livelihoods again. As in the previous night, the villagers thanked the hero and disguised succubus whenever they saw them.

They fetched their two horses from a small pasture on the outskirts of the village. These horses had originally been bought in Valeria and were kept at this pasture during their mission here.

After leaving the village, the pair decided to ride towards the west, the direction of the Ataraca Desert. This was an immense region of barren sand and rock that few humans inhabited. For this reason, the Order rarely bothered to send heroes or any other troops there. However, monsters were much better at withstanding the harsh conditions, and thus were a major threat to the few humans willing to brave the desert. It was a region sorely in need of help.

For three days, the hero and succubus travelled across the plains without encountering any problems. They rarely needed to tap into their packed rations: with their combined skills, they could easily live off the land. However, on the third day, this peace was broken.

Adam and Lilith were sitting around a campfire, waiting for their dinner to finish cooking: rabbits and a kind of wild tuber that Adam didn’t know the name of, but which tasted delicious. The horses were tied to a nearby tree.

Suddenly, Lilith snatched up her spear. Adam didn’t know what had alerted her, but he similarly drew his sword.

“What direction?” Adam asked.

Lilith frowned, then replied, “At least two directions, in front and behind us. Not sure about their numbers.

Without saying anything else, the two of them positioned themselves with their backs to each other.

In this terrain, there’s a wide range of monsters that could be present, Adam thought. Minotaurs, centaurs, slimes, the various kinds of insect monsters… all need different tactics to combat them.

Almost an entire minute passed. Then Adam heard the distinctive twang of bowstrings. He quickly raised his arm to shield his face. Many arrows flew in from all directions. Those aimed at Adam bounced off his armour. Unfortunately, Lilith wasn’t wearing armour, and she cried out in pain.

“Lilith!”

“I’m fine! Just—fight!”

Two men burst from the darkness in front of Adam: one wielding an axe, the other a short spear, both wearing rough clothes but no armour. They charged with clear intent to kill.

But they were no match for a hero. Adam dealt with the spear-user first, slashing his sword with enough strength to cut both the spear and the man in half. The axe-user froze in fear after seeing his ally fall so quickly. Adam took this opportunity to cut him down as well.

After taking out the immediate threats, Adam turned back towards Lilith to examine her condition. He was immediately struck by a wave of magic that filled him with drowsiness, which he immediately recognised as sleep magic. He bit his lip, using the pain to clear his head and allow him to keep standing.

Fortunately, the attackers—the bandits were in an even worse condition. Two of them were lying on the ground near Lilith, soundly snoring. And judging from the fact that no more arrows were being fired, Lilith had also managed to affect the archers.

Adam sheathed his sword and hurried over to Lilith. She was on her knee and had two injuries. One was a large scratch on her left arm, caused by a grazing shot. The other was much more serious: an arrow had embedded itself in her abdomen.

Calm down, Adam urged himself. Remember your training. An abdominal wound can be dangerous if an organ is damaged. A damaged liver or kidney will bleed profusely, a damaged stomach or bowel will leak its contents and cause infection. And I can’t heal organ damage… No, I need to focus on the things that I can do.

“Lilith, how do you feel?” Adam asked.

“It… doesn’t hurt that much,” Lilith replied. “Sorry… for hitting you with the spell as well.”

“That’s fine.”

“Anyway… I should be alright, as long as you take the arrow out and heal the wound,” Lilith continued.

“I could do that, but if there’s a barbed arrowhead, it would do more damage when I pull it out,” Adam said. “Hold on a second—”

Looking around, Adam spotted one of the arrows that had missed and hit the ground. He pulled it up and examined the point. Fortunately, the wooden shaft had simply been sharpened to a point rather than being equipped with an arrowhead: the bandits must not have been able to buy or make anything better.

Adam returned to Lilith, grasped the embedded arrow and slowly pulled. During the process, Lilith clenched her teeth and didn’t make a sound. The arrow finally came out, along with a jet of red blood.

Next, Adam placed his hand on the wound to stem the bleeding temporarily. He examined the arrow: luckily, there was no trace of gut contents. Putting down the arrow, he then held both his hands over the wound and began the healing spell. A few splinters of wood floated out of the wound, then the flesh started knitting together.

“It was stupid to try fighting when I’m a succubus,” Lilith said.

“What?” Adam said. “That’s not true—”

“Most monsters would treat arrows like mosquito bites,” Lilith insisted, “and slimes wouldn’t even notice them. Back before I met you… there were several times when I almost got killed.”

“Perhaps, but then those other monsters would also envy the magical talent that succubi have,” Adam retorted. “And now we’re working together, making us far stronger than when we’re alone. If I were on my own, I wouldn’t have been able to defeat these bandits.”

“You don’t have to lie to make me feel better—”

“If I were on my own, I probably wouldn’t have noticed the bandits before they attacked,” Adam insisted. “And even if I did notice, they would have a decent chance of defeating me. I’m stronger than any one of them, and better equipped, but the advantage of numbers should never be underestimated. On top of that, I’m trained to fight monsters, whereas they clearly have experience against their fellow humans.”

Lilith lowered her head. “That’s true. But, now that you bring that up… what are we going to do about them?”

Adam finished the healing. He looked towards the still-sleeping bandits, and his expression hardened.

“Good question. To answer that… I should explain that while I was trained to fight monsters, my teachers were also aware that I might eventually encounter human opponents. They therefore trained me to also be capable of dealing with them.”

Adam took a deep breath, drew his sword, and continued his explanation.

“These bandits… it would be impractical for just the two of us to transport them elsewhere for judgement. A small village, like the one we recently left, wouldn’t be able to deal with this many criminals, but there are no larger villages or towns close to here. And even if we could transport them… in human society, they would be sentenced to either a life of hard labour or, well, to execution.”

“You don’t have to say anything more,” Lilith said. “Besides… it would be hypocritical for me to object, after what I’ve been doing to other monsters.”

Adam nodded, then walked over to one of the sleeping bandits. The man had short fair hair and stubble of the same colour, and wore a grey shirt and brown pants. In short, he looked perfectly ordinary.

With one swing of his sword, Adam brought an end to the bandit’s life. With another swing, he did the same to the second bandit.

By now, Lilith had recovered enough to walk, so she accompanied Adam and showed him the positions of the archers. There were six in total.

Six more humans that Adam killed.

Once it was finished, they dug a mass grave and dumped all ten bodies in. They then moved over to their horses, which had become skittish after the recent battle, and Lilith used her magic to calm them. Finally, they returned to the campfire and ate their dinner: it was slightly overcooked due to the lack of attention, but still edible.

As he ate, Adam cleaned the blood off his sword. Even now, the weapon shook in his hands.

Hypocritical… that’s the right way to describe it. But I can’t stop this from doing what I must. Not after all the monsters I’ve killed, for crimes that aren’t so different.

If only there was a better way…

AN: Just to clarify, the Ataraca Desert is the same as the “desert region” referred to in the source material, I just gave it an official name.

Chapter Text

AN: I originally planned on having this and the next chapter together, but I split them since they cover two different events.

It took two weeks for Adam and Lilith to reach the desert. They spent the days riding and the nights training. The focus of this training was to shore up their weak points: Adam taught Lilith melee combat, while she taught him magical combat.

By the fifth day, they were in a landscape with no trees, just scraggly shrubs and short, tough grass. The water bodies were few and far between. And although the days were hot, the nights were cold, forcing them to huddle around the campfire.

On the eighth day, they came across a small village, one that was at the very edge of the Order’s influence. Here they traded their horses for camels, as it was increasingly difficult to find suitable grass for horses. They also bought rations and various other supplies needed for the desert.

By the twelfth day, there were no shrubs and even the grass was limited to a few scattered clumps. Adam had to stop wearing his armour, as it was now too hot even with his enhanced physique.

Finally, they reached the point where there wasn’t a blade of grass in sight. From horizon to horizon, there were only sand dunes and gravel beds. Naturally, there was no animal in sight either, not even a rat or insect. The heat was ferocious: the air hurt to breathe, and the ground burned their feet if they tried to step on it directly.

“It’s a good thing we bought these clothes,” Adam said. On top of his usual clothing, he was now wearing a sort of long tunic that covered his limbs and a piece of cloth that covered his head. Both were white in colour to reflect the sun’s rays.

“Yeah… if we hadn’t, I’d have already melted,” Lilith said, fanning herself. She was wearing similar clothing. “My village… was far to the north of here… so it’s a lot colder there.”

“It’s much hotter than I’m used to as well,” Adam said. “Still, we made the decision to come here, so we should follow through with it.”

“Hah… sure,” Lilith said. “Anyway, according to the last village… the next one should be about two more days’ travel.”

“And before we reach that, there should be an oasis,” Adam finished.

They continued riding. The desert heat grew even more oppressive over time. It wasn’t long before Adam had to cast a spell over the two of them that would help keep them cool. It was a drain on his spirit energy reserves, making him weaker if he later needed to fight. On the other hand, neither of them would be able to fight at all if they were roasted by the sun.

About three hours after they’d entered the desert, they encountered the first native animal. As they passed by a dune, Lilith spotted a tiny lizard in the shadow of the dune. It was poking its head out of the sand, but withdrew just as Lilith pointed it out to Adam.

So there is some life around here, Adam thought. I wonder how something so frail can survive in such a harsh environment? The villagers back there said that the desert—or at least this region of it—receives rain just once a year.

They continued on, and came across more and more signs of life. There was a small bush with thorny branches and few leaves, with countless tiny insects clinging to it. In the shade of a rock was a strange sort of insect: it resembled a spider, but with a pair of pincers and a tail tipped with a stinger. Scattered among the dunes were clumps of short grass, one of which contained the nest of a small bird.

Soon, the reason for this change became apparent: the oasis. In the middle of the desert, there was nevertheless a large pool of lifegiving water. The shores of the pool were covered in grass, shrubs and even trees. Birds flew through the air, insects buzzed in the vegetation, and fish could be seen swimming in the water.

Adam and Lilith dismounted their camels. Without needing to be led, the desert animals walked over to the oasis and began grazing and drinking.

“Even after being told about it, it still seems strange to see water in the middle of all… this,” Adam said.

Lilith drank all of her remaining water in one gulp. “I’m just glad we came across water. I was only a few minutes away from shrivelling up.”

Adam headed for the oasis, wanting to take a drink from it directly. The sight of mere water had never before been so enticing.

Suddenly, he felt a spike of demonic energy from the sand before his feet. He leaped back and drew his sword.

Three figures burst from the sand. Adam slashed horizontally at the nearest of them, causing it to fall backwards. In the distance, he noted that the camels were running away, then pushed that thought aside to focus on the bigger problem.

It’s not unusual for monsters to hide in a place like this, where travellers would rest, Adam thought. But why couldn’t we sense them!? Wait—

The monster Adam had attacked stood upright again, ignoring the large gash on their chest… a gash that did not bleed. All three monsters were humanoid in form, but the resemblance ended there: their skin was the colour of dried blood, bony spikes protruded from their flesh, and their mouths were full of sharp teeth.

“Undead!” Adam shouted. “Lilith, burn the—”

Lilith must have already started casting, because at that very instant a fireball struck one of the undead. It went down in flames, but that left two more. Adam threw himself at a second undead, using his shield to knock it back. Nearby, he heard Lilith engage the third undead.

The undead was a difficult opponent. Though it had the size and shape of a human, it was much stronger and faster. It fought in the same bestial manner as most monsters, with rapid and unpredictable strikes. And Adam had used up much of his energy protecting against the heat: he could keep up with the undead for now, but a prolonged battle would be dangerous. Sooner or later, his guard would fail, and since he wasn’t wearing his armour, it would only take one good strike to bring him down.

Undead don’t need blood, or any of their organs besides their brain, Adam thought. They also don’t feel pain… but they’re not invincible. They still need their muscles and bones to move, and they’re vulnerable to fire and… to holy power.

Adam raised his shield to deflect a swipe from the undead.

That spell may work… Before, I couldn’t cast this spell in combat, but after our recent training, I might be able to manage it!

With another shield bash, Adam knocked the undead back.

But I can’t use that, not while Lilith’s around. She could get seriously hurt. In that case, I’ll have to use brute force.

Adam blocked an attack, then swung the pommel of his sword at the undead’s neck. He missed, but still managed to hit the shoulder, producing a loud crack.

The undead didn’t flinch or scream, instead continuing to attack Adam relentlessly. But a lack of pain couldn’t compensate for one of its arms now being dead weight.

Adam swung his sword at the undead’s neck, aiming to decapitate it—

“Watch out!”

There was a blur of motion from the left. Straining his muscles, Adam redirected his attack so that it hit the newcomer instead. A charred corpse, head separate from the rest, fell to the ground.

Wait—isn’t that the one Lilith set on fire!? How could it still—

There wasn’t time for Adam to consider this mystery. The undead with the broken shoulder attacked, knocking Adam to the ground.

Adam quickly rolled to his side, avoiding a strike that would have split his head. He then kicked the undead to make it stagger, creating an opportunity for him to get back on his feet.

The undead charged again, only to be hit by a spell. This wasn’t another fireball: it was instead a mass of ice shards and chilling fog, which froze part of the undead’s torso and hindered its movement. Adam was surprised by the change in element, but not enough to keep him from finishing off his opponent.

Adam looked around and saw the third undead on the ground, frozen and with its head shattered. Then Lilith landed and folded her wings.

“Are you alright?” Lilith asked.

“I’m fine, thanks for the help,” Adam replied.

“Hold on a minute, I just need to bring the camels back,” Lilith said.

The succubus took off, leaving Adam behind. He pulled out a cloth and began cleaning his sword of ash and dried flesh. When he was done with that, he tested the sharpness of the edge. Fortunately, it didn’t need sharpening yet.

Lilith returned, leading the camels. She wiped sweat off her face and said, “Ugh, now I’m thirsty again. Just how can the desert be this hot? It’s like there’s a giant furnace burning away under the sand!”

“We need to rethink our preparations for the desert… if we were in our usual condition, those undead wouldn’t have been able to take us by surprise,” Adam said. “Come to think of it, what sort of undead were those? They clearly weren’t skeletons or ghosts, and while they were similar to zombies, they were tougher. Smarter, too… I’ve never heard of zombies using ambush tactics before.”

“I’ve heard of these before, they’re ghouls, a kind of zombie found in the desert. My mother,” Lilith spat out the word like it was a curse, “mentioned them to me once. They’re not as dumb as regular zombies. She didn’t mention that they’re more resistant to fire, though I suppose I can’t really blame her for that, since she was just passing on rumours she’d heard.”

“More resistant to fire… I suppose it makes sense for monsters capable of withstanding the desert heat,” Adam said.

“Yeah… though it does make me wish I’d spent more time practicing with elements other than fire,” Lilith said. “I can use other elements like ice, but it takes me longer to cast and I need more energy to put out the same amount of power.”

Adam knew just what his companion was talking about. Nine years ago, when he was just a reckless hero-in-training, he’d thought he could become a hero from the legends, a master of every weapon and every magical discipline. His trainers very quickly disabused him of this notion. The sheer time it took to master even one skill meant that even heroes, despite their divine blessings, had to specialise in order to be effective. Some specialised in melee combat, like Adam himself, some in ranged weapons, and others in magic.

Then Adam noticed something else in Lilith’s words, something that stood out to him. “From what you just said, it sounds like you…” Adam struggled to find a polite way to express himself, “don’t consider undead to be fellow monsters.”

“That’s because most of them aren’t,” Lilith replied. “There are some who can think and talk, like wights and liches, but most of them are no better than animals. To give one example, just now they also attacked me, when a real monster would have at least hesitated after seeing a monster and human working together. Basically, most undead are just corpses moving through the power of demonic energy. They don’t have the mind of the original person within them… or any mind at all.”

Adam nodded. In the past, he’d only encountered undead twice, but both of those cases lined up with Lilith’s description. The lower forms of undead made no effort to communicate with each other, nor did they have any self-preservation instinct: they simply attacked humans relentlessly. Fortunately, this simple behaviour also made them easy to outwit.

But higher undead are a different story, Adam recalled. Once, Hero Brutus told me and the other trainees about his encounter with a lich. He was the kind of man who would fight even a wurm head-on… but that encounter terrified him.

By now, the sun had reached its apex. Adam and Lilith remained at the oasis for a few hours, resting in the shade of the trees. The people at the last village had emphasised the importance of resting during the hottest part of the day. To borrow their words, those who were foolish enough to disobey this rule inevitably littered the desert with their bones.

Once the sun neared the horizon, the pair continued their journey. The plants and animals grew scarcer and scarcer, and eventually they were surrounded by barren sand once more.

The temperature plummeted when the sun set. This was a phenomenon that Adam and Lilith had already experienced, but it had never been this severe before. It was so cold that if there were any water present, Adam wouldn’t be surprised to see it freeze. The two of them put on additional clothing, but even this was barely enough to keep their body heat in. The one advantage to the situation was that magical lighting was unnecessary, as there were no clouds to obscure the light of the moon and stars.

It wasn’t long before it was simply too cold for them to travel. They set up camp on the lee side of a dune, where they were sheltered from the wind.

They resumed their journey once the sun rose. As in the previous day, they travelled during the morning and rested during the afternoon. They didn’t encounter any more monsters during this time.

Night, however, was a different story.

Shortly after sunset, they climbed over the crest of a dune and finally spotted the village. Due to the distance, they could only make out the shapes of the buildings against the background of the starry sky. Sighing with relief, they began heading towards it. Then Lilith held out a hand and said, “Wait!”

“What is it?” Adam replied, his hand already on the hilt of his sword.

“There’s demonic energy coming from over there! And from the amount—there’s more than one monster there!”

Chapter Text

The two of them forced their camels into a run. It was extremely uncomfortable for Adam, as he wasn’t used to riding anything other than a horse. It had to be even more uncomfortable for Lilith, who had less experience at riding in general. But now was hardly the time to worry about discomfort.

As they got closer to the village, Adam sensed the demonic energy as well. He also heard the screams and saw the silhouettes of humans running around, being chased by entities that were larger and had many more legs.

Insect monsters? Adam thought. He quickly reviewed his knowledge. They’re tough to kill thanks to their sturdy exoskeletons and redundant anatomy. Their field of vision is wide, and many are venomous as well. Fortunately, most of them can’t use magic.

Once he was close to the village, Adam dismounted. He wasn’t used to fighting on camelback, nor was this particular camel trained to handle the terror of combat: something the earlier battle had made clear.

Adam was now close enough to properly see the insect monsters. They resembled that strange insect he’d seen earlier in the desert, but scaled up massively. Their pincers were large enough to crush trees, their stingers were the size of spear points, and their carapaces were so thick that the villagers’ weapons shattered against them. Their upper bodies were humanoid but had a second pair of pincers at the ends of their arms, instead of hands.

One of the insect monsters loomed over a villager, ready to tear him apart, but the monster turned once it noticed the newcomers. An ice spell flew towards the insect monster’s head. However, this spell was notably slower than the fireballs that Lilith usually used, allowing its target to dodge.

The insect monster charged at Adam, presumably because he was the closer of the two newcomers. Adam stepped forward, blocked two of the pincers with his shield, sliced off a third with his sword, and dodged the fourth.

While hissing in pain, the insect monster made its next move: a thrust with the stinger. Adam ducked low and sliced the stinger off… but it proved to be merely a distraction. The remaining pincers shot towards him, and he couldn’t stop them all. A pincer grasped Adam’s leg and wrenched him into the air.

Adam kept a tight grasp on his sword, but before he could attempt to free himself, an ice spell hit the insect monster in the head, forcing it to drop him.

Due to a rough landing, Adam wasn’t able to get up immediately. He heard an unearthly shriek, then the insect monster fell to the ground next to him, Lilith’s spear in their head.

Lilith withdrew her spear and helped Adam to his feet. “You alright?” she asked.

Adam experimentally moved his leg. “It hurts, but I can still fight. My reinforcement kept the pincer from doing any serious damage. Let’s keep going!”

The two of them advanced through the village. Not counting the one they’d already slain, there were six of the insect monsters. It was a number that the two of them could never have defeated on their own.

But they weren’t on their own. The inhabitants of the desert village—men and women, elders and even some of the older children—fought furiously against the invaders. Although their weapons were merely tools such as shovels and scythes, even these were capable of harming the insect monsters if they struck a joint or the head. And although the villagers were hardly muscular, they fought with surprising skill and coordination.

Adam and Lilith hurried towards one battle. Six villagers were surrounding one insect monster. They fought in pairs: one pair moved in, swinging their weapons and dodging attacks, then retreated and were replaced by another pair.

Amazing… by keeping up constant pressure, they can keep their opponent from focusing on any one of them, Adam thought. For amateurs, they’re incredibly good. But that doesn’t mean they can’t use our help!

As if on cue, one of the villagers was sent flying through the air by a blow. Adam jumped and caught him, preventing him from hitting a building. Lilith then sent an ice spell through a gap in the villagers’ formation, freezing the insect monster’s upper body.

The remaining five villagers had looks of surprise on their faces. Fortunately, their hesitation lasted for less than a second, then they closed on the insect monster and delivered the finishing blows.

“Are you alright?” Adam asked the villager in his arms.

The villager answered in an unfamiliar language while pointing at his left arm, which was bent at a painful angle. Judging from the context, he’d taken the insect monster’s attack on that arm, but was otherwise unharmed.

Adam left the villager with his friends to receive medical care, then moved on to the next battle.

While running alongside Adam, Lilith said, “That last spell… took all of my remaining mana. I can’t cast anything else tonight.”

“That’s fine, just stay in the rear!”

The two of them rushed through the village, helping the villagers fight off the remaining insect monsters.

The third was defeated after Adam severed three of its legs. No longer able to support their great weight, the insect monster collapsed and was cut to pieces.

The fourth was defeated after Lilith threw her spear at them like a javelin. Although they were able to dodge the spear, the insect monster was still thrown off-balance, allowing Adam to decapitate them.

The remaining three were defeated purely by the villagers’ effort. Of special note was the seventh and final one: this insect monster tried to flee after realising they were the last of their kind remaining. However, they stumbled into a net trap on the outskirts on the village, one presumably set up by the villagers to defend against monster invasions. The insect monster quickly tore their way free, but was still slowed down enough for the villagers to catch up and exact their vengeance.

After all of the invaders were killed, the villagers cheered.

Adam checked his surroundings to confirm that there was nothing else to fight, then quickly wiped the blood off his sword and inspected the edge.

It’s worn down… no wonder, after being used on so many hard targets. I’ll need to sharpen it when I get the chance… come to think of it, I should consider replacing it with a new one eventually. I’ve been using this one ever since I finished my training.

The villagers were busy with activity. Some dragged the corpses of the insect monsters away, others tended to the human casualties, and the rest gathered around the two visitors to their village. Adam couldn’t understand their words, though it was clear from their body language that they were grateful. Eventually, a woman who looked to be in her forties stepped forward.

“That armour and sword, you’re one of the heroes from the east, aren’t you?” said the villager, in the same language used by Adam and most of the human nations. “Thank you for helping us, both of you.”

“Just doing our jobs,” Adam replied. “Would you like help healing the wounded?”

“Definitely.”

The villager agreed and led Adam and Lilith through the village. As they passed between the rows of sandstone buildings, she explained that was one of the few who had travelled outside the village, which was why she knew the common tongue. She also explained the circumstances behind the attack: the insect monsters—or “girtablilu” as she called them—had snuck into the village, only to be noticed by one of the night guards. That guard had raised the alarm, though he had not been fortunate enough to survive.

In demonstration of this fact, they passed by an open space in which three bodies were laid on the ground and covered in cloth. Adam mentally recited a prayer to the Chief Goddess to safeguard the souls of the fallen. Beside him, he noticed Lilith lowering her head.

She obviously wouldn’t follow any human gods, Adam thought. But I’ve never heard her talk about any gods worshipped by monsters… It must be incredibly lonely, to be estranged from your own kind yet also have no higher power to believe in.

Finally, they arrived at a house in which more than a dozen wounded people lay in various states. Several more people tended to them: judging from their levels of skill, only one was an actual healer, with the remainder being volunteers. Adam was introduced to the group and immediately pressed into service by the healer.

The top priority patient was a young woman with absolutely grievous injuries: her left arm had been crushed by pincers, while her abdomen had been torn open to the point that the intestines were hanging out. Adam could only stop the worst of the bleeding, then leave the young woman to the healer and hope that she could handle the rest.

The remaining patients were comparatively easy: mainly small cuts and scrapes, though one had a broken bone, the young man that Adam had saved earlier. Adam could heal these on his own. He also healed the injury to his own leg.

Unfortunately, in the end the first patient could not be saved. Her wounds were just far too severe, and she could only be given a quick death. For this situation, the healer possessed a herb that gave off a faint sweet smell. When she crushed some of the herb and held it to the young woman’s face, her breathing slowed and soon stopped. Then two of the volunteers carried her body outside. Throughout this process, Adam couldn’t do anything other than clench his fists.

Once the ordeal was over, Adam stepped outside and reunited with Lilith. Their guide led them to a different house and told them they could rest here. Additionally, another villager arrived bringing Adam and Lilith’s camels, which were tied to a post in front of the house.

The beds in this house were simple constructions of stone with no pillows or mattresses. Still, Adam and Lilith dropped their belongings and collapsed onto the beds.

“That was the longest night of my life,” Lilith said. “By the way, how’s your leg?”

“Fine, I also took care of it while I was in there,” Adam replied. “I’m guessing this is the first time you’ve had to fight as part of a large group?”

“Yeah… succubi in general avoid fights, and other monsters would never have allied with me,” Lilith said. “It reminds me of when we tricked those lamias and harpies into fighting each other… all the chaos, where it seemed like anyone could die at any moment.”

Adam nodded. “I’ve fought in a large group just once before. It was… back when I was still with my human friends. We came to a village that had been raided by giant ants for several nights. Since the enemy was too numerous, we got it into our heads that we could train the villagers to help us fight. It was a foolish idea—you can’t teach someone to be a soldier in a few hours—and the only reason it worked at all was Hogan.”

“Hogan?” Lilith said. “If I remember right, he was the oldest of your group?”

“He was… and definitely the smartest of us as well,” Adam said. “You see, he used to be a scholar from Welsple, and he only took up arms after a monster attack that damaged his academy and killed several of his students. Anyway, the point is that he knew how to teach people. Most importantly, he knew how to focus on only the essential things. He taught the villagers how to hold a spear and thrust it at a narrow spot, and to keep going even in the face of attacking monsters. Because of that, when the giant ants arrived again that night, the villagers were able to surround the tunnels they made and stab any ant that emerged, forcing the ants to retreat. The next morning, we followed the giant ants’ traces to their nest and smoked them out. That was definitely the biggest battle I’ve ever been in, with dozens of ants… if it weren’t for the villagers, we would never have won. But we did, and we killed every last one of them.”

Lilith didn’t reply to these words.

“The villagers here are a lot more skilled… must be a necessity when they live in such a harsh—Oh, do you want to sleep now, Lilith?” Adam said. “Sorry for—”

“No, it’s fine, I’m still wide awake,” Lilith said quickly. “It’s just—when I hear these stories of yours, I keep wondering what it would be like if—if it weren’t just the two of us.”

Now it was Adam’s turn to be silent, as he tried to think of a reply.

“I know it’s a stupid idea,” Lilith continued. “The chances of finding another human who can work with monsters, or a monster who doesn’t see humans as food, are non-existent.”

“Come on, it’s not that bad…”

“Really? In that case, tell me: where could we possibly find…”

Until they fell asleep, Adam spent the time trying to cheer Lilith up.

-ooo-

The next morning, Adam and Lilith explored the desert village. The chaos of the previous night had prevented them from properly seeing any of it then.

The village was relatively small, with a population of just under three hundred, crowded into less than fifty buildings. It was built around another oasis, and the villagers drew their water from this in addition to setting out pots to catch the occasional rain.

Then there was the culture. The local clothing was long and covered the body, similar to what Adam and Lilith had bought, as this was a necessity in the desert conditions. The cuisine was also a product of the environment: Adam was especially shocked to see the strange insect, the one that girtablilu were similar to, among the foods on offer. It was apparently called a “scorpion” and, while initially reluctant to try it, Adam discovered that it tasted delicious.

But despite all of these differences, they were the same as the people Adam was familiar with: they farmed and hunted for food, wove and repaired clothing, cleaned their houses and otherwise did their best to survive.

Throughout their exploration, Adam and Lilith were the subjects of curiosity and gratitude. Most of the local villagers didn’t know their language, but now Lilith was able to solve that problem with her translation spell. They were hit with a non-stop barrage of questions about the world outside the desert, mixed with thanks for their assistance in last night’s battle.

“Hey, is it true that the sea has so much water in it that you can’t even see the bottom?”

“I—I’ve heard the same thing, but I haven’t actually seen the sea myself, so I can’t say for certain,” Adam replied.

“Hey, that magic you used back then was incredible!”

“Thank you!” Lilith replied.

“Can you teach me how to do it?”

“Um, that might be a bit difficult, since I—I—” Lilith said, looking around in a fluster.

“Sorry, but it takes a long time to learn such magic,” Adam interjected. “Several years at the very least.”

The conversation continued in this vein for quite some time. While she needed help on several occasions, Lilith nevertheless managed to keep talking for the whole time, a major improvement compared to before. The two of them also learned about the other humans in the desert: there were many villages like this one, none of them much larger in size, and the harsh environment meant that they rarely traded or even communicated with each other. Each of the villages was forced to be self-sufficient out of necessity. The isolation was similar to the monster society that Lilith came from, albeit for different reasons.

Eventually, one of the villagers said, “Hey, do you think they could make it to the Pyramid?”

“That’s just a myth!”

“There’s no way something that convenient exists!”

Adam frowned in confusion. “What is this ‘Pyramid’ you’re talking about?” He asked. “I only know of it as a shape…”

These words caused the villagers to argue over whether the Pyramid was reality or merely myth. Eventually, one of the older villagers stepped forward. “Quiet,” he said. “I will try to explain this matter to our visitors.”

The other villagers ceased their argument immediately.

“Alright. Now, where to begin…” the elderly villager said, his eyes growing distant with recollection. “First, the Pyramid is a great structure that supposedly exists to the west of here. It’s said to resemble a mountain carved by human hands. Some claim that there is more than one of them. As to its significance… This is a story that I heard when I was still a child, and it was old even then. I was told that this desert was once a great green land where water flowed freely and there was never any shortage of food, like the lands to the east. I was told that there was a great kingdom here, and the Pyramid is the only relic of that era.”

“But what could have destroyed that kingdom, and made all this land into what it is now?” Lilith asked. “Monsters?”

“Possibly, though there are many other explanations, such as the people of that kingdom losing the gods’ favour,” the elderly villager replied. “In any case, it’s rumoured that great power sleeps within the ruins of the Pyramid. Power that could be used to purify the desert of monsters and return it to the green land it once was…”

Adam and Lilith looked at each other sceptically.

“Yes, it seems too good to be true,” the elderly villager continued. “And many have gone into the desert chasing after such power, but none have ever returned. That is why many of us believe it is just a myth, passed down through the generations to keep our people from falling into despair. I’m sure that you have similar stories where you come from.”

“It’s can’t be just a myth!” shouted another villager. “Nobody would pass down that story if there wasn’t some truth to it!”

“You’re a fool, there’s no way something that convenient would exist!”

“What did you just call me!?”

The argument started out again. Adam was about to intervene, but the elderly villager waved him off, saying that such arguments were a common way for his people to vent their frustrations.

As a result, Adam and Lilith returned to the house that had been given to them. Both of them started packing up their belongings.

“Chances are that it’s just a myth,” Adam said. “Back in Merith, there were countless stories like it: heroes from past ages still being alive, to pass down their power to the worthy. But—”

“But it’s the only hope we’ve got of making a lasting impact,” Lilith said. “We could go around to the other villages, kill all the monsters attacking them, and once we leave, more monsters will colonise the region.”

“My teachers would call me foolish for trying something like this,” Adam said. “They always told me to remember that I’m not invincible, even if I’m a hero. And there’s the many others who’ve tried to find this Pyramid and failed.”

“To be honest, I can see their point,” Lilith said. “But we have something that none of the others had.”

“We’re a human and a monster working together,” Adam finished, as he loaded the last of his armour into the camel’s saddlebags.

“Though if you don’t mind me asking, why are you going along with this so quickly?” Lilith asked. “I was wondering if I would have to persuade you.”

“It’s true, I’ve definitely changed,” Adam said, smiling. “It’s not just that I’m now fine with working with you. I’m willing to take more risks now. I think… I think it’s because I’m sick of seeing people dying. I now believe that things shouldn’t be this way, that people shouldn’t have to die like this.”

These words would have been unthinkable to the Adam of a mere six months ago. If that Adam had heard someone else saying such words, he would have suspected them of heresy for questioning the Chief God’s designs. But after a month of working alongside a monster and accomplishing nothing but good…

They left the house and announced their intentions to the villagers. As expected, there was a mixed reaction. Some of the villagers were hopeful of the pair’s success, asking them to return with tales of what they discovered. Some were worried for their safety, so they warned them of the desert’s dangers and suggested ways to improve their chances. And some, after hearing the announcement, simply shook their heads.

Adam and Lilith left the village and rode off into the desert. They headed for the west, where most of the stories agreed the Pyramid was.

For the first few minutes, they were on flat sand and could still see the village. But eventually they had to cross a dune, and there were no more signs of civilisation. Just more scorching sun and barren sand.

Chapter Text

Travelling through the desert was somewhat easier than before. Adam had improved his spell to protect against heat, based on knowledge gained from talking to the desert villagers. The current version of the spell used less energy yet reflected a greater proportion of the sunlight striking the pair and their camels. As a result, they could travel in greater comfort while using up less of Adam’s spirit energy: important advantages when they could be ambushed by monsters at any time.

However, they still couldn’t afford to relax. There was little information on the oases to the west of the village, and—for this reason—no other villages existed in this area. Water was therefore a major concern. The pair and their camels needed less water thanks to Adam’s magic, but they still required enough that it would be infeasible to carry all the water for their journey.

For the first few days, they encountered desert vegetation and therefore had access to water. The camels could eat the tough, thorny plants with ease, and did not need additional water to drink. Adam and Lilith broke off the stems and leaves of certain plants and drank the sap; they only dared to do this because the desert villagers had warned them which plants were safe and which were poisonous.

On the third day, there was a sand storm. The approaching yellow-brown clouds were a foreboding yet also oddly beautiful sight. Adam, Lilith, and their camels huddled in the shelter of a dune to wait for the storm to pass. The human and succubus also covered their faces with long cloths. Despite this protective measure, their faces were covered with sand by the time the storm passed. They had to use some of their water to wash the sand off. The camels, on the other hand, were entirely unperturbed by the storm.

But by the fifth day, they were in the depths of the desert, where there were again no plants or animals in sight. At this point, they needed to resort to magic.

On the evening of the fifth day, Lilith began looking for water. She approached a small valley and placed her hands on the sand. She remained in this position for about thirty seconds, then shook her head and stood up. She repeated this process eight times, taking slightly less time with each repetition.

When Lilith examined the ninth valley, she announced, “Alright, it should be close enough here”.

Lilith close her eyes, and Adam could feel her focusing her demonic energy. Eventually, a dark patch formed in the sand. The patch expanded until it was roughly one pace in diameter. Beads of water appeared, rapidly increased in size and number, and eventually formed a puddle of water.

“Finally!” Lilith exclaimed. She was trembling so much that she looked like she would fall into the puddle at any moment.

“Why don’t you go first?” Adam said. “You’re the one who did all the work.”

Lilith knelt down, filled her waterskin and gulped down all the contents, then filled her waterskin again. Sighing with relief, she said, “In the last few minutes… I just used more water magic… than in my whole life…”

This was another way of acquiring water in the desert. There was plenty of water underground, shielded by the sand from the harsh sunlight. The usual way to extract it was to dig a hole and wait for it to fill, but this was tiring work and it could take several hours for enough water to fill the hole. Using water magic to extract the water was better, provided that one had the skill.

Adam filled his own waterskin, then stepped aside to allow the camels to drink the remaining water. While drinking, he looked up at the night sky: it was a beautiful sight, with no clouds to obscure the moon and stars.

-ooo-

From that point on, Adam and Lilith had more or less grown accustomed to the rigours of the desert. They would never find it comfortable, but they at least no longer had to worry about simply surviving to the next day. Of course, it wasn’t as if they could survive here indefinitely.

“We have enough rations for ten more days, at most,” Adam said. “I hope we find the Pyramid soon.”

“According to one of the stories, it should be around here somewhere,” Lilith said. “We might find it today.”

“Perhaps… but then, another story said that it was months away from the nearest village,” Adam said. “I doubt that even a desert monster could travel that far. And each of these stories is as plausible as the rest.”

“We’ll just have to hope that the Pyramid isn’t too far,” Lilith said. After a pause, she continued, “You know, if we don’t manage to find it, our camels could probably still survive, if they can make it back to where there’s greenery. They’d be the only evidence left of another failed attempt to find the Pyramid.”

Adam laughed. Dark humour like this was common in his former group: it was one of the few ways to remain cheerful in a job where you could die any day.

“Maybe our skeletons would still be in the saddles… that would frighten anyone that saw—”

Lilith stopped and reached for her spear. At the same time, Adam drew his sword. But before he could ask the direction or numbers of the attackers, the camels began running.

“What’s—happening!?” Adam asked, desperately trying to hold on to his camel. He could only use one hand to do so, since the camel’s movements prevented him from resheathing his sword.

“It’s—It’s huge, there’s no way we can fight it!” Lilith shouted back. “We have to run!”

The ground began to shake. Since they were made of soft sand, the surrounding dunes collapsed, creating more hazards to deal with. The camels twisted and turned to avoid the falling sand, driven by instinct rather than any command from their riders.

Adam sensed a demonic energy source… and immediately realised why Lilith and the camels were so alarmed. If the monsters he’d faced before were sparks, this was a raging wildfire. An entire platoon of veteran heroes wouldn’t stand a chance against it.

Finally, a gargantuan monster emerged from the sand. They were elongated like a serpent, but as thick as a small house and so long that, even with most of their body still beneath the surface, they could have wrapped around an entire ship and crushed it. The surface of their body was covered in overlapping plates, which gleamed like metal but were muddy brown in colour. The head of the monster bore three pairs of red eyes and a circular mouth filled with teeth.

A sandworm, Adam thought, remembering the stories he’d heard in the desert village. It has to be, there’s no other monster this big!

The sandworm let out an ear-splitting shriek, then continued their pursuit by slithering over the surface. They were easily fast enough to keep up with the camels… and from the way the camels were panting, Adam knew that they wouldn’t be able to run for much longer.

However, before Adam’s camel reached its limit, Adam was thrown off its back by its wild movements. He braced himself for impact, only to be caught in mid-air by a strong pair of arms. It was Lilith, who’d jumped off her own camel to catch him.

“Hold on!” Lilith shouted.

Lilith veered to the left. The sandworm turned to follow them, and their rapid change in direction kicked up a wave of sand, which swallowed up the two camels.

Dammit, that was most of our supplies, including my armour! At least I still have my sword!

The sandworm let out another roar. Despite their inhuman form, Adam could almost feel a sense of anger from them. However, the sandworm did not break off their pursuit.

Lilith slowly ascended while carrying Adam. However, at this rate, and considering the sandworm’s size and speed, it would take her several minutes to climb out of the sandworm’s potential attack range.

“Let go of me!” Adam shouted. “You can escape once I’m not weighing you down!”

“Don’t be stupid, there’s no way I’m leaving you behind!” Lilith retorted.

Adam clenched his teeth in frustration. He could drop his sword, but that would make no difference since the sword was only a small proportion of their combined weight.

He looked down again. The sandworm burst through a dune without slowing down at all.

If I… attack her, I could force her to let me go. That’s… it’s the only way to make sure she survives—

I know… that this is a horrible thing to do. If I were on the receiving end, I’d absolutely hate her for doing such a thing. But…

I don’t want her to die.

Adam opened his mouth, ready to say some last words. He was interrupted by an abrupt turn to the right. He looked around and realised that Lilith had turned to avoid a particularly large dune.

Due to having a larger body, the sandworm was less agile and couldn’t avoid colliding with the dune.

Suddenly, there was a resounding crash and a spike of magical energy, both so intense that they caused Adam physical pain. Judging from her sudden loss of altitude, Lilith had also been affected. More surprisingly, there was a massive roar of pain that could only have come from the sandworm.

The sandworm was now thrashing about, displacing huge amounts of sand. But even through the clouds of sand, Adam could make out the blue glow of a magical barrier, one that dwarfed even the enormous monster.

For a few moments, there was the sound of an immense mass boring through sand. After the sound subsided, the sand cleared enough to reveal that the sandworm had gone, the barrier was no longer present… and the dune was actually an enormous stone building.

Lilith landed next to the building and let go of Adam. While shielding their eyes from the sand still suspended in the air, the two of them looked up at the building.

Fitting its name, it was an enormous square pyramid. It was larger than any building Adam had ever seen: only a great castle, like the one in Lescatie, could possibly rival it in size. Even the stone blocks it consisted of were enormous, with each one being almost as tall as a man.

“So that’s why no one has ever found the Pyramid… it’s been buried all this time,” Adam said, awed at the sight. “Well, that and monsters like the sandworm.”

“And these traces of mana…” Lilith said. “I recognise them. It’s a bit different to what I remember, but this kind of spell creates a barrier in response to an approaching enemy. Back in… back in my village, this kind of spell was used for security. It’s pretty complicated magic, so I was never able to learn it myself… But I’ve never heard of a barrier this big, or this tough.”

“Now I definitely believe those stories about a lost great kingdom,” Adam said. “Even for the kingdoms of today, it would be a massive undertaking to build something like this. The barrier alone would take dozens of skilled mages…”

The two of them walked around the Pyramid. While doing so, Adam counted his steps to measure the size of the building. To his surprise, the Pyramid had remarkably precise dimensions, despite its seemingly crude construction. Each of the four sides was one hundred and eighty paces long, give or take half a pace.

They arrived at the main entrance. This was an opening ten blocks above ground level, and currently blocked by sand.

“I think I know the answer already, but I just want to make sure,” Lilith said. “Are you willing to go inside? Judging from that barrier, this Pyramid definitely has other defences. The two of us could easily get killed in there. And now that we’ve found it, we could just go back and tell others about it, so a better-prepared group could come to explore it.”

“If I wasn’t willing, I wouldn’t have come here in the first place,” Adam replied firmly. “‘A hero is willing to brave any danger’… it’s something from a children’s tale, but then, so are ancient ruins from lost civilisations.”

“And if I wasn’t willing to take risks like this, I would never have left my village,” Lilith said. She closed her eyes and exhaled. “Alright, then… let’s go.”

They climbed up to the entrance and cleared some of the sand away. This was hot and tiring work, especially since they’d lost most of their supplies and needed to ration what little water they had left. They didn’t clear all of the sand—the entrance was wide and tall enough to admit a two-horse wagon—just enough to make a gap that they could crawl through.

Once they were finished, they finally entered the Pyramid.

Chapter Text

Upon entering the Pyramid, Lilith was initially tense, as she was expecting a trap of some sort. Fire erupting from the walls, boulders falling from the ceiling, the floor giving way to a pit of spikes… the sorts of traps in the stories she’d heard as a child. But nothing happened.

“That barrier from before didn’t trigger when we came in…” Lilith said. “It must be designed to trigger when something big approaches the Pyramid… maybe also if it’s attacked by powerful spells. It must let smaller things, like us, through… that would also explain how the Pyramid got buried over time.”

“But that doesn’t mean there’s nothing deeper inside,” Adam said.

Lilith nodded and conjured up a magical light, illuminating their surroundings.

They were in a long corridor, the end of which was shrouded in darkness. The walls were lined with sockets, each of which held a small white crystal. Large cracks lined the walls and ceiling, and pieces of rubble dotted the floor: unsurprising for a structure so old.

The crystals were what drew Lilith’s attention. Crystals could store and discharge large amounts of energy, making them useful components in spells… including magical traps. Just by looking at the crystals, Lilith could picture them shooting out bolts of lightning to vaporise the two of them. Alternatively, the crystals could just be simple light sources. That was actually the more likely possibility.

But we can’t afford to take any risks, Lilith thought. Not when there’s just two of us, we’re missing most of our supplies and we know almost nothing about this place.

Lilith pointed out the crystals to Adam, who agreed that they might be dangerous. After some discussion, they decided to test them. They first crawled back out through the gap in the sand, which would hopefully put them outside the range of any trap. Then, Lilith aimed carefully and shot a weak fire spell through the gap.

There were no falling boulders or spike pits. Instead, when the spell struck a crystal, it caused that and all of the other crystals to light up.

“Well, that was…” Lilith began.

“Anticlimactic?” Adam finished. “Perhaps, but it’s better for us if there aren’t any more traps.”

The two of them crawled back through the gap. Lilith dismissed her light spell, since there was no more need for it.

“That’s true… if I had to spend one more second out there, I would melt,” Lilith said, while brushing the sand off.

“Speaking of which… how are we going to make it back to civilisation?” Adam asked. “We’ve lost our mounts and the supplies they were carrying. We can draw water from the sand, but that still leaves the problem of food.”

Lilith stopped in her tracks. “Ugh, I forgot about that… must be the shock from actually finding what we were after.”

“It’s fine, I was also shocked by… all this,” Adam said. “Regardless, we can’t give up hope. This Pyramid is a remnant of a great civilisation, and—judging from the fact that these crystals are still here—it hasn’t been looted even once. Who knows what treasures we might find inside?”

With those words, they decided to proceed further inside.

The corridor soon widened into a large hall, one tall and wide enough for three ogres to walk through, shoulder-to-shoulder, with room to spare. Every surface of the hall was covered in art. The walls bore carvings of what seemed to be the ancient kingdom that had built the Pyramid. The ceiling was painted to resemble the sky in various states, ranging from sunny and clear to overcast and stormy. Even the floor wasn’t exempt, being composed of coloured stones that were arranged in abstract patterns: red lines giving way to green circles and blue spirals.

Lilith and Adam were struck dumb from the sight. It seemed that with each step they took, they would encounter yet another reminder of the grandeur that had once existed in this land.

They walked forward slowly, paying close attention to the art on the walls.

For most of the hall, the walls displayed scenes of a mighty and prosperous kingdom. Instead of barren sand and rock, there were grassy plains, forests, rivers and lakes. Thousands upon thousands of human figures represented the inhabitants of this kingdom. These were each barely taller than a finger, yet they were so detailed that it was possible to discern their professions; a testament to the skill of the artists. Numerous buildings were also on display: most were small huts and shops, which looked remarkably similar to those of the modern age, but there were also triangles of stone blocks that utterly dwarfed the other buildings.

“So even that story is true: there’s more than just one Pyramid,” Lilith said. “Unless all these are meant to be carvings of the same Pyramid, but I doubt that. They all look slightly different.”

“It makes sense, if the ancient kingdom included all of what is now desert,” Adam said. “These Pyramids, judging from their size and defences, are equivalent to castles. There’s at least ten Pyramids on the walls here. A kingdom this large would be able to afford that number, and would need that many to defend all of its territory.”

“Though if there are multiple Pyramids, then it’s even stranger that none of them have been found until now,” Lilith said, touching one of the Pyramid carvings. “They can’t all have been buried in sand.”

“It’s possible that others have found them, but they succumbed to the desert or the monsters,” Adam pointed out. “After all… we nearly died, and only survived because we were lucky enough to stumble across a Pyramid.”

These words caused Lilith to recall their recent encounter. She was well aware that there were many monsters in this world who were stronger than her—this was a lesson that succubi were extremely diligent at passing down to their children. But when she saw that enormous tooth-filled mouth rushing towards her, about to devour her and Adam in a single gulp…

Lilith looked down at the spear in her hand. It was a simple weapon, with a design that had barely changed after countless centuries of war. It was still lethal enough to kill a monster if it pierced a vital point. But against a sandworm, it was nothing more than a toothpick. And even sandworms weren’t the apex of monsters: if the stories about baphomets were true, then any of them could easily crush a sandworm with their bare hands.

No… now’s not the time for this.

Lilith lifted her head and continued walking.

In the last stretch of the hall, the art changed. It was much rougher and, in some places, outright unfinished. Now, monsters were present in the carvings as well. These included types suited to the desert, like ghouls and girtablilus, and types that Lilith was more familiar with, like lamias and harpies. There were scenes of humans being captured and devoured, fields burning, buildings being razed.

Lilith and Adam looked at each other. They didn’t say anything, as no words were needed at this point. They did, however, tighten their grip on their weapons.

Finally, they reached the end of the hall. This contained three doorways, one in front and one each to the left and right. The door in front was conspicuously larger than the other two.

The moment they approached the doors, the door to the left opened slightly, revealing an eye.

It can’t be—not after this place has been buried for so long—

The door opened and a human girl emerged. She had the same dark skin and black hair as the other inhabitants of the desert, but was dressed in a simple tattered dress. She was also injured: she moved with a limp and her right leg was stained with dried blood. Her face was filled with a mix of surprise, confusion and curiosity.

Lilith felt her breath catch in her throat. She wanted to run up to the girl and tend to her wound, to bring her out of this ruin and to civilisation. But the rational part of her realised that the girl gave off no spirit energy, or even demonic energy… she was just an illusion.

“So this is the approach they took with the traps,” Adam said. He was holding his sword high, ready to fight at a moment’s notice.

“Based on those carvings back there, this must be meant to bait monsters,” Lilith said. “Most monsters would attack it straight away and get caught in the trap.”

The two of them backed away down the hall. The illusion made no attempt to follow them. Lilith cast a fire spell at the illusion, causing it to disappear and a torrent of flame to shoot out from the door. The flame lasted several seconds, after which the door slammed shut.

After waiting for ten seconds to be certain there were no more traps, Lilith and Adam walked forward nervously. The air around the doors was stiflingly hot, and the door and wall on the right were glowing red in several places.

That’s the last time I’m disappointed at a lack of traps, Lilith thought.

They then tested the other two doors. Once it cooled down, Adam used his sword to slowly push open the door on the right.

Behind this door was a large storage room filled with all sorts of items, including clothing, jewellery, tools and—most importantly for the current situation—weapons and armour. The two of them explored the room while continuing to watch out for traps.

Adam found a set of armour made from a metal resembling bronze. It didn’t have any enchantments, but it looked well-crafted even to Lilith’s inexperienced eye.

“It doesn’t fit perfectly, but it’s the closest to my body shape out of all the armour here,” Adam said. “And it’s better to be uncomfortable than dead.”

There was also food and drink in this room, stored in ceramic vessels of various shapes and sizes. Of course, all of it was no longer fit for consumption, so their supply issue remained unsolved.

They returned to the hall and stood before the one door remaining. Judging from its size, it clearly led to something important—and therefore something that would have even stronger defences. But there was no turning back now.

They opened the door to find a staircase, extending up for a height of several storeys.

Still vigilant, they climbed the staircase. They encountered several more rooms along the way, which contained art and items similar to before. However, they didn’t spend more than a minute in any of these. Time was limited when they had little food or water, and in any case they were curious about what lay at the top of the stairs.

Finally, they arrived at a set of double doors. These were decorated to a far greater extent than anything else in the Pyramid, being covered in carvings of animals, humans, and humanoid figures with the heads of animals. The last of these were seemingly not monsters: they didn’t resemble the previous carvings of monsters and weren’t shown as aggressive towards the humans. All of the carvings were coated with gold and small gemstones were used for the eyes.

After checking the doors for traps, Lilith and Adam each placed their hands on a door and pushed them open.

Beyond the doors was a large and square-shaped room, filled with even more items than any of the previous rooms. There were golden cups, statues, masks, ceremonial weapons. There were gemstones of all kinds, the smaller stones decorating other objects while the larger stones were arranged in piles. A particularly large stone was embedded in the ceiling, where it glowed like a miniature sun. An entire chariot occupied one corner. And in the centre of the room was a rectangular block of stone similar to a bed, though it was too tall to comfortably sleep on. The upper surface of this block was carved into the shape of a reclining human figure. All in all, it was a display of wealth greater than any that the succubus or hero had ever seen before.

Lilith and Adam entered the room and walked around slowly. With every step, more treasures came into sight.

And there’s supposed to be more of these Pyramids? Lilith thought. Did the people of the ancient kingdom somehow get their hands on all the gold and jewels in the world?

Lilith bent down and carefully touched one of the larger gemstones. As soon as her finger made contact, she sensed a massive quantity of energy within the stone, a quantity several times larger than what she could store in her own body. But she didn’t dare try to use this energy—at least not immediately—as she had no idea what the original purpose of the stone was.

Eventually, the two of them approached the stone block in the centre of the room. It seemed to give off a presence greater than anything else in the room, despite its relative lack of decoration.

“What is this?” Lilith wondered. “My first thought was that it’s a pedestal of some kind, but the carving would make it hard to put anything on it.” She leaned down and examined the side of the block. “There’s a groove here… and it runs all the way around the edge… could it be some kind of treasure chest?”

Adam frowned. Looking at the stone block, he said, “Now that I’ve had a closer look, I recognise this… the appearance is slightly different, but this is almost certainly a coffin.”

“A coffin? Aren’t those usually buried in the ground?” Lilith asked.

“Usually, but sometimes they’re left in special buildings that are for storing the dead,” Adam explained. “But I’ve never seen or heard of one this… elaborate.”

“But this is the only coffin in the Pyramid,” Lilith said, looking around and confirming that there weren’t any other doors leading out of the room. “Would any kingdom build something so big, fill it with countless treasures, and protect it with barriers and traps, just so that one person has a good place to—to be dead?”

“It sounds strange to me as well… but we don’t know much about what these people were like,” Adam pointed out. “All we have are those carvings on the walls, and old stories. If we were scholars and had a few years to examine this information, we might gain a proper understanding of what the ancient kingdom was like. But we don’t have that, so for all we know, they were the sort of people who would do such things.”

Lilith looked at the coffin, at the figure carved into the surface. It was extremely lifelike, with even the finest details of the face painstakingly reproduced.

For a moment, Lilith was overcome by curiosity, and she reached out to touch the coffin. She immediately pulled her hand back, but a moment of incaution was all it took.

The coffin emitted a pulse of spirit energy, orders of magnitude more powerful than anything that Lilith had ever felt before.

“I-I’m sorry, that was—” Lilith began.

“Never mind that, we have to move!” Adam shouted back.

Lilith whirled around and saw, to her surprise, that the doors to the room were still open. It seemed that this was not another trap… but it would still be foolish to take risks.

The two of them ran out of the room and pressed themselves against the walls on either side of the entrance. While keeping their weapons in hand, they peered into the room.

The upper surface of the coffin, the lid, disintegrated into sand. The sand flowed sideways and disappeared into thin gaps in the floor. Finally, a figure rose out of the coffin.

Lilith gathered demonic energy within her left hand, but she had no idea what spell she should cast. Considering its origin, the figure was likely an undead and hence vulnerable to fire. On the other hand, Lilith had already encountered undead without this vulnerability, and the sheer power she could feel suggested that nothing she could do would hurt it. She eventually allowed the energy to disperse, deciding that the best option—or rather, the least terrible option—was to avoid seeming like a threat.

The figure rose to a sitting position. It was thin, almost emaciated, and dirty bandages covered its entire body. Its face was covered by an elaborate mask: this was made of gold and inlaid with various gemstones, and included a headdress resembling the folded wings of a bird.

For a few seconds, the undead—for it could not be anything else—remained in a sitting position. Lilith almost allowed herself to believe that it was not hostile.

Then Lilith was lifted into the air by an invisible hand. Out of the corner of her eye, Lilith saw that Adam was in a similar position. They both struggled, and Lilith also tried every trick she knew to negate the spell, but they might as well have tried to break free of a dragon’s grasp.

Still floating in the air, the two of them were drawn back into the room. The undead was raising a single hand, which glowed with white light.

A booming, masculine voice came from the undead. Though the words were of a long-dead language, the voice held a power of its own, resounding throughout the room and immediately crushing Lilith’s hopes of escape.

The undead paused momentarily. Then he lifted himself out of the coffin and stepped down to the ground. He removed his mask and set it aside, then peeled off the bandages from his face, layer by layer. Beneath was a visage that could be described as a skull wrapped in dried skin. The eyes, however, remained in their sockets, and these glared at the two intruders with an unmistakeable anger.

The undead raised his hand again, this time glowing a deep blue. Lilith clenched her teeth, expecting the worst. A wave of magic washed over her and Adam, but neither of them was harmed.

Wait… this feeling… it’s not exactly the same, but it’s like my own—

“I am Thutmose, fifth of his name, pharaoh of Thoth’s domain,” said the undead. “Now… how was a monster able to enter my Pyramid?”

Chapter Text

Lilith felt her breath catch in her throat. In hindsight, it was a terrible idea for her to continue exploring the Pyramid after seeing that its builders had been overrun by monsters. Though to be fair, it was also implausible for the Pyramid to still be inhabited—at least by living beings.

Ever since I left home, nobody had managed to see through my human disguise… until now, Lilith thought. I must have gotten overconfident…

But knowing that won’t help me get out of this mess!

The undead—Thutmose—bent down briefly to pick up a long staff from among the treasures. The staff was made of gold and covered in bands of lapis lazuli, and strongly curved at one end.

“Well?” Thutmose demanded. “Answer me!”

Lilith flinched, as if she’d been struck by a physical force. This ancient undead was only the size of a human or succubus, yet he was even more intimidating than the sandworm from before.

Thutmose raised his staff, and Lilith suddenly felt a burning sensation throughout her body, a sensation that was most intense in her head and along her back. Then she felt the cool air on her wings and tail—her human transformation had been forcibly dispelled.

“You—Your Majesty, please wait!” Adam gasped. “It’s—I understand that this situation doesn’t look good, but she isn’t—”

“Silence!”

Adam fell silent immediately. However, his jaw clenched and unclenched—he was trying to resist the command.

Thutmose—his voice, it has power in it. It’s like the compelling voice that succubi have, except that his isn’t limited to the weak-willed, it can even affect people on our level!

The ancient undead walked up to Adam. His face twisted into an expression of contempt.

“You… human and a warrior, yet you work with an enemy of humanity,” Thutmose said. “To fall into temptation purely because she resembles a human… it’s sickening. I have seen farmers, who had never taken up weapons in their lives, charge at monsters for the sake of their families, and die in seconds… any one of them would be worth a thousand of you!”

“Shut up!” Lilith retorted. “You don’t know about him! You don’t know about the effort he’s put into training, or the people he’s saved!”

Thutmose turned around and glared at Lilith. The succubus met his gaze: it was like looking directly into the sun, but she did not flinch.

“When I awakened, I asked you how you were able to enter my Pyramid,” Thutmose said. “A feat that should not be possible.”

Lilith considered her next words carefully. She hadn’t survived until now by acting recklessly. She eventually decided that the best option—relatively speaking—was to tell the truth.

“The two of us found this Pyramid when it was uncovered by a sandworm—it was buried before that,” Lilith explained. “The sandworm left after hitting the external barrier. Then we found the entrance and walked in. There was—there was one trap, an illusion of a human girl—”

“Yes… the lure,” Thutmose said. “It was intended for monsters, who would not be able to resist easy prey… it seems that its designers made an incorrect assumption.”

“That’s right, I—”

“They assumed that all monsters would attack mindlessly, unaware of the more cunning individuals… such as yourself,” Thutmose continued. “I do not blame them: they had little time or resources, as the situation had grown quite desperate by then. I will need to improve the security measures myself.”

Lilith exchanged a glance with Adam. Their captor seemed to be less angry than before. That, at least, was a good sign—

“But you cannot fool me, monster,” Thutmose hissed. “As part of my duties to my people, I mastered numerous forms of magic and fought against many of your kind. No matter how you disguise yourself, you cannot fool me. And I will not allow you to defile my Pyramid any further.”

—A good sign that the two of them were still in immense danger.

Lilith licked her lips nervously. “Alright, I’ll admit I was disguising myself. But—and I know that this might be hard to believe—I’m not like most monsters.”

Thutmose narrowed his eyes, and Lilith winced. Even if this wasn’t the first time she’d explained this, that didn’t mean it was easy.

“I don’t want to kill humans, or hurt them,” Lilith continued. “That’s one of the reasons why I’m working with Adam here. He’s a hero—that’s someone who fights monsters to protect humans. And the reason why we came here in the first place is because we heard that there’s something here that can restore the land to the way it used to be. Do you know what’s happened to your kingdom now? All the green has disappeared, it’s now a desert with barely any humans left—”

Lilith abruptly stopped talking. The invisible force holding her had now tightened, just to the point of causing pain. From the side, Adam was struggling even more furiously against his restraints.

“Do not lie to me.”

After that command, Thutmose swept his staff to the side. An image, framed in golden light, appeared in the air in front of him. The image displayed the desert just outside the Pyramid: it couldn’t be mistaken for anything else due to the tracks left by the sandworm. This was a projection, a simple type of magic used for viewing a distant location.

Upon seeing the projection, the ancient undead slumped. He no longer seemed like a mighty king or a violation of the natural laws: he seemed like an utterly broken man.

“I see,” Thutmose said quietly. “In this, it seems, you have not lied. I have slumbered for far too long…” He shook his head. “That does not change who you are. But before I slay you, I must know more about the current state of the world.”

Thutmose reached a hand towards Lilith, who bent her body back as far as possible. She’d heard stories of past Demon Lords who’d torn information out of the minds of their subordinates, leaving the latter broken wrecks who couldn’t even stand. Someone like Thutmose could easily be capable of the same thing. Unfortunately, nothing Lilith did could prevent the hand from contacting her forehead.

She was running through the street with her friends, who sometimes tripped each other to stay in the lead, all while their mothers yelled at them to come back for lessons.

She was staying up late at night, with a single magical light so they could see, as she and her friends exchanged stories. Her own story was a scary one, about a hero sneaking into the village and killing them all, one by one.

She was flying through the sky, her wings having finally developed enough for it. She enjoyed the wind in her face, enjoyed the feeling of freedom… up until she slammed into a tree and fell to the ground.

She watched in curiosity as the adults brought a stranger to the village: a human man. She wanted to talk to him, to know more about the world outside her tiny village. But she was interrupted by the adults, who explained that this was a different sort of lesson. They explained that succubi, unlike other monsters, were all female and relied on human men to make children. Then six of them descended on the man to demonstrate this point.

After it was all over, she couldn’t sleep. She snuck out of her house and searched the village, hoping to find the man again. She eventually found his body outside the village, with a pack of werewolves feasting on it.

The next day, she went up to everyone in the village and talked to them. The adults were casual about the event, other than looking forward to a new generation of succubi. The other children were intrigued, with a few looking forward to when they would be able to join in on the fun. None of them shared her horror at a life being lost.

From that point on, she could no longer call the village home. But at the same time, she knew that she couldn’t leave at once. As a six-year old succubus, she’d be easily killed by a human, a monster or even a wild animal. She had to become stronger. So she swallowed her disgust and asked the adults for training.

Ten years of effort later, she had come of age, and was unquestionably the strongest of her generation in both martial and magical arts. Her mother was proud of her. Her friends were eager to go out and capture a man for themselves, and expected her to come with them. Looking at their faces, she felt a pang of regret… but then she remembered the carcass being devoured by werewolves. She therefore turned them down, said she wanted to explore the world on her own. She neglected to mention that she had no intention of coming back.

In the distance, she saw humans, for the first time ever since she was six. She was disguised as one herself… but she didn’t approach them. One part of her feared that they’d see through her disguise in an instant. Another part feared that she wouldn’t be able to stop herself from attacking them.

After hearing the cry for help, she hurtled through the undergrowth, coming across a giant flower that had captured a human in its ivy. She blasted the alraune with fire, killing it and freeing the human. But when the human looked around for their rescuer, she ran off, still too afraid to meet one directly.

Following the sounds of battle, she found a werewolf attacking a human in full plate armour—a hero, just like in the stories. Not only that, but she could sense more monsters in the distance. She was still afraid, for either the hero or the other monsters could kill her. But she couldn’t let someone die in front of her again.

The dark forest disappeared, and was replaced by a chamber of aged stone blocks. Lilith took several deep breaths to calm herself down. She was not diving through the air to impale a werewolf. She was inside the ruins of a long-lost kingdom, at the mercy of a monster-hating undead king that could kill her in an instant.

Though said undead king no longer seemed to be a threat. He staggered backwards, eventually leaning on his staff for support.

“That… impossible… no monster would ever…” Thutmose muttered.

“Do you realise the truth now?” Adam growled. He had clearly managed to throw off Thutmose’s command of silence. “We’re not here to defile your tomb—or home, or whatever it is. We’re here because we’re trying to help the few humans still living in this land. If you call yourself a king, you should agree with that goal. Now, let us go.”

Lilith was shocked at how furious Adam was… and afraid of how Thutmose might react. But to her surprise, the undead king obeyed. The magic holding her and Adam subsided, allowing the two of them to land on the ground.

Once freed, Adam’s first move was to hurry over to Lilith and grasp her shoulders. He asked, “Are you alright? Can you stand? Do you—do you remember where we are, why we’ve come here?”

Lilith looked up at Adam’s face, which was filled with nothing but concern, and wondered how she’d ever been afraid of him.

“I’m fine… and I can stand. But thanks.”

Adam nodded. He withdrew his hands and looked towards the centre of the room.

Thutmose approached the two of them. He did not gesture with his hands or staff, or make any other attempt to cast magic. Instead, once he stood before them, he lowered his head.

“I have misjudged both of you. Permit me to apologise.”

-ooo-

They spent several hours in the room, talking. The conversation was naturally awkward at first, since one of its participants had just been planning to kill the other two. However, Thutmose did his best to make them more comfortable. He allowed them to use the treasures in the room as mere seats, and told them not to address him with formal terms like “Your Majesty”, as he no longer had a kingdom to rule over.

The main reason why the conversation lasted so long was that Thutmose kept asking questions. It turned out that he’d spent over three thousand years sleeping in his coffin, according to an artefact in his room that kept track of the number of years that passed. He therefore had no idea of what the world was now like, so he kept asking questions, even when the answers visibly saddened him.

Lilith was surprised at how much she was engaged in this conversation. With the exception of Adam, she had never had talked for so long with a human—or a former human, in this case. And she’d never talked so long with someone who’d previously planned on killing her—again, with the exception of Adam. She’d certainly never expected to talk to a king—though Thutmose called himself a “pharaoh”.

Eventually, it was Thutmose’s turn to explain himself. To complement his words, he conjured up an illusion of his kingdom at its height. He showed them a grand city, with buildings of brick decorated with colourful murals, and tens of thousands of people milling in the streets. The contents of the illusion were similar to the artworks in the Pyramid, but there was a world of difference between static carvings—even high-quality ones—and a realistic image of the past.

“I was not a sole ruler, like the ones you are familiar with, but merely one of a multitude,” Thutmose explained. He showed an illusion of a tall, handsome man with a headdress modelled after a bird’s wings: it was unmistakeably his living self. Then a succession of other men appeared, each with a different attire but the same regal bearing. “These were my fellow pharaohs. The exact number varied depending on the era—for we were not always at peace with each other—but by my time, we numbered twelve. Each of us ruled our own domains, though we maintained strong alliances.”

The illusion progressed through several different scenes: an immense farm that could produce enough to feed an entire city; a canal filled with ships and boats; hundreds of humans working together to build a colossal structure of stone blocks. The last scene culminated in the Pyramid: not the worn-down structure that it was in the present, but a magnificent edifice coated in white stone and capped in gold.

“That is what my Pyramid once was,” Thutmose said, pride clear in his voice. “Each of us pharaohs had one constructed. They are not simply expressions of vanity, but also tools of defence. They are nigh-indestructible due to their barriers, and can channel spells capable of annihilating invading armies. With these, we thought our dynasty to be unassailable.”

There was an uncomfortable silence. Thutmose looked towards the floor, unable to meet the gazes of his two guests.

“But we were fools,” Thutmose continued. He altered the illusion, causing it to display scenes of monsters attacking humans. “The Demon Lord—or rather, a past Demon Lord, led hordes of monsters here. We joined forces and fought back, and even managed to repulse the initial assault. But the Demon Lord was relentless. She gathered more forces and created new varieties of monsters, and continued her attack.”

The city was shown once more. Its walls were guarded by hundreds of soldiers. But their duty was for naught, as a quarter of the city suddenly collapsed, entire buildings sinking into the ground. Then a sandworm emerged, and proceeded to feast on the panicking citizens.

“After years of bloodshed, it became apparent that we could not win this war,” Thutmose said, in a much quieter voice than before. “No matter how many monsters we killed, more would appear. We held an emergency conference and concluded that our only option was to hide. So we buried our own Pyramids in earth and waited for a time when we could rise once more. However, we would not be able to survive for so long with our living bodies… so we preserved ourselves, using techniques previously used to preserve our dead.”

Thutmose lifted his hand, which was skeletal and covered in bandages, and examined it.

“We removed our organs, dried ourselves in salt, wrapped ourselves in cloth. Then we sealed ourselves in stone sarcophagi, waiting for someone to find and awaken us…” Thutmose shook his head. “But that is enough of the past. Now we must focus on the present. These lands have deteriorated after all these years. It is time that they were restored.”

“Really?” Lilith said. “Not that I’m doubting your power, but can you actually change the landscape like that?”

“I can,” Thutmose declared. “These Pyramids were intended for war, but it is entirely possible to use them for peaceful purposes. I can channel spells through this Pyramid that will reflect the sun’s rays during the day, yet retain heat in the ground during the night, and also bring up water from the depths. That will allow vegetation to sprout and flourish. People—humans, I should say—will migrate here and establish new settlements, where I can protect them. As for you two, I will have you lead expeditions to find the other Pyramids, and awaken my fellow pharaohs. With all of the Pyramids active once more, revitalising this land will be no mere dream.”

Lilith and Adam looked at each other, hope in their eyes. After spending their lives only able to help the people in front of them, now they could make a real difference.

“However, we will not be able to do that yet.”

Lilith let out a confused “What?”, and Adam fell off his seat.

“What do you mean by that?” Adam asked, while pulling himself back up.

“After so long in slumber, I… am not at my full power,” Thutmose admitted. “It will take me time for me to regain my strength.”

Not at full power, and he still captured the two of us with ease, Lilith thought ruefully. I really didn’t need another reminder of just how weak I am. What was the point of all that training?

“How long will that take?” Lilith asked. “And… is there anything we can do to help?”

“If I rely solely on my natural recovery of energy, it would be a minimum of six months before I could use any major spells,” Thutmose replied. “But there are various relics here that could accelerate that process. By using them, I could achieve the same state of readiness in…” He spent a few seconds thinking. “three weeks, four at the most. However, to ensure that this process is as rapid as possible, I will need to remain in this chamber and divert some of the energy normally used for the Pyramid’s defences. I would therefore ask the two of you to stand guard while I am vulnerable.”

“That—that would be a great honour, Your Ma—er, Thutmose, but are you sure about this?” Adam said.

“You’ve only known us for a few hours…” Lilith pointed out.

Thutmose laughed. It was a sound much livelier than Lilith expected from… well, someone of his condition. “When I was still alive, I ruled more than one hundred thousand people for over thirty years. I did not hold that position by being a poor judge of character. I may have only known the two of you for a few hours, but that is more than sufficient for me to trust you.”

Lilith averted her face, as she didn’t want Adam or Thutmose to see the look of embarrassment on her face.

“In that case, we’d be happy to—” Adam began.

Suddenly, the room was shaken by a great impact. All three of the people inside swayed, but managed to remain standing.

“What was that!?” Lilith demanded.

“Something has triggered the main barrier,” Thutmose said, frowning. “But to feel it from so deep inside… it can’t be!”

The pharaoh swept his hand to the side, conjuring up another projection of the Pyramid’s exterior.

There was a colossal serpent, one that equalled, possibly even surpassed the sandworm in size. Their scales were deep purple with a metallic sheen, resembling enchanted armour plating. Their neck flared out to the sides, forming a hood-like structure. But the most intimidating aspect of the monster was their eyes: slitted pupils with golden irises and black sclerae, which seemed to look upon everything in the world as prey.

Even though Lilith didn’t recognise the type of monster, and even though she was merely viewing them indirectly, she felt a primal fear that permeated her entire body. It was the kind of fear that one would feel when faced by a malevolent deity.

“What… is that?” Lilith whispered.

“I’ve never seen or heard of anything like this before…” Adam said. “Thutmose, just what in the world is that!?”

Thutmose did not answer immediately. Instead, the serpentine monster narrowed their eyes and spoke.

“It has been a long time, great pharaoh. Oh… and I see you have guests.”

The overpowering voice struck Lilith and caused her to tremble. However, she remained lucid enough to discern the gender of the monster.

She can see and talk to us through the projection!? That goes against everything I was taught about how projections work!

Lilith looked around, desperately searching for a solution to the current situation. She was surrounded by countless treasures, many of which were powerful magical artefacts… yet she had the feeling that, even if she knew how to use each and every one, there was nothing she could do to change her fate.

Nearby, Adam was shaking the shoulders of the one person who did understand the contents of the room. “Listen to me! What kind of monster is that, and how can we defend against it!?”

“…An apophis,” Thutmose replied at last. “One of the monsters at the forefront of the hordes that ended our dynasty. The Demon Lord herself was one of them. I… I did not tell you of them before because… because—”

“Because you were afraid of us?” The apophis said mockingly. “Because you were ashamed that you could never defeat even a single one of us?”

Despite her own fear, Lilith moved between Thutmose and the projection. Adam did the same. However, Thutmose pushed past them and raised his head high.

“No,” Thutmose said, his voice firm once more. “It is because you were not worth being remembered. You defeated us pharaohs, I will concede that… but what happened afterwards?”

The apophis hissed.

“I have talked to these two visitors,” Thutmose continued. “They told me many stories… but in none of those were your kind mentioned.”

“Silence!”

“It seems that human and monster alike did not consider your kind worth remembering—”

The apophis roared, then opened her mouth and breathed out a torrent of violet light.

The projection disappeared, the room shook once more… and this time, Lilith heard the sound of stone crumbling. The Pyramid wouldn’t last much longer.

“What can we do now?” Lilith asked.

“I have activated all of the Pyramid’s defences—but those will do no more than delay her,” Thutmose replied. “I will send the two of you out of the Pyramid to safety, while I stay behind to fight.”

Lilith gripped her spear tightly. She thought of several retorts: that she and Adam could at least provide a distraction, that they could circle around and attack the apophis from behind, that they could make a difference if they fought without care for their own lives. But she remained silent. She’d seen enough of Thutmose and the apophis to realise that they were both vastly above her, like dragons compared to a mouse.

“…Alright,” Lilith answered. “Then we’ll continue searching for the other—”

“No,” Thutmose said. “When I suggested that plan, it was under the assumption that my old enemies had died or abandoned these lands. Now I know that is no longer true. And if any of the other Pyramids were to be revealed, they would also be vulnerable to attack. You must leave these lands entirely.”

The logic was unassailable… but that didn’t make it any less painful. Lilith glanced towards Adam, but he didn’t have an answer, either.

Meanwhile, Thutmose didn’t remain still. He hurried around the room, picking up several of the treasures. He didn’t stop even when there was the sound of a distant cave-in.

“Here,” Thutmose said, while handing a pair of carved stone bowls to Lilith and Adam. “You will need these to survive in the desert. Fill them with water and expose them to the sun, and soon they will be filled with a thick soup. The taste is poor, but it will keep you alive.”

Next came a pair of diamonds, each the size of a pebble. “These can store considerable amounts of spirit energy, and in theory should also be able to store demonic energy. They will be an asset in prolonged battles.”

After that was a bag filled with small gemstones. “These have no inherent power, but they should be useful as currency even in this era. My apologies, but this is all I can give you. The remaining items here would be dangerous to you without the knowledge of how to use them.”

“That doesn’t matter,” Lilith said. “Thank you. We… we…”

“We won’t let you down,” Adam said. “If only we could help you—”

Thutmose laughed. “If you wish to thank me, then you should live on and make good use of my gifts. Show the world that humans and monsters need not be enemies.”

Lilith and Adam looked at each other awkwardly. It was a major burden to have thrust upon them, especially since they had yet to encounter any other examples of humans and monsters coexisting.

There was a distant explosion, and the doors to the room shook. That reminded Lilith of the uncomfortable fact that there were apparently no other exits to the room.

“Wait, how are we going to get out of—”

Before Lilith could finish her question, Thutmose tapped his staff against the wall opposite the doors. The stone changed into sand and flowed away, revealing a secret passage. A glimmer of sunlight could be seen from the other end of the passage.

“Once you leave, put as much distance between yourselves and this Pyramid as possible,” Thutmose said. He paused briefly, then added, “Farewell. Thank you for soothing the loneliness of an old man.”

Lilith blinked, then shook her head. “If you want to thank us, you should—you should win!”

“That’s right!” Adam said, with forced cheer. “You must tell us more of your stories!”

Thutmose nodded, then turned to face the door. He did not say another word.

Lilith and Adam hurried towards the secret passage. They both glanced back one more time, then left the room.

The passage was just barely wide enough for them to run single-file. There was no lighting, so Lilith had to cast her magical light to ensure that neither of them would trip.

Once they reached the outside, Lilith spread her wings and picked Adam up. She flew away from the Pyramid, trying to ignore the shame in her heart.

-ooo-

“Old man”, hm? When I was still alive, I used to hate it when Rakhamun called me that. He was always so proud of his achievement, becoming pharaoh at the age of fifteen. Yet when the Demon Lord struck, it was he who received a fatal blow to save me. It should have been the other way around…

Thutmose glanced at the doors. A wave of fell magic struck them, reducing them to dust.

Fortunately, it seems that the gods have granted me another opportunity.

The apophis slithered through the entrance. Since her natural form was far too big to fit inside this Pyramid, she had shifted into a smaller and more humanoid shape—though like most monsters, “humanoid” was a relative term. She had a head and torso with two arms and a serpentine tail below, all covered in purple scales. Her fingers were tipped with claws, her mouth excessively wide and with a pair of venomous fangs, yet all of this paled in comparison to her eyes: these were the same as those of her true form, the eyes of an ultimate predator.

“My memories have begun to return… your name was Mortaris, was it not?” Thutmose said, with a tone typically used for greeting foreign dignitaries.

“That’s correct, and I’m glad you remember,” Mortaris said, also speaking in a way that did not match the situation. “It has been a long time since we last met, I was worried you might have forgotten.”

Despite being provoked into a rage, the apophis had quickly regained her senses. It was only logical, Thutmose mused—for all of their power, the apophises could never have been so successful if they were merely violent brutes. In all likelihood, he’d only managed to provoke Mortaris because she’d spent millenia without any opponents on her level, causing her to grow complacent.

Thutmose pointed his staff at the intruder. “Unfortunately, you do not have my permission to be here. Leave at once, and I will spare your life.”

Mortaris laughed. “There’s no need to put on the act any longer, great pharaoh. You and I both know that you stand no chance and are merely trying to buy time for those two. And you need not bother: once I’ve devoured you, I will find them and allow them to join you in the netherworld.”

“Hmm… you do not seem to be surprised by that pair, even though they are a human and monster.”

“It is not the first time I’ve seen such a thing,” Mortaris replied, shrugging. “I’ve seen several other cases during these past three millenia. Fools who tried to ignore their true nature and ally with humans… and in every case, it ended the same way, with the monster devouring the human. We are not like you humans, who squabble with each other over the pettiest of matters. We attack and devour you because it is an innate desire for us, no different from the desires to survive and to produce offspring.”

This was consistent with what Thutmose already knew. He’d scanned the minds of several monsters in the past, hoping to find a weakness, yet each and every one of them had possessed the same drive to attack humans. However, Lilith had been different: although he’d sensed the same drive within her, it was buried so deeply that it was barely noticeable. The sheer strength of will she demonstrated was why Thutmose had trusted her, despite her nature as a monster.

But this is a secret I will keep to myself, Thutmose thought. If Mortaris believes that a monster is incapable of change, then I will allow her to stew in ignorance.

“On that topic, what have you been doing for all this time?” Thutmose said. “I am genuinely curious: you had abundant time and no opposition, yet you failed to establish a nation of your own.”

“Those pathetic tricks of yours will no longer work,” Mortaris said, hissing slightly. “But to answer your question: the purpose of my siblings and I was to kill you pharaohs and destroy all of your works, so, after we could find no more traces of your existence, we decided to rest. A few of us woke, every century or so, and amused ourselves by taking on smaller forms and preying on the descendants of your subjects.”

“Purpose… and who assigned you that purpose? The Demon Lord?”

“No,” Mortaris said, now with a hint of pride in her voice. “We apophises were created by gods of darkness and death, gods that had been deposed by those that you worship, all for the purpose of vengeance. The most powerful of us became Demon Lord and commanded armies of lesser monsters simply to facilitate this task.”

“I see,” Thutmose said. He gathered spirit energy at the tip of his staff, forming a golden ball of light. “But even if you were created by gods, you do not share their power!”

Thutmose fired the spell at Mortaris. Any other opponent would have been utterly annihilated, with not even their bones remaining. Mortaris deflected the spell with one hand, causing it to strike a wall and leave a large crater.

In the next instant, Thutmose was pinned to another wall, Mortaris’ hand around his throat.

“Was that the best you could think of for your last words?” Mortaris said, baring her fangs. “Regardless, it’s time to finish this. I’ve tasted the flesh of two other pharaohs, and it was delicious… I hope that your undeath hasn’t ruined the taste…”

Thutmose laughed. It wasn’t the mirthless laugh of someone resigned to their fate, but the triumphant laugh of someone whose plan had succeeded perfectly. It was enough to make even Mortaris hesitate.

“What are you—do you think this will make me show a little mercy?”

“I am simply laughing at your stupidity,” Thutmose said. “For you see… the moment you entered my Pyramid, you had already lost.”

Suddenly, the walls of the room shone with a crimson glow. Alarmed, Mortaris released Thutmose and fired off beams of violet light from her hands, making more craters in the walls. But it was fruitless—once the sequence began, it could not be stopped.

“You see, Mortaris, these Pyramids hold great power, but we pharaohs knew that there was always the risk of them being invaded and captured. So we included a countermeasure for just this situation…”

Mortaris lifted Thutmose into the air and slammed him onto the ground, breaking multiple bones. But Thutmose no longer felt any pain, and so he continued to laugh, right up until the point when the room was consumed by crimson light.

-ooo-

Over three hundred paces away from the Pyramid, Lilith and Adam shielded their eyes, as the structure was suddenly surrounded by a crimson light as bright as the sun. The light lasted for several seconds. Once it subsided, the pair cautiously uncovered their eyes.

Where there had once been an immense structure of stone blocks, there was now only a pile of sand. And Lilith suspected that, if she were to search this sand, she would not find anything left, not even a single bone.

Lilith turned and threw her spear with all of her strength. The spear embedded itself in a nearby dune.

“Argh! What was the point of all that!? We came here trying to find something that would let us make a difference! But instead, we end up with basically nothing and we got someone killed!”

Adam walked over to Lilith and placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. “No. We shouldn’t think of it that way.”

Lilith looked at Adam with a mix of scepticism and scorn, but decided to let him explain himself.

“Suppose that we never found this Pyramid,” Adam continued. “Sooner or later, someone else would have found it, like a person from that village we visited. In that case, one of the apophises would also soon find it, and it would be no different from now. Alternatively, if that didn’t happen, if no one ever found a Pyramid, then the pharaohs wouldn’t die and would continue to sleep… but do you think they would appreciate that sort of existence?”

Lilith recalled their last moments with Thutmose. When the undead pharaoh was about to sacrifice his life for their sakes, his last words were to thank them for soothing his loneliness.

“No… they wouldn’t.”

Adam nodded. “And there’s another benefit as well, the death of an apophis. From the brief glimpse we got of her, I think it’s safe to say that she was the sort of monster that preyed on humans. In killing her, Thutmose not only saved our lives, but also the lives of everyone that she would have killed in the future.”

“That makes sense,” Lilith said. “Sorry for—for losing control like that. It’s just… today has been absolutely chaotic. First we’re chased by a giant monster, then find a ruin from a lost civilisation, then meet a surviving ruler of that civilisation and nearly get killed, and I had to relive my past, and then we end up befriending that ruler, only for a second giant monster to attack, forcing him to sacrifice his life for us. It’s just… it’s just too much to deal with all at once.”

“I didn’t have to relive my past, but aside from that, I know exactly what you mean,” Adam said. “But isn’t that one of the reasons why people work together, to help each other when they have problems?”

“That’s true…”

As she said this, Lilith looked at Adam. He was smiling softly, his face illuminated by the light of the afternoon sun.

And it would be so easy for her to obtain more. If she used her natural abilities, she could make his handsome face cry out in ecstasy, make him forsake his freedom in exchange for more. She could use him to infiltrate human society and work her way up the ranks. Once he was no longer of any use to her, she could discard him and move on to her next target.

Lilith slapped herself in the face. The pain brought her back to reality.

“Lilith?”

“I’m fine,” Lilith lied. She walked over to her spear and pulled it out of the sand. “Just needed to work out my frustrations. Anyway, I think we’d better eat before we decide what to do next.”

They pulled out the bowls and Lilith drew up some water from the sand to fill them. After a few minutes, the water had turned into thick green soup. The soup was… not good, but not terrible either. It wasn’t sweet or sour or salty or bitter, but was instead devoid of any flavour. However, it still filled their bellies, just as Thutmose had promised.

With their hunger sated, they planned their next move. With the ability to obtain food in addition to water, they could travel along any route, without needing to worry about finding oases or villages.

They would first return to the desert village, and say that they had failed in their mission and nearly died. It was mostly true, it would fulfil Thutmose’s wish to keep the Pyramids from being discovered, and it would also reduce the number of brave youths throwing away their lives trying to find them.

After that, they decided they would head to the southeast, towards the coast. There were multiple port towns here, and like every other human town they had problems with monsters. Additionally, neither of them had ever seen the sea before, so it would be a novel experience.

With their plan settled, they began their journey. Lilith spared one final glance towards the remains of the Pyramid.

I won’t forget what you did for us, Thutmose. Neither Adam nor I will. And we won’t forget your last request.

It might be a naïve dream… it might seem impossible… but we will find a way.

AN: And so this arc comes to an end. Lilith and Adam may not have obtained what they were after, but they did get entrusted with something else.

Chapter Text

As Adam and Lilith journeyed south, the sand and gravel were replaced by less barren environments. Grass covered the landscape, then shrubs and finally trees. It was a relief: even though the pair had grown accustomed to the hazards of the desert, they still found it uncomfortable. Food was a good example: while Thutmose’s relic meant they didn’t need to worry about starving, after three weeks of the flavourless soup, they were eager for real meat and vegetables.

On the twenty-third day after they left the desert village, they encountered a camp of minotaurs. They resembled bipedal oxen, with barrel-like torsos and heads bearing curved horns, and were armed with stone axes. They were roasting a human over a fire, and the bones of more humans were strewn around the camp. Lilith put all of the minotaurs to sleep, then Adam slit their throats, one-by-one. The minotaurs never even had the chance to think of retaliating.

On the twenty-ninth day, they spotted a blue band in the distance. It was too smooth to be a mountain range, yet it didn’t move like a cloud bank. They increased their pace.

After reaching the top of a hill, they had a much better view of the strange sight. Both of them stopped in their tracks.

The sea stretched from one horizon to the other. The surface was far from smooth, with countless ripples passing over it. These ripples combined with the reflection of the sun to form an ever-shifting pattern of light, one more beautiful than any painting. Closer to land, the ripples grew into waves, which eventually broke on the coast to produce white foam.

Adam broke into a run, but Lilith overtook him by flying ahead. Neither of them were paying more than the bare minimum of attention to their surroundings.

They arrived at the coast, panting yet also exhilarated. Here, the waves produced a thundering sound and the air smelled strongly of salt. They could now see the numerous forms of life that dwelled here. Dark shapes flitted through the water, each one a school of fish. Flocks of birds flew through the air, often diving into the water and emerging with a fish in their beaks. The coast was dotted with clumps of green seaweed and, in the rocky areas, dense beds of shellfish. Occasionally, a crab would emerge from amidst the rocks and scurry along to its next hiding spot. There were even many insects here, either buzzing around the seaweed or running across the sand.

Adam, like the rest of his peers, had been taught about the sea. Specifically, he was taught about how most of the world was covered by it, with land actually being in the minority. But he’d never encountered any water body larger than a lake, so he simply couldn’t imagine what the sea was truly like.

Bending down, Adam examined a tiny pool of water that was trapped among several rocks. The volume of the pool was no greater than that of a bucket, but even so it was teeming with life: seaweed, three distinct types of shellfish, even a few fish that darted about frantically.

“Hey, look!”

Adam looked up to see Lilith pointing at something to the east. It was distant and hard to see, but as Adam’s eyes adjusted, he could make out masts and sails—it was a ship. This was another of the many things that he’d heard about but never seen himself.

“If there’s a ship, then there may be a port in that direction as well,” Adam said. “Let’s follow it.”

They therefore proceeded eastward along the coast. The environment shifted several times during their journey. At one point, there were large dunes of sand like those in the Ataraca Desert. At another point, the coast did not slope down gently to the sea but instead formed a sheer cliff face. And over time, the number of visible ships increased from one, to three, to seven, and so on.

A few hours later, when the sun was setting and there were dozens of ships filling the sea, Adam and Lilith finally saw the port. It was part of an immense city, comprising thousands of buildings that covered the land all the way to the edge of the sea. A stone wall enclosed the three sides of the city that bordered land, a typical defence against monsters. The fourth, seaward side had multiple watchtowers instead of a wall, with the spaces in between being used for wharves and piers. There were people everywhere and they were especially concentrated around the port, where they resembled a swarm of ants.

The pair walked up to the main gate of the city. It was enormous—three or four wagons could fit through it side-by-side with room to spare. Engraved on the stone above was the name of the city: Port Habuton. A paved road extended from the gate and all the way to the horizon, presumably joining the city to another. At this very moment, merchants and other travellers were passing through the gate.

The gate had half a dozen guards, who checked everyone entering or leaving the city. They were armed with spears and armoured with breastplates and simple helmets. When Adam and Lilith arrived at the gate, one of the guards said casually, “Name, and your reason for being here.”

“I am Hero Adam, from the town of Merith, and this is my partner Lilith,” Adam said. Aside from the name of his partner, this was a line he’d said countless times before. “We are here to rest, resupply and find if there is any work for us.”

“You won’t have any trouble finding work, there’s always monsters around the city or attacking the ships,” the guard said, while writing down the pair’s names on a piece of parchment. “Alright, go on through.”

They entered Port Habuton and slowed down for a few moments. After spending so much time in the sparsely inhabited desert, they were briefly overwhelmed by the sheer number of people here.

Their first stop was at an inn to sit down, eat and rest for the night. Unsurprisingly, most of the menu was seafood. Both Adam and Lilith decided to try something new: the former chose scallop, a type of shellfish, that was fried and served with seaweed; the latter chose a stew of sea cucumbers. When the latter’s dish arrived, both of them stared at it, since it looked like the cook had simply thrown slugs into boiling water and poured the result into a bowl. But after Lilith took a tentative taste, she said that it was better than it looked and began eating it with relish.

And inns were also an excellent place to hear the local rumours. Back when Adam’s friends were still alive, every time they visited a new town they would stop at a local inn to gather information. Though there was a downside to this: on the occasions when there were no monsters to slay, certain individuals in the group would stay too long in the inn and needed to be dragged out before they started a brawl.

As they ate, Adam and Lilith heard various rumours. Some of them were obviously wild stories being spread to entertain and attract attention. Some contained so much nautical jargon that they were incomprehensible to a pair who’d never even boarded a ship. But one story in particular caught their attention.

“—and Arnold told me that every single person had been killed, and then buried. Not a mass grave, they all got buried separately. What’s more, nothing was stolen—money, food, clothing, tools, none of it was missing.”

“That’s impossible, nobody would go to all that effort and take nothing.”

“I’m not lying, and I know that Arnold never would. The man couldn’t tell a lie to save his life.”

“Okay, but… that still doesn’t explain why anyone would do such a thing.”

“It could be a cult,” added a third voice. “I’ve heard of cults like that, they try to gain the favour of fallen gods for power. Supposedly, this involves sacrificing people in rituals—maybe the burying and everything else is part of those rituals?”

“Maybe, but—”

Adam had now lost his appetite. This was the second time he’d heard such a story, and while it could simply be a coincidence—morbid stories of this sort were hardly uncommon—he had the strange feeling that it was more than that.

“What do you think, Lilith?” Adam asked, gesturing towards the men who were discussing this rumour. “It sounds just as strange as the last time we heard it, but—”

“But the details are pretty much the same,” Lilith said. She looked down at her stew, which she was also no longer eating. “And in both cases, it doesn’t sound like they’re lying.”

Adam nodded, and turned on his chair to face the group of men. These all had the tanned skin and tattoos of sailors. He asked them, “Excuse me, I couldn’t help but overhear what you were saying, and—”

“It sounds crazy, I know,” said the sailor who’d brought up the rumour. “But I swear that it’s—”

“No, I believe you,” Adam said. “It’s not the first time I’ve heard of something like that happening.”

“Really? Where was that?” asked the sailor who’d initially doubted the rumour.

“I heard of it in a village far to the north of here, in the Narsel region,” Adam replied. “Unfortunately, I didn’t learn the exact location of the village where the massacre actually happened.”

“Narsel… that’s quite far from what I heard about,” said the first sailor. “The massacre I heard about was on the east coast of the continent. Though I’m also not sure about the exact location.”

The east coast? That’s another place I’ve never visited, Adam thought. It would take at least a month to get there on horseback. By the time we got there, whoever’s responsible for these massacres would be long gone…

Suddenly, Adam remembered one fact that he’d received in his education as a hero. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but I’ve heard that a ship can travel faster than any other form of transport, is that true?” He asked.

All three of the sailors nodded. The first replied, “That’s right! With a ship, you can travel to any port on the continent in two weeks or less! You… are you planning on doing something about what’s going on?”

Adam looked at Lilith to confirm that she agreed, then said yes.

“In that case, there’s a ship leaving tomorrow morning that goes east, to the port of Selene,” the sailor said. “It won’t take you all the way there, but it’s still the majority of the distance. Once you’re there, you should be able to find another ship. And you won’t have any trouble getting onto a ship, the sea’s filled with monsters and the captains are always hiring people to fight them off.”

Adam bought the three sailors another round of drinks as thanks for the information. Then, he and Lilith finished their meals and went up to their room for the night.

The two spent more than an hour discussing the strange massacres.

First, there was the theory of them being the work of a cult, as one of the sailors had suggested. Adam had heard of such cults from a fellow hero, who’d warned him that while most were simply tricks to let the cult leader dominate a group, some were able to tap into genuine power. The latter were extremely dangerous and it was believed that multiple heroes would be needed to destroy one such cult.

Another theory, which Lilith proposed, was that they were the work of a new race of monsters. While monsters in general killed and ate humans, they varied considerably in how they did this. Succubi were one example, with their manner of consuming humans being infamous, especially among teenage boys. Another example were vampires, who only drank human blood and refused to touch the rest of the body.

A third theory was that the massacres were not actually real, with the rumours being spread by monsters in disguise as a way of sowing fear and despair among humans. This would explain why none of the rumours included an exact location.

In the end, though, they could not come to any solid conclusion. Each theory had its own flaws and none seemed to stand above the rest. They eventually stopped their discussion and went to sleep.

-ooo-

As soon as the sun rose, Adam and Lilith left the inn and headed for the port. The closer they got to their destination, the greater the proportion of sailors, fishermen and the like in the surrounding crowd.

At the port, countless crates and barrels were being loaded and unloaded from the ships. In addition to seafood and salt, there were plenty of goods from all around the world. Adam even spotted a crateful of clothes that, judging from the distinctive blue dye, originated from his own hometown of Merith. While he was here, Adam also took a closer look at the watchtowers: each had an archer standing at the top, gazing vigilantly at the sea.

By asking around, they soon found the ship they were after. It had three masts, with three sails on the central one and two on the masts to the front and rear. The front end of the ship was carved to resemble an armoured woman with feathery wings: a valkyrie, a type of angel that served as the swords of the gods. Barrels of alcohol were currently being loaded onto the ship.

Standing by the gangplank was the ship’s captain, a grizzled man wearing a faded blue coat and a hat in a matching style. His left cheek was marred by three parallel scars. Some people were known to give themselves fake scars to appear strong, but Adam could tell these scars were genuine. It was a clear reminder of the hazards that one faced on the sea.

When Adam and Lilith approached, the captain looked at the two of them. His gaze was that of a veteran: wary and appraising. It reminded Adam of the retired heroes who’d trained him.

“Here to act as escorts?” The captain asked. His voice was just loud enough to be heard over the background noise.

“We are,” Adam answered. “We also wish to travel to the port of Selene.”

The captain nodded. “We still have a cabin left, and we can always use more help—the monsters have been more active lately. How does ten silver coins for each of you sound?”

Adam nodded. The money wasn’t necessary, due to Thutmose’s gift of gemstones, but it would appear unusual to refuse it.

“Then welcome aboard the Flying Valkyrie, we’re leaving in an hour,” the captain said. “Oh, and the name’s Aran.”

Adam and Lilith introduced themselves, then Captain Aran rattled off a series of directions. Following these directions, they boarded the ship and went to a cabin on a lower deck.

To avoid getting in the way of the crew, the pair stayed in the cabin while the Flying Valkyrie was prepared for departure. While waiting, they heard the constant sounds of boots against wood and sailors shouting to each other, and felt the constant rocking of the ship.

Finally, the ship began to move forward. A few minutes after that, a sailor knocked on their door and the doors of the other cabins, announcing that the passengers could now leave their cabins.

Adam, Lilith and many others moved up to the main deck. Here, Adam saw that the ship had moved several hundred paces away from Port Habuton. He looked up to see the sails bulging as the wind pushed on them, and for a moment he feared that they would tear, but the sails withstood the strain.

He then looked around at his fellow passengers. They were a varied bunch, with rich and poor, young and old all represented. Many of the children looked at Adam, awed by his plate armour and the sword sheathed at his side. Adam even caught a glimpse of a short, stocky man with a thick beard and a finely crafted axe on his back.

It’s unusual to see a dwarf on a ship, Adam thought. Though it makes sense that they don’t spend all of their time in caves and mines.

Adam then spotted Lilith, leaning on the railing of the deck. At first, he thought she was simply watching the sea like many other passengers. But on closer inspection, he noticed that she was clenching her jaw slightly and tapping her fingers on the railing. He recognised these as signs of frustration, and he had a good idea of the reason for this.

Adam walked over and leaned on the railing next to Lilith. Due to the sound of the waves, nobody would be able to overhear their conversation unless they were right next to them.

“You want to fly, don’t you?”

“Yeah… I’m wondering what the sea, and this ship, would look like from the air.”

Adam didn’t know what else to say. There was no point in saying that Lilith would need to restrain herself for now, since she already knew that very well. And he couldn’t fly himself, so he would never be able truly understand how she felt. All he could do was lay his hand on hers.

Though I suppose… I suppose it would be like being forbidden from walking, being forced to crawl on hands and legs. If I were in that situation… I don’t think I’d handle it nearly as well as she does.

And the problem goes beyond her. If there are other monsters that don’t wish to harm humans, almost all of them wouldn’t be able to disguise as humans to live in human society. They wouldn’t be able to live with other monsters, either, and I doubt they’d be accepted by dwarves or elves… so they’d be isolated from everyone else. On the other hand, a human like me, who knows that monsters aren’t necessarily evil, also needs to keep this a secret, to avoid being executed as a traitor and heretic. And that’s not getting into this constant war between our races…

It’s not right. It’s not right that we have to fight and die, that we have no hope of ever finding peace.

Adam glanced back. Port Habuton was no longer in sight. The land in general could still be seen, but it was far enough that he couldn’t make out most features.

Suddenly, Lilith shifted her hands. Adam briefly thought that he’d offended her, but then he saw her frown at the water.

“Captain!” Lilith shouted. “There’s monsters approaching—”

Many figures burst from the water and landed on the deck of the Flying Valkyrie. Adam had already drawn his sword and he slashed at the nearest of the monsters, inflicting a fatal wound. The monster fell to the deck: humanoid, a male judging from the broad shoulders, covered in blue scales, and his feet were similar in structure to a fish’s fins.

Merfolk, Adam thought. Sea monsters that have the tails of fish, but they can split these into legs to walk on land. And they can also—

The remaining merfolk screamed, creating an unearthly sound that set Adam’s teeth on edge. The hero could still move thanks to his reinforcement, and he saw that the same was true for the ship’s crew, who picked up anything in reach and fought back against the merfolk. Most of the passengers weren’t so resilient, and they collapsed while trying to cover their ears.

—they can also infuse their voices with magic to cripple their victims! We have to kill them as fast as possible!

Adam dodged a trident aimed at his head, then countered with a blow that decapitated his opponent. But just as he began running towards another merfolk, he heard the sounds of more monsters leaping out of the water.

However, the new set of attackers weren’t merfolk. Their bodies had smooth skin instead of scales, and from the waist down split into a bundle of sucker-lined tentacles. Each wielded multiple daggers in their hands and tentacles.

Scyllas!? Did they notice the commotion and join in!? Wait—

The scyllas rushed in, using their tentacles to pull themselves across the deck at high speeds. They attacked the crew and the passengers, and Adam had to jump back to avoid being disembowelled by a scylla’s daggers. However, the scyllas and the merfolk made no attempts to attack each other.

They’re working together!

Chapter Text

Adam swung his sword, severing the tentacles of an attacking scylla. He then rushed forward shield-first, striking the scylla in the torso, causing her to vomit blue blood and collapse.

I remembered that lesson correctly, Adam thought. Scyllas have softer bones than those of humans or most other monsters, which makes them more flexible but also means their internal organs are less protected.

A dagger lashed in from Adam’s left. He raised his shield in an attempt to block it, but the tentacle holding the dagger reached around his shield and struck Adam in the chest. Fortunately, Adam’s armour stopped it, and he retaliated with a slash that decapitated the second scylla.

But no matter how many I kill, it seems like more keep coming! And I didn’t receive much training on fighting multiple races of monsters at once!

Adam looked around for Lilith. His eyes passed over groups of sailors fending off the monster raiders, passed over the dwarf cutting apart a scylla with his axe. He eventually found Lilith near the edge of the deck, engaged in her own desperate battle against two merfolk. She was attempting to burn them with fire, but her opponents appeared to be capable mages and were shielding themselves with curtains of water.

After a second or two, Adam was forced into another fight. A particularly large merfolk rushed at him, wielding a trident that looked big enough to impale Adam even through his armour. The hero blocked one thrust of the trident with his shield, then another, in both cases being careful to avoid taking the full brunt of the blows. Despite his efforts, Adam’s shield received visible gouges from the merfolk’s trident. And Adam wasn’t able to find an opportunity to strike back.

After a third blocked attack, the merfolk changed his tactics. He began holding back, remaining just outside the range of Adam’s sword. At irregular intervals, he would charge in, dealing a blow that required all of Adam’s strength to stop, then retreat and repeat the process. With every charge he stopped, Adam felt intense pain and his spirit energy reserve decreased, yet the merfolk showed no signs of even slowing down.

I can’t keep this up. In that case—I’ll have to try being unpredictable as well!

Adam rushed forward, shield ready to block the trident, sword ready to deal a crippling blow to his opponent’s arm, which he would then follow up with a fatal blow. It was a reckless move, and one that he would not dare attempt if his opponent had a shield or armour of their own. But in this situation, he had no chance of victory without being reckless.

The merfolk bent his left arm, catching Adam’s sword on his forearm at an angle. The sword drew blood, but the thick scales prevented it from cutting any deeper. Having immobilised Adam’s weapon for an instant, the merfolk countered with a thrust of his own, denting Adam’s armour and knocking the breath out of the hero.

Before the merfolk could capitalise on this opportunity, a ball of pale blue energy struck him in the side, freezing his right arm and half of his torso. Using this opportunity, Adam pulled on his sword, freeing it and also unbalancing the merfolk, allowing him to deal a crushing blow with his shield.

It took half a dozen more attacks after that, but eventually Adam brought the hulking merfolk down.

Adam quickly looked back towards Lilith. She had frozen her previous two opponents, turning their water shields into prisons. However, she was now engaged in another fight, so Adam had no chance to thank her for the assistance.

And once again, Adam had his own fight to deal with. Another merfolk approached him. Adam blocked the merfolk’s trident and slashed her abdomen, a disembowelling strike, only for a tentacle to coil around his legs and pull him down to the deck.

Adam tried to stab upwards with his sword, but the scylla restrained his sword arm with a tentacle. The remaining tentacles coiled around Adam’s other limbs, preventing him from fighting back or escaping. Then the scylla wrapped his hands around Adam’s throat and began to squeeze.

The strangulation lasted for several seconds, during which Adam desperately tried to free at least one limb so he could force the scylla off him. Eventually, a sailor struck the scylla in the head with a club, crushing the skull and freeing Adam.

The sailor extended a hand to help the gasping Adam stand up. Then he froze, a dagger piercing through his chest. Acting on instinct, Adam lashed out with his sword, killing the scylla responsible and avenging the sailor.

At this rate… we’ll lose, Adam thought. He scanned the battlefield, taking in the numerous human corpses. No, we might be able to win, but the casualties would be immense. As a hero, as a human, and as a person, I can’t let that happen!

I’ll have to use that… it’ll be my first time using it in actual combat, I have to hope that it works. But before I can use that, I first need to—

Adam ran over to Lilith, killing another merfolk when they got in the way. He managed to get her attention, then said, “Plan E!”

Lilith widened her eyes in surprise, but she nodded.

They implemented the plan. Adam remained still, gathering all of his remaining spirit energy for one final spell. Lilith remained by his side, defending him against any of the other monsters that approached. Then Adam shouted that he was ready. Lilith’s response was to impale a scylla and then drag them over to the edge—hopefully, this would appear to external observers as the scylla dragging her in its death throes. Finally, Lilith jumped over the edge, bringing the scylla with her.

Adam raised his sword to the sky and roared, “Oh, holy light! Purge the wicked in the names of the gods! Evil Obliterating Incantation!”

For a moment, Adam was like a miniature sun, enveloping the entire ship with white light. The light subsided to reveal that every single monster had collapsed to the deck, while the humans were unaffected—other than being surprised by the powerful spell.

If these were undead or demons, it would have completely destroyed them, Adam thought. He executed a fallen scylla with a quick slice of the throat. But this is enough to turn the situation around!

The crew quickly recovered from their surprise and followed Adam’s lead, executing the remaining monsters. Even some of the passengers—those that had recovered from the merfolk’s screams—joined in.

Eventually, Adam came to the last surviving merfolk. Though her muscles were paralysed, her eyes stared at him with a mix of hatred and fear. Adam hesitated, but only for a second, and then brought his sword down.

Adam rushed to the side of the ship. He spotted Lilith climbing up, using her spear to help by sticking it into the gaps in the rough wood. Once she was close, he helped her onto the deck. She was soaked in seawater, her skin was pale and she was breathing heavily, but she was at least alive.

Captain Aran approached. He had clearly been in the thick of the fighting as well, with a cutlass in hand and several cuts scattered around his body.

“Thanks for the help,” Aran said. He cleaned the blood off his cutlass and sheathed it. “We would have had a much harder time without you two.”

Adam nodded. “I know some healing magic, if you need—”

“I don’t need it, save it for those who do,” Aran said, gesturing around.

All around the Flying Valkyrie, the crew were tending to each other and to the passengers. After confirming that Lilith was in a stable condition, Adam joined in. He healed a number of broken bones and deep cuts. However, there were some that were too far gone: these were given a quick death, then had weights tied to their bodies and were lowered overboard. It was an ignoble fate, as they would be consumed by animals or even by sea monsters, but as Captain Aran explained, it was the only option: they couldn’t leave the corpses on the ship to spread disease, nor could they cremate them when the ship was composed of very flammable wood.

While doing this, Adam was approached by the dwarf from before. The dwarf introduced himself as Balin Ironheart, of the dwarven city of Vaseram. He explained that he’d been on the verge of being killed by a scylla when Adam had cast his spell. He thanked Adam profusely for the aid and said that, if he ever came to Vaseram, that Balin would definitely repay the favour.

Towards the end of the cleanup process, people began to discuss the recent attack. In particular, they were unnerved by how it involved two monster races cooperating.

“I’ve never heard of anything like it happening before. If it wasn’t for the favour of Poseidon, we might have all been wiped out.”

“It was their teamwork that let them kill so many of us. One second you’ve locked weapons with a mer, and then a tentacle reaches around and stabs you. Or you’re grappling with a scylla, then one of the mers distracts you with a scream.”

“Could—Could there be a new Demon Lord? That’s the only time that all the monsters work together!”

“It can’t be… but—”

“The Demon Lord can’t be back!” Captain Aran shouted, his voice reaching every spot on the Flying Valkyrie and causing everyone to fall silent. “If the Demon Lord was back, then we’d be seeing entire cities falling to the monsters. Now get back to work!”

The crew resumed their duties and the passengers retreated to the lower decks. However, the discussions also resumed, just in quieter voices than before.

Adam finished his healing and went back to Lilith. She had received a towel and cup of rum from the crew. However, her skin was still pale and she was trembling slightly.

“You… I still hit you with the spell, didn’t I?” Adam asked in a whisper.

“It’s fine… it was the only option, and I should be fine after some sleep,” Lilith replied.

“But if I’d just been more careful—”

“Then you, me, and many others would be dead,” Lilith said firmly. “Anyway, we shouldn’t talk about this here.”

Adam clenched his teeth, but said nothing more on the topic. He didn’t stop thinking about it, however.

Evil Obliterating Incantation… it’s a spell that I learned several years ago, as a way of defeating a large group of monsters at once. I wasn’t skilled enough to use it under combat conditions—not even with the advantage of surprise, as monsters would be able to sense the gathered energy and react. It was only thanks to training with Lilith that I improved my magical skill enough to use it now… and how did I repay her for that? By nearly killing her! If she had been just a little closer when I cast the spell, she would have been paralysed, wouldn’t have been able to cling to the ship.

A grisly image entered Adam’s mind: Lilith dragged beneath the waves, sea monsters tearing her apart in a feeding frenzy, staining the water red. It was by no means an unrealistic possibility, since even if these particular monsters were able to work together, that didn’t mean they would consider an unfamiliar monster to be an ally.

This wasn’t the first time that Adam had accidentally attacked or been attacked by an ally. It was unavoidable in the chaos of battle. But he’d never had it happen in such a close battle. And it had happened just because his partner was a monster.

Evil Obliterating Incantation… I suppose I can’t fault whoever came up with the name, since they made it under the genuine belief that monsters are all evil. Although… there are many humans, and elves and dwarves and other non-monsters, who are undoubtedly evil, yet this spell does nothing to them… it can’t even blind them.

While Adam was lost in these thoughts, Aran approached. The captain’s wounds had been bandaged and he was sipping rum from a mug.

“I can now see why you wanted us here,” Adam said.

Aran rolled his eyes. “The sea’s filled with just as many monsters as the land, but we don’t get even half as many of heroes coming through… Anyway, for your performance, I’m doubling your pay, for both of you.”

“That’s not nec—”

“The hell it isn’t,” Aran growled. “Consider it me making an investment, to get more monsters killed and more humans saved. I know you’re not the type to just waste it on drink and whores, so it sounds like a pretty good investment to me.”

Lilith answered before Adam could. “Alright, thank you.”

Aran leaned on the ship’s railing, gazing at the water. Before, Adam might have interpreted this action as him admiring the view. Now, he could tell that the captain was scanning the water for more monsters.

“There’s been more monster activity lately, but this is the largest raid I’ve ever seen in my entire time on the sea,” Aran said. “And it’s the first time I’ve ever seen or heard of a raid with multiple races working together. You… what do you think?”

Adam reviewed his lessons and considered his words carefully before responding.

“I agree with what you said before, that there can’t be a new Demon Lord,” Adam said. “At the same time, this is highly unusual behaviour for monsters. In these periods where there is no Demon Lord, they usually shun each other, or even fight among themselves. In fact, I’ve heard that the new Demon Lord is chosen via the candidates fighting each other to death, with the survivor taking the throne.”

Of course, Adam neglected to mention that he’d learned this fact from a monster, and that this monster was currently standing right next to them.

“But monsters of different races can sometimes work together, even without a Demon Lord,” Lilith said. “It can happen when an especially powerful monster forces their will on weaker monsters—in a way, they act as a lesser Demon Lord.”

Aran grimaced. “The sea’s dangerous enough, and now there’s something like that out there? Although, that doesn’t explain why I’ve never heard of this happening before.”

Lilith looked away. For a moment, Adam wondered if he should interject, but then she spoke. “I can only speculate at this point, but… I think it’s definitely happened before. When there is a Demon Lord, there’s so much destruction, so much death, that lots of knowledge is simply lost. To give an example, can either of you name… say, the ruler of Lescatie from five hundred years ago?”

Adam doubted that Lilith knew that fact, either. However, her point was undeniable, as Adam also didn’t know who said ruler was, and from the blank look on his face, neither did Aran.

“Exactly. In previous ages, there must have been monsters who had the idea of dominating those weaker than them, but without trying to become Demon Lord. But records of that must have been lost…”

All three of them fell silent. Eventually, Captain Aran left to deal with an issue elsewhere on the ship, leaving Adam and Lilith to continue their discussion.

-ooo-

Three days after its departure, the Flying Valkyrie arrived at the port city of Selene. Fortunately, there were no more monster attacks in this time, though there was some bad weather on the second day.

On their arrival, Captain Aran gave Adam and Lilith their pay: twenty silver coins each. He also provided them with the names of several ships that could take them to their destination on the east coast. He didn’t know any new information regarding the strange massacres, but he did warn them to be careful.

Selene was a bigger city than Port Habuton, with more people, more ships and a greater variety of goods being traded. For now, the pair decided to recuperate in the city instead of trying to find their next ship.

The first stop was a local blacksmith. Adam dropped off his sword and armour to be repaired. The blacksmith was surprised by the armour, saying it was made of a metal that was rarely used nowadays, but said that he could repair it. While he was here, Adam also replaced his shield, which was too heavily damaged to be repaired.

The repair would take several hours, since the blacksmith had other projects to deal with. In the meantime, Adam and Lilith stopped at an inn to eat and to talk about the new problem they’d discovered.

“A monster capable of uniting multiple races by force… they’d have to be extremely powerful,” Lilith said, lifting a spoonful of stew to her mouth. “Maybe even as powerful as that apophis back in the desert.”

“In theory, I could contact the local church and barracks and request reinforcements,” Adam said. “But I’d prefer to avoid that when possible, since… well, if we were travelling alongside many heroes and priests, all trained and experienced at fighting monsters, one of them might realise that.”

“And on top of that, we’re dealing with sea monsters, who will obviously have their base underwater,” Lilith continued. “It makes the usual strategies useless. We can’t just keep defending against attacks like these. But at the same time, we can’t just dive into the sea and—unless…”

“Unless what?”

“Well, back at home, I remember hearing about a spell to breathe at high altitudes,” Lilith explained. “It’s useful for fl—mountain climbing, since the air is thinner the higher you are. That spell worked by concentrating the air around you—but that’s not important. The point is, there could also be spells for breathing underwater!”

“Hmm… people who live around the sea would definitely be the type to know such spells,” Adam said. He took a bite out of a roll and chewed it while considering his response. “But breathing is only one part of the problem. Underwater, your vision is limited, it’s hard to move, and the cold water saps away your strength. It would be impossible to fight under such conditions, especially against monsters who consider the sea their home.”

“That’s true,” Lilith said, deflating slightly. “But we could still ask around. It’s possible that the people here know of ways to handle those problems as well.”

After finishing their lunch, they left of the inn and split up to explore the city while gathering information, with an agreement to meet at the city square after four hours.

Adam first went to the inns near the port to speak with the sailors and fishermen. These were the people most likely to know the information he was after. Most told him that they didn’t do any work underwater: they had no need to in their jobs, and merely entering the water made one more vulnerable to monsters. Some, such as the fishermen who gathered pearl oysters, did dive for their work. These told him how they could stay underwater for long periods: most had trained until they could hold their breaths for over ten minutes and could withstand the cold temperatures, and a few also had magical artefacts that could increase this time limit to as long as thirty minutes. However, none of them knew of any methods for actually breathing underwater, nor for dealing with the other problems in this environment. Still, Adam was able to obtain the locations of the merchants who sold such artefacts, for which he was grateful.

His next stop was the marketplace. This was a bustling place, with hundreds of stalls being visited by thousands of people. Adam bought various small goods as souvenirs, such as a shell necklace and a small fish carved from coral. As he made these purchases, he asked the merchants questions. Again, most knew nothing about the topic he was interested, but a few were able to provide him with more locations.

Eventually, Adam came to the specific merchants who dealt in artefacts for underwater exploration. Some of these were actually charlatans, as Adam determined from the lack of magical aura from their products. Fortunately, most sold genuine magical artefacts. However, these still wouldn’t be enough for what he and Lilith planned: finding the base of the sea monsters, fighting through any opposition and slaying the leader.

And I’m still not entirely sure about how to do that, Adam thought, after visiting the third merchant. A monster that powerful might be able to survive a cast of Evil Obliterating Incantation, even at close range… and I don’t have enough energy for two in the same day.

We could try a strategy of division, like we did for the harpies and lamias back then. If our guess is correct, the merfolk, scyllas and any others wouldn’t truly support their leader. However, they might not be willing to fight back against such a powerful monster. And it’s possible that they do support their leader, even if it’s just so their raids are more successful and they can eat more humans.

As the time limit approached, Adam found one more merchant and decided that they would be the last one. Afterwards, he would pick up his equipment from the blacksmith and reunite with Lilith.

This merchant was an elderly woman with white hair tied in a bun and wearing a blue dress. She owned a small stall in a corner of the market that sold a variety of objects: most appeared to simply be mundane jewellery, but a few of the items gave off a faint aura of magic.

“See anything you like?” the merchant asked when Adam stopped at her stall.

“Well, I’m looking for something in particular: something that might let me breathe underwater?” Adam said. “And if possible, something to deal with the other challenges of acting underwater, like the limited vision and the cold.”

The merchant immediately changed. She straightened and looked at Adam with an appraising gaze. “Why do you want such a thing?” She asked.

Adam decided to tell the truth, as there weren’t any plausible lies in this situation. “I’m a hero, and I wish to take the fight to the sea monsters in their lair. It’s the only way to stop the recent increase in monster attacks on ships.”

“Some—no, almost everyone would call that a foolish goal,” the merchant said. “Even if there were charms with the effects you describe, and even if you equipped an entire army with them, they would still have no chance against monsters in their favoured environment.”

“An army would have no chance,” Adam conceded. “But sometimes, a small group can accomplish what an army could not.”

“Like in the legends, a single person sneaking into a castle and opening it up to let an army in?” the merchant said. She snorted. “Those legends are just stories, told to entertain and to keep up hope.”

“But there is a kernel of truth in those legends, isn’t there?” Adam pointed out.

The merchant raised an eyebrow. “Perhaps. Hmm. You don’t seem to the sort of reckless hero who rushes off and gets themselves killed on their first mission. I may have what you’re looking for… But first, tell me: what do you know about Poseidon?”

“Poseidon? She’s the goddess of the sea,” Adam replied. “Sailors pray to her for safety, fishermen for a good catch.”

“All true, but… there is more to that.”

The merchant reached down and pulled out a box. She opened it up to reveal two necklaces. Each consisted of a loop of seaweed threaded through a shell, and this shell had a tiny blue crystal embedded in it.

“These necklaces… the charms attached to them hold the blessing of Poseidon herself,” the merchant said. “Wear these, and you can breathe, see and move around underwater as though you were on land. You can even drink the seawater with no problems.”

Adam blinked. He hadn’t expected to find something that solved all of his problems after just a few hours of searching.

“I know, it sounds unbelievable. You may be wondering why there aren’t more charms like these, despite how useful they are,” the merchant continued. She glanced briefly towards the sky. “Tell me, are you a faithful worshipper of the Chief God?”

Adam was even more surprised by this question. It was the duty of any human to devote themselves to the Chief God, and this was doubly true for heroes… and yet here he was, a hero who violated the Chief God’s will by working with a monster.

“…I do,” Adam replied.

The merchant nodded and the corners of her mouth lifted slightly in a smile. “I see. In that case, I am happy to sell these to you. The price… how about six copper coins for both of them?”

“Six coppers—that’s the same as it would cost for any of these!” Adam exclaimed, gesturing at the unenchanted jewellery in the stall. “I can’t accept—”

“These charms are useless to me now,” the merchant said. “If anything, I should be giving them to you… but my merchant’s soul won’t let me give away anything for free. Six coppers it is. Are you unable to afford that price?”

Adam couldn’t stop himself from laughing. He reached into his coin-purse and pulled out six copper coins: a tiny fraction of what he could get by selling even one of Thutmose’s gemstones. He handed over the coins and accepted the necklaces.

“There… I hope you make good use of these,” the merchant said. “I no longer care about what happens to me, but these attacks have caused great suffering to this city, and others.”

“I will,” Adam promised. “And you shouldn’t think of yourself that way. Age is no reason to stop caring about your life.”

The merchant waved a hand dismissively. “Save that hero’s charm for a woman closer to your age.”

Laughing, Adam walked away from the merchant’s stall.

Adam returned to the blacksmith to pick up his sword and armour, then headed for the city square. Along the way, he remembered the elderly merchant’s words, and Lilith’s face popped into his mind. He shook his head frantically to clear that image.

There’s no way it would work. I mean, I like her as a person, but…

But… that’s right, her past. With her past, there’s no way she’d want that sort of relationship with a human!

That’s right… so, there’s no point in hoping for something like that.

Anyway, I have more important things to worry about. I have these charms, and if they work, that solves half of our problem. The other half—how to actually defeat a monster capable of forcing others to cooperate—is something I still need to think about.

As he walked towards the city square, Adam tried to keep himself busy by coming up with plans. But no matter how hard he tried, thoughts of Lilith kept re-entering his mind.

Chapter Text

At the city square, Lilith leaned against a pillar, disappointed at her lack of success. Most of the artefacts she’d examined were fakes, and the few genuine ones wouldn’t be enough for what she and Adam wished to do.

Does this mean we’ll have to abandon the whole idea?

It was the reasonable decision. Both Lilith and Adam had been taught how to swim, but it was only to prevent them from drowning if they fell into water. And even if they were master swimmers, that wouldn’t let them defeat aquatic monsters in the latter’s favoured environment.

But then Lilith recalled what she’d seen and heard in her search. The city certainly seemed bustling at first glance. However, thanks to a succubus’ ability to sense people’s emotions, she could discern the undercurrent of fear and worry in the population. And when she talked to the merchants for long enough, they would reveal how they had trouble replenishing their wares and how less and less people could afford to buy them.

We have to help these people… but we can’t do anything without—

Lilith felt a familiar, and extremely pleasant, spirit energy source approach. She turned to see Adam approaching, and noticed that he seemed worried.

“I’m guessing you didn’t find anything, either?” Lilith asked.

“Huh?” Adam said, blinking. “Oh, actually, I did find what we were after!” Adam held out two shell necklaces. “In fact, if the merchant was telling the truth about these, then they’re even better than we were expecting!”

Lilith took the necklaces and examined them. They had a faint but unmistakeable aura of magic, one that was aligned with the element of water. And this aura was somehow comforting: Lilith felt that if she wore one of these necklaces, she would be protected from any and all harm.

“We’ll need to test them first, but they certainly have power,” Lilith said. “But just what did you do to find artifacts like these?”

Adam laughed. “You could say I used my hero’s charm.”

Lilith froze. She imagined her partner walking up to a merchant, a human woman who was similar in age to him. Her partner smiled, causing the merchant to laugh. Then he asked her if she had anything of interest to offer, and the merchant leaned in closer, and…

No. No, that’s—I’m being an idiot. He was clearly joking.

However, even if it hadn’t actually happened now, the scenario in Lilith’s imagination was a definite possibility. Adam rarely talked about romance when it came to himself, but he occasionally let something slip when telling stories of his late friends. From these stories, she’d learned that Adam had an interest in finding a woman and settling down eventually, but for now he was focused on his work as a hero. And once he decided to settle… with his job, his appearance and his personality, he would have no trouble finding a wife.

“Lilith? Is something wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong! I’m just—I’m disappointed in myself, since I couldn’t find anything myself,” Lilith replied. “Anyway, it’s getting late, and we shouldn’t test these when it’s dark, so why don’t we go to an inn for the night?”

With that, they headed off to find accommodation. Lilith tried to distracting herself by discussing plans for tomorrow with Adam. This, of course, meant that she had to talk with him, meaning that it completely failed to distract her from the feelings that she definitely did not have for him.

-ooo-

The next morning, they tested the charms while still in their room at the inn. Lilith filled a bucket with water—concentrated from the humid air using magic—and they took turns immersing their faces in the water. With the necklaces on, they were able to breathe with no problems at all. The water didn’t enter their mouths or any other orifices, and their faces were completely dry when they removed them. They then tried immersing their sleeves in the water, and these were also dry when removed. The results of this initial test were promising, but it wasn’t enough as the sea would present many more challenges.

They therefore decided to perform a field test. First, Adam had his armour painted a dull blue using paint that would last for some time in water: if the test proved successful, then their upcoming mission would require stealth. They then left the city of Selene and travelled east along the coast. After a quarter of an hour, they found a small, secluded beach.

Lilith and Adam began wading into the sea. The water was up to their knees, then their waists, then their shoulders, and yet they were not knocked over by the waves. In fact, they didn’t even slow down. The water offered no resistance as they pushed forward, and buoyancy did not cause them to float off the sand beneath. Finally, they reached the point where only their heads were above the surface. They nodded to each other, then brought their heads down.

The power of Poseidon’s charms held true. Lilith could breathe without any discomfort, and see for a considerable distance ahead. Vision wasn’t perfect, however, due to the blue tint of the water and the occasional cloud of sand stirred up by a current.

“It works,” Adam said, his voice not muffled in the slightest.

They walked forward some more, so that the water was now deeper than Adam was tall.

“Yeah… although, there is one more thing to test,” Lilith said. “We can move around on the bottom like we’re on land, but can we still swim? If we’re limited to moving around in two dimensions, it’ll be hard to fight against enemies that can move in three.”

Lilith took a deep breath, then jumped off the sand and kicked her legs. Suddenly, she lost her bearings. She looked around in a panic and spotted Adam: he was at least ten paces behind her.

It wasn’t long before Adam caught up. Like Lilith, he misjudged his speed and overshot her slightly, so he had to swim back. The two of them looked at each other, eyes wide in surprise, as they treaded water.

“Okay… that definitely answers my question,” Lilith said. “In fact, now we have a new problem: we can swim faster than we normally can, so we’ll need to get used to this.”

“Definitely.”

The pair spent about an hour swimming around, chasing each other, sparring both on the seabed and while suspended in the water column. They had many embarrassing failures, but also learned many things about how these charms worked.

First, being underwater didn’t affect any of Adam’s magic, but it did affect Lilith’s elemental spells, usually by reducing their range and altering their effects. Fire now produced a jet of superheated water, ice produced a crystalline pillar that struck its target with enough force to crack rock, lightning produced a spray of small bolts instead of a single large one. Water was the exception, having increased range and no change in effect, and it also used less demonic energy than normal.

Next, Lilith could use her succubus wings to essentially “fly” underwater, moving at an even faster speed than when swimming. This would be a major advantage, especially since she was much more skilled at flying than swimming. However, it was still more tiring than walking. She therefore decided to stay in her human disguise for now.

And when they began to feel thirsty from the exertion, they discovered that they could drink the seawater simply by making a gulping motion. There wasn’t even the slightest taste of salt, though they had to be careful when they drank to avoid taking in sand as well. Similarly, they could eat the rations they were carrying and also any of the animals and plants they found, though they could only cook them via boiling.

Eventually, they reached the point where they could fight effectively while standing on the seabed, and also swim to quickly avoid an attack or reach a new location. They still weren’t nearly as experienced in the water as even a sea monster child, but that was a gap they could never fully close. They decided to move on, hoping that any sea monsters they encountered would likewise be unfamiliar with fighting land-dwellers underwater.

They spent over thirty minutes walking. Along the way, they encountered a reef with a dazzling variety of life. There were colourful corals, which grew in shapes similar to plants yet were as hard as rock. Crabs, octopi and small fish hid among the corals, only emerging occasionally to feed. Larger fish swam over the reef, hunting for prey. And even these fled in terror when a shark approached. The sharks, meanwhile, kept a wary distance from the human and succubus, apparently respecting them as fellow apex predators.

As they walked, the sea grew deeper and deeper. They reached a depth where, if one were to build a ten-storey tower on the seabed, it would still be completely submerged. There were no more corals here, having been replaced by crusts of algae and beds of shellfish, and the light was much fainter. Despite this, they could still see as well as if they were on land, and they didn’t feel the slightest hint of cold.

Suddenly, the nearby fish scattered and fled. It could have been another shark… but then Lilith sensed multiple sources of demonic energy. She looked at Adam and nodded, to confirm his suspicions. But neither of them drew their weapons. They wanted to try talking to these monsters, to see if they could be negotiated with. They did, however, remain ready to fight at a moment’s notice.

A few tense moments passed, then four shapes appeared from over a hill. From the waist up they were humanoid, though with sharp teeth and blue scales, while from the waist down they had the tails of large fish: merfolk, in their seagoing form. Like the ones that had attacked the ship, these were armed with tridents.

The merfolk stopped when they saw Adam and Lilith. Surprise was clear on their faces.

“Humans? Down here?” muttered one merfolk. She seemed to be the leader of the group.

“We’re not here to fight,” Adam called out. “We’re here to stop the raids on human shipping, and we’d prefer a more peaceful solution if possible.”

The merfolk bared their teeth and raised their tridents.

There was only one way this situation might be salvaged. Lilith changed back to her succubus form, revealing her horns, wings and tail. The merfolk paused.

“I’m a monster, but I’m working with a human,” Lilith said. “I know that it might be hard to go against what everyone is telling you—” and what your instincts are demanding you do, “—but you don’t have to kill them. It is possible to live in peace with—”

The merfolk laughed. Their leader said, “Do you think we’ll fall for your tricks, just because you’ve managed to beguile a hero? I don’t know what sorceries you used to reach here, but we’ll get that information out of you! Kill the hero, capture the succubus!”

Letting out harsh screams, the merfolk charged. Lilith flinched slightly: the merfolk’s screams were even more powerful when transmitted through water!

“Lilith!”

Adam rushed forward. He slashed at one merfolk, staining the water crimson, then locked weapons with a second.

Lilith recovered and cast an ice spell, striking a third merfolk with enough force to shatter their bones. The fourth, the leader, dodged and thrust her trident at Lilith.

If she were limited to normal swimming, Lilith would have had no way of avoiding this attack. But she currently had a fragment of the sea goddess’ power. She flapped her wings, propelling herself far out of reach. The merfolk tried to pursue, but in doing so she separated from the others… and thus removed Lilith’s concern about accidentally hitting Adam. Lilith cast a lightning spell, creating a wide cone of bolts that left no room to dodge.

The merfolk screamed as she was hit by the lightning. She stopped moving and slowly sank down to the seabed. However, her demonic energy signature didn’t completely disappear, showing that she was still alive.

Adam swum over, having finished off his second opponent. “What should we do now?” He asked.

“I can use telepathy to find out what she knows,” Lilith said. “It’s… something that I really didn’t want to do before, since I didn’t want to relive the memories of other monsters. And after Thutmose did it to me, I had even less desire to do this, since I knew how painful it could be for the target… but right now, this is our only option.”

“Are you sure about this?” Adam asked. He placed a hand on her shoulder. “If you’re not ready for it, then we do have other options—”

“No, I’m ready,” Lilith said. She gently—and reluctantly—pulled Adam’s hand away. “But… thanks for the concern.”

Taking a deep breath, Lilith placed her hands on the merfolk’s head. She concentrated energy in her hands.

Swimming through the kelp forest, chasing after her friends, with the loser having to then catch today’s dinner.

Swinging and thrusting with her trident, going through all the motions that her father showed her, repeating them until it required no conscious effort.

Pulling the human off the boat, breaking his limbs to stop him struggling, then tearing into his flesh with her teeth. Her first human prey was… delicious. It was better than shark or salmon or oyster, it was a taste that she had to have more of.

Lilith screamed, pulling her hands away from the monster. Adam held onto her, told her to stop. But she calmed down, insisted that she had to do this, and resumed her investigation.

She charged at the colossal monster, trying to pierce its eyes with her trident, but a massive tentacle slammed her into a boulder. As her consciousness faded, she saw one of her friends caught in another tentacle, slowly being pulled towards a gaping mouth.

She woke up to found herself surrounded by many others, and not just limited to merfolk: the scyllas that were rivals to her race; the sea slimes that drifted around in the currents; even the tritonias and cancers that crawled around in the mud. All were injured and terrified, just like her. Then it approached, and told the monsters of its plans…

She packed the human meat into a bag and carried it back to the fortress. Normally, she would have feasted on it with her friends, but now half of her friends were dead, and she was required to bring a quarter of her catch back for it to consume.

The merfolk began to move again, so Lilith ended her telepathy and removed her hands. Adam then executed the merfolk with a single slash. Lilith felt some regret at the killing, since the merfolk had also been a victim… but then she remembered the humans the merfolk had killed, who numbered a dozen in total.

“What did you see?” Adam asked, his voice filled with concern.

“I found out where their base is,” Lilith replied. “It’s to the south, and not that far from here. And… I also found out who their leader is.”

“Really? What was their race, their capabilities?”

“I’m not sure… her memories of this leader were distorted… out of fear, and hatred. I saw someone huge, with tentacles…”

“A scylla? A particularly old and experienced one, who’d grown to abnormal size?”

“Maybe… but from what I saw, and what she felt, this was more than that. They might be a race that neither of us has ever heard of.”

Lilith and Adam looked at each other. They had started this mission knowing that it would involve unknown threats, but the new information was still worrying.

Adam suggested going back to ask the merchant for more of Poseidon’s charms and to recruit reinforcements. Lilith pointed out that from what he’d said earlier, the merchant didn’t have any more charms, and any reinforcements could potentially discover that Lilith was a succubus and Adam a traitor to the Order.

Eventually, they decided to continue. They had grown considerably since their visit to the Ataraca Desert, having gained more experience, obtained useful magical artefacts and learned new spells. In particular, Adam’s Evil Obliterating Incantation would be useful for dealing with a large group of monsters or a single powerful one. And if they had to flee, Lilith could fly faster than any of the sea monsters could swim, even while carrying Adam.

The pair headed deeper into the sea. The light faded rapidly, and without Poseidon’s charms they wouldn’t have been able to see even ten paces in front of them. The green algae was replaced by varieties that were red and brown. There were still many animals, but these were smaller than their shallow-water counterparts and had odd shapes. Overall, it looked like they were in an entirely different world, one that land-dwellers were forbidden to enter.

As they approached the fortress, they encountered more sea monsters. There were more merfolk and scyllas, but there were also new races. There was a group of tritonias, slug monsters covered in colourful frills and tentacles. There was a mershark, a larger and even more aggressive variant of merfolk. If any of these had detected Lilith or Adam, the pair would be forced to flee before they were surrounded by an army. However, they were able to avoid detection for two reasons.

First, Lilith had scanned the memories of one of the merfolk who’d used this fortress. As a result, she knew which routes were frequently used by monsters and which were not, so she and Adam could stick to the latter. This would have been hazardous under normal circumstances, since the reason these routes weren’t used often was because they had complex water currents. However, the power of the charms protected Lilith and Adam from this, so long as they kept at least one foot on the seabed.

Second, Adam suppressed his spirit energy as much as possible and stayed right next to Lilith at all times, so that her demonic energy masked his presence. This was a skill that Adam had learned during their journey out of the desert, and he was only able to learn it with the help of someone who knew how monsters perceived spirit energy. There were countless monsters of multiple races moving around here, so they wouldn’t notice anything unusual about one more. Of course, this method of stealth didn’t work against sight, hearing or any of the other conventional senses, and it only worked here because Lilith knew the routes that would let them keep their distance from monsters.

After almost an hour of carefully sneaking around, they spotted an orange glow in the distance. A few moments later, Lilith realised that it was the summit of an underwater mountain—an underwater volcano, rather. There were even more sea monsters here, streaming in and out of vents along the slopes of the volcano. Lilith had already seen the fortress in the merfolk’s memories, but she was still awed by the sight.

“…It’s like the fortress of a Demon Lord, straight from the legends,” Adam said.

“Were any of those underwater?” Lilith asked.

“Actually, one or two of them were,” Adam replied. “The legends didn’t give any real explanation on how the heroes were able to get to them… though I suppose that we now know how they managed that.”

Lilith looked the massive fortress up and down. It had to contain hundreds, possibly more than a thousand monsters, including one that was powerful enough to keep the others in line. From the merfolk’s memories, Lilith also knew that the internal layout differed from any terrestrial building, being designed for inhabitants capable of moving in three dimensions. And of course, the fortress was constructed in and around a volcano, so there was the additional danger—even if the probability was small—of an eruption.

But this wasn’t the first time the two of them had braved great danger. The Pyramid in the desert was also a place holding immense and little-understood power, situated deep within a hostile environment. They had survived that, and become stronger for it, but had also failed in their original goal. They couldn’t allow themselves to fail again.

“Adam… our goal is just to stop the attacks on the ships, right?” Lilith asked.

“That’s right—we could hardly defeat all of the monsters here, after all,” Adam said. “Even if we could bring in an army equipped with these charms, it would be a tough battle with no guarantee of victory.”

“In that case… I might just have an idea.”

Chapter Text

Adam was surprised by the plan, but agreed with it. He said that in their current situation, outlandish plans were also the only ones with any chance of succeeding.

They were still faced with the question of how to get into the fortress. First, Adam applied a spell to them that would cover up their scents, to reduce their odds of being detected, then Lilith applied a spell to translate the speech of the sea monsters, to let them gather more information. They then circled the volcano until they found a vent that wasn’t currently being used. After scanning their surroundings to confirm that there were no other monsters nearby, they entered the undersea fortress.

The vent continued for roughly fifty paces, eventually joining a corridor that had been carved by monsters rather than by nature. Small crystals were set into the walls, illuminating the corridor with a faint blue light.

Lilith and Adam walked along the corridor until they found a door on one side. They first checked to make sure that there was no one on the other side, then opened the door and entered the room. They didn’t dare to stay in the corridor for too long, as it had nothing to conceal them from the fortress’ residents.

The pair were now in a small room filled with various supplies, mainly weapons. The faint stench of human blood could be smelled here, suggesting that these weapons had been used fairly recently. There wasn’t much they could do here: not with their current capabilities, at least. Lilith had heard of curses that could be put on items and cause anyone who touched that item to die after a few hours, with no noticeable symptoms until right before the moment of death. Such curses would have been useful here, for sabotaging the sea monsters, but neither Lilith nor Adam knew them.

Suddenly, Lilith felt the presence of a monster in the corridor. She gestured to Adam and the two of them took up positions on either side of the door, ready to kill the monster should they enter the room.

The monster moved down the corridor. When they were in front of the door, they paused, causing Lilith to tighten her grip on her spear. But then the monster changed their mind and moved on.

Once the monster was no longer nearby, Lilith and Adam relaxed. It felt silly to hide from a single monster. But they couldn’t afford to let any monster raise the alarm: even the slightest mistake would see them surrounded and—well, Lilith didn’t want to think about what would happen next.

They exited the room and turned left, going in the opposite direction as the previous monster.

For more than an hour, they snuck through the fortress, constantly stopping in empty rooms to hide. Despite the lack of any combat, it was still nerve-wracking, and Lilith felt as if she was aging a year for every minute she spent sneaking around.

Of course, they weren’t able to hide forever. Eventually, a pair of scyllas did enter the room that Lilith and Adam were in: either because they were curious about the monster presence inside, or because they simply had their own business in the room. Lilith impaled one scylla through the neck, while Adam crushed the other’s skull using the pommel of his sword. They hid the scyllas’ corpses in some crates that were in the room, and Adam covered up the scent of blood, but the damage was done.

“Sooner or later, someone’s going to wonder where these two are,” Adam said. “Or if they’re skilled at magic, they may notice the spell I used to hide them.”

“Then we’ll just have to pick up the pace,” Lilith said.

As they left the room, Lilith took one last look at the crates with the scyllas’ corpses. It had been a necessary action, but… when she saw the merfolk’s memories on the way here, she was reminded of the fact that her fellow monsters were also people, despite their urge to kill and eat humans. They still loved, they still lost, they still did their best simply to survive…

How many more will I kill? When will it end?

-ooo-

As they headed deeper inside the fortress, the density of monsters increased, making it even more difficult to hide. The surroundings also became less utilitarian and more hospitable. One room was filled with stone beds, on which dozens of merfolk were sleeping. Another room was filled with tables, on which over twenty sea slimes were eating: mostly various seafoods, but some of the meat was definitely human.

However, two hours after entering the fortress, they still could not find the leader. The fortress was both enormous and didn’t appear to have any central planning in the design. If Lilith had to describe the layout using an analogy, it would be: “as if someone had taken a few spiderwebs and spent several days tangling them together”. It was only natural, since the builders were monsters of various races that didn’t normally cooperate on anything, but that didn’t change the fact that Lilith and Adam were lost.

Eventually, while they were hiding in an empty room, Adam said, “We can’t keep this up, we’ll have to try eavesdropping on a conversation.”

“But that’s—”

“Risky, I know. But right now, all our options have risks. This is the best option—arguably our only option—to achieve our goal.”

Lilith hesitated for a few seconds, but then agreed. He was right: from the moment they’d entered the sea—no, from the moment they’d started looking for artefacts to let them enter the sea, they had accepted these risks.

They continued moving around, trying to find a conversation that they could safely eavesdrop on. Even this was difficult, since they couldn’t spend too long out in the corridors but also couldn’t just enter an already-occupied room. Eventually, they found a room occupied by several monsters and with an empty room right next to it. They quietly entered the empty room, then Lilith pressed her ear against the wall and Adam stood guard by the door.

Lilith heard four distinct voices: merfolk, judging from the guttural tone.

“—it’s your turn.”

There was a sound of stone clattering against stone.

“Dammit, not again! Fine, I move three spaces and end on a stagnant water tile. I skip my next turn.”

“Then it’s my turn.” There was another clatter of stone. “Okay, I move four spaces and end on the—yes! I end on the shipwreck tile and gain a treasure!”

“You keep getting lucky rolls… you’re not cheating, are you?”

“Of course not! I’m just lucky. You should just learn to get better at this game.”

“How dare you—”

“Calm down, this isn’t something worth fighting over!” ordered the first merfolk. “Now, Petro, it’s your turn.”

There was silence for a few moments.

“Petro?”

“Huh? Oh, sorry, I was just… distracted.”

“Is this about what happened to Isuri’s group? I’m sorry, but you know how dangerous the sea is.”

“Of course I know that!” Petro shouted. This was accompanied by a loud thump, suggesting that he had also slammed his hands against a table. “But I knew Isuri and the others too, and they wouldn’t have died in a place like that!”

“What, do you think they were… set up to die?” asked the second merfolk, the one with the unlucky streak. “I hear that the boss does that sometimes, to get rid of anyone with rebellious thoughts. That’s when he wants to be more subtle than just eating them…”

Lilith’s heart skipped a beat. She’d finally found something.

“No… that makes sense, but I think it’s something else,” Petro said. “You remember those stories our parents used to tell us, about the things that lurk in the deep sea?”

“What, the demons of chaos?”

“I heard of them as the ‘gods of chaos’…” commented the third merfolk, the one with the lucky streak.

“Demons, gods, it doesn’t matter because those are just a myth!” the first merfolk shouted. “There’s no way they exist! We should be focusing on the things that actually matter, like that thing that calls itself our boss.”

There were shouts of agreement from the other merfolk.

“Just what is that thing, anyway?” the second merfolk asked. “It looks kind of like a scylla, but a hundred times bigger and without the arms.”

“How can you—right, you were brought in later, so you wouldn’t know. The rest of us were in the first group he brought in, and he mentioned his race to us… apparently, he’s a kraken.”

“What? But I thought those were just myths as well!”

“I did too, but it turns out they’re real. Just extremely rare, and apparently they normally keep to the depths and don’t move much, except when there’s a Demon Lord around.”

“Huh… wait, from the old stories, krakens are supposed to be able to pull down ships by themselves, aren’t they?”

“That’s right. I haven’t seen our boss do that yet, but he should be strong enough for that.”

“Then why does he need us for? Is he just too lazy to fight himself?”

“Maybe. He does spend all his time down near the bottom. And he just demands human meat, without bothering to go out to hunt for himself…”

Lilith continued listening for over ten minutes. However, the merfolk drifted away from the topic of their leader and didn’t mention anything else that was relevant, focusing once more on their game.

The succubus and the human hero discussed this new information, in whispers that were just barely audible.

“A kraken… I’ve heard just one story about them,” Adam said. “In the era of a past Demon Lord, one of them sunk half a fleet by themselves.”

“That definitely isn’t the kind of opponent we could fight head-on,” Lilith said. “But that’s why we’re using this plan so that we don’t have to do that.”

Adam nodded. “And we now have an idea of the kraken’s location. Let’s go.”

They left the room and began sneaking through the fortress again. This time, they went down whenever possible, heading towards the base of the volcano.

Eventually, they spotted a trio of cancers—monsters resembling giant crabs—who were carrying a large number of human corpses bundled together. To most monsters, this would be a delicious feast, yet the corpses were more or less intact: none of the cancers had dared to sample the meat.

Either these three happen to be extremely disciplined… or they’re afraid of what would happen if they stole any of it.

Lilith and Adam followed the cancers at a distance. Fortunately, cancers weren’t a race of monsters that had particularly fine senses, so they didn’t notice the pair tailing them.

As they followed the cancers, the corridor widened and eventually became a natural tunnel, complete with stalactites and stalagmites. This made it much easier for the pair to hide. However, the water also began to warm up, something that Lilith could feel even through the effects of Poseidon’s charm.

Finally, the tunnel terminated in an enormous chamber. No—after getting closer, Lilith realised that the chamber had no ceiling. It wasn’t a chamber, but the main vent of the volcano. And when she was close enough to see the people inside, Lilith came to an abrupt stop, as did Adam.

In the main vent were several sea monsters, one of which was absolutely gigantic. This monster had the basic form of a squid, with smooth skin and numerous sucker-lined tentacles, but Lilith had never seen any squid big enough to devour an entire house. The body of the monster was a deep purple that blended in with the dim water, while the tentacles were bone-white. Numerous patches covered the body, each glowing with eerie light. And unlike a normal squid, the mouth was located on the body and was filled with sharp teeth.

After staring at the kraken—for he could not be anything else—for several seconds, Lilith turned her attention to the other monsters in the vent. They were a mix of several races—presumably, each one was acting as a representative for their race—similar only in the looks of fear on their faces.

She then remembered that this was enemy territory and darted behind a stalagmite, then quickly looked around. Adam was nearby, also hidden behind a stalagmite, while the cancers had stopped near the end of the tunnel, presumably not wanting to interrupt the meeting. Fortunately, nobody seemed to have noticed the intruders.

“—do you want us to make another raid this week?” a scylla asked.

“Hmm… yes,” the kraken replied, in a booming voice that resounded through the water and caused Lilith to tremble. “Since the last one failed, another is required to do sufficient damage to the humans.”

“I understand,” said a flow kelp, a type of plant monster specialised for the sea. “There won’t be another failure.”

“Oh, I do not blame any of you for that,” the kraken said. “It was the first time that you worked together on a raid, so it is only natural that there were mistakes. But you must remember these mistakes and avoid repeating them… do I make myself clear?”

“Yes!” shouted all of the representatives.

“Good. Now, are there any more questions?”

“Y-Yes,” a tritonia said. “If you don’t mind me asking—”

“If it is an important question, then I do not,” the kraken interrupted. “However, I do mind when others waste my time with pointless qualifiers such as that.”

“Th—Then, my question is: how long do you want us to keep up these raids for? Of course, I’m not disagreeing with your decision, we can keep this up for as long as you need, but I simply want to know how long it will be.”

“Not long at all,” the kraken said. “I have been reticent with my plans, but I suppose I ought to tell you, to assuage your fears. You will only need to perform twenty to thirty of these raids—the exact number will depend on your degree of success. It should take no more than a few months. Then, we can move on to the next stage of the plan.”

“And… that is?”

The kraken used a tentacle to point down, towards the vent floor. “It is the reason I chose this location for our base. This volcano is dormant, but it still holds an immense quantity of energy. I have spent my time preparing a ritual to tap into that energy and direct it. Once it is complete, I will be able to create immense waves at will, and send them at the humans’ port cities.”

Lilith put a hand over her mouth to stifle a gasp. The kraken’s subordinates were similarly shocked by the revelation.

“And, I suspect, you are wondering why I recruited all of you,” the kraken continued. “The answer to that is simple. The humans may be individually frail, but they are numerous and cunning, and could rebuild even after I damage their cities. To truly destroy them, it is necessary to both weaken them in advance and to invade their cities to finish off the survivors. And this body of mine, while powerful, is not suited for activities on land.”

“I… understand…” the tritonia said. “It’s a brilliant plan!”

The kraken laughed, a brutal sound that caused everyone present, even the distant Lilith and Adam, to cover their ears. “Indeed. And this plan will allow all of you to eat all of the meat that you desire. Speaking of which, my meal has arrived. If none of you have any further questions, leave me.”

The representatives left via various exits and the cancers entered the vent. They deposited the bundle of corpses near the kraken, then skittered away as fast as their legs could carry them.

The kraken coiled one tentacle around the bundle, then swam upwards. Though his movement was relatively slow, the sheer size of his body meant that he displaced an immense amount of water. Lilith had to cling to the stalagmite with all of her strength to avoid being sucked into the vent. After a few moments, Lilith heard a loud sound of flesh being bitten and ripped apart. It made her want to vomit… but those people were already dead, and the only thing she could do was to stop anyone else being taken.

Lilith and Adam left their hiding places and slowly crept towards the main vent. At the end of the tunnel, they stopped. The sound of the kraken eating was coming from a point far above: while it was too dark to see, it seemed to be a side room. However, they couldn’t see any trace of the kraken, despite its bioluminescent body. That suggested that the kraken also wasn’t in a position to see them.

Slowly, and with the willingness to flee at any time, they entered the vent and descended to the floor. This floor consisted of cooled magma and, despite appearing thick and solid, Lilith still felt a slight hint of fear when her feet touched it. It didn’t help that the water here was like that of a hot spring. However, she suppressed that fear and leaned down to examine the floor.

There were lines and shapes carved into the floor, forming a massive ritual circle that extended from one wall of the vent to the other. It was extremely detailed, and would have taken many weeks of painstaking effort to carve, but as Lilith studied it, she realised that it wasn’t all that complex. After a few minutes, she could roughly understand the purpose of each carving: the circles drew up energy from the volcano, the lines channelled this energy, intersections of lines stored energy, and the triangles discharged energy.

“Will the plan work?” Adam asked in a whisper.

“If I have the time to interfere with this, then it should work,” Lilith replied. “The problem is that I won’t have enough time. Once I start, there’ll be a build-up of energy, and there’s no way the kraken won’t notice that.”

Adam’s face fell. He looked up at the kraken’s location. “Hmm… rather than causing an eruption, could you use the energy in a more focused manner? For example, could you use it to cast a spell powerful enough to kill that kraken in a single blow?”

“That would take less time… but there would still be a massive build-up of energy, the kraken would still notice. And I wouldn’t be able to aim very well when channelling that much power, not enough to hit a moving target.”

The sound of eating stopped. Lilith and Adam tensed. The former spread her wings and grabbed Adam by the arm, ready to fly out of—

There was a long, rhythmic sound. After it was repeated a few times and the kraken still did not emerge from the side room, Lilith realised that it was the sound of snoring. She let go of Adam’s arm.

“Well… it seems that he’s the type who prefers to sleep after eating,” Adam said.

“It’s an incredible stroke of luck, and it’s also the only chance we’re going to get at this,” Lilith said. “Okay… are you ready?”

Adam nodded. They waited a few more minutes, to make sure that this wasn’t just a brief nap on the kraken’s part. Then Lilith placed her hands on the ritual circle and began manipulating the flow of energy.

After a few seconds, Lilith made contact with the immense heat beneath the floor. The tremendous power reminded her of the sun, with its ability to warm the entire earth in a matter of hours, though this power had a clear physical presence.

As an experiment, Lilith drew up a tiny amount of energy—barely enough to boil a cupful of water—and sent it through the ritual circle. She followed the energy as it was channelled through the lines. Eventually, the energy was discharged, creating a brief and weak water current.

Lilith glanced upwards, but the kraken didn’t seem to have noticed anything.

Returning to her work, Lilith picked up a stone and began making modifications to the carvings, adding new lines and shapes. Her modifications were crude and wouldn’t last for more than a few uses of the ritual circle, but she only needed them to work once.

Finally, Lilith took out the diamond—the one she’d been gifted by Thutmose, back in the desert. She’d been storing demonic energy in it every day until it was filled to maximum capacity. She pressed the diamond to the ritual circle. This was the point of no return: once she began this process, it would be impossible to safely stop it.

Lilith took a deep breath, then injected all of the demonic energy from the diamond into the ritual circle. The circle drew up volcanic energy at a tremendous rate, causing the floor to heat up and vibrate.

“Who dares enter my domain!?”

The kraken’s enraged shout was so loud that it stunned Lilith and Adam. They recovered after a few seconds, but that was enough time for the kraken to emerge from his room and descend towards them. The tunnel they had entered from, and all of the other exits to the vent, were now blocked.

“Die!”

Countless tentacles shot towards Lilith and Adam, leaving no room to escape. But before Lilith could lament her death, something struck the kraken, knocking him upwards. Lilith spotted a human figure pressed against the kraken, looking tiny in comparison… and then she noticed that Adam was no longer next to her.

Adam! But—how can he possibly be—!?

As Adam struggled with the kraken, Lilith sensed an overpowering aura of spirit energy from him. If the usual Adam was a small campfire, then the current him was a raging wildfire.

That energy—he must be using his diamond, the energy he stored in it—but if he channels all of that through his body, then—!

Adam slammed the kraken against a wall of the vent, cracking it and filling the water with rock fragments. The cracks rapidly began to spread.

“I will not be bested by a single human!” the kraken roared.

Suddenly, the kraken and Adam were engulfed in a black cloud. Lilith quickly cast a water spell at them, washing away the cloud, only to see that Adam was being constricted by the kraken’s tentacles.

I have to do something!

Lilith placed a hand on the vent floor. Although it was now hot enough to burn her flesh, she didn’t pull her hand away until she’d absorbed a considerable quantity of energy. She then channelled all of that energy into a single massive fire spell. A jet of superheated water shot from her hand and struck the kraken near his eye, causing him to scream and release Adam.

Flapping her wings, Lilith flew up and caught Adam. Her partner was barely moving: whether it was due to injuries from the battle or the backlash of channelling so much energy, she couldn’t tell. He was still breathing, but there was no telling how long he would last without medical care.

Up above, the wall of the main vent collapsed, dropping huge chunks of rock. Lilith flew into the same tunnel she’d entered from. Roaring with pain, the kraken followed them—only to scrape against the walls when the tunnel narrowed to a corridor. The colossal monster struggled, trying to force his way through, but his efforts only caused the corridor to cave in, separating him from his quarry.

But there was no time to breathe a sigh of relief. The tremors were increasing in strength, showing that the fortress wouldn’t last much longer.

Still carrying Adam, Lilith flew through the corridors as fast as she dared. There were countless sea monsters as well, and whenever she passed them, Lilith shouted at them to flee since the volcano was erupting. She didn’t put any thought into these warnings, she just did them out of instinct.

Of course, the labyrinthine structure of the fortress meant that Lilith wouldn’t have been able to escape on her own, not when she was moving too fast to see where she was going. However, the sea monsters did know the locations of the exits, so Lilith simply went in the same direction as them.

After a minute or two—though it felt like one or two hours—Lilith finally made it out of the volcano fortress. She tried to keep flying, to put as much distance between her and the impending unnatural disaster as possible. But eventually her wings gave out and she slowed to a stop, then sank down to the seabed. She kept a firm grasp on Adam, though, not wanting to let him go no matter how much her arms screamed in pain.

As the tremors intensified, hundreds of sea monsters flooded out of the fortress. However, none of them made any attempt to attack Lilith or Adam. For these few moments, they were all united by fear and fatigue.

Finally, the volcano erupted. Great clouds of steam billowed from the main vent and the numerous smaller ones, accompanied by an orange glow that contrasted with the darkness of the water. Small chunks of black rock—presumably the cooled magma—drifted down from the steam clouds. And even at this distance, Lilith felt the heat on her skin.

Suddenly, a large tentacle emerged from one of the vents. Lilith’s heart was gripped by despair—after all that effort, their target was still alive!?—only for the tentacle to be pushed out by steam and fall down, with nothing attached to it. More tentacles followed, along with chunks of charred flesh. This was all that remained of the kraken.

The kraken had been enormous, giving him formidable physical might… and it must have also prevented him from using most of the tunnels and corridors in the fortress. To enter and leave the fortress, he must have normally used the main vent… which had collapsed in the fighting, leaving him with no way out.

Lilith laughed. She was still close to a volcanic eruption, and still surrounded by human-eating monsters who had no reason to trust a succubus. But after hours of sneaking around follow by a brief but intense battle, she had to do something to relieve the stress.

And she was tired, too. Tired enough that, despite her wishes, she let go of Adam. Tired enough that her eyes closed and she drifted into unconsciousness.

-ooo-

Surrounded by darkness, Lilith felt the aches and pains in her body fade away.

She heard a gentle, soothing voice. It reminded her of her mother, when she tucked her into bed and sang her to sleep. But it couldn’t be… her mother was a true monster, someone who saw humans as nothing but prey. Lilith couldn’t let herself be comforted by her.

Lilith… can you hear me?

She heard the voice again. It was coming… from just above her chest, where the charm was.

Lilith… I want to thank you for what you’ve done today. I regret the deaths you caused… but for someone in your position, I know that you had no other option. And I am hardly in a position to criticise anyone when it comes to that…

But that’s not the important thing. The important thing is that you saved many today, freed them from their slavery. For that, you have brought some peace to the sea… and if I have something to say about it, then this peace will be even greater than you imagined.

Lilith tried to open her mouth, to ask this mysterious voice who she was.

My name? Well… you’ll learn that soon enough. But before I go, there’s one thing you need to know.

As a monster who has fought off the Chief God’s decree, and who has learned how to coexist with humans…

You have my full support.

-ooo-

The calls of seabirds. The smell of salt. The roughness of sand and the warmth of the sun on her skin.

Lilith opened her eyes and slowly pulled herself into a sitting position.

She was on the beach of an island, a small one dotted with palm trees. The burn on her hand was no longer present. Adam was next to her, and she hurried to his side to check his condition. He was sleeping peacefully and seemed to have no injuries of any kind.

That’s impossible… if he took in all the energy stored in his diamond, and used it to strengthen his body to its limits, then it would definitely leave him with torn muscles and broken bones. And that’s not even counting the attacks he took from the kraken… but he’s perfectly fine?

Lilith heard feet crunching on sand. She turned around to thank her rescuer—and when she saw who he was, immediately began readying a spell.

“Wait!” the merfolk said, holding up his hands. “I’m not going to hurt you.”

Lilith hesitated. She recognised the voice: it was one of the merfolk she’d eavesdropped on in the volcano.

She stood up and face the merfolk, eye-to-eye. She noted that he didn’t have any weapons. And while he was still physically stronger than her, enough to kill her with just his bare hands… she didn’t feel any hostility from him.

“I’m guessing that you want an explanation?” the merfolk said. “Oh, and if you’re wondering, it’s just the three of us here at the moment. My friends, and a few of the others who escaped with us, are out gathering food. I thought it would be less threatening if it was just me here when you woke up.”

“Actually… I think that I owe you an explanation,” Lilith said. “It was your base that we destroyed.”

“Then I’d like to say two things. First, my name is Milus,” the merfolk said. “And second, I can’t thank you enough for doing that.”

Lilith blinked, but then she remembered everything that she’d seen during her time underwater.

“If you’d spent even a minute in that damned place, then you’d know that we never wanted to be there,” Milus continued. “Even under normal circumstances, none of us would want to live in a place that’s cold, dark and could potentially explode… and that thing made it a hundred times worse. He brought us there by force, killing anyone who disagreed, made us serve him like slaves and give him a quarter of our—well, our catch, and whenever anyone even thought of rebelling, he ate them in front of us as an example. On behalf of my friends, and everyone else who suffered under him, I thank you.”

Lilith averted her gaze. “I guess you could say that we saved you … but that wasn’t really our goal. Our main goal was to stop the attacks on the humans.”

“Really? Then why did you tell us to evacuate when you escaping?” Milus pointed out.

“It was—I didn’t think about that when I did it—”

“Seems like a waste of energy, and you were clearly already tired back then—”

“I killed other monsters!” Lilith shouted. “Both down there, and lots of times before! Some of them might have been your friends!”

These were words that Lilith shouldn’t have said. They could have easily angered the merfolk into attacking her. But she had to say them, she couldn’t keep them suppressed any longer.

After a pause, Milus said, “And I’ve killed other monsters, too. For territory, for self-defence, to prove a point… and I suspect that if we compared our histories, you’d have far better reasons than I do.”

“That’s… it doesn’t change a thing,” Lilith insisted. “It doesn’t change the fact that I’ve killed so many.”

“Maybe it doesn’t,” Milus said. “But let me ask you one question: do you think you could ever kill him?”

The merfolk gestured towards Adam. Lilith looked at her partner and… could not find a single scenario where she would ever willingly do so. No matter what, if she were ever in a situation where Adam was in danger, she would throw away her own life if it even slightly improved his chances of survival.

“Just like I thought,” Milus said, smiling. “Though I do need to know: how do you manage? All of us feel the urge to kill humans, even right now I think that I should take advantage of his weakness to rip his throat out—”

Lilith began readying a spell again. She didn’t care what the odds were, she would not let anyone—

“—yet you don’t seem to feel that at all. Why? Even if it’s different for you, you should still feel the urge.”

Lilith stopped her casting. She took a few breaths to calm herself down.

Then, for the first time ever, she told another monster her story.

Once the explanation was over, Milus shook his head. “It sounds unbelievable, Lilith. If I heard this in any other situation, I’d think it was stupid… but I saw you risk your life to save him from the volcano. To think that it’s possible for us to suppress our urges…”

Lilith sighed. An immense weight had now been lifted off her chest. “I should thank you as well. For bringing us here, and healing us.”

“Hold on a moment,” Milus said. “My friends and I did bring you here, but we didn’t do anything to heal you. We don’t know that kind of magic. When we were carrying you up to the surface, your wounds healed before our eyes.”

“What!? How is that possible?”

In response, Milus simply pointed at Lilith’s chest: at the charm hanging over it.

“This charm… it let Adam and me survive in the sea… and it has the power of Poseidon, the sea goddess.”

“We know her as the Blue Mother,” Milus said. “She’s our goddess, even more so than she is for any of the humans. After all, we live our entire lives in the sea. We pray to her for favourable currents, for good catches, and for healthy children.”

“But… no offence, but that doesn’t make any sense,” Lilith said. “The humans pray to Poseidon to be protected from the dangers of the sea… including you. One side has to be wrong about what she does.”

“That’s true, and until recently, I thought it was the humans,” Milus said. “But… well, back when we were near the volcano, we were all discussing what to do with you. It was a confusing situation: you’d saved us from that kraken, but one of you was a human hero. Some said that it would best to kill and eat you—no one on land would ever know, after all—but then we heard her voice.”

Lilith remembered that strange voice she’d heard. Before, it was easy to dismiss as a dream, but now…

“She said that monsters and humans had been dying in her sea, polluting her water with blood, for too long,” Milus said. “She said that we should take this incident as a sign to reassess ourselves. After that… no one could agree with killing you. We broke up into a hundred different groups and went in different directions. My group decided to bring you to the surface.”

Lilith spent a few moments taking this all in. She eventually said, “Then, what have you decided to do now?”

“We’re definitely changing the way we live,” Milus said. “First, there was one benefit to being enslaved by that thing. It taught us how to work together despite our differences. Most of the other groups who left were mixes of different races. That’s something you would never see before. And second… we’re going to try acting like you.”

“Me?”

“Yeah, we’re going to try and stop attacking humans,” Milus said, lifting his chin in a confident manner. “You two have shown us that something like that is possible. And while I can only speak for my own group, I think some of the others might do that as well. At least, there shouldn’t be nearly as many raids on the humans.”

Lilith felt her legs grow weak. She had spent so long, thinking that she was the only monster who refused to attack humans, thinking that she was alone. But now… now she had allies.

And if that voice was telling the truth… then her allies included someone in a very high position.

Chapter Text

Adam pulled on the oar one more time, bringing the boat onto the edge of the beach. He and Lilith climbed out and stretched their limbs.

“Ahhh… It’s nice to be back on land again,” Adam said.

“Save that for when we’re a bit further away from the water,” Lilith said, though she also sounded relieved.

Adam looked back towards the sea. From this distance, it wasn’t possible to see that small island. And because of that, a small part of him tried to dismiss the events on that island as some bizarre dream.

But it couldn’t simply be a dream. None of Adam’s dreams had ever been that vivid. And Lilith had been talking about those events as well, so unless Adam was somehow still dreaming…

It has to be real… but it’s still unbelievable. We’re miraculously saved from the depths by a group of monsters, who are now going to give up on attacking humans? And other groups could potentially be doing the same thing? They give us a boat to get back to the mainland? And… and this is all with the backing of a goddess?

Adam and Lilith walked westward along the beach, heading back to the port of Selene to rest and resupply. During the trip, Adam continued to be lost in his own thoughts.

Alright, I need to start somewhere. First, the sea monsters having a change of heart. That at least is possible, since Lilith could do it. A large number of them doing that at the same time… it’s not fundamentally impossible, given that they had us as an example, and were grateful to us for saving them. Not all of them would do it… monsters consist of many kinds of people, just like humans. But it’s a start towards stopping the conflict between humans and monsters.

That point is settled. Now, on to the real issue…

Adam looked towards the sea. It was relatively peaceful at the moment, with small waves lapping against the sand, and flocks of birds diving in to catch fish.

Poseidon, the goddess of the sea… I’ve known of her since I was a child—the nuns in charge made sure that we knew the names of all the main gods—but I’ve never spent much time thinking about her. In hindsight, that was foolish of me: the sea comprises more of the world than land, and those who work and live in it have long known of its importance.

But according to everything I was taught, Poseidon should be allied with the Chief God. She should be a goddess who protects humanity against the hazards of the sea, including sea monsters… yet, from what I heard yesterday, the sea monsters themselves have the opposite view of her.

No matter how much he puzzled over the matter, Adam couldn’t think of any answers. He therefore decided to get a second opinion.

“Lilith, just what do you think of—of everything that happened yesterday, under the sea and on the island?”

The succubus slowed in her tracks for a moment. She lifted a hand to her chin in thought. “Well… I know that it all seems incredible. When I woke up this morning, I wondered if it was all some weird dream. But I was taught by—I know some techniques that let me tell if I’m in a dream or not. It’s the same principles behind knowing if you’re in an illusion or not. And I’m certain that this is reality.”

“I’ve figured that out as well,” Adam said. “I can accept that there are more monsters who have changed their ways. But… there’s still the question of the goddess who supposedly helped us.”

Lilith suddenly glanced at the sky. “That’s… it’s true that’s something we need to talk about, but should we really be doing that… out in the open?”

“I don’t think that’s a problem,” Adam said, though he couldn’t help but glance at the sky himself. “If it was, then I would have been struck by lightning the moment I agreed to work with you. While my current actions… don’t fully agree with the principles of the Chief God, it seems that she isn’t making any attempt to observe us.”

In hindsight, that made sense. Followers of the Order were told that the Chief God was always watching over them… but if that was the case, why did she allow so many humans to commit sins? Did she believe that humans should have free will, even if that led to considerable suffering? Or did she not, in fact, have the power to watch over every human at once?

“I understand that… but I still feel a little afraid,” Lilith said. “Anyway, I’ve been wondering if this is some kind of trick. Not by Poseidon herself… I can’t imagine why she would need to us as pawns, and if she wanted us dead, she could have easily killed us when we were down there. I’ve been wondering if someone else is pretending to be Poseidon, trying to trick us into doing something for them.”

“That explanation makes sense,” Adam said. “Though… the sea monsters claimed that Poseidon had spoken to them as well. And it wasn’t just one or two, every one of the monsters near the volcano heard the same words. There’s a saying I’ve heard: a lie is ideally told to as few people as possible; if many people know about it, they can talk to each other and discover the lie.”

Lilith nodded. “Everything suggests that it was really Poseidon. But… one of the gods helping out monsters? And on that topic, until yesterday I didn’t know that there were monsters who worshipped a god.”

“I didn’t as well… it seems we still have a lot to learn,” Adam said.

They reached the top of a hill and the city of Selene became visible in the distance. It would take less than an hour to get there.

Adam’s hand drifted to his hip, hovering around the empty scabbard on his belt. Back in the undersea fortress, he’d dropped his sword due to the kraken’s attack, and Lilith didn’t have time to retrieve it when she was carrying him out of there. And it would have been useless even if she had retrieved it: one of Adam’s last memories was the sword bending halfway along its length, a natural consequence after it was used against such a massive opponent.

It’s just a weapon, one that can be replaced… but I still miss its weight hanging by my side.

Adam had received the sword at the end of his training: it was the proof that he was recognised as a full-fledged hero. For five years, it had served him well, bringing an end to the lives of many monsters and the occasional human bandit. It had also been the subject of an occasional joke from his friends, who wondered if he was using it to compensate for something. Essentially, it had been one of the few remnants of his former life… and now it was gone.

But I can’t let myself get lost in sentiment. I had my armour for just as long, and I lost that in the desert, but I replaced that and moved on.

-ooo-

When they arrived in Selene, they immediately noticed that the city was different than before. The people no longer looked as if they were carrying burdens everywhere, and moved around with a distinctive energy. There was much more noise than before: while this would normally be irritating to Adam, now the noise felt pleasing, as it signalled an increase in activity.

Adam gaped at the sight. “This is…”

“…too fast?”

It had been less than two days since the death of the kraken and the scattering of the sea monsters: they had spent most of one day in the fortress, woken up on the island on the second day, and returned to the mainland today. But things were already improving? Adam was again starting to wonder if this was all just a dream.

Naturally, the two of them investigated this change. They roamed the streets, watching the flow of activity, eavesdropping on passers-by, conversing with anyone who appeared to be in a talkative mood. They didn’t split up for this: after the shock of recent events, they felt a desire to stay close together.

There was one merchant who was selling fishing supplies along a major street. His business was currently booming, such that Adam and Lilith needed to wait for several customers to leave before they talked to him.

“Oh, I can barely believe it myself, but it’s true!” the merchant said. “Yesterday, there wasn’t a single monster attack, near the city or on any of the ships docking here! Thanks to that, there’s a lot more fishermen going out today, and I’m making a ton of money!”

Next, there were the inns near the docks. These were packed with customers, to the point that a couple actually had queues outside the door. And inside, every single table and chair was occupied.

“Yesterday?” said one of the fishermen who was currently getting drunk in one inn. “Heh, there wasn’t just no monsters yesterday! The weather was perfect everywhere—from the west all the way to the east end of the coast, there wasn’t a single storm, or even a rough wave, anywhere! And we brought in a bigger catch than I’ve ever seen in my life! I’m taking this chance to relax, but once my break ends, I’ll be going out on another trip!”

After that, they moved on to the docks. Even though there was considerable activity here on their last visit, there was several times as much now, suggesting that the previous state had actually been a slow day. There were so many people moving around that Adam and Lilith had to tread carefully to avoid getting in anyone’s way.

“Yeah, things have definitely changed for the better,” said one of the captains, who was currently overseeing the loading of goods onto a ship. “I’ve been working on the sea for almost thirty years, and I’ve never seen conditions this good. I can only guess that our prayers have finally been answered… now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to make sure these idiots don’t somehow sink the ship.”

After an hour of investigating the city, the pair went to the market, bought lunch and sat down to eat. At least, they tried to eat: after everything they’d seen today, food was the last thing on their minds.

“Lilith?”

“…Yes?”

“I now have absolutely no doubt that we were just helped by a god.”

-ooo-

After lunch, Adam decided to try replacing his sword. He told Lilith that she could go off on her own if she wished, but she decided to accompany him.

The first blacksmith’s they visited was a small shop along the waterfront. Above the door hung a sign saying “Ferran’s Tools and Weapons”. Inside, the shop was packed almost to the ceiling with countless metal objects, weapons and armour among them. Behind the counter, was a middle-aged woman in a faded brown dress and apron. Her skin was wrinkled from a long life of work and her hair, aside from a few remaining red strands, had gone grey.

When Adam and Lilith entered the shop, the blacksmith—presumably Ferran—looked up. She raised one eyebrow.

“You—where’d you get that armour?”

Adam was surprised. He’d met many people who preferred to skip the pleasantries and focus on business, but never someone this… confrontational.

“This is… I found it in an ancient ruin,” Adam said, telling a limited form of the truth. “At any rate, I’m here because I recently lost my sword and require a new one.”

“Hmm.” The blacksmith looked Adam up and down, then repeated the process to Lilith. She then picked up an arming sword from a shelf and passed it to Adam. “Try this one, give it a few swings.”

Adam moved to the most spacious area of the shop—though it would be more accurate to describe it as the least cramped. He pictured a monster charging at him, then executed a few practice swings, any one of which would be lethal. He then handed the sword back.

“I’ve got a good idea of your level now,” Ferran said. “Well, if you’re just looking for something to chop up monsters, then the swords I have here should do. But for someone as experienced as you, I’d say you need something better.”

“I would be fine with any good-quality sword—”

“You might be fine with that now, but when you’re up against a tough monster and your sword breaks on their hide, you’d be cursing the blacksmith who sold you the sword,” Ferran said. “And I haven’t stayed in the business by getting my customers killed. No, you need a dwarf-made weapon.”

Adam shared a glance with Lilith. They both knew of the dwarves’ reputation for being master blacksmiths—and in his youth, Adam had once wished to own a dwarven weapon—but quality dwarven work could be very expensive. Even with the gems they’d received from Thutmose, a dwarven sword could cost a significant fraction of their savings.

But on the other hand, she has a point. A good sword could very well save my life one day, and that’s worth more than any amount of money.

“That sounds like a good idea… do you have anyone you’d like to recommend?” Adam asked.

“There’s a dwarf city near here, Vaseram,” Ferran said. “It’s about three days walk, if you leave from the north gate and follow the road. They send a group down here to trade every couple of months, but the last visit was two weeks ago, it’d be faster to go there yourself.”

Vaseram… if I remember correctly, that’s where Balin, the dwarf on the ship, was from. He did say that he’d repay me if I ever came to that city… though I didn’t expect it to be this soon.

“I see, thank you,” Adam said.

With that, they left Ferran’s shop.

They visited several more blacksmiths. Most of these had swords that were of similar quality to Ferran’s, a few had better-quality ones. Adam bought one sword, and under normal circumstances he would have been satisfied with this.

However, Ferran’s words stuck in Adam’s head. He wasn’t just fighting average monsters these days, he was now facing the kinds of monsters only spoken of in legends. An average sword wouldn’t last against such opponents: it would snap or bend after a few blows. Nor would it last if he planned on using it against powerful humans, such as his fellow—

No. Adam stopped in his tracks. I couldn’t—no, I have to face the possibility. I can’t run from reality.

Adam recalled the stories he’d heard of traitor heroes, those who’d listened to the offers made by particularly cunning monsters. These traitors were portrayed as fools who’d betrayed their species in exchange for mere wealth or power, not realising that they would inevitably be betrayed in turn by the very monsters they’d chosen to serve. Among the Order, they were held in even greater contempt than monsters.

If anyone were to learn of us… we would be hunted relentlessly, never allowed to rest no matter how far we fled. We would be killed sooner or later. Our only option would be to try to convince the person who discovered us, before they could tell anyone else. If that didn’t work…

“Adam? Are you alright?”

“Yes, I’m fine,” Adam replied instinctively. He continued walking. “I was just… wondering about what I should do. From what we’ve heard, I think that my best option would be a dwarven sword.”

“Yeah, that sounds like a good idea,” Lilith said. She cupped her chin. “I’ve never been to a dwarf city before… it should be an interesting experience.”

“Indeed. But after that, where do you think we should go next?” Adam asked.

“Well, it depends on how things go in Vaseram,” Lilith said. “Once we’re done there, we should probably go to the east, to investigate these strange massacres that are going on. There’s nothing much to the west of that city, while to the north is—”

“Lescatie.”

Just saying the word caused Lilith to shiver. It was no surprise: the city-state of Lescatie was one of the primary bastions of the Order. It had the second-strongest military of all the human nations, and was unrivalled in the number of heroes it produced. It was said that no monster had ever come close enough to even touch the city’s outer wall, and while that was an obvious exaggeration, it wasn’t too far from the truth. For a monster like Lilith, it had to be a terrifying place, just like Royal Makai was for humans.

No… with my current situation, it would be just as dangerous for me to go there. There’s a good chance that someone there would be able to spot a succubus in disguise, or—or notice that I’ve been working with a monster for a long time.

The two of them searched for an inn where they could rest. There was less activity now, due to the hot afternoon sun, but the streets were still fairly busy.

If it comes to it, I need to be able to fight other members of—members of the Order. It won’t be easy, but… if Lilith can fight other monsters, then—

No, I can’t lie to myself. The monsters Lilith fights are those that prey on humans. If any humans were to discover us, they would hate and fear us for perfectly good reasons. If I fought back against them… it would be nothing more than self-preservation.

Adam looked at the sky. It was clear and bright, but it didn’t match his state of mind at all.

And the two of us are being supported by Poseidon as well… just what does this all mean? What are the gods’ intentions for us, humans and monsters alike? Just what are we supposed to do?

-ooo-

The next day, they went to the north gate, bought two horses and travelling supplies, then left Selene.

Initially, they saw plenty of other people, mainly merchants travelling to and from the city. They passed two crossroads on this day.

The next day, they only encountered one other group. These were travellers rather than merchants, and they were heading to Selene because they wished to make it their new home. They had passed by Vaseram earlier, and told Adam and Lilith to look forward to the city as it was a magnificent experience.

On the morning of the third day, they were ambushed by a group of monsters: orcs, to be specific. These were monsters with the heads and curly tails of pigs. They were slow but extremely strong, and their thick layers of fat and muscle made them difficult for inexperienced fighters to kill. However, to the current Adam and Lilith, they didn’t pose the slightest threat.

On the evening of the third day, they arrived at a large mountain. From a distance, it didn’t seem to have anything out of the ordinary, but as they approached, they spotted the cave entrance at the base. Small figures stood on either side of the entrance. After getting closer still, they could see that these figures were short, hairy, and equipped with axes and heavy plate armour.

As Adam and Lilith approached, the dwarf guards called out, “Halt! What is your business in Vaseram?”

Adam dismounted his horse. “I am Hero Adam, from the human town of Merith in the west. I recently lost my sword, and although I bought a replacement—” Adam gestured at the sword hanging from his hip, “—I’m looking for a better one. I’ve heard that the finest swords are made by the dwarves, and so I’ve come here. I swear on the name of the—of the Chief God that I and my partner will bring no harm to this city.”

The dwarves nodded. “Very well, you may enter. And your horses will be cared for while you are here.”

Lilith dismounted as well, and she and Adam followed the dwarf guards inside the cave. Near the entrance was a stable, which already had several horses that presumably belonged to other visitors. They left their horses here, then one of the guards led the pair deeper into the cave.

They walked for several minutes. The environment was superficially similar to the interior of the undersea volcano—a narrow tunnel illuminated by crystals—but the ambience was different as the crystals here gave off a dim red light, rather than blue.

Finally, they arrived at the city proper. The tunnel widened into a massive chamber, big enough that one could probably fit a dozen castles inside. There were numerous rows of buildings, each several storeys tall and constructed from stone blocks of various colours, ranging from red and brown through to grey and black. An enormous red crystal was set into the ceiling of the chamber, resembling a miniature sun.

“Welcome to Vaseram,” the dwarf guard said proudly. “Hope you enjoy your visit.”

Chapter Text

AN: This whole series of events (Adam getting a new sword from the dwarves) was originally planned to be just one chapter. But as I wrote, I found new things that I felt had to be added, and it ended up growing into multiple chapters.

Also, as far as I know, there aren’t any metals mentioned in MGE other than Demon Realm Silver, so I used some common fantasy metals here.

The dwarf guard told them of some good inns where they could stay, and also some excellent blacksmiths to buy a sword from. It was a considerable amount of information, taking roughly fifteen seconds to say in full. Adam was nevertheless able to remember it all: part of his duty as a hero required him to gather information on the locations and activities of monsters. Even after his recent… shift in direction, that skill remained useful. The guard then left to return to his post.

Adam and Lilith didn’t feel any particular need to rest, so they decided to visit the blacksmiths first.

They went into the city. The first thing they noticed was that everything was cramped: the streets were just wide enough to allow four or five people to move abreast, and the doors to the buildings were just tall enough to let a human or succubus pass through. There was more than enough light to see, thanks to the enormous crystal in the ceiling, but the city was still much dimmer than the world outside the cave. Finally, there were many dwarves milling about in the streets, even though nightfall was approaching… though to a race that lived underground, the daily cycle of the surface probably wasn’t important.

That said, the locals were friendly. Adam and Lilith talked to a few of them along the way.

“Oh, a hero? We don’t see many of you around here,” said one dwarf who they passed on the street. “There’s not much need for you around here, but I hope you enjoy your visit.”

“Here to buy some of our famous equipment?” said a dwarf running a food stall. “While you’re at it, why not try some of our cuisine? We might not be known as much for it, but we have quite a lot of unique dishes to offer.”

The food at the stall did look interesting, so Adam and Lilith both bought meals that they could eat as they walked. The human bought something that looked and tasted like a beef sandwich, but which was entirely composed of ingredients made from various kinds of fungi. The succubus bought a similar sandwich that actually did contain meat, except that this was the meat of a kind of cave cricket. After that, they decided to ask for more directions, just to make sure that they didn’t get lost in this strange city.

“If you’re looking for Smith Herrard, he’s just around the corner there,” said the dwarf that the pair asked for directions. “Just a word of warning, he charges high prices for his work. But it’s fine work, I can promise you that. If you can afford it, then it will never let you down in battle.”

Eventually, they arrived at the first blacksmith. They found a building with the sign “Herrard’s Weapons” hanging in front. They stepped through the door, bowing their heads slightly to avoid hitting them on the low doorframe.

Herrard was slightly short for a dwarf, though he was very heavily muscled. He was bald but had a thick red beard, and wore dark grey clothing. He was carrying a large hammer in one hand, but set it down when he saw that he had customers.

“Greetings,” Herrard said, walking around a counter and approaching the pair. “It’s not often that I get a hero as a customer, but I’m guessing you’re looking for a better sword?”

“That’s right,” Adam replied.

Adam drew his sword and allowed Herrard to inspect it. The dwarf grasped the sword and looked at it with a keen eye.

“It’s new… you bought this recently?” Herrard asked.

“Yes—I’d lost my previous sword in battle, and it had also been heavily damaged during that battle,” Adam explained. “I bought this as a temporary replacement, but I’m looking for something sturdier.”

“And so you came here,” Herrard said. He checked the balance of the sword by holding it on a single finger. “Is this sword similar to your old one?”

“It is. Even if it’s temporary, I still needed something I could use properly. And that proved to be a good decision, since my partner and I ran into monsters along the way here.”

“Mmm. Monsters are definitely acting up a lot recently. It’s almost like there’s a new Demon Lord around…”

Herrard tested the flex of the sword by pressing on the tip with his finger. He then performed a few experimental slashes and thrusts. Due to his short stature, the sword was almost as long as he was tall, yet he still handled it without any visible effort. Finally, he handed it back to Adam.

“Alright, I now have a good idea of what you need,” Herrard said. “And… this might be rude to bring up, but how much are you willing to spend?”

Adam pulled out a pouch filled with Thutmose’s gemstones. It was still mostly full, as they hadn’t needed to spend much of it so far.

“Alright, that’s enough to afford one of my best swords,” Herrard said.

One by one, Herrard brought out his swords. Each was similar in size and shape to Adam’s, but they had their own individual quirks: one was slightly lighter and could be used for quick slashes, while another was slightly longer and would grant Adam more reach. However, all of them were excellent swords. Whenever Adam tested one, it felt like an extension of his body… just like his original sword.

The reputation of the dwarven smiths is no exaggeration, Adam thought. They’re all so good that it’s actually hard for me to decide on any particular one.

Still, I have to make a decision eventually. I need to think carefully: what kinds of opponents am I likely to face next? What kind of sword would allow me to stand a chance against them?

Adam recalled his battle against the kraken. At the time, he’d been strengthened by an incredible amount of accumulated energy, enough to force back even that colossal monster… but his sword hadn’t been up to the task. With every blow, it had chipped and bent. The kraken had gained the upper hand by blinding Adam with ink, but regardless of the method, the hero would have been overpowered eventually.

Then Adam’s imagination conjured up a different scene: himself facing off against another figure in plate armour. Both wielded swords forged by masters, and they brought their weapons together again and again, producing ear-splitting clangs. Seeing that they could not gain the upper hand through swordplay alone, both heroes gathered their spirit energy, preparing to—

“Adam? Are you alright?”

Adam returned to reality after hearing Lilith’s voice. He realised that he was standing in the middle of a dwarf’s shop while dumbly holding a sword.

“I won’t pry into your business,” Herrard said. “But I can assure that, if you’re facing any monster short of a dragon, a sword of mine won’t fail you.”

Adam looked down at the sword in his hand. “I can certainly believe that.”

“Well, have you made a decision?” Herrard asked.

Adam examined each of the swords again. They were all excellent, and a few months ago, he would have accepted any of them. In fact, he would have been overjoyed just to be able to possess a dwarf-made sword. However…

Considering the opponents I might face in the future, I can’t accept anything but the best possible sword I can acquire. That might be one of these, but it might be something else.

“Sorry, Herrard, but I can’t make a decision yet,” Adam said. “I’d like to visit the other blacksmiths first.”

Herrard snorted. “No need to try and soften things. If you don’t want to buy one of my swords, that’s fine. There are plenty of other blacksmiths in this city who have better swords than me… though I will warn you that, like everything else in this world, you’ll have to pay for quality.”

Adam thanked the dwarf, then he and Lilith left the shop.

Once they were out in the street again, Adam planned to head for the next closest blacksmith. But before he could do that, Lilith tugged on his sleeve to lead him into a nearby alley, out of sight of passing dwarves.

“Lilith, what’s the matter—”

“There’s something wrong, isn’t there?” Lilith said. “Please, you can tell me.”

Adam hesitated for a moment. Even after everything they’d been through together, it was still difficult to admit a secret like this. But this was a secret that concerned both of them, and Lilith had already revealed her own secrets to him.

“Alright,” Adam said, taking a deep breath. “First, I’m worried if any sword I could possibly buy would be good enough for the foes that we might face in the future. My former sword was damaged during the fight against the kraken, and we both know there are far mightier monsters in existence. But that’s really just a minor concern. My real concern is—” Adam glanced around, then lowered his voice to a whisper, “—that, sooner or later… I’ll have to fight members of the Order, including my fellow heroes.”

“That’s…”

“It’s something we’ve avoided so far,” Adam continued. “It helps that heroes like me have considerable autonomy in how we operate, so my behaviour so far wouldn’t be seen as unusual. However, it can’t last forever. Sooner or later, someone will stumble upon our secret… and I can’t think of any solutions.”

Lilith was silent for a few seconds, then whispered back, “You’re right. It’s something I should have paid more attention to, especially since Thutmose showed that it’s possible to see through my disguise. I thought that it would still be fine, since he was a much better mage than almost anyone still alive, but… that was just stupid of me.”

“It was stupid of both of us. Regardless, we—”

“But I think I might have an answer,” Lilith declared.

Adam froze in surprise. Once again, he glanced around, but there was no one eavesdropping on them.

“Succubi like me have a lot of spells for affecting the mind—it’s our specialty,” Lilith said. “I haven’t trained as much in those as I could have, because of—because of the memories associated with that. But among those spells, there are some for changing people’s memories, both removing them or replacing them with something different. If—If anyone finds out our secret, if we’re able to capture them, then I could make them—make them forget that they’d seen anything.”

That’s… if anyone else heard this, they’d think she was planning to infiltrate and corrupt the Order, Adam thought. And if they heard me agree with it, they’d think I was already corrupted. But I know that she would never do that…

Still, it’s not exactly a moral thing to do, altering people’s memories… but it’s better than killing them, which would be the only other option.

“I see… thanks for telling me that,” Adam said. “It’s lifted one burden off my shoulders.”

Lilith breathed out a sigh of relief. “I thought that—that you might not accept that method. It’s something that even I feel reluctant about. Still, it’s something we should keep as a last resort.”

Adam nodded. “Thank you for confronting me on my issues, Lilith. If you hadn’t done that, I would have kept it to myself and… I don’t know what I would have done next, but it certainly wouldn’t have been pleasant.”

“Hey, what are partners for?”

The two of them left the alley and resumed their search for Adam’s new sword.

-ooo-

A few hours later, they had visited half-a-dozen more dwarven blacksmiths. All of them had swords of excellent quality on offer. But no matter how much Adam examined and practiced with the swords, he never felt entirely satisfied.

I need to make a decision soon, Adam thought. While it’s nice to explore this city, I shouldn’t spend too much time here. There’s so much to do out there… we still haven’t worked out what might be causing those strange massacres.

While moving around the city, Adam asked a few dwarves if they knew of Balin Ironheart. Naturally, most had never heard of him. However, while resting in a bar, they finally came across someone who’d heard of the Ironheart family.

“Oh, the Ironhearts? I did business with a couple of them a few years back, though I haven’t met Balin,” said a dwarf drinking by the counter. “They live up in the north part of the city, near the market. If you go out of this bar, turn left, take a right at the intersection, then follow the street, you should eventually see the market.”

“Thank you,” Adam said. “I can ask for more directions once I arrive there.”

Adam and Lilith left the bar. They spent ten minutes leisurely walking through the city until they arrived at the market.

The market was even more cramped than the ones that Adam was familiar with, having two or three stalls in the same amount of space that would be used by a single human stall. There were all kinds of goods on offer here: ornaments carved from every sort of stone, ranging from simple granite to fine marble; gemstones of every kind, ranging in size from as small as a pea to as large as a human’s fist; the various kinds of food preferred by the dwarves; even exotic spices and ornaments carved from wood, presumably imported from outside.

There were hundreds, possibly more than a thousand dwarves milling about the market. Adam and Lilith asked anyone who looked free if they knew where Balin could be found. The seventh dwarf they asked was able to give them an answer, directing them to one of the stalls.

At one of the stalls seeling imported goods, Adam met Balin again. The dwarf was selling various goods from the centre and south of the continent, including salted fish from Port Habuton and even some fine fabrics from Merith. When Adam approached, Balin looked up and his face brightened.

“You! I didn’t expect to see you so soon—ah, but where are my manners? What are you here for, Hero Adam?”

“Just ‘Adam’ is fine,” Adam said. “Anyway, I’m here because I’m looking for a new sword, would you happen to know of any good blacksmiths?”

Balin gasped. His eyes dropped to Adam’s scabbard, then a knowing look appeared on his face.

“Of course, if you don’t know of any, that’s fine—”

“No—as it turns out, I know just the blacksmith you want,” Balin said. “Just give me a moment to find someone to run my stall, and I’ll show you to him immediately—”

“Hold on, the two of us aren’t in a hurry,” Adam said quickly. “You can show us after you’ve finished your business for the day. Or you could simply give us directions.”

“No, that wouldn’t do, this particular blacksmith is… he won’t do a job for anyone unless they have a recommendation,” Balin said. “And sometimes not even then… but I promise, you, he’s the best damn blacksmith in this entire city, and probably the entire world! I finish in just…” Balin inspected an hourglass sitting on the counter of his stall, “one hour, so please wait until then!”

“Alright, that’s fine,” Adam said. “We’d like to take a look around this market as well.”

“In that case, let me tell you the best places—aside from my own, of course—to visit…”

-ooo-

After an hour of exploring the market and buying a few souvenirs, Adam and Lilith returned to Balin’s stall. The dwarf was already packing up by this time. They offered to help him, but he declined the offer, saying it would be disrespectful to allow his saviours to do such a thing.

Afterwards, Balin led the two of them out of the market. They spent several minutes walking, during which the streets grew narrower and the buildings closer together, which also resulted in the light growing dimmer. There were fewer dwarves in the streets, and the few remaining were reclusive and avoided eye contact with them.

Along the way, Balin explained more about the blacksmith he was introducing them to.

“In my childhood, I wanted to become a blacksmith. It’s one of the traditional jobs for dwarves, after all. So I looked around and found a blacksmith who was looking for an apprentice. I spent six months under him, six months working with an absolute pain in the—ah, pardon my language. Anyway, he eventually told me that I wasn’t suited to being a blacksmith and that I’d do better in a job where I dealt with people. I thought that he was just insulting me, but… after trying out the life of a merchant, I found out that I actually liked it.”

“I see… so he’s the sort of person who’s rough on the outside, but soft on the inside?” Lilith said.

“No,” Balin said, shaking his head. “He’s definitely rough inside and out. I’m pretty sure he only said that to get rid of me. But his skills are the real deal, I can assure you of that.”

Eventually, the three of them arrived at a single door at the end of a street. This was even shorter than most doors in this city, requiring Adam and Lilith to bend low in order to pass through.

The inside was dark, with the only illumination coming from the open door. Due to his experience in fighting at night, Adam could just barely make out an anvil and several piles of metal objects. He could also hear loud snoring.

“Wake up, old man!” Balin called out. “You have a customer!”

Adam nearly jumped in shock.

The snoring stopped, then something stirred in the darkness. A voice muttered, “Hmm? Finally here to kill me, boy?”

“Stop talking nonsense and wake up!” Balin said. He walked over to one corner, not slowed down at all by the darkness, and lit up a crystal to illuminate the room.

Now, Adam could see the dwarf who’d been sleeping in the room. He was older than any of the dwarves he’d seen so far, with skin wrinkled like tree bark and a thick white beard, though the latter was stained almost black with dirt. Despite his age, he retained a considerable amount of muscle, fitting for a blacksmith. However, said blacksmith also looked extremely irritated at the moment.

“I was just getting a nice sleep, and you just had to interrupt,” the elderly blacksmith muttered.

“You spend most of your time sleeping anyway!” Balin retorted. “I’ve brought you a job! When was your last one!?”

Adam and Lilith exchanged nervous glances. While they had been warned of the rocky relationship between these two, actually seeing it was a different matter.

“I can see that, my eyes’re still working,” the elderly blacksmith said. He turned his eyes to the others in the room. “I’m Kalk. What do you… want…”

Kalk trailed off as his eyes focused on Lilith. This lasted for several seconds.

“Hey, quit staring!” Balin interjected. “I know you don’t have any chances with women now, but you shouldn’t forget your manners!”

“Shut up, I’m still better than you!” Kalk roared back. “Anyway, I’ll take the job! You can go home, boy, there’s no need for you here! I won’t be able to work with you around, and I know you don’t want to be around me, either!”

“Just make sure you make something good for them, alright!? They saved my life a while back!” Balin shouted. He turned to Adam and, using his normal voice, said, “Okay, so this is Kalk. As you can see—and hear—he’s the last person you’d want to spend time with. But he’s definitely the best damn blacksmith I know.”

“I believe you, Balin,” Adam said. “Thanks for introducing us.”

“It’s the least I can do to repay you,” Balin said. “Anyway, if you run into any problems with Kalk, just find me again and I’ll knock some sense into him.”

“Try that, and I’ll be the one knocking you around!” Kalk retorted.

Balin left the building. The moment he left the door, Adam noticed that Kalk changed. His irritation disappeared and his eyes focused on the door. A few moments passed, then the elderly blacksmith spoke.

“You… you’re a monster, right?”

Adam’s blood ran cold. A small part of him wished to reach for his sword and end this threat. His conscience and reason prevailed: he couldn’t bring himself to harm someone just like that, and killing the dwarf would draw even more attention.

“Hold on, I’m not going to turn you two in,” Kalk said, raising his hands. “This isn’t my first time seeing a human and monster get along.”

“What?” Lilith said, her mouth gaping open. “How is… no, if we could… but, how? Just when and where have you seen that before?”

“As that insolent boy pointed out, I’m old,” Kalk said. “And I haven’t always been living in this city. ‘Bout thirty years back, I was travelling around the world to sell my wares. I saw a lot of things, got into my fair share of scrapes—” the dwarf pulled up a sleeve, revealing a large scar on his forearm, “—and I met all sorts of people. Plenty of monsters… including a few that didn’t attack me.”

Adam and Lilith looked at each other. They had seen something similar with the sea monsters, but that had been after the intervention of an actual goddess. Hearing that there were more examples of that… it was surprising, yet it was also reassuring to know that they weren’t alone.

“A few of them were just living out in the wild, but out in the east… there’s a whole country of them,” Kalk continued. “Have you ever heard of Zipangu?”

“I’ve never heard of it,” Lilith said.

“I’ve heard of it once or twice, but I don’t know much about it,” Adam said. “I’ve only heard that it’s a small island nation to the east. But… you’re saying that humans and monsters there can… coexist?”

Kalk nodded. “I know it’s hard to believe, but it’s the truth. Humans and monsters live together, without tryin’ to kill each other… But it’s isolated from the rest of the world, so it’s no surprise that you two don’t know of it. But anyway, it’s my experience with monsters that let me tell you were a monster, girl. Speaking of which, what sort are you, anyway?”

“…A succubus,” Lilith answered. “But if you don’t mind me asking, how come you trusted us so easily? It’s possible that—”

“That you’ve tricked this hero and’re here for some nefarious purposes?” Kalk finished. He snorted dismissively. “I’ve seen that too, and I can tell that you two aren’t like that. But I’ve said enough about that. You, boy, you’re here for a new sword, aren’t you?”

Adam didn’t respond immediately. He was still surprised at his and Lilith’s recent good fortune: after everything that had happened under the sea, they’d encountered a master blacksmith who also knew about other examples of humans and monsters coexisting… If it weren’t for the knowledge that a goddess was backing them, Adam might have thought this was all just a dream.

But then Adam remembered he had just been asked a question. He nodded and drew his current sword to show it to Kalk. The elderly blacksmith inspected the sword for a few seconds, then set it down on a nearby table and shook his head.

“I can see why you’re looking for a new one… and this is new, what happened to your original sword?” Kalk asked.

“It was damaged and lost in a battle against a kraken—a powerful sea monster,” Adam said, deciding that honesty would be best in this situation.

“Hmm… and you, show me your spear,” Kalk said to Lilith.

“Huh?”

“Come on, even from here I can tell that your spear is old n’ worn out,” Kalk said. “You look like the type who prefers to fight with magic, but even if you don’t use your spear often, it’s better to have something that won’t break on you in the middle of a fight.”

“Well… I guess so…” Lilith said, and she handed over her spear.

Kalk inspected the spear. He ran his rough fingers over the wooden shaft, tapping certain points.

“I’m no carpenter, but even I can tell there’s cracks here and here,” Kalk said.

Lilith lowered her head. “Yeah… succubi don’t really go for close combat, so we don’t put a lot of thought into our weapons…”

“Eh, it’s fine,” Kalk said. “It leaves blacksmiths like me with a job to do.”

Kalk walked over to a nearby cabinet and yanked open the door, revealing piles of metal ingots. One after another, he pulled out an ingot, examined it for a few seconds, then shook his head and put it back in. This process repeated for almost an entire minute. Most of the ingots were composed of metals that Adam couldn’t even begin to recognise.

Finally, Kalk returned with a small pile of ingots in his arms. The pile must have weighed a considerable amount, but the dwarf showed no signs of being encumbered by it.

“Alright,” Kalk said, setting down the ingots on a table. He picked up one ingot, which was a deep grey in colour. “This here is something you might have heard about: adamantite.”

“I… have heard about that, but only in legends,” Adam said. “Supposedly, weapons forged of it would never break.”

“I’ve heard rumours about it, but only that it’s used in weapons and armour of high-ranking monsters,” Lilith said.

“Well, that’s all true,” Kalk said. “And before you complain, I’m using these to make your damn sword and there’s nothing you can say t’ change my mind. I’ve never made a sword that lets its user down, and I’m not going to start now. With the kinds of enemies you’re planning to fight, anything else wouldn’t stand up to the strain. Got it?”

“G-Got it,” Adam replied weakly. The dwarf was surprisingly intimidating…

“And as for you,” Kalk turned towards Lilith and picked up another ingot, which was golden in colour, “for you, I’ll use this: orichalcum. It’s not as tough as adamantite, but it’s still tougher than most metals around, and it’s good at conducting magic, so it should be good for your fighting style. It’s the same metal that the hero’s armour is made out of.”

Adam heard this fact and filed it away for future reference. It made sense, given that the armour had come from the ancient civilisation of the desert, which had access to powerful magic. Though there was the question of how this elderly blacksmith had acquired such rare metals… he must have lived quite the interesting life.

“Thank you…” Lilith said. “And… this might be a rude question to ask, but how much do you want for this?”

That was an excellent question. All of the blacksmiths so far had demanded high prices for their wares: something that was only fair, considering the amount of effort put into them. With Kalk’s much-vaunted skills and the quality of the materials he was using, Adam had some doubts as to whether they could actually afford his weapons.

“Ah… of course,” Kalk said. He brought one hand to his chin. “Well, I do need to eat… what sort of money do you use now? Is it still gold, silver n’ copper coins?”

“It is, though we understand that gemstones are also accepted here,” Adam said, pulling out his pouch. “But if you wish, we could go and exchange them for coins—”

“No need for that,” Kalk said. He reached into the pouch and pulled out… a mere six gemstones. “Alright, that’s enough for the both of you. Now, if you’ll excuse me, it’s time for me to start.”

Adam looked between his pouch and Kalk. “What—but that’s—”

“Like I said, I’m old,” Kalk said. Underneath his beard, his lips curled in a smile. “I’ve long passed the point where I care about money for its own sake. As long as I earn enough to live, that’s fine. And you can think of this as a—what’s the word again—investment, to help out a monster who’s different from the rest. And, while I don’t care about that boy, you still saved his life, and as a matter of dwarven pride, I need to do something to repay that.”

That’s the first time you’ve brought up dwarven pride, Adam thought. He chuckled internally. It seems that master and apprentice both can’t be honest about their relationship.

“Anyway, I have your weapons here, so I have an idea of what to make,” Kalk said. “I’ll be forging new weapons from scratch for the both of you. It should take me two, three days at most to finish them.”

Adam couldn’t think of anything to do but bow. “Thank you for this,” he said.

“That’s right,” Lilith said, bowing as well. “You didn’t have to do all this for us.”

Kalk waved a hand dismissively. “Quit flirting in front of me, it’s a distraction. Now, get out of my workshop.”

-ooo-

After leaving the workshop, Adam and Lilith returned to the busier part of the city. They were both feeling sleepy—outside, it was probably past midnight by now—and found an inn to rest in. The moment they were safely inside a room, they began discussing what they’d just learned.

“More monsters like me…” Lilith said, shaking her head in disbelief. “I’ve always wondered if it was possible, but didn’t really think it could be real until a few days ago. But now? He said… he said he’s encountered more like me, and an entire country of them… Now I’m wondering if I’m dreaming again.”

“That makes two of us,” Adam said. “There’s the possibility that Kalk lied to us, but unless he’s an exceptionally good liar, I doubt he could fool both of us… And what reason would he have to say such a lie? No… as odd as it sounds, he has to be telling the truth.”

Lilith nodded. She looked at Adam with a visibly conflicted expression for a few seconds, then said, “Alright. There’s something I’ve been keeping secret from you. But after everything that’s happened today, especially you revealing your secret, I can’t—I shouldn’t do that any longer.”

“What is it?” Adam asked. “Whatever it is, you should know that I won’t hate you for it.”

“Thanks for that,” Lilith said. She smiled momentarily, but then assumed a serious expression. “Okay. So when we first met, when I was trying to convince you to hear me out, I said that monsters hate humans because we’re taught that way. That’s… one of the main reasons for it, but it’s not the only reason. The truth is… the truth is that all monsters have a desire to attack humans.”

Adam froze.

“All of us feel it: the other succubi in my village, the sea monsters from before…” Lilith continued. “I feel it as well, but it seems to be weaker in me than in most monsters. But every now and then, I feel that I should—that I should push you down and corrupt you!”

Lilith was now breathing heavily. Her eyes were focused on the floor.

The behaviour of monsters made much more sense now. If it was simply a matter of upbringing, then there should have been more monsters like Lilith—after all, monsters were split into countless different groups with varying cultures. But non-hostile monsters were rare, even going by what Kalk had told them. It made more sense if there was an additional factor driving the monsters. However, it was also clear that this desire to attack humans was not absolute, and it could be overcome…

But Adam had to focus on the present situation. There was only one thing Adam could do right now. He walked over to Lilith and hugged her.

“W-What the—!?”

“Did you think that I’d hate you for that?” Adam said.

“But—But I’ve been lying to you for all this time…”

“And in all that time, you haven’t attacked me even once. Now that I know that, I’m even more impressed by you.”

Lilith punched Adam in the stomach, inflicting as much pain as the average mosquito bite. “Don’t say that, that’s just cheating.”

“It’s true that, if you’d told me that back when we first met, I would have distrusted you,” Adam continued. “But now, after all the opportunities you’ve had and didn’t take, and all the times you risked your life to save mine, there’s no way I would do that.”

“Don’t be stupid… haven’t you saved my life so many times as well?”

They remained in this position for almost an entire minute. When they finally moved apart, Lilith still couldn’t look at Adam directly, but the expression on her face suggested that it was for an entirely different reason than before.

Suddenly, Adam was reminded of Kalk’s parting words. It wasn’t the first time he’d heard such a thing—it was fairly common when you were a man and woman travelling around together—but after he’d just hugged Lilith for an entire minute, those words now made him feel uncomfortable in several ways.

“So, back to the original topic, there’s Zipangu,” Adam said, trying to change the subject and desperately hoping Lilith wouldn’t notice. “I think it would be a good idea to visit that country and see if it really is as Kalk described. We could do that after investigating the strange massacres.”

“Y-Yes, that’s a good idea,” Lilith replied. “I haven’t heard of any ships that go there, but if Kalk was able to go there in the past, then there must be some way to travel there. We can ask him that when we pick up our new weapons.”

“Good idea… anyway, I’m feeling tired and I’m sure you are as well, so why don’t we go to sleep?”

“Alright! Wake me up in the morning!”

They both went to bed, much more hastily than they usually would.

Chapter Text

Three days later, Lilith and Adam returned to Kalk’s workshop. They had been spending the time exploring more of the city, and while they both would have liked to spend more time here, they couldn’t afford to delay—every day they spent here meant more suffering and death in the outside world.

From the outside, the workshop was indistinguishable from the surrounding buildings. There weren’t any sounds coming from inside and, if she hadn’t known better, Lilith might have thought that the building was unoccupied.

They walked up to the door and Adam knocked on it. There was silence for a few seconds, then he knocked again.

“Do you think he might be sleeping?” Lilith suggested.

“That’s… a possibility I can’t deny,” Adam said. “Still, today is the day he said he’d have our weapons finished by. I’m sure he wouldn’t mind if we—”

“You can go ahead and knock!” a gruff voice called out. “The old man always gets sleepy after a big job, so you’ll need to be loud!”

The two of them turned to see Balin approaching.

“I came here because I thought you might need some help,” Balin said. “On behalf of Kalk, I apologise for the trouble he’s caused you. Even though he’s so old already, he still hasn’t learned how to treat customers properly…”

“It’s alright, we’re in no hurry,” Adam said.

“He’s even making me a new spear as well,” Lilith added.

“Yes, he can be… I refuse to call him generous, but he’s definitely unconventional,” Balin said grudgingly. “Still, I won’t have him delay you any longer.” He walked up to the door and loudly rapped on it. “Wake up, old man! I know you always sleep after big jobs, but now isn’t the time! They’ve come to pick up their weapons!”

After a brief pause, there were several thudding footsteps, and then the door was thrown open with a slam.

“There’s no need for you to be here, boy!” Kalk roared.

“I wouldn’t have to be here if you could do your damn job properly!” Balin retorted. “Now, do you have the weapons ready?”

“Of course I do,” Kalk replied, his voice softening. He turned towards Lilith and Adam. “Sorry about that, please come in.”

The three of them all entered the blacksmith’s workshop. Kalk went into a back room and came out carrying two weapons. In his left hand, he carried a sword with a deep red hilt and a grey scabbard. In his right hand, he carried a spear twice as long as he was tall, with a golden head and several silver bands along the shaft.

If she was honest with herself, Lilith hadn’t been as enthused as Adam about the prospect of getting a new weapon. After all, her spear was intended as a supplement to her magic, and as long as it was capable of piercing through the average monster’s flesh, she’d considered it sufficient. She wasn’t unusual in this regard: most of the succubi she’d known didn’t carry weapons at all and, according to Adam, human mages rarely carried anything more than a backup dagger.

But when she saw this spear, Lilith felt an undeniable sense of awe. She knew—just from this single glance—that it was a weapon made for her.

Kalk walked over and handed the two weapons over to his customers. “Here you go. They should fit your needs perfectly. And again, sorry about sleeping in.”

“Rather than apologising, you should learn to wake up when customers knock,” Balin said, but without his previous venom. He looked at the two weapons. “Still… you didn’t hold back at all for this job, did you?”

“I never hold back in my work,” Kalk huffed. “And I added a bit of decoration as well. It might seem stupid, but reputation’s also an important part of being a fighter, and these decorations won’t get in the way of you killing things.”

Lilith slowly ran her hands along the spear. She injected a miniscule amount of energy into it, not enough to accomplish any significant effect, and was shocked by the reaction she felt. It was like throwing a spark at a pile of logs and suddenly being faced by a raging bonfire. Kalk had been right: orichalcum was an excellent conductor of magic.

Lilith then performed a few tentative strikes with her new spear. It sliced and pierced through the air without any resistance. At the same time, it had a comforting weight to it, reassuring her that it wouldn’t break mid-battle.

I really should have put more thought into my weapon. I knew that it wouldn’t last forever, but I didn’t think it really mattered, since it was just a common spear and I could buy a new one in any village or town. But that was stupid of me… if it broke during a fight, I could easily be killed, and that could lead to Adam getting killed as well…

I won’t make that mistake again. Lilith tightened her grasp on her spear. I’m not just running around the country on my own anymore. I have someone else to protect… and many more people that I’m fighting for.

Lilith glanced to the side. She saw that Adam was also practicing with his new sword. He’d made similar motions a thousand times before, but there seemed to be something… different about him now. The most plausible explanation was that he was using a far better sword, but that alone wouldn’t explain why Lilith couldn’t take her eyes off him. She watched his muscles ripple and bulge as he moved, listened to his grunts of exertion, smelled the delicious scent of his spirit energy. The barrage of sensations made her want to push him down, tear off that armour of his, and—

Kalk cleared his throat. Lilith flushed crimson when she remembered that she and Adam weren’t the only ones in the room. She quickly checked Adam’s reaction, but he was simply looking at Kalk in a confused manner, and didn’t seem to have noticed Lilith’s gaze. That was fortunate for her.

“Hey, old man, can’t you read the atmosphere?” Balin said.

“I did, that’s why I want them to stop flir—to stop practicing in my workshop,” Kalk said. “This city has better places to do that. You’d know more about those, boy, so why not show them around?”

“I’d be happy to do that—if you two would be fine with me—?”

“Yes, definitely!” Lilith said quickly. “Thanks, that would be a great help!”

Balin nodded. “In that case, follow me…”

Lilith and Adam thanked Kalk once again for his work. The old blacksmith simply told them to make good use of his weapons, and to not tell anyone where they’d obtained them: he didn’t want to be pestered by an endless queue of requests. Then the succubus and hero followed Balin out of the workshop.

As the three of them walked through the city, Lilith paid the bare minimum of attention to her surroundings. It wasn’t due to familiarity, as there were still many novel sights around, but because she was occupied by something much more important than sightseeing.

That’s the first time I’ve felt that urge in a while… I was hoping I’d gotten over that, but it seems that I was hoping for too much.

Lilith recalled the encounter with the sea monsters from a few days ago.

They were amazed that I was able to hold it in… but from my perspective, it’s not impressive at all…

-ooo-

Balin led the two of them to a training yard at the west edge of the city. There were half a dozen dwarves here, practicing with axes, maces and short spears.

“Here’s a place that I use to train on occasion,” Balin said. “I may be a merchant, but I pass through some fairly dangerous places for my work, so I need to know how to defend myself.”

Adam nodded in understanding. “Well, Balin, you’ve been a major help to us. We wouldn’t have obtained weapons like this if it wasn’t for your recommendation.”

“Ah, this is the least I can do to repay my debt to you,” Balin said. “Besides, I needed to check if Kalk was still alive. That old man’s worse than a baby when it comes to looking after himself.”

Lilith and Adam shared a wry glance. No matter what the two dwarves claimed, it was obvious that they did care for each other.

“Anyway, you’ve helped us a lot,” Lilith said. “You can go back to your business now.”

Balin bade farewell to them and left. With him gone, the dwarves using the training yard began crowding around Lilith and Adam.

“Hey, you’re the hero pair who they’re all talking about, right?” asked one dwarf.

“That’s right,” Adam replied.

“Though I’m not, technically, a hero,” Lilith said. And that’s an understatement. A monster hero… it’s almost funny to think about.

“If you don’t mind, could you tell us about your experiences?” asked a second dwarf.

This was a question that had been asked of them several times during their stay in this city. Lilith and Adam took turns to answer the dwarves’ questions. Whenever one of them wasn’t talking, they were practicing with their new weapon.

There were a range of training dummies in this area. During her first break from the conversation, Lilith chose one of these dummies and decided to test how effective her new spear was.

Lilith stood in front of the dummy and imagined that it was a charging enemy. She focused her mind, then dashed forward and impaled the dummy. Her spear pierced all the way through the dummy with little resistance, to the point that Lilith actually had to plant her feet in the ground to avoid colliding with the dummy.

…That was like piercing through a block of butter! Then how about some magic…?

Lilith gathered her demonic energy, focusing it in the tip of the spear. She then released it all at once.

Previously, this spell wouldn’t have done anything more than give the dummy a light coating of frost. But with her new spear as a focus, the spell instead manifested as a pillar of ice that caused the dummy to snap in two. The two halves of the dummy loudly clattered to the ground.

Lilith turned around nervously. Adam and the dwarves were all looking at her with smiles on their faces.

“Uhh… sorry for breaking it…” Lilith said tentatively.

“It’s fine, those are made to be broken!” said one of the dwarves.

“Yeah, just the other day I smashed one of their heads in!” said another dwarf.

“Heh, I’m pretty sure the one you were training with was one of the old ones,” said a third dwarf. “A kid could have broken that one.”

“What did you say!? Do you want to go a round with me!?”

“Hey, how about I tell you more about what the two of us do, okay?” Lilith interjected.

Lilith moved towards the dwarves, allowing Adam to take his turn at practicing with his new weapon.

For the next ten minutes, Lilith told the dwarves about her and Adam’s adventures. There was a lot that she couldn’t mention, but even incidents like the attack of the sandworm and the battle aboard the ship made for interesting stories.

“—and just when it seemed like it would all be over, Adam raised his sword and let out this burst of energy that caused all of the monsters to freeze in their tracks!” Lilith recounted. “In an instant, he had turned the tide of the battle around!”

“Wow!” one dwarf said. “I have to get out of this city soon, I never knew that the outside world was that exciting!”

“Well, you could call it that, but other people would call it dangerous,” Lilith pointed out.

“Everything’s dangerous to some extent,” another dwarf pointed out. “But if you stayed at home to be as safe as possible, life wouldn’t be enjoyable.”

“Anyway, you’re pretty good at telling stories,” said a third dwarf. “Were you a bard before getting into this line of work?”

“Not exactly, but before this I—” Lilith flinched slightly, due to recalling a now-uncomfortable memory. “—I used to tell stories to the younger children in the village I came from.”

Lilith hadn’t had the opportunity to make use of this skill for a long time, due to her nervousness at talking to non-succubi. It was only thanks to her improvement in this area that she was able to demonstrate it now.

“Say, we’ve been wondering this for a while, but… if you don’t mind me asking, what is the relationship between you two?” asked the first dwarf. “Are you just colleagues, or…?”

“That’s… kind of complicated,” Lilith said, lowering her eyes to the ground. “Right now, we’re just colleagues.”

The dwarves looked at each other knowingly. Lilith suddenly wished that she was anywhere else but here. She looked around for something to distract herself, but the only other person in the training yard was Adam… who was the worst person she could possibly use as a distraction.

“Sorry if that was an embarrassing question,” the first dwarf said. “It’s just that, well… I had a couple of friends a while ago who both had feelings for each other, but were too shy to admit it. A lot of things happened, and… eventually, they both moved out of the city and went their separate ways, because their relationship had turned sour. And in your line of work, I’m guessing that it’s pretty common for people to die young. It’s just… I’m not sure, is there any kind of rule against that kind of relationship?”

Lilith didn’t know about this personally, but Adam had previously told her about this topic. Apparently, the Order officially forbade romantic relationships among members of the same group, as this could potentially lead to conflicts of judgement. In practice, this rule couldn’t be enforced on countless people scattered over the entire world, so all but the most fanatical of the clergy tended to turn a blind eye to such relationships.

But of course, there was a completely different reason for why Lilith had been trying to ignore this topic. She was a monster—and while recent events suggested that monsters and humans might not have to be mortal enemies anymore, she was of a particular race of monster that could never be in a relationship with a human. The urge she’d felt today was proof of that.

I am a predator that feeds on humans through sex, Lilith thought. Even if—no, even though Adam might be fine with a celibate relationship, he deserves better than that. He deserves better than someone like me.

Lilith recalled that warmth from a few days ago, when Adam had embraced her reassuringly. It was a warmth that she wished she could experience again, and again… but that could never be.

“There is a rule like that,” Lilith said. It was technically true, and it would bring this uncomfortable topic to an end.

Suddenly, there was the sound of another training dummy hitting the ground. Lilith and the dwarves turned to see that Adam had sliced his dummy in half. It was a clean cut, too. And Adam was looking just as embarrassed as Lilith had been.

The topic of the conversation then turned to the quality of their new weapons. Lilith and Adam didn’t reveal who they’d bought them from, due to their promise to Kalk. The dwarves weren’t surprised by this: apparently, it was common for the most skilled dwarven blacksmiths to be cantankerous recluses who only worked for those recommended to them.

All in all, the two of them spent half an hour in the training yard. Once they had practiced sufficiently with their new weapons, they left the yard and headed for the exit of the city. They reacquired their horses and, for the first time in three days, stepped out into the open air.

It was refreshing to be out in the open again. While the dwarven city of Vaseram had been an impressive sight, Lilith had still been starting to feel claustrophobic down there. She hadn’t been able to see the sun or to fly freely.

The two of them set off along the road to the north. According to what they’d heard in the city, they would arrive at a crossroads in a couple of hours, and the road leading east from there would take them to the east coast of the continent.

-ooo-

Kalk took several deep breaths and stretched his limbs. His body responded to his will, but a fraction of a second more slowly than he would have preferred.

Hmph… the boy might be an ignorant fool, but he’s right that I’m getting old. At this rate, it’ll only be a few more years before I can’t lift a hammer anymore.

The dwarf’s brows furrowed in a grimace. He slowly made his way over to his bed and lay down. That was something he was doing more of with every passing day.

Should I retire soon, teach the next generation how to smith, like the boy is always pestering me to do? Hmph… I don’t want these skills to be lost, but I’m also not sure if any apprentice would be able to put up with me. The boy couldn’t take it, and—

Suddenly, Kalk heard a knock on the door. He briefly wondered whether he should answer it or simply pretend to not be in. He soon settled on the former option: he might be getting old, but he could still greet a customer without his bones breaking underneath his weight.

Kalk stood up, walked over to the door of his workshop and opened it. He immediately froze.

Standing in front of the door was a human woman wearing armour and with a sword sheathed at her hip: a hero, as even an imbecile could tell. She had brown hair cut short, pale skin and watchful blue eyes, and stood at roughly twice Kalk’s height. She looked to be in her thirties… but her gaze and posture were those of someone much older and much more experienced.

“Ah… it’s you,” Kalk murmured.

“Yes. Is this a bad time?” asked the human hero.

“It’s fine, come in,” Kalk said.

Kalk stepped aside to allow the hero to enter his workshop. Once inside, she removed her sword from her belt and placed it on a nearby table, then began removing the various pieces of her armour. All of this was done with the smooth motions of someone with decades of experience.

Picking up one of the hero’s gauntlets, Kalk raised an eyebrow at the multiple scratches and dents on it. The rest of the armour was in a similar condition, and presumably the same was true for the sword. Overall, the equipment was even more battered than during the hero’s previous visit: no mean feat, considering that it was made of adamantite.

“Just what have you been doing lately, Justinia?” Kalk asked. “I know it’s been ten years since you last came, but this?”

Justinia smiled wryly. “Quite a few things. Would you like me to tell you the full story?”

“Ah, I don’t have enough time in my day to listen to more of your stories,” Kalk said. “That said, I’m surprised that the hero who killed the last Demon Lord can still run into tough spots.”

“You’re not the first person to say that to me, and I doubt you’ll be the last,” Justinia said, removing her last piece of armour. “That time… I only prevailed because of the help of many others, and a considerable amount of dumb luck. And for all of my strength and experience, luck is still an important factor in battle. A single unfortunate attack could still bring my life to an end.”

Kalk wondered if it was a rule for heroes—the competent ones, at least—to be so modest regarding their own skills. In his youth, he’d encountered a number of powerful monsters, and they weren’t the type of opponents that could be defeated thanks to “dumb luck”. And none of those monsters would have been anywhere close to the level of a Demon Lord.

Still, Kalk wasn’t in any mood to argue about unimportant topics like these. He was a blacksmith, and he had a job to do.

As he began carrying Justinia’s equipment into the back of his workshop for repairs, Kalk took another look at the hero. She was even older than him—the era of the previous Demon Lord was a hundred years ago—yet she had no grey in her hair, and just a few stress-induced wrinkles around her eyes. A stranger would not be able to discern her true age except through the atmosphere she gave off.

This was one of the benefits to being a hero. The status came with boosts to one’s physical capabilities, including strength, stamina, reflexes, agility and—perhaps most importantly—regeneration. In the most powerful heroes, this was taken to the extent that they were indistinguishable from those decades younger than them… but only on a physical level. On a mental and emotional level, they were essentially a different breed of person entirely.

Or in other words, they’re all broken in some way or another, Kalk thought. In her case, she’s still putting in enough work that her equipment ends up in this sorry state.

Hmph. I’m sure it makes the world safer, but I would never be able to do what she does.

Chapter Text

Lilith and Adam spent two weeks travelling across the country, passing through several villages and dealing with the occasional monster or bandit attack. As they approached the east coast, and thus approached the location of one of these strange massacres, the inhabitants of the villages grew increasingly nervous.

The first village treated the massacres as a dark rumour, one that didn’t come up in polite conversation.

The third village was extremely distrusting of visitors. Lilith and Adam were allowed to enter, but only after the villagers had taken several minutes to confirm that the latter was a genuine hero.

The fifth and final village had fortified itself considerably, with a dry moat and an earth wall surrounding the buildings. Lilith and Adam were stopped at the very outskirts and were only permitted to exchange information from here. And the villagers kept several bows aimed at them the whole time, not taking any chances.

And during their journey, the pair heard many theories about the cause of these strange massacres. Some said that they were the work of a new race of monster, one that was focused on causing distress among humans through this sort of unexpected behaviour. Others claimed it was the work of a newly arisen cult, worshipping a false god that demanded a specific kind of human sacrifice. There were even those who believed that it was the work of a hero, one who’d lost their sanity and was now slaughtering humans in order to “spare” them from the depredations of monsters.

At the end of the two weeks, they spotted their destination in the distance. It was a collection of wooden buildings along the coastline, none more than a single storey in height.

“Alright, we need to decide how we’re going to investigate,” Adam said. “We wouldn’t want to spend too much time here.”

“We’ll need to check out each of the houses,” Lilith said. “And… according to the rumours, the slaughtered villagers were all buried. Should we try and dig up one of them to… to check out how they died?”

For a few moments, neither of them said a word.

“I’m sorry… it was stupid of me to suggest that—”

“No… I think that’s a good idea,” Adam said. “It’s true… that goes against common decency. But stopping these strange massacres is more important. If that means we must find out whatever information we can, then so be it.”

After hearing these words, Lilith lowered her gaze to the ground. On the one hand, it was reassuring that her idea hadn’t been rejected. On the other hand, the prospect of actually carrying out this suggestion made her feel queasy.

They were now much closer to the village. And now, Lilith was able to sense the tell-tale signature of demonic energy: the village wasn’t uninhabited. She raised a hand to signal that Adam should stop.

“There’s monsters up ahead: about twenty or thirty of them.”

“The type?” Adam asked.

“I think they’re beasts of some kind, though I can’t be sure from this distance,” Lilith replied.

“Hmm… the most likely possibility is that they’ve just taken advantage of the empty buildings, and have nothing to do with the massacre itself,” Adam said. “Regardless, we should talk to them. In the worst-case scenario, they’ll be hostile and we can simply kill them. But there’s the possibility that these ones aren’t hostile to humans…”

However, from Adam’s tone of voice, it was clear that he considered the former possibility more likely. And Lilith could hardly disagree with that: all of the monsters they’d encountered since leaving Vaseram had been of the hostile variety.

Trying to bring about coexistence between monsters and humans was a noble-sounding goal, but actually bringing it about was a different matter. The main reason the sea monsters had changed their ways was due to the intervention of a literal goddess.

We could really use some more divine intervention right now, Lilith thought. Though we’re far from the sea right now, so I guess that would be too much to ask…

The two of them dismounted and tied their horses to a tree, then approached the village slowly. They didn’t have their weapons in hand, but they did keep them in positions where they could be drawn in an instant.

When Lilith and Adam were about a hundred paces away from the edge of the village, they spotted the beast monsters. They had upper bodies that were vaguely humanoid, albeit covered with brown fur, while their lower bodies had the powerful musculature, long legs and bushy tails of horses. They were centaurs.

When they were fifty paces away from the village, the centaurs noticed them. The centaurs picked up spears and short bows, then rushed out of the village to confront them.

There were approximately twenty centaurs in total. They directed wary gazes at Lilith and Adam, but none of them charged or loosed an arrow. Presumably, they were hesitating because they were confused by this unexpected visit.

That’s good… it gives us an opportunity, at least. Now, we just have to see if this works.

The largest of the centaurs, a bulky male with several scars, trotted forward. He looked at Adam and then at Lilith, then said, “You… just what do you want here?”

Adam stepped forward and answered, “I am a hero and this is my partner, but we haven’t come here because we want to kill you. We’re here to investigate the strange massacre that has taken place in this village, as well as in several others. The inhabitants were all killed, only to have their bodies buried for no apparent reason. Would you happen to know anything about that?”

The centaurs looked at each other and restlessly pawed the ground with their hooves. However, they still didn’t attack.

After a few moments, the centaur leader said, “We don’t know anything about that, except for what you just said. We just moved into this village a couple of weeks ago, and it was empty then.” He slammed the butt of his spear against the ground. “But don’t try to fool us. We’ve never heard of a hero who’s willing to talk to monsters.”

The herd of centaurs tensed, and it felt like hostilities would break out at any moment.

To salvage the situation, Lilith decided to do something drastic. She reverted to her succubus form, letting her wings and tail unfurl.

“This is why we’re doing this,” Lilith said. “My name is Lilith, I’m a succubus, and I’ve been working with Adam here for months. We monsters don’t have to attack humans, and the humans don’t have to fight back against us. We can work together with them!”

The centaurs were stunned into silence. Lilith decided to make use of this opportunity and press her advantage.

“And I’m not the only one! In the south, there’s a lot of sea monsters who have also sworn off attacking humans! If more of us can do the same, then the humans would—”

Suddenly, the centaurs burst out into mocking laughter. Lilith stopped her speech, unable to come up with another word. However, she heard the nearby sound of metal sliding on metal: Adam had unsheathed his sword.

“I heard that succubi are supposed to be cunning, but it seems that was a lie,” the centaur leader said. “Do you really think we’d fall for that? You managed to trick this hero, but it looks like that was just a fluke. Kill them!”

The bow-wielding centaurs loosed their arrows, creating a volley of deadly points. At the same time, the spear-wielding centaurs charged forward, letting out harsh battle-cries.

So it didn’t work… When will we manage to convince more people? But now’s not the time to worry about that!

Lilith charged her spear with demonic energy and swept it in a wide arc. With her previous spear, this would have just created an unfocused breeze, too weak to even knock down an untrained human. But with her new and improved spear, she was able to create a powerful gust that erased the momentum of the arrows, causing them to fall to the ground harmlessly.

At the same time, Adam charged forward to meet the oncoming centaurs. The first centaur he encountered laughed in delight, likely thinking that the hero had come within attack range… and then the centaur fell to the ground in two pieces. Lilith hadn’t even been able to see Adam’s attack!

But Lilith couldn’t just stand there and watch. She took to the air and flew towards the herd of centaurs. With her directly above them, the bow-wielding centaurs had trouble aiming at her, especially since the sun was behind Lilith. On the other hand, Lilith’s fire spells were extremely accurate, each one bringing a centaur to the ground.

After killing all of the archers, Lilith turned to check on Adam. She needn’t have worried: her partner had succeeded in killing all of the spear-wielding centaurs, and while he was covered in fresh blood, he was moving in a way that suggested none of the blood belonged to him.

It was a simple battle, one that the two of them would have had minimal trouble with even before getting their new weapons. In fact, it was so simple that they didn’t really have the opportunity to fully test the potential of their new weapons. The same was true for the several battles they’d fought along the way here.

Though a battle in which we could test their full potential would have to be a dangerous one, Lilith thought. And it would have been better if we didn’t have to fight at all… Though I guess that’s too much to ask for.

Lilith landed next to Adam. They each confirmed that the other one was alright, then headed towards the village to investigate further. The centaurs hadn’t found any clues about the massacre, but perhaps the two of them might be able to find something, thanks to their unique combination of skills.

But as they approached the village, several more centaurs emerged. Lilith prepared another spell, only to freeze on the spot.

These centaurs weren’t bulky and full-grown like the ones from before. They were no taller than a human child, and no heavier than a horse foal… they were just children. And they were shivering in fear.

Lilith almost let her spear fall from her hands, but managed to keep a hold on it. However, that didn’t help her at all in the current situation.

A moment later, the centaur children galloped away, out of the village and off into the distance. Despite their youth, they were still extremely fast.

Lilith whirled around to face Adam and said, “Quick, we have to—we have to follow them!”

Adam seemed distracted for a moment, but he soon nodded.

The two of them rushed back to their horses. However, the animals were skittish and, when directed to go in the direction of the centaurs, actively resisted.

“No, they’re too frightened by the battle just now,” Adam said. “These ones aren’t trained to handle monsters or combat! We won’t be able to follow them on horseback!”

Lilith wracked her brains for other options. She eventually reached into a pocket and brought out the diamond she’d received from Thutmose. Over the past few weeks, she had managed to fill it up with energy again.

Those centaur children wouldn’t have the stamina of adults, and in their panic, they wouldn’t be pacing themselves… Then this might work. It has to work!

“Adam, we’ll have to fly after them,” Lilith said.

“Are you sure?” Adam asked. “It might be better if you fly after them on your own, I’d just slow you down…”

Lilith held up the diamond. “With this, I should be able to carry you and still keep up with them. It should only take part of the energy in the diamond… But we have to hurry!”

“Alright!”

They tied up their horses again, then Lilith wrapped her arms underneath Adam’s shoulders and lifted her partner into the air.

Lilith darted after the centaurs, pushing her wings almost to their limit.

The centaur children had a considerable headstart, but they still weren’t as fast as an adult succubus, especially not one who was replenishing her stamina constantly. Less than a minute later, Lilith spotted the dust trails of the galloping centaurs.

“Hey! Please, listen to us!” Lilith called out. “We… We…”

But Lilith had no idea what else to say. She had decided on a moment’s notice to chase after the centaur children, but she couldn’t think of the words to convince them to—to do anything. Just what could she say to children whose parents she’d killed?

Meanwhile, a couple of centaurs glanced over their shoulders, but they only looked panicked and redoubled their pace.

Lilith began to slow down. “Adam… is there anything we can do?”

“…Not much,” Adam admitted. “But now isn’t the time to give up. We shouldn’t give up until there’s no chance at all of talking to them.”

That’s right, Lilith thought. Our goal is to bring an end to this conflict between monsters and humans. We can’t possibly give up now!

Lilith increased her speed to overtake the centaur children, then landed in front of them and set Adam down. The centaurs skidded to a stop. Some of them looked around for another direction to run towards, but none of them made a move. It seemed that they realised they could not escape.

One of the centaurs stepped in front of the others, spreading his arms in a protective manner. “I—I won’t let you hurt them!”

“Wait, that’s not what we’re here for—” Lilith attempted.

“How can you say that!?” the centaur child shouted. “You killed our parents! You’re definitely here to kill us too!”

Lilith held back on the obvious retort, that the centaur adults had attacked her and Adam first. But that left her with nothing she could say.

Then Adam stepped forward. The centaur children recoiled in fear. It was no surprise, as Adam was still covered in their parents’ blood.

“It’s true, we killed your parents,” Adam said. “It’s also true that they attacked us first, leaving us no option but to defend ourselves. I won’t ask you to forgive us—that would be unreasonable—but I will warn you. If you attack humans in the future, for any reason other than self-defence, then you’ll meet the same fate.”

Some of the centaurs cowered at these words. The rest, including the one who was trying to shield the others, instead looked more defiant.

“Don’t try to trick us!” the centaur child shouted. “My mother told me about people like you, you’ll say you’re here to help us, but it’s just because you want to use us, and then you’ll kill us!”

Adam hesitated for a moment, then said, “Then, as proof of our intentions, we’ll leave you be. But remember my warning: stay away from humans, or you’ll be killed.”

Adam turned around and walked back to Lilith, who took the cue to pick him up and take flight again.

Lilith spent several moments just flying away. When she finally looked over her shoulder, she noticed that the centaur children were still in the same spot, apparently unsure if the succubus and hero were actually leaving them be.

“Adam… do you think they’ll accept that?” Lilith asked.

“I… I don’t know,” Adam replied. His voice was so weak that it was almost drowned out by the wind.

The moment the centaur children were out of sight, Lilith landed and gently set Adam down. She glanced in the direction of the centaurs again, then turned her eyes to her partner.

“Are you alright, Adam?” Lilith asked. “You were a major help back there… I had no idea what to say.”

“To be honest, neither did I,” Adam admitted. “While you were carrying me to them, I was frantically thinking of words I could say. I thought of half-a-dozen possibilities, most of which would have done nothing or made the situation even worse. Eventually… I decided that fear was the only option that could possibly work. They were already afraid, and I thought… I thought it might be possible to scare them into not attacking humans.”

Adam looked away. His body trembled with fear: a sight that made Lilith feel sick to her stomach.

“I’m sorry.”

“No, there’s nothing you need to be sorry for,” Lilith protested. “You said the best thing that came to your mind, which is better than I—”

“It’s not that, I…” Adam clenched his fists, then looked directly at Lilith. “I’ve killed children before.”

If they had been travelling together for a shorter period of time, then Lilith would have been utterly horrified by this revelation. But she had already heard of this once before… back in the desert village, Adam had told her the story of how his group had once cleared out an entire nest of giant ants. The implications of that were obvious. Lilith had hidden her reaction at the time, not wanting to discomfort him.

“They were monster children, but that’s no excuse,” Adam continued. “My friends and I, we came across monsters with their children several times. And… we dealt with them in the same way we dealt with adult monsters.”

“…I know,” Lilith said. “You mentioned it to me before.”

“Then… Then why did you stay with me?” Adam asked. “If things had turned out differently, it could have been you and your relatives that we killed.”

These words caused Lilith to picture her friends and family—her former friends and family. Rather than laughing and playing in the sun, they were lying on the ground, blood dripping from countless wounds.

Lilith wanted to answer that it didn’t matter, that Adam had simply been doing his duty as a hero. She tried to remind herself that her former friends and family were predators that fed on humans, even if it was through a different method to other monsters.

But she still hesitated for a moment, and that was enough for Adam to look away in shame.

“I haven’t thought about this at all until now,” Adam said. “Even after meeting you, and learning that monsters weren’t inevitably evil. Not even after meeting those sea monsters. I was… I was too afraid to face what I’d done. I’m no hero.”

No, I can’t let him beat himself up over this, Lilith thought. She grabbed Adam by the shoulders. “Listen to me. Back in the dwarven city, you told me that you didn’t hate me for lying to you all this time. Well, now’s the time for me to repay that favour!”

“That’s… our circumstances aren’t the same,” Adam said, still trying to look away. “You didn’t kill anyone by lying to me.”

“I didn’t succeed in killing anyone, but if I had lost control, then you wouldn’t have been properly prepared to stop me. All because I thought you didn’t have a right to know the truth,” Lilith said. “Anyway, do you think you’re irredeemable because of what you’ve done? Then take a look at what you’re doing now! You’re regretting what you’ve done, and you’re trying to help out some monster children instead of killing them!”

“But only after first killing their parents,” Adam tried to point out.

That was the harsh and undeniable truth. Lilith recalled the faces of the centaur children again, the looks of horror and fear at that moment.

“That’s true,” Lilith conceded. “But… I’m as guilty of that as you are. It’s something that we can never undo. But we can’t afford to stop here. We need to learn from this so we don’t repeat it, but we have to move on! Tell me, do you still want to help monsters and humans get along?”

A spark ignited in Adam’s eyes. With a quiet but firm voice, one more fitting for a hero, he said, “I do.”

Lilith was filled with relief. “Then let’s move on. We still need to investigate that village. And… we should probably dispose of the centaurs’ bodies.”

“And just two weeks ago, I was the one comforting you,” Adam said, “Alright. And after doing that, it might be a good idea to follow those centaur children around. On their own, they might fall victim to all kinds of dangers.”

Now that they had agreed on what to do, the two of them returned to the now-deserted village. At the outskirts of the village, their horses were still tied up, and they had now calmed down.

They gathered together all of the centaur corpses into one pile, then Lilith set fire to the entire pile. She continued feeding energy to the fire, causing it to burn hotter than any natural fire. After five minutes, there was nothing left but ash and charred fragments of bone.

With that done, they entered the village of Wisterion. The village was filled with signs of the centaurs’ recent presence: fresh hoofprints, half-eaten food dropped on the ground, discarded tools, the occasional toy… Lilith and Adam had no choice but to harden their hearts and keep going.

They spent two hours scouring the village, inspecting each and every house. It wasn’t easy to tell apart evidence of the centaurs’ activities from those of the humans, likely due to centaurs being relatively humanoid by monster standards. For the most part, it seemed that the centaurs had appropriated the humans’ belongings for their own use. None of the houses had been left untouched… though Lilith couldn’t really fault the centaurs for that. With the humans gone, the village would have simply wasted away if left uninhabited.

Eventually, they came across the graveyard where the entire human population had been buried. It was a single large expanse of grass, with hundreds of patches where the grass had been disturbed, indicating the presence of a grave.

Lilith felt another ache in her heart at the sight. The two of them had cremated the centaur corpses out of convenience, yet this unknown killer had taken the time to dig individual graves for each and every single one of their victims.

But I shouldn’t be worrying about that. This killer is the one who murdered this entire village, and several others, in the first place. We have to stop them. We have to…

Upon closer inspection, none of the graves had been disturbed since they had been created. Perhaps the centaurs had been unwilling to eat old corpses… or perhaps they had been unnerved by whatever had caused the massacre.

But on that topic, the two of them were faced with the task of digging up a grave. And after already committing one taboo, the two of them were beginning to rethink their plans to commit a second one.

Lilith and Adam spent several minutes staring at the graves. There were hundreds of them, each and every one of them an individual grave rather than a mass one. It was more proof of just how strange these massacres were. Even if the culprit was skilled with earth magic, it would still take considerable effort to create so many separate graves.

Eventually, Adam said, “Lilith… if you’re uncomfortable with this, I could handle it on my own—”

“No.” Lilith answered flatly. “You and I are partners. If we’re going to do this, then we’re going to do this together.”

With that settled, they fetched shovels from a nearby house and began to dig. They proceeded slowly and carefully, not wanting to damage the corpse even more than they had to.

A minute later, they had unearthed the corpse of a human man. He looked to have been in his twenties at the time of death, though it was hard to be certain due to the extensive decay of the corpse. Even as she looked, Lilith could see worms wriggling underneath the skin.

Lilith wanted to do nothing more than double over and vomit. But she forced herself to keep her eyes on the corpse. It was the least she could do after disturbing the rest of the dead.

The corpse was already well into the decomposition process. Nevertheless, it was apparent that it had no wounds of any kind. It also didn’t show any obvious signs of sickness or starvation. The most likely possibility was that the man had been killed using magic, and more specifically, the kind of magic that left no physical mark.

Lilith attempted to scan the corpse for any traces of the spell used. She couldn’t find anything, which could have been due to the extensive decay… or it could have been due to the culprit being extremely efficient in their magic, leaving no significant traces behind.

However, they couldn’t be sure with just one corpse. They therefore dug up two more, those of a woman and a child. These were similar to the first corpse in that they had no wounds or any other obvious causes of death. After confirming this, Lilith and Adam buried the corpses again: they didn’t want to leave the corpses decaying in the sun for any longer than was strictly necessary. For similar reasons, they didn’t dig up any more corpses beyond these three.

“So… the culprit, or culprits, is skilled at using death magic,” Adam said.

“And they went out of their way to be as gentle as possible,” Lilith added. “There are many kinds of death magic, and the easier ones to use would leave obvious signs, like slitted throats. Whoever did this used a more advanced type, which means they must be really skilled, given that they used it to kill an entire village.”

“And if they went to the trouble of using advanced magic, it suggests they had a good reason to do so,” Adam continued. “It may be the same reason for them burying each and every one of their victims.”

“Hmm… I think the cult theory makes sense, based on this information,” Lilith said. “If it was a cult with access to actual power, then they might be able to cast magic of this level, and it’s possible that their rituals require them to kill in this way. And… are there any other theories that might fit?”

“Well, I don’t think this could be the work of a new race of monsters, as it’s too much effort for too little effect,” Adam said. “It might terrify nearby villages, but as we saw along the way here, these massacres don’t have much effect on the general population. Aside from that… there was that theory about a mad hero, but I doubt that. Certainly, some heroes might break under the strain of their duty, but those tend to be the less experienced ones, who wouldn’t have the necessary skill.”

Lilith glanced at Adam briefly. It seemed that, even after his change in outlook, Adam still had some faith in his fellow heroes. Though she couldn’t exactly blame him, given her own complex feelings towards her race. And she also thought it was unlikely that a hero would be responsible for these massacres.

“Anyway, I think we’ve learned all that we can here,” Lilith said. “Should we start following the centaur children again? I think we should still be able to follow their trail if we leave now.”

“I agree,” Adam said. “But we’ll need to keep our distance, to avoid alerting them.”

The two of them therefore left the village. They didn’t run out of the village, but they did walk at a brisk pace.

After untying their horses, Lilith and Adam found the trail of the centaur children and began following it.

They might have done something unforgivable, but they were not going to simply ignore the consequences of it. They were going to do their best to make up for their crime, no matter how painful that might be.

Chapter Text

Lilith shivered as she walked back to the camp. It was a cold night, cold enough that even a monster like her wouldn’t be able to stand it without protective spells. And it didn’t help that they had a smaller campfire than usual, to avoid being seen by the centaur children they were following.

“Dinner’s ready,” Adam said, holding out a cooked rabbit. “How are they right now?”

“The same as in the past three days,” Lilith replied. “They’ve managed to find enough food for tonight, so we don’t need to worry about that, at least.”

Lilith accepted the rabbit and the two of them ate without any further words. The soft crackling of the fire was the only thing to break up the silence.

The past few days had been both tense and uneventful at the same time. Lilith and Adam had followed the centaur children northward across the continent, constantly taking care not be detected by them.

Thus far, they hadn’t encountered any other people, neither humans nor monsters. This was at least partly because they were passing through a relatively uninhabited part of the continent. Whether the centaur children had chosen this route deliberately, or whether they were simply moving blindly, Lilith wasn’t sure.

Back to the present, Lilith eventually decided to break the silence. She looked at Adam and, measuring her words carefully, said, “Adam. Would you like to… to trade more stories about each other?”

“That’s alright,” Adam said. “What would you like to hear about this time?”

“I’d like to hear more about the missions you did as a hero,” Lilith said. She quickly raised a hand. “But only if you’re fine with talking about that! And in exchange, I can tell you more about what my life was like… back in my village…”

Immediately after Lilith said this, she regretted it. But before she could take these words back, Adam nodded.

“Well… I’ve already told you many stories about myself, and that didn’t cause you to abandon me, so I suppose that wouldn’t hurt.”

Lilith let out a sigh of relief. “I don’t know what I would have done if you’d said no.”

“Come on, we’ve already been together—working together for this long,” Adam said. “And right now, we’re both united in… in…”

Now it was Adam’s turn to trail off awkwardly. Lilith grasped his hand to reassure him.

“I’d like to hear more about what you used to do,” Lilith said.

Adam looked away. “Y-Yes. Let’s see… Oh, there’s one tale that would probably interest you. Three years ago, we received word of a gang of bandits that was plaguing local villages. We went out to deal with them, and also with any monsters that we happened to encounter along the way. By all indications, it was a routine mission, the kind that we’d already done a dozen times before.”

“From the sounds of it, I’m guessing it didn’t end up being a routine mission?” Lilith said.

“Far from it,” Adam replied. “While we were travelling to the area, a storm approached and we stopped to take shelter. But then a group of lizardmen decided to take this opportunity to attack. We fought them off, but in all the chaos, Marcus and I were separated from the rest…”

For the next five minutes, Adam continued the colourful tale.

After roaming the country in search of the others, he and Marcus had stumbled upon the bandits they were looking for. They couldn’t have defeated the bandits with just the two of them, but the storm had given them another option: triggering a landslide to bury the bandit camp.

The next day, they met up with their friends, who claimed to have been in a fight of their own. Supposedly, Hogan, John and Cutter had found a small village that turned out to be inhabited by a cult, one that sacrificed passing travellers to their god. They had spent the night dealing with this cult.

“…At least, that’s what they claimed,” Adam finished. “Marcus and I always wondered whether they’d made that part up, since they didn’t want to admit that they hadn’t done anything to help complete the mission.”

Lilith wasn’t sure how much this story might be embellished, but she laughed all the same. It felt like it had been an eternity since the last time she laughed.

“Alright, now it’s my turn,” Lilith said. She quickly finished off the last of her rabbit. “A long time ago, my friends and I decided to sneak out of the village to have fun. Until then, we weren’t allowed to go too far from the village, so we never really had the chance to stretch our wings.”

“Hmm… but your village was in Royal Makai, wasn’t it?” Adam said. “There must have been other monster territories all around you.”

“We were really just on the edge of Royal Makai, but that’s right,” Lilith said. “But we were young and stupid back then, so we didn’t think of that at all. We spent compete with each other in how fast and how high we could go. We also competed to see how good we were at magic: we would pick out targets on the ground and try and hit them from the air.”

Adam winced.

“Yeah, I feel the same way, looking back on that now,” Lilith said. “It shouldn’t be a surprise that we eventually drew the attention of another monster, one that we had no chance against: a griffon.”

Lilith closed her eyes and remembered that incident. She and her friends had been having the time of their lives, when a terrifying screech suddenly pierced the air, and a massive shape ascended towards them. Wings that created a thunderous roar as they moved the air, a hooked beak large enough to bite a horse in two, sharp talons that reached out towards her… the sight had caused Lilith to freeze in place.

“The reason I’m still here today is because of Merida,” Lilith continued. “She was always the most quick-witted out of us. She managed to hit the griffin in the eye with a fireball. That distracted it for a few seconds, and we hurried back to the village.”

Lilith opened her eyes and looked straight at Adam. “Of course, that wasn’t enough for us to escape. The griffin followed us through the air, twice as angry as before. A couple of us tried attacking it, but we weren’t in any condition to aim properly, and the griffin wasn’t stupid enough to get hit again. We managed to make it back to the village, but that was only because the griffin was injured and couldn’t fly in a straight line. Anyway, once we made it back, the adult succubi drove it off with a barrage of spells. We were welcomed back with hugs… and then we were punished by not being allowed to fly at all for a week. But we did deserve it. If we hadn’t been lucky, then it’s possible that none of us would have made it back.”

Adam nodded in an understanding manner. “We all make mistakes like that at some point. It can’t be easy, being a parent…”

That’s certainly true, Lilith thought. And it wasn’t even the first or the last time that I did something stupid like that. But despite all that, mother never gave up on me…

Lilith clenched her fists tightly enough to draw blood. Before she could do anything else, Adam grasped her hands gently.

“I’m sorry you had to be reminded of that,” Adam said.

“Hey, I’m the one who suggested this in the first place,” Lilith said. “I’m fine. But… well, thanks.”

Adam withdrew his hands, but he continued looking at Lilith. “You know… after hearing about that, I have an even better impression of you now.”

“You have a better impression of me because I once did something incredibly stupid?” Lilith asked.

Adam laughed. “No, I meant something entirely different. You learned about the dangers of the world at a young age. But that didn’t stop you from eventually leaving your village and setting out on your own.

“That’s… that’s just because I couldn’t stand it there any longer,” Lilith insisted, looking away in embarrassment. “There wasn’t anything brave or admirable about what I did.”

“Well, if it makes you uncomfortable, then I’ll drop this topic,” Adam said. “Good night, Lilith. I’ll take the first watch.”

“…Good night, Adam.”

Lilith lay down and wrapped herself in a blanket. She closed her eyes.

The night was cold, while the campfire was too small and the blanket too thin to offer much warmth. But for the first time in three days, Lilith was able to sleep soundly.

-ooo-

The next day, Lilith and Adam broke camp early and began following the centaur children again.

On that topic, the centaur children followed a routine: they would travel some distance, stop to rest and eat, then repeat this process until nightfall, when they would find a sheltered spot to rest for the night. They never attempted to set up any permanent structures, suggesting that they were still running away from the village where their parents had been killed.

But on the noon of the fourth day day, something happened to break the routine, something that Lilith had been dreading.

In the distance, Lilith sensed multiple spirit energy signatures: it was a group of humans. Merchants, judging from their clothing and the wagons they were riding. They were roughly three hundred paces in front, and the centaur children would soon encounter them.

“Adam—there’s humans ahead!” Lilith warned.

Cursing, Adam brought his horse to a stop. “What should we do? Should we intervene, try to prevent them from encountering each other?”

“That… would probably be the safest option,” Lilith said. “But it would probably let the centaurs realise that we’re following them. Even if it didn’t, they’d be much warier than before.”

“There’s no easy option… but considering the circumstances, that’s not surprising,” Adam said. “In that case, why don’t we remain hidden and watch? It’s possible that the centaur children will remember my warning and avoid the humans.”

After considering this suggestion for a moment, Lilith nodded. The two of them hid themselves behind a nearby ridge.

However, Lilith couldn’t fully dispel the concern in her heart. She remembered Adam’s warning to the centaur children. She remembered Adam’s stories, the ones in which he and his friends had slaughtered monster children. And she imagined her own friends lying on the ground, bleeding from countless lacerations.

Lilith quickly shook her head in an effort to clear her mind.

No… I’m only thinking about that again because of what I said last night. And I’ve already made up my mind. Even if… Even if they always treated me well, I’m no longer one of them. And… And Adam wouldn’t do that again, right?

There wasn’t time for any more dwelling on the past. The centaurs had now stopped in place and, from their expressions and the way they were gesturing to each other, were nervously discussing the approaching humans. Lilith shifted her gaze slightly and she saw that the humans had also stopped.

This situation lasted for perhaps five seconds. Then the centaurs chose the safe option and fled…

Was what Lilith hoped would happen next. But instead of doing that, the centaurs let out battle cries and galloped towards the humans. And the humans reacted by drawing their own weapons.

Lilith quickly glanced at Adam, fearing the worst… but he had yet to make any move. Judging from the look on his face, he was just as conflicted as she was.

That was reassuring in one sense. However, it still left the question of what, if anything, they should do about the situation.

For several tense seconds, Lilith watched the centaurs and the humans close in on each other. The centaurs were merely children, but they would still be stronger than the average human, and they had the monster instinct to kill and devour humans. On the other hand, the humans were armed with spears and clubs. One side would eventually win… but not without severe casualties.

Lilith recalled the battle from three days ago, the battle in which she’d killed the parents of these very same centaurs. She recalled the chaos, the blood, the hatred, the death.

I won’t let that happen again!

Lilith drew upon the energy stored in her diamond once more. She spread her wings, took flight and then landed in between the centaurs and the humans. Both sides skidded to a stop, but Lilith didn’t attempt to speak to them. Instead, she slammed the base of her spear on the ground, sending out a wave of demonic energy.

As the supercharged sleep spell washed over them, the centaurs and humans swayed, and one by one they fell to the ground. Fortunately, the grass of the plain cushioned their falls.

Lilith breathed heavily as she lifted up her spear. It wasn’t due to the strain of the sleep spell, as she’d cast far more powerful spells in the past. Rather, she was only just realising what she’d done… and the fact that she had no idea what to do next.

Adam hurried over. “Lilith, are you alright?”

“I’m perfectly fine,” Lilith replied. “But… what should we do about them now?”

The two looked at each other nervously, then looked at the numerous sleeping figures. Due to the power behind Lilith’s spell, they wouldn’t be waking up anytime soon. Still, they could hardly be left alone forever.

Lilith approached one of the centaur children and leaned down to take a closer look. She was hardly an expert on centaur health, but even she could tell that this one was thin to an unhealthy extent. The same was true for the other centaur children. Additionally, on closer inspection, Lilith noticed that the centaur was shivering in what could only be fear.

A nightmare… and it’s all my fault, Lilith thought.

Lilith felt a tap on her shoulder. It was Adam, who confirmed that the human merchants were sleeping soundly.

A minute passed, in which they discussed various options. They could move the centaurs and humans far apart, try to make them think it was all a dream—they were sleeping deeply enough that they wouldn’t wake up even if they were treated roughly. They could wake the centaurs and humans to talk to them, attempt to reach an understanding. They could kill the centaur children now—they’d already shown that they were willing to attack humans despite their own desperate situation. But they rejected each and every one of these options.

Lilith sighed and looked at the centaur children again. There’s no good options at all. Unless we get more divine miracles, there’ll never be any good options. As long as monsters have this instinctual drive to attack humans, there can never be peace between our races.

On that topic, Lilith was reminded of that time when she’d revealed her secret to Adam. He’d accepted her, but that was because they had already known each other for a long time, even risked their lives for each other. It would be unreasonable to expect other humans to do the same thing.

And before that… the reason I told him that was because, before that, he’d told me his secret. His fear that other humans might find out about us… Back then, what did I say to reassure him? Oh, right, I said that I could remove the memories of those humans—

Lilith froze. Another option came to her mind. It was a repulsive one—this sort of magic was what succubi used to turn loyal heroes into drooling slaves—but the situation was bad enough that she couldn’t immediately reject it.

Adam tapped on Lilith’s shoulder again. “Lilith, what is it?” he asked. “You look like you’ve thought of something.”

“No, it’s nothing—nothing that would work,” Lilith said. I can’t do that. It’s more than just removing some memories, it would mean changing one of the most basic parts of their minds, something so basic that all monsters have it. If I changed this, then… then they would essentially be different people. It would be as good as killing them.

“Lilith, please,” Adam said. “You can at least tell me what it is. If it wouldn’t work, then we can decide on that together.”

Lilith still hesitated for a moment, but she eventually relented. After all, the two of them were partners.

“Alright. I just thought—I just thought that I could try changing their—the centaurs’—minds, to stop them from seeing humans as prey.”

Lilith regretted these words the moment she finished saying them. She quickly followed up with, “Forget what I said, there’s no way we could—”

“Actually… perhaps we should try that,” Adam said.

“Wait, what?”

“I think we should give that suggestion some serious thought.”

For a moment, Lilith wondered if her partner had been replaced by someone else. But the man before her undoubtedly had Adam’s unique spirit energy signature.

“I’m sorry, you probably weren’t expecting me to say that,” Adam said, shuffling his feet nervously.

“That’s putting it mildly,” Lilith said. “I know that this is a desperate situation… and I know I’m the one who suggested it in the first place… but…”

“It’s a surprise to me as well,” Adam said. “I’ve certainly changed since we first met… most importantly, I now know about the monster instinct to attack humans. Or rather, I had some inkling of it before, but I never thought that it was possible for monsters to overcome it. You managed to do that, as did those sea monsters, but it’s still not an easy problem to solve. But if the problem arises within the mind, then it’s logical that it has to be solved by altering the mind.”

Adam shook his head. “I’ll admit, this entire situation is unbelievable. A hero encouraging a monster to alter the minds of others… But right now, it looks like a viable option to me. It’s a much better option than having to killing children again.”

“…I see,” Lilith said. “I never thought of it from your perspective.”

“But, in the end, this is something you would be doing,” Adam said. “I have no knowledge of how such magic works. It’s your right to make this decision.”

Lilith lowered her eyes to the ground. She spent more than a minute thinking: time was one of the very few luxuries available to them right now.

This would be my first time doing something like this for real. I know the theory, at least…

Succubus education involved learning about all types of mind magic, and Lilith had learned it just like her peers. She could hardly have refused, as that would have drawn unwanted suspicion. However, she had so far limited herself to sleep spells and other simple effects. Trying to reshape someone’s mind was something she never had the need to do, and it was a complex task that would require experience to do effectively.

And Adam’s right… it’s the only option we really have. In the first place, it’s not right that monsters are forced to attack humans, even children. This instinct, this desire… it’s something that should never exist in the first place.

Lilith looked at the centaur children once more. She had killed their parents, and now she was planning to change them on a fundamental level. But in their current state, they would continue to attack humans, and would almost certainly die early deaths.

That’s settled, then… The only problem left is that I’ve never tried this before… I’ll have to do this slowly and carefully. I have the time, at least.

Finally, Lilith turned to Adam and said, “Alright. I’m going to do this.”

Adam nodded. “Is there anything I can do to help?”

“Keep an eye on the others—while I’m doing this, I’ll be completely focused on one centaur at a time,” Lilith replied. “If anyone looks like they’re about to wake up, call me and I’ll put them to sleep again.”

“And how long do you think this will take?” Adam asked.

“I’m not sure, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it took more than an hour,” Lilith replied. “That’s why you’ll have to watch them.”

With that settled, they implemented their plan. Lilith sat down next to one of the centaur children, a large boy with a brown coat, and placed her hands on his head. Adam stood next to her, in a position where he could see all of the sleeping people and also alert Lilith in the event that any began to wake.

Lilith took a deep breath, then took the plunge into the depths of another mind.

-ooo-

It had been a very long time since Lilith had done anything like this. Delving into someone else’s mind was difficult and dangerous for all involved. Back in her village, Lilith had done this just three times, at the very end of her mind magic training. By the same token, she’d had other succubi delve into her mind three times.

It was lucky that I already knew how to hide my own innermost thoughts by that point, Lilith thought. If anyone had found out what I really thought of them… but that doesn’t matter now. I have to focus.

Lilith looked around. She was currently surrounded by a multi-coloured fog, one that was filled with numerous indistinct shapes. This was the expected result for a mind that was currently sleeping.

Now, I need to find what I’m looking for. To do that, I need to do some exploring.

Lilith imagined her own everyday life: travelling across the country, meeting all kinds of people, dealing with the occasional bandit or monster. Her surroundings immediately changed, the fog disappearing and being replaced by wooden buildings and centaurs.

Lilith breathed a sigh of relief. It was just as she had learned: by thinking intensely about a certain topic, she could view the portion of the target’s mind that was most similar to that.

For the next few minutes, Lilith walked around the mental construct representing the village of Wisterion.

Everything looked… normal. There were centaurs cooking food, stitching up damaged clothing, maintaining their weapons, hauling in loads of firewood, gossiping about recent events, competing in races and challenging each other to mock fights. The only clue to the true nature of it all was the faint outlines of every centaur and object: it was like she was viewing the village through a dirty window.

Lilith eventually spotted the centaur boy whose mind she was in. He was galloping through the village with two of his friends, laughing as he tried to stay in the lead.

Alright. Now, I need to find the source of the instinct, the part of him that wants to kill humans no matter what.

Unfortunately, the most efficient way to do that was for Lilith to bring out the same instinct in herself.

Lilith closed her eyes and relaxed. She thought of the lessons she’d received from the adult succubi, the lessons about how she should treat humans.

I did my best to ignore those lessons, at the time… but was that really the right decision? There are so many humans out there, after all… there’s nothing wrong with indulging once in a while—

Lilith quickly opened her eyes. The scene had changed, with the centaur boy now sitting in front of an older, female centaur and being lectured.

Now that she was closer to her goal, Lilith dug her fingernails into her palms, using the pain to help her focus.

“…and remember, what should you do if you see a human?” asked the older centaur, who seemed to be the boy’s mother.

“I should run back and tell everyone about it!” the centaur boy said. “Then you can all kill the humans, and we can have a feast!”

“That’s right!”

Trying her best not to pay attention to this conversation, Lilith performed a complex series of gestures in the air with her finger. Countless images appeared in the air: each displayed a different scene and was framed in purple light. These were links to thoughts, emotions, other memories… essentially, every aspect of the centaur boy’s mind that was related to this memory.

Good, I didn’t make any mistakes with that spell. Now, I just need to find the right one…

Lilith examined each of the links. Some of them showed other lessons, and there was one that showed the centaurs enjoying a feast of human flesh, which she quickly dismissed with a wave of her hand.

Eventually, Lilith arrived at an indistinct image, one that resembled a pool of dark water. If Lilith remembered correctly, this appearance indicated a fundamental desire such as hunger or thirst.

Lilith approached the link. It remained as indistinct as before, but she felt a sense of trepidation simply by looking at it. However, to confirm the true nature of what lay beyond, she would need to examine it directly.

I really wish I didn’t have to do this. If only there was a spell to test the nature of one of these from a distance… well, maybe something like that exists, but I never got the chance to learn it.

Alright. I can’t waste any more time.

Lilith reached out her left hand and pushed it into the mental link. The moment she made contact, her own mind was assaulted by a barrage of overwhelming sensations.

A human lay before her, one who bled from numerous wounds. The delicious smell of blood filled the air… she just had to have a taste…

Lilith wrenched her hand out of the link. She took several deep breaths.

Found it. Now, I need to get rid of it somehow…

For the better part of a minute, Lilith reviewed the various spells she knew of that could alter a person’s mind. She discarded those that were useless for the present task, like the ones that specifically altered memories. Eventually, she narrowed it down to two options.

First, Lilith aligned the fingers of her right hand and then concentrated her energy in this same hand. Her right hand became surrounded by a purple aura, causing it to resemble an enchanted blade. With her preparation complete, Lilith moved her hand to the side of the mental link and attempted to slide her hand down. This was the simplest and cleanest method of removing an aspect of someone’s mind, and was analogous to cutting out necrotic flesh from a wound so it could heal properly.

But it didn’t work in the slightest. Lilith couldn’t bring her hand down at all: it was like trying to cut through a thick tree with her bare hand.

That’s… not exactly unexpected, Lilith thought. It must be very strongly connected to the rest of this boy’s mind. Makes sense, since this is something so fundamental that all monsters have it.

Lilith then moved on to the second method. She began to fill her mind with thoughts of not harming humans: thoughts of talking to them, understanding them, living together with them. After thirty or so seconds of this, she placed her hands on the mental link again. This method involved overwriting a part of the target’s mind using thoughts that were the complete opposite. It was more difficult to use than the previous method, but—if Lilith’s lessons were correct—it would work better against stubborn targets.

As before, Lilith felt the instinct to attack humans. This time, it clashed violently with her own thoughts of coexistence with humans, giving her a severe headache. Still, she persevered.

Come on… this has to work!

I can’t fail here! I have to help this boy! I have to show him that humans aren’t prey! They’re meant for much more pleasant things—

No, that’s definitely not what I’m trying to do! I have to show him that us monsters don’t have to attack humans! This whole conflict is completely pointless, all it does is rip apart families and leave behind orphans! We don’t have to—

Suddenly, Lilith was hit by what could only be described as a mental sledgehammer. She staggered, but still did not withdraw her hand from the mental link.

What was that!? It was—It was like someone was actively resisting me! But there’s no way this boy could be doing that—if he had that kind of mental strength, he wouldn’t have fallen asleep so easily!

Lilith clenched her teeth and continued. She had to be close now—

-ooo-

The being was immense, towering over even the tallest of trees. It was surrounded by blinding golden light, making it impossible to look at directly.

It stood at the peak of a small hill. At the base of this hill was a multitude of others, mere specks in comparison. These varied greatly in shape and size.

The being simply raised one hand. With that gesture, the others all began to move, scattering into the world…

-ooo-

In the next moment, Lilith was surrounded by the bright green of the plain again, and Adam was standing over her with an anxious expression.

“Lilith? Did you succeed?” Adam asked.

Lilith took a few seconds to answer, as she was still trying to process what she’d just seen.

“…I didn’t,” Lilith admitted. “And at the end, I saw…”

“Saw what?”

Lilith tried to answer, only to stop in her tracks. She couldn’t clearly recall what had happened at the end of her time in the centaur boy’s mind.

“I… I can’t remember,” Lilith said. “But what I did find out was that I couldn’t get rid of his desire to attack humans. That doesn’t make any sense… there shouldn’t be anything that resistant. Even if this boy was somehow a master of mental magic, I still should have been able to do something.”

Upon hearing these words, Adam was also surprised. “That’s… hmm. Is there anything else you could try? Could you try to alter some other part of their minds?”

“There’s a few other things I could try,” Lilith said. “I could increase their desire for survival, make them fear humans even more than they want to attack them… but the problem with those is that it won’t help them coexist with humans. They’d just avoid humans at all costs.”

The two of them remained silent for a while.

“That might be our best—relatively speaking—option,” Adam said. “Keeping them away from humans would keep them and their potential victims safe. It’s not a long-term solution—but it’s the only one available to us at the moment.”

Lilith exhaled. “Alright. How long has it been since I started?”

“About fifteen minutes.”

Lilith nodded, drew on more energy from her diamond, and re-applied the sleep spell on the centaur children and the human merchants. Finally, she re-entered the centaur boy’s mind.

-ooo-

Now that she had a little more experience, and now that she had a simpler goal in mind, Lilith was able to proceed more quickly. It took her just under a minute to find the area of the centaur boy’s mind that handled fear. This was a dark forest filled with voracious monsters and bloodthirsty humans, but these merely skulked around in the shadows and made no attempts to attack Lilith. As representations of another person’s fears, they posed no threat to her.

In fact, the representations of humans were what Lilith was aiming for. Whenever she encountered one, she placed her hand on it and filled it with her own demonic energy, causing it to grow many times in size—though the growth was far from even. Some gained heads the size of their torsos, others immensely long arms that dragged along the ground, and others had mismatched legs that forced them to limp.

By the time Lilith was finished, the forest was now being shaken by the footsteps of grotesque giants that barely resembled humans anymore. The monsters and even the darkness of the forest seemed like nothing in comparison.

…Alright, this should be enough, Lilith thought. Now, I just need to do it for the others.

-ooo-

It took even less time to alter the minds of the remaining centaur children. In that sense, altering minds was no different from killing: the task only grew easier with experience.

When Lilith finally finished her work, she stepped away from the last centaur and then fell backwards. Adam caught her gently.

“Lilith! Are you alright!?” Adam asked.

“Yes… just a little tired,” Lilith said. She forced herself to stand again. “Anyway… we need to check if this actually worked.”

The two of them discussed their next plan, then put that plan into action. They moved the centaur children about a hundred paces away, taking care to avoid waking any of them. Finally, they hid themselves and Lilith undid her sleep spell.

One of the centaur children, the boy who was the first to be altered, stirred. He stumbled to his feet and then looked around. He looked surprised when he saw his fellows still sleeping, and then shocked when he spotted the humans in the distance.

The centaur boy quickly woke up the others. The other centaurs also looked shocked upon seeing the humans. Once they were all awake, they ran off without looking back.

Once the centaurs were firmly out of sight, Lilith undid the sleep spell on the human merchants. One by one, they woke up and got to their feet. They looked at each other with confused expressions. After a brief discussion—the contents of which couldn’t be heard from this distance—they began moving again. A few minutes later, they too were out of sight.

That should have been the end of it all. The human merchants seemed to have treated their encounter with the centaurs as a strange dream. The centaur children would certainly never be a threat to humans again, as shown by them being unwilling to attack even sleeping humans. It was the closest thing to a happy ending that they could hope to achieve. But it didn’t feel satisfying in the slightest.

For in the end, Lilith had broken her promise to herself, and resorted to acting just like every other succubus.

Chapter Text

Adam pulled the skewers from the campfire and examined the hunks of rabbit meat on them. Both of them looked and smelled ready, so he passed one of them to Lilith. However, the succubus didn’t accept it at first.

“Lilith? Dinner’s ready.”

“Huh? Oh… thanks.”

Lilith grasped the skewer and then, instead of eating, simply stared into the fire.

Seeing his partner like that, Adam was also unable to eat. At the same time, he also had no idea of what to do in this situation.

I’ve been trained in how to counsel people who’ve killed for the first time, or who’ve lost loved ones to monsters, Adam thought. But this situation… The only time my lessons even touched on the subject of mind control, we were being taught how to help those who’d fallen under a monster’s control. Even that was several years ago, and I’ve never had the need to actually use that lesson.

But I have to do something. I can’t just leave her like this.

Adam spent a few minutes thinking of what to say, during which he completely consumed the meat on his skewer. Once he was done, he opened his mouth nervously.

“Lilith, are you not feeling hungry tonight?”

It took a few seconds for Lilith to respond, and when she did, her voice had little strength to it. “Mm… sorry, I don’t think I’ll be able to eat anything tonight. It’s fine, I can go without dinner for one night.”

“If you need someone to talk to, I’m always here for you,” Adam said, trying his best not to sound intrusive.

“Thanks… maybe tomorrow,” Lilith said, not meeting Adam’s eyes.

Adam hesitated, but decided not to press the issue. Trying to force someone in trouble to talk could easily end up making the situation worse: he’d heard stories of once-firm friends whose relationships had been permanently severed thanks to one bad decision.

“Alright, then I suppose we should turn in for the night,” Adam said. “I can take the first watch.”

“Actually… instead of that, how about we leave security to the spells I set up, and both of us sleep for the whole night?” Lilith suggested. “We’ve been running ourselves ragged these past few days, so we could really use the extra sleep.”

Adam nodded, and the two of them lay down without exchanging another word.

It wasn’t possible for Adam to fall asleep immediately. He remained awake for some time, during which the campfire consumed the last of its fuel and died.

-ooo-

He was standing in the middle of a crowded street, one that was lit brightly by the noonday sun. All around him were humans and monsters, but they weren’t embroiled in mortal combat as one would normally expect. Rather, they were walking side by side, hand in hand, talking to each other as equals, playing together, laughing together.

Adam closed his eyes for a few seconds, then reopened them, but the impossible sights remained in his vision. He began slowly walking along the street.

To his left was a massive Arachne, selling clothes made from its own silk to human customers.

To his right was a maternal-looking woman taking care of a group of goblin children. She sighed in a long-suffering manner as the children ran around her legs with the boundless energy of the young.

Flying overhead was a flock of harpies carrying human children in their talons. The children were laughing in joy as they zoomed through the air.

At the end of the street was a large plaza with an ornate fountain in the centre. Standing next to this fountain, looking at the flowing water, was the one Adam was looking for.

Lilith turned around as Adam approached. She had a wide smile on her face, a smile just a fraction too wide to be natural.

“Well? Isn’t this great, Adam? Now we don’t have to fight anymore… nobody has to. Now we can all just live in peace.”

Adam looked around again. Indeed, everyone around him was full of smiles. There were no signs of any poverty, sickness, injury or other misfortune. But it was more than that… no matter where he looked, he couldn’t find even the slightest hint of negative emotion. There were no merchants arguing with customers over the price of a good. Nobody complained about the heat of the sun. There was only undiluted, chokingly sweet happiness.

Then Adam looked at Lilith again, gazing deep into her eyes. There was only the appearance of happiness in them: behind that was fatigue, sadness and fear.

“Lilith,” Adam began.

“Yes?”

“I know that this is just a dream,” Adam continued. “And… And I know that this isn’t really you. I know you would never try to enter my mind without permission, nor would you try to alter minds on this scale—I’m sure that you’re not even capable of the latter.”

Lilith continued smiling, but didn’t respond.

Adam paused, but decided to continue. Even if this was just his own mental construct of Lilith, he had to let these words out.

“I hope that… in the morning… we can talk again,” Adam said. “I don’t want to lose you.”

-ooo-

The next morning, Adam woke up to find himself alone. For a moment he feared that the worst had happened, but then he sensed Lilith’s demonic energy off in the distance. He stood up and saw her roughly a hundred paces away, bending down to gather food.

A minute later, Lilith returned with some handfuls of wild tubers and herbs. “Good morning. I just—since you prepared last night’s dinner, I thought I’d handle breakfast.”

“Yes… thank you.”

Lilith started the fire again and cooked the food for a few minutes. She also heated up the rabbit meat from last night. Once breakfast was ready, she passed half of it to Adam and they began to eat.

Lilith had regained her appetite and she now ate at a steady pace, which was a good sign. Still, Adam would need to be careful with his words: an indirect approach would probably be best.

After they finished breakfast, Adam said, “So, Lilith, where do you think we should go to next?”

“Well… we went to that village in the first place because we wanted to find out what was causing these strange massacres,” Lilith said. “We did find some clues, but not enough to really solve this mystery… should we keep investigating this?”

“That’s one option,” Adam said. “However, the only other villages to have experienced these massacres are far from here. If I recall correctly, the closest one is at least a month’s travel away.”

“Hmm… then what do you suggest?”

“Do you remember Zipangu, that country where humans and monsters coexist? We originally planned to go there after dealing with these strange massacres. However, it… it might be better to go there now instead. I believe that we may find some of the answers we’re looking for there.”

Lilith lowered her head, and for an instant Adam was terrified that he’d said the wrong thing. Fortunately, her next action was a small nod.

“That sounds like our best option. Let’s see… how do we get there again…?”

They recalled the words of the dwarf blacksmith Kalk, the one person they knew who’d gone to Zipangu:

It’s nearly impossible to get there—makes sense, since otherwise everybody’d know about it. The place is a small island some distance off the east coast, far enough that ships won’t see it unless they’re deliberately heading for it. And its own people work to keep it hidden, otherwise they’d be attacked by—well, by pretty much everyone.

So how did I get there? Well, I made it there by accident—my ship sank and I was lucky enough to wash up on its shores. But after spending time in Zipangu, I learned that they aren’t totally isolated from the mainland. Some of them are interested in the outside world, and sail every now and then to a port on the east coast to trade. That’s how I got back, they were nice enough to let me board one of their ships—but that’s also how you can find your way there. If you go to those ports and look around, sooner or later you’ll find one o’ them—they’re a little shorter than most humans on the mainland, have a different skin tone and wear a weird sort of clothing called a “kimono”. Once you find them, you could try ‘n’ convince them to let you sail with them, but it might be easier to just follow their ship and fly to the island…

It was, to say the least, a long and difficult process. Getting to the nearest coastal city would take three days, and finding one of Zipangu’s traders could potentially take a week or more.

“All things considered, it will likely take just as long as if we were to continue investigating the massacres,” Adam said. “But I believe we should at least try. There, we may be able to find the answers to… to the questions we face.”

Adam looked straight at Lilith. There was still uncertainty in the expression of his partner, but there was also a clear resolve. And while Adam didn’t have a mirror at the moment, he suspected that he had an identical expression on his own face.

“Alright. In that case, we’d better get moving right away,” Lilith said. She stood up and began packing.

“And… I’d like to say one last thing before we go,” Adam said, in a slightly quieter voice than before.

Lilith continued packing without meeting Adam’s gaze.

“We’ve been travelling together for many months now,” Adam continued. “I trust you to not only fight by my side, but also to keep me from straying from my path. And… I just want you to know that I’m here for you as well. As long as we’re together, I won’t let you fall.”

Lilith finished her packing and still didn’t look at Adam. But when she began walking, she passed close to him and whispered “Thank you”.

-ooo-

It took them just two days to make it back to the coastal village of Wisterion: now that they no longer had to worry about keeping themselves concealed, they could go at a faster pace. There was a large town about a day’s travel north of here.

But before moving on, Adam and Lilith stopped outside the village for lunch. During this meal, Lilith looked into the distance numerous times, watching the crashing waves of the sea. Eventually, she had a shocked look on her face and abruptly stood up.

“Lilith? What is it?” Adam said, already reaching for his sword.

“The sea… Zipangu is on the other side of it, right?” Lilith said. “From what Kalk said, it’s an island… and the sea is Poseidon’s domain, isn’t it?”

Adam stood up as well, his lunch forgotten. “You’re right—I can’t believe I didn’t think of this earlier!”

“Hey, I also didn’t think of it until just now—calling on a goddess isn’t the kind of thing we do every day,” Lilith pointed out. “And we don’t know if this will work yet…”

“Still, it’s worth a try,” Adam said.

They both opened up their packs and took out the charms of Poseidon. Even though these charms included seaweed in their construction, they showed no signs of deterioration, presumably thanks to the power within.

Of course, neither Adam nor Lilith was quite sure how to initiate contact with a goddess. They tried calling to Poseidon out loud while holding the charms, and when that didn’t work, they tried mentally calling out to the goddess. That still produced no results.

Eventually, Adam had an idea. “Why don’t we go to the sea itself and try again? When we last heard from Poseidon, weren’t we in the water?”

Lilith looked down at the charm, then at the sea, then swore.

“Well, I suppose we’re now equal when it comes to not thinking of something,” Adam said, stifling a laugh.

The two of them headed down to the coast. They stopped briefly at the edge of the water: the memories of everything that had happened the last time they entered the sea caused them to hesitate. But they couldn’t hesitate forever, and soon they stepped in.

Just like before, the water offered no hindrance to their breathing, vision or movement. Nevertheless, it felt like an entirely different world, one where they could escape the worries of dry land.

Adam took a deep breath, then repeated his call for aid:

“O Poseidon, goddess of the sea, please hear our—”

“I hear you. What is the matter?”

Adam and Lilith both jumped in surprise, then slowly sank back down to the seabed. The crystals in the charms they were holding now shone with faint blue light.

“I—I can’t believe it finally worked!” Lilith cried out. “Oh, ah—sorry for being rude, I—”

“There’s no need to apologise,” Poseidon said, with a hint of laughter in her voice.

Adam was dumbfounded. As part of his training as a hero, he had received multiple lessons on how to address the divine, and all of these lessons had emphasised absolute reverence. Yet the goddess he was talking to right now was acting like… like a mother being patient with unruly children!

“Then… how should we address you?” Adam asked.

“Just ‘Poseidon’ will be fine,” Poseidon said. “More importantly, why have you called on me?”

“Ah, yes… We wish to travel to the land of Zipangu,” Adam said. “From what we’ve heard, it’s a land where—”

“—Where humans and monsters live together in peace,” Poseidon said. “I am aware of it, though I should point out that it is not simply land, but the surrounding sea where this peace exists.”

“I… I see,” Adam said. “In any case, we were wondering how to reach Zipangu. Could you… would you be willing to show us the way there?”

“I can certainly do that… but is that all?” Poseidon said. “Tell me, do you wish to go there at once?”

“That’s right,” Lilith replied.

“Then it would be more expedient for me to send you there personally,” Poseidon said.

Suddenly, Adam and Lilith were picked up from the seabed by a water current. They began moving away from the coast, slowly at first, but their speed gradually increased.

“You-You’re sending us there yourself!?” Adam half-said, half-shouted. “Th-This is too much for the likes of us!”

“This is the least I can do for you,” Poseidon insisted. “I know that you are both tired, physically and mentally. I could discern this the moment you entered my realm.”

Adam felt uneasy. He considered telling Poseidon everything that had happened regarding the centaurs: it was the least he could do to repay the goddess for all the help she provided them. But at the same time, he feared that she would be angered by what they’d done… and being the target of the sea goddess’ wrath, when he and Lilith were currently in the sea, was a terrifying prospect.

“You need not explain yourselves if it discomforts you,” Poseidon said gently. “You may simply relax and take in the sights.”

Adam still felt some unease, but Poseidon’s words had largely reassured him. He looked over at Lilith, who was floating beside him, and grasped her hand. She returned the gesture, clutching his fingers tightly.

A few moments later, Adam heard something that he could have sworn was laughter, but it was almost entirely drowned out by the rushing sounds of the water.

-ooo-

A short time later—Adam wasn’t sure if it was thirty minutes, one hour or two hours later—a dark mass came into view ahead, showing that they had reached land. The water current, and by extension Adam and Lilith, slowed.

“Here is the island of Zipangu,” Poseidon announced.

“This is… we can’t thank you enough for all the help you’ve provided us,” Adam said.

“Again, this is the least I can do for you,” Poseidon replied. “You two set an example that others will hopefully follow.”

These words filled Adam with an incredible pride, the likes of which he had never felt before. He didn’t even need to look at his partner to know that she was feeling the same way.

The water current gently pushed Adam and Lilith up to the surface, then towards the shore.

“Please explore Zipangu carefully, you may find the answers to your questions there,” Poseidon said, her voice growing faint. “Farewell, and may the best of fortune be with you…”

The two of them arrived at the shallows and planted their feet on the seabed. They waded forward until they reached a sandy beach, then turned to face the sea. There was no longer any sign of divine intervention: now, there were just small waves gently breaking on the sand.

Lilith was the first to break the silence. “…I still can’t believe that just happened.”

“Neither can I,” Adam said, shaking his head.

“But there’s no denying that it did happen. And now… now we’re finally here, in Zipangu.”

Adam turned around. From a moment’s observation, he could tell that he was in a foreign land: before him was a forest of plants that he’d never seen before, and the air was filled with the calls of strange birds.

“How do you feel now, Lilith?” Adam asked.

“Well, I feel some regret at not coming here earlier,” Lilith said, her lips quirked in a small smile. “But other than that… I feel much better than before, like I can see everything clearly again. Being reminded that we have an actual goddess backing us helps a lot.”

Adam smiled as well. “In that case, shall we begin our exploration?”

“You don’t have to ask me twice.”

The two of them began walking inland, away from the relaxing environment of the sea. Despite this, there was a distinct energy in their movements that had previously been lacking.

Adam and Lilith would undoubtedly face many more trials in the future. Trying to bring about coexistence between humans and monsters was a seemingly impossible task. But so long as they were together, it felt like nothing could stand in their way.

Chapter Text

For the next half an hour, Adam and Lilith walked inland at a leisurely pace, simply taking in the sensations.

They passed through coastal woodland. Initially, this included types of trees that Adam was familiar with, their seeds having presumably been carried here by wind or water currents. But further in, the trees were mostly replaced by clumps of a strange woody grass. The community of flowers growing on the forest floor also changed, though Adam noticed this more through scent rather than sight: the inland flowers produced a cocktail of fragrances that seemed to fill his head with a relaxing warmth.

The animals were similarly different. Perched high up on tree branches were small forms that initially caused Adam to reach for his sword, fearing that they were monsters, but they turned out to be monkeys with red faces. At one point, a small black bear emerged from the bushes, cautiously examined the intruders to its territory for a moment, then slinked out of sight. And for every animal that Adam could see, he could hear half a dozen more: singing, shrieking, screeching away as if their lives depended on it.

Eventually, they came across one of the native monsters. Lilith noticed the demonic energy signature first and notified Adam, and together they cautiously made their way forward.

Perched in a tree and picking fruit was a large avian monster with wings, taloned feet and black feathers: a harpy. Judging from the body shape, they appeared to be a male. But unlike the other harpies Adam had seen—and most of the other monsters, in fact—this one was wearing clothes. Specifically, he was wearing a sort of green garment that included wide sleeves to accommodate his wings.

Adam and Lilith stared at the harpy for several seconds. The harpy stared back. Then the harpy took off and flew away, screaming. Adam didn’t recognise the words, but he could understand the tone and the actions well enough.

“He saw us as enemies, invaders to Zipangu,” Adam said. “It must be rare to see strangers in this country.”

“I can’t catch up with him—not unless I use magic on him, and that probably isn’t the best idea right now,” Lilith said.

They began walking in the direction of the black harpy’s flight.

“We should be ready if he brings back reinforcements,” Adam said. “That said, we should also be careful not to appear threatening.”

“You can do that just by not holding your sword,” Lilith said. “But if the people here have any idea what succubi can do, then they wouldn’t feel safe no matter what I do.”

“Perhaps… but we still have to try.”

After a couple of minutes, the two of them heard the sounds of people approaching, causing Lilith to cast a translation spell over herself and Adam. Then multiple figures emerged from the vegetation ahead. They were a mix of humans and monsters, armed with tools like axes and shovels rather than proper weapons. The monsters all wore some clothing, similar to the initial harpy, and they showed no hostility towards the humans beside them. Most of the monsters were large humanoids with horns growing from their heads and either red or blue skin, but there was also the black-feathered harpy from before.

Adam was excited by the sight of this cooperation, to the point of almost forgetting that this group of humans and monsters was hostile towards him and Lilith. Though admittedly, he and his partner were hardly in any danger from untrained civilians.

On that topic, these inhabitants of Zipangu looked confused at the two strangers they had encountered. If Adam had been on his own, or with other humans, then he likely would have been seen as an invader. But a human hero and a monster together was something that gave them pause.

Eventually, one of the humans, a young man who couldn’t be older than twenty, said, “You, I’ve never seen either of you before… are you from another village?”

“No, we have come from the land across the sea to the west,” Adam replied.

These words caused the people of Zipangu to glance at each other in surprise.

“That’s… impossible,” the young man said. “In the west, there’s no peace between humans and youkai…”

“And how do you know our language?” asked another.

“That’s because of a spell I cast, which basically allows us to understand the meaning of your words,” Lilith explained.

“And, to answer the first question: it’s true in general that there is conflict between humans and mons—youkai in the west,” Adam said, deciding to use the local term for monsters. “But there are exceptions to that trend. We are two such exceptions.”

The Zipangu villagers still looked uncertain, so Lilith added, “We came here on the advice of the dwarf blacksmith, Kalk. He also came to Zipangu from the west, a long time ago. Have you heard of him?”

The young man, who seemed to be the leader of this impromptu group, shook his head. He conversed with his fellows for a few moments, then said, “I’m still not sure about this… but you should probably come with us to our village. Our elders might know about you or… the one you said came here earlier.”

With that settled, Adam and Lilith followed the group of Zipangu villagers through the strange forest. They were still the target of the occasional suspicious look, but that was only natural. A good portion of these looks came from the black-feathered harpy, though said harpy never made any attempt to speak to them, and ducked out of sight whenever Adam looked in his direction.

-ooo-

A short while later, they emerged from the forest and arrived at a sprawling field. This field was unlike any that Adam had seen, being waterlogged like a swamp, but the evenness of the vegetation made it clear that this land was cultivated. There were no farmers working in the field at the moment—presumably, they had fled to safety after being warned of possible invaders nearby.

They walked through the field on a raised path of dirt that allowed them to avoid wetting their feet. Adam saw that the crop plants in this field were remarkably similar to the ones he was familiar with, having long stalks and slender leaves, they were simply growing partly submerged in water. He briefly wondered what the product of this plant would taste like. However, he didn’t voice this question to any of the Zipangu villagers, due to the awkwardness of the current situation.

Eventually, the village came into sight. The buildings were constructed from wood and thatch, and didn’t look like they could last against a strong storm: either they were reinforced with magic, or they were rebuilt on a regular basis. Another notable aspect of the buildings was the entrances, which were much larger than necessary to accommodate humans.

Then there were the inhabitants of the village. Roughly three-quarters were human, but the remainder… Adam could count on one hand the number of times he’d seen so many monsters together in one place, and he certainly had never seen so many monsters living in peace with humans. The monsters included more of the harpies and horned humanoids, but there were also large cats with two tails each, immense serpents with white scales, and—to Adam’s shock—living umbrellas that hopped around on their handles.

Currently, these villagers were huddled inside or next to their homes, fearfully watching the arrival of Adam and Lilith. None of them, not even the monsters, looked like they were planning to attack them. Presumably, the villagers that had left to investigate were the most combative out of the village.

It’s strange, to see monsters that not only don’t want to attack humans, but are reluctant to fight at all, Adam thought. Still, I’m glad to have seen this. It’s like stepping into the sun after a lifetime spent in the darkness.

Adam looked at Lilith, who was currently walking beside him. The succubus was just as surprised by this village as he was. More importantly, she had much more energy in her movements, the kind of energy that she hadn’t had for the past week. The sight made Adam feel glad to the depths of his heart.

A larger building came into view. This building was still made out of wood, but it was painted in bright red and white, and had a tiled roof with eaves that sloped upwards.

Standing outside the building were three elderly humans. The humans were wrinkled and white-haired from age, and two were so hunched-over that they were no taller than children, but they still faced the strangers to their village without any apparent signs of fear.

One of the elders, a woman, was the first to speak. “You are not from our Kingdom of the Sun,” she said, in a slow but confident voice. “What is your business here?”

“My name is Adam, and I am a hero from the western continent,” Adam said.

“A hero?” said another elder. “The heroes of the Order are sworn to slay monsters. Yet you have come to this land accompanied by a monster, and have made no attempt to draw your weapon… why?”

“Unlike most humans—and for that matter, most people outside of this land—I have learned that monsters are not necessarily hostile to humans,” Adam said. “My partner, Lilith, and I have come here to Zipangu to learn about it, to learn about its people.”

“We’ve met some other monsters who were also willing to not attack humans,” Lilith said. “But all of the other monsters and humans in the west are different, they’re locked in this endless war. We came here because we heard that monsters and humans here get along, and we wanted to find out how you manage it.”

The village elders looked at each other and held a discussion in muttered voices.

“And, one more thing I’d like to add,” Adam said. “We learned of the existence of Zipangu from a dwarf blacksmith named Kalk, who once came to this land. Do you remember him?”

“Kalk… yes, I remember him,” the female elder said. “Dwarves rarely come here, so his arrival caused some degree of commotion. He passed through this village threescore years ago… My mind is not what it once was, but I can still remember that moment. He was no taller than any of the children, but stronger than most of the adults. Before he left, he forged a sturdy axe for the village, which I believe is still being used to this day…”

The third of the elders, a man old enough to be Adam’s grandfather, spoke. “It appears that you have come here with peaceful intentions. But to be certain, we must ask you to wait here for now. One of our number left on a visit to a neighbouring village, and is due to return before the end of today. She will be able to confirm if you are truly what you claim to be.”

“Until then, we will show you our hospitality,” the female elder said. “Please come inside.”

Adam and Lilith followed the elders inside the building. They couldn’t fully relax yet, but so far their prospects seemed good.

Inside the building were floors covered with straw mats, sliding doors and walls made from—of all things—paper. The elders led the pair to a room and prepared a strange beverage: they placed fragments of leaves in ceramic cups and added boiling water.

“Here,” the female elder said, passing two cups to Adam and Lilith, then taking a sip from her own cup to demonstrate that the beverage wasn’t poisoned. “You may not have had tea before, but please give it a taste.”

Adam did as instructed. The tea was… well, to be frank, he had no idea how to describe it. He was hardly a connoisseur of drinks. However, it certainly wasn’t bad, and he felt slightly more relaxed from just that one sip.

Over the next hour, Adam and Lilith explained their history to the village elders, and likewise learned various facts about Zipangu from the elders. Eventually, the one they were waiting for returned.

A monster resembling a fox stepped into the room. However, no regular fox was the size of a horse or had five tails.

“So these are the strangers who have come to our village?” the fox monster said.

“That’s correct, Haru,” one of the male elders said. “The armoured human is Adam, the winged youkai is Lilith. We’ve talked with them and they seem trustworthy, but we’d like you to confirm that. Adam, Lilith, this is Haru, the inari who lives in this village. She is the best suited to determining your true natures.”

“Hmm… you are a succubus, are you not?” Haru said to Lilith.

“That’s right,” Lilith answered, her voice showing no hint of nervousness. On the other hand, Adam could see her hands shaking slightly underneath the table.

Haru looked at Adam with a measuring gaze. After a few seconds, she nodded in a satisfied manner.

“I am knowledgeable in several fields of magic, including mental magic. However, it seems that the only spell upon you is one that allows you to understand our tongue. Your companion has done nothing to bend you to her will. Just how did your relationship come about?”

Before either Adam or Lilith could respond, one of the human elders said, “We have kept these visitors for long enough here. My suggestion is that they be allowed to explore this village as they please, since we are now certain that they have no hostile intentions. We three can tell you the story of how they came here.”

“I see, very well,” Haru said. “Come with me, I will introduce you to the village. That should assuage their fears and make it easier for you to interact with them.”

“Alright, thank you for the help,” Adam said.

Adam and Lilith headed for the exit along with the large fox monster. Along the way, they grasped each other’s hand in mutual reassurance.

We’ve experienced many things over the past months, and failed more than once, Adam thought. The centaurs aren’t the only example—before that, we couldn’t do anything to save Thutmose in the desert. And if it weren’t for Poseidon’s intervention, we would have perished at the bottom of the sea. But now that we’re here in Zipangu, we may finally find answers.

-ooo-

Three days passed, during which Adam and Lilith grew accustomed to living in the small Zipangu village. They stayed in a guest room in the central building and spent every day, as well as much of the nights, exploring the village and interacting with its people.

One afternoon, Adam found himself holding a fake sword made from bamboo, the woody grass that grew in abundance around the village. Bamboo was widely used in Zipangu society, being similar in its properties to wood yet much faster-growing. He wasn’t wearing any of his armour as it was unnecessary for this occasion.

He was facing five boys who were similarly armed. Four of the boys were human, while the fifth was a red oni: a humanoid monster with red skin and a pair of horns. The adult oni were significantly taller and bulkier than humans, but this young one was no different in build from the human boys. He was similar in personality as well, charging recklessly at Adam with no skill or tactics in mind.

Adam was experienced in combat against all sorts of opponents, but trying to fight these children without hurting them was genuinely challenging. They of course outnumbered him, and their actions were also completely unpredictable. A boy might charge at Adam, sword aimed at the latter’s head, only to trip over a rock, causing his sword to swing towards Adam’s shoulder instead. Or two boys would collide with each other, distracting Adam long enough for a third to land an attack.

I’ve seen drunken brawlers in bars who fought with more skill than this, Adam thought. Still, I’m not just going to stand here and be beaten!

Adam swung his bamboo sword using a tiny fraction of his usual strength, knocking one of the boys to the ground. He then stuck out his leg to trip another boy, who collided with a third. He sidestepped the fourth’s attack, causing the boy to lose his balance.

There was only one boy left, the young red oni. He trembled, but didn’t put down his sword.

“Do you wish to surrender?” Adam asked.

“N-Never!” the red oni boy shouted. “You won’t win, y-y-you villain!”

With a determined roar, the oni ran at Adam with bamboo sword raised. Adam casually knocked the sword out of his hands, then brought the tip of his sword to just under the boy’s chin. It would have been a tense scene straight out of a legend, if it weren’t for the bamboo weapons, one of the combatants being a child, and the other combatant doing his best to stifle a laugh.

Adam lowered his sword and the boys gathered around him, having accepted their loss.

“Wow, that was amazing!” one of the human boys said, eyes practically shining with admiration. “We could barely hit you at all!”

“How can we be like you?”

“Teach us! Teach us!”

“Alright then, here’s one important thing you’ll need to learn,” Adam said. He cleared his throat. “One important thing that you should always remember in life… is to ask your questions one at a time. You’re more likely to get good answers that way.”

The boys groaned. “Not that,” one said. “We want to know how to be strong like you!”

Adam chuckled. “In that case, you’ll need to train every single day for years on end, and eat a healthy diet just like your parents tell you to.”

There were more groans. It seemed that no matter the country or the species, children would always dislike eating in a healthy manner.

Suddenly, Adam heard the sounds of numerous beating wings. He looked up to see Lilith flying in his direction, along with several young crow tengu—the species of black-feathered harpy that was native to Zipangu. The group of flying monsters descended and landed nearby.

“How was your flight, Lilith?” Adam asked.

“We made it to the coast and back,” Lilith replied. “The children were able to gather a lot of seashells.”

“How many times do I have to tell you, I’m not a child, I’m almost an adult now!” shouted one of the crow tengu.

“You’re not an adult until you can fly faster than me,” Lilith claimed, hands on her hips in an exaggerated display of superiority.

The crow tengu fumed, puffing up her feathers. It seemed that overestimating their own maturity was another thing common to all children.

But the sun was now getting low in the sky, and the children’s mothers came to fetch them for dinner. The assorted human and monster children left, though more than a few of them were reluctant to do so.

Adam and Lilith had dinner as well. They went to a communal dining area at the edge of the village: this consisted of several benches and long tables underneath a bamboo canopy. There were many farmers, lumberjacks and other labourers here: after a day of hard work, they preferred to have dinner together and chat amongst themselves.

The pair went to a table with several pots and plates of food. Behind this table stood a blue oni—blue oni were the blue-skinned counterparts to the red oni, and generally calmer in temperament—who was taller than any of the human men despite being female.

“Oh, it’s you two!” the blue oni—Himawari, if Adam remembered her name correctly—said cheerfully. “Thanks for helping with the kids today! They must have been a handful!”

“They weren’t a problem at all,” Adam replied. “Well… not a major problem, at least.”

“Though it would be nice if they didn’t keep pulling on my tail,” Lilith added in an unnecessarily loud whisper.

Himawari laughed. “Well, here’s a good meal for your hard work!”

The blue oni gave them two bowls of rice and a plate with various vegetables. Adam and Lilith found places to sit and began to eat.

The cuisine of Zipangu was quite different to that of the mainland. The primary grain was rice, the seeds of the semi-aquatic plants growing in the neighbouring fields. Many kinds of vegetables were present, though Adam had yet to learn most of their names. There was little meat and no dairy foods such as cheese. On the other hand, seafood was quite common despite the distance from this village to the coast: the coastal villages gathered so much of it, partly due to the assistance of sea monsters, that they could export it inland at cheap prices.

And the utensils used to eat this food were also different. Instead of spoons or forks, the Zipangu people used wooden sticks that tapered to blunt points. Though simple in design, these sticks were quite versatile in handling food. After three days of practice, Adam could actually pick up food the majority of the time without dropping it.

All in all, it feels refreshing to try out this new culture, Adam said. If the world wasn’t in such a sorry state, then more people—human and monster alike—might be able to travel like this.

At one point, one of the villagers slammed down a mug of sake—a local alcoholic beverage—in front of Adam. This particular villager was Itsuki, one of the farmers.

“Hey, tell us another story about your homeland!”

Adam accepted the mug and took a sip. “Well, in that case… Three years ago, my friends and I travelled to the territory of one Lord Yorick…”

For the next few minutes, Adam related the story of the first time he and his friends had been given a mission by a noble. They had spent hours just tidying themselves up and practicing their etiquette so they wouldn’t look like idiots. But when they had actually gone to the noble’s castle to receive the mission, said noble’s daughter had quickly taken a liking to Adam. The next day, they had all been forced to flee the castle. They were never able to take any missions in that territory ever again.

“Gahahaha!” Itsuki laughed, almost knocking his own sake off the table. “Ah, that reminds me of what happened with my uncle…”

Adam heard about the various adventures—and misadventures—of the villager’s family. Several nearby villagers added their own comments at frequent intervals, so the conversation dragged on for quite a while. It was similar to stories he’d heard before, but one thing he noticed was how monsters were often involved, even in events from decades in the past.

When Itsuki was finally done talking, Adam asked, “From what I’ve heard, it seems like humans and youkai in Zipangu have been able to peacefully coexist for a long time. Just how long has this been the case?”

“For as long as anyone can remember,” Itsuki said. He scratched his cheek in embarrassment. “Sorry, I guess that’s not really helpful. But that’s all I really know. Youkai have been living alongside us for as long as I can remember, and it was like that in my father’s time, and in my grandfather’s time, and so on.”

“But how did it all begin?” Lilith asked.

“There’s many legends about that, too many to count,” Itsuki replied. “One says that an evil kami cast a curse over the world to make youkai attack humans, and only Zipangu was spared from the curse because of it being far from everywhere else.”

Lilith’s translation spell wasn’t perfect, and some of its concepts couldn’t be fully translated. In this case, “kami” was a term that was apparently used for gods but also for powerful monsters.

“Then there’s another legend, this one says that it’s because we have the protection of our own kami,” said another villager. “I think that one’s the right one. I’ve seen some of the kami myself when I travelled, and they have incredible power… I felt like I was a child standing before giants.”

“No, that can’t be it,” insisted a third villager. “Our kami may be powerful, but there are many in the west who are also powerful. No, it must be because of a conspiracy between the leaders of the two sides, to make the war go on so only they profit.”

It seemed that implausible theories were another thing that was also found in Zipangu society. The leadership of both humans and monsters had changed frequently over the past centuries, with the former not having any unified leadership whenever there was no Demon Lord. A conspiracy of that kind would never last more than a single generation.

Still, Adam and Lilith continued listening to the various accounts of the origin of human-monster coexistence in Zipangu. It was crucial information for their own plans.

-ooo-

After finishing dinner, Adam and Lilith returned to their room. As enjoyable as it was to spend time with the villagers, there were some things the two of them could only discuss in private.

Adam sat on his bed and glanced out the window. There were still quite a few people moving around at this late hour, mostly nocturnal monsters.

“How are you feeling now, Lilith?” Adam asked.

“A lot better than before—but I should be asking you that as well,” Lilith replied.

The two of them looked at each other for several seconds. While there was no light save for the moonlight entering through the window, both of them had sufficient night vision to perceive each other’s expressions. Adam was the first to turn away.

“In that case, I’m also feeling much better than before,” Adam said. “Now, I have a more concrete idea of what we should do next: explore Zipangu further, then return to the mainland and see what we can do to replicate the successes in this country. However—”

“—No matter what we do here, it doesn’t change the past,” Lilith finished.

Adam nodded grimly. It was a lesson that he’d heard a long time ago from one of his late friends, Marcus. One night, Marcus had confided in him a deadly mistake from the past: he used to have a rival who was always better than him at archery, and eventually decided to sabotage their bowstring prior to a training session, only for this to lead to the rival’s death during a sudden monster attack. Fraught with guilt, Marcus had left his village, and his path eventually led him to meet with Adam.

But even then, he never forgave himself for that, Adam thought. He hid his pain behind a mask of jokes, but it always ate away at him.

“We can’t undo what we did to the centaurs,” Adam said. “We also can’t undo the countless deaths that have already happened in this endless war. But that doesn’t mean we should give up. We can make a difference if we persevere—we already have with the sea monsters, and Zipangu is proof that this can be replicated on a larger scale.”

Lilith looked out the window at the village. “Mm… you’re right. Though on that topic, we haven’t really learned how things are managed here.”

Adam frowned. Indeed, they still didn’t know how they could apply the lessons of Zipangu to other societies. The monsters of Zipangu were raised alongside humans, and this was apparently enough for them to overcome their instincts: a case of nurture triumphing over nature. But they weren’t certain on how this situation had come about in the first place. Without that information, anything they did was unlikely to succeed. There was simply too much accumulated hostility between the two sides.

“We’ll need to ask the elders about it,” Lilith continued, “Hopefully, they can give us some clear—”

Lilith whipped her head around to face the door to the room. There was the sound of approaching footsteps, and the door was pushed open by a large paw. Haru, the inari of the village, stepped inside. While she had previously been composed, right now her ears were twitching and her tails were flicking about in nervousness.

“My apologies for the intrusion, but this is an urgent matter,” Haru said.

“It’s fine, what is it?” Adam asked.

“I’ve just received a telepathic message from a neighbouring village,” Haru explained. “The very same one that I visited recently. The message wasn’t entirely coherent, but… it seems they are being attacked by a rogue youkai. It might be insolent of me to ask, but will you—”

“Yes, we can certainly help you,” Adam said. “We can leave at once.”

Haru lowered her head, causing the tip of her snout to almost touch the ground. “I cannot thank you enough for this. Now, let us depart.”

Adam and Lilith rapidly equipped themselves, then followed the inari out of the building. The human elders were also awake, and accompanied them to the entrance to send them off.

The three of them left the village and headed north: Haru running on foot, Lilith flying with Adam in her arms. While the latter two were able to ignore the terrain, the inari was still able to keep up with them, deftly weaving between trees and leaping over streams and canyons. It took them just five or six minutes to reach the other village.

As they approached their destination, Adam could see the orange-tinted light of fires, could faintly hear the screams of the dying. He felt Lilith’s arms tighten around him.

Then their target came into view, a massive silhouette with many legs, currently in pursuit of a screaming human. Lilith cast a fire spell at the monster to stop it in its tracks, then landed right in front of it and set Adam down.

Adam glanced over his shoulder to confirm that the human villager was alright, then turned around to face his opponent.

The rogue monster was somewhat similar to an arachne, possessing three pairs of legs that each terminated in a fearsome bone claw. It was covered with black fur that was matted and stained with dirt. But instead of a humanoid upper body, it had an immense bull’s head with wickedly curved horns and a mouth filled with sharp teeth. Flecks of gore dotted the monster’s teeth, indicating that it had already fed at least once. Finally, Adam noticed that Lilith’s fire had barely even singed its fur.

“GRAAAAARGHHHHH!!!”

Letting out an earthshaking roar, the strange spider monster charged at them. Lilith returned to the air and began charging up another spell, while Adam dodged to the side and slashed at the spider monster’s leg as it passed. His sword inflicted only a small nick on the tough appendage, and was almost knocked out of his hands by the recoil.

A jet of red flame struck the spider monster from the side, forcing it to the ground. Haru came into sight, the tips of her tails glowing with the same red flame. However, the spider monster immediately stood up again and bellowed its defiance.

“Just what kind of mons—of youkai is this?” Adam asked.

“An ushi-oni,” Haru replied grimly. “One of the most dangerous youkai in all of Zipangu.”

Chapter Text

Though this particular monster was unfamiliar to him, Adam had years of training and experience on his side. He sidestepped a claw swipe and then retaliated with a sword slash, this time putting less strength into his attack. He wouldn’t be able to defeat this opponent quickly, so he would need to use numerous attacks to bring them down.

And fortunately, Adam wasn’t alone. A constant barrage of spells from Lilith and Haru prevented the ushi-oni from focusing on any one target. The ferocious spider monster could only roar in frustration at being faced with prey capable of fighting back.

But that didn’t mean Adam and the others could relax. The ushi-oni was strong, durable and also surprisingly fast. It—the appearance was so unusual that Adam couldn’t even guess at its sex—was able to attack and block in multiple directions simultaneously thanks to its many legs. Moreover, by striking buildings with enough force to hurl rubble into the air, it could even attack the flying Lilith. As a result, all three of them had to take evasive action constantly. And that still wasn’t the full extent of the challenges they faced.

While avoiding a lunge from the ushi-oni, Haru called out to the others, “Do not let its blood touch you! It holds a deadly curse!”

“Then this—” Adam ducked to avoid a claw swipe, “—isn’t an optimal fight for me!”

“Ushi-oni are also quite resistant to magic—” Haru launched a cluster of fireballs, which barely caused her target to flinch, “—and can rapidly recover from injury!”

“But it’s not invincible, at least!” Lilith said, shooting a barrage of lightning bolts.

A minute passed, with Adam and the others inflicting dozens upon dozens of wounds, but every single one of these wounds was minor. And the ushi-oni wasn’t hindered at all—rather, it seemed to be growing faster the more it was attacked.

Adam tried to close in for another attack, only for the ushi-oni to lash out with a massive claw, and this time he wasn’t able to dodge in time. The claw struck Adam in the chest, sending him flying backwards and through the wall of a house.

Gah...! This feeling—several of my ribs are broken!

The ushi-oni roared triumphantly, a sound that might have made an ordinary person die of fright, then moved in for the kill. A cone of ice struck it from the side, freezing half of its legs to the ground. The ushi-oni freed itself from the ice in an instant, only to be blasted from the other side by a powerful gust of wind. Growling, it turned its attention to the other two.

“Adam!” Lilith called out. “Are you okay!?”

“I can still fight!” Adam responded.

Adam placed a hand on his chest and focused his spirit energy in a healing spell. After a few seconds, he was able to stand up again. The downside to this quick healing was that his ribs weren’t fully healed yet, so they’d break even more easily if he received another attack, and there was still a stabbing pain in his chest.

But if it’s just physical pain—I can handle it!

Now back in the battle, Adam decided to keep his distance from the ushi-oni. Using the wreckage of the house as a hiding spot, he observed the movements of the aggressive monster. The stances it took when attacking, its reactions when it received an attack, Adam took all of it in. At the same time, he kept an eye on his two allies in this battle: he could not let himself be the sole survivor again.

Eventually, an opportunity arrived. With the ushi-oni preoccupied with Lilith and Haru, Adam charged forward and slashed at the underside of the abdomen, where the exoskeleton was relatively thin. His sword pierced deeply into flesh, and scarlet blood gushed from the wound. Adam twisted his body to avoid the blood, but a few drops still landed on his right arm.

The moment the blood touched him, and despite the armour he wore, Adam felt a fierce heat spread throughout his arm. It was as though his own blood was being boiled in his veins!

And of course, Adam couldn’t simply focus on the curse he’d just been afflicted with. The ushi-oni lashed out with one of its rear claws, forcing Adam to jump back to avoid being decapitated. Fortunately, Lilith froze the ushi-oni to the ground again, giving Adam the opportunity to put some distance between himself and the spider monster.

Adam snatched up a piece of clothing from the ground—one of many that had been released from a shattered wardrobe—and used it to wipe away the blood. He then flexed his right arm, causing arrows of pain to shoot all the way down the arm. Despite the pain, he could move it more or less normally… but there was no telling how long that would last.

Dispelling curses was never my strong point… but if I don’t focus on the fight before me, I’ll be brought down in a much quicker and more brutal fashion.

After applying a quick healing spell to his right arm, Adam charged back into the fray. He circled around the ushi-oni, looking for another opportunity to attack. No opportunity presented itself, as the ushi-oni was now wary of Adam and refused to let him remain behind it.

But once again, Adam was not alone in this battle. Haru launched a massive fireball at the ushi-oni’s rear, striking the gash in its abdomen and causing the spider monster to scream in pain. Then Lilith followed up with her own fire magic, bathing the head of the ushi-oni with a torrent of crimson flame.

Finally, the ushi-oni fell to its knees. But it was not dead yet: despite its multiple grave wounds, its eyes were still filled with rage and its clawed legs continued struggling in a futile attempt to continue the battle.

“It is finished,” Haru said. “Accept your defeat.”

Haru ignited tufts of ethereal red flame on the ends of her five tails. She allowed the quintet of flames to grow for several seconds, then threw them at the fallen ushi-oni, where they merged into a sphere of brilliant red light. Despite his relative proximity to the sphere, Adam felt no heat from it: presumably, Haru was controlling her magic to prevent it from causing any collateral damage. Eventually, the sphere faded away into embers, leaving behind a small pile of ash on the ground.

However, that was not the end of the ushi-oni’s legacy. More than a dozen of the buildings had been reduced to rubble, and there were corpses—some of them half-eaten—lying around everywhere. Furthermore, without the distraction of an enemy, Adam could no longer hold back the pain from the curse. He fell down onto his hands and feet.

“Adam!?”

Lilith was at Adam’s side in an instant.

“You were struck by its curse?” Haru said, rushing over a moment later. Her ears drooped. “This is… if only I had not brought you here—”

“We both came here of our own will,” Adam said. With Lilith’s help, he managed to move into a sitting position. “We were both ready for the worst to happen. No battle is without risk.”

“Perhaps, but in any case, it is my obligation to do all in my power to ensure your recovery,” Haru said.

“Do you know how to remove this curse?” Lilith asked.

“I do not, but I can at least slow its progress… please hold still for a moment, Adam…”

Haru held two of her tails just above Adam’s arm, and a red light bathed the cursed area. After a few moments, Adam felt the excruciating heat subside… it did not, however, disappear entirely.

“I have just walled off the cursed energy with my own,” Haru explained. “With my level of skill, this will restrain the curse for an hour, two at most, but no more. We must hurry if we are to get help.”

Adam caught sight of movement in the distance. “If I have at least an hour left, then could we could spare a few minutes to talk to the villagers?”

Haru glanced over her shoulder at the approaching villagers. “Yes… but leave this to me. You two have already done enough—more than enough.”

The inari padded towards the inhabitants of this village and began explaining that the ushi-oni was dead thanks to the combined efforts of her and two visitors from across the sea. It was a somewhat unusual experience for Adam: as a hero, he was used to being the one who spoke to the grateful villagers after slaying monsters. Even when he’d been injured in a battle, he was usually able to heal himself to an adequate condition before returning to a village.

I can’t afford to be careless… even with these new weapons, and even though most monsters are far less powerful than the kraken I faced, I could still be brought low at any time. As could Lilith…

On that note, Lilith was currently fussing over Adam’s condition. And Adam could hardly blame her: if their circumstances had been reversed, then he would be just as worried about her.

“Come on, why didn’t you mention this earlier?” Lilith asked. “Did you think it would be a distraction for us?”

“Well…”

“You need to tell me things like this,” Lilith said, putting both of her hands on Adam’s shoulders. “What if you misjudged how dangerous the curse was? You could have died!”

Adam hung his head. “That’s true… I suppose it’s an example of how even the experienced can make mistakes. But I promise you that I won’t do this again.”

“You’d better not.”

Lilith hugged Adam tightly, burying her face in his shoulder. The hero returned the hug.

Not long after, they moved apart after sensing the approach of Haru and the villagers.

“Thank you for your help in defending our village, visitors from the west,” said an old man who appeared to be the leader of the village… or at least, the most senior person left alive. “I am the one who sent a request to Haru for aid, but I was not expecting her to bring allies like you.”

“We…” Adam hesitated, since the people of Zipangu had rather different attitudes towards monsters than the humans he was used to dealing with, “have some experience with situations of this sort. We will not abandon those in need of help, nor will we allow anyone to use their strength as an excuse to prey on others.”

The old man nodded. “I understand that you received the ushi-oni’s curse and must leave at once to be healed… this is hardly an adequate reward for your efforts, but I will tell you that there is no need to worry about us. We can, and will, manage to rebuild.”

“That’s good,” Lilith said. “Sorry that we had to meet in a situation like this…”

“If you ever pass through this region again, please visit our village of Tsurui,” the old man said. “You will always be welcome here. Now, I shall not delay you for any longer.”

It was time for the trio to set off. Lilith picked up Adam and together they followed Haru out of the village.

They headed east, deeper into Zipangu. The terrain here was more rugged than that nearer the coast, with many steep cliffs and deep canyons. But neither of the two monsters slowed down: Lilith could tap into the stored energy in her diamond to replenish herself, but even Haru maintained a fast pace across the rugged terrain.

For what felt like hours, Adam could only remain still and reflect on his situation.

I must improve myself. At the very least, if I knew more about dispelling curses, then the current situation would not be so dire.

But how to do that is another question entirely. To learn new skills, I would need to travel to one of the major cities and accept the tutelage of senior heroes. That would mean separating from Lilith for some time... it would be too risky to bring her into a stronghold of the Order, filled with heroes and priests.

Hmph… it’s another reminder of how much I’ve changed. To hesitate at associating with the Order for the sake of a monster…

But I know more about monsters now. And… she’s not just any monster to me.

Adam kept his face away from Lilith, not wanting his partner to see his expression.

-ooo-

They arrived at their destination, a large town, and rushed down the main road. There were people around even at this early hour, a mix of nocturnal monsters and the diurnal preparing for the day’s work, and they were startled at the strangers hurrying through their town.

However, there was no time to explain the situation: the restraint on the curse was gradually wearing off, and Adam now felt an increasing degree of pain with every passing minute. He didn’t let out any sound, but he was unable to stop his body from trembling. Lilith noticed, and she seemed to beat her wings with even greater urgency.

Finally, they arrived at a shrine in the centre of the town. This shrine was even grander than the one in Haru’s village, being three stories in height and having roofs of brilliant red and walls of stunning gold.

Waiting at the entrance of the shrine was another inari, this one possessing nine tails. Judging from the body shape, this one was male. And he gave off an aura of power greater than that of virtually every other monster Adam had encountered.

“I received your message,” the male inari said as they approached. “This is the one in need of healing?”

Haru dug her claws into the ground to come to a stop. Her breathing was laboured, but she was still able to reply, “Yes. Without his help… I would not have been able to stop a rogue usho-oni who was attacking Tsurui.”

The male inari nodded and guided the three of them inside the shrine. He led them to a small room and gestured for Adam to be laid down on a straw mat.

“My name is Daiki,” the male inari said, examining Adam’s arm. “What are your names?”

Adam and Lilith introduced themselves, during which Daiki continued his examination.

“And where do you now feel the effects of the curse?” Daiki asked. “Are they localised to your arm, or do they extend beyond that?”

“The pain is primarily in my right arm… but there is also some pain throughout the rest of my body,” Adam admitted.

“Can you get rid of this curse?” Lilith asked.

“I can, you may rest assured of that,” Daiki said. “However, this human will need to be unconscious during the process. Drawing out the curse will be an… unpleasant process, otherwise.”

“That’s alright,” Adam said. “You may start whenever you’re ready.”

“I already completed most of my preparations when Haru contacted me via telepathy,” Daiki said. “Now that I have analysed the curse in person, I can start immediately.”

“Thank you for this,” Haru said, lowering her head until her snout almost touched the floor. “These two are the reason I was able to bring down that ushi-oni, and if one of them were to die on my behalf—”

“It is no problem at all,” Daiki said, waving his tails in a presumably dismissive manner. “Rather, I’d prefer that you rely on me more often. I’ve barely seen you since you grew your fourth tail and moved out on your own.”

Then Daiki placed one of his tails on Adam’s forehead, sending the hero into a peaceful darkness.

-ooo-

The first sense that Adam regained was his sense of touch. He could feel a gentle warmth on his face, presumably sunlight streaming in through an open window.

Then he recovered enough to clearly hear his surroundings. There were the sounds of birds calling and a gentle breeze blowing amongst buildings.

Finally, he opened his eyes and saw Lilith out of the corner of his vision. In the next moment, the succubus jumped on him, hugging his chest.

“You’re awake!”

“How long… have I been asleep?” Adam asked.

“It’s pretty late in the afternoon now,” Lilith replied. “If you’re wondering where Haru is, she had to go back to her village, though she was sorry she couldn’t stay until you woke up. Anyway, are you feeling alright now?”

“Yes, there’s no longer any pain,” Adam replied. “Though… I am feeling somewhat hungry after missing both breakfast and lunch.”

“Then you can—”

Suddenly, the door to the room opened, and a large nine-tailed inari entered.

“Oh! Sorry if I was interrupting anything,” Daiki said, in a much more frivolous tone than Adam remembered.

Lilith quickly pulled away from Adam and shot a dirty look at Daiki. “Didn’t you say you were going on a walk around town?”

“I did, and I’ve finished doing that,” Daiki said. “While I was confident in getting rid of all traces of the curse, and also healed the minor damage to the ribs, I thought it would be best to check up on my patient. Now, how are you feeling, Adam?”

Adam rose into a sitting position and, experiencing no discomfort from doing so, followed by standing up. “It seems I’ve fully recovered. Thank you for healing me of this curse…”

“As I told Haru earlier, it’s no problem,” Daiki said. “Now, my suggestion is that you do what I just did and explore this town. Fresh air, good food and talking with new people should all be helpful for you.”

“I’ll consider that,” Adam said. “Though, if you don’t mind me asking…”

“You’re wondering why I’m acting so differently from last night?” Daiki said. “This is actually how I normally act. I can be serious when the situation needs me to be serious, but it’s tiring to do that all of the time.”

“I… see,” Adam said. “My apologies, it was just a surprise to me.”

“More importantly, please go out and enjoy yourselves,” Daiki said. “And if you want to mate, please do it somewhere other than my shrine—”

“That’s not what we were doing!” Lilith protested.

Daiki simply left the room without another word, leaving the door open.

Adam and Lilith looked at each other, then blushed and looked away.

“A-Anyway, we may as well take his advice,” Adam said. He quickly realised what he’d said and added, “Not the second part! Just the advice about exploring this town.”

“Y-Yeah, that would be a good idea,” Lilith said. “I haven’t left this building since we came in. I was… too worried about you…”

The two of them made their way to the main door of the shrine and stepped out into the sunlight. A bustling town of humans and monsters came into view, providing an easy distraction from the difficult problem that neither Adam nor Lilith had yet to solve.

Chapter Text

Lilith cast the spell once more, putting even more demonic energy into it. Sparks of red and blue light shot out from her hands, rose into the air in great spirals, then spread out like a blooming flower of pure light.

The surrounding crowd burst into applause and cheers.

“Hey, hey, do it again!”

“But even bigger this time!”

“Can you do animals as well?”

There were far too many requests for Lilith to even think of granting them all. Still, the succubus tried her best.

After a few more minutes, Lilith spotted a familiar face in the distance. She announced that this was all for today, to the disappointment of her audience. Once the crowd dispersed, Lilith walked over to a smiling Adam.

“I didn’t realise you had the talent for public entertainment,” Adam said.

“Neither did I, until just now,” Lilith replied. She raised one finger, the tip glowing with purple light. “Back when I was… in my village… I focused on learning how to fight and how to survive on my own. I didn’t really pay attention to things like this. But a little while back, some people asked me to demonstrate my magic, so I decided to give it a go and… it ended up like this.”

“Hmm… so you simply have that much skill with magic?” Adam suggested.

“That’s not how I’d put it… well, maybe,” Lilith admitted. “The tricks I just performed aren’t too different from how young succubi practice magic.”

The two of them began walking down the street, without any particular destination in mind. This was just their second day in Inarishima, the town to which they’d been brought for Adam’s healing, and they still had a lot more to explore.

“I never really thought about trying to use these skills for other purposes,” Lilith continued. “I mean, I could have tried using them to earn some money, but then I would have had to interact with humans… and as you know, I was too much of a coward in the past to try that.”

“Don’t call yourself that,” Adam reprimanded gently. “If you were a coward, you wouldn’t have left the safety of your village in the first place.”

Lilith looked away. “Maybe… I always get into a bad mood whenever I remember that part of my life.”

“Then it would be a good idea for us to continue exploring Zipangu and talking with its people,” Adam said. “It might be difficult, but… what we learn here could help your village.”

“That would only work if they’re willing to change,” Lilith replied. “Still… you’re right. Let’s keep going.”

They continued walking through the town for some time, looking at the sights, buying local goods and chatting with the townsfolk.

-ooo-

As the sun was setting, Lilith and Adam discussed where they should have dinner for tonight. There were many restaurants and inns around Inarishima, enough that it would take at least a week to try them all, and several weeks—no, several months to get the full experience. But as they settled on one restaurant, a familiar figure emerged from its doors.

“Oh, it’s you two again,” Daiki, the nine-tailed inari, said. “How are you finding this town?”

“It’s a nice place, every moment we get to experience something new,” Lilith replied. “But anyway, we haven’t seen you since yesterday morning, just where have you been?”

“I’ve been taking a scenic tour of the nearby mountains,” Daiki said. “It’s something I do occasionally: even though I’ve lived in this town for much of my life, the environment still changes from year to year, and so it’s also a new experience to me. But did you want something from me?”

“Yeah, that’s right,” Lilith said. She took a deep breath—asking something from a monster far more powerful than her was a little nerve-wracking, even if he wasn’t hostile—and said, “We’ve been discussing for a while about how monsters here can get along with humans… and we’re wondering just how that’s possible.”

Daiki’s ears twitched. “Hmm. That is a good question… but not one that I can answer properly here. Follow me back to the shrine.”

Without another word, the inari strode off towards the shrine in the centre of the village. Lilith and Adam followed.

After they entered the shrine, Daiki prepared some tea and rice for his guests and set them down on a table. He then sat down and remained silent for a few more moments, apparently deliberating on what to say.

Finally, the inari said, “I suppose it would be best to start from the beginning. Tell me, who do you think was the first to colonise this land?”

Lilith shared a glance with Adam. It was an interesting question: monsters were generally better at moving through and surviving in harsh environments than humans, but it was quite possible that humans had arrived here first in the hopes of escaping monster attack.

“Was it humans?” Lilith said, deciding to go with the second possibility.

“Not quite,” Daiki said. He tapped his paw on the table and a golden mist appeared, then the mist settled into the illusion of several humans on board a boat. These illusory humans were thin and their haggard faces showed that they had undergone great hardship. Moreover, the boat they were on was rocking wildly in a fierce storm.

“Many centuries ago, a small group of humans came to this land to escape the dangers of the mainland,” Daiki explained. “They encountered harsh conditions along the way, and barely even made it to their destination.”

The illusion shifted, showing the humans on the shore of Zipangu. Their boat was a battered wreck, but by some miracle all of them had survived.

“With most of their supplies ruined, they would have soon perished,” Daiki continued. “But they did not, for as it turned out, they weren’t the first to arrive at this eastern island.”

The storm clouds parted and an immense figure loomed into view, causing the illusory humans to cower in fear. The figure was a serpent large enough to coil around a castle several times, with emerald green scales, burning yellow eyes, and sturdy antlers resembling those of a great stag. Lilith recognised it instantly, even if the appearance was slightly different to her lessons: this could only be a dragon.

“I’m sorry, my illusion doesn’t do justice to him,” Daiki muttered. “But returning to the main topic: these humans were naturally terrified. They had hoped to escape the youkai by fleeing here, but they were now faced with a ryu, a youkai with no equal save for the Demon Lord. However… they weren’t simply devoured where they stood.”

The dragon—or ryu, as Daiki called him—opened his cavernous mouth and said in a booming voice, “Do you need my assistance?”

The humans looked surprised, but none of them responded, presumably out of fear.

The ryu then lowered his snout and breathed over the humans. Initially the humans recoiled from the breath, but they gradually opened their eyes and looked in surprise at their intact bodies. It was hard to tell through the illusion, but it seemed like the ryu had infused some of his own energy into them.

“My name is Kagachi, and I mean you no harm,” the ryu said. “Follow me, I will lead you to safety.”

Kagachi turned around and began flying inland. The humans hesitated for a moment, then began nervously following the ryu.

“How was that possible?” Adam asked.

“I learned the answer to that when I spoke with Lord Kagachi in person,” Daiki said. “I have only done that once, and it is the greatest possible honour for one of Zipangu, as currently he spends most of his days asleep. Anyway, it seems that during his long life, Lord Kagachi realised the futility of attacking humans. He came to this island because—at the time—it wasn’t inhabited by anyone, which would have allowed him to spend his days in peace. But when those humans washed up on Zipangu’s shores, he decided that he could not abandon them to die.”

Daiki returned his attention to the illusion, and over the next few moments, Lilith and Adam saw a series of amazing events. The ryu used his great strength to fell numerous trees, allowing the humans to quickly build a crude but functional village of wooden buildings. His presence also warded off the storm and scared away any potentially dangerous animals. And Kagachi didn’t ask for anything in return, save for the occasional conversation partner.

“Because as Lord Kagachi came to realise, there is little meaning in a life of total isolation from others,” Daiki added. “It’s why he continues speaking with the occasional person even today.”

The illusion continued to progress, showing the humans growing in number and expanding their village. Freed from the burden of survival, they were able to develop their unique culture. But this peace did not last forever. After what seemed to be five or six years—based on the passing of the seasons—more monsters appeared.

The newcomers were large humanoids with green skin and horns—they were ogres. But these ogres were similar to the humans from the start of the illusion, in that they had barely managed to make it to Zipangu’s shores.

Kagachi approached the ogres and asked them how they had arrived here. The ogres were too cowed to do anything else except answer honestly: they had tried to travel north along the coast in a raft to find better hunting grounds, but a storm overturned their raft and they had been forced to swim until they found dry land.

After learning this, Kagachi proceeded to bring the ogres to the human village, a move that was shocking both to those involved and to those merely watching this retelling of the events.

“All of you, listen to my next words carefully,” Kagachi commanded, in a tone that brooked no argument. “I am a monster who has overcome the desire to prey on humans. I believe it is possible for other monsters to do the same, and to be accepted by humans. At the same time, I recognise that this will not be an easy task… Thus, I will have your two groups live separately on this island, and while I will not ask you to be friends or allies, I will insist that you do not attack each other. Am I understood?”

The humans and the ogres were both shocked by this announcement. The humans were the first to agree, likely because of the trust Kagachi had built up with them. The ogres were slightly delayed in their response, but eventually they too agreed.

“Well, considering that Lord Kagachi was far more powerful than them, they didn’t exactly have a choice in the matter,” Daiki commented. “But still… it worked.”

More time passed in the illusion. The ogres set up their own village some distance away from the human village. There was initially minimal contact between the two villages, but after a few years, they began to trade. The humans traded tools, clothing and other goods they’d crafted, while the ogres traded lumber and raw minerals.

At one point, the illusion showed a dispute between the humans and ogres, with representatives of both standing on opposite sides of a field and shouting their arguments. Apparently, the humans wanted to turn some land into new farmland while the ogres wanted to keep it for hunting. But Kagachi was also there as a mediator, and eventually the land was divided up in a manner that suited both sides.

More time passed, and more humans and monsters appeared on Zipangu. Some of these had been looking for empty land to call their own, but the majority were also survivors of shipwrecks. With a great deal of time, patience and effort, these were also integrated into the growing Zipangu society.

“It took many decades until youkai and humans could live together in the same settlements,” Daiki said, continuing to advance the illusion. “Old fears and grudges couldn’t be forgotten that easily… but thanks to Lord Kagachi’s wisdom, children were raised without being taught to fear the other. And after multiple generations, there were other changes… I’ll make the illusion a little faster.”

In a series of illusory images, Lilith and Adam watched the monsters of Zipangu change. The ogres became far more organised and their skin shifted in colour, becoming the red and blue oni. The arachnes either shrank and gained brightly coloured exoskeletons, becoming jorou-gumo, or grew fur and massive bull heads, becoming ushi-oni. The harpies began to wear clothes and their plumage turned glossy-black, becoming crow tengu.

It’s like I was taught, monsters can change in form when they’re in new environments, Lilith thought. But these changes… they’re not the kind I’d expect. Did they happen because these monsters were made to live with humans?

“The remaining centuries are less interesting: the population grew further, and Zipangu became what it is today,” Daiki said. He dismissed the illusion with a wave of his tails. “Of course, not all youkai agree to live with humans, as you’ve already seen. There are also some humans who disagree with Lord Kagachi’s peace… Well, you should be more familiar with such things than me. At any rate, you now know the history of Zipangu.”

“Thank you for telling us this,” Lilith said. “It’s really helpful—”

“There’s no need to disguise the truth—I know that this isn’t that helpful for you,” Daiki said. “The society we have here on Zipangu is only possible thanks to Lord Kagachi’s efforts, and it isn’t something that could easily be copied on the mainland. There, multiple beings exist who are Lord Kagachi’s equal, and there are so many people across so many nations…”

“That… might be the case, but we’re still grateful that you told us,” Adam said. “Changing a society will be a long process with many steps… but each of those steps, however small, is still important. If we can help even a few people change their minds, and at least one of those people goes on to help others, then we’ll have made a difference.”

Daiki raised an eyebrow, but didn’t laugh at Adam’s words. In fact, a moment later his lips curled in a toothy grin.

“Well, you can try,” Daiki said. “Whatever you do, you’d end up doing more for this world than I have. I might be one of the strongest youkai on this island, but—to be frank—I’m a coward. I’ve never taken a single step outside of this island.”

“That’s not something you should disparage yourself for,” Adam said. “Staying in one place isn’t something to be ashamed of, regardless of your power. The people of this town certainly appreciate your presence, from what we’ve heard. And I would certainly be dead if it wasn’t for your help.”

Daiki averted his eyes for a moment. He was soon back to looking at his guests, but this display of emotion was unmistakeable.

“Thank you for that. Anyway, I’ve kept you here long enough. You should go out and enjoy yourselves.”

“Before we do that, there’s one more thing I’d like to ask,” Lilith said. “You mentioned that most of the people who came here were lost in storms. That might be possible if there’s a lot of storms in the seas around this area, but isn’t it weird that so many people survived to make it here?”

Daiki narrowed his eyes, and his ears flattened against his head. “Are you suggesting that Lord Kagachi caused those storms to bring people to Zipangu?”

“No!” Lilith amended quickly. “I’m saying that—that it might have to do with how we—the two of us got here!”

Daiki tilted his head curiously. “Hmm… you never did tell me about that…”

“We haven’t told anyone about it, due to the… unusual circumstances,” Adam said.

“First of all, do you know who Poseidon is?” Lilith asked.

“The goddess of the sea?” Daiki said. “Yes, though she is known as Ryujin here. Why do you ask?”

“Because… due to something we did in the south sea, we somehow managed to get involved with her…”

Lilith and Adam took turns to explain their experiences beneath the south sea, and how Poseidon had later brought them to Zipangu.

“Back then, we didn’t think much of her bringing us here—she’s the sea goddess, after all, so it made sense she’d know about this island,” Lilith said. “But after hearing about Zipangu’s history, maybe… maybe we aren’t the first ones she brought here.”

There was silence for a few moments, as all three of them considered this possibility.

“It’s plausible,” Daiki said. “But from what I’ve heard previously, Ryujin should be aligned with the Order and an enemy of youkai. From what you’ve just told me, she is secretly trying to help youkai and humans coexist…”

“It definitely sounds strange,” Lilith said. “But me and Adam, and you and everyone else in Zipangu, are proof that it’s possible for monsters and humans to change their minds and get along. Now, I can’t say I’m an expert on gods, but if they’re even slightly like us mortals, then they might be able to change as well.”

“We might try to contact Poseidon again, the next time we visit the sea,” Adam said. “Though we ought to be careful: it might be rude to contact her too many times in a short period.”

“Then I’ll try to speak with Lord Kagachi again,” Daiki said. “He may not respond, but if he does, he should give further insight about this mystery. In fact, I’ll try doing that right now—you two, please wait here until I return. Or you can go around the town again, but please remain within its borders until I return.”

Daiki stood and walked out of the room. His demonic energy signature could still be sensed by Lilith, but he began running as soon as he left the shrine, and in less than twenty seconds he was out of the range of Lilith’s senses.

Lilith and Adam decided to finish the rice and tea before heading back out into the town. This also gave them the opportunity to further discuss what they’d just learned.

“All in all, we can’t simply reproduce Zipangu society elsewhere,” Adam said. “We don’t have the sheer power or the long lifespan of a dragon. Still—”

“Like you said, we can at least make a smaller difference,” Lilith said. “We now have a better idea of how to try changing people’s minds, and more proof that it can work.”

Adam nodded and took a sip of his tea. “That’s true. And in any case, we’ll need to wait until Daiki returns before we can fully plan out our next move.”

“Hmm… what do you think might happen next?” Lilith said, then continued eating her rice. “If we could get help from Kagachi or Poseidon, even from just one of them, then we could accomplish much more.”

“The odds of that aren’t very high,” Adam said. “Kagachi, that dragon—or ryu, to use the local terminology—has apparently remained on Zipangu for centuries and never left. As for Poseidon… while she has been helping us, it seems that she’s using a subtle approach, not revealing her true intentions to the world. That doesn’t mean they won’t help us, but it does mean that any help they provide will likely be restricted.”

Lilith looked out the window at the town of Inarishima. Now that the sun had set, the streets was lit up by countless orange lanterns, which burned without fuel thanks to the use of magic. Monsters and humans worked and played together in the streets.

“This place is so peaceful, and yet there’s so much in the way of making the rest of the world like this,” Lilith said. “To do that… we wouldn’t be able to keep our hands clean, no matter what method we picked. Just like Poseidon… if she really is responsible for these storms that send so many people to Zipangu.”

Adam looked a little uncomfortable, presumably at the thought of a goddess doing such unscrupulous things. “Well, for now that’s also speculation. We won’t know for certain until we talk to Poseidon again.”

To change the subject, Lilith gestured at her almost-empty bowl and said, “Anyway, let’s finish eating so we can go out again and see what this town has to offer. We’ve haven’t even seen a quarter of it yet!”

That cheered Adam up a little. The two of them finished their brief meal and left the shrine to explore the town once more.

Chapter Text

After less than an hour, Lilith received a telepathic message from Daiki, telling her and Adam to come to the east exit of the town. They did so and found the inari waiting on the road.

“Lord Kagachi has agreed to meet you personally,” Daiki said. “Sorry to ask you this when it’s this late, but—”

“It’s alright, we were ready for this,” Adam said.

“Just lead the way,” Lilith said.

“I can do better than just lead,” Daiki said. His eyes shined red. “Just relax for a moment…”

Lilith and Adam were surrounded by auras of red light and they floated into the air. Then Daiki started running and they floated along with him.

The three of them moved across the landscape at a rapid pace. Even though Daiki was running while levitating two people, he never showed the slightest hint of exertion, nor did he allow his passengers to hit any obstacles.

In the span of ten minutes, they crossed the fields surrounding the town, weaved through the densely packed trees of a nearby forest, and climbed the steep slope of a mountain.

At the summit of the mountain was a crater lined with dark basalt: this mountain was in fact a volcano, albeit one that didn’t seem to have erupted recently. And coiled up in the centre of this crater was an immense serpentine dragon.

Daiki had been right: the illusion hadn’t done justice to Kagachi, founder of Zipangu. Even from this distance, Lilith felt an overpowering sense of majesty, greater than that of any monster she’d felt before—in fact, it was comparable to what she’d felt when conversing with Poseidon. She wasn’t even a native of Zipangu, but she wondered if she should get down on hands and knees in reverence.

And once the three of them arrived, Kagachi stirred. He lifted his head and said in an earthshaking voice, “Thank you for bringing them here, Daiki.”

Daiki set down his passengers and flattened his body against the ground—the four-legged equivalent of a deep bow. “Do you require anything else, Lord Kagachi?”

“Please stand, there is no need for such formalities—from any of you three,” Kagachi replied. “And that is all I need for now from you, Daiki.”

Kagachi uncoiled his long body and reared up until his head was on the same level as his three visitors. The sight would have been absolutely terrifying if Lilith didn’t already know about Kagachi’s nature. Even with this knowledge, she couldn’t stop herself from feeling a primal fear at being faced with a higher power. And based on what she could sense from beside her, Adam was feeling the same way.

“Thank you for taking the time to visit me,” Kagachi said. “I am Kagachi.”

Lilith was too nervous to say anything, so she decided to let Adam speak first.

“We are grateful for your allowing this meeting,” Adam said. “If I may ask, what do you want from us?”

“I would like to talk to you two because of your unique status,” Kagachi replied. “This is the first time one of the Order’s heroes has come to Zipangu, and only the second time for a human and a youkai who were already at peace.”

“Wait, that’s happened before?” Lilith said, her surprise briefly overcoming her fear.

“Indeed,” Kagachi said. He furrowed his brows, presumably in nostalgia. “It was… by the next full moon, it will have been two hundred and thirty years ago. The youkai in question was a werewolf who’d been cast out of his pack for being small and weak, the human a villager who’d likewise been cast out for a physical deformity. They encountered each other by chance and, due to their atypical experiences, were willing to stay together. But they could not allow themselves to be found by any others, so they fled to the sea in search of a safe place to call home, and found their way here…”

Lilith shared a glance with Adam. It was an incredible story, but after their own unusual experiences, it also wasn’t something they could simply dismiss.

“Now, I would like to hear the story of how you two also learned to coexist with one another, and how you reached Zipangu,” Kagachi said. “Daiki has already told me a summary, but I would like to hear it in your own words.”

“Yes… alright…” Lilith said.

For the next half of an hour, Lilith and Adam explained their story. It took so long because Kagachi interrupted with his own questions numerous times: the ancient ryu was filled with curiosity about the state of the mainland. And the topic of Poseidon was especially notable.

“A goddess of the Order… Daiki mentioned this to me, but it is still a surprise,” Kagachi said, shifting his massive body in what might have been deep thought. “But, to be clear, I do not claim that you are lying…”

“Well, she hasn’t really explained her full story to us yet,” Lilith said.

“But when we later wished to travel to Zipangu, we encountered her again…” Adam continued.

The two finished off their story with a detailed recounting of how Poseidon had transported them to Zipangu.

“Because of that, we were wondering if…” Lilith trailed off mid-sentence, nervous at suggesting something outlandish to this powerful monster.

Adam came to her rescue. “We were wondering if this wasn’t the first time that Poseidon sent people to Zipangu. In fact, we suspect that many, or even all of the people who have washed up on Zipangu’s shores may have arrived here because of her aid. It would explain how they all survived, despite most being beset by storms.”

Kagachi turned his head westwards, towards the nearest coast. He stared off into the distance for several seconds. During this, none of his three guests dared to interrupt.

“Your suggestion is quite possible, yet at the same time, quite unnerving,” Kagachi said. “For myself—no, for none of us to realise this in all the years that Zipangu has existed… This is clear proof that I am not nearly as wise as most claim, for I underestimated how dangerous such storms would be to most.”

“Lord Kagachi, please don’t disparage yourself,” Daiki said, almost begged. “We all failed to realise that.”

“Hmm… it is likely that most of Zipangu has believed that I was responsible for bringing them here,” Kagachi murmured. After looking at Daiki’s expression. “I am not accusing you of that, but it is the most likely explanation…”

Kagachi continued looking at the sea for some time. Eventually, he declared the following words:

“I must confirm this for myself. We shall all go to the sea and speak with its goddess.”

These words were charged with irresistible power, of the sort that made it clear that no argument was allowed.

In the next moment, Kagachi’s body glowed with golden light and began shrinking rapidly. After just a few seconds, the light disappeared to reveal a Kagachi one-thousandth of his original size. He flew from the bottom of the crater to the rim—by undulating his body like a snake so that he slithered through the air—and landed next to his guests. He was no taller than any of them now, yet his grand presence hardly seemed to be diminished.

“In this form I will attract less attention. Now come with me. You as well, Daiki—this is something you should also be informed about.”

The surrounding air gathered into a miniature whirlwind, lifting up the three monsters and one human. Then Kagachi flew towards the east, the others being pulled along just behind him.

Lilith had long been aware that she wasn’t the fastest of monsters: for succubi in general, flight was a secondary ability. But the speed at which Kagachi was flying gave her a renewed understanding of just how minor she was in the grand scheme of things. The landscape beneath them passed so quickly that Lilith couldn’t even look at it without feeling nauseous.

Before Lilith had time to think of anything else, she and the others landed on the coast. The sea was calm at the moment, with small waves glistening under the moonlight.

“Now then… you said that you spoke with her while in the water?” Kagachi asked.

“Yes… we went in and we were also holding these charms,” Adam replied, pulling out his charm. “They contain some of Poseidon’s power, allowing their users to breathe and otherwise operate normally underwater.”

“Hmm… then we shall all enter the water together while touching the charms,” Kagachi said.

Neither Kagachi nor Daiki had hands, so to keep contact with Poseidon’s charms while walking, they used their long tails. It might have been a comical sight, but the current situation meant that Lilith was definitely not laughing.

The four of them waded into the sea. The pleasant coolness of the water surrounded them. As soon as all of them were fully submerged, the crystals in the charms began shining with faint blue light.

Wait—but none of us called out to her—

“Greetings, goddess of the sea,” Kagachi said. “It seems you have been expecting us.”

“I have,” said the unmistakeable voice of Poseidon. “I’m sorry for not revealing myself earlier…”

Lilith didn’t say a word. Neither did Adam or Daiki; this was a conversation between two titans.

“Well… considering how successful Zipangu has been, I do not think you have nefarious intentions,” Kagachi said. “You must have had your reasons for concealing your involvement. And now is the time for me to ask: why?”

Poseidon hesitated briefly before answering, “Because I did not dare to be discovered by my fellow gods. My… beliefs regarding the relationship between monsters and humans are not shared by them.”

“I see. And in this environment, you can communicate with us while avoiding their notice?”

“The sea is my domain, and my domain alone. The other gods… they never pay attention to what happens beneath the surface, focusing on the events on land.”

“Hmm… but why did you not attempt to contact me until now? You sent countless individuals across the sea to Zipangu—surely you could have had one of them pass on a message to me, as these two have now done?”

“I was… I was just too afraid. I feared that if I attempted anything like that, there was a risk of someone potentially alerting another god. It was only recently that I worked up the courage to begin revealing my true intentions. Again, I’m sorry.”

Lilith shared an amazed glance with Adam. They’d suspected this before, when they’d first arrived on Zipangu’s shores, but they now had confirmation. The concept of an immortal deity being afraid of anything was incredible… yet it also made perfect sense in hindsight. Not all immortals were born equal, after all.

“It is nothing to apologise for,” Kagachi said, lowering his head. “I… I am guilty of the same, secluding myself on Zipangu rather than trying to aid those on the mainland, out of fear of those youkai who are equal to or superior to me in power.”

“Lord Kagachi, that’s—” Daiki interjected.

“It is the truth,” Kagachi said simply. He paused for a moment. “The reason for my current purpose is that, in my long life, I realised that it was futile for youkai to attack humans, and that our species were not so different on a fundamental level. If I may ask, what is your reason for aiding Zipangu, Ryujin—or would you prefer to be known as Poseidon?”

“Either is fine. And to answer that question… First, I’ll need to tell you one of the greatest secrets—no, the greatest secret in the history of this world,” Poseidon said. “Have you ever wondered why monsters all have the desire to attack humans, no matter their upbringing? A desire that some of you can resist, but which you all still experience?”

These words were met with silence, punctuated only by the soft sound of the waves. It was a question that most monsters never thought to ask, and even those that did could never find any clear answer.

“That is because monsters were created by the Chief God—the first Chief God, not the current one,” Poseidon said.

A half-buried memory resurfaced in Lilith’s mind: an immense being of golden light that sent out countless entities into the world. Back then, she hadn’t been able to keep that memory in her mind, but Poseidon’s words had dragged it out to the fore.

“Impossible!” Kagachi retorted. “That’s—why would they do that!?”

“Wait—the first Chief God!?” Adam said. “You’re saying that there has been more than one!?”

“The current Chief God took on the title quite recently—a few millenia ago,” Poseidon replied. “The first Chief God is the one who created the world and everything within it… including the monsters. As for why they did this, it was to control the human population.”

“…Control?” Adam said weakly.

“Yes,” Poseidon admitted sadly. “Monsters were created with a desire to attack humans in order to prevent the latter from growing too numerous.”

The water in front of them took on many colours, forming an illusory scene of several monsters attacking humans. It was the kind of scene that Lilith and Adam knew far too well. Fortunately, Poseidon omitted the more grisly details from this illusion.

“In eras when humans became too powerful despite this, a Demon Lord is permitted to rise up and unite the monsters…”

The illusion shifted into a scene of an immense horned figure, leading an entire army of monsters. Among the army were monsters as powerful as baphomets and dragons. And in the wake of the army was the burnt wreckage of a former city.

“To prevent humans from being wiped out entirely, the number of heroes is increased…”

Several figures appeared. One was a man in silvery armour and wielding a sword glowing with blue light, who bore a slight resemblance to Adam. Another was a woman in a black hooded robe holding an ornate staff. A third was a woman in a simple outfit designed for mobility, whose hands and feet were surrounded by golden light.

“One of these heroes eventually slays the Demon Lord, bringing humanity to a dominant position once more… and the cycle repeats.”

The illusion disappeared.

“It can’t be… that can’t be true…” Adam said, his voice now so faint that it could barely be heard.

Lilith hugged Adam. The charms slipped out of both of their hands, but neither of them was in any mood to notice. Kagachi and Daiki held onto the charms with their tails.

“…That explains much about the nature of our kind, and the history of this world,” Kagachi said. “While it will likely be unpleasant… do you know why the first Chief God would do such a thing?”

“To be honest, I’m not entirely sure,” Poseidon said, though Lilith hear her voice more faintly than before. “The first Chief God was always a mysterious person, and I could never understand what they thought—that’s why I don’t refer to them as ‘he’ or ‘she’. I also don’t know why they disappeared, leaving the position open to others… but I am certain that they wished for the human population to be controlled. After all, we gods are required to do the same.”

Adam trembled in Lilith’s arms. As the only one out of the four who had any belief in the Order, these revelations had to be hitting them the hardest.

“I… am required to create storms that sink ships and kill sailors,” Poseidon said. “Likewise, Ares must encourage wars, Hel must ensure that the dead cannot return to the world of the living, and so forth. The number who have died at our hands… it surpasses that of any mortal…”

Poseidon trailed off towards the end of her explanation. It was clear that this was a difficult secret for her to reveal. Lilith couldn’t actually see her, but she imagined the sea goddess doubled over in shame, tears streaking down her cheeks. However, Poseidon eventually recovered enough to speak again.

“This has gone on for long enough… humans and monsters don’t deserve to die for the whims of gods… it isn’t right…”

Kagachi brought his snout close to the charm he was holding. “Thank you for confiding in us. And… while this may sound insolent, I believe that by aiding in the founding of Zipangu, you have more than compensated for your previous actions. Each inhabitant of Zipangu owes their life of peace and prosperity to you. Moreover… many of the youkai who came here are guilty of attacking humans at least once, and I am no exception to that. It may not match the scale of your crimes, but such things should not be compared in simple quantitative terms.”

“I agree with Lord Kagachi,” Daiki said. “With all of the people you have sent to Zipangu over the centuries, and what you’ve done for these two and for the sea youkai of the south, you have done considerable good for the world.”

Lilith touched one of the charms. “Me too… well, I can’t say it as nicely as the others, but I’m glad for all the help you’ve given us and the people of Zipangu.”

To Lilith’s surprise, Adam also gripped the charm. “So am I. I… won’t pretend that this hasn’t been a shock to me, but the help you’ve given us is undeniable.”

“Thank you…” Poseidon said. “Thank you so much…”

The water changed colour once again, but this time it formed the appearance of a single person: a woman, taller than either Lilith or Adam, with sea-green eyes and waist-length hair of the same colour, wearing an ornate gown that seemed to be woven from water currents and ice crystals, and with jewellery fashioned from coral and sea shells.

“Since you are willing to trust me, then I should show you some trust in return,” Poseidon said. She performed a slow, nervous curtsy. “This is… how people of the land greet one another?”

“It is…” Adam replied.

“Now that you have revealed yourself to us, I presume you wish to work with us more directly,” Kagachi said. “What do you have in mind?”

“It still isn’t possible for any of us to do anything too obvious,” Poseidon said. “I may be a goddess, but the others are just as powerful as I am. The current Chief God is far more powerful, despite her youth.”

It was strange to hear a deity being described as young, but Lilith supposed that age was a different concept when you were also immortal.

“What I can do, however, is increase the rate at which I send people to Zipangu,” Poseidon said. “I’ve been restraining myself until now, not wanting to attract attention from the other gods, but it seems their attention is always focused on the mainland… Is that alright with you?”

“Yes,” Kagachi replied, a touch of pride in his voice. “Zipangu may be a small island, but it still has plenty of room. The combined power of youkai and humans has allowed our society to live quite the comfortable life.”

“That’s fortunate. And as for you two—” Poseidon turned to Lilith and Adam. “Please give me those charms for a moment.”

The two did as instructed. Poseidon replaced the tiny crystals in the charms with new ones she took out from a fold in her gown. She then handed back the charms.

“Those new crystals are something I’ve been working on,” Poseidon explained. “They’ll help you live underwater, like the previous crystals, but they’ll also protect you from any harm by water, whether it be a natural flood or a water spell. They’ll also enhance any water spells that you cast. And they’ll help you with ice in a similar way, but not as effectively as with water—ice and cold aren’t my specialties.”

“Still, thank you!” Lilth said. “This is an incredible gift!”

“We’ll be sure to make good use of it,” Adam said.

“We of Zipangu can also assist you two,” Kagachi said. “If you wish to leave immediately, we can provide you with useful items. If you can stay for a little while longer, then we can offer you lessons in a range of subjects: when our people came here, they brought knowledge from all across the world.”

“Yes, we could stay here for longer,” Adam said.

“Still… you’re giving us so much,” Lilith said. “We’re just two people—”

“Two people who have learned to trust one another despite the legacy of a malevolent god,” Kagachi said. “Who have since travelled across the world, learning some of its most ancient secrets, and surviving some of its greatest perils. I could scour the world and not find another pair like you.”

“Well put,” Poseidon said. “I’ve been alive for countless of your generations. I’ve seen some examples before of humans and monsters being able to coexist, but they kept to themselves—they were afraid, and not without reason, of being discovered. Now I’ve found people like you, with the willingness and the ability to bring about some serious change.”

Neither Lilith nor Adam was able to come up with a reply to this. And to add fuel to the fire, Daiki spoke up as well.

“I don’t have the wisdom of either Lord Kagachi or Lady Ryujin. However, in the short time I’ve known you two… I think you’re people I can trust. And I’d say that many of the Zipangans you’ve met would say the same.”

Lilith lowered her eyes to the seabed, too embarrassed to look any of the others in the eye. But she couldn’t stay silent like this forever.

Think, Lilith. Why did we even come here? Because… because we were lost and wanted to find answers. And now we’ve found them… a lot more answers than we were expecting. We’ve been running into powerful figures one after the other. But we can’t back down now just because we’re surprised.

Lilith felt a warm hand grasp her own: it was Adam, returning the favour from before by comforting her. She looked into his eyes and they both nodded.

“Alright, these are some big expectations you have for us,” Lilith said. “We’ll… we’ll do our best to live up to them.”

“In that, you have our word,” Adam added.

-ooo-

Far from Zipangu, on the mainland, was the small and relatively peaceful village of Sylva. Due to its proximity to a large town that was frequented by heroes, monster activity in the area was minimal. The villagers could therefore log the nearby forest and deliver exports of lumber to the town without having to worry about being devoured by bloodthirsty monsters.

That said, the heroes weren’t perfect at their job, and there were gaps in their patrols where sufficiently cunning monsters could slip through.

From her vantage point in the canopy of a tree, Justinia scanned the forest. Many heroes wouldn’t think to scout in such a way, and those that did rarely had the skilled eyes needed to discern monster traces amidst the chaotic jumble of foliage. However, Justinia had more than a hundred years of experience with monsters. After half a minute of searching, she discovered threads of silk on a distant tree: silk far too thick to have come from any normal spider.

Justinia travelled to the location of her discovery with a few jumps, moving from branch to branch. She examined the silk at close range, and the faint aura of demonic energy confirmed her suspicions: this silk had been produced by an arachne.

After looking around again, Justinia spotted more silk in the distance. She followed the trail and, ten minutes later, she found the arachne.

This particular individual was much larger than the usual arachne: its body alone must have weighed as much as two or three horses, while its legs, if fully extended, could have spanned the floor area of the average house. It was also solitary: young arachnes tended to form groups for mutual protection, but older ones were strong enough to survive on their own… and tended to cannibalise smaller arachnes, so they were avoided by their kin. Old arachnes—and old monsters in general—were experienced as well, which explained how this one had escaped notice until now.

An arachne this large would be a difficult opponent for the average hero. Its hardened carapace could deflect swords and spears, even mildly enchanted ones, while its powerful claws and fangs could pierce through plate armour. On top of that, its venom was lethal to the point that a single drop on exposed skin would lead to convulsions, followed in a few minutes by death.

However, Justinia had fought baphomets, dragons and other top-ranking monsters, foes capable of damaging even her masterwork sword and armour. For an opponent of this level, she did not need any great effort or strategy.

Justinia charged her sword with her spirit energy, invoking a spell to increase its sharpness. She charged at the arachne from the front—the monster’s all-round vision meant there was little point approaching from the rear—and sliced it in two with a single slash. Two massive chunks of chitin-clad flesh fell to the ground, drenching the grass with green blood.

For most heroes, this would have been a mission well done. They would have returned to the town to collect their reward and relax until their next mission. But again, Justinia was not the average hero. She’d fought in every imaginable battlefield across the world, even into the depths of Royal Makai itself. She’d therefore learned certain truths about this world… giving her a more long-term outlook.

So Justinia travelled towards the nearby village of Sylvan. She stopped at the edge of the forest, hid herself and patiently waited for dusk to fall so the lumberjacks would return to the village. In the meantime, she quietly prepared a certain spell.

Once the entire population of Sylvan was within its borders, Justinia unleashed the spell. She raised both hands and chanted:

“In the name of Hel, mistress of the netherworld, may these souls know the embrace of death.”

A wave of magic shot out from Justinia’s hands and passed through the village. Within an instant, the spirit energy signatures of over three hundred people disappeared, like candles extinguished by a ruthless wind.

Justinia then entered the village. She touched each of the corpses once to cast a levitation spell on them, after which the corpses floated after her. She brought the corpses to an open field. Once the entire population was in this field, she began to bury each and every one of them in a single grave. It was a laborious process, even using earth magic to dig and refill the graves in a matter of seconds, but she was used to it.

Only when the last grave had been filled was Justinia’s mission truly complete. She stood before the new graveyard and bowed her head for a few moments, then walked away.

Justinia proceeded down the main road to the nearby town. Her plan was to eat a meal and then return to the road rather than staying in an inn. She only needed a few hours of sleep each night, and it was more efficient to sleep while on the road.

As she walked, Justinia glanced at the sword hanging at her belt, which she’d recently had repaired. She recalled the face of the old dwarf who’d performed those repairs.

What would you think of me, Kalk… if you knew what I was doing in the name of the greater good?

Chapter Text

Gripping his sword tightly, Adam used it to parry several attacks from his opponent. Each time their weapons clashed, a terrific shock ran up Adam’s arms and through the rest of his body. It was no wonder, for Adam’s opponent was a red oni twice his size, wielding an iron club that could have been mistaken for an oddly coloured log.

And Sazama—this being the oni’s name—didn’t just have brute strength on his side. He was skilled as well, able to predict each and every one of Adam’s actions, and react to them in the perfect way to keep the hero on his toes.

Adam had been sparring with Sazama for just under a minute, but it felt like hours. Both his body and mind were being tested to their limit. He had to avoid a seemingly continuous barrage of attacks that were both accurate and powerful, while simultaneously trying to find openings for his own attacks.

Adam stepped forward, as if ready to attack. When Sazama brought his club down in response, Adam swayed slightly to the left, as if he was going to dodge in that direction. But this was another trick: rather than trying to dodge, Adam clashed his sword against Sazama’s club head-on.

Now—time to give it all I’ve got!

Adam reinforced his sword and his entire body with every bit of spirit energy he could muster. His sword scraped against Sazama’s club, a terrifying sound that resounded through the forest. The earth shook underneath their feet as the two warriors struggled for supremacy.

“You!” Sazame shouted. “You can’t beat me in a contest of strength!”

Adam was hearing these words directly rather than having them filtered through a translation spell: after a month in Zipangu, he could more or less understand the native language.

“We’ll see about that!” Adam retorted.

With one last burst of strength, Adam forced back Sazama’s club, knocking the massive oni to the ground. Exploiting this opportunity, Adam rushed forward and held his sword above Sazama’s throat.

“…You win,” Sazama admitted.

Adam sheathed his sword and extended a hand. “Thank you for agreeing to spar with me. I’ve learned a lot today.”

“I should thank you,” Sazama said, accepting Adam’s hand and stand up. “It’s been at least ten years since someone’s been able to beat me.” He picked up his club, which had fallen to the forest floor. “You ready for another round?”

Adam was about to agree, but he sensed a familiar demonic energy signature in the distance: his sensory ability had improved significantly during the month he’d spent in Zipangu. This signature was approaching rapidly, and in seconds the person producing it landed nearby.

“Oh, did I interrupt your training?” Lilith asked.

“Technically, yes,” Adam said. “But what is the matter?”

“It’s just that they’ve finished preparing the festival,” Lilith explained. “So do you want to head back now or…?”

“I’m definitely heading back now!” Sazama said. He slapped his meaty hand on Adam’s shoulder. “Sorry, Adam-san, but I wouldn’t miss the Founding Festival—especially not the feast!—for anything.”

Each year, there was a festival to celebrate the founding of Zipangu. All of Zipangu took part in the joyous occasion—well, all except for those rare monsters who rejected coexistence. This year, Adam and Lilith were invited to take part.

“In that case, I’ll be heading back as well,” Adam said, smiling a little. “I’ve already learned a lot from this training session.”

The three of them returned to Inarishima and immersed themselves in the festivities.

For the festival, there were elaborate performances of song and dance by many skilled performers, both humans and monsters. These performances took place on the streets, on the rooftops and even in the sky. Adam had experienced a similar performance only once before, during a visit to the city of Lescatie, and that had not been nearly as varied as what he was experiencing today.

There was also a wide variety of costumes on display. Everyone wore a mask that represented something different from themselves: the humans wore masks of monsters, while the monsters wore masks of humans or of other kinds of monsters. Many complemented this with matching clothing, such as red kimonos for those acting as red oni. The rationale behind this was to allow everyone to understand what it was like to walk in another’s shoes. Adam and Lilith also joined in on the tradition by accepting masks from a street vendor: the former put on the mask of an inari, the latter the mask of a human.

And then there was the food. Some of it was placed on tables out in the streets or inside the shrines, while the rest was being sold by a veritable army of merchants. There was a much greater variety of food here than Adam had ever seen before in his life, including dishes that he’d never thought could be food, such as bee larvae and fermented beans. Still, he and Lilith tried out many of these new dishes, and were surprised by how good they tasted. And while they were sampling the festival food, they came across Sazama again; the massive red oni was gorging himself at one of the public tables, just as he’d said earlier.

A small part of Adam wished to enjoy this festival forever. But that was impossible, both because it would end at midnight and because Adam was acutely aware that there were many people in the world who couldn’t enjoy themselves in the same way.

“Hey, are you alright?” Lilith asked, grasping Adam’s hands.

Only after this question did Adam realised that he was clenching his hands into fists. He took a deep breath and unclenched.

“I’m fine… relatively speaking,” Adam replied. “I was just thinking… thinking about the future.”

Lilith glanced around. “It’s definitely important, but… now we should focus on the festival and… well, now that I say it, I realise that it just sounds silly, but…”

“No, you’re right,” Adam said. “I wouldn’t be able to get any real thought done now, anyway. We might as well enjoy the festival while it lasts.”

The two of them tried to put aside these thoughts and dove back in to the clamour of the Founding Festival.

-ooo-

When Adam woke up the next morning, he felt a few aches in his body. He was nevertheless able to get to his feet.

Adam slowly walked around the shrine. Lilith wasn’t anywhere inside… however, he could feel a familiar demonic energy signature from above him.

He stepped outside the shrine and briefly observed the aftermath of the festival: there were still decorations littering the streets, and most of townsfolk were moving around in a way that suggested fatigue, lack of sleep, overeating, a hangover, or some combination of these. The festival had certainly been very enthusiastic.

Then Adam focused a little spirit energy into his legs and jumped up to the roof of the shrine, where Lilith was sitting.

The roof of a religious building might have seemed like an odd place to rest, but this was a result of the unique nature of Zipangu society: they believed that the divine was present in all things, even the soil one walked upon and the air one breathed. The corollary of this was that they believed in a close, personal relationship with the divine. Daiki had even told them, a few weeks ago, that it was fine to use the roof of his shrine provided that they didn’t make a mess.

At the moment, Lilith was lying on the tiles of the roof, basking in the sun. Adam lay down beside her.

“Good morning,” Lilith said lazily.

“Good morning,” Adam replied. “Still recovering from last night?”

“A bit, but mainly I’m just taking the chance to relax,” Lilith said. “I’m not as tired as everyone down there.”

The two of them basked together for a few moments. Then they moved on to the topic left over from the previous night.

“What do you think we should do first, upon returning to the mainland?” Adam asked. “Where do you think we should go first?”

“One question at a time, please,” Lilith said. She looked in the direction of some approaching clouds. “Well… it’s a tricky question, but… We’ve spent an entire month in Zipangu, and we’ve both grown a lot compared to before, and received a lot of useful things. I think… I think we can, that we should, try to do something more, something we haven’t tried before.”

“We’ve tried several things that most would consider extraordinary—even outlandish, such as travelling into the desert and to the bottom of the sea,” Adam pointed out. “But I understand your point. It would be a waste of everything we’ve gained to simply act like before. But do you have anything specific in mind?”

“Hmm… how much do you know about Lescatie?”

“…I’ve never visited it in person, but I do know a fair amount of information regarding it. I know enough to say that it would be dangerous for us—either of us—to step foot within the boundaries of that nation, and especially dangerous to step inside its capital city.”

“So it’s like what I heard back in my village. But why would it be dangerous for you as well? It’s been a while since we were on the mainland, but I don’t remember anyone—besides Kalk and those sea monsters—finding out that you were working with a monster.”

“That’s true, but… The Theocracy of Lescatie is, and has been for centuries, a nation dedicated to fighting monsters. It’s most famous for producing numerous heroes of great skill, but it also has a large army of regular soldiers who are well-trained in fighting monsters. My point is, the people of Lescatie may very well be the best in the world at fighting monsters, and in all likelihood, the best at discovering those who have been compromised by monsters. Even if I were to enter alone, there’s a non-trivial chance that someone would be able to discover my… altered point of view.”

Adam closed his eyes and sighed. Just a year ago, he was like any faithful member of the Order, seeing Lescatie as a sturdy bulwark against the dark horde of monsterkind. Now… he still acknowledged that they were this, but he also acknowledged them as a potential threat to himself and Lilith.

“And in addition to that… I’m afraid I wouldn’t be able to keep acting normally if I were to enter that city. The people of Lescatie are among the most faithful believers in the world; they have to be in order to go through such harsh training and fight such dangerous battles. Now, I know the truth about monsters and about… about the Chief God. I might not be able to control myself in such an environment.”

“…I understand,” Lilith said. “It was just a suggestion, I—”

But that wasn’t all Adam had to say. “However, that wasn’t a strict refusal. It was just the same kind of doubt that I always have prior to a dangerous mission. Even when my old friends were still alive, I had such doubts on many occasions. Nothing is certain in life—as I learned when my friends were killed by werewolves, and it was only your help that stopped me from following them. But that doesn’t mean we can always avoid danger.”

“Hmm… then are we really settling on Lescatie? Do you have any ideas? I mean, this is just a random idea I had…”

“I can’t think of any alternative ideas, not ones that would be different from our previous activities. That’s why I asked you in the first place.”

“Hah… Well, before making this decision final, we need to think about all of the problems with it. First of all, the chance of us—me, especially—being spotted as soon as we enter the place.”

“With the bracelet you received last week, the chance of that should be minimal. But to be more certain, you could test it again right now…”

“Okay.” Lilith used her left hand to touch a silver bracelet on her right arm, and focused. The bracelet briefly glowed with a faint grey light, and then Lilith’s demonic energy signature completely disappeared.

“It’s definitely worked, even though I’m right next to you, I wouldn’t be able to distinguish you from a human at all.” Adam grasped Lilith’s hand. “Even with direct contact, I can’t sense any of your demonic energy.”

“O-Okay, I get it!” Lilith half-said, half-shouted. She pulled her hand away, her face now slightly pink. “So the enchantment on this bracelet works fine. I can’t use my magic at full power with it active, but that’s just natural, and just something I’ll have to deal with. But is there any chance of someone getting suspicious about me wearing this?”

“That shouldn’t be a problem. It’s common for skilled human fighters, even those who are not heroes, to wear enchanted equipment. I’ve even come across a few who wore their equipment all the time, not wanting to ever be vulnerable. No one should question you wearing that.”

“That’s good… it’s common for succubi to wear enchanted equipment as well, but I just wanted to be sure it was the same for humans. Okay, then… next, there’s the problem you raised just now, of you being discovered. I’m guessing you’re not sure about how to solve that, right?”

“That’s correct.”

“Then… this might be a weird suggestion, but I could try helping you with my mental magic. What I mean is, I could put you into a mental world and show you… show you what you know about Lescatie, so you can get used to acting normal around more faithful members of the Order. It’s… It’s something that young succubi sometimes do, to train themselves to face their fears.”

Agreeing to give a succubus power over one’s mind was one of the worst heresies a hero could possibly do, surpassed only by feats so outlandish that none had ever done them before, such as siding with a Demon Lord. But right now, Adam trusted Lilith to do this.

“I’m alright with that. We could do that training each night as we travel towards Lescatie. However, that still leaves one question: what are we to do in Lescatie?”

“I’ve actually thought about that already.” Lilith sat up. “The main thing we could do is learn about what it’s like in the heart of the Order: what they think of monsters and the Chief God, how they go about their everyday lives, how they fight, anything that might be important. You mentioned earlier that you haven’t been to Lescatie yourself, and we both know that almost nothing in this world is the same as its reputation. Seeing that country for ourselves should be useful.”

“That’s a good point. Anything else?”

“…Well, I have another idea, but it’s a lot riskier: trying to spread the truth about monsters and the gods in Lescatie. I know it sounds crazy, but chances are that not everyone in Lescatie thinks the same way.”

“It’s undoubtedly dangerous. If we were to attempt such a thing, we would need to… to phrase our words in as indirect a way as possible. It doesn’t help that their beliefs are, in a sense justified: for most humans, monsters really are just vicious predators.”

“That’s true… But, that’s not all for my ideas. After we learn more about Lescatie, we could think of what to do next… okay, that sounded better when it was just in my head.”

“No, it’s a good idea. It’s no different from combat: you can come up with the most elaborate of plans beforehand, but you must adapt to the circumstances once the battle actually begins.”

“Maybe, but… this plan is still a bit too shaky for going into a country that’s probably the second-most dangerous for us.”

“And I thought I was the doubtful one?” Adam said, raising an eyebrow. “But I’m sure that in the past, whenever the armies of humanity gathered to challenge a Demon Lord, they also considered their plans to be insufficient. But they fought regardless… because it was their only path towards a better world. In summary, you’ve convinced me that going to Lescatie is a viable option. The only question now is: do you still wish to go through with this?”

Lilith was silent for a few moments, then looked directly at Adam and replied, “Well, I wasn’t exactly sure about this from the beginning. But you’re right… even if we’re not sure about something, that doesn’t necessarily mean we shouldn’t go through with it. Lescatie it is.”

With this settled, the two of them finally got down from the roof and finished their preparations to leave. They had stayed in Zipangu for the Founder’s Festival, but it was time for them to leave. Over this past month, they had improved their skills greatly and received several useful gifts. Now was the time to put that all into practice.

It didn’t take long for them to pack: they had arrived at Zipangu carrying little, and the gifts they’d received were generally small and lightweight, such as Lilith’s bracelet.

It was bidding farewell to everyone that took longer: over the past month, they had met so many of Zipangu’s people, both within this town and in neighbouring areas. The two of them had tried to avoid making friends with any of them, to lessen the pain when they had to leave… but it was difficult to spend time around other people and not form bonds with them. Among the many people they spoke to for the last time, the inari Daiki had some memorable words to say:

“It’s definitely been fun having you here, teaching you and listening to your stories. But—if I remember the mainland saying correctly—all good things must come to an end.” After this brief use of the common tongue, Daiki reverted to the Zipangu language. “Good luck. Hopefully, you can make more people realise the truth. Perhaps you might create more nations like Zipangu on the mainland!”

Once they were done, the two of them walked to the edge of the town. After a final look, Lilith spread her wings, picked Adam up and took off.

They passed over the now-familiar Zipangu landscape at high speed. Their trajectory didn’t take them along the shortest route to the mainland. Instead, Lilith made a small detour so they could check on the village that had been attacked by an ushi-oni.

Fortunately, this village had recovered from the attack. The buildings had been rebuilt and both humans and monsters mingled in the streets. It seemed that the attack had not worsened relationships between the two species… at least, not in a way that was apparent from this brief glance.

Then they moved on, and soon they had left Zipangu entirely and were passing over the sea.

“Are you alright, Lilith!?” Adam asked, shouting to be heard over the wind.

“I can keep going!” Lilith shouted back. “This training has definitely paid off!”

During the past month, Adam had seen glimpses of Lilith training with other monsters capable of flight. She’d certainly improved; just a few months ago, she wouldn’t have been able to fly so far while carrying Adam’s weight, not without tapping into her diamond’s energy store.

And Lilith didn’t just focus on her flying. Adam heard her chant a few words, then the surroundings suddenly became slightly blurred, as if Adam was now looking at them through dirty glass. This was an invisibility spell, which would keep them from being spotted as they flew. This was another example of how Lilith had improved, as she previously wouldn’t have been able to maintain such a spell while flying and carrying Adam.

Though now that I think about it… have I gained as much from this month as Lilith has? It’s true that I’ve improved in melee combat and learned some new spells, but… compared to the versatility of Lilith, it seems… inadequate.

This wasn’t the first time Adam had had such thoughts. It was actually a recurring question among heroes: at higher levels of skill, martial arts and physical enhancement alone were simply not as versatile as magic. There was a reason that all of the legendary heroes knew a wide repertoire of magic, even if many of them were also physically capable. On the other hand, there were those heroes who claimed that this was simply because no one had tried to reach the pinnacle of physical might… well, suffice to say that this was a question that had yet to be resolved, even after countless centuries of heroes and of Demon Lords.

“Adam? What’s wrong?” Lilith asked.

And it was only natural for Lilith to figure out what Adam was feeling. With them in such close proximity, anybody could have figured out that was feeling uneasy, to say nothing of a succubus.

“Well… to be honest, I’m concerned that I might be falling behind you,” Adam explained.

Lilith scoffed. “You—okay, we can’t do this right now, but when we do land, let’s try sparring again. No holding back except to not kill each other. If I can actually beat you, then you might have a point.”

“Being able to win in a fight isn’t that important—”

“There’s a lot of people out there who’d disagree with you. And besides, that’s not the only thing you’re better at than me. You’re still better than me at talking to other people.”

“That’s solely because I have more training and experience in that, as a hero—”

“And aren’t training and experience how people become good at things in the first place? Even children know that. You don’t have anything to be ashamed of.”

“…Thank you, Lilith,” Adam said, almost too quietly to be heard over the wind. “I thought I’d recovered from the… revelations a month ago, but it seems I still have a way to go.”

“Now it’s your turn being doubtful again,” Lilith teased. “Still, just remember, I’m always here for you. I have some experience in dealing with harsh truths like this…”

“Thank you… I’ll do just that.”

The two of them fell silent again. They soon approached and then arrived at the mainland, but Lilith continued her flight with no signs of fatigue.

-ooo-

When noon arrived, they had made it so far inland that they could no longer see the coast at all. They landed and set up camp in a patch of woodland.

Since Lilith had been flying for hours, Adam volunteered to gather all of the food for their lunch himself. For this task, Adam benefited from two of the lessons he’d learned in Zipangu.

First, he closed his eyes and focused on the flow of spirit energy in the surroundings. He was able to detect the signatures of individual animals, even those that were completely hidden in the foliage. Using this sense, Adam detected a rabbit roughly fifty paces away.

Next, he picked up a rock from the ground. He turned the rock around in his hand, carefully checking the shape and weight. He drew back the arm holding the rock, spent a few seconds judging the trajectory, and finally threw the rock. A second later, there was a soft thud and the rabbit’s spirit energy signature abruptly weakened.

This isn’t something to depend on as my primary method of combat, Adam mused as he hurried over to the rabbit. Still, being able to use any object as a weapon would be useful when I’m separated from my sword and dagger. And being able to throw accurately would offer me a ranged attack that I’m otherwise deficient in.

Adam found the fallen rabbit. It was still alive, if only barely, so Adam delivered a hard tap to the head to destroy the brain and end its suffering.

Finally, Adam used his spirit energy sense to find some wild tubers. This was possible because these tubers, being stores of energy by plants, emitted much more intense spirit energy signatures compared to simple roots. He pulled up four such tubers, which would make for a sufficient lunch when combined with the rabbit.

Adam returned to the camp and began cooking lunch.

“So, do you still want to spar now, or not?” Lilith asked.

“That won’t be necessary,” Adam said with a smile. “I’ve realised that both of us have important roles.”

Lunch was ready after a few minutes, and the two of them ate. The meal today was much tastier than Adam was expecting: whether this was because of the ingredients used, improvement in his cooking skill, or just nostalgia for the foods of the mainland, he wasn’t certain.

After lunch, Adam decided to begin his first training session. He lay down on the ground and closed his eyes, then Lilith placed her hands on his head.

“Okay, I’ll send you into the depths of your own mind now,” Lilith said. “Just relax, I’ll be there with you…”

The sounds and scents of the surrounding woodland gradually faded, as did the faint sunlight shining onto Adam’s eyelids.

Eventually, Adam found himself lying on a bed in a room. Lilith was also in the room, standing next to him.

“Alright, here we are,” Lilith said.

Adam sat up and took a look around. The room looked like a bedroom of a moderately well-off inn, the sort that Adam had stayed in frequently through his travels.

“Why is my first sight an inn room?” Adam asked.

“When you’re in a mental world, the surroundings reflect what you’re feeling,” Lilith replied. “Right now… I’m guessing this is because you’re travelling, but also feel safe.”

“I see…” Adam said. “So to begin this training, I should call up the feelings I have regarding more faithful members of the Order?”

Lilith nodded, so Adam took a deep breath and recalled the relevant emotions.

The surroundings shifted again. Instead of the inside of an inn, they were now in a street bustling with people and lined by tall buildings.

“Wow… is this Lescatie?” Lilith asked, turning her head around to take in the sights. “It’s even more crowded than I thought…”

“What I imagine it to be, at least,” Adam replied. “It is one of the largest cities in the world. Some say it’s because its powerful army allows it to protect a large and rich territory. Others say it’s because it receives immense subsidies due to its position at the forefront of humanity’s defense. Either way, that’s something we’ll have to find out for ourselves.”

That said, there were some aspects of this imaginary Lescatie that were almost certainly accurate. Everyone around them was a human, many of them carried a symbol of faith somewhere on their person, and there were several heroes among them. Even though this was simply Adam’s imagination, those figures in sturdy armour and enchanted robes gave off an undeniable sense of power. And then there were the conversations…

“All glory to the Chief God.”

“May the Chief God ever watch over us.”

“Never falter in your prayers.”

“Monsters are the eternal enemy.”

These were almost certainly not what the actual people of Lescatie would say in their everyday lives. It was far more likely that they were similar to other humans in their everyday lives: they exchanged gossip, bragged about recent achievements, haggled over purchases at the market, and supported each other when they were in difficult situations. But Adam knew nothing of the real Lescatie, and he did know the truth of the Chief God and the monsters, so it was only natural that his worst fears appeared in this mental world.

Adam clenched his fists and grit his teeth. However, he did not reach for the sword at his hip. He instead forced himself to begin walking down the street.

“Are.. Are you alright, Adam?” Lilith asked, following along. “You can just say the word and I’ll end this—”

“I can keep going, at least for now,” Adam replied. “Still, thank you.”

They walked through the streets of Lescatie. The limits of this mental world, and more specifically of Adam’s imagination, soon became apparent: the buildings, people and conversations all began to repeat. By the end of it, Adam was filled to the brim with frustration, yet he had not attacked any of the mental people, not even verbally.

Eventually, Adam called for a stop and Lilith ended the mental world, causing both of them to return to the peaceful woodland where they’d set up camp.

“Well, I think that’s good progress for your first time, isn’t it?” Lilith said. “It’s normal for succubi to run away screaming when they try this out for the first time!”

“I still haven’t tried talking to anyone yet, which would be the main challenge,” Adam said. “Come to think of it, can this training method be used to better talk to people?”

“I… think so?” Lilith said. “At least, I’ve heard of it being used like that… but I’m not sure if it would work for this particular situation…”

“We’ll just have to test that next time,” Adam said. “But for the time being, we should rest so we can begin travelling again.”

The two of them both lay down on the ground and took some much-needed rest. While surrounded by the sensations of the woodland, Adam closed his eyes and fell into thought.

Visiting Lescatie… it’s an experience that most heroes look forward to, a chance to see humanity at its strongest. Now… it’s a dangerous mission to gather, and possibly disseminate, information, with only a mission into Royal Makai itself being more dangerous.

Still, it’s something we should do. The two of us have the hopes of countless people, including an actual goddess, on our shoulders. We cannot let them down… and we now have the capability for a mission of this level.

In the end, we must make it to Lescatie first and get a better understanding of the Order. Only then we can decide on our path.

Chapter Text

Adam was sitting in a room together with an Order priest, a man dressed in long blue vestments and with a long staff propped against his chair.

“…and for that reason, it is vital that we think of Chief God in the most dire of times, to give us the strength to prevail,” the priest said.

“Of course,” Adam lied, without any trace of hesitation. “I’ve been doing just that in my battles.”

The priest nodded, picked up his staff and stood up. “Well, I won’t keep you any longer. May the fortunes of war be with you, Hero Adam.”

“And may they be with you as well,” Adam said.

The priest walked away. As soon as he left the focus of Adam’s vision, his body grew indistinct, and it faded from sight after a few moments. This wasn’t because the priest was able to use teleportation magic, it was because he was a mental projection and had now served his purpose, so Adam no longer needed to imagine him.

That’s the fifth time in a row I’ve managed to get through a conversation without any issues, Adam thought. While this is simply a mental world, I’ve undoubtedly made significant progress, having already reached this level by my third training session.

“Alright, Lilith, that should be enough,” Adam called out.

The surroundings faded into indistinct colours, then were replaced by a grassy hill and a sun high in the sky. Adam was lying down on the summit of this hill, and Lilith was sitting beside him.

“This might be presumptuous of me, but I think I’m ready to enter Lescatie now,” Adam said, rising into a sitting position. “Or do you believe I need more training?”

“No, you’ve been doing great,” Lilith said. “From what I’m seeing, you’ve managed to get your mental projections of Lescatie’s people to… well, act like actual people. That’s usually the sign that you’ve conquered one of your fears. For example, if you were afraid of fire, then you’d be imagining massive fires that chase you around and can burn even things that aren’t flammable. But once you’re no longer afraid of fire, then you’d start imagining normal-sized fires that can’t do anything unusual.”

“Well, that’s good,” Adam said. “And are you also ready to enter Lescatie?”

Lilith nodded, so she and Adam packed up their belongings, then resumed their journey.

From this point on, the two of them travelled on foot rather than by Lilith’s wings. This was because they were getting close to their destination and didn’t want to be detected: it was quite possible that Lescatie had countermeasures against flying monsters, even invisible ones. Thus, Lilith activated her demonic energy-suppressing bracelet and stopped using her succubus abilities.

As they walked through the landscape, they saw many plants that had either died or shed their leaves, and relatively few animals. These were the signs that winter was approaching.

After an hour or so of walking, they arrived at a small stream that, if Adam’s memory was correct, formed part of Lescatie’s eastern border.

The two crossed this stream. Shortly afterwards, Adam felt a subtle change in the atmosphere. From the surprised look on her face, Lilith had felt this as well.

“Hmm, do you think this could be a defensive enchantment?” Adam asked. He didn’t reach for his sword yet, but he scanned his surroundings carefully.

“Probably not, since enchantments covering an entire country would need a huge amount of energy… but I’m not completely sure about that,” Lilith said. “I think this might be for a different reason… I can’t sense any monsters anywhere near here, can you?”

Adam shook his head, then realised what Lilith was suggesting. “So all the monsters avoid this country, resulting in it having a different atmosphere compared to elsewhere?”

“It’s just an idea I had, so it might be wrong,” Lilith said. “Still, one thing’s for sure, this place feels completely different from anywhere else we’ve been before.”

After discussing this unsettling phenomenon, Adam and Lilith moved on.

For the next hour, they travelled across grassy plains, low hills and dense forests. In all this varied terrain, they continued to not find a single sign of any monster… other than Lilith herself, of course. For most humans, this would have been reassuring, a sign that the Theocracy of Lescatie lived up to its reputation. But for these two, who had just left the monster-filled Zipangu, it was a different story.

And in addition to the lack of monsters was a lack of any human bandits. This was despite Lescatie being a large nation with numerous merchants passing through it, and thus numerous targets for bandits to attack. Presumably, the heroes and other defenders of Lescatie were also effective at dealing with human threats.

To distract himself from the lack of monsters, Adam tried observing the flora and fauna around him. There was no bamboo or any of the other species native to Zipangu, naturally. But at the same time, the flora and fauna of Lescatie was slightly different from what Adam had previously encountered on the mainland.

At one point, he spotted a tree that not only retained its leaves despite the approaching winter, but those leaves were a vivid red in colour.

At another point, he heard a sound resembling the call of crickets. However, the source of this call turned out to be a large flightless bird, skulking through the bushes and apparently defending its territory.

And during these observations, Adam’s eyes passed over the crown of a tree, spotting nothing of note. Then there was movement in the tree, and Adam’s hand flew to his sword.

“Heading for Lescatie?” asked a low, unfamiliar voice.

Sitting on a branch of the tree was a human figure dressed in a full-body outfit of mottled greens and browns. The outfit covered their entire body, so it was only by their voice that Adam could tell they were male. But the part that unsettled Adam was that neither he nor Lilith had noticed the stranger’s presence until now, despite all of the training they’d gone through.

“Who are you?” Lilith asked. She was just as wary as Adam was, but made no attempt to attack.

“I’d like to call myself a sentry,” the strange man said. “But really, I’m just waiting by the road to test my own skills, make sure I don’t get rusty. Anyway, if you’re heading for Lescatie, it’s just an hour’s walk ahead.”

“…Thank you,” Adam said.

Adam and Lilith moved on from the strange encounter. For several minutes, neither of them said a word, nor did they look back.

Eventually, Lilith placed a hand on Adam’s shoulder, and her words entered his mind via telepathy, I can’t believe we couldn’t spot him at all. Even when he did show himself, I couldn’t sense his spirit energy. Was he a hero of Lescatie?

Without a doubt, yes, Adam thought. It’s my first time since becoming a hero that I’ve met one so much more skilled than myself.

Even knowing the rumours, Lescatie is scarier than we imagined, Lilith thought. Anyway, I’ll only use this method to communicate in emergencies. It’s possible that there’s heroes who can detect even direct telepathy. We’ll just have to not say anything that would make others suspicious.

Lilith pulled her hand away, and the two of them made the rest of the journey in silence.

-ooo-

When they arrived at the city, the sight of the city distracted both of them from their worries.

Like its people, the city that formed the heart of Lescatie was even greater than the rumours. It was so large that it stretched almost to the horizon both on the left and on the right. Its outer wall was as high as the trees of the nearby forest, and looked sturdy enough to withstand even strategic-class offensive spells. The wall had even taller towers spaced evenly among its length, which undoubtedly served as vantage points for the city’s defenders. And even from a distance, Adam could sense magical power from the city: signs of potent defensive enchantments.

The road, where Adam and Lilith were currently on, continued up to the outer wall and passed through a massive gate. The gate was currently open, but the bottom of a portcullis could be glimpsed near the top edge, showing that it could be sealed quickly in the event of attack.

Two guards stood on either side of the gate. These two didn’t seem to be heroes, but they wore finely crafted armour and showed no signs of slacking off in their duty.

As Adam and Lilith walked up to the gate, the former began to have misgivings again.

What if that bracelet isn’t enough, and they discover Lilith’s identity? What should we do then? Flee? Kill these two and then flee?

…No, these two guards would simply be doing their jobs. I couldn’t do that… nor could Lilith. But…

They arrived at the gate. One of the guards asked, “Your name, and purpose in Lescatie?”

Adam couldn’t back down now. He looked the guard in the eye and replied, “I am Hero Adam, from the town of Merith. I and my partner Lilith have come to Lescatie to learn more about it, as it is our first time coming here. We hope to improve ourselves by observing more experienced heroes.”

These words had been prepared for just this occasion. They were all technically true, so they would not trigger any lie-detecting magic. The only potential issue was whether or not Adam could say them convincingly.

Fortunately, the guard nodded. “There’s plenty of those around here. If you head down the main road and take the second right, you’ll find a training yard that heroes use at all times of the day. Or if you’d prefer to rest first, there’s plenty of taverns along the main road. Welcome to Lescatie.”

Adam thanked the guard, then he and Lilith passed through the gate. They walked through a spacious stone corridor, one with doors on either side that presumably led to the guardhouses.

Finally, they left the corridor and arrived at the other side of the wall, and breathed a sigh of relief.

Now that they’d crossed one obstacle, the pair were able to take in the sights of Lescatie. The buildings on either side of the road were all two or three storeys, and in the distance Adam could see the silhouettes of even taller buildings. There were hundreds—no, thousands of people walking around, chatting, working and playing. They weren’t all heroes, like some of the more outlandish rumours claimed—there were plenty of merchants, labourers, entertainers and all of the other trades needed for a functioning city. And some of them were from quite distant locations: Adam spotted a trio of dark-skinned women who had looked to be from the Ataraca Desert, far to the west of Lescatie.

Of course, for all of the diversity, there were no monsters among the population of Lescatie. Not until now… and if they did discover that a monster had just snuck into their city, they would undoubtedly react with fear and hostility.

“Well, we’re finally here,” Lilith said, looking around. “So the city really has the same name as the country?”

“Yes, and the surname of the royal family is also ‘Lescatie’,” Adam said. “It’s a tradition in several nations. Now, where should we go first?”

“I don’t need to rest yet, so how about we follow that guard’s suggestion and look at the training yard first?” Lilith said.

“That sounds like a good idea,” Adam said. He didn’t add, But we’ll need to be careful around other heroes, since that was something they both already knew, and saying it out loud would only attract suspicion.

Following the direction of the gate guard, Adam and Lilith headed for the training yard. They passed by many people along the way, during which Adam noticed another thing that unsettled him.

There were many heroes among the population of Lescatie: Adam spotted a dozen of them over the course of a minute. They were quite varied in their appearances and weaponry, with everything from warriors in heavy plate armour to mages in lightweight robes. But Adam had no difficulty in distinguishing the heroes from the other people… the heroes moved in a smoother, more assured manner, and even without constantly turning their heads to look around, they were more aware of their surroundings; Adam didn’t see any hero bump into something, not even once.

It was something that Adam had never noticed before, having never been near so many other heroes and normal humans at the same time.

We heroes are blessed with power in order to fight monsters, Adam thought. And yet… in some ways, we are as different from normal humans as monsters are.

Before long, they arrived at the training yard. It was surrounded by walls twice as tall as a man’s height, and outside of these walls were stands where people could watch the training from a safe position. These stands were almost completely packed with people: it seemed that Adam and Lilith weren’t the only ones planning to watch the heroes. The air was filled with the sounds of combat and the cheers of the spectators.

Adam and Lilith found an empty spot in the stands, so they climbed up a set of wooden stairs to reach it. It was quite cramped, so the two of them had to stand right next to one another to avoid being jostled by the other spectators.

The training yard was an open space that was more or less divided into two halves by an internal wall. One half was dedicated to self-training, with heroes lifting weights—all of which looked to be heavier than their own bodies—or attacking various targets. The other half was… well, it was the half that all of the spectators were focused on, the half where heroes fought each other in mock battles.

The first battle that Adam noticed was a duel between two swordsmen, similar to himself. Though the similarity ended there: these two swordsmen fought with far greater skill, exchanging attacks so quickly that Adam couldn’t even follow most of their battle. Moreover, each and every one of their attacks possessed a terrifying degree of power: if Adam were to receive one of those attacks, he would be injured so greatly that his defeat would be certain.

Perhaps I could match that power by tapping into the stored energy in my diamond, Adam thought. But I wouldn’t be able to maintain that level for long, it’s not something I’d do in regular training.

But… perhaps I should start doing that? Without straining myself to the limit, I might not be able to reach the heights of these two…

On the other hand, if I trained in that way on a regular basis, I might not have enough reserves in my diamond for emergencies… as with everything else in life, there are tradeoffs…

The duel soon came to an end. One of the swordsmen forced the other to the wall using a titanic burst of effort. The second swordsman tried to get to his feet, only for a sword to be pointed at his neck. It was a familiar sight to Adam… though he wouldn’t be able to mention that story to anyone here without changing certain details.

Adam turned his attention to another battle. This was between a spearwoman in scale armour—a dragoon, if Adam remembered correctly—and a male mage in green robes wielding a long wooden staff. The mage wasn’t nearly as fast as the dragoon, but he had so far managed to avoid receiving any attacks. The reason for this was the elemental fighting to protect him: a creature that could best be described as a miniature whirlwind. The elemental was even faster than the dragoon, constantly throwing itself at her to keep her away from its master.

“It’s been a while since I saw an elementalist,” Adam said. “From what I hear, it’s a difficult branch of magic and few are able to master it.”

“There aren’t any elementalists where I come from, though I have seen wild elementals a couple of times,” Lilith said. “Hmm… wind elementals are called ‘sylphs’, right?”

“That’s right,” Adam said. “And elementals of earth are gnomes, elementals of water are undines, and elementals of fire—”

“—are ignises,” Lilith finished. “Hmm, coming here has definitely turned out to be a good idea. We’ve already seen so many new things.”

Lilith spoke with a light tone, but Adam had been with her long enough to know when she was hiding her true feelings. It was clear to him that, while she wasn’t exactly lying, she was also slightly unsettled by the total lack of monsters in Lescatie.

Meanwhile, the battle continued. The dragoon leaped here and there, aiming for even the slightest opening, but the sylph left her no opening to exploit. At the same time, the sylph’s elementalist was chanting in preparation for a major spell. At this rate, the elementalist was going to win.

Eventually, the elementalist unleashed his spell. He thrust his hands forward, conjuring a powerful gale that rushed towards his opponent.

However, the dragoon jumped high into the air, higher than any of the nearby buildings. And while in the air, her body began shining with red light. The elementalist quickly sent his sylph after her, but then the dragoon seemed to vanish in mid-air.

In the next instant, Adam heard a loud thud from ground-level. He turned his eyes down to see that the dragoon had landed in front of the elementalist, her spear embedded in the ground next to his feet. It was clear that she had missed deliberately, and in a genuine battle, the elementalist would now be dead.

Adam noticed that the sylph wasn’t anywhere to be seen, so he looked up again and noticed some slight distortions in his view of the sky. These distortions gathered to reform a miniature whirlwind: the sylph.

It managed to interpose itself between the dragoon and its master… only for the dragoon to pierce through it without slowing down?

And the sylph recovered after being literally torn apart… is that a special trait of sylphs? Was it only possible because it was surrounded by air, its element? Is it a trait of elementals contracted with an elementalist, or only those contracted with a skilled elementalist? I can’t remember learning anything about that…

Lilith is right. We have much to learn here… much more than we could have ever expected.

For the next few hours, Adam and Lilith watched the mock battles. Some of these were again between similar opponents, such as a pair of axe-wielders who struck with such force that the earth seemed to shake from their battle. Others were between contrasting opponents, such as a mage who could transform herself into a giant boar against an assassin who could move so quickly that he seemed to disappear from view. But all of the heroes had one thing in common: they were warriors capable of defeating monsters and inspiring humanity.

And throughout this period, the spectators shouted out words of encouragement and congratulations. All of these words were fairly standard…

“You can do it, George! I’ve got ten silvers riding on you!”

“No, Serana’s definitely going to win!”

…but some of them were quite disturbing for Adam and Lilith.

“That’s amazing! You could kill every kind of monster on your own, Berun!”

“No, he could kill every monster in the world!”

“As if! When it comes to killing monsters, Grimm is definitely the best!”

Adam didn’t glare at the ones who said such words. Nor did he clench his fists in an attempt to control his emotions. Instead, he simply continued to watch the heroes at their training. He could do this thanks to the training that he’d gone through along the way here.

…That said, it didn’t mean he would be able to tolerate this forever. Nor would Lilith.

The sun set, and the activity in and around the training yard decreased. While there were lamps to allow the training to continue into the night, most of the heroes and most of the spectators left for dinner. Adam and Lilith also left, though they had an additional reason for this compared to the other spectators.

While wandering through the streets of Lescatie in search of an inn, the pair discussed what they had just seen.

“We’ve gone through all of that training, and we’re still just at the same level as them…” Lilith said. If she were in her true form, her wings and tail would now be drooping. “At the same level as most of them. Some are definitely much stronger than us.”

“That should be expected: these heroes have all been training for years, some for decades,” Adam said. “But, to be honest, I feel the same way.”

“We’ll just have to make the best of our time here,” Lilith said. “Anyway, let’s find the busiest inn and see what information we can pick up.”

“Yes, that should also help us decide what to do tomorrow,” Adam said.

Eventually, after several minutes of wandering, Adam and Lilith came across a large inn with a sign showing a crossed sword and spear. It was called “The Warrior’s Oasis”, according to the same sign, and the noise from within was so loud that it could be heard clearly from the other side of the street.

They stepped through the door. The interior of the inn was so large that there was a second storey to accommodate its patrons, yet there still wasn’t a single table free. More than a hundred people were crammed into the inn, some of them being forced to stand as they ate and drank. Adam even spotted the dragoon and elementalist from before, sitting at a table along with two others: it seemed that they were part of the same group.

Adam and Lilith made their way to a counter and bought dinner. This was bread rolls containing roasted chicken and smeared with a slightly spicy sauce, a local specialty recommended by the owner. They then found a spot by the wall where they could eat and eavesdrop on nearby conversations.

However, Adam wasn’t able to focus on either the food or the conversations. He was reflecting on what he’d seen earlier in the day.

I always knew that there were many heroes stronger than myself, but seeing that in person is another thing entirely.

We can’t take any course of action that involves fighting heroes. Not just because of moral and ethical concerns, but because we would simply have no hope of victory. Even a tenth of the population of this inn alone would be enough to defeat us.

But then… what are we to do? How can we improve the relationship between humans and monsters?

Adam looked out at the interior of the inn, at the heroes and other warriors laughing and drinking together. It was a peaceful scene… yet it would only remain so as long as none of them realised that there was a monster among them.

Chapter Text

AN: Here's the next chapter. My muse was hyperactive while I was writing this and somehow it ended up at ~9.6k words. Please read and review.

The next morning, Adam and Lilith left the inn together and headed for the nearest church. They could have investigated twice as many locations by splitting up, but neither of them dared to do that while in this unfamiliar and dangerous city.

For a few minutes, the two of them walked slowly through the streets of Lescatie, taking in more of the sights.

Like yesterday, the city was incredibly crowded. It was so crowded, in fact, that Adam and Lilith wouldn’t have been able to travel much faster than their current speed even if they wanted to. At least, that was assuming they remained on the ground; occasionally, a hero could be seen jumping from one roof to another to travel more quickly.

This is what living in a large city is like… Adam thought. It’s certainly a different experience from living… well, anywhere else. If you spent your life here, you could meet a new person every single day and still not come close to knowing the entire population of the city… in fact, I doubt anyone could possibly remember so many people.

But not everything was peaceful in this city. While walking through a street with several stalls, Adam heard raised voices at one of the stalls. He slowed down and paid attention at the source of the voices.

“Surely you can offer a better price than that?”

“Sir, this is the best price I can offer you. Any lower and—”

“I think you could do better than that for me. After all, to defend this city against monsters, we heroes need the best of equipment…”

A hero in plate armour was haggling with a merchant selling enchanted accessories. While haggling in general was far from an uncommon sight, in this case one of the people involved was clearly much stronger than the other, in terms of both their fighting ability and their social prestige.

The sight of this caused Adam to stop in his tracks. One of his hands began reaching in the direction of his sword, but he restrained himself in time.

There’s nothing fair about this, Adam thought. How can someone do such things and call themselves a hero? Even though this isn’t the first time I’ve heard of a hero acting so shamefully, I feel even more disgusted than usual… is it because this particular hero has a slight similarity to me?

Adam shared a glance with Lilith, who looked conflicted. It was clear that the two of them were thinking of the same thing: should they intervene in this attempted extortion, or stay out of it?

This entire city is dangerous for us, and doing anything to stand out would only increase that danger… But can we really just abandon someone before our eyes?

Adam looked around. None of the other passers-by seemed to want to get involved: either they were normal civilians, or fighters weaker than the corrupt hero here… or they didn’t care about the crime happening here.

Or… perhaps they agree with this? They agree that heroes should be able to do as they please to the people they are meant to protect?

Adam made up his mind. He nodded to Lilith and they began walking towards the other hero, ready to speak up…

Then someone else moved towards the hero first, causing Adam to freeze—he hadn’t even sensed this newcomer approaching, despite currently being on his guard.

The newcomer was an elderly man with silver hair who wore an ordinary shirt and pants, with no weapon to be seen. By all appearances, he was just an ordinary civilian… yet he approached the corrupt hero with the casual air of someone greeting an old friend.

“Hello there, having any trouble?”

The corrupt hero turned around, annoyance clear on his face… then the annoyance rapidly disappeared and was replaced by shock.

“H-Hero Sei!? What are you doing here!?”

“Just going for a stroll and enjoying myself,” Sei said. “A little something I do every day… but it isn’t every day that something interrupts my stroll.”

The corrupt hero flinched. “I-I’m sorry if I was interrupting you, Hero Sei, I—”

“Tell me, what’s your name?” Sei asked, slipping an arm around the corrupt hero’s shoulders. It might have looked like a friendly gesture, but Adam could tell that Sei was putting enough strength into his arm to ensure his target couldn’t escape.

“It’s—it’s Darien!”

“Well, Darien, would you agree with me that we heroes receive power to protect humanity?” Sei asked, still acting in a friendly manner.

“Y-Yes, that’s right…” Darien replied, unable to look Sei in the eye.

“Well if that’s the case, then shouldn’t we also make sure to support the human economy?” Sei said, gesturing towards the merchant. “For example, by making sure to always pay them properly, so they can have the money to buy what they need? And that way, our money keeps getting passed from hand to hand, enriching many other people, understand?”

“Yes, Hero Sei!” Darien cried out, his tone suggesting that he was feeling pain. “I understand perfectly!”

Smiling broadly, Sei took his arm away from Darien and said, “Then go ahead, I won’t keep you for any longer!”

Darien staggered away from Sei, shaking with nervousness. He meekly returned to the merchant and bought an accessory without arguing over the price. Then he walked away, moving as quickly as he could without outright running.

Adam looked at Lilith and they both breathed a sigh of relief. It was fortunate that the situation had been solved without either of them having to intervene.

Still, what will we do the next time we see something like this? Adam wondered. It’s now clear that Lescatie isn’t without problems, but if we do anything to stand out—

Suddenly, a small object came flying towards Adam. He caught it by reflex, only to discover that it was a small wooden disc. Engraved on one side of the disc was a snake swallowing its own tail.

“That hero, Sei, he just… threw that to you,” Lilith explained.

Adam looked up and saw Sei casually walking off. The crowd parted in front of him, but from the looks on their faces, they did this out of respect rather than fear.

“Did he… notice that we were planning to intervene?” Adam said.

“I guess so,” Lilith said. “What do you think it means?”

Adam approached several passers-by and asked them about the strange wooden disc. The first and second didn’t know about it, but the third explained that the engraving on the disc was the symbol of Ouroboros, an inn found in the western district of Lescatie.

“It seems he’s inviting us to meet at this inn,” Adam deduced. “And not immediately, given that he didn’t speak to us just now. Presumably he wants to meet us for lunch.”

“Should we go through with it?” Lilith asked. She didn’t say the next part out loud, but Adam could tell what she was thinking: It might be a trap.

“We might as well, once we’re finished our business at the church,” Adam replied. Even if it’s risky, turning down this invitation could also attract attention. And it might be a good opportunity to gain the information we’re after.

Now that this incident was resolved, Adam and Lilith continued travelling towards their destination.

-ooo-

The Church of Sanctity was a two-storey building of grey stone situated in the eastern part of Lescatie. The name was… quite typical for buildings associated with the Order, even if Adam hadn’t realised just how unoriginal that was until recently.

There were people streaming in and out of the church’s entrance at this very moment. Adam and Lilith joined the ones entering the church.

The streets of Lescatie were noisy, but the noise died down as soon as the pair stepped inside the church. None of the churchgoers spoke in a voice louder than a whisper, but in addition to that, the very atmosphere of the church seemed to suppress any sound.

The lighting within the church was also distinct from that outside. The sunlight filtered in through massive stained-glass windows, each bearing the likeness of the Chief God, an angel or a famous hero. In a sense, everyone within the church was engulfed by the shadows of these figures, ensuring that it was impossible to forget them.

Lilith did her best to hide it, but Adam could tell that she wasn’t sure what to do in this unfamiliar environment. Adam therefore led the way, walking towards a statue of the Chief God in a corner. There were several such statues in this church, but this was the closest one.

There were already half a dozen people gathered around the base of this statue. Some of these worshippers closed their eyes and bowed their heads silently, while others looked up at the statue and whispered their prayers out loud.

Adam and Lilith stopped near the statue and looked at it. Made of pure marble, the statue depicted a woman with waist-length hair and two great feathered wings, who wore a long flowing dress and held a staff tipped with a large gemstone.

Lilith glanced at Adam. Her eyes seemed to be saying: So this is what the Chief God looks like… I’ve heard stories, but I haven’t seen anything this detailed before.

The visage of the Chief God is something that every human is required to see on a regular basis, Adam thought. To get his thoughts across to Lilith, he gestured at the worshippers around the statue. Well, every human who follows the Order… the people of Zipangu obviously don’t do this, and I haven’t paid much attention to the Chief God for… for quite some time.

While looking at the statue of the Chief God, Adam listened to the prayers of those nearby.

“Please, allow my son to realise his foolishness and take up the family craft…”

“May the next year have sufficient rain, but not too many storms…”

“O creator of all, please grant me your blessing so that I may help drive back the forces of darkness…”

“Grant me strength, so that I may slay even greater monsters…”

The contents of the prayers were… quite normal, to be honest. Adam had heard similar prayers from others hundreds of times, and had made similar prayers himself. But even if the prayers themselves were normal, Adam’s new outlook meant that he was unnerved by each and every prayer he heard. Because regardless of these people’s intentions, the fact remained that they their faith was based on a lie… the greatest lie in the history of this world.

Adam stood still for a while. But eventually, he had a strange idea. Again, this idea was something that wouldn’t have been strange a year ago, but seemed outlandish now.

Adam closed his eyes and bowed his head. He didn’t say anything out loud, keeping his prayer entirely to himself.

May there be peace. Peace that will not require more violence and death. Peace that lasts for longer than a lifetime, for longer than a civilisation.

Adam opened his eyes. To his left, he noticed that Lilith appeared to also be praying. She stopped and opened her eyes after a few seconds. It was an interesting coincidence, but since Adam and Lilith had been together for so long, perhaps not an unexpected one.

Eventually, they moved away from the statue and walked along a wall, passing by the stained-glass windows.

“I don’t recognise that one,” Lilith whispered, pointing at a window showing a woman dressed in a long blue robe and holding a ball of white light between her hands.

This wasn’t an unusual question, given that even the average member of the Order didn’t know all of the figures venerated by the faith. Adam therefore didn’t hesitate to answer, “That’s Hero Velanna. Three centuries ago, she singlehandedly healed the survivors of an army that had fought against the Demon Lord Fellburn. It’s said that she saved more than five hundred lives, and some of her patients would later participate in the final battle against the Demon Lord.”

Adam and Lilith continued slowly walking along the wall in this manner. Lilith didn’t ask about every figure depicted in the windows—that would have been suspicious—but she did provide half-a-dozen opportunities for Adam to educate her.

At the end of the wall, they arrived at a window depicting a woman in plate armour and holding a greatsword. This was a figure that Adam knew more about than the rest, due to her being the most recent of them.

“Hero Justinia…” Lilith murmured. “Even where I lived, we’d heard of her. The hero who defeated the last Demon Lord… What happened to her, in the end? I was taught that she just disappeared a few decades ago…”

“That’s something no one is sure about,” Adam replied, staring at the window. “Some say she eventually fell in battle against monsters, some say she was betrayed by other humans who envied and feared her power… it’s one of the many mysteries of history.”

-ooo-

A few hours later, Adam and Lilith left the church and stepped out into the sunlight once more.

As they walked through the streets, Lilith asked Adam, “You were praying as well, weren’t you? At the statue? What for?”

“I prayed so that we would succeed,” Adam said simply. “And you?”

“That’s what I prayed for as well,” Lilith said. The silent continuation of this was: And it was really odd to do that, when I’m a monster myself.

Certainly, it was odd to pray to the Chief God when their current goal was to oppose the system she supported. But at the same time, it was because they had such a goal that they could dare to do this. If the Chief God was able to detect such a prayer and respond to it, then Adam and Lilith would have no hope of opposing her. In fact, if the Chief God had such capabilities, then Adam and Lilith should have suffered divine retribution long ago.

Though the implication of this was that the Chief God didn’t pay much attention to the world, in general… which in turn implied that the countless prayers by humanity towards her were useless.

Though in hindsight, I should have realised that earlier… I can’t possibly be the first one who’s wished for peace. Yet the vicious struggle between humans and monsters continues. And… in addition to that… humans pray to her for many other things. When we succeed, we attribute this to the Chief God’s favour. When we fail… we blame ourselves for not being faithful enough.

But now wasn’t the time to dwell on that. The two of them had a meeting to attend.

After a few minutes of wandering through the streets and asking for directions, Adam and Lilith arrived at the inn of Ouroboros. It wasn’t especially large or ostentatious, but Adam recognised it easily from the symbol on the sign, which matched that on the disc he’d been given earlier.

They stepped inside and looked around. Hero Sei hadn’t arrived yet, presumably still busy with something else. There weren’t many other customers around: just two groups of four and a single elderly man, each seated at a different table.

Adam and Lilith ordered lunch and made their way to an empty table.

“I still haven’t gotten used to the crowds,” Lilith commented, as she bit into a hunk of chicken. “A city with tens of thousands of people really is—wait, what’s wrong?”

Adam hadn’t started eating yet, instead looking around at the rest of the inn. He had an inexplicable feeling… it was like there was something here that he was missing.

“It’s nothing, I just… well, it feels like there’s something strange here,” Adam replied quietly.

Lilith looked around as well. Her gaze eventually settled on the elderly man who was eating by himself.

Adam and Lilith both looked at the solitary man for a few seconds. Then Adam stood up and walked over to him.

“Excuse me, would you mind if we joined you?” Adam asked.

“If you’re fine with accompanying this old man, then sure,” Hero Sei replied.

Adam and Lilith moved their lunch over to Sei’s table. Lilith shook her head and said, “You’re not even wearing anything different from this morning, and we still didn’t notice anything. And it’s not like there’s a lot of people here for you to blend in with…”

“Is it a habit for heroes to practice their skills constantly?” Adam asked. “While travelling to Lescatie, we met a hero who was hiding by the road.”

“It’s… encouraged over here, I’d say,” Sei said, picking up a pork rib slathered in fragrant sauce. “But most of us heroes don’t take it quite that far. Anyway, I’m Sei, and my job is to stay in this city and train up spoiled brats into actual heroes. Nice to meet you.”

“I’m Hero Adam, from the town of Merith in the west,” Adam said. “And this is—”

“I’m Lilith, from a small village in the north,” Lilith said. “Really, it’s so small and isolated that nobody ever gave it a name… But anyway, I decided to go out and explore the world, and eventually I met up with Adam.”

Lilith’s words were all true, just missing the crucial detail of her being a succubus. Even the part about her village not having a name was true; since different races of monsters rarely got along, they tended to live in segregated settlements. Apparently, Lilith’s village was just known as “the succubus village” or “that den of succubi” by other monsters in the region.

“I see… and is there anything going on between you two?” Sei asked.

“N-No, we just have a purely professional relationship,” Adam said.

“T-That’s right!” Lilith added.

Sei chuckled lightly, but didn’t continue that topic. “Anyway, if you’re wondering why I called you here, it’s because you were prepared to step in and help that old merchant. More importantly, what brings you to Lescatie?”

Adam repeated his and Lilith’s cover story: the two of them had come to Lescatie, a city famous for its mighty heroes, to learn and improve themselves. Fortunately, Sei seemed to accept this story without any doubt. It probably helped that the story was true.

“And are you enjoying yourselves so far?” Sei asked.

“Mostly,” Adam replied. “Though that incident in the morning—”

“Yeah, that happens more often than you’d think here,” Sei said, picking up his cup of ale and taking a sip. “They call Lescatie a whole bunch of names… ‘City of Might’, ‘City of Heroes’, ‘The Nation that Has Never Fallen’… but it has its rot, like any other place. Even if that kid from this morning actually changes his ways, there’s a dozen more ready to take his place.”

“It’s certainly the same everywhere,” Adam said. “Some time ago, there was a hero who extorted merchants, like the one this morning, and also forced women to sleep with him. His actions caused some towns and villages to distrust heroes, so much so that I developed a habit of taking proof from the monsters I kill.”

Adam hadn’t actually done that in quite a while, due to his change in perspective, but Sei didn’t need to know that.

“And even my small village isn’t any different,” Lilith said. “We don’t get heroes over there, but… well, there was this woman, who everyone looked up to as someone to follow, who nobody thought could ever do anything wrong. She also had a daughter who was often injured, and everyone thought that it was because she liked to play rough;y, but—”

Sei slammed his cup on the table, causing both Adam and Lilith to flinch. For a moment, Adam wondered if he’d noticed Lilith’s real identity from her story, but that wasn’t the case.

“Sorry, I just—that sort of thing pisses me off more than anything else,” Sei said through clenched teeth. “It’s a personal thing.”

After that, they spent a few moments simply eating and drinking in silence. The atmosphere had now become extremely tense.

And Adam realised that Lilith hadn’t mentioned this story to him before, despite her trust in him and her tendency to say the worst of her own race. It wasn’t hard to figure out why… if “everyone” had thought that abused succubus girl had been injured from her own playing, then it meant that Lilith was included. And while Lilith had probably been a girl herself at the time, she clearly had yet to forgive herself for that.

Eventually, Sei spoke again. “Anyway, take care while you’re in this city. The rot here isn’t just a few idiots acting on their own, it’s a system. There’s rotten heroes, priests, merchants, guards, nobles, all working together to make it harder to stop any one of them. There’s underground markets where you can buy anything you want… people included. There’s blood sports where people, sometimes even captured monsters, fight to the death for others to gawk at.”

Adam and Lilith looked at Sei in shock. They had been expecting some degree of corruption in Lescatie, but this was far beyond any of their expectations.

“Captured monsters?” Lilith said. “They actually bring monsters into the city to—”

“Oh, from what I hear, fights with those happen outside the city walls,” Sei clarified. “Even the rotten heroes aren’t stupid enough to bring monsters into the city.”

If it hadn’t been for his training, Adam might have given the secret away by reacting to this. Instead, he simply shook his head in a disapproving manner. “Still, keeping monsters alive just for entertainment is… unfathomable.”

“That’s for sure… even if our job is to kill monsters, we should just be doing that without dragging things out,” Sei said, looking out of a window. “Still, there is plenty of good in this city as well. You can trust the royal family, at least. Half of them are heroes, and I was lucky enough to accompany the first prince on an expedition once. It was into Royal Makai, to investigate how many monsters there were…”

Out of the corner of his eye, Adam noticed Lilith flinch. Her village was in Royal Makai, after all. Fortunately, Sei was either too caught up in reminiscence to notice, or he thought that Lilith was just surprised by his story.

“…and Prince Noctis killed the remaining demons singlehandedly,” Sei said. “I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for him—and I’m not just saying that to suck up to him, that’s the truth.”

“Thank you for telling us all this,” Adam said. “If you don’t mind, could you please tell us more about Lescatie?”

“Sure, that was one of the reasons why I called you here!” Sei said. “I still have another… ten minutes before I have to get back to work, so ask away!”

For the next ten minutes, Adam, Lilith and Sei ate, drank, talked about Lescatie and about their own personal lives. Through this conversation, Adam and Lilith learned much more about the people and locations of Lescatie.

And for the entirety of the conversation, Adam and Lilith were able to avoid saying anything incriminating. It helped that they had plenty of ordinary things to talk about. Though Adam suspected that another reason was that the truth was too unbelievable, even for a hero as experienced as Sei.

One particular interesting topic was the Great Dragai Empire in the north. Adam and Lilith had both only heard rumours about it, but Sei had been there in person once.

“And the wildest rumours about it are true: they do tame and ride dragons over there,” Sei said. “I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw it…”

Adam and Lilith shared amazed glances. If this was true, it might be another example of human-monster coexistence… though they had to be sure of it first.

“How is that even possible?” Lilith asked. “Dragons are among the most powerful of all monsters!”

“Technically, it’s mainly wyverns that they tame, not true dragons,” Sei explained. “And they do that by taking young wyverns and beat them until they’re too afraid to attack humans.”

The amazement on Adam and Lilith’s faces was replaced by horror.

“Yeah, it’s just disgusting,” Sei agreed. “And stupid, too… Not only do people often get eaten during the taming, I heard that sometimes the ‘tamed’ wyverns rebel and eat their own riders, and everyone else nearby. But Dragai’s Dragon Knights are one of the strongest armies that oppose the Demon Lord, so everyone turns a blind eye…”

“I’ve heard rumours of their Dragon Knights, but always thought that was propaganda…” Adam said. “The world is certainly bigger than either of us ever imagined.”

Sei drank the remaining contents of his cup, then stood up. He walked over to shake the hands of both Adam and Lilith.

“Well, it’s time for me to leave. It’s been nice talking with you two. Good luck, make sure you don’t get killed too soon.”

It was the kind of morbid humour that was common among heroes. Adam simply smiled and said, “You too.”

Once Sei was gone, Lilith took a long drink from her cup and then gasped, “Wow, that was… he was really helpful.” The unspoken implication was, I can’t believe we just got through a conversation with a veteran hero without getting discovered!

Neither can I, Adam thought, also taking a drink. “The things that stood out to me the most were the Dragai Empire and the sheer amount of corruption in Lescatie. Granted, this is a big city with many inhabitants and many places to hide, but…”

“It’s still unbelievable,” Lilith agreed. She looked thoughtful for a few moments. “We’ve now learned quite a bit about the… the upright side of the city. Dragai is a bit far from here… so why don’t we try learning more about the darker side of Lescatie now?”

“That’s risky,” Adam pointed out. Not just for our lives, but also for our true identities.

“True, but it’s something we should really consider,” Lilith said. “It would make good practice.”

For our true goals? Perhaps… Adam spent some time considering the suggestion. “If we go through with that, we’ll need to first gather information carefully. We should avoid physical confrontation at all costs.”

-ooo-

On the night of the same day, Adam found himself fleeing through the back alleys of Lescatie.

With a quick glance over his shoulder, Adam confirmed that his pursuers had increased from two to three.

“Stop, you bastard!”

And with his ears, Adam confirmed that his pursuers were growing more and more desperate.

Adam continued running through the alleys, with no particular direction in mind. Eventually, he found two dark figures standing in front of him and so came to a stop.

“Got you now!” shouted one of the ones behind Adam. “Hah, nobody can escape from us, we know these alleys like the back of our hand! Now you’ll pay for—”

The man never finished his sentence, because Adam stopped acting and started knocking down his pursuers with punches, kicks and elbow strikes.

“Shit, you were a hero!? Stop, just let me go—”

Adam finished knocking down the thugs pursuing him. However, he hadn’t tried to knock them out—contrary to what some fictional stories suggested, knocking a person out could easily lead to death or permanent injury. Adam could have healed such injuries, but it was more convenient to avoid inflicting them in the first place.

So after all of the thugs were knocked down and unable to immediately get up, Adam took out a small rectangle of paper with magical inscriptions on it. This was a charm that allowed Adam to cast sleep magic without needing the training for it, though it still consumed his spirit energy. Adam pressed the charm against the foreheads of the thugs for a second each, putting them all to sleep.

If these charms could be mass-produced, it would certainly change society, Adam thought. Though a lot more development would be needed; this charm I’m holding apparently took a week and rare materials to make.

More importantly… Lilith? Can you hear me?

For their current mission, Adam and Lilith were making use of telepathy. Though since Adam couldn’t initiate a telepathic link by himself, all he could do was hope Lilith maintained the link from her end. After a few nervous moments, Adam heard—as much as it was possible to “hear” a thought—Lilith’s response.

Can you come here right now, Adam? There’s something you need to see.

What? Adam was bewildered. But you were to come here to interrogate the thugs after I lure them out.

Oh… that’s right. Sorry. Um… hold on, I’ll send you the image of what I’m seeing. But first, there’s isn’t anyone else around you, is there?

There’s isn’t anyone else who’s conscious. Adam replied.

A few moments later, Adam’s vision was filled by the sight of a corpse lying on the ground. More specifically, a corpse that had shrivelled up from losing all of its fluids, yet also had a look of utter bliss on its face. The corpse had also been partially eaten in some places… it seemed that it had been visited by rats prior to Lilith finding it.

…A succubus is here, Adam thought, recognising the signs from his lessons.

And she must be here for a reason, Lilith replied. No succubus would be in a city like this just to feed, not unless she really likes to challenge herself.

What should we do now? Adam asked.

I haven’t found any other clues—it looks like this succubus moved her victim here from somewhere else, Lilith said. I’ll come over to where you are. Those thugs you found might not be involved with this succubus, but they still might know something. At the very least, they might know about mysterious disappearances in this city.

A minute later, Lilith arrived, jumping down from a nearby rooftop. She couldn’t risk flying in this city, but jumping over the rooftops was still a decently quick method of travel.

Lilith glanced at Adam’s face. “Looks like the disguise is still holding up.”

“It is… even my old friends might not recognise me if they were here,” Adam said, rubbing his face.

For this mission, Lilith had used her magic to disguise herself and Adam: she now had blonde hair and green eyes, while he had red hair and grey eyes. This reduced—Adam didn’t dare to think it eliminated it entirely—the risk of them being recognised.

Lilith touched each of the thugs’ heads, one by one, to examine their memories. It took approximately six minutes before she was done.

“Okay, I’ve just learned a lot,” Lilith said. “One thing that might be the succubus’ work is that this man,” she gestured towards one of the thugs, “had a friend who disappeared a week ago. That friend apparently had a weakness for women…”

“…making him perfect prey for a succubus,” Adam finished. “Alright, let’s keep gathering information. We should be able to track down this succubus eventually. I can only hope that we can avoid attracting attention until then…”

-ooo-

The following night, Adam was engaged in a bar brawl against another group of thugs. He’d caught them cheating in a game of cards, and one thing had led to another.

I need to lower my expectations of the future, Adam thought. Then I won’t be disappointed as frequently.

As it turned out, attracting attention from Lescatie’s criminal underworld was a good way to lure out people with valuable information. And violence was already common in said underworld, so as long as Adam didn’t wear his armour, he was just another face in the crowd.

Eventually, Adam encountered an opponent who could actually give him a challenge. A man with numerous scars rushed at him, delivering punches with the speed of arrows.

“You’re a former hero, aren’t you?” Adam asked, as he blocked and countered with punches of his own. “How did you end up in a place like this?”

“If you want to know that, why don’t you tell me your story first!?” the former hero replied, not stopping his assault.

The brawl continued until several tables and chairs were broken, in addition to the bones of quite a few people. Adam was the final victor, though he did have a few developing bruises. He gave some basic healing to those who needed it, then put everyone to sleep using his charm.

Then Lilith arrived. The two of them dragged the numerous sleeping bodies into a side room, then Adam stood guard while Lilith checked their memories.

Once she was done, Lilith said, “Turns out they’re also suspicious of these disappearances, and wonder if they’re a monster’s doing. This ex-hero has been part of the investigation, because of his experience fighting monsters. It looks like the succubus doesn’t have any fixed base, she moves to a new one each night, but she does have some preferences in who she feeds on; she prefers men who are young and have a lot of muscle.” These last words were practically spat out.

“Hmm… that gives us an option for luring her out,” Adam said. “It has some risk, but with you keeping an eye on me, it should work.”

Lilith had a conflicted expression, but then nodded. It was clear she wanted to stop the succubus as soon as possible.

With their business here finished, Adam and Lilith walked out of the bar. They dropped their disguises and made a brief stop at a guard barracks to pass on the location of the bar. When morning came, all of those sleeping criminals would wake up in a prison cell.

-ooo-

The next day, Adam and Lilith spent the sunlit hours gathering more information. This wasn’t about the succubus or the criminal underworld of Lescatie, but rather the information they had originally come here to obtain: information on heroes and the Order. And during lunch, the two of them heard something that caught their attention.

“That’s definitely a lie!”

“Harold’s no liar, I’d trust that man with my life!”

“Then he must have had a dream and thought it was real! There’s no way a monster would help a human!”

On hearing this, Adam stood up and approached the table where two men were arguing. He asked, “Excuse me, but could you tell me more about that? It’s certainly hard to believe…”

One of the men looked at Adam’s armour and then gestured to his friend, saying, “It’s nothing important, he’s just passing on some crazy story he heard.”

“I also have trouble believing it, but Harold wouldn’t lie!” the other man said.

“Wait, first of all, who is this Harold and what did he say to you?” Adam asked.

“He’s an old friend of mine, a fisherman in the south,” the second man said. “See, I’m a travelling merchant, and I bumped into him when I went south to trade. He told me that he was out fishing one day, there was a storm and before he could get back to shore, his boat overturned.”

“Was Harold drunk that day?” the first man scoffed. “Going out on a day when there might be a storm is just—”

“Not everyone’s rich enough that they can stay inside in bad weather,” the second man retorted. “The point is, Harold would have drowned then—he can swim, but not in seas as rough as back then. But he was grabbed by someone who then swam to shore with him. The one who rescued him left right away… but Harold was able to see that they had fins and scales.”

A merfolk, Adam thought.

“And again, isn’t it impossible for a monster to save a human—or do anything with a human other than try to eat them?” the first man insisted. “Harold must have just washed up on the shore on his own, and dreamed of that happening.”

“Well… I can’t say anything for certain without talking to Harold in person,” Adam said, choosing his words carefully. “Still, I wouldn’t dismiss his story out of hand. I think Harold was indeed rescued by someone at least.”

“Then could he have mistaken a human for a monster?” the second man wondered. “It still doesn’t make sense, though, wouldn’t a human have waited around to at least talk to Harold?”

Adam shrugged. “Again, I can’t be certain. But I have heard some strange stories myself, of monsters who didn’t attack humans even when they had the opportunity to. I’m not sure of the truthfulness of those stories… but it’s worth keeping them in mind. The world is a big and strange place, after all.”

“Monsters not attacking humans?” the first man said. He looked less sceptical than before, likely because this information came from a hero. “That’s…”

“See, there’s no way Harold was lying,” the second man said. “Something happened out there, I’m sure of it.”

“Even if he wasn’t lying, he was still an idiot to go out to sea that day—”

“Harold’s no idiot! He might be reckless sometimes, but—”

Adam left the two men, who were now in an energetic argument, and returned to his table with Lilith. He shared a smile with her.

It had been over a month since Adam and Lilith had left the south sea. However, the sea monsters—those in the south sea at least—were keeping to their promise and not attacking humans. Indeed, some of them were willing to help humans.

The enmity between humans and monsters wouldn’t change overnight. For one thing, monsters still had the divine mandate to attack humans. But each and every incident like this, however small, would help to break down walls and build bridges. Full coexistence wouldn’t happen anytime soon—possibly not even within Adam or Lilith’s lifetimes—but it was something to strive for.

And in the short term, one way they could strive for that goal was eliminate those monsters that preyed on humans.

-ooo-

That night, Adam went out into the back alleys again. He was now wearing a short-sleeved shirt to show off his muscular arms. The night was cold and most people would be shivering if they wore similar clothing, but Adam’s nature as a hero allowed him to remain active.

Right now, Adam wasn’t searching for criminals to pick fights with or to eavesdrop on. He was simply wandering through the alleys, doing his best to act natural. Natural by the standards of his environment, that is: he moved from shadow to shadow, his eyes flicking around to take in his surroundings.

For the first hour, Adam encountered nothing out of the ordinary. There were drunkards who cursed as he passed by, prostitutes who attempted to entice him, thugs who shot intimidating gazes at him, but nothing out of the ordinary.

At one point, a small boy bumped into Adam and ran off. It was obviously a pickpocketing, but Adam didn’t chase after the boy… during that brief encounter, he’d seen just how thin the boy’s limbs were.

It’s not much, but this should keep him from starving for at least a month or so, Adam thought. Though with winter approaching, perhaps starvation isn’t the main thing he has to worry about… Hopefully he can buy warmer clothing, at least.

A second hour passed. The most interesting event that occurred was a trio of muggers who attempted to take Adam’s money, unaware that he no longer had any on him. Adam easily defeated them and left their sleeping bodies in an alley, huddled together to reduce their exposure to the cold. If he had the opportunity, he’d try to send guards their way to arrest them.

During the third hour, Adam finally encountered his target.

A woman stepped out in front of Adam. She had pale skin, short black hair and mischievous yellow eyes, and was wearing a short brown dress that exposed much of her legs… much more than even those prostitutes from earlier.

“Hey there, cutie!” the woman said, smiling widely. “Wouldn’t you like to follow me someplace nice and warm?”

“Sorry, but I need to get home quickly,” Adam said, repeating the same line he’d used on the prostitutes from earlier.

“I’m not taking ‘no’ for an answer…”

The disguised succubus’ eyes glowed. A lust spell struck Adam, one that would leave most men unable to think clearly and obsessed with satisfying their desire for warm flesh.

Adam walked towards the succubus, who licked her lips in anticipation of her meal. Once he was close enough, Adam wrapped his arm around the succubus’ throat, aiming to cut off blood flow to her brain. The succubus struggled, digging her nails into Adam’s arm and trying to stomp on his foot, but she lost consciousness after a few seconds.

This was one of the easiest monster subjugations Adam had ever performed, if one ignored the difficulty of finding this particular monster. Succubi were physically stronger than the average human but weaker than most heroes, and while they had a range of magic at their disposal, a prepared hero could resist that as well, as Adam had just done. In fact, that former hero from last night could have also defeated this succubus, had he been able to track her down.

It’s like Sei described… even the corrupt part of this city is competent enough to deal with monsters. Though without us, it would have taken longer and more humans would have died.

Lilith descended from a nearby rooftop.

You weren’t seen by anybody, Lilith said via telepathy. Now, let’s get this over with.

With Adam carrying the unconscious succubus, they entered a vacant building. There weren’t any squatters using this building, likely because of the drafts that let in the cold night air.

Adam set down his burden and Lilith placed her hands on the other succubus’ forehead.

“Will this work?” Adam asked. “This will be your first time trying to enter another succubus’ mind… outside of practice sessions where nothing was at stake.”

“Technically, we did have our secrets at stake back then—trust me, having those revealed can be horrifying when you’re a child,” Lilith replied. “But I should be able to manage. If I start looking like I’m in pain, hit her—that should distract her and give me the advantage. And again, make sure nobody sees us.”

“Understood,” Adam replied.

Lilith took a deep breath, then closed her eyes.

-ooo-

The small, cold room was replaced by an endless darkness. Lilith confirmed that she’d managed to enter the other succubus’ mind, then began to think of the past few days in Lescatie.

In response to Lilith’s thoughts, the darkness faded into the now-familiar streets of Lescatie. However, Lilith didn’t have the time to observe her surroundings in detail, because an ear-splitting yell filled this mental world.

Yeah… thought this might happen…

Normally, an unconscious person had no defences against mental intrusion. But someone who’d trained their mind extensively, such as an adult succubus, could mount some limited defences even when their physical body was unconscious.

The buildings on either side closed in, swallowing up the street. Lilith spread her wings and took to the air, just in time to avoid being crushed between the buildings.

Then a bolt of lightning shot towards Lilith… but it was much slower than real lightning. Lilith dodged it with ease, then dodged a second and then a third bolt.

Then Lilith counterattacked, shooting her own lightning bolt in the direction of the previous ones. Her lightning was a shower of blinding white arcs that partially filled the sky, and Lilith heard a scream of pain.

While training allowed an unconscious person to still defend their mind… that didn’t mean they weren’t at a disadvantage against a conscious person.

Lilith flew over and found the other succubus on the roof of a building, her body scorched by the lightning. Technically, this was just her avatar in her own mental world, but since that avatar contained her will to resist, it might as well have been the real thing. Incidentally, said avatar looked identical to her human disguise save for the addition of horns, wings and a tail.

“I’m Lilith,” Lilith said as she landed on the rooftop.

In response to Lilith saying her own name, the other succubus’ name appeared multiple times in the surrounding environment. The name “Alvera” appeared in the clouds, in the cobblestones of the street and even in the cracks of a nearby window.

“Ugh—just what is your problem!?” Alvera groaned, attempting to get to her feet. “Was that guy your target as well!? Sorry for poaching him, but how was I supposed to know that!?”

“Adam isn’t my target,” Lilith replied. “He’s my partner.”

Lilith conjured up a series of images from her own memories, showing her experiences with Adam: their first meeting, their tentative decision to start travelling together, their encounter with a giant sandworm and then ancient figures in the desert, their clash with a kraken in the vent of an undersea volcano, their acquisition of new equipment from a reclusive dwarf, their… mistake involving the centaurs, and their time training together in Zipangu.

“We don’t have to attack humans,” Lilith said. “We can get along with them… if we try.”

Alvera stared at the memories for what felt like several minutes. Finally, she opened her mouth to speak… but it wasn’t what Lilith was hoping for.

“What the hell are you thinking!?” Alvera said, laughing despite her current state. “You—do you think you’re some fairytale princess or something!? Do you think you can live some nice and happy life with this hero you’ve fooled!?”

“…Didn’t you pay attention to these?” Lilith asked, emphasising the Zipangu memories by making them several times larger. “Monsters and humans don’t have to—”

“I don’t know how you’re showing me those fake memories, but there’s no way I’m falling for that,” Alvera said.

Lilith sighed. She’d hoped that through this mental connection, she might be able to convince at least one monster to change their ways, but she had failed. And the fact remained that this particular monster had killed multiple people.

The surroundings changed again, with dozens dried-up corpses appearing around them. Lilith was thankful that she only saw the corpses and not… Alvera making them into corpses.

Alvera looked around at these memories of her kills. “Yeah, that’s right, I killed them,” she said, without any trace of shame. “So? Don’t tell me you haven’t eaten men as well?”

“I haven’t,” Lilith said emphatically. “In the first place, we can live on just normal food, we don’t even need to feed on human spirit energy.”

“Ah, just shut up,” Alvera said. “I don’t know how you got this delusional, but spirit energy is something that’s more delicious than anything else. You should try it, maybe then you’ll start acting normally.”

Lilith sighed again. “No.”

“Then what the hell do you want with me?” Alvera asked. “You even went to the trouble of catching me alive. What, are you too weak to even kill me yourself? Are you planning to turn me into the guards or something?”

“I know you’re trying to buy time to regain your strength,” Lilith said sharply. “And we captured you alive because want to know why you’re here.”

Alvera suddenly shut her mouth. Now she was… fearful. In addition to the expression on her face, her emotions were also shown through the environment: the light grew dim and faint cries of fear could now be heard.

“Why did you come to a place as dangerous as this?” Lilith asked. “And don’t try to distract me by asking why I came here.”

Alvera avoided Lilith’s eyes for a few moments. Then she groaned and said, “You know what, I’ll tell you. It’s not like I care about them anyway.”

The surroundings changed again, now showing Alvera flying above a strange forest. Suddenly, a tendril of orange energy shot up and coiled around Alvera’s leg, then dragged her down to the ground. Alvera broke through several tree branches and then hit the forest floor, causing even Lilith to wince.

And then Lilith saw what had captured Alvera.

A massive figure, almost as tall as a tree and considerably wider, with the head of a fearsome goat and burning red eyes. In one hand, it held a similarly oversized staff tipped with the skulls of humans, monsters and animals. In the other hand, it held the tendril of energy that had dragged Alvera here.

And this massive monster wasn’t alone. Many other monsters stood behind it, a collection of bloodthirsty fangs and claws and tentacles.

A… baphomet, Lilith realised. A baphomet leading other monsters!?

Then the baphomet spoke. Each and every one of its words was like a physical blow, but Lilith forced herself to listen to them all.

“Serve me, and I will lead you to victory against the city that none have taken before: Lescatie. You, along with all of the other monsters under my command, will be able to feast to your heart’s content. Refuse, and you die here.”

Alvera—the one in the memory—bowed her head and agreed.

“After all, what choice did I have?” the present-day Alvera said bitterly. “I couldn’t fight a fucking baphomet—”

Alvera leaped up and charged at Lilith, her hand surrounded by purple energy. Lilith was distracted by the memory she was watching… but her reflexes were quick, and she kicked Alvera back, then froze her to the ground with an ice spell.

“That baphomet… they’re planning to attack Lescatie?” Lilith asked.

Alvera responded with a hateful glare, but Lilith’s question had been rhetorical in the first place.

Lilith continued examining Alvera’s memories until she had all the information she was after. During this process, she learned that Alvera’s role in the baphomet’s forces was to infiltrate Lescatie and use her skills to weaken the city. She saw memories of Alvera lowering the inhibitions of countless people with her magic, just enough to avoid appearing suspicious. She saw Alvera steal food and money, not just to support herself but also to make her victims more desperate and thus turn to crime. She saw Alvera enthralling men and draining them to death, then dropping their corpses in alleys for the rats to dispose of.

And Lilith also learned of Alvera’s past: she was a solitary succubus, rather than one who came from a succubus village like Lilith’s. This was a subculture of succubi that preferred to live by themselves as they thought it made them tougher. They set up homes in tree canopies or cliffs and usually preyed on passing travellers or remote villages.

That probably made it easier for the baphomet to capture her, Lilith thought. If my village had been attacked… they wouldn’t have been able to fight off a baphomet, but they could have sensed one coming from a longer distance away, and evacuated.

But the miniscule amount of pity that Lilith felt for Alvera was drowned out by Alvera’s many memories of draining men to death. The solitary succubus had more than forty deaths to her name. Seeing each and every memory caused Lilith to feel more and more disgusted.

“I was just acting like a succubus should,” Alvera said. “Don’t tell me you’re planning to stay a virgin for the rest of your life?”

“I’m not going to kill people just to have sex,” Lilith said bluntly.

Lilith ended the conversation there and left Alvera’s mind. Her surroundings changed back into the small and cold room within a vacant house. She took her hand off the forehead of the still unconscious Alvera.

“What did you find?” Adam asked.

“There’s an army of monsters led by a baphomet who are preparing to attack Lescatie,” Lilith replied, not wasting a single word. She gestured at Alvera. “She’s one of them, and her job was to weaken this city.”

Adam was shocked, but only for a moment. “Then we must reveal this information at once. When will this army attack?”

“This succubus was supposed to sabotage the defences on one of the gates the day after tomorrow,” Lilith said. “I’m guessing that’s when they plan to attack. But… wouldn’t it be risky to tell the authorities how we found this succubus and what she knows? We only got this far because of my own succubus abilities…”

“That shouldn’t be a problem,” Adam said. “There are multiple ways to get this information to those who must know it…”

-ooo-

Another quiet night, thought Zachariah, captain of the guards in the south district of Lescatie.

On the one hand, nights like this meant Zachariah and his subordinates didn’t need to exert themselves. On the other hand, nights like this didn’t mean that there was no crime… it simply meant that the criminals were better at hiding themselves.

Maybe that hero will show up in our district tonight? Zachariah wondered. Ah, what am I even doing? That’s like hoping for the sky to suddenly start raining ale…

The previous night, a hero had appeared in the west district and singlehandedly beaten up all of the scum infesting a bar, then notified the guards in that district. This had led to the arrests of over fifty people, and meant that the law-abiding citizens of that district could sleep just a little more soundly for now.

But the situation was different in the south district that Zachariah oversaw. The guards here were rarely able to find the criminals on their patrols, and even when they did, the rats escaped from prison so quickly that it was as if their cells all had secret exits. Zachariah suspected that there were nobles involved in the south district’s criminal world, and that at least a few of his own guards were accepting bribes.

But there’s not much I can do about that, Zachariah thought. This district has the main marketplace, so there’s an endless flood of goods coming in and out, and endless opportunities for smuggling, drug peddling, arms peddling…

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door, causing Zachariah to jump to his feet. He checked to make sure his sword was sheathed at his hip, then walked to the door.

Upon opening the door, Zachariah found no one on the other side… no one living, that is. Lying just in front of the door was the corpse of a woman with ram-like horns, membranous wings resembling a bat’s, and a spaded tail. Judging from the angle of her head, she had died of a broken neck.

Zachariah blinked several times. Then he drew his sword and struck it repeatedly against his sheath, creating a resounding noise that woke up everyone in the guard barracks, and probably everyone for an entire block around.

The guards quickly rushed in from the other rooms in the barracks. Most of them didn’t have their armour on and some looked like they might fall asleep again at any moment.

“S-Sir, what’s the problem!?” asked one of the less-sleepy guards.

“A succubus has managed to infiltrate Lescatie!” Zachariah declared, pointing to the dead monster in front of the door.

That news caused all of the guards to jump to attention.

“Jim, Sten, Alicia, go to the other barracks and notify them of what’s happened here!” Zachariah ordered. “Ren, Gail, go to the royal palace and do the same, use my name if you must!”

Zachariah continued barking out orders, sending guards to the gates of the city to put them on alert, and telling a small group to carry in the dead succubus and search her body. Once he was done, he leaned against a wall and wiped the sweat off his forehead.

Damn, I’m getting old… to feel tired just after something like this. When I got this position, I thought the worst I’d have to deal with would be a few gangs. Now… Now it looks like this city might be faced with a monster invasion.

Zachariah looked at the corpse again, which now lay on the floor of the barracks. It was possible that this succubus had been acting on her own… but that hope was dashed when one of the guards found a piece of paper hidden in the succubus’ clothes. The paper had the words “Sabotage the north gate on the night of the crescent moon” and a symbol resembling a goat’s head.

The next crescent moon… isn’t that just two nights from now!? Zachariah realised. We have to hurry!

And this symbol… it can’t be… but there aren’t any other goat-like monsters that could lead an invasion…

Also, someone killed this succubus… why did they only knock and not try to meet us? They’d be rewarded handsomely for their action…

But right now, the defence of the city is more important. I’d better prepare myself: the royals will definitely order a meeting to organise everything, and I have to attend and show them this order.

Zachariah folded up the order carefully and put it in his pocket. He clenched and unclenched his fists several times, to confirm that his body could still move as he willed it; for in the upcoming battle, he would also have to fight.

Lescatie must not fall. It must never fall.

Chapter Text

AN: Here it is, the chapter with the biggest battle in the story to date. It’s also the second-longest chapter to date, with only the previous chapter being longer.

Incidentally, several of the original characters in this chapter are loosely based on characters from Final Fantasy XV.

“Has everyone received a potion!?”

“Come to me if you need a weapon sharpened!”

“Line up over here, I need an accurate count of how many of you there are!”

Over the past two days, Lescatie had transformed. The villagers and townsfolk from the surrounding countryside had moved into the city for protection. The streets were now patrolled by guards who broke up any disturbances and enforced a strict curfew. The rooftops now had archers stationed on them, who joined the guards on the ground in keeping an eye on the citizens. And the training yards were now packed with heroes and other fighters preparing for the upcoming battle.

Lilith and Adam were currently in one of these training yards. Countless humans were rushing around and calling out to each other. It took a great deal of attention just to avoid being knocked by someone in a hurry.

“We’d better get our potions as well,” Adam said. “It looks like they’re handing them out over there.”

Lilith and Adam carefully made their way through the crowd towards an apothecary on one side of the training yard. This was a tired-looking man standing next to a crate of potions, who looked as if this work had shortened his life by many years.

When Lilith and Adam approached, this apothecary pressed two potion vials into their hands and said, “Take these two potions, make sure you use them only when you really need them, remember that they can’t heal severed limbs or death. Next!”

The distribution of potions was definitely very rushed; the apothecary hadn’t even asked them for any identification, apparently just giving potions to anyone who hadn’t visited him before.

Still, they’re doing a pretty good job, Lilith thought. I was a bit worried that they might not believe the fake order we included with Alvera’s body, but they obviously did believe it.

Suddenly, Lilith noticed Adam tense his body… but it seemed to be out of surprise, rather than fear or hostility. She followed his gaze to a human man wearing leather armour and with numerous scars on his body.

“What’s the matter?” Lilith asked. “Who is he?”

“Just someone I didn’t expect to meet here,” Adam replied. “A former hero who I… had an altercation with in a bar.”

The scarred ex-hero noticed the gazes on him and walked over. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” he said mockingly.

“I suppose they released you because of the upcoming battle?” Adam said.

“Or maybe they thought I was too soft and fragile to go in a cell,” the scarred ex-hero said. “Still, I will be fighting tonight.”

“Out of curiosity, when was the last time you fought against monsters?” Adam asked.

“What, you think I might be rusty?” the scarred ex-hero said. “The last time was just a couple of weeks ago. But don’t ask me the details.”

Presumably, that last time had involved this ex-hero capturing a monster for the blood sports of Lescatie’s underworld. Or he might have fought in a match against a captured monster.

Lilith felt disgust well up within her, but she kept that emotion suppressed. She couldn’t afford to cause a commotion, not in this city and especially not at a time like this.

“Well, just make sure to be careful out there,” Adam said. “And do you ever plan on telling me the story of how you… came to be in your current job?”

“If you survive tonight, then sure, why not,” the ex-hero said. He glanced between Adam and Lilith. “Anyway, you two be careful. I heard that there’s a whole bunch of powerful monsters coming, like a baphomet and a wight.”

“Understood,” Adam replied. “You take care as well, I can’t have you dying before you give me an answer.”

The ex-hero smiled—though it was really just a brief twitch of his lips—and walked away. He was soon swallowed up by the crowd.

The rumours we’ve been spreading seem to be working, Lilith thought. Like this, they should be better prepared.

Though a small part of Lilith couldn’t help but wonder if this indirect approach was just cowardice. If she and Adam told the Lescatie authorities everything they knew, then the defence of the city would be even stronger. They could have lied that Lilith was just a human who was skilled at mental magic—it wasn’t like this field of magic was only available to succubi, after all. But that would have led to them being under intense scrutiny, greatly increasing the chances of their true identities being discovered.

Are we really doing everything we can to help monsters and humans get along better? Or… Or are we just doing what’s convenient for ourselves?

Lilith felt someone grasp her hand gently. She looked up to see Adam next to her. Even though Lilith couldn’t say any of her true feelings in this place, her partner could tell that she needed help.

But Lilith couldn’t enjoy this moment for long. There was a commotion in the crowd nearby, and while Lilith’s succubus abilities were suppressed by her bracelet, she could vaguely sense emotions of awe and surprise.

Then the cause of the commotion appeared. This was a human man who looked like he’d fit right in amongst the legendary figures in the windows of the churches. He had short and somewhat spiky purple hair, skin tanned from spending time outdoors, green eyes, and a slim but athletic build. He wore a long-sleeved shirt and pants that were black with traces of dark green, and which were positively brimming with enchantments. Sheathed at his hip was a one-handed sword, the hilt and scabbard both made from adamantite. Accompanying this man was a retinue of guards with varying equipment, but all of whom moved in ways that showed extensive training.

If Lilith had any doubts about the identity of this man, these were dispelled by the loud proclamation made by a knight standing next to him.

“Make way for His Royal Highness, First Prince of the Theocracy of Lescatie, Noctis Primus Lescatie!”

“Come on, there’s no need for that, Gert,” Noctis said, without any trace of formality in his voice.

“I know, but I just had to say that for once,” Gert replied, now similarly informal.

An elderly woman in mage robes, apparently one of the more senior heroes here, emerged from the crowd and bowed before the prince.

“Thank you for gracing us with your presence, Your Highness,” the elderly hero said. “You’ll be pleased to know that we’ve gathered more heroes than expected, and all of our preparations should be finished by nightfall.”

“Call me Noctis, please, ‘Your Highness’ is what my father should be called,” Noctis said. “Still, that is good news. And I have some more news, so all of you, listen carefully!”

Everyone in the training yard stood to attention and made no further sound. There were no exceptions, not the visitors from outside the country, and not even the succubus in disguise.

“Yesterday, my friend Ilya here went outside to scout,” Noctis said, gesturing at one of the guards by his side. “He came back this morning with more information on the monster army heading for this city. Ilya?”

Ilya stepped forward. Even in the city walls, he was completely covered in an outfit of mottled greens and browns, but Lilith recognised him as the hero that she and Adam had met on the way to Lescatie. But she hadn’t recognised him, or even paid attention to him, until he’d stepped forward—another example of his skill at hiding his presence.

“I found them, about three hours’ walk to the north of the city,” Ilya said. “There’s no doubt that they’ll be attacking tonight. I couldn’t get too close without being spotted, but there’s at least three hundred of them.”

That’s more than I saw in Alvera’s memories, Lilith thought. The baphomet must have recruited more since Alvera last saw his army.

“I saw a baphomet, like in the rumours, plus a wight,” Ilya continued. “The rest were more common types like werewolves, orcs, harpies and lamias.”

This announcement caused a stir in the crowd. While Lilith and Adam had been spreading rumours about the types of monsters in the invading army, the information had far more weight when it was being conveyed by an aide to a prince.

“Thanks, Ilya,” Noctis said, as his aide stepped back. “Now, it’s true that there are powerful monsters coming for Lescatie. It might be the strongest force this country has ever faced—if you ignore the Demon Lord attacks, of course. But Lescatie will not fall!”

These words resounded throughout the training yard. It seemed as if everyone in the crowd was holding their breath in anticipation.

“This nation has existed for hundreds of years, ever since it was founded by my ancestor!” Noctis continued. “Throughout that time, it’s been attacked by monsters again and again! In one of those attacks, the walls were even broken through, and monsters managed to enter this city! But even then, Lescatie did not fall! So let me ask you this: do you think Lescatie will fall to monsters tonight!?”

There was an ear-splitting reply of “No!!!” from the crowd. Lilith and Adam joined in to avoid seeming out of place.

“Are you prepared to fight so that doesn’t happen!?” Noctis asked.

“Yes!!!”

Noctis drew his sword. The weapon gleamed brightly in the sunlight, so brightly that Lilith couldn’t look at it directly.

“Then fight with me, and kill every last monster threatening Lescatie!” Noctis roared.

The crowd responded with by raising their own weapons and roaring in a similar way.

It’s like Sei said, the first prince really is inspiring, Lilith thought. Though… that doesn’t change the fact that he’d kill Adam and me if he knew who we really were.

-ooo-

Night arrived. Lilith and Adam were stationed at the top of Lescatie’s north wall, surrounded by several dozen non-hero soldiers. The outer edge of the wall had a rim with numerous indentations for defenders to shoot through: a “battlement”, if Lilith remembered correctly. Illumination came from torches and from the crescent moon hanging in the night sky.

Most of the defence force was concentrated on the north wall, since that was where the invading monsters were expected to attack. They were organised in groups consisting of one or two heroes leading a force of soldiers, spaced evenly along the walls.

The soldiers in this part of the wall were currently occupying themselves by playing a game of cards. It was hard to blame them, since there was a good chance that not all of them would make it through the night. And it gave Lilith and Adam the opportunity to talk to one another.

“How are you feeling, Lilith?” Adam asked.

“Better than in the afternoon,” Lilith replied.

Adam looked out at the moonlit landscape on the outside of the wall. It was a forest that, while not quite as dense as the forest to the east, still offered many places to hide; this was presumably why the invading monsters had chosen to approach from this direction.

“Lilith…” Adam began. He hesitated for a few moments. “It might be too late to say this—no, it’s definitely something I should have said earlier—but are you certain about this? About taking part in a battle this dangerous?”

Liilth knew what Adam meant. She had her bracelet active, meaning she couldn’t fly or put as much power into her spells. And with so many heroes involved, there was the low but non-zero chance of her being found out.

Basically, there are enemies or potential enemies all around us. All it takes is one mistake…

But Lilith hadn’t come this far to stop now. She looked out at the landscape as well, then said resolutely, “I’m sure.”

“Hmm… then I’ll leave it at that,” Adam said.

The two of them continued observing the landscape. The night was quiet aside from the cries of distant animals and the chatting of the soldiers.

But the quiet didn’t last forever. About two hours after sunset, there was a commotion from below, causing Lilith and Adam to tense and the soldiers to abandon their game and pick up their weapons. After a few minutes, a messenger appeared.

“A mantis… tried to attack the gate!” the messenger said. “Prepare for battle!”

Then the messenger ran off to warn the others.

“It’s time,” Adam said. “Is everyone ready?”

“We’re as ready as we’ll every be, Hero Adam,” one of the soldiers said. “Your orders?”

“I’m afraid I’m not as good with speeches as His Highness Prince Noctis,” Adam said, to the laughter of the soldiers. “But I will say this: all of you have family and friends and Lescatie, don’t you? Then fight for their sakes, and do not let a single one of them be harmed by monsters.”

The soldiers replied with an enthusiastic shout of “Yes!!!”

Adam gave further orders, and they all took up positions at the edge of the wall. The soldiers took out bows, while Lilith readied herself to cast magic and Adam placed a hand on her shoulder to support her with his own energy.

The soldiers were enthusiastic, but Lilith and Adam exchanged worried glances. Neither of them had been able to sense the mantis’ demonic energy, having only heard of the attack indirectly.

For a few tense minutes, nothing happened. Then a barrage of icicles, water jets, rocks and wind blades shot from the forest and towards Lescatie!

“Take cover!” Adam shouted.

They all took cover behind the battlement, which shook as it was struck by spells. However, there were also flashes of light from above; Lilith looked up to see a series of explosions in mid-air. She then looked behind to see human mages standing on the roofs of buildings, holding up shining staffs.

They’ll intercept anything that goes over the wall, Lilith thought, feeling the thrum of powerful magic. That’ll let us just focus on attacking!

From elsewhere on the wall, arrows and spells began pouring out and down into the forest. Lilith couldn’t see any of the invaders yet, but presumably the barrage was to keep them pinned down and unable to continue attacking.

“Loose your arrows!” Adam ordered the soldiers.

The soldiers on this part of the wall loosed their arrows, adding to the barrage that was striking the northern forest. The arrows didn’t seem to have much power or accuracy—presumably, bows were just secondary weapons for these soldiers—but the sheer number meant that none of the invaders would be able to leave cover without being hit.

Something’s off about this, Lilith thought. That baphomet was smart enough to gather an army and send in someone to weaken Lescatie first. There’s no way that he’d just resort to a frontal attack because that plan failed…

Still, Lilith readied a fire spell and cast it, creating a torrent of flame that ignited several trees. Starting a forest fire would normally be unacceptable—fear of this was presumably why the invaders weren’t using any fire or lightning spells—but it had been permitted by the Lescatie authorities earlier in the day, for the sake of protecting the city.

Lilith imagined monsters screaming in agony as they burned. She imagined that some of them might not even want to attack Lescatie, having been forced into this by the baphomet.

But she couldn’t stop now. If Lescatie fell, then its people would be eaten by monsters—or suffer even worse fates, if some of the unsavoury rumours about baphomets were true—and the flow-on effects would lead to even more deaths around the world.

So no matter how much it pained her heart, Lilith continued to cast spell after spell.

-ooo-

Noctis ran along the tops of the walls, accompanied by his retinue.

“It looks like the defence is holding up,” said Percival, a young man with blonde hair who carried a bow.

“Don’t say that, Percy,” groaned Gert. “Now you’ve just guaranteed that something bad’ll happen.”

“Th-That’s just a myth,” Percival said. “There’s no way that just saying things are going fine can—”

“We still haven’t seen the baphomet or any of the other strong monsters,” Ilya reminded him. “We can’t afford to let down our guards, not until every last one of the monsters is dead.”

“Uh… do you mean every last one of the monsters attacking right now?” Percival asked.

“I meant every last monster in the world,” Ilya said, his voice taking on a hard tone.

That turned the mood awkward. Even if it was the kind of wish that every human had—barring those few that had been brainwashed by monsters into pawns—it wasn’t exactly a realistic wish.

They arrived at the east wall. Noctis spotted a familiar face up ahead, so he slowed down and came to a stop.

“Any problems here, Sei?” Noctis asked.

“Nothing, Your Highness,” Sei said, saluting. “Do you want us to go to the north wall?”

“Not yet,” Noctis said. He glanced at the landscape outside the wall, but there were no signs of any monsters. “There’s a chance that the attack on the north wall is just a diversion.”

Sei nodded. “That’s true—with the failure of their succubus, they could have changed their plan. In that case—”

Suddenly, there was a tremendous spike of demonic energy, and a ball of orange light shot from the forest towards the wall! The ball moved too quickly for anyone to intercept, and it struck the wall near the bottom. Then the wall began to shake beneath their feet.

“Impossible, it’s broken through all of the enchantments!?” Sei exclaimed. “Watch out, the wall is going to collapse!”

“Grab anyone you can!” Noctis ordered.

Just seconds later, enormous cracks formed in the wall and an entire section tilted outwards like a felled tree. The normal soldiers lost their balance and screamed as they fell. Noctis, his three friends, Sei and all other heroes in the collapsing section grabbed anyone they could, then ran and leaped to the sections of the wall that were still standing.

The damaged section of the wall struck the ground with a tremendous crash, one so loud that it made Noctis fear that more of the wall would collapse. Fortunately, his fears proved to be unfounded.

Noctis set down the two soldiers he’d managed to rescue, then looked around. Fewer than twenty soldiers had been rescued from the collapse. He compared that number to the number of soldiers that had been on the collapsed section of wall, then grimaced. More than thirty had died just now.

But he didn’t have the time to mourn them. There was no way the monsters wouldn’t take advantage of the breach they’d created in Lescatie’s defences.

“All mages, do everything you can to set fire to the forest!” Noctis commanded. “We have to take down as many monsters as we can before they get to the breach!”

Fireballs and lightning bolts began shooting down into the forest, creating dozens of small fires. The light from these fires allowed Noctis to see the enemy.

There had to be more than a thousand of them, possibly more than two thousand. The majority of them were the decaying corpses of animals and humans—zombies, in other words. Mixed amongst the zombies were numerous other types of monsters, more than Noctis had ever seen in one place before. One of these was a tall skeleton dressed in elaborate black and purple robes, and with a pale blue aura surrounding its hands—a wight, and without a doubt the one commanding the zombies. And at the very front of the monsters…

Noctis had seen pictures of their kind before, but mere pictures couldn’t convey the sheer terrifying presence of a genuine baphomet. It was four times as tall as the average human, and its limbs and torso bulged with muscle. Its head had the long snout and curving horns of a goat, but no goat had such sharp teeth, and no normal animal could have such intimidating red eyes. In its right hand, it carried a staff tipped with various kinds of skulls. The only clothing it wore was a simple loincloth and a belt with several pouches.

All around him, Noctis saw the soldiers tremble in fear. The heroes were better at controlling their emotions, but it was clear that they were also afraid.

Not that I’m any better, Noctis thought, feeling the shaking of his fingers.

Taking a deep breath, Noctis drew his weapon, the holy sword Orufoyu. This sword had been passed down through the royal family of Lescatie and was said to have been gifted to the founder himself.

That probably isn’t true, since he was just a novice hero back then, he wouldn’t be given an adamantite sword. But it’s a good sword, still… and a good symbol.

Lifting Orufoyu above his head, Noctis shouted, “If those monsters aren’t stopped, then Lescatie falls! I’m going down there to stop them! Who’s with me!”

“I am!”

“I’ll follow you into the underworld itself!”

“There’s no way we can let monsters into our city!”

“Glad to hear it!” Noctis said. “Those who’re better at range, stay on the wall and keep up the barrage, make sure they can’t get to the breach without being hit! Those who’re better in melee, follow me down to the breach and make sure not a single monster gets through!”

Noctis jumped down from the wall onto the roof of a building and then onto the ground. His friends and the other heroes followed suit, while the soldiers hurried down using stairs.

“Hmph… you are one of the royal family, aren’t you?” boomed a deep voice. “I recognise that sword.”

Noctis looked up to see the baphomet on the other side of the breach in the wall. The powerful monster was being bombarded by spells, but it simply held up its staff to create a shield of orange light, causing the spells to bounce off like raindrops off an umbrella.

“I am,” Noctis said, bringing his sword into a ready position. “And you should have never come anywhere near Lescatie.”

“I’ve heard such words many times, and they never cease to bore me,” the baphomet said. “If you think you stand a chance against the likes of me, boy, then you are welcome to try!”

The baphomet and its army charged, Noctis led the humans of Lescatie against them, and the battle began in earnest.

Noctis sprinted towards the baphomet, channelled spirit energy into his sword and arms, and slashed at its left leg. The baphomet moved its staff to block the attack, but Noctis had just been feinting. Noctis took a hand off his sword and delivered a punch to the side of the baphomet’s knee.

This should slow it down at least—guh!?

Noctis felt as if he’d punched a solid mass of steel. On the other hand, the baphomet didn’t even flinch, and swung its staff at Noctis, sending him flying backwards. Noctis crashed through the stone wall of a house and then through a table and chairs, finally coming to a stop against a second wall.

Ugh… the stories are definitely true… baphomets are as strong as dragons!

But Noctis hadn’t been injured badly by the attack, so he quickly got back to his feet and rushed out of the damaged house.

Now, Noctis’ three friends were engaging the baphomet: Gert was engaging it in melee, Percival was shooting arrows at it from a distance, and Ilya was dealing sneak attacks from its blind spots.

As for the other monsters, those were being dealt with quite effectively by the other heroes and by the soldiers. The wight was a different story; even as Noctis watched, it picked up a soldier with one hand and drained him of all of his spirit energy, reducing him to a shrivelled corpse in an instant.

Dammit… but I have to focus on the battle as a whole! I have to bring down the baphomet first—it’s the strongest monster and their leader! That should turn things around!

Noctis raised Orufoyu and charged at the baphomet once again.

-ooo-

Lilith, Adam and countless others ran with all of their might to the site of the battle, but the walls of Lescatie were enormous and they thus had a long distance to traverse.

If I could fly, then I’d already be there, and I could bring Adam with me! Lilith thought. But it’s no use worrying about that now!

The breach in the east wall came into view. It was even bigger than Lilith had expected, being big enough for at least a dozen humans or humanoid monsters to walk through side-by-side. And right now, monsters were flooding through the breach to clash with humans in the streets.

There were soldiers and heroes on the wall on both sides of the breach, using various ranged attacks to support the fight below. Some were even picking up loose stones and dropping them on the invading monsters, having apparently run out of ammunition or spirit energy for their normal attacks.

As they got closer to the breach, one of the senior heroes spoke up, the elderly mage from earlier in the day. If Lilith remembered correctly, she was named “Selene”.

“If you’re a long-ranged fighter, stay here on the wall with me and provide support fire!” Selene ordered. “If you’re a close-ranged fighter, go down to ground level and assist Prince Noctis!”

Amid the replies of “Yes!” and “Understood!”, Adam said to Lilith, “It seemed this is where we’ll have to split up. Good luck, Lilith.”

“Good luck, Adam,” Lilith replied.

Adam hurried down a set of stairs towards the ground. Many others hurried down the same set of stairs, so it wasn’t long before Adam was concealed from view by the crowd.

Lilith grasped her spear tightly. She was now separated from her partner and the humans around her would kill her if they knew her true identity. However, so long as she kept her identity hidden, these humans were her steadfast allies.

I just have to make sure not to get too close to any of the heroes, in case any of them use something like Evil Obliterating Incantation.

But before Lilith could reach the edge of the breach, a monster flew up from below and lashed out with whips of blue light, killing a dozen humans in the blink of an eye.

“Get back!” the elderly mage shouted.

The newly arrived monster had the form of a skeleton, but no normal skeleton had such immense demonic energy. It wore black and purple robes embroidered with countless runes. An aura of blue light surrounded its hands and extended away from them to form whips. This had to be the wight that was allied with the baphomet.

“I am Mirak, the greatest wight to ever walk these lands,” the wight said, in a voice that seemed to steal the strength from Lilith’s body. “You will all die here and join my servants.”

Lilith quickly launched a fireball at Mirak, who responded by reshaping its blue aura into a shield. The fireball scattered into sparks against the shield.

“Your pathetic tricks are of no use against a true master of magic,” Mirak said.

Lilith continued firing a range of spells, along with several other mages. Archers joined in as well, peppering the shield with arrows. But even after receiving dozens of attacks, the wight’s magical shield showed no signs of weakening.

“Enough!”

Eventually, Mirak thrust its hands forward, changing its shield into a wave of energy that rushed across the top of the wall. Most of the defenders were knocked down, and even Lilith staggered back after being struck by the wave. The only one who remained standing in the face of the wight’s attack was the elderly mage Selene.

“Thank you, all of you,” Selene said. She then glared at Mirak. “Now, perish!”

The mage slammed her staff, glowing with vivid purple light, down on the floor. Mirak was surrounded by a similar purple light, then fell to its knees.

“This is—gravity magic!?” Mirak groaned.

“I have no reason to answer that,” the elderly mage said. “Now, all of you, attack the wight!”

Lilith and the others resumed their attacks. Whenever Mirak was hit, the runes on its robe flashed with blue light—this was the activation of one or more defensive enchantments. However, the light of the runes grew fainter with every passing moment.

But just when Lilith thought the battle was settled, she heard a cry of pain from behind. She whirled around to see that the elderly mage was being attacked by a bird—a bird giving off demonic energy. The elderly mage quickly killed the zombie bird with a swipe of her staff, only to be impaled by a pillar of ice.

“I always keep minions in reserve… it’s how I have survived this long,” Mirak said.

More zombie birds attacked. They were nothing more than nuisances, unable to inflict serious injury on their own, and easily killed… but in a battle like this, even that was enough to create fatal openings.

Sensing a spike of demonic energy, Lilith quickly covered her face with her arms. A storm of ice shards filled the air. Lilith was cut and pierced in numerous places, but judging from the screams of agony from all around her, the others were faring much worse.

This is… that’s right, Poseidon’s charm! It gives some protection against ice!

“It seems that you are the only one remaining,” Mirak said, slowly walking closer. “Do you have any last words?”

Lilith looked around nervously. It hadn’t even been a minute since Mirak’s appearance, yet the powerful undead had managed to kill over fifty people, among them a veteran hero.

In a straight fight, I wouldn’t stand a chance… so the only way I can possibly win is with a little cheating.

Lilith deactivated her bracelet, allowing her demonic energy to overflow. Mirak stopped in its tracks.

“Impossible—you’re—!?”

Lilith channelled her demonic energy through her spear to create an arrow of flame, small but with incredibly concentrated heat. She fired the arrow at Mirak, who quickly formed a shield. The arrow was dispersed by the shield, but its momentum caused the wight to stagger.

Finally, Lilith filled her spear with as much demonic energy as she could muster, then charged at Mirak. The orichalcum spear pierced through Mirak’s shield and enchanted robes, pierced through its ribcage. Then, just to be sure of killing this enemy that lacked blood to lose or organs to damage, Lilith pulled out her spear and thrust it into Mirak’s skull.

Lilith could no longer feel Mirak’s overwhelming demonic energy. She wasn’t sure when it had disappeared, but there was no doubt that the wight was now dead. Properly dead, that is.

Now that her part of the battle was over, Lilith slumped to the ground. She took out the potion she’d received earlier in the day and began gulping it down.

Lilith sensed the spirit energy signatures of several humans approaching, so she stopped drinking—spilling the rest of the potion in her haste—and reactivated her demonic energy-suppressing bracelet. But she was in no condition to run away, and even if she had, that would definitely arouse suspicion.

The humans arrived at the wall, apparently jumping to it from nearby roofs. They crowded around Lilith.

“Are you alright?”

“I can’t believe you managed to beat a wight all by yourself!”

“You’ve done great, now just leave it to us!”

“It wasn’t… by myself…” Lilith said, though each word was a struggle. The potion hadn’t replenished her demonic energy. “I wouldn’t have been able to win… without everyone else… wearing it down.”

That wasn’t just false modesty. The wight’s magical shield and the defensive enchantments on its robe were both incredibly sturdy, and even with a spear forged from orichalcum by a master blacksmith, Lilith wasn’t sure she could have pierced those defences with her own power.

More importantly, Lilith could still sense the incredibly powerful demonic energy of the baphomet down below. But in her current state, she couldn’t do anything to help.

-ooo-

Adam panted as blood ran down his face. It was a struggle for him to even keep standing. He’d already used up his healing potion, so he used a brief healing spell to stop the bleeding from his head wound.

And Adam was among the lucky ones, those who were still alive and in fighting condition. Most were either wounded to the extent that they couldn’t fight—possibly for the rest of their lives—or had been reduced to bloody corpses. Some of the latter hadn’t even left corpses behind… the baphomet had reduced them to bloody smears on the ground or ashes drifting in the air.

And it wasn’t just the regular soldiers who had fallen, for the baphomet had also slain many of the heroes. Hero Sei had approached to deliver a cut to the baphomet’s leg, only to have his body snapped in two by a powerful kick. Hero Ilya had put out one of the baphomet’s eyes, only to be incinerated by a burst of mystical flame.

The baphomet’s army had been more or less wiped out, thanks to the combined efforts of the ground and wall defenders. But that was a minor consolation when the baphomet on its own was easily a threat to the entire city. Despite having fought countless opponents, cast innumerable spells and received several wounds, the baphomet didn’t seem to have even slowed down.

“Is this really all that Lescatie has to offer?” the baphomet said. “I was expecting opponents who were an actual challenge, not children playing with sticks.”

“Don’t get too ahead of yourself, you haven’t won yet,” Prince Noctis said, though he was clearly in pain from the various injuries he’d received. “Out of everyone you brought here, you’re pretty much the only one left.”

“Buying time for your reinforcements to arrive?” the baphomet scoffed. “That will change nothing. In fact, I may as well wait here and let them come to me, it will save me the effort of hunting them down. I never expected them to do much fighting, their most useful contribution was to fuel the spell that allowed me to breach your wall.”

Noctis’ face twisted in disgust. “You sacrificed some of your own soldiers for that? Just when I thought monsters couldn’t get any worse, you manage to find a way to prove me wrong.”

Adam wanted to contradict this, to say that not all monsters were like that, but that was a bad idea even under normal circumstances. Under the current circumstances, the only thing he could do was to help bring down the baphomet.

“Spare me the hypocrisy,” the baphomet said. “When you declare war, you do it with the expectation that some of your soldiers die, do you not? I simply used their lives in a more efficient manner. Once I conquer this city, more monsters will join my army.”

Suddenly, one of Noctis’ aides shot an arrow at the baphomet, aiming for its intact left eye. However, the baphomet simply moved its head slightly, causing the arrow to shatter against its face.

“And this one, in particular, is even less of a threat,” the baphomet said. “Did you only obtain your position because of your friendship with this prince?”

“Y-You’re wrong!” the aide said, though his entire body was shaking.

“Percy got where he is because of his own skills,” Noctis retorted. “But I wouldn’t expect a monster to understand that.”

“Your Highness! We shall assist you!”

More heroes arrived via the rooftops. Some of them cast spells or shot magic-infused arrows, while others leaped down to the ground to fight in melee.

The baphomet held up his staff with one hand, creating a shield of orange light that deflected the spells and arrows. With his other hand, he cast a fireball the size of a boulder—if that were to hit its target, then most or all of the defenders in this area would be wiped out.

But Noctis stepped forward and struck the fireball from below with his sword, deflecting it upwards. The fireball flew into the sky and exploded, briefly creating a light even more intense than the sun at noon.

Then Adam and other heroes charged towards the baphomet.

The next few minutes were a chaotic whirlwind of violence and death.

At one point, Adam was thrown against a wall, causing the wall to crack behind him. Shortly afterwards, another hero was thrown against the same wall, but she wasn’t as sturdy and thus slumped to the ground, blood oozing from her head. Adam considered healing her, but then he realised that there was no spirit energy emanating from her body, indicating she was already dead. He thus returned to the battle.

At another point, the baphomet cast a lightning bolt at one of the rooftops, killing another of the prince’s aides, the one who used a bow. This caused the prince to shout “Percy!” and throw himself at the baphomet, clashing his sword against the latter’s staff countless times.

There was even a point where three heroes tried to cast Evil Obliterating Incantation, causing their bodies to glow with white light. But the baphomet wasn’t even slowed down, and took advantage of the three heroes being immobilised by the spell to kill them with a blade of wind. Among them was the ex-hero covered in scars—though his final actions showed that he certainly deserved to be called a true hero.

After several minutes, Adam had burned through all of the energy stored in his diamond and most of his own reserves. He’d received numerous injuries all over his body, including a suspected case of internal bleeding in his abdomen. He’d watched more and more heroes die around him. He’d watched all but one of the invading monsters die. Yet the baphomet was still alive!

Eventually, the last of the prince’s aides, a greatsword-wielding knight by the name of Gert, rushed at the baphomet without waiting for others to support him. The baphomet responded by striking him with his staff, causing the distinctive sound of snapped bones.

But Gert wasn’t knocked away by the attack. Instead, he wrapped his arms around the baphomet’s staff, then his body and the ground beneath his feet glowed with red light.

He’s reinforcing his body and… anchoring it to the ground!? Adam realised.

“Noctis! Finish it!” Gert shouted, using what must have been the last dregs of his strength.

Noctis charged towards the baphomet, with Adam and other heroes not far behind. The heroes on the rooftops provided supporting fire, bombarding the baphomet’s upper body with spells and arrows.

The baphomet fired his own spells using his free hand, and tried to pull his staff free from Gert’s grasp. When the latter failed, he punched Gert using his free hand, forcing the hero to release his staff. But by then it was too late.

Noctis, first prince of Lescatie, cut off the baphomet’s right arm with one slash.

“Gah—HOW DARE YOU!!!???”

Before Noctis or anyone else could follow up on this attack, the baphomet jumped up to a nearby roof. Using his remaining hand, he took out a black crystal from a pouch on his belt and squeezed the crystal, causing it to shatter. A piercing sound erupted from the baphomet’s hand, causing every human in the area to cover their ears in agony.

Then the baphomet jumped down and picked up his staff with his left hand. The piercing sound stopped—it seemed this spell had a short duration in exchange for its ability to pierce magical resistance—but it had served its purpose.

The baphomet approached Noctis and brought his staff down in a crushing blow. Noctis crumpled to the ground, blood gushing from the remains of his head.

“No…”

“Your Highness!”

“How dare you!”

“Silence!” the baphomet roared. “If you wish to see your prince again, I shall grant your wish!”

The baphomet raised his staff unleashed a sphere of orange light that expanded rapidly. Whenever a hero was touched by the sphere, they screamed in agony as their body disintegrated.

Adam positioned himself in front of an unconscious hero and delivered a frontal slash with his sword. The deadly sphere was parted by this slash, creating an opening just big enough for Adam and the unconscious hero to survive.

When the sphere faded from existence, there were only two heroes left alive in the area, and only one of them was still capable of fighting. Of the rest, only ashes were left behind.

However, the baphomet was also in poor condition. He was breathing heavily and leaning on his staff. The bleeding from the stump of his right arm had stopped, but the loss of a limb would still be a major hindrance.

I’m exhausted and injured as well… but I’m still in better shape than my opponent! I can win—I must win!

Adam tightened his grip on his sword. “Come to think of it, I don’t know your name. Would you be willing to introduce yourself?”

“I have no need… to introduce myself to mere humans,” the baphomet said. “Now… perish!”

The baphomet cast another massive fireball, which Adam deflected into the sky, just as Prince Noctis had done.

Adam charged into melee range. When the baphomet brought his staff down, Adam swayed slightly to the left, giving the hint that he would dodge in that direction. The baphomet altered the trajectory of his staff in response, only for Adam to clash his sword against the staff head-on.

Just like in that duel against Sazama, all the way back in Zipangu… sometimes, a pure contest of strength can catch an opponent off-guard!

Reinforcing his sword and entire body with all of his remaining spirit energy, Adam pushed back against the baphomet’s staff. After a few seconds of herculean effort, Adam’s adamantite sword sliced through the staff and opened a huge gash on the baphomet’s belly.

“Grr... HAAAAARRRGHHHH!!!”

Letting out a bestial roar, the baphomet retaliated with a fierce kick to Adam’s chest, sending him flying backwards. Adam struck a building and fell to the ground, coughing up blood.

The baphomet raised the tip of his staff to his belly and there was a sizzling sound. When he moved the staff away, the gash on his belly had now been cauterised.

“You… for doing this to me… I won’t give you… a quick death…”

The baphomet approached Adam, staggering with each step.

“I’ll break your limbs… leave you out in the open… scavengers will feast on your meat… your wounds will fester…”

Adam could no longer stand up, let alone fight. But he was no longer afraid.

With the baphomet in this condition… the others should be able to finish him off.

I’m sorry, Lilith…

Then Adam heard the sound of a blade slicing through flesh and bone. The baphomet’s head fell to the ground, followed by his headless body.

That was… faster than I expected. Just who has come to my aid?

Adam strained himself to look up. He spotted a hero in plate armour who was wiping off the blood from a greatsword. Once she was done, the hero ran towards the breach in the city wall and disappeared from view… but not before Adam caught a glimpse of her face.

It was a face that Adam had seen just a few days prior. It was the face of someone who should no longer be alive.

Hero… Justinia…?

Chapter Text

Justinia ran across the countryside as fast as a horse. This was a fairly moderate pace for her; she could move even more quickly than this, but wouldn’t be able to maintain such a pace for long.

And from a rational perspective, there was no need for her to be even this fast. She was already outside the borders of the Theocracy of Lescatie. She could have slowed down to enjoy the scenery. But she continued running, even as the sun went down and the air grew cold.

By the time sunset arrived, Justinia had arrived in a mountainous area. She decided that now was a suitable time to stop and rest.

After some exploration, Justinia found a small cave in the side of a mountain to use as a shelter; her body could technically withstand the cold of the late autumn night, but that didn’t mean it was comfortable to sleep out in the open. During her exploration, Justinia also spotted a village on the slope of a different mountain.

This region… I haven’t been here yet, not recently at least, Justinia thought.

Justinia spent a few minutes looking for food. She eventually spotted a bird flying through the sky and brought it down with a thrown pebble. She brought the dead bird back to the cave and began plucking its feathers.

I may as well clear out this village. While it seems isolated, it should have other villages that it trades with. The clearing of this village will impact the economy of the region as a whole and lower the population… just as with all of the previous villages I’ve cleared.

Justinia finished the plucking. She didn’t bother to remove the viscera and proceeded straight to cooking the bird. She conjured up a weak flame and spread it out over the surface of the bird.

I’ll do it once I’ve finished my meal and rested my body. With everyone in the village asleep… there won’t be any problems.

Dinner was ready, judging from the colour and smell of the bird’s flesh. However, Justinia didn’t start eating right away. Instead, she stared down at her meal.

Here I am… calmly deciding to kill the entire population of a village. And that’s immediately after delaying my intervention at Lescatie, allowing more casualties to occur than necessary.

I could stop this at any time. I could return to acting like a normal hero, I could change my appearance and act like a normal person, I could live the secluded life of a hermit, I could even just end my life right now. None would mourn me… in this era, they all believe me to be dead.

Justinia looked at the village in the distance. She could just about make out the moving figures of people, and while she couldn’t discern what they were doing, she could guess that they were finishing any remaining tasks before they returned to their homes for the night. The sight stirred up old memories.

It’s been so long since I was like them… if I tried harvesting crops or weaving now, I would almost certainly make a mess. Those skills have been rusting for so long.

But even after several minutes of reminiscence, Justinia’s decision did not change. She clenched her fists.

And to allow this era of relative peace to continue… for even a day longer… I must ensure that humanity does not grow too numerous. I must not allow a new Demon Lord to arise.

This is not an ideal path to follow. But in a world like this… it is the path that leads to the least suffering.

Justinia began eating. The bird meat had grown cold, but she had eaten worse meals than this. She ate most of the viscera in addition to the flesh. Once she was done, she buried the remains and stood up.

In hindsight, Justinia could have had a better meal and a more comfortable place to rest if she’d stopped at the village. However, she had a habit of never stopping in villages that she had plans to clear. It might have been cowardly, but it was a habit she had no intentions of breaking.

Then, without any further delay, Justinia made her way towards the village.

As she got closer, Justinia saw that the buildings of the village were made of stones and mortar. These must have taken considerable time and effort to construct; presumably, the villagers had gone to such effort due to a shortage of wood or due to a need for sturdy buildings. Judging from the number of buildings, the village’s population was around two hundred. And scattered around the perimeter of the village were livestock pens, some holding chickens and others goats.

Justinia stopped near the village. She closed her eyes and focused on her other senses. She detected two hundred and five humans, three hundred and fifty livestock, and twelve pets, the last of which were in the buildings with their owners. There was also an uncountable number of small vermin, which appeared as faint dots of spirit energy inside and amongst the buildings.

Then Justinia gathered her spirit energy, raised both of her hands and said, “In the name of Hel, mistress of the netherworld, may these souls know the embrace of death.”

A wave of death magic was emitted from Justinia’s hands and washed over the village. More than five hundred lives were extinguished in an instant.

Following the rest of her usual routine, Justinia brought the corpses out of the buildings using levitation spells. She took the corpses to an open field and began digging individual graves using earth magic. It was a routine so well-practiced that it left Justinia plenty of room to think.

The mountains… come to think of it, I haven’t been to Dragonia lately. From what I’ve been hearing from my connections, the country is on the verge of civil war due to the tyranny of the upper classes. Should I stop by to investigate?

Partway through her grave-digging, Justinia sensed something flying through the air to her left. She looked up and saw nothing but an empty night sky… which did not reassure her. She cast a spell from her left hand that filled the sky with blue light, dispelling the newcomer’s invisibility. A winged silhouette appeared in the sky.

A succubus, Justinia thought, calmly drawing her sword. And… she appears to be carrying something?

The succubus immediately changed direction and began flying away. However, she wasn’t the only one capable of moving through the air.

Justinia jumped and created a platform of blue light underneath her feet, allowing her to jump again. She repeated this process using slanted platforms, allowing her to move horizontally. Each platform lasted for less than a second, but that was more than enough time for her to make use of them.

Justinia caught up to the succubus in less than twenty seconds. She now saw that the succubus was carrying a human in plate armour—a hero, judging from the strength of his spirit energy.

For a moment, the succubus and hero both looked at Justinia with terrified expressions… then Justinia brought the flat of her sword down on the succubus, knocking her and her payload to the ground.

-ooo-

Adam felt completely helpless as he and Lilith spiralled through the air. The starlit night sky and the dark landscape switched places at a dizzying rate, throwing off any sense of up or down. The only thing that Adam could do was heal his partner… though even that was difficult when he could hardly concentrate.

The two of them fell towards a grove of trees on the slope of one mountain. They fell through several tree branches, snapping the wooden limbs, and struck the ground. Fortunately, the branches slowed their fall to the point that Adam, at least, received no significant injuries.

“Lilith!” Adam called out, shaking Lilith gently. “Are you alright!?”

Lilith rubbed her head. “Ugh… nothing’s broken, at least…”

But there wasn’t time for any more conversation. The one who had forced them down had now landed nearby, and was approaching with quick strides.

Adam and Lilith got to their feet and readied themselves for battle.

“I wasn’t expecting to be followed,” said Justinia, the legendary hero who should have disappeared long ago. “If you don’t mind me asking, just how did you two track me down?”

That was something Adam and Lilith had managed using one of their artefacts from Zipangu, a small needle of copper engraved with many detailed runes. After soaking the needle in the blood of the baphomet that had attacked Lescatie, the needle began pointing in the direction of the one who’d killed said baphomet—or more accurately, the sword she’d used to do so. While Justinia had cleaned her sword of the baphomet’s blood, the mere fact that she’d used it to kill the baphomet was sufficient for this Zipangan tracking artefact. However, they hadn’t been able to leave at once, since they had to heal their injuries and rest after the Battle of Lescatie.

Not that we’re going to tell her that, Adam said. Still… just how can something like this be happening!?

“There’s no way we’re going to tell you that,” Lilith said. “And you don’t seem surprised at who we are.”

“You two are not the first cases of humans and monsters coexisting that I’ve seen,” Justinia replied.

All of Justinia’s words were delivered with complete calmness. This was consistent with all of the legends about her… and entirely inconsistent with the massacre they’d just seen her do.

“If you’ve even seen that before, then… then why…” Lilith began.

“Why are you doing this…?” Adam asked weakly.

Justinia didn’t change her expression even after hearing this. It still took her a few seconds to reply.

“Do you know the reason why monsters are so driven to attack humans? The true reason?”

Adam and Lilith exchanged nervous glances.

“You mean, the original Chief God making us this way?” Lilith said.

“Yes, but more importantly, the Chief God made monsters as a form of population control for humans,” Justinia said. “Whenever the number of humans grows too numerous, a Demon Lord is born and leads the monsters to cull the humans. That is something I wish to avoid… no matter the cost.”

A horrifying truth dawned on Adam. “You—You’re killing entire villages to keep the population under control!? That’s—how can you possibly call yourself a hero!?”

“And what you did in Lescatie—don’t tell me that was another part of this—this population control!?” Lilith said. “Did you let the battle go on for longer so that more people would die!?”

“I do not consider myself a hero—not any longer,” Justinia said. “But the path I now follow is one that leads to the least amount of suffering.”

“Slaughtering people is the path to the least amount of suffering!?” Adam said, raising his sword. “Are you even listening to yourself!?”

Adam was filled with such incandescent rage that he didn’t even care about his opponent being a hero of legend. He’d been taught his whole life that heroes were meant to be valiant protectors of humanity, and while not all heroes lived up to that ideal… even the most corrupt and cowardly of heroes wouldn’t massacre entire villages!

“Even that is better than allowing a new Demon Lord to arise,” Justinia said, shaking her head. “All of those stories you’ve been told… they don’t capture the sheer horror of what it’s like. Entire cities, entire countries fall before the Demon Lord’s army. Not all of the inhabitants are killed at once… most are kept alive to serve as fresh meat or as entertainment. They’re encouraged to report each other for any attempted rebellion… with the reward for such information being the chance to live for slightly longer. It’s… It’s no way for anyone to live.”

Justinia showed no signs of lying. On the contrary, this was the first time that Adam had seen any sign of emotion from her.

“Even so… there must be a better option than this!” Adam insisted.

“I have thought through many options, but none of the others would work,” Justinia said. “I’ve even considered the option of killing all monsters, but even if I had the ability to do that, the gods could always create monsters again.”

“Is killing the only thing you can think of!?” Lilith said. “What about trying to help monsters and humans get along, so that we don’t have to fight each other!?”

“You would know even better than I how impossible that is,” Justinia retorted. “All monsters have an innate desire to attack humans, and while individuals or even small groups might be able to overcome this, it is impossible to change the minds of every monster in the world.”

“You—are you doing this because the Chief God ordered you to!?” Adam asked. He couldn’t imagine any other possibility for how a hero could be following such a twisted path.

“No,” Justinia replied. “All of this is due to my own choices. I have not heard the voice of the Chief God in a hundred years.”

Justinia raised her own sword, her expression hard.

“Enough discussion. In the end, I had no chance of changing your minds… perhaps I simply wanted to tell my secret to someone else, even if only for a moment…”

“Now that your secret is out, you’re willing to kill more people to keep it hidden,” Adam said. “I can’t believe I ever used to look up to you.”

There was a moment of stillness, then the battle began.

Adam raised his sword to meet Justinia’s, but that was all he could do. Even while drawing on the remnants of energy in his diamond, he was driven several paces back by the senior hero’s attack.

And I still haven’t fully healed all of my injuries from Lescatie! Adam thought. But we can’t afford to fail here!

A spear of ice shot towards Justinia from the side. Justinia blocked it with a gauntlet of ice, but this required her to take a hand off her sword. This gave Adam the opportunity to force her back.

More spells pelted Justinia, preventing the senior hero from moving. The rapid casting of spells showed just how much Lilith had gained from training in Zipangu. And each of the spells was powerful enough to leave deep gouges in the soil on either side of Justinia.

But Lilith won’t be able to keep this up for long—just like me, her reserves must be almost empty! We have to finish this now!

Adam rushed forward, prepared to deliver a killing blow. He’d never expected to have to kill a fellow hero, but he’d also never expected to meet a hero who’d fallen so far.

Suddenly, Justinia’s sword glowed with blue light. Adam couldn’t stop his charge in time.

Justinia struck Adam in the abdomen with her sword and there was an explosion at the point of contact. Adam flew backwards through the air, his sword slipping from his hands and blood gushing from his mouth.

“Adam!” Lilith cried.

Adam landed on the ground some distance away, and the rough landing intensified the pain in his body. He couldn’t even stand, much less continue fighting. His internal organs had definitely been damaged.

And the battle wasn’t over yet. Adam looked up to see Justinia turn her attention towards Lilith.

Suddenly, there was a deep rumbling that shook Adam to his bones. It caused everyone, even Justinia, to pause.

A landslide! Our fighting must have destabilised the soil!

Lilith suddenly cried out as she was knocked down by a fire spell. Justinia, the caster of this spell, then escaped to the air by jumping and creating magical platforms under her feet.

Within seconds, the landslide was upon them. A wave of rock and earth rumbled down the mountain, swallowing Adam and battering his already-injured body. The only thing he could do was reinforce his body with spirit energy and pray—to Poseidon, not to the Chief God—that Lilith survived.

-ooo-

Justinia watched as the landslide came to an end. The disaster had swept away most of the vegetation on this slope of the mountain, leaving behind a sterile expanse of loose soil and rock.

They’ve most likely perished—even I would have a good chance of dying if I’d been caught in that. But I haven’t survived this long by relying on “most likely” possibilities…

Justinia raised her hands and cast her death spell again. A spell of this kind normally wouldn’t be effective against a hero or a monster on the level of a succubus, but it was a different story against opponents who were already exhausted and wounded.

After observing the site of the landslide for a few more moments, Justinia left. She returned to the village and resumed burying its inhabitants.

That was a blunder… I shouldn’t have been found. I will need to be more careful in the future so this does not happen again.

In her long life, that was the first time Justinia had ever fought another hero in a battle to the death; she’d been involved in arguments before, but none had ever reached this point. It was also the first time she’d ever killed a monster that was friendly to humans; something that had never made it into any of the legends.

In the end, I never learned how they managed to track me down… most likely, it was due to my intervention in Lescatie.

I cannot allow myself to be discovered again… but at the same time, I cannot stop in my path.

Justinia recalled the day when her outlook on life had begun to change, the day she slew Demon Lord Mallicant. It was a day of celebration for almost all of humanity… but Justinia certainly hadn’t felt in the mood, having lost most of her companions in the final battle.

And one of her surviving companions had taken his life on the very next day. He was Slan, a lizardman who’d overcome his god-given desire to attack humans. The legends didn’t include him, of course, but without his help Justinia’s party would have never been able to sneak into Royal Makai and slay the Demon Lord. And Slan had believed that he had no place in a world that now belonged to humanity; he feared that he might be overcome by desire and attack humans once again. Justinia had tried to change his mind, but he refused to leave anything up to chance and thus leaped off a cliff.

A few days later, the Chief God herself had contacted Justinia in a dream. This was the one and only time that Justinia had met the goddess in person. The Chief God had congratulated Justinia on her feat and asked her if she had any wish to grant… so Justinia asked her why monsters were so driven to attack humans.

Back in the present, Justinia placed the last corpse of a villager in a grave. She covered it with soil, then stood back and examined her work.

That was a hundred years ago, yet I still remember that time clearly… that time I realised that the so-called supreme being is far from perfect.

On hearing Justinia’s question, the Chief God had stammered for a few moments, then repeated the Order’s usual story about monsters emerging spontaneously from the darkness to prey upon humanity. She’d then abruptly left the dream.

From that day, Justinia had disappeared from the public eye. To confirm her suspicions, she’d spent all of her time exploring ancient ruins, reading forgotten records and questioning monsters, both hostile and friendly. After years of tireless effort, she’d learned that the one known as the Chief God was simply one of many… and that the first Chief God was the true source of the monsters.

Back to the present, Justinia returned to the small cave where she’d had dinner, and took shelter for the night.

I have no other choice but this. The current Chief God may not be the one who created the world, but she still holds immense power, and is accompanied by many other gods. Even if I could somehow convince all of humanity of the truth, and convince all of monsterkind to not attack humanity—both miraculous feats on their own—there is no way to oppose the gods.

So… the best way to protect humanity is to follow the gods’ will, and control its population.

This is the only way.

-ooo-

Lilith was surrounded on all sides by an oppressive, crushing darkness. She couldn’t sense anything else. A growing pressure in her head indicated that she also had little air to breathe.

For a brief moment, Lilith wondered if she was now in the afterlife, and this crushing darkness was a punishment for her sins. But then she remembered that she’d just been caught in a landslide… and Adam had been as well.

Lilith summoned up every last bit of strength she had left, including everything left in her diamond. She determined which direction was up, then began using earth magic to lift everything on top of her.

Even if… this was… the afterlife… I wouldn’t give up! If I had to… I’d come back as a zombie… just to make sure Adam was safe!

At last, Lilith lifted all of the soil and rock off of herself, depositing it to the sides. She was free at last, there was light and fresh air again. The light was only the faint light of the stars and the crescent moon, and the air had the chill of a late autumn night, but these things still seemed like incredible luxuries to Lilith right now.

But Lilith couldn’t relax. She staggered to her feet and wandered around the mountain slope, desperately searching for her partner.

Adam! Lilith called out via telepathy; she didn’t dare call out using her voice, since Justinia might still be in the area. Justinia might be able to detect telepathy, but this method was still less risky.

Lilith tried to find Adam’s spirit energy signature. The only things she could sense were the slowly dying signatures of the trees that had been uprooted by the landslide. But as a hero, Adam’s signature should have stood out even if he was buried… unless he was dead, or nearly so.

Adam! Can you hear me!?

Lilith tried to remember her and Adam’s relative positions prior to the landslide, to work out where Adam might be now. But that was no use when the shape of the mountain had changed so drastically. Someone who’d grown up in this region might have been able to work out Adam’s expected location… but the nearest locals had all just been killed.

Adam! If you can hear me, please respond!

Suddenly, Lilith heard a clattering sound behind her. She turned around to see a rock rolling down the slope.

There was a chance this was just coincidence, a loose rock that had happened to roll at that moment. But Lilith didn’t care about that.

Adam!

Lilith hurried to the site of the rock. Now that she was here, she could feel a faint trace of human spirit energy. She used earth magic again to excavate a hole, and at the bottom of the whole she found who she was looking for.

Adam wasn’t in good condition, that was clear. His face was smeared with blood, his complexion was pale and his breathing was unsteady. But he was breathing.

He also managed to survive the death spell that she hit us with, Lilith thought. It must be because we were wearing these…

Lilith pulled out a paper charm from her pocket. This was a charm that specifically protected against death magic; a type of magic that few knew how to use, but was dangerous nonetheless as most inanimate objects wouldn’t provide cover from it. The charm in Lilith’s hand was scorched as if it had passed through a fire, showing that it had been destroyed in the process of stopping Justinia’s death spell. Adam had a similar charm somewhere on him, and that was presumably also destroyed.

But more importantly, his injuries!

Lilith inspected Adam. His armour was only slightly dented, but the blood from his mouth showed that Justinia had managed to inflict internal injuries on him through his armour. Adam also had many cuts and scrapes from being caught in the landslide, but it didn’t seem like he had any broken bones.

“Can you hear me, Adam?” Lilith asked.

Adam didn’t respond verbally. However, his fingers twitched; it seemed that he was hovering between consciousness and unconsciousness. The movement of the rock from earlier suggested that he’d been able to respond to Lilith’s call.

Still… what am I supposed to do now!?

Lilith had learned a little healing magic in Zipangu, but she wasn’t skilled enough to heal internal injuries. The only ones around who might be able to do that were Adam himself… and the fallen hero who’d inflicted these injuries on him.

The alternative was to bring Adam to a human settlement for healing. But small villages and towns were unlikely to have people with the necessary skills to heal injuries like this. The city of Lescatie would definitely have such people… but it was far from here, too far for the exhausted Lilith to travel while carrying Adam. And either way, moving Adam long distances would only aggravate his injuries.

No… this can’t be happening…

I don’t care what it costs me… you can’t die here, Adam. I won’t let you die!

Chapter Text

After a few moments of panic, Lilith took a few deep breaths to try and calm down. Panic wasn’t going to help save Adam, after all.

First of all, Lilith had to get Adam to a safer place than a mountainside that had just undergone a landslide. And if Justinia was still in the area, then it was crucial that Lilith get herself and Adam to a place where the fallen hero wouldn’t be able to find them.

Lilith bent down and picked up Adam with both arms, as gently as she could, then stood and began walking down the mountain.

There’s some woods down there… we should be able to hide there. Just… have to… get there first…

Adam’s weight caused Lilith to struggle with every step. While she was superhumanly strong, she was currently exhausted and also had some lingering injuries from the Battle of Lescatie. She also had to hold Adam much more gently than she normally did.

Moreover, the footing on this mountainside was unstable. At one point, a rock gave way underneath Lilith’s feet, and she just barely avoided falling by shifting her weight to her other foot. If she had fallen, she would have only suffered minor injuries… but Adam might have received the blow that would have tipped him over the edge towards death.

After what seemed like hours, Lilith arrived at the base of the mountain. She walked into the woods until the night sky above was mostly obscured by tree branches. Finally, she set Adam down and collapsed, her own body aching from head to toe.

We’re here… Now… What should I do?

First… I’d better get his armour off… that should ease the burden on his body, at least…

Lilith pulled off Adam’s helm, shield, armguard and greaves, in that order. Next, she carefully lifted up his torso and undid the straps of his breastplate, then pulled off the large piece of armour. Throughout the process, Adam let out several incoherent moans but didn’t wake up.

I could try waking him… but that would only make him suffer more, since he’d then be conscious of his injuries…

After taking Adam’s armour off, Lilith pulled up Adam’s shirt and began examining her partner. She saw a massive patch of dark skin on Adam’s belly, as well as a noticeable swelling that indicated internal bleeding.

Lilith had seen such injuries and even worse many times before. But seeing them on her partner, and with no real hope of treating them, caused her entire body to tremble.

But she couldn’t give up. Lilith focused her demonic energy into her hands, then placed her hands on Adam’s abdomen. She closed her eyes and recalled one of the spells she’d learned in Zipangu, taking a few seconds to ensure that she didn’t forget anything.

“From vein to artery, from bone to muscle, I shall comprehend everything within this body,” Lilith chanted.

Information flooded into Lilith’s mind, nearly overwhelming here. She forced herself to maintain the spell and began sifting through the numerous pieces of information, as if taking books from a bookshelf and reading the titles. Once she had a basic understanding of Adam’s condition, Lilith took her hands away from him and punched the ground in despair.

Stomach, spleen, liver, kidneys, intestines, even his lungs are damaged, and some of his ribs are broken…

A normal human—hell, many monsters would have died by now! The only reason he’s still alive is because he’s a hero, and tougher than average…

But Adam’s breathing, heartbeat and spirit energy were all weakening by the minute. At this rate, he might not even survive the hour. Lilith’s original thought of bringing Adam to a nearby village wouldn’t work—even if the village had someone with the skills to heal injuries this severe, Adam almost certainly wouldn’t survive the trip.

I need to give him at least some treatment first… but what?

Even after training in Zipangu, Lilith’s knowledge of magical healing was limited to cleaning and closing external wounds, and setting bones. She couldn’t properly heal injuries as severe as Adam’s… that level of skill took years to learn. Even if she limited herself to providing basic treatment, like reconnecting the torn blood vessels, there was a good risk of something going wrong.

If we had those potions from Lescatie, even just one of them, then that might do the trick… but we already used up the ones we were given.

And obtaining another such potion would be difficult. Most healing potions were limited in their effects, with only the highest grades being capable of healing severe injuries on their own. Those took rare ingredients and a skilled apothecary to make. Back in Lescatie, high-grade potions had been distributed for free as it was an emergency, but even if Lilith could return there and get one—something not guaranteed, since there were now so many wounded that they were likely running low on potions—she wouldn’t make it back before Adam passed away.

Think, Lilith, think! You’ve been all around the world, seen things that most people can barely imagine, there must be something that can help in this situation!

Lilith wracked her brains, recalling spell after spell, artefact after artefact, legend after legend. She left no possibility out. But none of the possibilities she thought of could work. Some required skill she did not possess, others required immense amounts of energy. Some required rare materials that she couldn’t obtain in time, others required materials that she had no idea how to obtain.

The sound of Adam moaning again interrupted Lilith’s thoughts. She quickly bent down and cast the diagnosis spell again.

He’s still breathing… Lilith realised, sighing in relief. But he’s not going to last much longer at this rate!

Lilith punched the ground again, this time with enough force to make her knuckles bleed, but she was in no mood to care about this.

If only I was a human… then I could give him my spirit energy! Then he might be able to hold on a little longer, long enough for me to get help! But… But I’m a succubus! The only thing I can do is steal energy from humans!

Memories of Lilith’s childhood, of the time she’d spent among other succubi, resurfaced. The memories were even more bitter than they normally were.

If only I wasn’t a succubus… If only I was a human… then I wouldn’t have to watch Adam die in front of me!

The memory of that first death resurfaced. The first time Lilith had ever watched succubi drain a human to death, taking an act that was meant for pleasure and the creation of new life, and perverting it into an act of death.

Our kind has never done anything good for humans… all we can do is steal their energy and convert it into ours! We can’t give anything… back…

Lilith froze. She looked at her own hands, which were slightly stained with blood, then at the unconscious Adam. She recalled another memory, this one a lesson from her mother.

“We succubi have the ability to give our demonic energy to others of our kind. This is mainly useful for helping others cast their magic, but it can also be used for healing, since it boosts the body’s functions. And in theory… you could do this to other types of monsters, but it would be less effective, possibly even harmful. Each type of monster has its own distinctive demonic energy, after all…”

Lilith clenched her fists. She couldn’t just try anything that came to mind, since that might worsen Adam’s condition… but she also couldn’t afford to do nothing.

I can give demonic energy to other succubi, I’ve practiced that a couple of times… Lilith thought. And I can—at least, I should be able to take in human spirit energy and convert it to demonic energy… so shouldn’t I be able to mix those two together? Could I turn my own demonic energy into spirit energy and give it to Adam?

It was an outlandish idea with zero precedent in succubus history… but then, no other succubus had ever even thought of giving something to a human. And there was no guarantee that this would actually save Adam, even if Lilith figured out how to pull it off… it was possible she’d only be able to prolong his life by a few moments. But there weren’t any other good options.

First, I’ll need to have energy of my own…

Lilith took out some dried rations bought in Lescatie, but that alone wasn’t enough, so she scanned her surroundings and soon found a squirrel hiding in a tree. She quickly subdued it with a sleep spell, brought it down to the ground with a wind spell, and killed it by snapping its neck with one hand. Then she cooked it very quickly and roughly with a fire spell, not even caring that some of the meat was charred in the process. Finally, she began to eat.

Doing something like this… in theory, it should work… I know that spirit energy can be changed into demonic energy, and demonic energy can be changed into other types of energy, like fire or light, when it’s used to cast magic…

But I’ve never done anything like this before… if I had practice at doing the opposite, then… no, I couldn’t…

Lilith glanced at Adam again. Her partner was still unconscious, and his life was still slowly ebbing away.

But I have to do something, and quickly… I have to figure out how to do this…

After finishing her meal, Lilith proceeded to gather a few dozen small animals: squirrels, bush rats, lizards, frogs, birds, anything that was nearby. She subdued them with sleep magic and gathered them all together in one place.

Lilith picked out one of the animals, a sparrow, and placed her hands on it. She took a deep breath, then infused a tiny amount of demonic energy into the sparrow.

The sparrow began writhing around and letting out ear-piercing screeches. Lilith held it down, but the sparrow struggled furiously in her hands. Eventually, the sparrow went limp and its spirit energy signature disappeared.

Lilith cast her diagnosis spell, which told her that the sparrow’s body was filled with tumorous growths and internal injuries. Some of these injuries had healed, but they hadn’t healed properly: arteries had been fused to veins, muscles had been fused to bones. This was the expected result of infusing raw demonic energy into a creature not designed to handle it.

That’s the first test… now, I need to figure out how to change demonic energy into spirit energy…

Lilith imagined the feeling of Adam’s spirit energy. Not the fading spirit energy of the current Adam, but the powerful and vibrant spirit energy of the usual Adam. Once she had that image in mind, she tried to imagine changing her own demonic energy into Adam’s spirit energy: purple light changing into a brilliant white.

Imagining it is the easy part… now I need to actually put it into practice.

Lilith picked out a second animal, a rat, and tried to infuse it with spirit energy. She only succeeded in lighting it on fire—not an unexpected result, since converting demonic energy into fire was something she’d done frequently.

But I can’t stop… not until I get this right.

Lilith continued her experiments, never slowing her pace for fear that Adam might die before she succeeded…

-ooo-

After what felt like twenty minutes, Lilith had gone through so many animals that she could no longer keep count. Burned, frozen, electrocuted and tumour-filled corpses littered the ground.

Lilith stopped for the moment. Lying in front of her was the first animal that hadn’t died after her experimentation. But… it was uncertain whether this could be called a success.

What… is this…?

Before, it had been a small green lizard, the kind that normally scurried around in the undergrowth and fed on insects. Now, its scales had turned blue and its body was brimming with demonic energy… the latter being a trait normally only found in monsters. And although it was currently conscious and although such a lizard would normally try to run away from Lilith, this lizard was now sitting quietly and staring at her face.

It’s… like a miniature reptilian monster… but it’s not trying to attack Adam, even though he’s a human…

Did I… Did I just make an artificial monster?

To test this theory, Lilith reached out her mind to the lizard. The lizard flinched in surprise at the mental contact, but it still did not run away.

However, the lizard’s mind was incredibly simple, having just the basic instincts to find food and mates, and avoid dangers. Its mind was simpler than even a baby monster, or a baby human.

It seemed that in her efforts to save Adam, Lilith had created an entirely new form of life. But because of her original goal, she wasn’t as amazed by this as she normally would. All she cared about was whether this could help her save Adam.

To confirm this, Lilith picked out a sleeping frog, one of just three remaining animals that she had yet to experiment on. She broke a limb using her fingers, waking the frog and causing the strange lizard from before to scurry away in fear. Then Lilith held down the injured frog and attempted to infuse it with spirit energy.

Over the course of the next minute, the frog began to change. Golden stripes appeared on its back, being quite prominent against its otherwise brown skin, and a pair of small conical horns emerged from between its eyes. The frog’s broken leg straightened and began moving normally again. Moreover, the frog stopped struggling and croaking furiously, instead becoming still in Lilith’s hands.

So this works to heal injuries… but can it really be called ‘healing’…?

If this transformation worked on humans, then it could save Adam’s life… but the change in appearance might render him unable to live amongst humans ever again. And then there was the change in personality… could Adam still be considered the same person afterwards? In fact, could he be considered a person at all afterwards, given that this transformation had made the lizard and the frog no longer act like wild animals?

It seems like I’m not even managing to turn demonic energy into spirit energy… It’s more like I’m turning it into a form that doesn’t hurt non-monsters…

But the fact remained that Adam was dying right now, and Lilith wasn’t exactly spoiled for options on how to save him.

Lilith made her decision. She shooed away the frog and then got in more practice using the remaining two animals, a sparrow and a rat, by injuring them and then transforming them. She succeeded with both.

If all these different kinds of animals can be transformed, then it’s likely that a human can as well… I just have to hope I don’t make any mistakes.

After shooing the two animals away, Lilith approached Adam again. She placed her hands on his body, allowing her to feel his spirit energy directly. It was extremely faint, but it was still there.

There was a chance that this transformation might not succeed. After all, humans were very different from animals, and demonic energy was the energy of monsters, beings created for the purpose of killing humans. And if it didn’t succeed, then Adam would die a painful death, like most of the animals that Lilith had experimented on.

Wouldn’t it be better to not take that chance, and instead put this human’s life to a better use? He had little energy left, but he was a hero, and he should still provide a decent meal for a succubus…

Lilith jumped away from Adam and dug her fingernails into her palms to get rid of these thoughts.

Even when he’s literally dying, I still have the urge to do that.

I hate succubi. If I wasn’t a succubus, I wouldn’t have to resort to something this dangerous.

I hate you, Chief God. If It wasn’t for you, none of this would have ever happened.

But now’s not the time for hate. I need to save Adam… no matter what.

Lilith took several deep breaths and cleared her mind. She only had one chance at this, so she had to make it count.

Kneeling down, Lilith placed her hands on Adam again. She pictured demonic energy changing into spirit energy—even if that wasn’t quite what she was doing—and injected her energy into Adam.

Immediately, Adam began to jerk his limbs around and groan in pain. It was clear that he wasn’t reacting to her demonic energy in the same way as the small animals from earlier.

Should I stop!? Am I only hurting him more!? I—

But before Lilith could pull her hands away, she felt the mind of someone else make contact with her own. She quickly raised her defences, fearing it was Justinia or some other enemy, but then—

Don’t worry, I’m on your side… claimed the stranger.

Just who the hell are you!? Lilith demanded.

I can’t talk to you for long, not without arousing the suspicion of the others, the stranger replied. But I can help you here… tell me, do you love this human?

Lilith glanced back at Adam. She didn’t want to admit it, but given that this mysterious stranger had already managed to contact her mind, there was little point in trying to hide her feelings.

…Yes, Lilith admitted. Yes, I do.

Then I will help you save him, the stranger said. First, you should use your entire body to make contact with him. That will allow you to infuse him with energy more evenly…

Come to think of it, when Lilith had been experimenting on the animals from earlier, those animals had been small enough for most of their bodies to be touched by Lilith’s hands.

And for the greatest chance of success, you should think of him as you infuse him with energy, the stranger continued. Remember all of your experiences together, remember everything that led to you loving him… That will help you align your energy with his. Now, I must go…

Wait! Lilith cried out mentally. You have to at least tell me who you are!

…I’m sorry, the stranger replied. I’m too much of a coward to do that…

Then the stranger broke off her contact, and Lilith heard nothing more.

That… was odd, Lilith thought. Still, I may as well follow their advice… it sounds like it could help, and I don’t have many options right now…

Lilith pressed her body against Adam’s, and wrapped her arms and legs around him for good measure. Under normal circumstances, just thinking of doing this would have crippled her with embarrassment, but desperation had a way of overcoming any inhibition.

Then Lilith closed her eyes and began to remember.

She remembered their first meeting, when she’d saved him from werewolves, only to be angrily rebuffed. It was hard to believe, looking back on that meeting, that the two of them might ever become partners.

“You’d think I’d be foolish enough to listen to you?”

“Fine, I’m going to pretend that you’re listening. My name is Lilith, and I’m a monster who doesn’t attack humans.”

She remembered their first time working together, with Lilith luring a flock of harpies into fighting a group of lamias, then Adam finishing off the survivor. It was undeniable proof that monsters and humans could work together… even if they now knew that it wasn’t the first time this had happened.

“Are you alright?”

“I’m… fine. I just need some sleep. More importantly, are you alright? You’re the one who actually had to fight them.”

She remembered their journey into the Ataraca Desert. The environment had been harsh and the local monsters had been fierce, yet Lilith had still enjoyed the experience of this new land. The only part of it she regretted was not being able to save Thutmose, a regret that Adam shared.

“Argh! What was the point of all that!? We came here trying to find something that would let us make a difference! But instead, we end up with basically nothing and we got someone killed!”

“No. We shouldn’t think of it that way.”

She remembered their voyage under the sea, to an undersea volcano that a kraken had turned into a veritable fortress. After an intense serious of events, the two of them were not only able to defeat the kraken but also changed the minds of many monsters and learned that they had the support of a goddess. This incident had reinforced Lilith and Adam’s conviction to bring about change to this world.

“Well… it seems that he’s the type who prefers to sleep after eating.”

“It’s an incredible stroke of luck, and it’s also the only chance we’re going to get at this. Okay… are you ready?”

She remembered their visit to the underground city of Vaseram, the city of dwarves. They had discovered another sympathetic soul in Kalk, and obtained new weapons. But the part she remembered the most was when she’d revealed a long-held secret to Adam, the secret of her innate desire to attack humans… and Adam had accepted her in spite of this.

“It’s true that, if you’d told me that back when we first met, I would have distrusted you. But now, after all the opportunities you’ve had and didn’t take, and all the times you risked your life to save mine, there’s no way I would do that.”

“Don’t be stupid… haven’t you saved my life so many times as well?”

She remembered their stay in Zipangu. It was extremely eventful, with Lilith and Adam training to improve themselves, fighting in both mock and serious battles, meeting with legendary figures, and learning the truth of this world. And after spending so much time in a society where monsters and humans coexisted, the two of them had grown closer together.

“Alright, these are some big expectations you have for us. We’ll… we’ll do our best to live up to them.”

“In that, you have our word.”

She remembered Lescatie, both their discovery of the succubus Alvera and the intense battle that had scarred even this city of heroes. The latter was beyond anything Lilith had ever imagined, and it didn’t even involve a Demon Lord… Lilith didn’t agree with Justinia’s methods in the slightest, but she certainly agreed that a new Demon Lord could not be allowed to arise.

“It seemed this is where we’ll have to split up. Good luck, Lilith.”

“Good luck, Adam.”

After what felt like an hour, Lilith opened her eyes nervously. She saw that Adam’s expression was much less pained than before, and his face was no longer deathly pale. She heard him breathing much more regularly than before. And she felt his spirit energy… which, although still weak, was no longer declining with every passing moment.

But this isn’t enough… I need to heal him until he can stand, until he can fight alongside me again!

Lilith closed her eyes and resumed infusing Adam with demonic energy. This time, she didn’t remember the past but instead imagined the future… the future she wanted to walk towards with Adam at her side.

She imagined herself and Adam tracking down and defeating Justinia, putting an end to the fallen hero’s massacres of entire villages.

She imagined herself and Adam journeying through the Great Dragai Empire, exploring this country where humans abused dragons into serving as mounts. That was just the kind of place that needed to be changed, by force if necessary.

She imagined herself and Adam returning to the south sea, to check up on the society that lived beneath the waves. With Poseidon working towards coexistence, the monsters of the sea had managed to overcome their human-killing divine mandate, just as the youkai of Zipangu had.

She imagined herself and Adam in a world that wasn’t wracked by pointless conflict, a world where monsters and humans everywhere could coexist… a world where there was nothing wrong with a succubus and a human being together.

-ooo-

The sun had risen, though it was still cold in the shade of the trees. The woods were now filled with the cries of countless animals.

Lilith was lying against a tree next to Adam, completely exhausted. She’d given almost every drop of her demonic energy to Adam, wanting to maximise his chances of survival. She didn’t even have enough left to cast her diagnosis spell.

I… might have… gone… a little overboard… I should have just given him enough… to buy time… then carried him somewhere else…

Still… at least now… he should live… and… it looks like… he’s still human…

Lilith glanced at the nearby Adam. He was breathing peacefully and his spirit energy was back to a normal level, but he wasn’t showing any of the physical changes that had occurred in the experimental animals. Still, that didn’t rule out the possibility of mental changes. And… Adam’s body was now emitting demonic energy, just like those transformed animals from before. It wasn’t as strong as his spirit energy, but it was definitely present.

From now on… he’ll probably have to avoid other heroes… unless he wears the same bracelet as me…

Suddenly, Lilith’s stomach grumbled. Even though she’d eaten last night, she’d already used up all of the energy from that meal.

Ugh… I was definitely… careless…

I can still crawl… I can crawl over to those plants over there… chew on their leaves… it should at least… give me a bit more energy… hm?

Adam was now beginning to move. His fingers twitched and his eyelids flickered.

“Adam!” Lilith called out. “You’re awake!”

“I… Lilith?” Adam groaned. “What happened… wasn’t I… wait, was that all a dream…?”

“Sadly, it wasn’t,” Lilith said. “But now you’re okay—huh!?”

Adam opened his eyes fully… allowing Lilith to see that they were now red.

Chapter Text

Adam had seen the face of death several times, both before and after meeting Lilith. He had been trained to show no fear in the face of death, permanent injury or even becoming a monster’s puppet; it would otherwise be impossible to be a hero. But he had never been trained for the possibility of becoming a monster at the hands of a friendly monster… and retaining his own will.

Meanwhile, Adam heard Lilith explaining the situation to him. She was right next to him, yet her words were as faint as if she was speaking from a distance.

But… just what exactly have I become? Adam wondered, his mind still reeling from the revelation. There are monsters who look similar to humans… one is in front of me right now… but I’ve never heard of any that look exactly like humans. Some can transform into human form... but could I really be doing that when I have no idea how?

“Adam… are you feeling okay?” Lilith asked. “Does it hurt anywhere? Do you feel tired, or—or hungry, or—”

Adam checked the condition of his own body using techniques ingrained from years of training. He took several deep breaths and felt the flow of air through his windpipe and lungs. He tilted his head to one side, then to the other. He clenched and unclenched his fists several times to confirm that he retained dexterity in all ten fingers.

“Nothing seems wrong yet—but I’ll need to stand up to be sure,” Adam replied.

“Hang on, I’ll help you up,” Lilith said.

Lilith placed her arm under both of Adam’s shoulders, and Adam slowly rose to his feet, going at a cautious pace in case he had any undiagnosed injuries. But Adam didn’t feel any bolts of pain shoot through his body, or even the dizziness that usually happened when standing up after sitting for a long time. Lilith slowly took her arm away, but Adam had no difficulty standing.

“I feel… perfectly fine,” Adam said. “To the point that last night seems like a horrid dream… no, a nightmare…”

“I feel that way too… but there’s no denying that it happened,” Lilith said, shivering slightly. “Our bodies are covered in mud, the mountain next to us has definitely just gone through a landslide, and some of the gifts we got from Zipangu are broken or missing—it must have happened in the fight and the landslide right after.”

Indeed, the signs of last night’s events were clearly visible. Yet it was something that Adam still could not accept. His body might be intact—at least from their examinations so far—but his psyche was another matter entirely.

Justinia… I used to look up to her, just as I looked up to all of the other heroes of legend… I read and listened to stories of her, not just in my hero training but while I was growing up… Even after I learned that not all monsters are evil, I still admired heroes like her…

“Adam, what is it!?” Lilith asked, noticing Adam’s distress. “Is it—Are you thinking about—about that fallen hero?”

“If she’s doing atrocities like this… then just how much truth is in the legends?” Adam said. “Just how much evil has been lost to the mists of time, or outright covered up? How many of those other heroes have been just as bad—no, worse than the monsters they fought?”

“Okay, stop right there,” Lilith said. “I can’t claim to know for sure what those ancient heroes were like, but I know a decent amount about what the heroes of today are like. And you do as well. We both met a lot of them in Lescatie, and—even after seeing the darker side of that city—can you still say that there’s nothing to be proud of in being a hero?”

Adam remembered those few days. He remembered every moment of that fierce, in which heroes and even fallen heroes fought to the end against a monster of legend.

“…You’re right,” Adam said. “And if my old friends were here, they’d no doubt be telling me the same thing…”

“And they wouldn’t exactly approve of me—but that’s not the point,” Lilith said. “The point is, Justinia doesn’t represent all heroes in the world. I’m sure if you revealed her to any other hero, they’d be just as horrified by her as we are right now. Now, Justinia is just another enemy to deal with… a really dangerous enemy, but not one who we should be questioning ourselves over.”

“Thank you, Lilith,” Adam said. “It’s ironic… I’m the one with years more experience with heroes, but it’s because of that experience that I feel so betrayed.”

“It’s not really something to be ashamed of,” Lilith said. “The only reason I’m okay—relatively—is that I was raised to fear and hate heroes.”

“Anyway, Lilith, I think I can stand on my own,” Adam said. “Let me go, and I’ll see just how much my body has changed…”

-ooo-

Ten minutes later, Adam was running through the woods, leaping over logs and weaving through gaps in the undergrowth. He was moving in a way that was unimaginable for someone who’d been mortally wounded the previous night.

“Are you still feeling okay!?” Lilith asked, rubbing alongside Adam.

“It doesn’t hurt anywhere, and I don’t feel tired in the slightest,” Adam said. “If anything, I feel—my body feels more energetic than before!”

Adam spotted a bush with wild berries up ahead. Without even slowing down, he picked a handful of the berries from the bush, then popped a couple into his mouth.

“My appetite seems normal as well,” Adam said. “Though I’ll refrain from eating too much until I’m more used to this body.”

A lake came into view, and the two of them slowed to a stop at the shores of said lake. Adam bent down and took several gulps of water. He then looked at his reflection in the lake’s surface.

“The only clear differences are that I now have demonic energy, and my eyes have changed,” Adam said. “They’re the same colour as yours now, Lilith.”

Lilith looked away, hiding her red eyes from sight. “W-Well, anyway, it looks like you have my energy in you now, and I’m not sure if this is temporary or if you’ll be like this forever. I’ve never heard of anything like this happening before…”

Adam held up his palm and a ball of magical light appeared above it. This was among the most basic of spells, so basic that it could easily be done without any incantation or gesture, but it was still a spell meant for humans.

“I can cast magic normally, despite now having demonic energy running through my veins,” Adam said. “Though it does feel slightly different from before… but that could just be due to the life-changing experience of last night.”

“But like this, you’ll have trouble going near any human towns or villages,” Lilith pointed out. “Anyone who’s experienced with monsters will be able to sense your demonic energy… unless you put on my bracelet, but we only have one of that. And I’m not sure if you’ll be able to hide it on your own like I can.”

The demonic energy-suppressing bracelet from Zipangu was, like many of the gifts from there, a rare and difficult-to-make item. It hadn’t even been possible for the Zipangans to provide Adam and Lilith with a spare in case the first bracelet was destroyed or lost.

“You don’t need to apologise for that,” Adam said, forestalling Lilith’s concerns. “It’s a miracle that you managed to even save my life. No, I shouldn’t call it that—it downplays the effort you put in to save me.”

Adam looked directly at Lilith, who hesitantly met his gaze. The two of them spent quite some time just looking at each other.

The edge of a lake, in the soft light of the morning sun… it was a perfect place for people to deepen their bonds, especially after abstaining for so long…

Adam and Lilith turned away from each other so quickly that the former felt a pain in his neck. It was, ironically, the first pain that Adam had felt this morning. But he didn’t care about that right now.

W-What on earth was I just thinking!?

Adam glanced back at Lilith, who picked this moment to do exactly the same thing. The two of them turned away from each other again, their faces both bright red.

I-It must just be the thrill of exerting myself, that can do strange things to one’s mind! That’s right, I remember hearing about this from… I think it was Marcus?

Adam exhaled, letting out some of the tension in his body. He looked up at some birds flying above the lake.

I need to focus on what’s important. I’ve retained my abilities, though my new form will require me to act differently from now on. And I won’t just need to hide my demonic energy, if that’s possible… I’ll also have to be careful around anyone who might recognise me, since it would be difficult to explain my new eye colour…

But… I do need to settle this issue between us. It’s something that has been languishing for too long…

-ooo-

After leaving the lake, Adam and Lilith climbed back up the mountain to search for their lost items. Adam had dropped his sword after receiving that mortal blow from Justinia, and both he and Lilith had dropped various things as they were tossed and turned around by the landslide.

The mountain was, needless to say, a big place. To have any hope of finding their lost items, they repeatedly sent out weak pulses of unfocused spirit or demonic energy, then waited for a response. This method worked because most of the items they’d lost were designed to channel magical energy. Incidentally, using this method would have been risky if Justinia was still around, but she must have moved on by now; even the most paranoid person wouldn’t stick around when her enemies had gone through multiple events that should have killed them.

But even after two hours of searching, the only item they were able to find was Adam’s sword. They couldn’t find any of the magical items they’d been given in Zipangu; presumably, those were too fragile to survive the landslide, and were now too damaged to be detected by Adam and Lilith’s searching method. Among the lost items was, ironically, the enchanted needle that they had used to track Justinia to this location.

“Still, it’s incredible how there isn’t even a single scratch on this sword,” Adam said, scanning the blade of his sword. “Kalk has certainly lived up his reputation. And there’s also barely any damage to my armour… the blacksmiths of the ancient desert kingdoms must have been skilled as well.”

“Though you still nearly died while in that armour,” Lilith said.

“But without it, I would have died on the spot, with no chance of being saved,” Adam replied. “Justinia’s sword looked to also be made of adamantite, from the way it clashed with my sword without receiving a single scratch. If I had been wearing my original steel armour, she would have cut through it like butter, along with my body.”

Lilith shivered. “Don’t say that. I’ve already had to see you in a near-death state, I have enough nightmares already.”

After another twenty minutes, they decided to end their search and head back to the woods at the base of the mountain.

-ooo-

Lunch was a relatively lavish affair, to make up for the fact that neither Adam nor Lilith had had much for breakfast. They gathered wild berries and tubers, and hunted for small animals.

While hunting, Adam came across a rather interesting animal: a frog with small horns on its head and a faint aura of demonic energy. Moreover, this frog didn’t try to hop away as Adam approached it.

This must be one of the animals that Lilith transformed, Adam thought, picking up the frog. I’ve never seen or heard of any horned frogs, and this behaviour is like no wild animal… At the same time, it doesn’t have any of a monster’s instinct to attack humans…

Adam decided to bring the strange frog back with him to camp. He set down the frog and it perched on a log, its eyes looking around for insects to eat.

Eventually, Lilith returned as well, carrying various foods in both arms.

“Oh, you found one of those?” Lilith said, setting down her load.

“I did,” Adam said. “And… it’s quite interesting. It went through the same transformation as me, yet the effects on its appearance and behaviour are different.”

“Yeah, that’s still something I don’t understand,” Lilith said. “It’s not just this frog—like I told you earlier, there’s a few other animals who are like this now. And a lot more that died—but I made sure to get the process right before I started on you!”

“It’s alright, I believe you, Lilith,” Adam said, chuckling slightly. “But it’s strange how all of those different animals were transformed in similar ways, yet only I retained my personality and—for the most part—my appearance.”

“Maybe it’s because of the differences in intelligence and power?” Lilith suggested. “Though this isn’t something I want to try testing anymore… anyway, let’s eat.”

Adam and Lilith set up a fire, cooked lunch and began to eat. The strange frog remained throughout their meal, occasionally shooting out its long tongue to catch an insect; a reminder that despite its transformation, it was still an animal.

For his part, Adam wolfed down his share of the lunch. It might have been due to eating little in the morning… but he couldn’t help but wonder if this was another aspect of his transformation.

At least I can eat normal food, Adam reassured himself. There are some monsters that don’t have that luxury, such as vampires…

Hmm, have I taken on the traits of the monster who transformed me? That would explain the eyes… succubi are capable of eating normal food, even if they’re generally known for feeding on something else.

Adam picked up a rabbit leg and stripped it to the bone in ten seconds.

Though if that’s the case… does that mean I now have the instincts of a succubus? I have no desire for men, but if this transformation has worked to increase my existing desire…

Adam looked at Lilith, who was currently absorbed in her own meal. Then he quickly looked away again.

-ooo-

After finishing lunch, Adam stood up and began exercising lightly by swinging his sword. He wanted—no, needed to fully understand every aspect of his new body, lest a mistake doom him at a crucial moment. He couldn’t afford to fall again, couldn’t afford to worry Lilith again.

Both of us cannot afford to die, Adam corrected himself. If she died… I’m not sure I’d be able to continue.

We both must become stronger. I wasn’t able to defeat that baphomet, even with the help of so many other heroes. Lilith, from her account, also had difficulty with that wight on top of the wall, and the battle could easily have ended differently. And both of us together weren’t able to do any significant damage to Justinia.

It may take months, it may take years, it may even take decades, but we must become strong enough to defeat such foes.

With that level of strength… would it be possible to end this cycle of killing?

It was a desperate wish. Strength alone would not change the god-granted instinct that drove monsters to attack humans. Without changing that, there could be no true peace. But the only way to change such a thing would be using the power of a god… yet even Poseidon had no prospect of doing that, not when there were other gods who wished to continue the cycle.

Come to think of it… the original Chief God was the one who made monsters this way… and the current Chief God is apparently a different person. Just what were the circumstances behind that passing-down of the title? Though I suppose it matters little, if the current Chief God continues their predecessor’s ‘population control’…

That reminded Adam of how Justinia, the hero who’d slain the last Demon Lord, was now slaying entire villages to—ostensibly—prevent the rise of another Demon Lord. The thought caused Adam to put more force into his practice swings.

I still can hardly believe it… but it’s the reality now. I must accept it.

…But perhaps… if I lost Lilith and fell to despair… would I fall down a similar path? Would I also decide that there was no way to oppose the gods, and the only option was to stall the cycle by… by controlling the human population?

It was easy to say that he’d never do it, that he was different. But during that encounter last night, he’d seen Justinia and heard her words… and heard the regret in them.

Adam charged his arms with spirit energy and then brought his sword down in a diagonal slash, cutting through the trunk of a tree and sending many tons of lumber crashing to the ground.

I cannot let myself fall down such a path. I cannot allow Lilith to die, nor can I die myself.

Adam began moving along the fallen tree, cutting it up into smaller pieces. On a couple of occasions, his sword became stuck in the wood, but he simply yanked it out whenever this happened. Eventually, he had reduced the tree to more than fifty chunks of wood, scattered amongst a bed of leaves.

But first… there is something I need to say to her, something that I should have said long ago.

Adam sheathed his sword and approached Lilith, who was currently sitting on the other side of the campfire and practicing her magic.

“What is it?” Lilith asked. “Do you want to train together?”

“While that would be a good idea, not now,” Adam said. “I have something else to say.”

Lilith seemed to notice the firmness in Adam’s words, because she stood up. “Wait, is something wrong with your body!?”

“No, this is something that I should have said to you earlier, but which I was… too cowardly to bring up,” Adam said. He looked into Lilith’s eyes, swallowed, and then continued. “Lilith… you and I have been travelling together for a long time. A few months might not seem that long when compared to the rest of our lives, but so much has happened in this period, and—I’ve made a mess of my words. I’ll get to the point.”

Adam took a deep breath and grasped Lilith’s hands with his own.

“Lilith… I love you.”

Lilith’s eyes widened. The succubus pulled her hands away and shook her head rapidly.

“This… This has to be a dream… There’s no way that…”

“This isn’t a dream, Lilith,” Adam said. “This is all real, and these are my real feelings.”

Lilith refused to look directly at Adam, but she jumped when he said these words.

“But I… it’s my fault that you’re like this now…” Lilith murmured, almost cried.

“That was because of Justinia,” Adam said. “And I’m not saying this because of my new body, because I’ve felt this way for long before that, before Lescatie, before even Zipangu. I love you for your bravery and compassion in going against the rest of your kind, and choosing not to prey on humans. I love you, the one who was willing to save a hero despite the risk to yourself. I love you for staying with me all this time, and fighting alongside me. And I love you for being willing to fight to change this world into something better.”

Lilith said nothing for a few moments, then slowly, hesitantly reached out and embraced Adam.

“…You really could have been a poet if you hadn’t become a hero,” Lilith said. “Just how am I supposed to match a confession like that?”

“Well, I’ve had a long time to think of these words,” Adam said, returning the embrace. “More importantly, I don’t mind how you answer, but I just had to tell you these words—”

“There’s only one answer I have: I love you too, Adam,” Lilith said. She then trembled and her next words were intermixed with sobs. “But… But we can’t do anything more than talk about it… all because… all because I’m a succubus…”

Adam knew this to be Lilith’s great trauma, the main reason for her rejection of other succubi. It was yet another reason to hate the original Chief God, for creating monsters who fundamentally could not interact properly with humans.

“Still, that doesn’t mean we can’t be together,” Adam pointed out.

“Maybe not, but it means we can’t do most of the things that proper lovers do!” Lilith retorted. “The most we can do is hug like this, and while it does feel good, we can’t—huh?”

Adam didn’t have to ask Lilith what was wrong, because he felt it as well: a sudden wave of energy that permeated his body. It didn’t feel harmful, it was more like… more like he’d just eaten a bite of fresh fruit while watching a beautiful scenery.

Despite the pleasantness of this sensation, the two of them still picked up their weapons and scanned their surroundings; they hadn’t come this far without being extremely cautious. But after half a minute passed, they realised that there were no enemies or any other dangers nearby.

“What just happened?” Lilith asked, still keeping her spear at the ready.

A strange possibility came to Adam’s mind. He sheathed his sword and said, “Lilith, why don’t we try repeating what we did before?”

“But before, we were… just hugging,” Lilith replied. “I… guess we could try?”

Lilith put her spear down and wrapped her arms around Adam, who returned the gesture. A few moments passed with the two of them feeling awkward—they had just been on guard against enemy attack, after all—but then they began to relax.

I never realised just how warm her body is, Adam thought. Those legends about monsters having literally cold blood… I already knew they were absurd, but—oh!

The wave of energy came again. It wasn’t a significant amount, and Adam could probably burn it all in less than a minute of exertion, but it was definitely there.

“Are you feeling the same thing, Lilith?” Adam asked, wanting to be certain. “This… This sudden wave of energy?”

“Yeah… and before you ask, I’ve never heard of any succubus being able to do this,” Lilith replied. “Is this… Is this because you’re something different now?”

“But even if that’s the case, how can we both be experiencing an increase in our energy levels?” Adam pointed out. “A succubus’ ability should only take energy from her partner…”

“Come to think of it, this shouldn’t be possible no matter what you are now,” Lilith said. “There shouldn’t be any way for energy to just increase out of nowhere. Plants get their energy from the sun, people and animals from eating…”

“It’s also possible, at least for human women, to absorb spirit energy from the surrounding environment,” Adam said. “But even if we were somehow doing that, with the amount of energy we’re gaining, there should be some disturbance in the spirit energy in the air… but I can’t sense anything like that.”

But as they continued hugging each other, Adam felt his energy further increase. It was a strange sensation, yet he didn’t feel like stopping.

“I’ve never felt anything like this before, but it feels nice,” Lilith said. “Just how in the world is this happening? If this is some kind of succubus ability, then someone should have discovered this before, unless…”

Lilith trailed off, so Adam asked, “Unless what?”

“No, it’s just a stupid idea I had, there’s no way it’s right,” Lilith said.

“Still, please tell me what it is,” Adam said. “It might prove to not be so stupid after all.”

“…It might be because no succubus ever liked any human before,” Lilith said. She immediately turned her face away. “I know, it’s stupid, there’s no way that the power of love could completely reverse a succubus’ ability…”

“But what if that is the case?” Adam said. “After all, don’t normal succubi rely on a different kind of emotion when preying on men?”

“You’re not wrong, but… well…”

Lilith trailed off and didn’t say anything for a few moments, long enough that Adam was about to ask her what she was thinking, only for her to speak up again.

“Adam, I’m… I’m just going to try something, okay? There shouldn’t be any danger for you, you can tell me right away if you want me to stop, and just in case, I’ll do this…”

Lilith took her arms off Adam. She raised her index finger, now glowing with purple light, and used it to trace out a magic circle on the back of Adam’s hand.

“This is just a simple spell… succubus mothers use it to keep track of their babies’ health, it sounds an alarm if something is wrong… I’ll link it this…”

Lilith traced a different magic circle on her own cheek. While Adam was no expert on succubus spells, he did notice that Lilith traced out a different series of shapes than when she’d set up the spell on his hand.

“Now, if you suffer any kind of harm, I’ll feel… I’ll feel like I’ve just been punched in the face,” Lilith said. Her face was rapidly growing redder. “This… This should work, but… if you feel sick or tired in any way, make sure you stop me right away… you can even hit me or throw me away…”

Adam blushed as well. “Lilith, are you suggesting…?”

“Is… Is this not okay…?” Lilith asked, keeping her eyes firmly on the ground.

“Well… I didn’t say that…” Adam said awkwardly.

Adam and Lilith sat there in silence for a while, fidgeting and unable to meet each other’s eyes.

“Then I’ll… I’ll start, okay?” Lilith said. “Again, you can tell me to stop at any time!”

Then Lilith nervously took hold of Adam’s face and moved in closer.

One thing led to another, and Adam didn’t tell Lilith to stop by the time night arrived… or by the next dawn… or at all for the next three days.

AN: I spent some time wondering about the ending of this chapter. I wondered if it might be out of character for Adam and Lilith’s relationship to proceed this quickly. Ultimately, I decided that it would be best to have them take the next step; I’ve already spent thirty chapters building up their relationship.

But please remember to leave a review and tell me what you think about this.

Chapter Text

AN: Here’s a new chapter. I’ll warn you in advance that this involves characters who are much less confident about sex than those in the typical MGE story, so there’s lots of blushing and lots of ellipses…

Adam was surrounded by a warm darkness. He felt so comfortable that he had no desire to move a muscle. But the sounds of woodland animals intruded on the darkness, and he gradually began to stir.

He didn’t open his eyes just yet. For now, he focused on the input from his non-visual senses. As his mind cleared, he could recognise the different calls and what animals they came from. He also began to realise that the warmth surrounding him wasn’t even; instead, it was particularly intense to his left and in a line across his chest.

This is… the warmth of another person? And it’s… even warmer than normal…

Adam snapped his eyes open. He now saw that Lilith was lying to his left, her arm on top of him. And her face was just inches away from his own…

If Adam had more experience with such situations, he might have been able to react in a calm and composed manner. But he had no experience at all, so he reacted by screaming and abruptly sitting up.

Naturally, Lilith woke up from the commotion. She blinked in confusion for a few seconds, then screamed as well. She rolled away from Adam, grabbed at her clothes—which were scattered around nearby—and used them to cover up her naked body.

It was only at this point that Adam realised he was naked as well. He looked around desperately and found his own clothes scattered nearby. He snatched them up and quickly pulled them on, but quickly realised that he couldn’t find his shirt anywhere. He also couldn’t find his armour nearby, which would normally have alarmed him since it meant he was vulnerable to attack, but right now he cared more about not being fully dressed.

Before—that wasn’t a dream or anything—that was real! I—what should I—

Adam couldn’t think of anything to say that would neatly resolve this situation. In the end, he took the coward’s way out.

“I’m going to go over there—do some morning training—call me if you need anything!”

After saying this, Adam ran off into the woods.

-ooo-

Roughly ten minutes later, Adam was fully dressed and was somewhere on the west side of the mountain’s base, in an area where there was less vegetation and more exposed rock.

Adam brought down his sword, cleaving a boulder in two with a single slash. He then marvelled at the results. The boulder was relatively small, its diameter being roughly half a man’s height, but it was still solid stone and Adam shouldn’t have been able to cleave it so easily.

It’s not quite as easy as cutting through butter, but it’s close, Adam thought. And…

Adam glanced at the remains of several other boulders, and also several logs, that he’d cut into pieces.

Even after all that exertion, even without trying to pace myself, I’m not even sore. I feel like I could keep going for fifty or even a hundred more of these. On top of that, I haven’t even drawn any energy from my diamond.

That was another strange occurrence. Three days ago, Adam’s energy-storing diamond had been depleted thanks to the fierce fighting in Lescatie and against Justinia. Now, it was completely refilled, something that would normally take a week or more. And the same was likely true for Lilith’s diamond.

When that thought entered his mind, Adam shook his head rapidly and then hacked away at another boulder, reducing it to rubble.

I… can’t believe… we did that… and we didn’t stop for three days!

It was now clear that the recent events weren’t merely a dream. But that didn’t mean Adam had any idea of how to deal with them properly. All he could do was fall back on old habits and try to distract himself through training.

I… I didn’t think we’d go nearly that far… I didn’t think we’d lose control like that…

Adam infused his sword with spirit energy, causing it to glow a brilliant white. He brought it down and an arc of white power shot out from the blade, splitting the earth in two. When the dust cleared, there was a rift in the earth deep enough to completely conceal a man and longer than several houses. The sight of this destruction was enough to make Adam, even in his current state, pause.

And I’ve definitely grown stronger… It’s not just that I’m full of energy, I can also use more of that energy at once than I could before… I’ve improved by at least as much as I did in Zipangu…

Adam took one hand off his sword and looked at it closely. His hand was visually identical to before, but Adam could discern a strong aura of spirit energy surrounding it, mixed with a fainter but still strong traces of demonic energy.

As Adam examined his hand, he heard a deep boom in the distance, accompanied by a pulse of demonic energy. Lilith was presumably also distracting herself with training.

Adam hesitated, but decided to head in Lilith’s direction. He couldn’t just hide himself forever, no matter how much he wanted to.

It took less than a minute for Adam to reach Lilith, by simply running through the woods while deftly avoiding obstacles. While he could move that quickly before, he generally didn’t unless there was an emergency. Now… he felt so full of energy that he no longer bothered.

He found Lilith sitting on a log in a large clearing. Judging from her expression, she wasn’t sitting down because she was tired, but because she was stunned by what she could now achieve. It was an expression that Adam imagined had been on his own face earlier.

And the clearing that Lilith was in was clearly unnatural. Adam spotted several fallen trees next to broken stumps, all drenched in water. Nearby were more fallen trees that had been cut down cleanly by a single slash—the angles of the cuts were identical. A third group of trees were still standing but were entirely coatd in ice, and said ice had yet to begin melting despite being exposed to the sun. Finally, there was a mound of soil with leaves protruding from it, which Adam realised was a fourth group of trees.

Water, wind, ice and earth magic… Only fire and lightning have been left out, to avoid starting a forest fire…

But I can’t keep distracting myself. I have to… I have to face her.

“Lilith, are you alright?” Adam asked.

Lilith took a few seconds to respond, and when she did, she kept her eyes on the ground. “I… I’m fine. It’s just… well, it’s as you can see. I did all this, using just the energy in my own body, and I’m not even tired… I’m guessing you’re the same?”

Adam nodded. However, he couldn’t think of what to say next, so a few moments passed in awkward silence. Adam sat down next to Lilith on the log, and spent the time thinking of what to say.

“Lilith… this might be an awkward question, but… you don’t feel pain anywhere, do you?” Adam eventually asked, while trying to keep his expression neutral.

“No, why?” Lilith said. “Are you feeling pain anywhere?”

Adam’s attempt at keeping a neutral expression failed completely, as his cheeks burned with embarrassment and his eyes twitched.

“No… it’s just that… well…” Adam said, trying to at least sound normal. “Something my friends used to say… back when they were still around… was that it could hurt… after… after doing it for too long…”

Lilith took a second to realise what Adam meant by “it”, then she flinched. “I—I’m fine! If anything, I’m happy after that—no, I mean, I’m just—”

With her own cheeks bright red, Lilith turned away and hid her face with her hands. Her body trembled from head to toe. The sight left Adam lost for words again.

No… I came here to settle this matter! I can’t just run away again!

“Lilith… are you alright with talking about a slightly different topic?” Adam asked.

After a few seconds of hesitation, Lilith nodded.

“Well… then let’s talk about our newfound strength,” Adam said. “It might sound strange, but I believe it’s because of what we… have been doing for the past few days.”

Just bringing this up made Adam tremble as well. It was ridiculous—he was a grown man who knew perfectly well what sexual intercourse was—but he couldn’t stop his nervousness.

Slowly, hesitantly, Lilith turned to face Adam. She met his eyes, the two of them flinched, but neither looked away.

“That’s true, but… there’s no way that this can let us get energy for free,” Lilith said. “It just can’t be possible. This energy has to be coming from somewhere.”

“Probably… that’s something to investigate further,” Adam said. “Perhaps we could head back to the sea and ask Poseidon about it?”

“I’d be ready to do anything to get answers,” Lilith replied. “But first, what should we do about Justinia? She must have moved on by now, but we don’t know where she went… I’m not saying we should fight her, obviously, but what if she finds us again?”

“Hmm… could you change both of our appearances, like you did when we were investigating the Lescatie underworld?” Adam asked. “That probably won’t be enough to fool her directly, but it should stop her from hearing of us from anyone she talks to.”

“That should work… okay, hold still…”

Lilith turned her hair blonde and her eyes green; similar to the appearance she had in Lescatie, except that currently she still had her succubus features. She then approached Adam—causing both of them to get nervous from the close proximity—and placed a hand on his head. A wave of magic washed over Adam, then Lilith took her hand away just a little too quickly.

Adam ran a hand through his hair and caught a loose hair between his fingers. It was bright red as opposed to his natural dark brown.

“I left your eyes the same since, well, they’re already different from before,” Lilith said.

“This should be enough,” Adam said.

“Then, um, should we get started…?” Lilith said, keeping her eyes on the ground.

Adam suddenly remembered that their usual method of travelling quickly involved Lilith flying while carrying him. It was something that Adam had been able to endure before, even with his suppressed feelings for her, but after the events of the past three days…

But we can’t just walk that distance, it would be a waste of time that would be better spent on other things…

Then Adam had an idea. “How about I run while you fly?” he suggested. “It would be a good way to test the limits of my new body.”

“O-Okay,” Lilith said. “Sorry about this…”

“It’s not your fault,” Adam said. “It’s just… It’s just… something we should do for now.”

-ooo-

For the next few hours, Adam ran across the landscape with the speed of a horse at full gallop. Lilith flew somewhere above him, invisible. They had been maintaining this pace ever since they left the mountains, yet neither of them had tired yet. That was normal for Lilith, who could cover distance more efficiently while flying, but the previous Adam would have collapsed in exhaustion after less than an hour.

Adam was also wearing the demonic energy-suppressing bracelet now. Unlike Lilith, he had no practice at keeping his demonic energy hidden, so anyone who was experienced at fighting monsters could potentially sense his transformation. Wearing the bracelet made Adam feel like he was wrapped in an invisible blanket, but he could only put up with the sensation for now.

Along the way, the two of them saw a few villages in the distance, but they kept away from these. The chance of them running into anyone Adam knew was low, but if that did happen, it would be awkward to explain his new eye colour.

Their bodies’ reserves weren’t infinite, so Adam and Lilith stopped when noon arrived. However, they didn’t have lunch as usual…

When Lilith landed and became visible again, Adam froze. The sight of her slightly covered in sweat caused him to have a number of related physiological reactions. And Lilith noticed these reactions, judging from the way she blushed and looked away.

After a few moments of awkward silence, Lilith said, “Well… while we don’t know exactly why we’re stronger all of a sudden… it doesn’t seem like it’s harmful or anything, so… we could try… try doing it again?”

Lilith’s voice became incredibly faint towards the end, but Adam had no trouble hearing her. It seemed as if one ability of his new body was to always understand her.

“I… don’t have any problems with that,” Adam said, trying—and failing—to not sound eager.

With a mix of trepidation and anticipation, the two of them moved closer to each other.

…While they didn’t keep going for three days this time, they nevertheless continued until night arrived. And neither of them felt hungry at all, but they still gathered some food to eat, just to maintain some semblance of normality.

-ooo-

Two days later, they reached the coast. The journey had been uneventful, at least in the sense that they hadn’t encountered anything dangerous. However… Adam and Lilith hadn’t been able to keep their hands off each other… or their lips… or various other body parts that made Adam blush just thinking about them.

Never have I been so glad that my old friends are no longer around. Not because they wouldn’t approve of me… being with a monster, but because they’d be absolutely merciless about us acting like… like insatiable newlyweds…

And yet… it feels like we’re even stronger now… though we’ve yet to test that in a true fight. So we… for multiple reasons… cannot stop…

But the sea was now in sight, so Adam put these thoughts to the side for now.

Adam and Lilith stepped into the water. They still had Poseidon’s charms with them, so they felt no discomfort.

Come to think of it, we can stay underwater for as long as we want… so just what would it feel like if we—

Adam pinched his face to banish that thought. It didn’t work at first, so he pinched himself again.

Lilith cleared her throat and said, “Poseidon, if it’s alright with you, we need your help again!”

A few seconds later, a volume of water changed colour, forming the appearance of a tall woman with sea-green eyes and hair, who wore a gown woven from water currents and ice crystals.

“I am here,” Poseidon said with a motherly smile. “Now, what is the mat…ter?”

Poseidon looked closely at Adam, who flinched at the attention; even now, he still felt nervous under the gaze of a literal goddess.

“Your eyes and… you now have demonic energy?” Poseidon said, her eyes wide. “In addition to spirit energy? Just what has happened to you?”

That question naturally caused Adam and Lilith to remember the events that led to the former’s transformation… and also what happened soon afterwards. They blushed simultaneously.

“…It seems that quite a lot has happened since our last meeting,” Poseidon said. “Then could you explain it all, starting from the beginning?”

Adam took a deep breath to calm himself down, then said, “Well, after our last meeting with you, we spent a month in Zipangu to train ourselves…”

Over the next quarter of an hour, Adam and Lilith talked about their time in Lescatie and the fierce battle that had left the city gutted, then they talked about the fallen hero Justinia. The latter caused Poseidon brought a hand to her mouth.

“I’ve lived for a long time and seen many things… but I’ve never seen anyone who’s chosen a path like that,” Poseidon said. “For that to be the true reason for the massacres… She must be stopped. A peace sustained by slaughtering people like livestock is no true peace at all.”

“That’s true, but it might be difficult to, well, stop her,” Lilith said. “We tried, and…”

The explanation concluded with the revelation of Adam being mortally wounded, then healed by Lilith by transforming him into a completely different being, and then… and then they took the next step in their relationship, which apparently resulted in them both inexplicably growing stronger.

“It’s strange, but… it seems to be the only explanation,” Adam said. “Ours is the only known case of… of a human and a succubus being together as something other than prey and predator.”

“But it can’t be that easy, can it?” Lilith said. “There’s no way people can grow stronger just from… just from this?”

Poseidon rubbed her chin thoughtfully. “I’ve never heard of anything that’s the same as what you two have achieved… However, I should point out that energy can, in fact, be created from nothing. That is what the original Chief God did when creating this world, after all…”

“But we’re not gods, and the only god we have contact with is you, Poseidon,” Adam pointed out.

“That’s true… though I do wonder about the mysterious voice that Lilith heard while she was transforming you,” Poseidon said. “I always thought I was alone in my opinions, but… I wonder if I should try talking to some of the other gods…”

The prospect of having more gods on their side was encouraging. It didn’t fully compensate for the multiple gods that were on the side of preserving the status quo, including the most powerful god of all, but it helped.

“To get a better understanding of this phenomenon, I would need to…” Poseidon said, before trailing off.

“What would you need to do?” Adam asked.

Poseidon blushed. “I… well… I would need to see it for myself. You grow stronger each time you… couple… don’t you?”

That caused Adam and Lilith to blush as well. They glanced at each other, then turned away.

“That’s… not wrong…” Adam admitted.

“Of course, this is your choice!” Poseidon added quickly. “I won’t force you into anything!”

Adam and Lilith nervously glanced at each other again. This time, they didn’t look away.

This increased strength we have is undeniable… and we aren’t in a situation where we can afford to not use it. But to do this in front of someone else…

Judging from the look on her face, Lilith was thinking the exact same thing. The two of them seemed to be perfectly synchronised with each other.

“That’s… alright…” Adam said.

“We have to… find out what this is…” Lilith added.

Poseidon nodded, though she was clearly embarrassed at her own suggestion. “Then… to make you more comfortable, I’ll disperse this avatar…”

The avatar of Poseidon reverted to normal, transparent water.

It looked like Adam was going to find out earlier than expected what it was like to have sexual intercourse underwater. But Adam looked at Lilith, who was trembling just as much as he was. This… was not the mood for intimate activities.

“I guess we’d better start,” Lilith said. “We… have to know what’s going on…”

Lilith placed her hands on Adam’s face. Her warmth went a long way towards dispelling Adam’s nervousness.

We’d better finish this quickly. We don’t want to… to make a god wait for longer than necessary…

-ooo-

Thirty minutes later, Adam and Lilith separated and silently dressed themselves. Despite their earlier trepidation, they had become quite enthusiastic once they had started.

Poseidon recreated an avatar of herself out of water. She was unable to meet Adam or Lilith’s eyes.

After an awkward silence that seemed to stretch on for multiple minutes, Lilith asked, “So… did you figure anything out?”

“Well, I learned just that young ones can be quite energe—no, that’s not important!” Poseidon said, her eyes flicking around. “As a matter of fact, I did learn something about your mutual increase in strength!”

That caught Adam’s attention. “What did you learn?”

“It seems that when Lilith absorbs spirit energy from you, she gains demonic energy that’s greater than what’s been absorbed,” Poseidon explained. “And she returns—apparently unconsciously—a portion of that energy to you, so the overall result is that you both have more energy than before. As for the increase in strength, that seems to be a phenomenon similar to a river’s banks being widened by a stronger flow of water.”

“But a succubus’ energy drain shouldn’t increase the total amount of energy,” Lilith said. “And while I didn’t pay much attention to my lessons on that, for obvious reasons, I remember hearing that it absorbs a little less energy than the victim loses… some of the energy is just wasted into the air.”

“And if this increase in strength is because of that, then could that potentially harm our bodies?” Adam asked. “It sounds like quite a forceful method of growing stronger…”

“Regarding the issue you raised, Lilith: I’m not sure, but it seems that energy is being created from nothing. I can’t feel either of you taking in any energy from the environment,” Poseidon said. “As for your question, Adam: I can’t feel any problems with either of your bodies, so it seems that it should be harmless… for now, at least.”

They now had divine confirmation that it was possible for a human and a succubus in love to mutually strengthen themselves through sexual intercourse. It was absolutely nonsensical, it was the kind of thing that would never be mentioned even in the most badly written of stories, but it was their reality.

“I’m sorry I cannot be of more help to you…” Poseidon said.

“No, this is already extremely helpful,” Adam said. “Thanks to your advice, we’re now in a better position to decide on our next move.”

“It’s still hard to believe, but we have to accept it,” Lilith said. “Thank you, Poseidon.”

“I’m always here for you to call on,” Poseidon said with a smile. “And if you ever want to continue—no, never mind! Just call on me if you need my help again!”

The image of Poseidon disappeared again… though Adam could swear that he saw her blushing as she left.

With that divine consultation over, Adam and Lilith slowly walked back to the shore. When they left the water, the cold winds of late autumn blew over their wet bodies, yet neither of them shivered; another benefit of Poseidon’s charms. Still, Lilith summoned up a small flame to dry herself and Adam.

“That’s one question answered… partially, at least,” Adam said. “We now know that we can… continue doing this, and it should be beneficial rather than harmful.”

Lilith opened her mouth to speak, but then snapped it shut.

“What’s the matter, Lilith?” Adam asked.

“I was just going to say… that even if we didn’t get a good answer from Poseidon, I’m not sure either us would be willing to stop,” Lilith said.

Both Adam and Lilith blushed and looked away. But the latter’s words couldn’t be denied. The two of them had an unbreakable bond, and now they also desired each other on a fundamental level.

“More importantly,” Adam said, trying to change the subject, “where should we go next?”

“Lescatie was in bad shape the last time we saw it, but starting to heal,” Lilith said, though there was still some red in her cheeks. “Apart from that… while we were in Lescatie, didn’t we hear about the Dragai Empire? That country where dragons are tortured into serving as mounts for humans?”

“Yes, that sounds like a good place for us to visit,” Adam said. “And with our newfound strength, we should be able to make a difference there.”

Though of course, strength alone would not be enough to change a society. For that to work, they would need to have local support as well… And in any case, they were still far from being the strongest in the world.

“Then let’s get moving,” Lilith said. She looked at Adam. “Um, I’ve calmed down compared to a few days ago, so should I start carrying you now? I mean, you’ve already gotten used to your new body, and it would be faster if we fly…”

Adam still felt a little embarrassment at the prospect, but he nodded and replied, “Yes, that’s alright.”

Lilith wrapped her arms around Adam. The action made Adam’s heart thump in anticipation of more, but he was able to control himself enough that he didn’t react in any other way. Then Lilith spread her wings and took off.

As they flew through the air, Adam felt the wind even more strongly than before. It seemed that Lilith, no longer needing to slow herself down to keep pace with Adam, could fly even faster than she could five days ago. Now, Adam suspected she was faster than any bird and as fast as a harpy or other flight-specialised monster.

Adam looked up at his partner. Illuminated in the crimson rays of the evening sun, she had never looked so beautiful before.

At that moment, Lilith put just a little more pressure into her arms around Adam. She could sense just what he was thinking… and she clearly liked it.

-ooo-

The Great Dragai Empire was a remote country to the north, so remote that Adam had spent most of his life knowing almost nothing about it. He’d certainly never expected to visit it in person. But with Lilith’s improved flight speed, it took them just two hours to reach it after they left the coast.

The sun had fully set when Adam and Lilith arrived, so they weren’t able to see the landscape quite as clearly as if it was still daytime. Still, the light of the last quarter moon was bright enough for them to discern the outlines of countless mountains, some of which dwarfed any mountain they’d ever seen before.

And they could also discern the lights of fires and the silhouettes of people running around. They could hear frenzied cries and the clash of metal against metal. These were the unmistakeable signs of battle.

AN: Now the story is on an unstoppable course towards canon.

And now you know why Poseidon will later want to be monsterised.

Chapter Text

This wasn’t what Lilith and Adam had been expecting… though considering the nature of this country, perhaps it shouldn’t have been a surprise.

“I’ll land near that village, so we can find out just what’s going on!” Lilith said.

Lilith changed the angle of her wings, setting herself and Adam on a downward trajectory. The sounds of battle grew louder as they descended, and Lilith could soon clearly make out the screams of people dying. But she couldn’t descend any faster without running the risk of a crash landing, and while that probably wouldn’t be fatal for them, it would leave them less able to help anyone.

Finally, Lilith’s feet touched the ground. She let go of Adam, who smoothly made his own landing, and the two of them drew their weapons.

At least a quarter of the village buildings were on fire, and there were several buildings that had already crumbled into ash. Additionally, there were some buildings that had been reduced to wooden chunks by physical impact, rather than fire.

As for the villagers… most were running and trying to find shelter somewhere, anywhere. A few were bloodstained corpses or charred ashes, and Lilith spotted one corpse that had been bitten in half by a large monster. There were some villagers who were still fighting, using axes and bows, but it was clear they were outmatched.

The ones attacking the village were dragon knights. Three humans in plate armour, with helms modelled after the fearsome heads of dragons, and wielding swords and lances that gleamed with magical power. They were accompanied by wyverns: reptilian monsters larger than horses and with their forelimbs modified into wings. The dragon knights were outnumbered by the villagers to an incredible degree, yet none of them showed any signs of injury or even fatigue.

Monsters and humans fighting together… Lilith thought, as she quickly disguised her succubus features. No, not exactly…

On closer inspection, Lilith saw countless old scars on the bodies of the wyverns. Yet according to what Lilith knew, wyverns and other dragon-type monsters had potent regenerative abilities. For these wyverns to have so many scars, they would have had to been injured both severely and very often…

“What should we do?” Lilith asked, just loudly enough to be heard over the commotion.

“Let’s find out just what’s going on,” Adam replied. “Of course, while being prepared for the worst…”

Adam moved forward so that his sword and armour were shining in the light of a nearby fire. As expected, he immediately caught the eye of one of the dragon knights, one who rode a blue wyvern and wore armour of the same colour. Lilith stayed back in the shadows.

“You… Who the hell are you!?” the dragon knight demanded, raising his lance. He sounded like a young man no older than twenty.

“I am Hero Adam, from the town of Merith!” Adam shouted back in response. “Just what are you doing in this village!?”

This attracted the attention of the other two dragon knights, who approached from multiple sides, weapons at the ready and wyverns snarling in anger. An intimidating sight for most people… but for Lilith and Adam, who were opposing the very order of the world and had already faced stronger opponents, it wasn’t nearly enough to make them falter.

“I… what should we do about them!?” the first dragon knight asked of his allies. “I’ve never met outsiders before…”

“Get out of Dragai!” another dragon knight said towards Lilith and Adam. This one rode a black wyvern and wore black armour. “This is an internal problem, there’s no need for you to be here!”

Adam glanced to the side at a group of cowering villagers. “And what problem is that, exactly?”

The first dragon knight lowered his head, seeming ashamed about something. The other two, however…

“Kill him!” shouted the third dragon knight, who wore red armour and had a feminine voice.

At this command, the dragon knight’s red wyvern opened its mouth. But before it could breathe fire on Adam, Lilith raised her spear and cast a powerful ice spell. The dragon knight and her mount were both covered in ice, so thickly that nothing more than their outlines could be seen.

With one temporarily immobilised, Lilith leaped towards a second dragon knight, the one in black armour, trusting Adam to deal with the third. She impaled the knight in the chest and knocked him off his mount… or at least she tried to, in the case of the former. Her spear pierced into the knight’s armour but didn’t reach his flesh.

And Lilith didn’t have time to deal the finishing blow. She withdrew her spear and quickly jumped up to a nearby roof, just in time to avoid the snapping jaws of the dragon knight’s black wyvern.

Lilith heard loud cracking in the distance. A quick glance confirmed that the previous dragon knight was half-free from Lilith’s ice.

To avoid being overwhelmed by numbers, Lilith cast another ice spell at the nearest wyvern, pinning it to the ground. She then jumped down and attempted to finish off the dragon knight, but he’d already gotten to his feet and was ready for a fight. Lilith thrust her spear at the knight’s head, but he blocked it with his sword.

“Why are you doing this!?” Lilith demanded, as she traded blows with the black knight. “Why are you attacking this village!?”

“They’re rebels!” the black knight replied, delivering a powerful slash that forced Lilith back. “They rose up against their rightful leaders! For that they must die! And for getting in our way, you two will die as well!”

Lilith charged up her spear with lightning magic and then thrust it at her opponent, who blocked it with his sword… and then his body jerked as it was ravaged by the lightning. He crumpled to the ground.

Then Lilith leapt to the side to avoid a blast of fiery breath. The black wyvern had broken free from its icy bonds, taken flight and then begun attacking Lilith.

Fighting dragons head-on… it’s something I wouldn’t have even dreamt of before… but now I can do it! Now I don’t have to cower in fear anymore!

Lilith took flight herself and darted towards the black wyvern. The lesser dragon opened its mouth, presumably intending to either breathe fire again or bite off her head… only for Lilith’s spear to enter its mouth and pierce its skull from within.

The black wyvern immediately stopped flapping its wings, causing it to plummet to the ground. Lilith tugged on her spear but, with her complete lack of stable footing, she wasn’t able to pull it free. She therefore jumped away to avoid being crushed under the wyvern.

When she landed, Lilith approached the dragon knight she’d just been fighting. Despite taking a dose of lightning that would kill a normal human dozens of times over, he was standing once more, albeit unsteadily. Lilith didn’t waste any time; she placed her hands on both sides of the knight’s helm and twisted, snapping his neck.

Lilith turned around and saw that the blue knight and wyvern had also fallen. But the last ones, the red knight and wyvern that Lilith had initially frozen in ice, were now engaged in battle with Adam. More specifically, Adam had jumped onto the back of the wyvern and was now grappling with the knight. The last surviving wyvern writhed around, apparently not caring if it threw its rider off in addition to its enemy. In the process, it smashed a house into rubble and splinters.

I have to help… but I can’t do it without the risk of hitting Adam! Unless—

Lilith directed her attention to the earth. While earth magic wasn’t something that succubi were normally good with—they were monsters that enjoyed the freedom of the air, after all—Lilith had gotten much better at it after… recent events. She was therefore able to make the earth rise up and engulf the wyvern’s wings and legs, holding it in one place. Even then the wyvern struggled, with enough force to send tremors through the earth.

But now that her other target wasn’t moving so much, Lilith had a clear shot. She raised her spear and fired off an arrow of ice, which struck the remaining dragon knight in the shoulder and knocked her to the ground. While this wasn’t enough to penetrate the knight’s armour, the attack did create an opportunity for Adam to jump down and pierce her through the heart.

“Damn… you…” the dragon knight said, choking on her own blood. “You will not escape retribution for this… both of you will burn in dragonfire for—”

Adam pulled his sword out and then used it to cut off the knight’s head. “Your allies may try,” he said, “but they will never succeed. That, I promise you.”

Then Adam looked back at the red wyvern, which had now almost freed itself from the earth. He didn’t attempt to finish it off, however.

“Lilith, do you think there’s any chance of saving this one?” Adam asked.

This question initially confused Lilith… just enough for her rage to cool down. Then she realised that the red wyvern wasn’t the only survivor of the force that had attacked this village. She sensed the spirit energy of the first dragon knight to have spoken, the young one in blue armour who seemed to have some doubts about his mission.

I didn’t even realise Adam left him alive… Just how angry was I? I’ve never been that angry before… Is this because Adam means something different to me now?

But right now, there’s something else to worry about…

“I might be able to calm it down with magic… but I’ve never tried anything like this on a dragon,” Lilith replied.

“It’s worth a try, regardless,” Adam said. “They are victims as well, in a sense…”

Lilith nodded. She first extinguished the fires in the village using ice magic, then approached the red wyvern. It breathed fire at her, but Lilith blocked it with a magical shield and continued approaching. She then cast a sleep spell using more than ten times the usual power. The wyvern’s head drooped, but it still remained half-conscious, a testament to its magical resistance. Lilith repeated her spell using even more power, and the wyvern finally fell asleep.

“Keep an eye on that other knight,” Lilith said, placing her hands on the wyvern’s head. “I can’t afford to be distracted.”

Adam nodded, and then Lilith dived into the wyvern’s mind.

-ooo-

While in the wyvern’s mind, Lilith looked down at her body. As usual, she had her true appearance in here, rather than a disguise.

Now then… first, I need to find out who this wyvern is, and why they’re acting like this.

Lilith imagined the wyvern hatching from an egg. She was soon surrounded by warm, moist darkness. Then there was blindingly bright light, followed by the sight of pieces of eggshell.

The wyvern fully emerged from her egg—now that she was in their mind, Lilith could discern the wyvern’s sex. The wyvern was surrounded by the remains of other eggs and by several other infant red wyverns. Nearby was the mother wyvern, a monster so big she could likely devour an entire horse and not be satisfied.

For what seemed to be a few weeks, the red wyvern and her siblings were raised by their mother. Each one was given a name, with the red wyvern’s being… an unpronounceable set of syllables that apparently meant “Sunheart”. Their mother taught them how to find food, how to avoid larger dragons and how to find shelter. When their wings were sufficiently developed, they began learning how to fly, a process that involved a lot of mishaps and hard falls. It reminded Lilith of her own experiences growing up.

Once all of the young wyverns could fly, they were abandoned by their mother. Some tried to follow her, but the mother simply knocked them away with a casual flap of her wings. This part was definitely nothing like succubus childcare…

Over the next few years, the wyverns grew up in the mountains of the Great Dragai Empire. They initially stayed in one group, but competition for food eventually caused them to split up and form their own territories. One of them even died during these competitions, though he was not mourned by Sunheart or by any of the other wyverns… that was simply their culture.

When Sunheart was about three years old, she came across a caravan of seemingly unarmed merchants travelling through the mountains. The smell of the humans was incredibly delicious—just as it was incredibly disgusting for Lilith, reliving this memory—and the wyvern attacked immediately. But these humans noticed the wyvern approaching, and they pulled out weapons hidden in their carriages. After a short and bloody battle, two of the humans were dead, three more were seriously injured, and Sunheart was restrained in an enchanted net.

And from that point on, the nightmare began.

Sunheart was kept in a steel cage, next to many others in their own cages. Human handlers threw in hunks of raw meat every day, which the wyverns devoured completely, not even leaving bones behind. The cages were occasionally flushed using water from buckets, roughly cleaning the wyverns and removing accumulated waste. It was the kind of treatment that even livestock didn’t receive… and that wasn’t all.

Whenever a wyvern snapped at a human, they were punished by being cut using special tools consisting of carved wyvern claws on long sticks. The more aggressive a wyvern was, the more cuts they received. Sunheart was among the more aggressive ones in this group, and she received an enormous number of cuts. The shame and humiliation of being imprisoned by mere humans was unbearable.

At one point, the wyverns were taken out of their cages for exercise. One of the other wyverns took this opportunity to maul a human handler… only to be surrounded and attacked repeatedly by the other handlers. Once they were done, the wyvern’s originally yellow scales were stained red with blood. This was a demonstration of what would happen to any wyvern that dared to resist.

When the red wyvern was about ten years old, she no longer snapped at the handlers. None of the wyverns did. Their pride as draconic monsters had been completely broken, and they no longer even wanted to kill and eat humans. They just wanted to survive another day without feeling that pain. And while they had now learned how to speak the language of the humans, none of them tried to speak even a single word. There was no point, after all.

Eventually, the red wyvern and several others were brought out from their cages, rinsed with bucketfuls of water, fitted with saddles and brought to an open field. They were paraded in front of a crowd of what were clearly nobles, judging from their fine clothing. This was the first time the red wyvern had ever seen noble humans, as both the humans who’d captured her and the humans who’d trained her were commoners—“geytar”, to use the local term.

“These are the finest wyverns we’ve ever reared!” said one of the human handlers, with a little nervousness in his voice. “I’m sure that they will make fine mounts for Dragon Riders!”

One by one, the nobles began mounting the wyverns and riding them for short distances, while a senior noble judged their performance. Those that were deemed satisfactory received the title of Dragon Rider, and the wyvern they rode was assigned as their personal mount. Throughout this entire process, the wyverns were completely obedient.

The red wyvern’s turn arrived. She was eventually assigned to a noblewoman with distinctive blonde hair, who introduced herself as “Zenovia of House Katarn”.

After that were eight years of serving as a Dragon Rider’s mount. No, “mount” wasn’t really the proper description, since horses received far better treatment. Even “weapon” wasn’t the proper description, because even weapons received maintenance to function effectively. The red wyvern was fed with whatever waste cuts of meat that her rider felt like giving to her. She was required to sleep outside, even though the cold of Dragai nights was harsh enough that even livestock were given barns to sleep in. She received no treatment for any injuries she suffered in battle, being expected to simply heal on her own. All to ensure that she never forgot her place…

The most recent memories were of a revolution, with the geytar rising up against the nobles. Considering how they were expected to capture and train wyverns at great risk to themselves, it wasn’t hard to see why… though Zenovia didn’t see it that way, as she raged about how ungrateful the mere geytar were. Meanwhile, the red wyvern didn’t care at all about this conflict among humans, seeing it as just another battle.

Lilith had seen enough. She stopped focusing on the red wyvern’s memories, causing featureless darkness to surround her.

So that’s what’s going on here… we need to do something about it. But we can’t fight an entire country at once, even with our new strength… We need allies.

Lilith clapped her hands. This was enough to rouse the inner part of Sunheart’s mind. An avatar of the red wyvern appeared before her, looking confused.

“I’m not here to hurt you,” Lilith said. “I’m here to help you.”

Sunheart looked around, clearly confused at the situation. She eventually charged at Lilith and tried to bite the succubus’ head off, but Lilith dodged to the side.

“You—is this your true form!?” Sunheart roared. “I’ll kill you!”

If there was one good thing about this situation, it was that Sunheart hadn’t forgotten how to speak despite those years of abuse. Now, Lilith just had to deal with the fact that this wyvern was trying to kill her…

“Again, I’m not here to hurt you!” Lilith said. “Look, this is who I am!”

Lilith spread her hands to the side, revealing her own memories to Sunheart. The wyvern stared at the barrage of images, frozen with confusion.

“The two of us want to stop this pointless conflict between monsters and humans, and we’re not the only ones who want this,” Lilith said. “And these horrors in Dragai are another thing we want to stop.”

Sunheart continued staring at Lilith’s memories for a few more seconds. Then she opened her mouth and unleashed a gout of flame, causing Lilith to dodge again.

“Lies!” Sunheart roared. “You’re one of those monsters who takes over minds! You’re just trying to trick me!”

“I am a succubus, but if I was really trying to take over your mind, I wouldn’t need to do any of this!” Lilith retorted. “I wouldn’t need to reveal myself to you!”

Sunheart glared at Lilith. There was a tense silence, during which Lilith wondered if the wyvern was going to attack again.

“If you want me to trust you,” Sunheart said, her words still filled with venom, “then get out of my head.”

Lilith nodded and immediately left this mental world.

-ooo-

Back in the physical world, Lilith undid her sleep spells and took her hands away from Sunheart. The red wyvern opened her eyes and, after looking around at her surroundings, pulled herself free from the earth and glared at Lilith suspiciously.

“I won’t say you have to trust me yet,” Lilith said. “Or that you should trust Adam. But just remember that we’re not your enemies.”

Sunheart continued glaring at Lilith, but didn’t attack.

There were fearful cries from the surroundings; the villagers had now emerged from their hiding places and were looking at the conscious wyvern fearfully.

“It’s alright, we’ve… come to an understanding,” Lilith announced.

“That’s fortunate,” Adam said, approaching while accompanied by someone else. “Lilith, this is Glenn.”

The one accompanying Adam was the sole survivor of the Dragon Riders who’d attacked this village. He was no longer wearing his helm, revealing pale skin, untidy blond hair and soft green eyes. And he was extremely nervous; no wonder, when he was surrounded by the corpses of his allies and by villagers shooting harsh looks at him.

“I-I’ll tell you anything that you want to know,” Glenn said.

One of the villagers spat at these words. “Not even brave enough to stay loyal to your order? Are you only brave when killing children?”

Glenn shook so much that Lilith wondered if he might faint on the spot. Based on the emotions pouring off him, he clearly regretted his actions…

Sunheart snorted. “This one never had the guts of the others,” she said. “He was shaking from the moment we were sent to this village. Wasn’t ready for what it would mean to fight other humans.”

Everyone was shocked at these words, with the exceptions of Lilith, Adam and Sunheart herself. Some of the villagers even staggered backwards, looking as if they were seeing the Demon Lord before them.

“More importantly,” Adam interjected, “my partner and I are foreign to these lands. We would like to know about the situation here.”

The villagers and Glenn were still shocked by the revelation that wyverns were, in fact, capable of speech. Eventually, one of the older villagers stepped forward.

“I am one of the elders of this village… Thank you for coming to our aid, young heroes.”

Lilith felt a trace of discomfort from Adam in response to these words, but her partner hid it well. “We were simply doing our duty,” he said. “Whether human or monster, our duty is to protect the weak.”

“Still, I must thank you on behalf of our village,” the elder said. He bowed, followed shortly after by the other villagers. “Now then… I shall explain the situation to you. First of all, this country is divided into two categories, we geytar, the low-born, and the nobility.”

“And…” Glenn said, having recovered somewhat. “And we nobles have a history of not treating the geytar properly.”

This caused Glenn to be heckled by the surrounding villagers, with shouts of “Tell them everything!” and “You treat us like slaves!”.

Adam raised a hand to call for silence, but that didn’t work. Eventually, Sunheart let out an ear-splitting roar, causing the crowd to fall silent… and cower in fear.

“…As I was saying, we’ve been mistreated by the nobility,” the elder continued. He glanced fearfully at Sunheart. “They force us to do all manner of hard, dangerous work for them, including the most dangerous work of all… capturing and training the dragons that this are the cornerstone of this country’s army.”

“And, about three days ago… someone wanted to change that,” Glenn said, keeping his eyes firmly on the ground. “Dell Walker… he’s a beginner Dragon Rider, a couple years younger than me. He used to be a geytar, but another noble saw potential in him and let him become a Dragon Rider. Then three days ago, he… he and his friends released all of the wyverns that were normally kept in the capital.”

“After that, young Dell called on the geytar to rise up,” the elder said. “For the past three days and three nights, the country has been wracked by fierce battles… What you’ve seen in this village is merely a small portion of it, and that was driven by a belief that we were sheltering rebels…”

“Are you?” Lilith asked. “Not that I’m blaming you, but it’s important to know.”

“We have not done that, but we have given supplies to rebels passing through our village,” the elder replied. “Other villages have done the same, and I fear they may have already been wiped out…”

“I see, then we have no time to waste,” Adam said. “Does anyone here have a map?”

As it turned out, Glenn did have a map of the Great Dragai empire. He nervously took it out and used it to show the geography of the country to Lilith and Adam, as well as the last-known positions of the forces involved in the civil war:

“Dragai is in the Lingfeng mountain range… and we’re h-here, on one of the southern mountains… the Imperial Capital is here, to our north, near the centre of the empire… The last I heard, there was still a lot of fighting going on there… Apart from that, I remember hearing about two other groups of Dragon Riders being sent to villages in the west to… to…”

“I understand,” Adam said. “In that case, the western villages would be our next destination, followed by the capital city.”

“And… And what about me?” Glenn asked, his body again shaking like a leaf. “And… And Zenovia’s mount?”

Sunheart growled at this. “I have a name, even if your soft lips can’t say it properly. And I do not belong to her.”

Glenn jumped back at this, and Lilith had to step in between him and Sunheart to prevent any potential confrontation.

“We’ll be taking you two with us,” Lilith said. She looked around at the villagers. “Is that alright? We still need them for information.”

This was met with some discontent with the villagers. They clearly did not appreciate having any of the ones who’d attacked their village survive. But it was also clear that they weren’t too eager to attack an adult wyvern, or the ones who’d defeated multiple Dragon Riders in open combat.

“As you were the ones who saved our village from annihilation, that is your right,” the village elder eventually said. “Will you be needing anything else…?”

It was obvious that the elder was hoping they’d say “no”; with the current state of the village, they definitely couldn’t afford to give any food, clothing or other supplies.

“That won’t be necessary, we’ll live off the land as we travel,” Adam said.

At that moment, Sunheart glanced at Lilith. Then the wyvern took flight, picked up Glenn with one foot and then flew off towards the northwest.

“Wh-What is this!?” the elder exclaimed.

It was obvious that Sunheart wasn’t simply trying to escape; if she was, she wouldn’t be slowing herself down by carrying Glenn, and she’d be flying much faster than her current speed. Lilith has a vague suspicion of what the wyvern was planning…

“Leave this to us—just focus on rebuilding!” Adam replied.

Adam followed Sunheart by running at high speed, with Lilith right next to him. They were out of the village in seconds.

Eventually, they found the wyvern in some woods near the village, having set Glenn down on the ground. The young Dragon Rider was cowering and looking like he’d be running away at top speed if he thought that could possibly help.

While Adam checked on Glenn’s condition, Lilith said to Sunheart, “That wasn’t necessary.”

Sunheart snorted. “You’re the ones in a hurry. There’s no point wasting any more time in that village. But if you want me to go along with you, there’s one more thing you need to do.”

“And what is that?” Lilith asked warily.

“Show this one your true form,” Sunheart said, gesturing towards Glenn using her snout.

Glenn and Adam both looked at Lilith: the former in confusion, the latter wondering how she would respond.

Might as well… We need to find out how more people will react to this.

Lilith undid her transformation, becoming a silver-haired succubus once more. This caused Glenn to back away in fear.

“Y-Y-You’re a monster!?” Glenn cried out.

“Yes, but I’m one that’s learned to not attack humans,” Lilith said. “And if you’re wondering how that’s possible, that’s because I saw my fellow succubi killing a human when I was young, and found that horrifying. I later met up with Adam here, and right now we’re working to stop this conflict between monsters and humans.”

This revelation proved too much for Glenn, and he fainted on the spot.

“Like I said before, this one’s weak,” Sunheart said. “You should just leave him here, let those other weaklings have their revenge.”

“We are not doing that,” Adam said firmly.

“Come to think of it, just how did someone like him become a Dragon Rider?” Lilith asked.

“I asked him that while you were occupied earlier,” Adam replied. “It seems that he comes from a long line of Dragon Riders, and his parents forced him to follow the family tradition.”

“A weakling like him has no place in a fight,” Sunheart said. “But if you won’t leave him here, then you carry him. I am never carrying another human for the rest of my life.”

“That’s reasonable,” Adam said. “So you are willing to accompany us?”

“I don’t like having to say the obvious,” Sunheart growled.

“Alright, then we’ll take that as a ‘yes’,” Lilith said. “Wait, one last thing. How would you us to call you?”

Lilith had been mentally calling the red wyvern “Sunheart”, but that was just the translation of her original name into the common tongue.

“I have no plans to be your friend,” Sunheart growled.

“Understood,” Adam said. “then we’ll just have to face you when talking to you—”

“But if you insist… my original name isn’t something you can say,” Sunheart continued. “It means ‘Sunheart’ in your language… you might as well call me that. It’s not like I care.”

“Very well then, ‘Sunheart’ it is,” Adam said. “This might just be an alliance of convenience, but it’s nice to meet you.”

Sunheart turned away, clearly no longer interested in conversation. She spread her wings and took flight again, heading for the northwest.

“She just does everything at her own pace,” Lilith said. “I guess it’s only natural, she was raised as a solitary monster and is now trying to go back to that life.”

“At any rate, we’d better follow her,” Adam said. “I’ll run, you fly while carrying Glenn.”

Now that they had a plan, the strange group of four proceeded towards the western region of Dragai. It was almost midnight now, and the darkness would normally provide the perfect opportunity for monsters to attack Adam… not that they would succeed. But although Lilith sensed the occasional monster along their path, none made any attempt to attack. Having a wyvern accompanying them was helpful in that respect.

But right now, the main problem wasn’t the monsters living in the Dragai wilderness. It was the civil war that was ravaging this country.

This is something at least as big as what happened in Lescatie… and if any true dragons get involved, it might get even bigger.

But we have to try. If we can’t make a difference in one country, how can we hope to change the world?

Chapter Text

Less than an hour later, they arrived at the western region of Dragai and at the first of the two villages. Or rather, they arrived at what was left of a village.

On the slope of a mountain was a scattered collection of ash and scorch marks. And when Lilith landed, she could see fragments of charred wood and blackened bone mixed in. There wasn’t a single left human left here. There weren’t any livestock, either; presumably, they’d either become food for the attacking wyverns or had scattered into the wilderness.

Lilith set down Glenn and then, just in case, cast a wide-area search spell. The only thing she detected were the demonic energy signatures of three monsters, and those seemed to be hiding in their dens out of fear of the Dragon Riders who’d recently passed by.

Lilith clenched her teeth and then shared a glance with Adam. For all of their newfound strength, they could still fail for reasons as mundane as not arriving in time.

But we can’t give up yet, Lilith thought. There’s still one more village, and according to the map, it’s further away from the capital than this one… It depends on when the Dragon Riders left and how fast they were moving, but it’s possible they haven’t arrived yet.

Sunheart looked around the village and snorted. “Idiots. If they hadn’t helped the rebels, then they wouldn’t have been killed.”

“They had good reason to do so,” Adam said firmly. “You should be more aware of that than either of us.”

“Even if they had a reason, it was pointless to try fighting back in any way,” Sunheart said, though sounding somewhat less confident than before. “If you’re on the weaker side, then that just gets you killed.”

“And they already had a good chance of dying in their normal lives,” Lilith pointed out. “The only other option would be to try running elsewhere, and this country isn’t an easy place to travel through when you can’t fly.”

At that moment, Lilith muttered a brief spell to wake up Glenn. The Dragon Rider opened his eyes blearily.

“Where… Where am I…?” Glenn said, massaging his temples with his hands. “The last thing I remember, I was…”

Then Glenn looked around, taking in the devastated village and the three people nearby, two of which were monsters. He let out a shocked cry and jumped to his feet.

“Please, there’s no need to panic,” Adam said, raising his hands to show that they were empty. “How much do you remember?”

“I… I remember that I attacked that other village, along with Captain Xenovia and Rider Zaeed, and…” Glenn said. He looked around at the ruins of this village and hid his face in his hands. “Oh, this is…”

“What are you surprised for?” Sunheart said mockingly. “This is what war means. If you can’t kill, then you shouldn’t pick up a weapon in the first place.”

“I didn’t become a Dragon Rider to attack the people I’m supposed to protect!” Glenn snapped. Though there was still some fear in him, he glared at the wyvern. “I didn’t even want to become a Dragon Rider at all! I… I…”

Glenn looked back at the village. Tears began welling up in his eyes.

“I didn’t want to become a Dragon Rider… but… but the reason I was willing to stay, to keep trying…” Glenn said, “was to protect Dragai, and humanity as a whole, from monsters… I thought that any monster… other than our own mounts… was a threat to humanity… But now…”

There was silence for a few seconds. Eventually, Lilith asked, “What do you want to do now? You don’t have to come with us, I’m sure there’s somewhere we could drop you off…”

“No,” Glenn said firmly. “I want to follow you all to the next village… If we can make it there in time, I want to talk to the group sent there…”

“And just what do you think you can achieve by talking?” Sunheart half-asked, half-growled. “They’ve been sent out to kill, to destroy. A weakling like you won’t—”

“If I know that group right, then… maybe not,” Glenn said. “But we have to hurry there!”

Lilith nodded in agreement, and then she remembered something. “Hold on, I need to put this disguise on again…”

Lilith changed her hair to blonde and her eyes to green, the same disguise she’d had prior to entering the Great Dragai Empire. This caused Glenn to flinch in surprise and Sunheart to growl in puzzlement.

“What’s the point of just doing that?” Sunheart asked. “Anyone can still see you’re a monster.”

“This isn’t for that reason, but something else…” Lilith said. She glanced at Adam, who nodded. “We don’t have time to waste, so we’ll tell you about it along the way…”

Lilith picked up Glenn, who looked embarrassed at the action, and took flight again. Sunheart took flight as well, while Adam began running along the ground.

They flew through the air at high speed. Glenn soon forgot his embarrassment and looked down at the landscape in wonder.

“I’ve seen this land from the air many times, but…” Glenn said. “Is it different when you can fly with your own body?”

“I haven’t exactly ridden any other monster before,” Lilith said, “but I’m guessing it is different. Anyway, as for the reason why Adam and I need disguises…”

Over the next couple of minutes, Lilith explained how Justinia was slaughtering villages to control the human population and prevent a new Demon Lord from arising, and that Lilith and Adam were both disguising themselves to reduce the chances of being discovered by her. Lilith didn’t, however, explain the details of Justinia’s motivations… the truth of this world was a revelation too big to mention right now. She just said that Justinia believed that this would prevent a new Demon Lord, based on historical patterns.

“That’s… That’s horrible!” Glenn said.

“If it works, then it makes sense,” Sunheart said, as she flew nearby. “It’s no different from killing off the weakest in a clutch when there’s not enough food to feed them all.”

“How can you say that!” Glenn retorted. “Killing innocent people is wrong! And yes, I… I did that, but it’s something that I intend on atoning for!”

Sunheart simply snorted. “That isn’t just something dragons do. I’m sure humans—the poorer ones, at least—have to do the same thing when a harsh winter comes.”

“That’s… it can’t be true…” Glenn said.

Unfortunately, Lilith wasn’t able to deny this statement. She’d heard of various stories during her travels, stories that weren’t just limited to killing off weaker children. There were also stories of humans resorting to eating their dead in times of starvation, and while that and killing of children were officially forbidden by the Order… most had to turn a blind eye out of necessity.

As much as I hate to admit it, I was lucky to be born a succubus, Lilith thought. We might not be the strongest of monsters, but we look after our own… except for the solitary ones… and we’re good enough with magic that we don’t normally have to worry about being hungry or sick or freezing to death. Still…

Lilith couldn’t dwell on the past for long, because she and the others were now approaching the second village. Or the third, if one started counting from their entrance into Dragai.

This village was also destroyed: its buildings were razed to the ground, its population was gone. The sight caused Glenn to start weeping openly. But as Lilith landed and set Glenn down, she felt something was off about this ruined village.

Adam seemed to share this feeling. “Lilith, can you check again to see if there’s anyone left?” he asked.

Lilith did so, and she discovered some good news this time. “There’s… a few hundred humans, and some livestock as well, on the other side of the mountain!”

“Did they escape in time!?” Glenn asked, his voice now hopeful again.

“Doesn’t make sense… the slavers would have searched for them,” Sunheart said.

“Anyway, we have to go over there and check it out!” Lilith said.

They took to the air again, with the exception of Adam, and moved to the other side of the mountain. This side was covered in dense forest, and it was within this forest that the villagers and their livestock were hiding.

“I’ll stay away for this part,” Sunheart said. “It’d be annoying for me to land down there, and I’d just scare those weaklings, anyway.”

Lilith descended to a point near the villagers, changed to human form and grabbed a tree branch as she neared the ground. The branch snapped, but it slowed Lilith’s fall enough for her to land safely.

“Sorry about that, but I have a feeling these villagers wouldn’t appreciate seeing a succubus, either,” Lilith said, setting Glenn down again.

“N-No problem,” Glenn said. “I’ve taken worse falls than that during training…”

Adam arrived shortly after. Despite his constant running, he showed no signs of fatigue.

Glenn gazed at Adam and then at Lilith in wonder. “You two have been active all night, more than I have, but you still look like you’re fresh. I can’t believe it…”

This was an uncomfortable topic, since the reason for Lilith and Adam’s physical prowess was… well, something that shouldn’t be mentioned to a stranger.

“Anyway, let’s go,” Adam said, more brusquely than usual.

They approached the villagers, who had set up camp in the forest. However, said camp was much more elaborate than Lilith would expect from something built in—at most—a few hours. The villagers were constructing log huts and had already completed a few. On the outskirts of the village, goats and cattle were grazing.

When Lilith and the others approached, the villagers shrank back in fear when they saw Glenn. To reassure them, Glenn called out, “It’s alright, I’m not here to hurt you!”

After a short pause, one of the villagers asked, “You… are you friends with those Dragon Riders from earlier?”

“I wouldn’t exactly call myself their friend, but…” Glenn said. “I agree with them that these attacks on you geytar are wrong. And these two are foreign heroes, who want to help!”

Technically, Lilith wasn’t a hero, but there was little point in mentioning that now. She asked the villagers, “Just what happened here? It looks like the Dragon Riders from earlier helped you?”

“Yes… Yes, they did!” another of the villagers replied. “They came from the sky, and we all thought they were going to kill us for helping the rebels. But, but instead they…”

“They said they couldn’t bring themselves to kill us,” a third villager said. “They told us to run, and bring along everything we could carry.”

“They even carried the weaker ones, the young children and the elders, to this place,” yet another villager said. He gestured around at the log huts. “And they cleared out any monsters and felled many trees, to help us build our new village.”

“I see… they… they did a lot for you,” Glenn said. “I’ll… I’ll have to congratulate them when I meet them again…”

“What do you plan on doing now?” Adam asked. “If you remain in this forest, it’s unlikely the aristocracy will find you again…”

The villagers looked at each other. Resignation was clear on their faces.

“We just… we just want to live in peace.”

“It might be rough living in this forest, but it’s better than living out in the open where we could be slaughtered in an instant.”

“It’s a shame what’s going on elsewhere… but we can’t help anyone if we can’t even protect ourselves.”

After receiving various responses like this, Glenn looked down at the ground, while Adam said, “Then we will leave you in peace. May you find safety in your new home.”

“And you might have figured this out already, but if you want to make sure you stay hidden, you could try letting plants grow over your houses,” Lilith suggested. “That’ll make them much harder to spot from the air.”

The three of them turned around and moved away from the village.

“That squadron consisted of Captain Mira, Rider Jonathan and Rider Wendy,” Glenn lamented. “They never laughed at me for being a poor Dragon Rider, unlike… some others… and when this civil war started, they looked like they had doubts. And I should have tried to be like them. I should have talked to Captain Xenovia and Rider Zaeed, the other members of my squadron, tried to make them show mercy…”

“Judging from how they acted around us, I don’t think that would have worked,” Lilith pointed out.

“They could have seen you as a rebel as well, if you’d done that,” Adam said. “Your choice… I can’t say it was a wrong one.”

Once they were out of sight of the village, they made their way out of the forest and to a plateau where Sunheart was waiting. The wyvern had captured a goat—presumably one of the village’s livestock, having gotten lost during the chaos as the villagers evacuated—and was now gorging herself on the meat. They explained what they’d just learned to Sunheart.

“Hmph, so they did all that,” Sunheart said, swallowing one last mouthful of goat meat. “Fools. If anyone finds out about this, they’d be killed as punishment.”

Glenn opened his mouth to retort, then closed it and shook his head. Rather than being afraid of Sunheart, it seemed that he simply didn’t feel like he could change the wyvern’s mind about anything.

“Moving on, our next destination is the capital,” Adam said. “The fighting may still be going on there, or it may have ended, but either way we must find out.”

“Yes, we have to go there at once,” Glenn said.

“Count me out of that,” Sunheart growled. “I’ve seen enough of that cursed city for a lifetime. I’m heading back into the untamed mountains, where we dragons are supposed to be.”

“If that’s what you want, then fine,” Lilith said. She narrowed her eyes. “But you shouldn’t attack humans again, for your own sake if nothing else. You wouldn’t want to be captured again, would you?”

“I’m not small and weak like when I was captured,” Sunheart snarled, approaching Lilith to within a threatening distance. “But fine. I’ve lost my taste for human flesh, anyway.”

Sunheart spread her wings and took off with a series of powerful flaps. She didn’t bother making her ascent comfortable for the others, so gusts of wind battered them, though they were able to hold on. After a few moments, the wyvern was no more than a faint red shape in the sky, barely distinguishable against the background of stars.

“It’s a shame that she’s left,” Lilith said. “Still, it’s only natural that not all monsters would want to work with humans, especially one with her history…”

Glenn nodded sadly. “In hindsight, it’s amazing that there’s been no rebellion until now… I wonder why no one else has been as brave as Dell Walker… Anyway, we have to get moving, and—oh!”

“What is it?” Adam asked.

“Could you… could you take off your armour before we enter the capital, Hero Adam?” Glenn asked. “You see, plate armour in Dragai is only possessed by the nobility… and it’s made of dragonbone… so your armour would stand out. Your sword as well, though Li—Miss Lilith’s spear should be fine. We’d have to find someplace to hide your armour and sword…”

“Certainly,” Adam said. “Now, what should we do once we arrive at the capital? Are you prepared to fight your former allies, Glenn?”

Glenn shook with fear, but he declared, “I am. Now I realise that the Dragai Empire must change. We can’t keep doing things this way.”

Both Lilith and Adam smiled at this. It wasn’t easy to go against the majority of society, and since Glenn was willing to do this, he was arguably braver than either of the Dragon Riders he’d previously worked with.

“Though if the fighting has already ended… will you be able to let us into the capital?” Adam asked.

“I should… I should be recognised by the gate guards as a Dragon Rider,” Glenn said. “And I can claim that you two are geytar serving under me… I-If that’s insulting, I’m sorry!”

“No, it’s fine, we don’t have any problems with that,” Lilith said.

“In that case… we should be able to get through the gate…” Glenn said. “Though if the rebel side has taken over, then I’d be seen as an enemy… We’ll see when we get there…”

With their planning complete, they set off for the capital of Dragai, the city known simply as the “Imperial Capital”. Throughout the journey, Glenn told Lilith about the country of Dragai, and Lilith relayed this information to Adam via telepathy.

-ooo-

When they arrived, the sun was halfway above the horizon, giving them a better view of the capital. And it was immediately obvious that the fighting had concluded.

That said, three days and three nights of warfare had left their mark on the city. The city would have been a marvellous sight normally, consisting of stone buildings that seemed to be carved from the very mountainside. But now, dozens of buildings had collapsed and the streets were strewn with rubble and the bodies of the dead. Even the bodies of wyverns could be seen lying in the streets.

“Which side has won?” Lilith said, as she through the air. “I can’t tell from up here…”

“It’s… It’s the side I once belonged to, the aristocracy…” Glenn said. He pointed towards the roof of an enormous palace in the centre of the city, where a green flag flew. “That’s the flag of Dragai… If it’s still flying, then the aristocracy must have won.”

This… complicated things. If the geytar, the commoners had won, then there would be no need for intervention. If the fighting still continued, then the three of them could contribute and potentially help tip the balance in the geytar’s favour. But now that the aristocracy had won…

For now, they needed to learn more information. Lilith landed in a rugged rockfield some distance away from the city, and set Glenn down. If Lilith had sensed any Dragon Riders in the air, she would have stopped at an even greater distance from the city, but it seemed that the Dragon Riders were too weary from the civil war.

Adam soon arrived, and he hid his sword and armour beneath the rocks. Just in case, Lilith added a glamour to give the equipment the colour and texture of rock, making them even more difficult for passers-by to spot… not that many people would pass by this barren, empty rockfield in the first place. Adam kept a dagger on him, hidden under his clothing. Lilith, for her part, simply took on human form again.

Once they were finished with their preparations, they walked boldly towards the nearest gate of the Imperial Capital. This was an opening in the stone wall that was big enough to fit an adult wyvern, or perhaps two wyverns walking side-by-side. There were once a pair of equally large gates blocking the opening, but these had been blasted off their hinges by some incredible force, leaving wooden chunks and metal shards lying on the ground. The people of the city didn’t even have the time to clean this up…

There was a single guard standing outside the gate. His armour was stained with dirt and some dried blood, and he looked like he’d be sitting down if that was allowed. The guard looked up as Lilith and the others approached.

“Ah—a Dragon Rider!?” the guard cried out. “Uh… welcome back to the city, sir! But… your wyvern…?”

“My squadron got into a fight with some of the rebel Dragon Riders,” Glenn said, in a commanding tone that showed no hints of nervousness. “I was the only survivor. I was fortunate enough to run into these two loyalists,” he gestured at Lilith and Adam, “and with their help, managed to make it back here.”

“I see… then you should go inside and get a good rest,” the guard said, gesturing towards the gate. “There’s been a lot of losses… on both sides… but you should be able to find somewhere to rest.”

Glenn nodded curtly towards the guard, then he and the other two walked through the gate. As soon as Glenn was on the other side, he let out the accumulated tension in his body, something that Lilith noticed quite clearly.

“Can you keep going, Glenn?” Lilith asked quietly.

“I can,” Glenn replied, just as quietly. “Now, let’s head for the Dragon Rider headquarters first, it’s near the centre of the city…”

They walked through the streets of the Imperial Capital. All around them, the people were doing their best to clean up and rebuilt, but they were clearly struggling; the damage left by battles among Dragon Riders was incredibly extensive. It was chillingly reminiscent of what Lilith had seen in Lescatie, after the baphomet’s attack…

And supposedly, this is less than what would happen if there was a Demon Lord around… Lilith thought. It’s hard to imagine, but… my mother did have some stories like that, stories of entire countries laid waste by monsters…

Did Justinia have a point? To stop destruction and suffering on that level, would it really be worth—

No! That isn’t right! There has to be another way, a better way!

Lilith did her best to not show any of her inner conflict on the outside. But she wasn’t able to hide it from her partner, who grasped her hand briefly and gave her a reassuring glance.

That’s right, I’m not alone in this… Even if it’s hard, we have to try to change this world!

That was the end of that conflict… for now.

Lilith paid more attention to her surroundings. She noticed harsh gazes from many of the humans, and for a moment she wondered if they suspected she was a monster in disguise. But soon she realised the actual reason behind their gazes.

They’re geytar as well… Most, almost all of them must have been sympathetic to the rebels… And now the rebels have lost, and the geytar will keep suffering like this… What can we do to help them now?

Some time later, they passed by a dead wyvern. The wyvern had bled so much that the ground for over twenty paces around had been stained red. The humans in the area were giving this corpse a wide berth. None looked like they wanted to be the ones who would eventually drag it away.

But before they arrived at the Dragon Rider headquarters, a loud voice resounded throughout the Imperial Capital, a voice that was clearly amplified by magic.

“MY CITIZENS! LOYAL CITIZENS OF THE GREAT DRAGAI EMPIRE! COME TO THE CENTRAL SQUARE AT ONCE!”

The city was now filled with commotion as the people discussed this new order. But despite any misgivings they might have had, they began moving towards the centre of the city.

“That was King Julius himself,” Glenn whispered to his two companions. “This could be bad… but we must go there as well, find out what’s going on.”

They thus followed the crowd to the central square of the Imperial Capital. This was located right next to a palace, the same palace that Glenn had pointed out earlier, which could only be the imperial palace. And the square itself was big enough to fit two or three palaces, but it was gradually becoming packed with people as more and more filed in from the surrounding streets.

Several of the roofs around the square had Dragon Riders perched on them. These Dragon Riders had wounds and dented armour that were apparent even from a distance, yet they vigilantly watched over the gathering crowd, presumably for any signs of further rebellion.

The doors to the palace weren’t at ground-level, but on a raised platform with stairs leading to it. This platform remained clear of the crowd thanks to two Dragon Riders on either side of the doors. These Dragon Riders gave off auras of power and experience that were far greater than any of the Dragon Riders Lilith had previously met; they seemed to be comparable to the senior heroes of Lescatie. And standing in between the Dragon Riders was the king of the Great Dragai Empire, Julius Rigride Drake.

King Julius looked to be in his early thirties, with the slightest hint of wrinkles on his face, and had short red hair. He was dressed in ornate golden clothing with a cloak of red dragonscales draped over his shoulders. On his head was a crown, but this was a simple band of gold, without any of the jewels that would typically be found in a king’s crown. And despite being right next to two Dragon Riders, he showed no signs of fear or intimidation.

Lilith thought back on what Glenn had said earlier. King Julius had ascended to the throne approximately ten years ago, at the young age of twenty-two, and proceeded to make major changes. He minimised the influence of the Order, abolished the Senate that had formerly held considerable power, and strengthened the Dragon Riders, increasing the membership of this group by more than three times. He’d made Dragai an even greater power in the world… yet not without cost. His policies forced the geytar of Dragai to capture wyverns at higher rates and train them more quickly, resulting in more suffering for both the geytar and the wyverns.

But ultimately, Dragai’s enslaving of dragons goes back beyond him, Lilith thought. This is a bigger problem than just one man.

A minute or so passed, during which the central square became absolutely packed with people. It was so packed that Lilith was pressed right up against Adam, and both of them along with Glenn were pressed against other people. But Glenn didn’t receive much attention here, possibly because everyone was looking in the direction of the royal palace.

Finally, the king spoke again.

“People of Dragai!” King Julius shouted, amplifying his voice to a lesser extent than before. “For the past three days, this country has been ravaged by war! Not war against monsters, not war against another nation, but war amongst ourselves! A war that began because of certain fools who did not know their rightful place, and who took pity on dragons, thinking that they were being tortured! They took pity on monsters, the enemies of humanity!”

King Julius laughed, as did the Dragon Riders next to him and surrounding the square. There was some scattered laughter among the crowd as well, but it was clearly forced.

“Those fools rose up against us, the rightful rulers and protectors of the Great Dragai Empire!” King Julius continued. “They sought to supplant us, to take our positions and our wealth for themselves! Naturally, they failed… but in the process, they still committed a grave crime! They released all of the dragons that were kept in this city, the dragons that had been captured thanks to your effort! And because of them, those dragons are free again… free to attack and devour humans! Every human that is devoured by a dragon from this moment on is because of them!”

It was a blatant lie. Lilith was sure that everyone here could see through it. Wyverns and other dragons had been attacking humans since before Dragai even existed, and they had been attacking them throughout every year of its existence. But…

“Th-That’s right!”

“They were fools!”

“My parents died because of them!”

The geytar of Dragai had no option but to repeat this lie. They weren’t the ones who held the power in this country, after all. And a lie repeated long enough would be seen as the truth… even in the minds of those who repeated it.

We have to do something, Lilith thought. We have to act, before the people here lose all hope of resisting!

When the shouts of the crowd died down to some extent, King Julius clapped his hands. A Dragon Rider flew into the empty area in front of the palace and deposited a man wrapped in chains, then flew off again. The chained man was so covered in bruises and dried blood that his facial features were mostly obscured, but Lilith noticed freckles covering his cheeks. She also noticed that the man was much shorter than average.

“This is the leader of those foolish traitors!” King Julius shouted, approaching the chained man and pulling him up by his hair for all to see. “He is the one who persuaded others to join his mad cause, to free the dragons, to start the civil war that has bloodied the Great Dragai Empire! A mere up-jumped geytar, who hadn’t even finished his training as a Dragon Rider! This is Dell Walker!”

The crowd began hurling abuse at Dell, blaming him for their suffering. Like before, this was out of fear of the Dragon Riders surrounding them… but how long would it take before it became genuine?

“There are others who were foolish enough to work with him, seven of them!” King Julius continued. “They are currently rotting in my dungeons, under heavy guard. And by the law, I could kill them all right now! I could have them decapitated, burnt alive, fed to the mounts of our mighty Dragon Riders. I could even snap their necks with my bare hands, if I so desired! But that’s not enough! It isn’t remotely enough of a punishment for the crimes they have committed!”

Do we have to act now? Lilith wondered. She looked around at the Dragon Riders. There’s too many for us to fight, but if it’s just saving Dell and getting out of here, we might be able to manage it…

“To punish them adequately, I am preparing something special!” King Julius shouted. “A method of execution that has never been used before in this world! A method fitting for the crimes these traitors have committed!”

We’d have to distract them first… Lilith thought desperately. I could fill this entire square with magical fog, creating an opening to pull Dell out of there… Adam could fight properly if he manages to steal one of the Dragon Riders’ swords… But, the people in this square would get hurt…

“But I cannot carry out their execution immediately!” King Julius shouted. “To give a fitting execution for these traitors, I must make the appropriate preparations! They will thus die at noon! They will die for the glory of Dragai!”

“For the glory of Dragai!” chanted the Dragon Riders, and much of the crowd.

Staying here would be unbearable. As soon as the crowd began to thin, Lilith and the others began making their way out of the square.

-ooo-

Ten minutes after the king’s speech ended, Lilith, Adam and Glenn were sitting around a table in a dimly lit room. This room was in a building in a poorer district of the city, and according to Glenn they wouldn’t be overheard here, provided they kept their voices down. Just in case, Lilith had also applied a spell to the room to muffle any sounds leaking out.

“Is there any way to… to make the other Dragon Riders unable to fight?” Glenn asked. “If that happens, then it would be simple to rescue Dell’s group and to overthrow the aristocracy.”

“If we came here under normal circumstances, perhaps,” Adam said. “But not now. After that civil war, they will all be extremely alert for any signs of treachery, whether it’s poison, magic or anything else.”

“And even if we had come here before, I’m not so sure we’d succeed,” Lilith said. “There’s a lot of Dragon Riders here, and some of them are definitely experienced, especially those two that were next to the king just now…”

“Commander Renard and Commander Serafine,” Glenn said. “They’re the greatest of all Dragon Riders in this era, by far. Some say that if there was a Demon Lord around, one of those two would become the hero who slayed the Demon Lord.”

Lilith had her doubts about that. If a Demon Lord was even stronger than the baphomet that had attacked Lescatie, then they likely wouldn’t fall even to the two greatest Dragon Riders. But that wasn’t important right now.

“Whatever we do, we have to do it fast,” Lilith said. “We have to act before the execution happens. That’s just hours away.”

“With the resources we have at this moment, we can’t do anything,” Adam said. “Not against an enemy that is both strong and alert.”

Glenn buried his face in his hands. “Then can we only do nothing!? Is our option to let Dell and the others die, and hope the king and the Dragon Riders let down their guard afterwards!?”

“We can’t do nothing,” Lilith said firmly. “If we can’t manage this alone, then we’ll need to… to…”

Lilith trailed off. The solution that had just come to her mind… it had been right in front of her eyes, in front of all of their eyes, yet only now had any of them realised it.

“What is it, Lilith?” Adam asked.

“Those wyverns that were freed, back at the start of this civil war… just where are they now?” Lilith asked.

Glenn’s face lit up with hope, but then darkened just as quickly. “They flew towards the northwest, a rugged part of Dragai where no humans live. I think that’s where Sunheart flew as well. But those wyverns were almost all juveniles, and even most of the older ones wouldn’t have much combat experience. Even if they were willing to help, they’d just be slaughtered by the army of Dragon Riders here.”

“Yes, but what if it wasn’t just the escaped wyverns?” Lilith suggested. “What if we could get the wild wyverns, and the other kinds of dragons to help? They might be willing to help since so many of their own kind were just helped by humans!”

It was a long shot, especially since dragon-type monsters weren’t as social as humans or, for example, succubi. They might not care about their kin being helped by humans, or at least they might not care enough to fight. However, this was arguably the best option available to Lilith and the others.

“Hmm… it could work,” Adam said. “At the same time, there’s the risk of the dragons becoming vengeful and wanting to wipe out the humans, instead.”

“Still, we have to try!” Glenn said. “We have to at least find out what the wild dragons think of humans right now!”

The young Dragon Rider had matured a lot over the past few hours. He’d gone from reluctantly helping slaughter civilians to fighting back against the very country he was part of. His parents would be proud of him… if they weren’t loyalists, and if they actually respected their son to make his own decisions.

Over the next few minutes, they came up with their plan. Lilith and Adam would fly northwest, the direction in which the freed wyverns had escaped, as quickly as possible. Meanwhile, Glenn would remain in the Imperial Capital to keep an eye on the situation, and convey any information to them via a telepathic link that Lilith established with him. If it proved impossible to get help from the dragons, then Lilith and Adam would return and try to free the captured rebel leaders before they were executed. And if the dragons decided to wipe out all the humans of Dragai… then Lilith and Adam could only return and try to warn of the impending attack.

Once everything was finalised, Lilith and Adam left the city via the west gate, the former using a little mental magic to prevent the guard noticing them. They picked up Adam’s sword and armour again, and once Adam was fully dressed in his armour, Lilith picked him up and flew to the northwest.

Chapter Text

Sunheart flew through the sky, now free to do whatever she wanted…

Well, almost. She no longer had to follow the orders of mere humans, that was true, but she was now in the wilderness and had to be careful not to anger more powerful dragons. But she was still undeniably freer than she’d been when she was a slave for the humans.

And on that topic, Sunheart spotted a trio of smaller wyverns in a valley below. These three wyverns were eating their kills, some of the mountain goats that lived in this rugged area. The sight made Sunheart’s mouth water… but she’d eaten just a few hours ago, so she wasn’t able to try stealing their kill.

This is how dragons are meant to live, Sunheart thought. Living through our own strength and cunning, nothing like those weak humans.

A memory resurfaced in Sunheart’s mind: the memory of her being captured by humans, and not even by the well-equipped Dragon Riders but by mere geytar. She hissed at the memory.

It proves nothing! Anyone can make a stupid mistake, but that doesn’t prove a thing!

Sunheart continued flying in silence, though the memory persisted despite her best efforts to force it down.

Over the next ten minutes or so, Sunheart flew over all kinds of terrain: jagged ridges, deep valleys, coniferous forests, alpine meadows, even the occasional lake. There was no snow anywhere, despite winter being a week or two away at most; this was a sign of the high population of dragons here.

Sunheart saw other dragons—more specifically—other wyverns—on several occasions. They were usually hunting for prey or getting into scuffles with each other. A couple of them glared at Sunheart in a territorial manner, but then they noticed that she was bigger and also possessed several scars, so they decided against challenging her.

Hmph. Good choice. But also a boring choice. A fight for territory would actually make things interesting… Well, as long as it’s a fight I have a chance of winning.

That caused a different memory to resurface in Sunheart’s mind: her defeat by a human and a succubus, despite outnumbering them six to one. And despite their absurd strength, they had decided to spare her… the only reason she was still alive right now.

But no matter how strong they are, they’re still fools, just as much as that weakling who they also spared. There’s nothing they can do to really change things.

Nothing’s ever really changed in this world, after all. Monsters and humans kill each other, monsters kill each other, humans kill each other. There’s no way to survive without killing.

Those two will just get themselves killed, and no one will remember them.

While lost in thought, Sunheart drifted near the great volcano in the centre of this region, a place where most wyverns avoided. Then she heard earth-shaking roars, a sound which filled her with primal fear, and remembered why most wyverns stayed far away from here. She quickly turned around and flew off.

When Sunheart slowed down to her usual speed, she could no longer see the volcano from earlier. But the fear in her heart had barely faded.

From the perspective of most monsters, wyverns were unstoppable apex predators, with strength, armoured scales, flight and fiery breath. But they were far from the true apex…

-ooo-

Lilith and Adam were in a hurry, but they didn’t fly straight to the north-western region where the wyverns had escaped to. Instead, they touched down in an isolated spot far from the Imperial Capital and proceeded to recharge and strengthen themselves. It was awkward for them to… do such a thing at a time like this, but they had no choice. They were headed into dangerous territory and would need every advantage available.

The really disturbing part was that, after they started removing each other’s clothes, they were able to get in the mood very quickly. Still, they finished after half an hour and then took flight again.

An hour and a half after leaving the Imperial Capital, they arrived at northwest Dragonia. It was immediately apparent that this was a region that the humans stayed far away from. The roars and growls of dragons could be heard even from a distance, and the air was filled with the demonic energy of dragons: an energy that gave off an undeniable feeling of power and savagery.

Just a few months ago, it would be suicide for us to go into a place like this, Lilith thought. And now we’re here with the goal of negotiating with dragons…

Eventually, they came across some wyverns. Judging from the scars visible on some of them, they were escapees from the Great Dragai Empire.

But the moment these wyverns caught sight of Lilith and Adam, they flew off in fear. Lilith tried to catch up to them initially, but wyverns were among the fastest of all monsters and she soon gave up. While she could have caught up if she tapped into the energy within her diamond, that would use a lot of energy that should be saved for later.

“I guess this is for the better,” Lilith said. “Even if we caught up with them, they probably aren’t going to listen when they’re terrified.”

“No, I suppose not,” Adam said. “Come to think of it, what’s happening back in the Imperial Capital? It should still be more than two hours until noon, but we should make sure we know of the current situation.”

Lilith nodded and closed her eyes. She focused on the telepathic connection between herself and Glenn.

-ooo-

Glenn walked through the street while trying to hide his nervousness. He had taken off his armour a while ago, so he should be less conspicuous to the citizens, but he couldn’t stop feeling like there was someone watching him.

As he walked, Glenn listened to the surrounding conversations. Most people seemed to be talking about the cleanup from the civil war or the upcoming execution. And while there was a lot of concern in their voices, there was an increasing amount of anticipation for the execution… at least, that’s how it felt to Glenn.

Glenn? Can you hear me?

The sudden voice in his head caused Glenn to jump on the spot. He drew some odd looks from passers-by, but then they returned to their own business.

Y-Yes, I can hear you, Lilith. Glenn thought in response. C-Can you hear me?

I can, you don’t have to worry about that, Lilith replied. Now, how are things going in the capital?

The execution hasn’t happened yet, so that’s good, Glenn thought. And it doesn’t look like they plan on moving up the schedule. But the preparations they’re making… from what I’ve heard, they seem to be preparing an arena, one that’s normally used in matches between… between captive wyverns.

There was a moment of terrifying silence. Then Lilith thought, Alright, I get it. Thank you for the information. And if you need to contact me from your end, just think my name repeatedly and you should be able to get through.

I’ll do that, Glenn promised.

That was the end of the telepathic communication. Glenn let out a sigh.

All I can do is give information… I know where those prisoners are, but I can’t do anything to free them myself.

Even if those two return with the help of the dragons, just what can I do afterwards? What is there for me to strive for?

-ooo-

A few minutes after the communication with Glenn, Lilith and Adam found another group of wyverns. These wyverns were on the ground eating; more specifically, they were cracking open bones to get at the marrow inside.

Lilith landed some distance away from these wyverns and set Adam down. The two of them walked forward slowly and without their weapons in their hands: Adam’s sword was in its usual sheath, while Lilith’s spear was tied to her back.

The wyverns noticed the approaching strangers and lifted their heads from their meal.

“We’re not here to hurt you!” Lilith called out.

“We want to talk to you about—” Adam said.

The wyverns flew off in a panic. These ones weren’t as fast as the previous group, thanks to the meat in their bellies weighing them down.

Out of desperation, Lilith tried casting calming spells on the wyverns. They slowed down, but continued to flee, so Lilith gave up.

“I guess it’s too much to hope that they’ll talk with us,” Lilith said.

“We must press on,” Adam said. “At the very least, any dragons that weren’t escapees from Dragai will not flee from us on sight… though they’ll attack us instead.”

But before Lilith could pick up Adam and take flight again, she sensed a powerful source of demonic energy approaching. This energy was more intense than that of a wyvern, or even a group of wyverns. She and Adam turned to face this new threat, but still kept their hands off their weapons.

An elongated form slithered into view from the other side of the mountain. It resembled an immense serpent covered in blue-grey scales. Its eyes were tiny compared to its massive head, but they glinted with fearsome red light. And it rushed straight towards Lilith, ploughing through the trees and boulders in its way!

A wurm! Lilith realised.

Lilith grasped Adam underneath his shoulders and took flight, ascending as fast as her wings could carry her. The wurm stretched its body upwards in an attempt to reach them. At one point, its jaws snapped frightfully close to Adam’s legs, but then Lilith flew too high for it to reach.

“GET BACK HERE!” the wurm roared.

Lilith flinched at the roar, which shook her down to her very bones. If this was the her of just a few months ago, she might have fainted and fallen back down to be eaten by the wurm. At the very least, she might have lost strength in her arms and dropped Adam. But her newfound strength allowed to stay conscious and to try something she otherwise would never have considered.

“Will you listen to us!?” Lilith shouted. “We’re not here to hurt you, and we’re not here to be your prey!”

“ANYTHING I CAN CATCH IS MY PREY!” the wurm replied, still stretching its head and neck upwards in a vain attempt to catch Lilith and Adam.

“We are beyond your ability to catch!” Adam retorted. “Please, listen to us!”

But negotiations were fruitless. Just like in the stories, this wurm was single-mindedly focused on pursuing its intended prey.

Then Lilith sensed another source of demonic energy approaching. This one felt very familiar.

Sunheart flew into view. The red wyvern kept to an even higher altitude than Lilith, presumably wary of the wurm.

“You two came all the way over here?” Sunheart said, sounding amazed. “What’s the point? There’s nothing for you here.”

“COME DOWN HERE!” the wurm roared. “I’LL EAT ALL THREE OF YOU!”

Lilith and Adam quickly explained the situation, amidst frequent interruptions from the wurm. When they were done, Sunheart laughed.

“Again, there’s no point in that,” Sunheart said. “Most of the wyverns who came here are too scared of humans now—”

“I’LL CRUSH YOUR BONES IN MY TEETH!” the wurm roared.

“—and there might be some who want to help,” Sunheart continued, sounding disgusted by the idea, “but they wouldn’t stand a chance, they’d get torn apart if they tried fighting the humans and their slave wyverns.”

“Maybe not on their own, but there are other dragons here, both other wyverns and other kinds of dragons,” Lilith pointed out.

Sunheart showed a conflicted expression for a moment. “Maybe, but—you should just leave,” she said. “It’s a shame what’s happening to the wyverns who are still slaves, but—you should leave.”

It was clear that something was happening with the dragons in this region. Adam noticed this as well, and he asked, “Can you bring us to where the dragons—the true dragons, that is—can be found? Even one dragon could turn the tide against the remaining Dragon Riders.”

“I know where they are,” Sunheart admitted. “But again, you should just leave now. That way you’ll live.”

“GET DOWN HERE ALREADY!” the wurm roared, seeming truly frustrated now.

“We aren’t leaving until we’re sure that we can’t get any help from the dragons,” Lilith said firmly.

Sunheart looked at Lilith and Adam in turn. She then looked towards the southeast; the direction of the Imperial Capital.

“…Fine,” Sunheart said. “Follow me. Don’t blame me when you die.”

Sunheart began flying off. Lilith followed her while carrying Adam. With a tremendous rumble, the wurm followed the three of them along the ground.

“Should we… do anything about that wurm?” Adam asked, pointing downwards.

“No need,” Sunheart said casually. “He’ll leave once we get there.”

With that foreboding statement, Sunheart continued guiding them deeper into the mountains. The wurm continued following them, carving out trails into the terrain that were visible even from the air.

-ooo-

They soon arrived at their destination, a mountain that towered over any of its neighbours. On closer inspection, Lilith noticed that the mountain was a volcano with a large vent at its summit and several smaller vents along its steep slopes. And if that wasn’t enough to warn off potential visitors, the roars of draconic monsters could be heard from the volcano.

And just as Sunheart said, the wurm stopped following them. The colossal monster slowed to a stop upon getting near the volcano, looked at Lilith and the others in a seemingly frustrated manner, then turned and left. It was surreal to see such a fearsome monster leave… yet it was also another reminder of the danger that lay ahead.

“This is as far as I’ll go,” Sunheart said. “If you don’t want to die, you should turn back as well.”

Without even waiting for a response, the red wyvern flew off.

But Lilith and Adam hadn’t come this far while being afraid for their lives. Lilith flew forward to the very edge of the volcano’s main crater, landed and set Adam down. Then the two of them stepped inside.

Within the main vent of the volcano was a pool of magma, which filled the area with a stifling heat. Around the edges of this pool were many draconic monsters of various types: a couple dozen wyverns, one wurm and no less than five true dragons.

The dragons could not be mistaken as anything other than the beings spoken of in myth. Each one was a lizard-like beast larger than most buildings, with four muscular limbs, a pair of massive wings and a tail with spikes running down its length. They all had horns, though the shape of these horns varied greatly depending on the individual. And the dragons were currently engaged in a fierce discussion.

“We are dragons, there is no point in showing mercy!” roared an enormous red dragon with flame-red scales and horns that first curved inward and then outward. “If we are to intervene, then we should burn every last one of the humans!”

Many of the other draconic monsters cowered at these words. Some of the wyverns looked like they wanted to refute this, but they were obviously too terrified to speak up.

“WOULDN’T IT BE BETTER TO EAT THEM FIRST?” the wurm suggested. This one was covered in brown scales, unlike the wurm from before. “EAT AT LEAST SOME OF THEM?”

“Some of them can be eaten,” Deonora allowed, “but the country as a whole should be burned to the ground! This should not simply be a raid for food, it should be a demonstration to the entire world that none may take dragons as slaves, least of all humans!”

“Calm yourself, Deonora,” said one of the other dragons, this one with green scales and rearward-pointing horns. “If we are to intervene on behalf of our lesser brethren, then should we not consider their opinion as well?”

“How could we call ourselves dragons if we allowed humans to live?” Deonora said. “Or rather, how could any monster attack humans and not kill them?”

The other dragons seemed to consider this a good point, because none of them replied for a while. Eventually a third dragon, one with deep blue scales and straight conical horns, spoke up:

“Because the humans—not all of the humans are hostile to our kind. Some of them have proven willing to help our kind, even at risk to themselves.”

“Then we shall kill them without causing undue suffering,” Deonora said. “But we shall kill them nonetheless. To spare humans is an absurd concept for dragons.”

Lilith had heard enough. She marched down the slope towards the meeting of dragons, Adam right by her side.

The first to notice their presence was the red dragon Deonora, who swivelled her massive head to look at the new arrivals. The other draconic monsters turned their heads as well. There was a mix of reactions: the wvyerns cried out in fear, since they were all presumably escapees from Dragai, while the dragons looked confused and the wurm…

“LOOK! PREY!” the wurm roared. “CAN I HAVE THEM!?”

The dragon nearest the wurm hissed, and that alone was enough to stop the wurm saying anything else.

“What are a succubus and a human doing here?” Deonora growled. She—judging from her feminine name—looked at Lilith and Adam as if she was debating whether or not to kill them on this spot.

Lilith froze momentarily. She’d started out as a mere succubus with no advantages save for the ability to not attack humans out of god-given instinct. For that mere succubus, the mere idea of confronting a dragon would have been a sick joke.

But she had changed. She had met a human and, after a rough start, been able to work together with a human towards a common goal. She had learned that it was possible for other monsters to see humans as more than prey. She had increased in power and skill by leaps and bounds. And she had received the wishes of countless other people for a better world.

So Lilith opened her mouth and spoke.

“We’re here because we want you to help the people—the wyverns and the humans—of Dragai,” Lilith said.

“It is possible for humans and monsters to live together in peace,” Adam said. “We stand before you today as proof of that.”

For several long moments, every single one of the draconic monsters looked baffled by these words. Then the wyverns began looking hopeful, the wurm continued to look baffled, most of the dragons began discussing these words amongst themselves, and Deonora growled in anger.

“If you think I’ll fall for your tricks, succubus, then you are the true fool!” Deonora said, moving forward and up the slope of the volcanic vent. “Bringing along an enthralled human won’t change any of our—”

“You’re the fool here!” Lilith said, stepping forward. “Can you sense any spells I’m using to control Adam!? Are you just going to deny what’s right in front of your eyes!?”

“Do not interrupt me!” Deonora snarled. “I am a dragon, the greatest of all monsters to inhabit this world! Count yourself lucky that I haven’t already incinerated you where you stand!”

“There isn’t any time to waste on arguing!” Adam said. “Coexistence between humans and monsters is not just a dream, it is already reality in Zipangu, a land to the east!”

Lilith and Adam were now just ten paces away from Deonora. The ferocious red dragon towered over them and they could feel an intense heat radiating from her body, but the two of them did not cower.

“Then tell me one thing,” Deonora said. “Just what, precisely, do you wish us to help you with?”

“The human rebellion has just been defeated,” Lilith explained. “Their leaders were taken alive, but they’ll be executed at noon today.”

“And if that occurs, the remaining humans will lose any hope of rebelling again,” Adam said. “We would like you to help us stop that execution, and to free the remaining wyverns who are still mounts of Dragon Riders.”

After what seemed like an eternity of staring at each other, Deonora said, “You have courage. I’ll give you that. And it doesn’t seem like you’re lying. But peace with humans isn’t something that can be achieved so easily.”

“That might be true, but it’s much better than what we have right now, both in Dragai and in the rest of the world,” Lilith said.

“And in Dragai, there’s already steps being taken towards that goal,” Adam said. “There are humans there who, as their first act of rebellion, freed the wyverns kept there as slaves. They could have easily been attacked themselves, yet they went through with it regardless. And they did expose themselves to danger from—”

Adam trailed off because another wyvern swooped down into the vent of the volcano: Sunheart had arrived, despite her earlier words. The red wyvern landed near Adam and Lilith and looked nervously at Deonora.

“I… I would like to speak as well,” Sunheart said.

She must have circled back after she said she would leave, Lilith realised. And she must have been watching us from above.

Deonora narrowed her eyes and said, “Go ahead.”

“I’m one of the wyverns who was enslaved by the humans, but I was not freed,” Sunheart said. “Just last night, I was still forced to carry one of them. I helped them attack one of their own villages, as punishment for helping the rebels.”

“And how did you end up here?” Deonora asked. “Did you throw off your slaver?”

“No… it was because these two fought against us,” Sunheart said, gesturing with one wing at Lilith and Adam. “They killed all of us, except me and one of the humans. And… that other human regretted what he’d done.”

These words were met with amazement by the other draconic monsters, who had yet to receive any perspective from someone who’d been the long-time mount of a Dragon Rider. They were also met with amazement by Lilith and Adam, who’d seen Sunheart repeatedly insult and look down on Glenn.

“We went around to some other villages, trying to save them from being attacked,” Sunheart continued. She looked down at the ground. “We… couldn’t help the first one, but the second had been helped by the humans sent to attack it, helped to make a new village hidden in the forest. After that… I came here, while that human went with the others to the city. The point is, I saw a human who was willing to help our kind. And I wouldn’t be here today if it wasn’t for these two… defeating me and then letting me live.”

Deonora was silent at these words. Another dragon, the green one, approached and asked, “Tell me, would you be willing to fight again? To fight on behalf of those humans who are willing to help dragonkind?”

Sunheart took a deep breath, then answered, “Yes. Yes, I’ll fight for them.”

One of the other dragons, the one nearest the wurm, asked, “What of you? Have you changed your opinion on what to do about the humans?”

“Hmm…” the wurm said, more subdued than before. “Do I really have to not kill the humans? They’re so weak, they die just from being touched. But… I never knew you could talk to them before.”

Then all eyes moved to Deonora. The red dragon sighed, this being as loud as the average human’s full-throated scream.

“You needn’t try to pressure me. I’ve made my decision,” Deonora said. “We shall fly to the Imperial Capital of the humans! We shall overthrow their rulers, free our remaining enslaved brethren, and learn to live with the humans!”

Deonora finished off these words by lifting her heads skywards and letting loose her fiery breath. The other draconic monsters showed their agreement by doing the same thing, and the sky was briefly dyed a bright orange by their combined breaths.

“Now, let us depart!” Deonora declared. “There is little time left, so we must make haste!” She looked down at Lilith and Adam. “If you cannot keep up with us, then we will leave you behind!”

Deonora extended her wings, which were each several times larger than a ship’s sails. The other draconic monsters—with the exception of the wurm—extended their wings as well. Realising what would happen next, Adam drew his sword and thrust it into a nearby boulder, then he and Lilith clung to it for dear life.

In the next moment, the volcano was filled with the chaotic gusts from dozens of draconic monsters taking flight. This only lasted for a few seconds, but it was still intense enough for Lilith to nearly lose her grip on the sword. Fortunately, Adam held on to her tightly using one arm.

Even if they’re willing to live with humans now… Lilith thought. they’ll need a bit more practice on toning down their strength.

Finally, all of the draconic monsters left with the exceptions of the wurm and, interestingly enough, Sunheart. Lilith and Adam let go of the sword and the latter sheathed it again.

Then the wurm slithered closer. “Hey… you two come from far away, don’t you? That’s what it sounded like.”

“We do,” Lilith said. “I’m from a succubus village in Royal Makai, and Adam here is from the human town of Merith.”

“We’ve been to many places around the world,” Adam said. “One that we mentioned earlier, Zipangu, is a small island nation where humans and monsters coexist. That’s a major reason why we believe it’s possible for the same to happen elsewhere.”

The wurm hummed, a sound so loud that it sent tremors through the earth. “I don’t know anything about what it’s like outside here… Can you tell me more about that?”

“Not now, because they’re in a hurry,” Sunheart snapped. She turned to Lilith and Adam. “You two won’t be able to keep up with dragons flying at full speed, so… just hold still.”

Sunheart took flight and picked up Lilith and Adam using her hindlegs. She flew out of the volcano and towards the southeast, following the other draconic monsters.

As they moved through the air, Lilith said, “Thank you for coming back!”

Sunheart snorted and refused to look at either of the two people she was carrying. “I didn’t come back for you. I came back to help the others who are still slaves.”

“Yet you argued on behalf of the humans of Dragai,” Adam pointed out. “You had no need to do that if you just—”

“Shut up or I drop you!” Sunheart snapped.

Lilith and Adam didn’t say anything more to their benefactor. They did, however, share an amused glance with each other.

When they caught up with the flock of draconic monsters, many other wyverns crowded around them. None of these was as large as Sunheart, nor as fast. It was clear this flock was moving at the speed of its slowest members… which added another meaning to Sunheart’s earlier claim that Lilith wouldn’t be able to keep up.

“Thanks! I was—I was too afraid to say anything back there!”

“Did you really come from outside Dragai!?”

“How did you two meet!?”

It reminded Lilith of being surrounded by overly excited children. Considering the horrors that these wyverns had been through, it was a relief that they were still able to get excited about anything.

As they flew towards the Imperial Capital, more and more wyverns joined them. Before long there were hundreds of them, resulting in a formidable aerial force.

AN: I originally planned for a battle scene in this chapter, with Deonora refusing to help unless Lilith and Adam could prove their strength to her. With the way it turned out, a battle would be out of place, but I’ll see if I can squeeze in something similar later.

Chapter Text

AN: I decided to include a lot of different perspectives in this chapter.

Also, I’ll point out that I’m using “dragon” in two different ways in this and previous chapters: to refer to draconic monsters in general (dragons, wyverns, wurms and the yet-to-be-mentioned dragon zombies) and to true dragons only.

Within the Imperial Capital was a prison with cells for all manner of inmates, ranging from pickpockets and drunkards to murderers and rapists. These cells were dimly lit and almost never cleaned, to better break the inmates’ spirits.

On the deepest level of the prison was a set of cells guarded by two Dragon Riders. While the mounts of said Dragon Riders were not here for obvious reasons, the Dragon Riders themselves were still proof against any breakout attempt. And within these cells were the greatest criminals in all of the Great Dragai Empire.

Dell Walker sat quietly within one of these cells. He was a short man with messy black hair, a flat nose and cheeks covered in freckles. He wasn’t handsome by any standard, and his looks were even worse right now thanks to the bruises all over his body. Unsurprisingly, he’d often been mocked by others while growing up. Yet he’d nevertheless been able to gather a group of loyal friends, and with those friends he’d tried to overturn the oppressive society of Dragai.

But now… just what have I achieved? Dell thought.

The civil war had led to countless deaths all over Dragonia, with the geytar bearing the brunt of this as usual. Judging from the rumours Dell had heard, entire villages had been razed to the ground for providing support to the rebels. Dell and his friends were soon to join them.

The loyalist Dragon Riders didn’t take many casualties… they’ll be able to keep the geytar in line and stop any more attempts to rebel. Then… things will keep going on as they always did.

Dell looked out from his cell. There were four other cells, each with one occupant. They were all kept separately to make it more difficult to cooperate with each other.

Biggs, Resha, Aran, Mel… all of you are going to die… because of me. And for nothing…

For a moment, Dell wondered if it would have been better to not rebel. It had been a hopeless idea from the start: the Dragon Riders were the most formidable fighting force in the world, and Dell never had enough of them that were sympathetic to his cause. Dell himself wasn’t a great warrior capable of crushing armies singlehandedly, nor was he a charismatic orator who could win battles with words alone… he was just a normal person… a normal human.

Without me… many people would still be alive. If it wasn’t for me…

But then Dell remembered the sight of those mutilated wyverns, their pitiful cries as they were broken in for the sake of Dragai’s prosperity. He’d experienced these things countless times as a dragon handler. And when he was rewarded for his loyal service by being made a Dragon Rider candidate, he was going to benefit from this same system of cruelty. It had been too much to bear.

That was why he’d spoken of his misgivings to his friends, despite the risks of doing so. That was why he’d spent many nights in bars listening for those who felt discontent towards society. That was why he’d approached more senior Dragon Riders, people that he’d normally be too scared to even talk to, and recruited them to the cause. And that was why he’d sparked the civil war by releasing the captive wyverns, allowing them to fly freely.

That last step was crystal-clear in Dell’s memory. When he and his friends had started removing the wyverns’ chains, they were afraid: they’d been raised their whole lives to believe that monsters would attack humans unless fully trained. Yet the wyverns hadn’t attacked. They’d looked on in confusion as humans approached them, without any weapons or armour, and removed their restraints. Finally, they began to fly away from the dragon pens to freedom… and a few of them thanked Dell’s group. Their words were rough and said with harsh voices, but were still said in the common language of humanity.

I didn’t even know until then that wyverns could speak…

The society of Dragai was the real injustice. Humans were killed in the process of capturing and training wyverns, and wyverns were killed if they proved impossible to train. Based on some quick calculations, the number of people who died in the recent civil war was equal to the number of Dragaian citizens who died in just three or four normal years.

But that doesn’t change the fact that we’ve lost. We’ve lost, we’re going to die, and we haven’t changed a thing.

After the release of the captive wyverns, the fighting had begun. Only a few of the Dragon Riders were willing to rebel, but they were joined by over ten thousand geytar who were willing to take up arms, outnumbering the loyalist Dragon Riders by a hundred to one. The fighting had raged for three days and three nights, levelling villages and fortresses, watering the earth with the blood of human and dragon alike… and at the end of it all, the loyalists had won.

Eventually, Dell noticed the guards opening the door of his cell. The time of his execution must have arrived, though he hadn’t realised that it was this very moment. In this windowless prison, he’d lost all track of time.

“Get up, traitor,” one of the guards ordered curtly.

Dell stood up obediently. There was no point in acting defiant: while he didn’t mind receiving more injuries, the guards could easily hurt his friends instead.

The other cells were opened, and then Dell and his four friends were led through the prison, climbing several flights of stairs.

As they walked, one of Dell’s friends leaned slightly towards him. It was Biggs, a tall man with wiry muscle and short brown hair.

“Hey, what are you beating yourself up for now?” Biggs asked.

Dell blinked, but then he realised that there really was no reason for him to be surprised. Out of their group of five, Biggs had always been the best at understanding other people.

“It’s nothing much… I was just thinking about… about everything that’s been happening lately,” Dell replied.

“And blaming yourself for it, right?” Biggs said.

There was no point in trying to deny this, but Dell also didn’t want to admit his true feelings out loud, so he remained silent.

“In that case, I should ask you why you’re being so bloody arrogant,” Biggs continued. “Do you really think you’re the only one who decided to do all this? No, we all decided to get into this mess, and we all know what it might lead to.”

Dell saw the other three nod in response to these words. They didn’t contribute any words of their own, but that also wasn’t necessary. Dell had regained his resolve.

-ooo-

Glenn stood in the central square of the Imperial Capital. The execution had yet to begin, but this area was already packed almost to the brim with people. Like in the morning, there were mounted Dragon Riders perched on the buildings surrounding the square. Additionally, there was now a wooden stage in the square, the edges of which were bounded by fences, and this stage was being guarded by two Dragon Riders.

The crowd was abuzz with conversation, and Glenn did his best to take it all in.

“It’s actually happening now…”

“I hope they get what’s… what’s coming to them.”

“Maybe there’ll be some peace now…”

“Hey, let’s meet at the usual place after this…”

To a casual observer, the crowd seemed as if they were looking forward to the execution. But when Glenn paid attention to the slight hesitation in their words, the nervousness on their faces, the occasional whispers of rebellion, he could tell that they wished the rebels had won and this execution wasn’t about to happen.

Glenn wasn’t nearly as nervous as everyone else, for he still had a telepathic connection to Lilith. Thanks to that connection, he was aware of the incredible force that was heading towards the capital.

Then there was a commotion up ahead. Glenn looked up to see that King Julius was approaching, accompanied by a contingent of Dragon Riders and five people in chains… the intended subjects of this execution. They arrived at the stage—no, the execution platform—and the five in chains were roughly forced inside, then a gate was shut behind them. A wooden podium was brought over and King Julius stood on it.

“People of Dragai!” King Julius said, again using magic to amplify his voice. “The preparations are now complete! Now, these traitors who have caused so much suffering to Dragai will perish!”

Lilith, it’s starting! Glenn thought.

Don’t worry, we’re almost there! Lilith responded. Just wait, you’ll see us in less than a minute!

“For their crimes, these traitors must suffer an appropriate punishment!” King Julius continued. He turned towards the Dragon Riders. “Bring in the executioner!”

Glenn heard a commotion from a different area from the crowd. He craned his neck and saw the crowd parting as a wyvern was brought in by a group of handlers. This wyvern was nothing like the tamed ones used as Dragon Rider mounts: it snapped and hissed at the nearby humans, it had heavy shackles on its neck and wings, and the handlers were holding chains attached to these shackles. This was a wyvern who refused to submit to human authority… and Glenn immediately realised what the plan for the execution was.

“These traitors were complete fools!” King Julius said. “They took pity on the dragons that were the rightful property of our nation, and released them! They were fortunate that those dragons were too afraid of our might to attack, instead choosing to flee! But they did not manage to release all of our dragons! Some were kept in a different part of the city… this is one of them! Now these five traitors will meet a fitting end, in the gullet of one of the dragons they tried to release!”

It was a distasteful method of execution. In Order-dominated nations, monsters would never be used as an execution method, not even for the worst criminals. But the Great Dragai Empire openly defied the principles of the Order, both because it needed the strength of its dragons and because that very strength ensured that no other nation could challenge it.

The wyvern was brought closer and closer towards the execution platform. The surrounding crowd now had expressions of open despair, no longer able to hide their emotions.

And then a dragon’s roar resounded through the square. It was immediately followed by the roars of countless more.

Everyone froze, even the chained wyvern. The Dragon Riders in and around the square quickly drew their weapons. Glenn looked up towards the northwest and a smile appeared on his face.

A flock of draconic monsters—including not just wyverns but also true dragons—was flying towards the capital. As they approached, they took up an increasing portion of the sky, appearing like an enormous cloud bank.

“I-Impossible…” King Julius said, looking up at the approaching dragons.

Glenn heard screams from all around him, and he realised that there was a problem with a rescue plan that involved an army of dragons.

Wait, the people are panicking! Glenn thought. They’re going to run and trample each other to death!

Don’t worry, we’ve got that handled! Lilith responded.

Glenn felt a potent wave of magic wash over him. He suddenly felt much calmer, and the screams of the crowd mostly stopped.

-ooo-

As she approached the Imperial Capital, Lilith breathed a sigh of relief that her spell had worked. She normally wouldn’t have anywhere near the amount of energy needed to calm an entire city, but she currently had help from an unexpected source.

“Hmph, that part’s dealt with,” said Deonora, the great red dragon that was flying at the head of this flock. “Now it’s time to crush any resistance.”

Lilith was clinging to one of Deonora’s limbs. She had just borrowed some of the red dragon’s demonic energy to fuel her own spell, and it had been extraordinarily difficult, like trying to encourage a wildfire to travel against the direction of the wind.

Dragon Riders rose up from the city… and flew off in the opposite direction to the flock of dragons. Some of the wyverns even bucked off their riders, who fell screaming to the city below. A few riderless wyverns also rose up and flew away. It seemed that even years of harsh training couldn’t remove the wyverns’ natural instincts.

Fireballs, ice spears, lightning bolts and various other offensive spells shot up from the city; some of the Dragon Riders remained and were fighting on foot. But these had as much effect on the flock of dragons as raindrops on a mountain. Wyverns broke off from the flock, descended and killed the Dragon Riders casting these spells.

Then a pair of Dragon Riders rose up and flew towards the dragon flock. These two gave off a formidable aura. Lilith immediately recognised them as Commanders Renard and Serafine, the two Dragon Riders who’d been guarding the king in the morning. They were clearly able to get their wyverns to cooperate.

“You will not destroy Dragai!” Renard said.

“All dragons who do not submit will be slain!” Serafine said.

These two Dragon Riders were presumably hoping to kill Denora and thus demoralise the other dragons. Despite the situation, Lilith couldn’t help but admire their bravery.

There was no time to exchange any more words. Lilith let go of Deonora’s leg and flew using her own wings, causing her to fall behind the red dragon. Deonora encountered the two Dragon Riders and, a fraction of a second later, there were two explosions of blood and the Dragon Riders’ mounts flew on without their riders.

In that moment, Deonora had struck Renard and Serafine using her two forelegs, killing them while leaving their mounts unharmed.

Not only is she ridiculously strong, she also has so much control over her body… Lilith thought, shivering. It’s a good thing that we were able to settle things without fighting.

Lilith looked at the two now-riderless wyverns. They made no attempt to fight on their own and instead joined with the flock. Presumably, they had flown up here hoping to get their riders killed… even at the risk of being killed themselves.

In any case, there was no more resistance up in the sky, so they now had to settle things down on the ground. This was a job for Lilith and Adam, as the Imperial Capital would be damaged even more if the dragons tried fighting there.

Lilith flew over and picked up Adam from Sunheart, then descended and landed in the central square of the capital. Most of the civilians had evacuated, with Glenn standing at one of the exits to the square and helping direct the evacuation.

There was no time for anything else, as hostile Dragon Riders rushed in and they were immediately forced into battle.

-ooo-

Adam exchanged blows with a Dragon Rider, filling the air with the fearsome clashing of metal against metal. Eventually, he found an opening and knocked the sword out of his opponent’s hands, then finished his opponent with a thrust to the neck. Red blood spattered the ground.

But just as soon as he dealt with one Dragon Rider, a second rushed towards Adam, forcing him to continue fighting.

“Surrender!” Adam shouted. “You cannot win!”

“I will never surrender!” the second Dragon Rider retorted. “As long as monsters threaten humanity, we Dragon Riders will stand strong!”

Thus far, none of the dragons had attacked the city itself, but Adam could understand why the Dragon Riders believed they would. He could respect their courage even if they were opposite sides, for it was similar to how he’d acted just a few months ago.

Still, Adam couldn’t afford to lose here. With a burst of effort, he knocked down his opponent. Then, because this Dragon Rider had relatively little armour on his legs, Adam delivered a cut to one leg that would prevent the Dragon Rider from standing up soon. It wasn’t feasible to spare every enemy, but at the same time he hoped to kill as few as possible.

Adam now had enough breathing room to look around. He first caught sight of Lilith, who was fighting another Dragon Rider and seemed to have the upper hand. He then spotted Glenn at one of the exits to the square, and the young Dragon Rider was helping the last few civilians evacuate. There was also a wooden stage with five people on it who were in chains and looked astounded at current events—these had to be the rebel leaders.

Good, they’re still safe, Adam thought. Nobody is paying any attention to them now—but where is the king?

Adam eventually spotted the king crouching near the palace. He was holding his head in his hands and a Dragon Rider was shaking him by the shoulders. It seemed that he was refusing to accept the situation.

“Your Majesty, you must escape!” the Dragon Rider said desperately.

“Impossible… It’s impossible,” King Julius. “Dragons would never fight for humans… This must all be some horrific nightmare…”

“Your Majesty!”

Adam headed towards the king. If he could capture the king, it would likely cause the aristocracy and loyalist Dragon Riders to surrender.

But when Adam was close, King Julius seemed to regain some of his willpower. The king reached a hand into his golden tunic and then disappeared along with a flash of light, together with the Dragon Rider who was next to him. There was nothing left there except for bare ground.

Teleportation magic! Adam realised. He must have had a charm enchanted with that, and used it to escape.

Lilith hurried over, having dealt with the remaining Dragon Riders. She looked at the spot where the king had just been, then swore.

“It makes sense that a king would have special privileges, including a way to escape if things get bad,” Lilith said. “Where could he be now?”

“Somewhere still inside Dragai, most likely,” Adam said. “Somewhere with many of his troops—”

Adam stopped partway through his words because the sky above the square was now filled with countless draconic monsters. Several wyverns landed near the execution platform and ripped off the chains from the rebel leaders using their teeth. And then the leader of the flock came into view, causing the others to quickly back away to give her space.

“I sensed someone teleporting out of here!?” Deonora called out.

“It was the king, Julius, he has fled!” Adam replied. “If there are any fortresses outside the capital, then he has likely fled to one of them!”

“Hmph, then we just have to burn every one of those to the ground!” Deonora said. “Dragons, with me!”

The dragons and most of the wyverns flew off. A considerable number of wyverns remained behind, and Adam spotted a familiar red wyvern among them.

“I still can’t believe you managed to convince them,” Sunheart said as she landed.

“We didn’t do anything more than tip the balance,” Adam replied.

“There were already a lot of them who wanted to help the humans when we got there,” Lilith added.

This didn’t seem to reassure Sunheart, who looked around at the other wyverns in a guilty manner. “If I had just talked to them earlier, I could have convinced them, and you wouldn’t have had to risk your lives.”

“There isn’t anything wrong with what you’ve done,” Adam said. “You shouldn’t judge yourself over not being willing to confront true dragons. Even the wyverns that were already there were too afraid to speak up.”

At that moment, Glenn hurried over. “Thank you, you managed to stop the execution and—and completely turn things around! I-I never imagined that Dragai could actually change like this!”

But that wasn’t the end of the new arrivals. The five rebel leaders were walking over, accompanied by a group of cheerful wyverns. Leading the way was a short man with a heavily freckled face.

“You two, thanks for helping us,” said Dell Walker. He gestured around at his group. “I’m Dell, and this is Biggs, this is Resha, this is Aran, and this is Mel. We wouldn’t be alive if it wasn’t for you and all the dragons you brought here. But, um… who are you two? I’ve never heard of any monsters other than dragons being willing to help humans…”

Adam and Lilith looked at each other. Lilith laughed, causing Adam to laugh as well.

“Sorry about that, we’re not laughing at any of you,” Adam said as he recomposed himself. “It’s just… well, it’s quite the long story…”

-ooo-

Within Fort Aevis, King Julius sat on a chair in a large room. All around him, Dragon Riders and servants rushed around like ants from a disturbed nest. There were dozens of the former, as the Dragon Riders had mostly been forced to flee due to their mounts panicking, and many of those had fled to this fort.

“We have to finish the defences quickly, before they come—”

“We can’t possibly win against them, we should—”

“Don’t you dare say that! We must fight them to the end! So long as His Majesty breathes—”

“Where did Lord Cyrus go!? He should be in command of this fort—”

“I can’t find Lady Semele anywhere! Have you seen her—”

Julius covered his ears with his hands, which muffled the noise somewhat. But nothing he did could banish that memory… the memory of those dragons approaching the Imperial Capital in such numbers that they blotted out the sky.

“It’s impossible…” Julius whispered to no one in particular. “This must all be a nightmare…”

Julius had been repeating these words for the past quarter of an hour. But by now, he no longer believed them quite so strongly. By now… he was starting to realise the truth.

“Why…?” Julius asked, looking up at the ceiling.

Part of the answer to that question was obvious: after being abused for so long, it was only natural that they’d want revenge. The surprising part was that they didn’t just set fire to the capital and devour any humans they found, but focused on killing the Dragon Riders who opposed them. As unbelievable as it sounded, the dragons had come to the aid of the humans… no, to the aid of the geytar in particular. The aristocracy, including Julius himself, were the dragons’ targets.

“I should have listened to you… Dragolinde,” Julius muttered.

Julius had made many reforms to the Dragai Empire: he’d driven out the Order and any other foreign influences, strengthened the Dragon Riders and expanded the empire’s territory by more than three times. He’d naturally encountered criticism in the process, but as time went on and his reforms proved successful, those critics changed their minds… with the sole exception of Dragolinde Lambton.

People continued to run throughout the fortress and shout at each other, but Julius paid them no mind. A couple of servants approached him and asked if he was alright, but he simply waved the away.

Dragolinde was one of the highest-ranking noblewomen of Dragai, from the prestigious Lambton family. She’d been Julius’ friend ever since they were children, and there were even suggestions of a betrothal at some point. But when Julius had taken the throne and begun his reforms, she had begun staunchly opposing him, saying that his reforms would lead to discontent among the geytar. That had seemed laughable at the time… the geytar had never possessed real power during Dragai’s history, after all… and now it seemed like Dragolinde had been able to see the future.

But now she was almost certainly dead. The fighting had been intense around the Lambton territory, and just yesterday Julius had received a report that the castle had been reduced to ruins.

Julius picked up a glass of red wine from a nearby table. He’d never been the kind of person to drink, only doing so at social events where it was expected of him. Now, he brought the glass to his lips and drained it dry in a few gulps.

Eventually, Julius heard panicked screams: it was clear that the dragons had arrived. If that wasn’t enough indication, a Dragon Rider burst into the room and shouted, “Your Majesty, you must escape! We won’t be able to defeat these dragons, but we can buy you time!”

Julius laughed disdainfully. “How do you suggest I escape monsters capable of flight? I’ve already used my teleportation charm, and it will take weeks for it to recharge.”

“Your Majesty, you can change your clothing and sneak out via a hidden passage!” the Dragon Rider said.

“Just like the other nobles have done, hmm?” Julius said.

From the rumours, it was easy to guess what many of the nobles had done. They’d seen the dragons approaching and the Dragon Riders failing to stop them, so they’d lost their nerve. They must have disguised themselves as geytar and then fled, likely hoping to leave the country altogether.

Dressing as geytar would have previously been unthinkable for those of our class, Julius mused. But values no longer mean much when your own life is at stake.

A dragon’s roar resounded through the fortress. The Dragon Rider flinched out of fear, but Julius simply swayed on the spot, and that was possibly more due to the wine than due to the dragon. Shortly after, they could hear the crackling sound of flames.

“Your Majesty, we must leave!” the Dragon Rider said. He gripped Julius by the arm, desperation overcoming his normal respect towards his king.

“No, there’s no need.”

After making this declaration, Julius wrenched his arm out of the Dragon Rider’s grip, walked out of the room and began walking towards the nearest staircase that led upwards.

“Your Majesty, where are you going!?” the Dragon Rider asked.

“According to tradition, a king should lead his people from the front,” Julius said casually. “While there’s not exactly any ‘front’ at this point, I was thinking of going to the roof to better see these dragons.”

“This isn’t the time for that!”

Flames spread to the staircase Julius was heading towards, and the surrounding air became stiflingly hot. There was no way to use this staircase any longer, and possibly any staircase leading upwards, if the fire had spread to this point.

“You can leave if you want, no one will blame you,” Julius said. He walked over to the nearest window and gestured outside. “But I’ll be staying here.”

Outside Fort Aevis, many people could be seen rushing out and fleeing into the wilderness. Notably, the dragons made no attempt to attack them. Also visible were the charred corpses of several Dragon Riders who’d been foolish enough to fight.

After a few moments of hesitation, the Dragon Rider turned and ran off.

Julius remained by the window and watched his subjects flee. He continued to watch even as the fire spread through the corridor towards him.

It’s odd… As the king of a powerful nation, I’ve had access to countless luxuries throughout my life. And yet… And yet only now do I feel like I’m truly alive…

A dragon flew past the window. It was a hulking monstrosity covered in red scales, the stuff of legends. It turned its head slightly, showing that it had noticed Julius.

Julius pulled out a dagger from his belt. This was far from the swords used by heroes of legend to slay dragons, but it would have to do for now.

The dragon opened its mouth.

AN: In hindsight, I probably should have mentioned Dragolinde earlier, given that the Dragonia book says “The records speak of her as a strong person, admired by many in the Empire.” But it’s been a while since I read the book in full and so I simply forgot this part. This is one of the reasons for the multiple perspectives: to give more information on her.

And speaking of Dragolinde, I decided to invent the surname “Lambton” for her because she should logically have one (being a noble), even though none of the source material mentions any surname. “Lambton” is taken from the legend of the Lambton Worm.

Chapter Text

Bringing in an army of draconic monsters had seemed like a difficult idea at the time. But it was a simple and quick process in comparison to what came afterward.

First of all, there was considerable damage to the Imperial Capital and to several outlying villages. Rebuilding was, as always, a more difficult task than destruction. And the draconic monsters couldn’t provide much help: only a few of them were used to working with humans in any way, and none of them had the dexterity or the skill needed to repair human-sized buildings.

Then, of course, were the tensions between humans and draconic monsters. While there had technically been coexistence between them before, this involved humans taking wyverns as slaves while the other draconic monsters largely kept away from the humans, and killed and ate any that they could.

And there was the abrupt loss of the Dragai aristocracy: some had been killed by vengeful wyverns or geytar, while most had fled to avoid the wrath of those they’d oppressed for so long. While this was the original goal of the rebel side, that didn’t change the fact that the aristocracy had been ruling this country for countless centuries, and their abrupt loss raised the question of how the country would now function.

All of these problems were made easier by the five leaders of the rebellion, Dell Walker and his friends. They had no great title or fame just a few days ago, but they had lit the sparks of rebellion by releasing captive wyverns, and then had been prepared to die for their actions. When Dell stood up—on the very stage where he would have been executed, ironically enough—and explained that the draconic monsters had come here to help, that quelled much of the unrest in the capital.

Throughout this all, Adam and Lilith did their best to stay out of the spotlight. True, they’d had to fight the Dragon Riders remaining in the capital’s central square and then spoken briefly to Dell’s group, but afterwards they retreated to an alley to disguise themselves. Adam put on a cloak to cover his plate armour and Lilith switched to her human form.

Because while Dragai had just been cleansed of its corruption and was now on the path towards true coexistence… there was still a certain fallen hero out there.

-ooo-

When things had settled down, Adam and Lilith met up with Glenn in a nearby tavern. The young Dragon Rider looked exhausted from everything that had happened recently, yet he also looked immensely satisfied. The three of them ordered mugs of ale and sat down at a table

“I still have trouble believing this is all real,” Glenn said. “Not only have all of the aristocrats—those that haven’t switched sides—gone, but there are dragons of all kinds everywhere…”

This raised a question in Adam’s mind. “What about your family, Glenn?” he asked. “Do you know what has happened to them?”

Even if Glenn’s family had pushed him into a career that he hadn’t wanted, that didn’t mean he would have no regrets about their fate. Family was, in the end, still family.

“I’m not sure what’s happened to them,” Glenn admitted, a shadow falling over their face. “They live in an estate quite far from the capital… Most likely, they’ve heard what’s happened here and gone into exile.”

Left unspoken was the other possibility of them being killed. Adam opened his mouth to say something else, but Glenn raised a hand to stop him.

“No, I went into this knowing what might happen to them,” Glenn said. “I don’t… I don’t need any pity for that.”

“Maybe not, but we can still find out what’s happened to your family, at least,” Lilith suggested.

Glenn sighed. “Thank you.”

They remained silent for a few moments. The sounds of hammering trickled in from the outside, evidence that the rebuilding was still ongoing, while the cheerful conversations of other tavern patrons could be heard from all around them. From the latter, Adam heard the term “Dragai Revolution” several times; it seemed that this was what people were now calling the recent civil war.

“There’s still something you’re worried about,” Lilith said. “I’m not even using telepathy or anything, it’s clear from the way you look.”

“It’s… well, it’s a silly thing, really,” Glenn said. “I’m just feeling like I didn’t really do anything important today—”

“That, to be blunt, is nonsense,” Adam said. “You helped us to enter the Imperial Capital in the first place, provided us with crucial information.”

“Without you, we probably would have tried rescuing Dell’s group, rather than trying to recruit the dragons,” Lilith said. “After all, we wouldn’t know about what was happening here if we went to the dragons’ territory. But even if we succeeded in that rescue mission, things wouldn’t have turned out as well as they have now.”

That seemed to cheer up Glenn. “Thank you for telling me that,” he said. “It’s funny, even after everything I’ve been through in the past few days, I still have trouble being confident in myself.”

Glenn took a drink, then Adam and Lilith did the same. The three of them spent a few moments just listening to the sounds of the other people in the tavern.

“What do you plan on doing now?” Lilith asked eventually. “You said you didn’t want to be a Dragon Rider in the first place, and with what’s happening now, I’m not sure there’ll be any more Dragon Riders at all.”

“I’m not sure, really,” Glenn said. He looked down towards his drink. “Originally… I had thoughts of becoming a bureaucrat in the imperial court. I’ve always been pretty good with my sums, and keeping track of accounts, things like that. But…”

“But that position isn’t very prestigious, I’d imagine,” Adam said. “Not in comparison to being a Dragon Rider.”

Glenn nodded. “For the past few centuries, for as long as anyone—any human, at least—can remember, military positions have been valued above all others. It’s silly… without the bureaucrats and the servants and lots of other people, no one would be able to get anything done.”

“That’s not unique to the Dragai Empire,” Adam said. “In many human nations, the people exult heroes as their saviours against monsters. In some cases, this has allowed heroes to abuse their positions…”

Adam took another drink of ale and thought back on his training. The importance of following the Order’s teachings was impressed into each and every one of the hero candidates, moulding them into dedicated paragons to defend humanity against monsters. Adam still remembered those teachings, even if he now had a different way of following them. On the other hand, there were far too many heroes who indulged in their own desires… and one who slaughtered humans as freely as she did monsters…

“—still can’t believe it! There was a monster fighting on our side, the one with bat wings!”

“There were lots of other monsters fighting for us today—just didn’t expect that one.”

Adam looked over at another table. There was a group of burly men sitting there; labourers who were currently taking a break from a hard day’s work.

“And that man who was fighting beside her—he didn’t look like a local, with that armour. Was he one of those heroes from the Order?”

“Heroes are supposed to fight monsters, though—never heard of one who’s willing to fight alongside ‘em.”

“Anyway, just glad that we got a hero who was willing to help us for once. That last one didn’t do anything for us.”

Adam gripped his mug much more tightly. He quickly remembered his situation and relaxed his grip to avoid breaking the mug. Next to him, Lilith tensed as well.

“I can’t believe it—wouldn’t a hero do something, at least? But she just ran off without saying anything, not even promising to bring reinforcements…”

“No, I remember she did say something. It was… what was it again?”

“She said that she ‘wasn’t needed here’. That part makes no sense.”

“The old king might’ve been a bastard, but maybe he had a point about the Order. They’re only interested in themselves, they don’t care about anyone else…”

Adam took several deep breaths. It was possible that these men were talking about someone else, but if there was even the slightest chance of it being her…

Lilith touched Adam’s hand underneath the table, and Adam felt a wave of magic wash over him. While he didn’t have a mirror around to check, he knew instantly that Lilith had just altered his appearance so that no one could connect him to the hero who’d fought in the central square earlier.

Adam turned towards the men and asked, “Hold on, there was really a hero here before today? When did that happen? And how did you know she was a hero?”

“She passed through the capital on the first day,” one of the men replied. “She was a woman in armour that looked nothing like the armour that Dragon Riders wear. She had this great big sword on her back and, just by looking at her, you could tell she was a powerful one.”

The man continued talking about the hero for a while, but Adam was no longer paying attention. He’d heard enough to realise that the hero who’d previously come to Dragai was, without a doubt, Justinia. He looked at Lilith, who was similarly alarmed.

-ooo-

A few minutes later, Adam and Lilith left the tavern—after saying their farewells to Glenn—and headed for the royal palace. They discussed the recent revelation along the way, using telepathy to avoid being overheard by anyone else.

I can’t believe she came here as well, and we barely missed her, Adam thought. Did she feel she wasn’t needed because there were already many humans dying? Yet that didn’t stop her from intervening in Lescatie…

Maybe it’s because of the difference between how Lescatie and Dragai normally run? Lilith wondered. Not many humans die in Lescatie normally, whereas in Dragai… the common-born humans were forced to do the dangerous job of capturing wyverns.

That makes sense, Adam replied. It’s also possible that she did intervene in some way to ensure that the aristocracy won, keeping Dragai in its original state… We may never know for certain.

And we almost ran into her, Lilith thought. She shuddered. If we’d come here a few days earlier, or if she’d decided to stay here a little longer…

We’ll have to keep taking these precautions, Adam thought. We can’t afford to let her find out we’re still alive.

Not until we’re strong enough to actually take her down, Lilith agreed.

That caused Adam to remember the method that he and Lilith were using to strengthen themselves lately. He and Lilith blushed, then they looked away from each other and stopped the telepathic conversation.

As they walked through the streets, Adam saw many wyverns helping to clear away the rubble so that the humans could rebuild. He also saw, at one point, some human children nervously approaching a wyvern and then running away. It was clear that Dragai was slowly but surely moving towards a brighter future.

They finally arrived at the palace. There were humans going in and out of the open doors, carrying out food, clothing, furniture and other kinds of loot. Much of this would be needed to replace property lost to the previous war, but Adam had no doubt that some was being taken simply out of greed or as revenge against the palace’s former inhabitants.

The inside of the palace was a hive of activity. There were humans picking up more loot to take away, but there was also a large crowd of people in a meeting room who seemed to be discussing the future of Dragonia.

Though perhaps “discussion”… wasn’t the right term.

“You were the one who started this all!” said a maid, presumably one of the servants working in the palace. “You gathered allies and freed the dragons, and got them to come back to save Dragai!”

“Th-That wasn’t just me,” answered a very flustered-looking Dell. “I had lots of help in gathering the allies, and—and freeing the wyverns, and—”

“You’re the one the dragons will listen to!” said a cook, still wearing his dirty apron. “You have to be king so you can keep them in line!”

“But—But that wasn’t really my work…” Dell said, looking like he wanted to be anywhere else other than here.

It was clear that the people of Dragai were anxious for new and better leadership. Dell was a logical choice from the perspective of the average citizen, but he obviously didn’t want to be a leader. Yet something needed to be done soon before the country descended into anarchy.

Dell happened to look in Adam and Lilith’s direction, and relief appeared on his face.

“Hold on, I need to have a private discussion with my friends about—about what to do with the dragons! Just wait here for a few minutes!”

The crowd wasn’t willing to let Dell let go that easily. Eventually, Lilith made an illusory copy of him and turned the original Dell invisible, and even that tactic almost failed when someone nearly bumped into the invisible Dell. But after a full minute of confusion of chaos, Dell finally managed to escape to an empty room, Adam and Lilith right behind him.

“Thank you so much for that,” Dell said. “And, um, sorry for presuming to call you my friends.”

“It’s no problem, if I was in that situation, I’d have run away long before you did,” Lilith said.

Dell looked from Lilith to Adam and back again. “Come to think of it, there wasn’t the time for you two to give a proper explanation back then. Can you tell me about that now? The story of how you ended up working together?”

“Yes, but on the condition that you be careful with this information,” Adam said. “There are several reasons why it would be dangerous if revealed widely…”

Over the next few minutes, Adam and Lilith took turns to explain their history. The sound of footsteps could be heard from outside the room, but no person tried to enter the room thanks to a spell Lilith cast.

“And while we can’t help that multiple people saw us today, we hope that our disguises will prevent Justinia from learning that we’re still alive,” Adam said. “Dragai’s isolation from the rest of the world also helps in this regard.”

“But after leaving here, we’ll need to be more careful,” Lilith said. “I’ll need to stick to human form more. I couldn’t do that here because, well, I didn’t really have the option of fighting dragons and Dragon Riders while holding back.”

“This… This is a lot to take in,” Dell said, shaking his head. “I thought that revolting against an oppressive regime was important, and now you’re talking about gods and the history of the world and…”

“If there’s anything you’re having trouble following, we could go into it in more detail,” Adam suggested.

Dell raised a hand. “No, I think that’s enough detail for now. I just have one question: can I mention this to my friends? They’re, ah, the four I was with when you rescued me before.”

“I think that should be fine,” Lilith replied. “You did trust them enough to start a civil war with them, after all. And sharing this information with them should help you handle it better.”

“Thank you,” Dell said. He looked down towards the floor and sighed.

Several people stopped outside the door and began discussing where Dell had gone to. Adam didn’t worry about them noticing that their target was nearby, trusting in Lilith to keep the room safe from intrusion.

“They see me and they think I’d make a good ruler, just like those heroes from the stories,” Dell said. “But I don’t know the first thing about ruling a country. I don’t even have what it takes to rule a village! And—” Dell pointed at himself, “—do you think this is the face of a hero?”

Adam raised an eyebrow. “Those people out there clearly don’t care for your appearance. But I understand the rest of your point. Do you know of any possible candidates for the role of king, or of any alternatives to having a king in charge?”

“If I did, do you think I’d be in this situation?” Dell asked sardonically. Then he sighed again. “There was one person who might have been able to do that. Dragolinde Lambton, the highest-ranking out of the few nobles who supported our cause. She gave a lot of financial support to us in secret. But I heard, just a couple of hours ago, that Castle Lambton had been attacked and she was killed.”

Dell stood up and started pacing around. He was younger than Adam yet he looked even older at the moment, thanks to the sheer burden that had been thrust upon him.

“This… all of this… has gone beyond anything I ever expected,” Dell continued. Not only is the aristocracy—a system that’s been in Dragai for hundreds of years—gone, but now dragons are going to be living amongst humans. It’s… It’s too much for me to handle.”

Adam placed a hand reassuringly on Dell’s shoulder. “It’s more than any one person can handle. But working together, we should be able to solve this… eventually.”

Dell slapped his face with both hands, presumably a method of encouraging himself, and nodded. “Right. And… thank you, again.”

“Now, let’s focus on one problem first, finding new leadership for Dragai,” Adam said. “There must be some people here who have leadership experience: guild leaders, family elders, aristocrats who disagreed with the previous regime and sided with the rebels. It would be worth gathering them together…”

-ooo-

Deonora flew through the air at high speed. This was an activity she still enjoyed, even after more than two hundred years of life. Perhaps it was because the scenery from up in the air was always changing. Perhaps it was because the thrill of twisting and turning through the air was something that could never be lost.

Though at the moment, Deonora wasn’t able to do any twists of turns, due to holding a tiny and fragile passenger in her left forepaw.

Hmph… I took him alive on a whim, but is there truly any purpose to this? He’s likely to face execution the moment I deposit him in the human city, so all I’ve done is slightly prolong his life.

For a moment, Deonora considered just dropping her passenger and letting him experience an exhilarating fall for the last few moments of his life. She then quashed that idea. Bringing her passenger in for a proper execution—as silly as that sounded to a dragon—would help the humans feel less fear at having dragons among them.

And there was another reason why she couldn’t drop him just yet. She had one request of his to fulfil. Normally, Deonora wouldn’t care about fulfilling the request of a mere human, especially one who was technically her prisoner. Still, he had been surprisingly audacious when making his request, so she decided she might as well let him have one moment of satisfaction before his death.

Eventually, Deonora spotted a castle in the distance. It consisted of four massive towers arranged in a square and joined together by walls. It was a large structure by human standards, as a dozen full-grown dragons could have perched on its roofs without feeling overcrowded. And at the moment, it was heavily damaged, with cracks, craters and charred surfaces everywhere. One of the exterior walls had even collapsed in one spot, leaving a fifty pace-long stretch where any human or flight-incapable monster could simply walk into the castle.

“We’re here,” Deonora announced, also slowing her flight at the same time. “This must be Castle Lambton.”

The passenger in Deonora’s left forepaw shifted his body so he could see what lay below. He let out a gasp of what was presumably dismay.

“I… I heard that the rebels attacked this castle, but…” King Julius said. “But… to see it with my own eyes…”

“There are some humans left there, however,” Deonora said. “Not as many as there should be for a castle that large, but there are some.”

Without prompting, Deonora began to descend. She landed next to the collapsed portion of wall, at the same time releasing the king from her forepaw. The two of them then looked at the area on the inside, which was packed with buildings to the point of being a small town in and of itself. Several humans could be seen here, but they screamed and scattered like mice at the sight of a dragon, retreating into the buildings.

“I-If there are survivors, then perhaps… perhaps she’s still alive!” Julius cried. “I must find out the truth!”

The king ran through the gap in the wall and into the castle town. He soon entered one of the buildings.

“Those other humans may kill you, so you should be more cautious,” Deonora called out after him. “Though if they do, I won’t bother bringing back your remains.”

For a moment, Deonora regretted having such a large body and thus being unable to follow the king. Then she remembered that her body gave her strength and a fearsome appearance surpassing that of every other monster, which more than outweighed the few disadvantages.

Still, it might be interesting if I had the ability to take on a smaller form, Deonora thought. I’ve heard tales of dragons who could do such a thing, but never encountered one in the flesh. A smaller form would allow me to explore many more of the caves that dot these mountains…

-ooo-

After a few moments of searching, Julius encountered a group of his citizens huddled in a room of one house. They looked to be labourers, servants and other normal citizens, with no fighters of any kind among them.

“Y-Your Majesty!?” one of them said. “How are you here!? A-And where are your guards!?”

“That doesn’t matter right now,” Julius said. “Do you know what has happened to the lady of this castle, Dragolinde Lambton?”

“Sh-She’s—”

Before Julius could hear the full response, he felt the points of spears press against the back of his neck.

Have the rebels taken over this castle!? Julius thought.

Julius slowly turned around and saw a shocking sight. He was being threatened by two guards sworn to Castle Lambton, with the distinctive symbol of the green serpent on their armour.

For a moment, Julius wondered if the rebels had managed to even infiltrate the guards here. Then he noticed the fear and uncertainty on the guards’ faces, and the slight trembling of their spears.

“We’ll take you to the lady,” one of the guards said eventually. “Follow… Follow us.”

Julius was led out of the house and deeper into the castle town. As he walked through the streets, he caught glimpses of people looking at him through windows. He sensed more fear and uncertainty from them… and also anger and resentment.

Eventually, Julius was led to a warehouse that was packed with wounded people. Sitting at one edge of the warehouse was a woman with green hair who wore a long blue dress. She was currently helping to heal the wounded alongside a couple of court mages.

Julius’ arrival caused a commotion in the warehouse, which in turn caused Dragolinde to look up. She stopped her work and hurried over.

“Julius… how did you come to this place?” Dragolinde asked, her blue eyes wide. “I heard… I heard that the fortress you retreated to had been destroyed!”

“That’s true, but the dragon responsible for that decided to capture me alive,” Julius replied. “I’m glad you survived as well. But…”

“Let us talk privately,” Dragolinde said, not quite meeting Julius’ eyes.

Dragolinde went over to the two court mages, who looked exhausted from their work, and briefly placed her hands on their shoulders. The two mages immediately looked refreshed, indicating that Dragolinde had given her own spirit energy to them to help them continue the healing.

After this, Dragolinde had Julius brought into a nearby building. Once the two nobles were seated at a table, Julius’ guards moved away and stood by the door.

“First of all, Julius… I need to tell you that I supported the rebel cause,” Dragolinde said.

Julius jaw dropped. It was unbecoming for a king, but he was long past caring for such things.

“Do you want to know why I did that?” Dragolinde asked.

Julius regained some of his composure. “No… recent events have led me to understand why you would do that,” he replied. “You were right, Dragolinde. You told me, again and again, that my policies would eventually lead Dragai to ruin. I didn’t listen to you, and now…”

“Dragai has sustained severe wounds, but it has not fallen into ruin,” Dragolinde said. “From what I’ve heard, the dragons have overthrown the old regime but have refrained from simply slaughtering its people. You were brought here alive by a dragon, weren’t you?”

“I was,” Julius admitted. “But, if you were part of the rebels, then—ah. I see. Not all of your subordinates agreed?”

“Most did, but a majority of the Dragon Riders disagreed… as was the case elsewhere,” Dragolinde said. “The fighting was so fierce that the castle was half-destroyed, as you’ve already seen, and most of the people died or fled. Eventually, the rebel side lost and I was taken prisoner.”

“Yet I heard that you’d been killed,” Julius said, not trying to disguise the worry in his voice. “Did I simply receive early, mistaken information?”

“Or perhaps the loyalist forces here feared what would happen to morale, if it was known that a noble of my rank had joined the rebels,” Dragolinde said. “Presumably, they planned on revealing the truth once everything settled down… But we may never know for certain. When the dragons came, the loyalists were either killed or fled.”

“Leaving this castle with… it can’t be more than a tenth of its original population,” Julius said. He bowed his head in shame. “I’m sorry, Dragolinde…”

Dragolinde gently pushed Julius’ head back up with her hands. “You can’t blame all of this on yourself, Julius,” she said. “Dragai was enslaving dragons and oppressing geytar long before you were born.”

“That does not change the fact that my policies exacerbated these trends,” Julius said. “I was always focused on the prosperity of Dragai—what I thought would lead it to prosperity—that I neglected the very people that make up this nation. And you never stopped counselling me to change course, yet I never once listened to you… And your people, along with countless others, have paid the price for my foolishness.”

Julius recalled the countless wounded people he’d seen in the warehouse. He took a deep breath.

“It is your right to execute me for what I have done.”

There was silence for a few moments.

“No,” Dragolinde said eventually. “No, I will not do that.”

“But—”

“It’s true that I supported your enemies, but that doesn’t mean I hoped for you to die. I…” Dragolinde trailed off, her eyes wet with tears. “I was ready for the possibility of your death, but I… I cannot order your death when you are right in front of me. I still remember… that boy I met when I first came to the royal palace, who showed me around when I was too nervous to talk to anyone…”

“And I still remember that girl who helped me learn the history of Dragai, a subject I used to loathe,” Julius murmured. “But you won’t be allowed to simply spare me. Your people won’t allow it, none of the other citizens of Dragai will allow it, and the dragons—though I suppose they are becoming part of Dragai now—won’t allow it.”

“After everything I’ve done for Dragai, this is one bit of selfishness that I refuse to compromise on,” Dragolinde said. “And I have an idea…”

When he heard what this idea was, Julius spent several minutes trying to convince Dragolinde not to go through with it. Yet she did not give up, just as she hadn’t given up on convincing him to rule differently as a king.

-ooo-

About ten minutes later, Julius found himself outside Castle Lambton again, this time with Dragolinde standing beside him. The two guards from earlier were also present, but they were a considerable distance away. Not that Julius could blame them for wanting to stay away from a dragon.

“So, you’re the human in charge of this castle,” Deonora said.

“Yes, and I’m very grateful for others of your kind liberating us earlier,” Dragolinde said, giving a nervous bow.

“It’s those others you should thank,” Deonora said dismissively. “Now, do you have any plans for your former king? If not, I will promptly bring him to your capital city.”

Dragolinde swallowed and explained her plan to the dragon, quietly enough that her own guards wouldn’t be able to hear it clearly. Julius was nervous throughout this process; while he didn’t mind dying himself, he feared that Deonora might take offense and kill his childhood friend as well.

Eventually, Deonora turned towards Julius and stared at him. She gave a brief nod.

Dragolinde walked away, a miserable expression on her face. Julius reached into a pocket and clutched a magical charm there.

A few seconds later, intense flame bathed the spot where Julius had been standing. That was the last time that anyone ever saw the final king of Dragai.

Then Deonora took flight and left Castle Lambton. Dragolinde and her guards walked back into the castle town. Just before stepping out of view, Dragolinde looked briefly over her shoulder at the spot where Julius was standing, invisible.

Now alone, Julius let out a sigh of relief. He walked to a nearby house, one where Dragolinde would meet up with him later, and slumped against a wall.

That worked, Julius thought, looking down on the charm in his hand. It allowed him to become invisible while leaving an illusion in his place, and was one of several charms that he, as king, carried in order to ensure his survival. It was a risky gamble, but it worked. I suppose that, from a dragon’s perspective, a single human isn’t much of a threat…

But now… now I am no longer king. What am I to do now?

AN: Working out how to resolve Julius and Dragolinde’s situations took me a while. I planned to have him survive ever since the previous chapter, but their reunion and Julius’ faked death I had trouble with. But I think this ending is something that the Dragonia book may actually be hinting at: it says that Dragolinde may still be living in her castle to this day, it says that Julius didn’t flee the country and doesn’t say anything about him dying, and it’s mentioned that the two are childhood friends (a setting that often leads to romance…)

Also, I decided to rename Castle Dragolinde to “Castle Lambton” for this chapter. This is because a castle with the surname of its ruling family is plausible, but not one with the first name of a single ruler (what happens when you pass it down to someone else?). My headcanon, at least as far as this fanfic is concerned, is that it will later become known as Castle Dragolinde due to people honouring its last ruler.

Chapter Text

After Adam and Lilith finished speaking with Dell, the rebel leader worked up the courage to speak with the citizens of Dragai again. But even after an entire hour of discussion, there was no real progress.

“It would be better if we were ruled by a group of people, rather than a king standing at the top—”

“But you would make a good king!”

“All of the other countries have kings! The idea wasn’t the problem, but the people who used to be in charge!”

“We need order now!”

“But… But…”

It was clear that Dell was the type of person who had trouble refusing people. At this rate, his personality would leave him with no other choice but to become king, yet at the same time it would prevent him from being a competent king.

We need to do something, Adam thought. If Dragai does not gain competent leadership, it will soon fall into ruin—perhaps a different kind of ruin to its previous oppressive regime, but ruin nonetheless. But what can we do? We aren’t native to this country, we have limited knowledge and influence here. We could leverage the fact that we helped overthrow the previous regime, and make our voice heard that way, but there’s still the potential for things to go wrong…

Nothing in Adam’s experience could have prepared him for this. The closes thing was the change of heart by the monsters of the south sea, and that had mainly occurred thanks to the intervention of Poseidon, a literal goddess.

There’s also the question of what the dragons want out of all this. At the moment, it seems that the freed wyverns, or many of them at least, want to try living with the humans, while the wild dragons are a more open question. Coexistence won’t be an easy thing to obtain without divine intervention…

And there were also the non-draconic monsters of Dragai to consider. While they were relatively few in number—it was difficult for most monsters to survive when they faced such fierce competition here—they still posed a problem.

Adam looked at Lilith, about to suggest that the two of them intervene, when an ear-splitting roar suddenly filled the air. There was no mistaking who had made this roar. Shortly afterwards, there was a deep tremor in the earth.

A side-effect of this roar and tremor was that they distracted the many citizens who’d been talking to Dell. This was something that Dell clearly appreciated.

“It sounds like the leader of the dragons has returned,” Dell said. “I’d better go out and meet with her.”

Nobody else attempted to challenge this, so Dell walked out of the room and towards the exit of the palace, with Adam and Lilith following at a discreet distance.

Outside the palace, Deonora had landed in the central square of the Imperial Capital. The massive red dragon was given a wide berth by both humans and by other draconic monsters.

Dell walked forward nervously. Even if he’d spent considerable time working with wyverns, that didn’t necessarily mean he was prepared to face a true dragon. But he did so nonetheless, something that Adam could definitely admire.

“Seems you’re all starting to rebuild,” Denora said. Her eyes flickered over to Adam and Lilith, but she said nothing about them. “Have you decided who’ll be in charge now?”

Dell looked visibly shaken by Deonora’s loud voice. He eventually said, “No… we have not. But I… well, there’s something I want to ask you. What reward do you, and the other dragons, want for coming to the help of the people of Dragai?”

The atmosphere suddenly grew tense. This was a question that many people wanted an answer to, but were too nervous to bring up.

“We came here to help our enslaved brethren,” Deonora snorted. “And it wasn’t difficult at all for us to crush your armies and burn your fortresses to the ground. Hardly something that needs a reward.”

Adam winced. Deonora’s words were true, but also not the best thing to say when the human population of Dragai was already nervous about the draconic monsters among them.

“Still, I believe that a reward is needed,” Dell pressed on. “And that brings me to… bring me to…”

“Speak up, boy,” Deonora said.

Dell took a deep breath, clearly trying to gather his nerves. “That brings me the topic of Dragai’s new leader. Given the current state of Dragai, maybe having a human king at all might not be a good idea…”

“If you’re suggesting what I think you are, then you’re a fool,” Deonora said bluntly.

“P-Please let me finish,” Dell said. “My point is that it would be better for both humans and dragons—and other monsters, if they agree—to rule this land together. After all, we all live here. For… For example, we humans could handle things like collecting taxes, judging disputes and—and other things like that, while you dragons could protect Dragai against foreign enemies, keep the peace within its borders, and otherwise use your great strength for the good of us all.”

“And as we have such great strength, why do we need to do anything further to help you?” Deonora asked. “What can you humans provide us?”

“More than you think,” Dell retorted, with more firmness than any of his previous words. “I’ve spoken to some of the freed wyverns, and they’ve come to like living as humans do, rather than having to always be on the lookout for your next meal. In time, I think that more will want to live this way. And…” Dell became nervous again, but he didn’t stop. “And, humans are skilled at delicate work, such as making magical items, that dragons are not—are not experienced in. So there would be benefits to you in working with humans.”

For over ten seconds, there was an uncomfortable silence. Dell shifted around on the spot, clearly nervous about the possibility of angering Deonora, yet he didn’t take his eyes away from the red dragon.

“Hmph… you make good points,” Deonora said at last. “Very well! Then from this day onwards, this country will be one of humans and dragons, ruling themselves! This I swear on the name of Deonora, Empress of Dragons!”

This proclamation led to cheers from the nearby humans and triumphant roars from the nearby draconic monsters. While the humans no doubt still had some misgivings, they had just seen Dell successfully negotiate with a dragon.

“And since this country has changed greatly from its former self, it seems fitting that it also take a new name!” Deonora continued. “From this day onwards, it shall be known as Dragonia!”

-ooo-

After that fateful meeting, one that would undoubtedly go down in history, there was a much more celebratory mood in the Imperial Capital. People still continued to repair and rebuild the city, but now they did so with a better understanding of their future.

Furthermore, Deonora was now being hailed as queen of the newly founded empire of Dragonia. This was something that actually seemed to discomfort her, likely since a small but increasing number of humans were among the ones doing this. It was the first time that Adam had seen the dragon look so uncomfortable.

As time passed, more and more human leaders—guild leaders, family elders, aristocrats who had sided with the revolutionaries—gathered in the capital. There were lengthy discussions about the details of how Dragonia would be governed from now on. Dell was visibly relieved when this happened, since this freed up him for a small celebration with his friends.

As for Adam and Lilith, they continued to stay out of the spotlight. They walked through the streets of the Imperial Capital, observing what was going on.

When the sun set, the two of them left the city altogether. They found a quiet spot out in the wilderness, where the rocks and trees hid them from view.

“All in all, this has been a success,” Adam said. “Even with our newfound… power, I never expected to achieve anything on the level of improving an entire country.”

“But we still had to depend on getting the help of the dragons here,” Lilith pointed out. “And if we’d come here just a day later, we would’ve been too late to stop the execution. There’s many things that could’ve gone wrong.”

“True… and there’s also the issue of Justinia still being at large,” Adam said. He paused for a moment. “Do you believe she might pose a threat to this country? Now that humans and monsters are able to coexist in peace, there’s the potential for the human population here to grow… which could attract her attention.”

“Maybe, but there are the dragons here to stop her,” Lilith replied. “As powerful as she is, she’s definitely no match for multiple true dragons. Of course, that just means she’ll find other places to slaughter…”

Adam and Lilith both fell silent. No matter how far they’d come and how much they’d achieved, they didn’t feel like they could relax as long as that fallen hero was still out there.

“We still need to strengthen ourselves further,” Adam said. “If we were capable of defeating the strongest Dragon Riders of Dragai, we could have rescued Dell’s group without needing to take a risk on trying to recruit the dragons. Likewise, in the event that the dragons chose to destroy Dragai, we could have stopped them if we were stronger.”

“Hmm… aren’t there legends of heroes with equipment made from parts of dragons, their scales and bones?” Lilith suggested. “Obviously, we can’t just kill dragons to butcher them for parts, but if we ask around, we might be able to get the parts of dead dragons. I’ve never heard of any dragons caring about what happens to their dead…”

“That is one possibility,” Adam said. “But at the moment, they all seem to be enjoying themselves,” he gestured towards the city, from which the roars of draconic monsters could be heard, “so we should not disturb them.”

“I guess you’re right.”

The two of them fell silent again. They remembered that they were currently alone, where no one would disturb them, and they did need to become stronger…

Throughout the night, Adam and Lilith celebrated the birth of Dragonia in their own way.

-ooo-

The next morning, they returned to the Imperial Capital. They found it to be in much better shape than expected from a city that had seen fighting as recently as yesterday.

The reason for this became apparent as the two of them walked through the streets. They saw many instances of draconic monsters—mainly wyverns—talking with humans and moving around huge loads of material at their direction. It was clear that they were now making decent efforts at working together.

Many more years will be needed before they can fully coexist, Adam thought. But this is an excellent start.

Eventually, they found one of the dragons perched on top of a block of buildings and looking out at the events below. This dragon had black scales and straight conical horns, and was one of the dragons who’d previously tried to talk Deonora into helping the humans. Based on Adam’s limited but growing knowledge of dragon anatomy, this one was a male.

When Adam and Lilith approached, the blue dragon turned slightly towards them. There was a brief pause, then the blue dragon spread his wings and took flight, leaving the city within a matter of seconds.

The intention of this act was clear. Adam and Lilith moved across the rooftops, taking a slightly different route to where the blue dragon had gone, and left the city as well.

A few minutes later, the three of them were together at a spot outside the city. There was no natural concealment here, but the blue dragon’s massive body hid Adam and Lilith from the view of anyone in the city.

“Thank you for being understanding,” Adam said.

“From everything I’ve heard, you two have been keeping your identities hidden ever since you fought yesterday,” the blue dragon said, in a much quieter voice than his usual one. “Deonora has been quite… confused by it. I sometimes wondered if she was going to publicly confront you over it.”

“It’s lucky she didn’t,” Lilith said. “There’s a good reason why we’ve been trying to hide ourselves.”

“Now that there is no one around to overhear, you two can tell me about that,” the blue dragon said. “But first, I should tell you my name, since you’ve not heard it before. I am Pelagos, one of the great dragons of the new nation of Dragonia, who will be one hundred and twenty years old when summer arrives.”

Adam and Lilith quickly described the fallen hero Justinia and her horrific plans to delay the ascension of a new Demon Lord by culling humans.

“I never thought anyone could do such a thing, monster or human,” Pelagos said, astounded. He growled. “I’ll be sure to let the other dragons know. If she dares step a single foot into Dragonia, she will burn in dragonfire on the spot.”

That was reassuring, at least. But there was more to discuss.

“In addition to that, the two of us are looking for methods to improve her personal strength, to hopefully deal with this fallen hero ourselves,” Adam said. “We would be grateful for any help that the people of Dragonia can provide.”

Pelagos considered this request for a few moments. “I don’t know much about what the humans could provide, not yet, but I know that many useful materials exist in Dragonia, ores and crystals charged with magic. I think those would be useful for making weapons, armour and magical charms.”

“That would be very helpful, thank you,” Lilith said. “We’ve already got good weapons, but armour and charms would definitely be useful.”

“And there’s another way in which we could help you,” Pelagos said. “I mentioned this earlier, but Deonora has been thinking of talking to you again…”

-ooo-

A couple of hours later, Lilith found herself on top of a mountain that was far from any human settlements. Adam was, as usual, right by her side. Facing both of them was a colossal red dragon, gouts of flame leaking from between her toothy jaws.

Lilith was already beginning to have doubts about this.

“It’s annoying to skulk around in the shadows, not meeting face to face,” Deonora said. “But now we finally get to understand each other properly.”

In theory, this training session would be beneficial for all. Dragons preferred to come to an understanding via combat, and Lilith and Adam would be able to grow stronger by fighting a strong opponent.

Of course, none of this did anything to alleviate the fear Lilith felt at fighting an actual dragon.

Adam drew his sword, while Lilith raised her spear and imbued it with her mana. Deonora did not move from the spot or change from the posture, but she also had no need to; simply by existing, she was the strongest person on this entire mountain.

Then the spar began. Adam held his ground while Lilith took flight and flew up and towards the right. They planned to attack Deonora from two directions, which was their only chance of… well, not defeating her, but of lasting for more than a few seconds.

Deonora opened her mouth and let loose an earth-shaking, ear-splitting roar. Lilith screamed and almost fell out of the air due to the sonic assault. Then the red dragon reached out one massive forelimb, swatting Lilith out of the sky and causing her to crash into Adam.

That… wasn’t even a few seconds! Lilith thought as she struggled to her feet.

“Are you alright, Lilith?” Adam asked, also getting to his feet. “You don’t have the armour that I do…”

“I’m fine, nothing seems to be broken, at least,” Lilith replied. Never thought I’d say that after being hit by a dragon. Though I never thought I’d be fighting a dragon in the first place, either.

Meanwhile, Deonora looked down at the two of them. “You’re better than I thought,” she said.

“You beat us before we could even do anything,” Lilith pointed out. “And that was while holding back.”

“But even while holding back, I never thought I’d ever meet anyone else, anyone not a dragon who could get up that quickly after taking attacks from me,” Deonora said. “I suppose you’d have to be that tough to consider negotiating with dragons in the first place.”

Now that she thought back on that, Lilith really wondered what her past self was thinking. Dragons were subjects of fear and awe for virtually all other monsters in existence, and succubi were no exception to that. It would have been smarter to try rescuing Dell’s group from captivity, despite the many Dragon Riders that had been in the way.

But we’ve been doing ridiculous things for a while now. Even going to the bottom of the sea was dangerous, but we did that anyway!

Afterwards, they tried to attack Deonora in various ways. They tried overloading her senses with blinding light and extremely high-pitched noises. They tried attacking using invisibility and illusions to deceive her. Adam even tried using his anti-monster spell, Evil Obliterating Incantation, while Lilith flew up to a great height to reduce her exposure to the spell.

None of it worked. Deonora’s eyes and ears were too resilient for sensory overload to work. She filled the entire battlefield with her fiery breath, rendering any form of deception useless. She shrugged off Adam’s Evil Obliterating Incantation… though this also led to the unexpected discovery that Lilith was also unaffected, even though she should have felt at least some negative effects at this distance. Presumably, this was a side-effect of Adam’s new body.

“A human with demonic energy is also something I’ve never seen before,” Deonora commented when this discovery was made. “Or would it be better to call you part-monster, now?”

“Whatever I am now, it has not changed how I think and feel,” Adam said. His body was covered in dirt and a few burns, as was Lilith’s. “I never expected this to happen to me, but I will not hesitate to make use of it.”

“You two must be enjoying yourselves, having such a convenient route to power,” Deonora commented.

Lilith and Adam both blushed and looked away. Even though they were gradually getting used to their new… situation, that didn’t mean they were used to having it discussed by other people.

“Speaking of which, could other pairs of humans and succubi do the same thing?” Deonora asked.

That caused Lilith’s embarrassment to be overwhelmed by uncomfortable memories. The succubi she’d grown up with, and the many other succubi in the world… they’d never be able to fall in love with humans. To them, humans were nothing but prey; prey consumed in a different manner to other monsters, but prey nonetheless.

But they have to change, if there’s to be peace in this world. The question is… what could possibly make them change?

Adam seemed to noticed Lilith’s discomfort, as he said, “That is possible, but we are currently not in a position to test that out.”

“Hmm, you should consider that sometime in the future,” Deonora said. “For now, you’ve still got some fight in you… so what about this? I will stand perfectly still and allow both of you to land one attack, each. You may prepare as long as you want.”

Lilith and Adam exchanged glances. It was a supremely arrogant offer, one fitting for a dragon. They eventually accepted.

Lilith placed both of her hands on Adam’s shoulders, giving him most of her remaining demonic energy. Adam raised his sword, which became surrounded by an increasingly intense purple light.

Finally, Adam ran forward and brought his sword down towards one of Deonora’s forelegs. The moment the weapon made contact, there was an explosion of demonic energy that very nearly swept Lilith off her feet, an enormous gouge was formed in the ground, and droplets of blood scattered from a thin cut Deonora’s foreleg.

All that… for a wound that probably won’t even slow her down. And I don’t have enough energy left for an attack of my own.

But Deonora did seem impressed. She lifted up her injured foreleg and inspected it closely.

“You managed to cut through muscle as well as scales,” Deonora said. “You might think this is a small wound, but remember that I am the oldest and greatest dragon of this era. An attack like this should be able to slay that fallen hero you’re so worried about.”

That was… a compliment, without a doubt. Though it was tempered by the fact that Justinia would definitely not just stand in one place and let herself be killed, and neither would any other potential enemies that were on her level.

We’ll need a lot more to stand any chance against her, Lilith thought.

-ooo-

Over the next week, Lilith and Adam continued receiving more training from a dragon. Deonora was now too busy for this—much to her annoyance—so the duty ended up falling to the blue dragon Pelagos.

They were still using the isolated mountain for their training, and the terrain of this mountain was… conspicuously different from what it had been a week ago. Multiple landslides had been triggered by the intensive training, shifting around the soil and sweeping away the vegetation.

During their current session, Lilith flew up high and rained down various spells on Pelagos, aiming for the eyes and nostrils. Normally, the blue dragon could have attacked her by either flying up to the same altitude or using a ranged attack. But he was prevented from doing so by Adam, who darted in and out dealing small wounds to the legs of the dragon.

This continued for almost ten minutes with neither side gaining the advantage. Eventually, all three of them came to a stop.

“You’ve made considerable progress already,” Pelagos said, his sides heaving slightly from exertion. “If there were three of you instead of two, then I would have lost. That isn’t just false praise, it’s an honest assessment of your abilities.”

Lilith certainly felt as if she’d improved. She hadn’t just improved in power or skill, but her ability to work with Adam had somehow improved even further. They would never have been able to hold their own against a dragon—even one not seriously trying to kill them—otherwise.

“But to complete your training, you’ll need to fight a serious opponent,” Pelagos said. “I have an idea about that, which would also let you gather useful materials…

-ooo-

Their next destination was an area of Dragonia that Lilith and Adam hadn’t been to before; the northern region that was known as the Graveyard of Dragons. This was where the Dragai Empire had buried wyverns who’d died during training or military expeditions. This was done out of fear of a curse from the dead wyverns… a fear that was founded in reality.

The two of them arrived here while riding on the back of Pelagos. Furthermore, the blue dragon had a considerable quantity of canvas tied around one of his hindlegs; this was to help the three of them transport the rare material that they were here for.

Just from approaching the Graveyard of Dragons, Lilith could feel its foreboding atmosphere. The air was filled with a thick, cloying demonic energy. There were hardly any plants to be seen down below, and no animals. Even the weather was dismal; while the rest of Dragonia was sunny, the skies above the Graveyard of Dragons were filled with unnaturally thick clouds.

“This is a place that the rest of the country avoids,” Pelagos said. “Even true dragons like myself avoid it, because while we are not in danger here… it is simply an unpleasant place to be for any length of time.”

As if on cue, three wyvern zombies flew up towards them. These undead monsters were covered in scars and gaping wounds, and they’d lost much of the flesh on their limbs, causing them to look almost skeletal. Their eyes were filled with nothing but endless rage.

Lilith picked up Adam, jumped off Pelagos’ back and flew towards the wyvern zombies. The latter opened their rotting jaws and let loose streams of foul green miasma. If that were to strike Lilith and Adam, it would rot the flesh off their bones.

But not a single speck of miasma hit its intended targets. Lilith flew up to avoid it all, and when she was near one of the wyvern zombies, she threw Adam towards it.

Then Lilith landed on the back of a second wyvern zombie. Her temporary mount turned its head around in an attempt to snap at her flesh, but it couldn’t quite turn far enough. Lilith took advantage of this opportunity to shoot a fireball at the third wyvern, knocking it out of the air.

Even if normal dragons, including wyverns, are resistant to fire, undead are weak to it. Now I just have to finish this one off!

Lilith covered with ice the neck of the wyvern zombie she was riding. The ice immediately began to crack, but it still restrained the wyvern zombie’s head long enough for Lilith to thrust her spear into its brain. The wyvern zombie abruptly stopped moving and began falling, so Lilith jumped off its back and took flight with her own wings again.

With one down, Lilith looked around and saw that Adam had finished off a second wyvern zombie, causing it to fall. But the third, the one that Lilith had hit with a fireball, had recovered and was now flying towards him!

Lilith prepared another spell, one that would definitely bring the wyvern zombie down… then she saw Adam jump into the air and land on a platform of white light that appeared beneath his feet. With this stable footing, Adam decapitated the wyvern zombie as it approached, then jumped to the side to avoid being hit by its freshly made corpse.

But then Adam fell down rather than making another platform to support himself, so Lilith flew over to catch him.

“Thank you!” Adam said.

“I can’t believe you managed to do that,” Lilith said. “Isn’t that the same technique that Justinia used? You managed to figure out how to do that yourself just by seeing it?”

“Technically, I also read about it in a book, sometime in the past,” Adam said. “When that wyvern zombie came… I somehow managed to pull it off out of instinct. But when I slew it and then had to jump off the platform, I couldn’t remember how to do it again, not with the ground rushing up towards me… Just how do you manage, flying all the time?”

“I took years to do that properly,” Lilith replied. “At first, I was panicking even though I had wings. Trust me, it’s not something you should be worried about.”

At that moment, Pelagos approached. The gusts of wind created by the blue dragon’s massive wings were so intense that Lilith had to put all her focus into her own flight in order to avoid being blown away.

“Good work,” Pelagos said. “It’s… It’s quite pleasant, seeing people I’ve trained grow stronger. It’s not a feeling I ever experienced before. But, more importantly, that isn’t the end of this expedition. We must continue until we find a dragonium deposit.”

Dragonium was, according to what Pelagos had said prior to this expedition, a crystalline material that only formed in regions with a high concentration of the demonic energy of dragons. It was not only extraordinarily durable, but it also had the property of dissipating magical energy. Armour forged from this material was virtually indestructible to magical attacks. Dragonium could also be used to make potent weapons, but Lilith and Adam already had those.

However, equipment forged from dragonium was almost completely unknown, due to the sheer difficulty in obtaining the material. The most accessible source of it was the Graveyard of Dragons, a place where even live dragons hesitated to enter. There were legends dating back to the Dragai Empire, legends of Dragon Riders wielding dragonium equipment and using it to defeat Demon Lords. But that equipment, if it ever actually existed, had since been lost to history.

And now… it’s time to see if we can actually find this legendary material ourselves.

Lilith landed on Pelagos’ back again and the three of them continued flying over the Graveyard of Dragons. The landscape never became any less foreboding, and more wyvern zombies attacked them on a couple of occasions.

After roughly half an hour, they—or more specifically, Pelagos—finally detected signs of dragonium. But there was one more enemy to deal with.

The signs of dragonium were coming from a cave in the side of the mountain. Also coming from this cave was the demonic energy signature of an extremely powerful monster. Considering their location, there was only one possible option for what it might be.

“It would be a dangerous fight,” Pelagos said, looking down at the cave. “Would you two prefer to move on and find dragonium elsewhere?”

“That is one option, but I have a plan we might try out…” Adam said.

Adam explained his plan carefully, making sure that the others understood every detail.

“That sounds like it should work,” Lilith said.

“Indeed,” Pelagos said. His lips curled in a toothy grin. “I must also confess that I was hoping for the chance to fight!”

Pelagos opened his mouth and breathed out a fireball, which shot downwards and struck the entrance to the cave. The moment it struck, there was an unearthly roar of pain and anger.

A dragon zombie lumbered out from the cave. It was covered in murky scales and, like the wyvern zombies from earlier, was slender to an almost skeletal extent. But it was just as large as Pelagos was, and now that it had left the cave, the demonic energy emanating from its body could be felt even more intensely. It was an enemy that Lilith would never dare facing if she was on her own… but with the allies currently at her side, she was confident of victory.

The dragon zombie took flight on its rotted wings, rapidly ascending towards Pelagos. As it approached, it unleashed a colossal breath of miasma from its mouth, which Pelagos countered with his own fiery breath.

Then Lilith jumped off Pelagos’ back and began flying in a wide arc around the dragon zombie. It would have followed them under normal circumstances, but Pelagos closed in on it and began grappling with the dragon zombie. The two gigantic monsters snapped at each other with jaws that could crush entire boulders, and raked each other with claws that could tear down castles. Although the dragon zombie was missing most of the muscle it had in life, it still put up an excellent fight against a living dragon.

Lilith pushed her wings as hard as she could, and soon she arrived at the opposite side of the dragon zombie from Pelagos. This was the position needed for the next step of the plan.

In Lilith’s arms, Adam raised his sword to the sky and shouted, “Oh, holy light! Purge the wicked in the names of the gods! Evil Obliterating Incantation!”

Adam glowed as brightly as the sun, sending out brilliant white light in every direction. Despite literally holding him, Lilith didn’t feel the slightest pain or discomfort at this supposedly anti-monster spell.

The dragon zombie wasn’t so lucky. When it was struck by the light, its flesh crumbled away in large clumps, like dried leaves disintegrating in a bushfire. It roared in agony.

It’s just like Adam said—this spell is really effective against undead monsters! Though it’s still odd how it doesn’t affect me…

Meanwhile, Pelagos threw the dragon zombie to the side, causing it to slam into the side of a nearby mountain. He immediately followed this up by breathing fire onto the dragon zombie for what seemed to be several minutes, even though it couldn’t be more than ten seconds in reality. When he finally stopped, there was nothing left on the mountain except a charred corpse.

“Are you alright?” Lilith called out, raising her voice in order to be heard at this great distance.

Pelagos was covered in countless wounds, but was still flying normally. “I’m well enough to fly all the way back without any rest,” he said, looking over towards Lilith and Adam. “And that anti-monster spell barely affected me.”

“Still, I could heal some of your wounds,” Adam said. “I still have a decent amount of energy left—”

Suddenly, Lilith felt a spike of demonic energy from below. She and the other two quickly looked around to find that the dragon zombie, despite being visibly burned to a crisp, was now on its feet again. It opened its mouth and Lilith quickly flew away to avoid the oncoming attack. Pelagos, on the other hand, was too large to manoeuvre quickly, and one of his wings was struck by miasma.

“Argh!”

For a fraction of a second, Lilith was paralysed by this abrupt attack. But then she flew down towards the dragon zombie, gathering up most of her remaining demonic energy. She unleashed this energy in the form of a massive fire spell that bathed her target in bright orange flames. This wasn’t nearly as powerful as a dragon’s breath, but it was enough to make the dragon zombie recoil.

When the flames died down, the dragon zombie was still standing, but only just. Most of its remaining flesh had been either vaporised or charred, including both of its eyes, leaving it as little more than an actual skeleton. But the dragon zombie continued to glare balefully at its enemies.

Then Lilith let go of Adam. Her partner fell in an arc towards the dragon zombie, his sword shimmering with white light, and with a single stroke, he cut off its head.

Finally, the dragon zombie fell to the ground. Technically speaking, it still wasn’t dead, as its severed head continued to move weakly in a futile attempt to bite Adam.

Pelagos landed nearby. The dragon now had a dozen large holes in his left wing, from which blood and pus were oozing, but that hardly seemed to slow him down. He opened his mouth and unleashed one last burst of flame, reducing the dragon zombie to ash.

Lilith landed as well, and Adam hurried over to begin healing Pelagos with what remained of his spirit energy.

“Thank you,” Pelagos grumbled. “I let down my guard… I should have realised that even a dead dragon wouldn’t fall that easily.”

“We all let down our guard,” Lilith said reassuringly. “None of us could have expected it to get up after being burned that much.”

“But this is something I must remember for the future,” Pelagos said, looking again at the ashes of the dragon zombie. “I can’t teach anyone properly unless I can avoid such mistakes myself.”

“I wonder how a true dragon died here?” Adam said, still holding his hands over Alt-Eris’ wounds. “I was under the impression that this area was used as a graveyard for enslaved wyverns.”

“It was, but before that, dragons of all kinds would come here at the end of their lives,” Pelagos explained. “It was avoided by living dragons as a result, and that is why the humans of Dragai would later use this place to dump the corpses of their slaves. The question is, why did a dragon become a zombie here? That should only happen if they had great regrets that they couldn’t fulfil before death. That makes sense for the wyverns, but this dragon… well, I suppose we may never know.”

Adam eventually managed to heal all most of Pelagos’ wounds. The holes in his wing remained, but they no longer oozed any fluids and Pelagos was quite certain that these would heal in time.

“Now, there is still the dragonium in this cave,” Alt-Eris said. “We had best retrieve it before anything else appears.”

The three of them entered the cave. There was still a high concentration of demonic energy in here, to the point that Lilith nearly felt like vomiting.

It didn’t take long to find the dragonium. The end of the cave was a large chamber—presumably used as a lair by the dragon zombie—with walls that were lined with large chunks of golden crystal. These crystals gave off an intense aura of demonic energy.

They undid the canvas from Pelagos’ leg and spread it out on the cave floor. For several minutes, they broke off or dug out pieces of dragonium from the cave walls, then set these down on the canvas. Finally, they pulled up the edges of the canvas to form one enormous package, comparable to a small house in size.

“This will be a great boon to the newly hatched country of Dragonia,” Pelagos said. “Though I can only hope that no foolhardy youngsters decide to follow our example and come here for more dragonium. They’d only get themselves killed.”

Once they were done, they left the cave and took flight again, Pelagos holding the package of dragonium carefully using both forelegs. A few more wyvern zombies attacked them along the way, but Lilith and Adam were able to fight these off, and they returned to the Imperial Capital without any further problems.

AN: I changed the founding of Dragonia a bit to make it a little more realistic. Even if their hero Dell suggested it, the humans of the country would be nervous at best at being ruled by dragons. The dragons definitely wouldn’t have the expertise to rule humans, at least not at first.

Pelagos is an OC I made for this fanfic. I actually originally had Alto-Eris in this position, but then I re-read her profile and found that it would be easier to put an OC in this position.

Chapter Text

Adam and Lilith now had one small sack of dragonium, their share of the dragonium that had been retrieved from the Graveyard of Dragons. This left the question of how to turn it into equipment. Fortunately, they were already familiar with one master blacksmith who should be up to the job.

The two of them lingered in Dragonia for a few more hours to see how the new country was faring and to say their goodbyes to those who knew them here. Then they took to the air and flew out from the country altogether.

-ooo-

It took roughly half a day of flight to reach the dwarf city of Vaseram. The sheer speed at which Lilith could now fly was astounding, and it raised an interesting possibility in Adam’s mind.

“There must be more lands beyond the sea, lands unknown to the people of this continent,” Adam said, while they were still travelling. “We already know about Zipangu, but there must be many more like it. And even on this continent, there are many places that have not been explored. What might we find there?”

“That’s definitely an interesting idea,” Lilith replied. “But we have a lot to deal with already. Maybe, once everything’s settled down, we could just explore the world…”

It was a beautiful dream. However, the odds of the world settling down within their lifetime weren’t high. Even with everything that Adam and Lilith had achieved, all of the advantages they had obtained, the world was still a long way from any kind of peace.

Eventually, they spotted Vaseram in the distance and landed nearby. Adam slipped on the demonic energy-suppressing bracelet, and Lilith checked that her disguise spells were still working on both of them. Then they walked towards the city.

On the surface, the entrance to the dwarf city looked the same as before: a cave at the base of a large mountain, with a dwarf guard standing on either side. But when Adam and Lilith approached the guards, they learned of something new.

“You here for new equipment as well?” one guard asked.

“Because if you are, you’d better have brought lots of coin with you,” the other guard said. “Prices are sky-high lately.”

“Why are prices so high lately?” Adam asked.

“There’s hundreds coming from all over, wanting dwarf-made work,” the first guard explained. “Apparently, it’s because of some disturbance over in Lescatie.”

“And a disturbance down in the south as well, along the coast,” the second guard added. “From what we hear, they’re planning some kind of… crusade against the sea monsters? Not too sure of the details. And there’s also… well, you won’t believe it until you see it yourselves.”

Adam and Lilith maintained calm expressions at this information, but internally they were unnerved. While they originally came here just to have dragonium equipment made for them, now they needed to find out what was happening in the world.

After thanking the guards and entering the cave, they walked for several minutes through a tunnel illuminated by glowing red crystals. They arrived at the massive chamber where the city proper was located.

The first thing they noticed was that there were many more non-dwarves here than last time. Most were human, but there were a few elves as well: long-eared people dressed in lightweight green clothing.

I’ve only seen an elf once before, and now there’s several in one place, Adam thought. They rarely ever leave their isolated forest villages, and in addition to that, they have a historical rivalry with dwarves. Why would there now be several in a dwarf city?

Even now, Adam could see signs of tension between the elves and the dwarves. Despite this, no fights seemed to have broken out yet.

Adam and Lilith continued walking through Vaseram, keeping a slight distance from any of the humans in case they happened to run into one of Adam’s old acquaintances. As they walked, they continued to observe and listen.

“Can’t you lower the price any more?” a soldier, Lescatian judging from his accent, asked. He was holding up a sword. “This is essential for the task of protecting the world from monsters.”

“If monsters actually attack Vaseram, then I’ll lower my prices for anyone who can take up my weapons,” a dwarf merchant grumbled in response. “Until then, you pay up or leave!”

“What weapons and armour would be suitable for fighting underwater?” a male warrior in plate armour asked.

“How would I know?” a different dwarf merchant replied. “Wouldn’t it be better to not fight there in the first place? If humans—or dwarves, or elves—were meant to do things underwater, you’d have fins and gills.”

“This is all that I require,” an elf said brusquely, while holding a bundle of daggers in one hand and passing over some coins with the other hand. “This will likely be our first and last transaction.”

“Something lucky for both of us,” a third dwarf merchant said, shooting a dirty look at the elf. “Hope you never have to leave your precious trees again.”

When the elf finished her purchase of daggers and began walking away, Adam decided to try approaching her for information. He asked, “Excuse me, but may I ask why—”

“My affairs are none of your concern,” the elf interrupted. “Do not harass me or any other elf again.”

With that, the elf strode off, soon disappearing into the crowd.

“It’s still not clear why there are even elves here, but they’re clearly facing some sort of problem that requires weapons to fight,” Adam said to his partner.

“And it looks like it’s a problem for multiple tribes of elves,” Lilith said. “These elves are all acting on their own, and their clothing seems to be in a range of different styles.”

After that, the two of them started speaking to the humans and had much more success with this.

“I lost a brother in Lescatie,” the Lescatian soldier said. “He was always better than me at fighting, with spears and axes and everything else, but he died while I lived. I… I can’t let his death be in vain. I can’t just wait in Lescatie and hope for monsters to come to me, I must seek them and destroy them.”

“I won’t stop you,” Adam said, choosing his words carefully. “Still, before trying to upgrade your equipment, you should make sure to find companions you can trust.”

“Got it… thank you.”

The soldier walked off. He was still on a dangerous path, but hopefully he would be able to find companions who could keep him from growing consumed by revenge.

Next, Adam and Lilith found the warrior who’d been looking for equipment for underwater combat. He was now drinking dwarven ale in a bar, sharing his frustrations with two companions. The group of three was quick to offer up information about events in the south.

“The sea monsters were quiet for a while, but lately they’ve been much more active!” the warrior exclaimed, slamming his mug of ale down on the table. “It won’t be long until they attack!”

“Where have they been seen lately?” Lilith asked. “What are they doing?”

“They’ve been seen near several of the villages along the south coast,” said one of the warrior’s companions, a female mage in a purple robe. “They haven’t attacked yet, but the villagers are worried and have been calling in people to help.”

“What’s weird is that they haven’t attacked any boats or ships lately,” said the other companion, a female archer with a bow slung over her shoulder. “They used to do that all the time… They must be up to something lately!”

“That’s for certain,” Adam said. To better fit in, he picked up his mug of ale and took a sip from it. “Come to think of it, when was the last time they attacked humans, in any way?”

That caused the trio to hesitate. Eventually, the warrior said, “That actually hasn’t happened for months now. One theory that’s been going around is that the sea monsters have mostly withdrawn into the depths, waiting for their time to strike. But we mustn’t let down our guard! We must prepare so that we can stop them, and hopefully crush them in their lairs.”

After a few more minutes of conversation, Adam and Lilith had learned all that they could from this trio. They left the bar and continued exploring the city, now with doubts in their hearts.

The monsters of the south sea were clearly keeping their promise to not attack humans. However, the humans in the area wouldn’t simply forget generations upon generations of hostility with monsters.

There’s not much we can do at this point. Perhaps if there are no attacks for decades, then the new generations of humans will stop thinking of monsters as implacably hostile. But that’s dependent on humans not attacking the monsters of their own accord.

Fortunately, there was no chance of the humans actually being able to attack the sea monsters in their homes. Adam and Lilith had faced great difficulty in finding out how to operate underwater, with Poseidon’s charms being the only thing that allowed them to do so. With Poseidon favouring human-monster coexistence, any crusade against the sea monsters would be doomed to failure.

So for now, Adam and Lilith decided to leave this issue alone as a low priority.

While walking through one street, a middle-aged axeman approached the two of them. “Hey, you two look like you might know your way around here,” he said. “See, I’m not here for dwarf products like everyone else is. I’m actually looking to recruit a dwarf warrior. You know where I might find any of those?”

During their previous visit to this city, Adam and Lilith had in fact been to a training yard used by dwarf warriors. They therefore agreed to guide the axeman.

“Thanks for this,” the axeman said as they began walking. “I’d have asked the dwarves, but… as you can see… they’re busy dealing with all the recent visitors. I figured that I’d have a better chance of recruiting a dwarf if I didn’t annoy the dwarves here with more questions.”

“That seems sensible,” Adam said.

The three of them walked through Vaseram, engaged in light conversation. The axeman introduced himself as Vargan and revealed that he was from Valeria, the town near the forest where Adam and Lilith had first met. However, he’d left Valeria long before either of them arrived there. He was currently a mercenary who escorted travelling merchants, and had arrived at Vaseram escorting one such group. However, recent events like the assault on Lescatie were making everyone nervous, so Vargan’s employers had asked him to find more mercenaries to guarantee their safety.

“It’s a tricky situation right now,” Vargan said. “In times of unrest, there’s more work for mercenaries like me… but everything also gets more expensive and there’s a foul mood wherever you look. I actually hope that things settle down soon.”

“Definitely,” Lilith said. “We faced a lot of trouble before coming here. It would be better for everyone if there was no more need to fight.”

“And those elves are no different, they’re having problems as well,” Vargan continued. He pointed at one nearby elf, who was haggling with a dwarf merchant. “They don’t tell anyone else about it, but I actually overheard a couple of elves talking before. They let slip that monsters are attacking their forest.”

That was certainly what Adam and Lilith had been expecting. “Did they mention any further details?” Adam asked.

“They didn’t talk for long, but they did mention ‘vermin’ and… ‘kitinous beasts’?” Vargan replied. “Not sure what they meant…”

“They must have been talking about insect monsters,” Lilith said. “Chitin is what insects are covered in.”

“Then I definitely see why those elves need help,” Vargan said, grimacing. “Insect monsters are always a pain to fight, they don’t seem to care about pain and whenever you kill one, three more crawl out of the ground.”

At this moment, they came to the training yard, so they parted with Vargan. The axeman approached some of the dwarves and began speaking to them.

Now, Adam and Lilith had learned what they wanted to know. They still needed to fulfil their original goal, so they headed for the deepest part of Vaseram. This place was still as they remembered it, with narrow streets and few dwarves out and about.

They arrived at the home of Kalk, the elderly dwarf blacksmith, and knocked on the door. A few moments later, the door opened.

“Hrmph, it’s you two again,” Kalk said. He eyed the sack of dragonium that was being held in Adam’s hand. “Come inside.”

Adam and Lilith stepped inside Kalk’s dimly lit home. Like in their previous visit, Kalk lit up a crystal to make the place somewhat more hospitable.

“I’ve been getting too many visits lately,” Kalk grumbled. “Not only have you come here twice, but she also came here a while ago.”

“Who are you talking about?” Adam asked, setting down the sack of dragonium on a bench.

“You’re a human hero, aren’t you?” Kalk said, taking out a crystal of dragonium and inspecting it. “Then you’ve definitely heard of her before. But more importantly, just where did you find dragonium? I’ve only ever heard legends about dragonium equipment before…”

“We found it in the Dragai Empire to the north—though they’ve just gone through a revolution and are calling themselves ‘Dragonia’ now,” Lilith explained. “But who were you talking about again?”

“Ah, the other person who’s come here lately is one of those heroes that killed a Demon Lord,” Kalk said, still paying more attention to the dragonium than to his visitors. “Justinia. Now, while I haven’t worked with dragonium before—”

Adam froze on the spot and a chill ran down his spine. He shared a glance with Lilith, who had a similar reaction.

“—I should still be able to work it,” Kalk said. “Just give me time and—wait, what’s wrong?”

Adam took a deep breath. “Kalk, please listen carefully,” he said. “We… have something important we must tell you.”

“It sounds unbelievable, but we swear that we are telling the truth,” Lilith said.

Over the next few minutes, Adam and Lilith explained everything that they knew of Lilith. The explanation caused Kalk to initially freeze in place, his mouth gaping open. Then he began asking question after question about what Justinia looked like, how she spoke, how she acted. Then he sat down and started trembling in place, but when Adam and Lilith asked if he needed to rest, he demanded that they continue until they tell him everything.

“We know this must be a terrible revelation for you,” Adam said. “But we…”

“…think you have a right to know,” Lilith finished.

Kalk stood up and slowly walked over to a nearby bench, where he picked up a flask that stunk of alcohol.

“Kalk—” Adam began.

“If you stop me, I’ll punch you even if it breaks my fist,” Kalk said. He took a long swig from the flask. “I need this in me if I’m to stay sane.”

Kalk continued to drink until he’d completely emptied the flask. Then he tossed it aside and stared off into the distance.

“It was more than thirty years ago,” he murmured slowly. “Back then… I was still working as a regular blacksmith. She came into Vaseram with her sword and armour, made from adamantite… and none of the other blacksmiths were able to repair it properly. Then it was my turn to try… and by some miracle, I did it. I succeeded where everyone else failed.”

Kalk looked forlornly at his empty flask. He then looked at the back of his home, presumably where more alcohol was stored. But Adam positioned himself in between there and Kalk to prevent the dwarf from drinking himself senseless.

“What happened after that?” Adam asked.

“Then… Then she came back a few times,” Kalk continued. “Not often, it was every five or ten years. She didn’t tell me much about what she was doing, but it was obvious she was fighting tough enemies, otherwise she wouldn’t be wearing down her… her gear like that. But I never realised… she was also slaughtering the weak as well.”

“Kalk…” Lilith said quietly. “You couldn’t have realised what she was doing. And even if you hadn’t helped her at all, that wouldn’t have stopped her from these massacres.”

“But that doesn’t change the fact that I’ve betrayed all blacksmiths!” Kalk shouted, his face crimson-red. “I was taught by my master, just as his master taught him, that a blacksmith must forge things that he can take pride in! And now I… I…”

“You’ve done nothing wrong whatsoever,” Adam said. “In fact, I suspect that even Justinia would say the same thing, if she was here right now. The equipment you repaired for her was, in all likelihood, still used for a hero’s original purpose. It would never have been worn down so much otherwise.”

Kalk looked at both Adam and Lilith in turn. He then looked at the sack of dragonium, still lying on a nearby bench.

“Alright, stand still,” Kalk said abruptly.

“What?”

“Huh?”

Kalk walked over to a cupboard and rummaged around in it. He pulled out a long stick with markings cut into it at regular intervals: a ruler.

“Stand still so I can measure you,” Kalk said, already approaching Adam and holding up the ruler to measure the length of Adam’s forearm. “You want me to make you armour, right?”

“Yes, but you’ve just… you’ve just learned of something traumatic,” Adam protested.

Lilith was of a similar mind. “You need to rest first—”

“I need to make something new or I won’t be able to live with myself,” Kalk said. “So I’m going to take these crystals and make armour for you.”

It was clear that the dwarf wouldn’t budge on this. He spent several minutes taking measurements from Adam and Lilith, then forced them out of his home so they wouldn’t “get in his way”. The door slammed shut behind them.

“Is he… Will Kalk really be alright on his own?” Adam asked.

“From what I can sense, he’s miserable—obviously—but he doesn’t seem like he’ll hurt himself,” Lilith replied. “It seems like he’s the type who channels his misery into his work.”

“We’ll have to trust that he can take care of himself,” Adam said. “For the next three days, let’s try to find out more about current events…”

-ooo-

On the first day, they found an entire group of soldiers from Lescatie. These explained that there was now a succession crisis due to the death of their Prince Noctis, with the prince’s two younger siblings now jockeying for an attempt to become heir to the king. Many of the nobles and heroes were picking sides with one or the other, resulting in a chaotic mess that might potentially lead to open conflict.

On the second day, they tried approaching some of the elves for information, but were rebuffed by all. They therefore turned their attention to a new group of humans that arrived this day.

On the third day, one of the elves from before actually approached Adam and Lilith. He led them to an alley and while he didn’t stay for long, he nevertheless revealed more important information.

“Right now, we are desperate,” the elf said. “It is a painful thing to admit, but it cannot be hidden, not when many of my kind are leaving our home in search of assistance.”

“Just how great is the scale of the threat?” Adam asked.

“Seven different villages within the Forest of Eldraine are under attack,” the elf said. “And they are under attack by seemingly infinite numbers of vermin. Our weapons and spells are… insufficient to stop them. It’s made trade among our villages all but impossible. Only experienced hunters and warriors, like myself, can sneak past the hordes to find assistance… even if it means considering the products of dwarves.”

The Forest of Eldraine was a large expanse of dense forest near the centre of the continent. It was one of the few places where elves were known to reside, but that was practically all that was known about it, as the elves refused access to any outsiders. It wasn’t surprising that they were now under attack from such a large horde of monsters and barely anyone else knew about it.

“Have you thought about asking for any help beyond just buying more weapons?” Lilith asked.

The elf hesitated for a few seconds, but then he shook his head firmly. “No,” he said. “We will drive out this infestation on our own, otherwise we could not rightfully call ourselves the guardians of the forest. Even now, we will not permit any outsiders to enter.”

“Then why did you tell us this in the first place?” Adam asked.

“I wished… I wished to let someone, anyone, know about our plight,” the elf admitted while averting his gaze. “At the very least… if we should fall, then I hope that others will not be caught off guard by the vermin hordes.”

The elf walked away at that point, not responding to any further questions.

Still, it seems like some elves, at least, care about the outside world, Adam thought. If only they weren’t so stubbornly isolationist…

-ooo-

Eventually, they returned to Kalk’s home to pick up their new armour. When they arrived, they could hear the sound of hammering even from out in the street. And when they knocked on the door, Kalk simply shouted “Come in, I’m almost done!”

Inside, Kalk was busy at an anvil, hammering a dragonium breastplate. Despite being made from a crystalline material, this breastplate now had a distinctive metallic sheen and was bending under the blows of Kalk’s hammer. It still retained the golden colour of dragonium, however. On a bench were other pieces of dragonium equipment.

“And… done!” Kalk said, bringing his hammer down one more time. “Alright, here you go. Try ‘em on now, these should fit you perfectly.”

Adam and Lilith put on the new sets of armour, the former having to removing his existing armour first.

This orichalcum armour has served me very well, ever since I found it in that Pyramid… But now that I face foes like Justinia, it’s no longer sufficient.

Adam outfitted himself in a set of plate armour styled much like his previous one. It left almost no gaps, with the biggest gap being around the face, but that would give him unrestricted vision, hearing and breathing. The rest of his body was enclosed in solid plates of dragonium that fit snugly. And when he flexed his limbs, he didn’t feel any hindrance to his movement.

Meanwhile, Lilith was now wearing a lighter suit of plate armour that focused more on mobility and concealability. The back was left open entirely to allow room for Lilith’s wings, and her horns in succubus form meant she couldn’t wear a helm. Still, she would be much better protected than before, and Adam would definitely be able to sleep more easily thanks to that fact.

“This shouldn’t interfere with any casting of magic, for both of you,” Kalk said. “Now… go out there and put this armour to good use.”

“Thank you,” Adam said. He looked wordlessly at Lilith and she gave a small nod, so he reached into his coin-purse and took out a large handful of coins. “Here, your payment for this excellent work.”

Kalk tried to push away the coins. “Hey, I told you this last time, I don’t need—”

“If you can be stubborn and work when we tell you not to, then we can be stubborn as well,” Lilith said. She took out her own handful of coins and set it down on a bench.

“Why not find Balin and treat him to a meal together?” Adam said. “We haven’t seen him but he must be busy lately, with so many visitors to Vaseram.”

“That’d only make both of us want to murder the other!” Kalk shouted. “Take your money and get out!”

Adam and Lilith followed the second instruction, but not the first. Before stepping out the door, Adam added, “Ignore the money if you wish, but please meet with Balin, or anyone else you know. You shouldn’t stay alone here, not after what you’ve just learned.”

“Get out,” Kalk said, though with less bite in his voice than before.

With that, Adam and Lilith left Kalk’s home. They took out travelling cloaks from a bag and put them on to cover their distinctive new armour, then they began heading toward the exit of Vaseram.

“Do you think he’ll be alright?” Adam asked. “I’m not certain if channelling his misery into work will truly help, after that revelation we dropped on him.”

“Hopefully he should be alright,” Lilith said. “But just in case, let’s find Balin and make sure he approaches Kalk on his own.”

The two of them walked through the streets of Vaseram until they found Balin’s stall in the market. Upon learning the situation, the dwarf merchant immediately swore that he’d talk to his old master and prevent the latter from doing something foolish.

After that, there was the question of where to go next. The south coast was currently the site of an attempted crusade against the sea monsters, but this was tremendously unlikely to succeed. Lescatie was suffering the consequences of the baphomet’s previous assault, including a succession crisis. And then there were the insect monster attacks on the elves in the Forest of Eldraine.

It didn’t take long for the two of them to decide on helping the elves. No matter how much they insisted on handling this problem themselves, if they were desperate enough to seek out dwarf weapons… they clearly needed help.

AN: The name ‘Eldraine’ comes from the Magic: The Gathering setting. I thought it would make a good name for a forest of elves. I also decided on using an original location for the next story arc since it reduces the need to be consistent with canon, compared to using a canon location .

Chapter Text

The day after receiving their dragonium armour, Lilith and Adam arrived at the Forest of Eldraine.

I’ve only ever heard rumours of this place before, Lilith thought, as she set Adam down and looked at the forest. It definitely isn’t the most inviting place.

The Forest of Eldraine consisted of trees that were both tall and grew closely together, resulting in the forest floor being so dim you could hardly see thirty paces in front of you. Making the visibility even poorer were the countless bushes growing along the forest floor, many of which were thorny and would shred the flesh of anyone who tried pushing past them. Finally, the air was filled with elvish magic: a complex mesh of spells for tracking anyone who entered and interfering with their senses to discourage exploration.

But these spells were no threat to Lilith and Adam in their current state, and neither were any of the other dangers of the forest. Moreover, even though the two of them were standing at the forest’s edge, they couldn’t sense any elf guards or any elves at all.

“We should enter, and see what we come across,” Adam suggested.

Thus the succubus and the hero stepped into the Forest of Eldraine, the former switching to her human disguise. After less than a minute of walking, they could no longer see the sunlit plains outside the forest due to the dense foliage in the way. But they continued onwards regardless.

Even though the Forest of Eldraine was enormous, being large enough that the entire city of Lescatie could have fit inside, it wasn’t long before Lilith and Adam found what they were searching for. Ten minutes after entering the forest, they sensed spikes of elvish spirit energy and insect demonic energy in the distance. They began hurrying towards the direction of the energies, allowing them to sense more signs of combat: the twangs of arrows being loosed from bows, the crashing of large bodies through vegetation, the metallic smell of fresh blood.

They arrived to a scene of carnage. Half a dozen elves were perched on branches high above the ground, shooting arrow after arrow from their bows. These arrows were charged with magical power, causing them to glow with green light. But their arrows did little against the dozens of insect monsters attacking them. The insects either climbed up the trees to get at the elves or, for those too heavy to climb, attempted to knock down the trees to bring down their prey. And there were already many elf corpses lying on the ground… some of which were now being devoured by insect monsters.

There was no time to waste. Lilith immediately fired off a volley of ice spears, impaling five insect monsters with a single spell. This distracted the insects, making them momentarily stop attacking the elves—only for them to all be annihilated when Adam followed up with his own attack.

“Evil Obliterating Incantation!” Adam chanted, raising his sword.

Brilliant white light radiated from Adam’s sword, driving away the darkness and stunning all of the insect monsters. The elves were physically unharmed but still cried out in surprise, and a couple of them even pointed their bows at Lilith and Adam. But when they realised that they had received reinforcements, they turned their bows back on the insect monsters. After a final barrage of arrows and Lilith’s spells, all of the insect monsters were slain.

But before Lilith and Adam could introduce themselves, all of the elves turned their bows on them. The elves didn’t shoot immediately, which was… a good sign, if one lowered their expectations so much that almost anything looked like a good sign.

“Who are you!?” shouted one elf.

“How did you enter our forest!?” asked another elf. “It should be impossible for outsiders to reach this deep!”

“Leave at once!” shouted a third elf.

Lilith wondered if anyone else could be so ungrateful at receiving aid. It was one thing to be suspicious of outsiders, and another thing entirely to threaten them at the first opportunity. Still, this was within hers and Adam’s expectations when they came here.

“We’re here to help you!” Lilith shouted back. She set down her spear in an attempt to show her lack of hostile intent.

“You need help, do you not?” Adam said, similarly setting down his sword. “You’ve even been sending out emissaries to the outside world, even being willing to buy dwarf-made weapons! It’s clear that this threat is not one that you can handle on your own!”

“We don’t need…”

“You should just leave…”

The elves weren’t able to put up any proper argument against these words. They couldn’t possibly do so when the corpses of their own were littering the ground, and some of the corpses were missing pieces due to the insect monsters’ scavenging.

For a few moments, there was silence. Then Adam said, “It’s not safe for us to wait out here. Would you be willing to lead us to your village for a proper conversation?”

“You don’t have to actually let us into your village,” Lilith added. “We could just talk outside the entrance.”

The elves debated this amongst themselves for several minutes, much longer than most people would spend. Based on the snippets of their conversation that Lilith heard, this group of elves had been sent out to scout the movements of the insect monsters, only to fall into an ambush.

And during the elves’ conversation, Lilith looked at the corpses of the insect monsters and noticed something odd. There were multiple races present: the small and winged beelzebubs; the bloodsucking vamp mosquitoes, the heavily armoured soldier beetles, even a few of the slender, scythe-armed mantises.

Something big must be happening for them to be working together, Lilith realised.

Eventually, one of the elves said, “Very well. We will lead you there—but the moment we see you do anything suspicious, we will fill you with our arrows.”

The elves led Lilith and Adam through the forest, jumping from branch to branch rather than moving along the ground. None of them pointed their bows at the two anymore, but they more than made up for it with their intense glares. If Lilith was the same person she’d been a year ago, she would have wilted under the elves’ glares. But to her current self, the elves just seemed like bratty children.

It probably helps that even if they attacked us all at once, we could easily get away, Lilith thought.

While walking through the forest, Lilith scanned the surroundings for any other unusual activity. She detected countless forest animals, a few elven spells woven into the trees… and the demonic energy signatures of insect monsters. But the third of these were all too distant to be a threat.

But there’s two distinct groups… one to the left and one that’s behind and to the right of us. Each with at least thirty or forty members…

According to all the stories, elves refused to allow any outsiders near their homes, especially monsters. This was supported by the behaviour of these elves just now. For them to be invaded by monsters and unable to drive them out on their own… it had to be a serious blow to their pride.

Ten minutes later, they arrived at the village these elves belonged to. It looked like no other village that Lilith had ever seen: the buildings were actually trees with unusually thick stems, presumably due to being grown with magic. Each of these building-trees had doors and windows, the latter covered by fine networks of ivy rather than glass or any other worked material. Elves walked through the streets between the building-trees, talked to each other and did business with each other. All in all, it was a wonderful sight, spoiled only slightly by the hedge of thorns that formed the boundaries of the village.

“Avoid touching that,” one elf said, gesturing towards the hedge of thorns. “The thorns are tipped with a potent poison that will kill any being who is not an elf.”

“We didn’t always have this barrier,” another elf added, her voice slightly wistful. “If only those vermin didn’t—”

“Silence!” a third elf ordered.

It seemed that the elves as a whole refused to show any signs of weakness to outsiders, but individual elves didn’t necessarily agree. There was also the example of the elf back in Vaseram who’d explained the situation to Lilith and Adam in the first place.

Lilith sniffed the air. There was a faint but recognisable stench in the air, the stench of dead insect monsters. She couldn’t actually see any, as their corpses had presumably been disposed of.

But as she came closer to the village, Lilith saw that parts of the hedge had been damaged and were now regrowing. She saw scratches and burn marks on many of the outer building-trees, the latter presumably from the acid that some insect monsters could produce. None of the elves showed visible injuries, but it was possible that the injured were kept indoors.

Speaking of the elves in the village, as Lilith and Adam approached, they began noticing these two strangers. They pointed fingers, let out cries of alarm, some even picked up weapons. The only thing keeping them from shooting was the fact that other elves were accompanying these visitors.

“Wait here,” one of the guiding elves said. “Don’t say a word, we will explain the situation.”

All but one of the elves approached the entrance to the village, an opening in the hedge of thorns, and began talking with the elves inside. Lilith saw looks of shock and disbelief on the latter’s faces, and an intense discussion began.

During this discussion, the remaining elf inched closer to Lilith. This one was a young woman—though elves were long-lived and Lilith couldn’t be sure of her age—and was the same elf who’d mentioned that the hedge of thorns hadn’t always been present.

“Pardon my rudeness, but… where did you two come from?” the elf asked quietly.

“We came from… different places,” Lilith answered, just as quietly. “I’m from a small village up in the north, and Adam here is from a town to the west of here.”

“We met a few months ago, when my group was attacked by werewolves,” Adam said. “My companions were all killed, and I would have met the same fate if Lilith had not come to my aid. We’ve been travelling together since then”

“That sounds… like an incredible experience,” the elf said. She looked around nervously. “I’ve never been outside the forest—almost no elves have. Sometimes I think about… about going out there myself…”

This was a good opportunity. Lilith looked around, but all of the other elves she could see were focused on the intense conversation at the village entrance.

“Are there any rules against leaving this forest?” Lilith asked.

“There aren’t strict rules, but…” the elf said, “…in elf society, the outside world is seen as a dangerous and corrupt place. After all, it’s filled with non-elves and is where elf criminals are banished to.”

But now their own forest has been invaded by monsters, and some of the elves have had to leave to get better weapons, Lilith thought. Hopefully this will lead them to gradually change their minds.

Lilith was about to say something out loud, but then she sensed a strong magical presence approaching. An male elf with a wrinkled face approached, using a cane to help support his body. Other elves stepped out of his way, showing that this elf had an important position in the village.

When the elf was close, his face twisted in confusion. He looked at Lilith and Adam carefully, then horror appeared on his face.

“Demonic energy—they are monsters!” the elderly elf shouted hoarsely. “Kill them at once!”

“Wait!” Adam called out. “We are not here to—”

The elves, for understandable reasons, didn’t listen. They sent a barrage of spells and magic-infused arrows at Lilith and Adam.

Since a peaceful conversation was no longer possible, Lilith reverted to succubus form, picked up Adam and flew away. She felt a few spells and arrows hit her armour and bounce off harmlessly. One arrow hit her wing, but it didn’t stop her from flying.

Once she was a considerable distance away from the village, Lilith landed and set down Adam. Her partner immediately examined her injured wing. The arrow had pierced through the thin membrane so that its head was on the other side.

“Do you feel anything unusual, Lilith?” Adam asked. “I can still feel the magic lingering in this arrow.”

“There’s a slight tingling, but it doesn’t really hurt,” Lilith said. “I think it’s because of how my body’s become a lot tougher recently, after… what we’ve been doing.”

With practiced hands, Adam broke off the head of the arrow, pulled the shaft out from Lilith’s wing and then cast healing magic. Within seconds, the hole in Lilith’s wing had completely vanished.

“This armour that Kalk made for us is useful, but in your case it leaves crucial weak points,” Adam commented.

“I don’t think he had any other choice—I’ve never heard of any succubus, any winged monster being able to cover their wings with armour,” Lilith said. Then she looked back in the direction of the village. “Hmm… I didn’t expect someone there to see through our disguises, but elves are said to be good at magic. Do you think it would’ve been better if we’d gone there without trying to hide anything?”

“We can never know for certain,” Adam said. “There were plenty of good reasons for hiding that, chiefly being that the elves, like most non-monsters in the world, hate and fear monsters. Considering how they reacted when they still thought we were human…”

“More importantly, they definitely won’t want anything to do with us now,” Lilith said. “But we can’t give up. There must be a good reason for multiple kinds of insect monsters to work together.”

“Indeed… it suggests they have a powerful leader, similar to the kraken in the south sea and the Baphomet at Lescatie,” Adam said. “But to attack the elves in particular, rather than any easier target, suggests that they have a goal here.”

Lilith looked back towards the elf village again. She sensed a group of elves heading towards them, though this group was still more than a minute’s travel away.

“They’re still chasing us,” Lilith groaned. “It doesn’t look like they’re going to give up anytime soon.”

“I can sense them as well,” Adam said, looking in the same direction. He turned his head slightly towards the left. “I can sense a group of insect monsters as well… and they’re heading towards the elves.”

For most people, this would have been a dilemma. The elves were now hostile, while the insect monsters were heading for the elves and would also attack anyone else they encountered. The easiest option, though also a difficult one, would be to just abandon the elves to their fate and leave the forest.

But Lilith and Adam weren’t most people, not any longer. They had come here to help the elves and, if possible, the insect monsters as well. Even if they had no allies here and were surrounded by enemies, they would not be deterred.

They began to move again, this time towards the group of insect monsters. And this time, they decided to try something new.

Lilith and Adam headed for the insect monsters, the former casting a translation spell, and stopped in front of their targets without any weapons in hand. This unusual situation caused many of the insect monsters to slow to a stop. A few tried to attack, but Lilith turned the ground beneath their feet to mud with a wave of a hand, stopping them in their tracks.

“We wish to talk with you!” Adam shouted.

“Who—are—you!?” rasped one of the insect monsters, a massive soldier beetle who seemed to be the leader of the group. He—the massive horns indicated a male—was a mass of chitin and muscle bigger than an ox, with six thick legs and a pair of mandibles that could cut down trees.

“We’re a human and succubus who’ve learned to work together,” Lilith answered. “And right now, we want to know why you’ve come here.”

There were various reactions to this, mostly disbelief and mockery. A few of the insect monsters didn’t do either, instead looking curiously at the two people who’d just got in their way… at least, Lilith assumed it was curiosity. She hadn’t exactly seen many insect monsters during her life.

“What has driven you to come to this forest, to attack the elves?” Adam elaborated. “Surely there must be some reason for you to be here despite the elves resisting.”

One of the other insect monsters, a purple-shelled Arachne with red eyes, said, “It’s because of that damn—”

“Shut up!” shouted another insect monster, a giant ant. This was one of the monsters who had attacked at the beginning. “There’s no need to tell them anything! If they’re in our way, we should just kill them!”

Many more of the insect monsters began agreeing with this, shouting “Kill them!” and “Tear them apart!” and similar things.

“If—we—tell—you—this,” the soldier beetle said. “What—would—you—do?”

“We can’t say for certain until we know what it is,” Adam admitted. “But we hope to try and stop this conflict between you and the elves, if it’s possible.”

“Whatever you want, is it worth risking your lives over?” Lilith asked. “We’ve seen that many of you have already died.”

Some of the insect monsters retorted with “There won’t be any peace with the elves!” and “We’ll crush the elves soon!”. However, Lilith’s words did seem to resonate with others, who looked at the ground or nodded slightly. It was clear that despite the reputation of insect monsters being willing to accept any casualties, not all of them were willing to just throw away their lives.

After a moment, the soldier beetle replied, “What—we—are—after—is—something—that—would—benefit—us—all. Those—that—survive—at—least.”

“But what is it?” Lilith asked.

But before she could receive an answer, Lilith sensed the elves approaching. And from the way that their antennae twitched, many of the insect monsters had sensed the same thing.

Seriously—at a time like this!?

“Get—out—of—the—way—if—you—want—to—live,” the soldier beetle said, snapping its mandibles together menacingly. “We—will—devour—these—elves.”

If the insect monsters began fighting the elves, there would be no chance at peace. Lilith glanced at Adam, who nodded in response. Then, without exchanging any words, they sprang into action. Lilith conjured up ice spears near several of the insect monsters, while Adam jumped onto the soldier beetle’s back and held his sword to its neck. It all happened so fast that the insect monsters couldn’t react until it was too late.

“Get—off—me!” the soldier beetle said, throwing its massive body around in an attempt to throw Adam off.

Adam held on to the soldier beetle using just his legs. Using the hand that wasn’t holding his sword, he took off his demonic energy-suppressing bracelet, immediately stunning all of the insect monsters with his aura. At the same time, Lilith unleashed the full force of her own aura to add to the effect.

It’s not often that I do this, Lilith thought. It’s usually best to hold in your energy, to make your enemies underestimate you and to avoid wasting energy. But sometimes you just need to make an impression!

“You—You—could—kill—us—all—easily,” the soldier beetle said, now completely still. “Why—?”

“Because we don’t want any more conflict between you and the elves,” Adam said. “We ask you now to retreat.”

“But—”

“Come on, don’t tell me you’ve never retreated before?” Lilith said. “There’s no time to argue, just run, dammit!”

Now faced with two people who were far beyond their own level, the insect monsters obeyed. They crawled, skittered and flew through the forest as fast as they could. They forced their way through any of the bushes in their path, ignoring the thorns thanks to their tough bodies. Lilith and Adam followed them, the latter jumping off the soldier beetle and running on his own feet.

The presence of the elves pursuing them grew fainter and fainter. Though the elves were skilled at moving through the forest, they couldn’t move as quickly as these insect monsters. Eventually, they seemed to stop and change direction, having apparently given up on the pursuit.

-ooo-

Freyan, the eldest elf in Sylmark Village, sat down on a chair while chaos brewed all around him.

“Our deepest apologies, we lost track of them after detecting another group of vermin!”

“We can’t let them live—not after they dared to trick us!”

“They could disguise themselves as humans—what if they can disguise themselves as elves as well!?”

“It’s impossible for them to match the grace and splendour of elves!”

“Still, we must find them and return them to the earth! They cannot be allowed to live!”

Freyan slammed his cane down on the floor, causing all of the other elves in the room to quiet down.

“They have escaped, and there is nothing to be done about that,” Freyan said. “We have troubles enough as it is, with the vermin encroaching on our homes. Let us focus on defending against the vermin for now. We will notify the other elf villages of these new intruders using the voice of the forest.”

The other elves agreed and left to carry out these orders. Once they were all gone, Freyan sighed and looked down at his wrinkled hand.

I can hardly remember the days when my body wasn’t so weak, when I could fight with my own strength.

At the age of three hundred and sixty two, Freyan was the oldest elf in Sylmark Village by more than fifty years. He was so old that even elvish longevity could no longer prevent him from feeling the ravages of age.

In his youth, Freyan had done many things. He was one of the few elves to have ever left the Forest of Eldraine. He knew much more about the world than his fellows, such as the fact that the elvish voice of the forest was known as “telepathy” by non-elves. And his experiences also gave him great knowledge about monsters… including the kind that had nearly managed to infiltrate the village.

Those accursed succubi… they are even worse than typical monsters, who simply kill and devour their victims. They use their wiles to beguile their victims, making them want to be devoured…

While many of his earlier memories had grown faint, one thing that Freyan still remembered clearly was when he’d lost a friend to a succubus. It was a quiet night out in the wilderness, with no dangers nearby according to their scouting. Freyan had woken up in the middle of the night, despite feeling an unnatural drowsiness, and discovered a feminine monster riding Alrek, his friend. Freyan had shouted and attacked the succubus, only for her to demonstrate that she wasn’t just skilled at depravity. The succubus had blasted Freyan away with a fireball. Then Freyan’s other friends woke and joined the battle, and they succeeded at killing the succubus. But there was no saving Alrek, who’d already lost too much of his spirit energy to the monster who’d raped him in his sleep.

The vermin are a greater threat at the moment, and I must remember that. But I will not allow any more elves to fall prey to succubi.

Then Freyan recalled the man who’d been accompanying the succubus today. It would be easy to dismiss him as a thrall to the succubus, or as a different monster who was disguising itself as a human man, but Freyan had sensed demonic energy from him in addition to spirit energy. That should have been impossible, as demonic energy and spirit energy should be incapable of coexisting in the same body.

Did I simply mix up his energy with that of the succubus? Have my senses dulled in my old age?

That was the simplest explanation. But still… Freyan couldn’t shake the feeling that there was more to this puzzle.

AN: I originally planned to have Lilith and Adam enter the elf village, but then I decided it was more interesting to have them be detected and driven out. And when I made that decision, I added this section from an elf’s POV to the end in order to show more of elf society.

Chapter Text

Soon after the elves stopped their pursuit and headed back to their village, the group of insect monsters also slowed to a stop. They looked at the two outsiders among them and buzzed with a mixture of confusion and fear.

I can’t blame them, Lilith thought. Even if it’s normal for monsters to follow the strongest, it’s rare for them to follow those of a completely different race, except when there’s a Demon Lord around. I wonder how that baphomet that attacked Lescatie managed it?

If Lilith had to take command of a group of succubi, it would have been… painful on a personal level, but at least she would have understood how her subordinates thought and how to treat them properly. But insect monsters were almost as far removed from her own race as it was possible to be: breeding rapidly instead of slowly, living out in the wilderness instead of in civilisation, and—with some exceptions—being weak at magic instead of strong with it. On top of that, she and Adam were now in command of multiple distinct races of insect monsters.

We’ve been hoping for a long time to persuade more monsters to change their ways. Now we’ve made a start on that… but what do we do now?

Fortunately, Adam had a better idea of what to do. “We now have more time to talk,” he said. “The two of us would like to know why your kind has been attacking the elves, despite the cost of your own lives?”

The insect monsters looked at each other or off into the distance, not saying anything for a few moments. From their reactions, Lilith guessed that they were willing to answer Adam’s question but weren’t sure how to; after all, they’d certainly never expected to have to explain themselves.

Eventually, the soldier beetle who was their leader said, “We—are—here—because—of our—leader. We—come—from—many places—”

“Some of us are from the lands nearby,” one of the arachnes said, apparently too impatient to wait for the soldier beetle’s words. “Some from further away, even as far as Royal Makai. We were all brought here for one goal: to fight as her army.”

“She says elves have something, something powerful,” a giant ant said. “Don’t know what it is. Only that we must get it. And with it, she’ll have power and we’ll all be able to eat what we want.”

Now Lilith and Adam were making progress. Neither of them had heard anything about a powerful item possessed by the elves, but it was certainly plausible given the elves’ isolation and famous skill at magic. And if the insect monsters’ leader wanted it that badly, she must have firm proof of its existence.

“Has this leader given any hints about what this powerful something is?” Lilith asked. “Or about what she plans to use it for?”

This question led to a barrage of responses from the insect monsters.

“It would make her impossible to kill, so she could become the next Demon Lord!”

“No it’d let her command any kind of monster! That would let her become Demon Lord!”

“You’re both wrong! It was for controlling humans, all humans at once!”

“For killing any enemy with just a look. That way, nobody would be able to stop her from becoming—”

“I—heard—it—had—something—to—do—with—knowledge.”

…Obviously, the exact nature of this “something” was unclear. But there was one thing that the insect monsters all agreed on.

“Alright, then listen carefully,” Lilith said. “We’re going to stop this leader of yours, because a new Demon Lord would be bad for the entire world. And once we do that, all of you won’t have to risk your lives fighting the elves anymore. And…”

And then what?

Taking down a single ambitious monster would be the easy part. Everything afterwards would be a challenge. The insect monsters would still have a divine compulsion to attack and devour humans, and some of them might have a specific grudge against the elves now. The elves would definitely have a grudge against the insect monsters, though it remained to be seen if they’d be willing to leave their forest to take revenge.

But Lilith couldn’t just stay silent forever. She asked, “Tell me, what do you want to do after you’ve left this forest and no longer have to attack the elves?”

That caused the insect monsters to buzz with uncertainty again. In any other situation, their probable answer was “To go back to living in the wild and eating humans whenever we want.” But in the current situation…

“We don’t require an answer from you immediately,” Adam said. “First, we will go to your leader and settle this conflict. That way, you will have the opportunity to see us in action before you make any decision.”

Lilith internally breathed a sigh of relief. As usual, Adam was better at social situations due to his training and experience as a hero.

“Very—well,” the soldier beetle said. “Then—let—us—lead—you—to—her.”

-ooo-

For the next half of an hour, Lilith and Adam followed the group of insect monsters through the Forest of Eldraine. As they walked, Lilith had a chance to see the forest in more detail, to hear the local sounds and smell its unique scents. She had to admit that, while it wasn’t an inviting place at first, it had its own particular charm.

Additionally, some of the insect monsters nervously approached her and Adam to ask about their history together. It was an amusing parallel to how one of the elves had approached them, with the difference that now Lilith could give a proper explanation.

“…after picking up the charms, we went into the sea,” Lilith said.

“Really? What was it like?”

“Did you find any of those things that lurk there? Those—uh—chaos demons?”

It reminded Lilith of her experiences talking to children while she was still in her village. Most insect monsters didn’t care for their children, and furthermore they lived alone or in small groups, so it wasn’t surprising that they had childish mentalities.

If they were taught properly while growing up, would that be enough to make them not attack humans? Lilith wondered. Well, that’s still something for the future…

“We didn’t see any of those demons of chaos,” Lilith said. “We heard about them, but it seems that they’re a myth even to the sea monsters. Anyway, moving on…”

Lilith and Adam went through the rest of their history up to the present day. They still left out certain details, like the details of how they were now improving their own strength at an extraordinary rate.

During the trip, the insect monsters also mentioned more information about their enigmatic leader. Some of this information was contradictory, but there were a few points that all agreed on.

“We—all—fear—her,” the soldier beetle said, shivering. “She—is—stronger—than—any—of—us. Without—you—here—we—would—not—dare—defy—her.”

“What type of monster is she, exactly?” Lilith asked.

“Not—sure,” the soldier beetle replied. “Like—arachne—but—different. None—of—us—has—seen—her—kind—before. But—she—wields—strange—and—fearsome—magic.”

“She seems to use her webs as magical circles,” one of the other insect monsters added. “But we’ve only seen her cast one spell, to find out where the elf villages are.”

In other words, not enough to understand what she’s really capable of, Lilith thought. An arachne variant with powerful magic… I’ve never heard of anything like that, either. We’ll need to be careful.

At one point, they encountered a second group of insect monsters. This one had twice the numbers of the group that Lilith and Adam were currently following. It also included additional races of insect monsters: mothmen, who were humanoids covered in soft fur and with two pairs of colourful wings; and hornets, who resembled conventional hornets except for being the size of eagles.

This new group showed surprise at the presence of non-insects among their number. This was quickly resolved when Lilith and Adam unleashed the full force of their aura again, cowing them.

“We are here to meet your leader and put an end to the conflict that has ravaged this forest,” Adam declared, his voice resounding through the area. “If you have no wish to sacrifice yourselves in the fight of another, then walk—or fly—with us.”

That was enough to sway this new group to their side. Now, Lilith and Adam were surrounded by over a hundred insect monsters, a sight that would strike fear into the hearts of almost anyone in the world, human or monster.

I’m doing a lot of things now that I never imagined myself ever doing. Most people don’t even realise insect monsters are intelligent, or don’t care, treating them as just bigger and more dangerous versions of normal insects. Humans think that way, except maybe the experienced heroes. Elves clearly think that way, from how they call all insect monsters “vermin”. And most monsters think that way… including many succubi.

But not anymore. If the two of us are going to try to change the world, we have to be willing to change ourselves as well.

Finally, they arrived at the location of the insect monsters’ leader. This was the entrance to a cave that was well-hidden by the trees. And just from approaching this cave, Lilith sensed a fearsome aura of demonic energy.

“She might be as powerful as that baphomet,” Lilith said quietly to her partner.

“Perhaps,” Adam replied. “But she does not seem to be as powerful as a dragon, and in any case, both of us have grown significantly since the Battle of Lescatie.”

Lilith then turned to address the insect monsters. “All of you, wait here! We’ll handle this.”

The group of insect monsters scattered and took up positions far away from the cave entrance. Most of them additionally took cover behind the trees.

And as another result of Lilith’s words, the leader began to stir. There was a skittering sound, reminiscent of an arachne’s footsteps but much louder, and the aura of demonic energy grew stronger.

An immense monster emerged from the cave. It vaguely resembled an ushi-oni in that it consisted of an enormous spider’s body with the head of something completely different. But while ushi-onis had the heads of bulls, this monster had a human’s face on the surface of its cephalothorax: a human’s face with eight red eyes and a mouth filled with sharp teeth. The surface of this monster’s body was covered in spiky purple exoskeleton which, in turn, was dotted by countless red eyes. All in all, it was something out of the worst nightmares of frightened children, except that this nightmare was very much real.

“I thought my soldiers had simply failed again,” the strange spider monster said. “But it seems they have returned with unusual company. A succubus and…” she turned her eight eyes towards Adam. “I do not recognise your kind.”

Even Adam himself wasn’t sure what he was now, so that was only natural. But at the moment, he and Lilith had more important matters to deal with.

“What we are is of no consequence,” Adam said. “We have come here after hearing about the conflict between insect monsters and elves. We would like to understand the reasons for this conflict.”

“You do not give orders to the likes of me,” the spider monster said. “Not to one of the few atlach-nacha who weaves webs across this planet.”

Now Lilith had some more information on their enemy, though this wasn’t a term she’d ever heard before. “Then you can think of this as a request for information, rather than an order,” she said.

The atlach-nacha hissed, a terrifying sound that caused many of the surrounding insect monsters to tremble. She shifted her massive legs slightly, causing Lilith to begin thinking of a spell to cast.

“Then I may as well tell you,” the atlach-nacha said eventually. “After all, once my plan is complete, the two of you will become my subjects as well.”

That’s what we expected, from how everyone agreed she wanted to become Demon Lord… Lilith thought. Though it’s still annoying to hear her be so presumptuous.

“Through my divination, I have discovered a certain artifact hidden away by the elves,” the atlach-nacha said. “An artifact so dangerous that the elves sealed it away to prevent it being abused—the fools. But now that I have learned of it, I shall take it for myself.”

Lilith and Adam remained silent, waiting for more information. Even the surrounding insect monsters were silent.

“With this, I will be able to overhear any conversation in the world,” the atlach-nacha declared. “I will have an insurmountable advantage in knowledge over all of my foes! Nothing will stop me from becoming the next Demon Lord!”

It was a simple plan, when summarised in this way… but also a terrifying one. The very thought of nobody having privacy again sent a chill down Lilith’s spine. She definitely understand why the elves had decided to hide such an artifact.

“All will bow before me, leaving no obstacle to the return of my m̴̯̅͜á̸̧̘̳s̸͔̮͊̊͜ṱ̸͖̦͖̐̒͘ẽ̵̖̞̩̎r̶̡͈̰̽̐̕s̵̱̭͓̓̀́,” the atlach-nacha said.

Lilith felt an odd sensation from these words just now. It wasn’t just the revulsion and fear at hearing of a prospective Demon Lord. It was something else, something more primal, more eldritch…

There’s no time to worry about that now! We have to put a stop to this!

Lilith began slowly reaching for her spear. Her body was coincidentally at a slight angle to the atlach-nacha, hiding her action from view.

“All will bow before me…” the atlach-nacha continued, “including you!”

An enormous magic circle, with a pattern resembling a spider’s web, appeared on the ground with the atlach-nacha at its centre. It swallowed up both Lilith and Adam!

Dammit, we let her get the first attack!

However, what happened next departed from everyone’s expectations. Adam ran forward and… cut off one of the atlach-nacha’s legs, scattering purple blood across the ground. It didn’t even look like he’d been slowed down.

“Impossible!” the atlach-nacha exclaimed as she reeled from the attack. “That should have stopped you moving at all!”

The dragonium armour we’re wearing, Lilith realised. It must have blocked her magic! It has the ability to disperse magical energy!

But despite its surprise, the atlach-nacha quickly regained her composure and tried to impale Adam using two of her other legs. Adam dodge one leg and cut off the other.

Refusing to be left behind, Lilith took to the air and pointed her spear at the atlach-nacha. She fired off an enormous arrow of compressed air, striking her target directly. The atlach-nacha was pressed into the ground and a crater formed around her.

“I—will not—lose to the likes of you!”

Letting out an unearthly scream, the atlach-nacha exploded with purple light. Both Lilith and Adam were pushed backwards by the attack. Fortunately, their armour protected them from injury. The nearby trees weren’t so fortunate, falling to the ground with thunderous crashes.

“I am Xa’shala, the Harbinger!” the atlach-nacha declared.

The cave behind Xa’shala began glowing intensely with purple light. Lilith realised that the walls of the cave were lined with webs, like the nest of a burrowing spider, and thus were lined with magic circles. And at the same time, Xa’shala regenerated her severed legs.

“I am an atlach-nacha created personally by the d̸̹̻̫͜͝e̶͚̬̐͘m̷͙̩͍͙͐͠o̸̲̝͛̚n̶̹̳̼̉̔̋ş̶̺̹̓ ̸̦̠̄̿̅̆͜ȏ̸̺͈̎̌́f̴̤̪̣̥̄̈́ ̷̟̱͠c̸̣̰̀̽̄h̷̭͎̹͋͛̿͛a̶̘̣̓͆͜͜ŏ̶̡̩͜͝ş̷̫̠͍̈́̚͘͝! Mere mortals are no match for me! Perish!”

A barrage of spells, encompassing several different elements, shot out from the cave. And these weren’t just fireballs or ice spears or lightning bolts, like those used by typical mages. The fire spells were shaped like tentacles, the ice spells had the forms of hissing snakes, and the lightning spells resembled a swarm of furious wasps.

Lilith quickly flew to the side to dodge this barrage. Even though she had new armour that could resist magic, she didn’t want to try testing the limits of this armour in a serious battle. However, the barrage of spells swerved in mid-air to continue pursuing her. She had to intercept them by firing off spells of her own.

That’s just unpleasant, Lilith thought. And it’s not over yet!

Down on the ground, Adam had successfully blocked the spells that been aiming for him. But now Xa’shala herself was charging towards him, her body surrounded by a purple sheen indicating a defensive barrier. An extremely sturdy barrier, for when Adam rolled to the side and slashed at the atlach-nacha’s legs, his sword bounced away harmlessly.

Adam jumped backwards to put some distance between himself and Xa’shala. Immediately understanding his intention, Lilith cast a powerful ice spell that surrounded Xa’shala’s legs with rock-hard ice. Even with her defensive barrier, the atlach-nacha was still immobilised by these cold shackles. But the ice started cracking as soon as formed, and just a few seconds later, it shattered.

Though I only needed to buy a few seconds… Lilith thought, readying another spell.

Adam raised his glowing sword to the sky and unleashed Evil Obliterating Incantation. Blinding white light filled the battlefield.

Then Xa’shala laughed, a horrific sound that seemed to wear away at Lilith’s sanity.

“A hero’s spell for banishing monsters?” the atlach-nacha said. “It’s intriguing how you can use that… but it has no effect on me!”

Xa’shala cast another barrage of spells, one even more intense than before. Lilith tried to intercept these with her own spells again, but there were just too many and she was hit by half-a-dozen of them, blasting her backwards into a tree and making her drop her spear. After her impact with the tree, Lilith fell heavily to the ground. And from the grunt of pain she heard, Adam had also been hit.

“I am no simple monster!” Xa’shala roared. “I am a being as far above monsters as you are above humans! The Chief God’s petty blessings are nothing to me!”

Then Xa’shala approached Adam, ready to deliver a finishing blow.

“GET AWAY FROM HIM!”

Lacking her spear, Lilith thrust her hands forward. She was so consumed by desperation that she didn’t even cast a spell, she simply unleashed all of the energy she could muster.

And yet, somehow, this worked.

Xa’shala stopped in her tracks. Her eight legs trembled as if they could barely support her weight. Her eight eyes swivelled around to face Lilith.

“You—what did you do to me!?” Xa’shala screeched. “This feeling—I—”

Lilith had no idea what she’d just done, but she wasn’t about to let this opportunity pass. Snatching up her spear from where it had fallen nearby, she sent a massive stream of flame at Xa’shala. When the flame subsided, the atlach-nacha was barely burned… but her defensive barrier had been broken.

Adam recovered as well, and he followed up on Lilith’s attack by slashing at Xa’shala. Three chitinous legs were severed from their owner, causing Xa’shala to collapse.

“This… it cannot be,” Xa’shala gasped, her face showing clear signs of fear. “I… am an atlach-nacha… a being of c̸̡̼̽̐͠h̵̪̽̄à̴̗̮̼̋o̶̖͎̟̳͗̎s̶̜͈̳̅͐́̍… I cannot…”

“We still don’t really understand who we are,” Lilith said. “But one thing is clear: we can defeat you, and if any more of your kind stir up trouble, we’ll defeat them as well.”

Both Lilith and Adam prepared to deal the finishing blow, only for Xa’shala to disappear in a flash of purple light. The succubus and hero whirled around, expecting an attack from behind, but there was nothing. In fact, they could no longer sense the atlach-nacha’s demonic energy at all.

“Did she… escape?” Lilith asked, still holding her spear.

“It appears so,” Adam said.

The two of them kept their guard up. But as minutes passed with no sign of their enemy, they slowly relaxed.

Then the surrounding insect monsters approached, embroiling Lilith and Adam in a more complicated problem.

-ooo-

Xa’shala reappeared in an empty plain many leagues away from the Forest of Eldraine. The sunlight was harsh here, making her dark-adapted body uncomfortable, but that was nothing compared to the strange feeling of warmth that permeated her.

I don’t know what that succubus did to me… but I will not give in! I will recover, and I will resume my plan!

First, Xa’shala channelled demonic energy to her three leg stumps. After a few seconds, these legs regenerated. She stood up on all eight legs and, while she was still a bit unsteady, she was in much better shape than before.

Then she considered her next course of action. She wouldn’t be able to command the insect monsters any longer, not after they’d seen her lose in battle. And without their aid, it would be impossible to rob the elves; while the elves were individually far weaker than her, their sheer numbers meant that her victory was not guaranteed.

It matters not. I can get more minions, given enough time. And with enough time, those two should leave the forest and forget about me. All I need to do is wait, and I can return and take the Circlet of Boundless Hearing from the elves.

That led Xa’shala’s thoughts back to the two monsters who had defeated her. One of them was still a mystery, being able to use the Chief God’s power despite the demonic energy in his body. Her face twisted in disgust.

They do not matter. They are nothing more than a succubus, a parasite that needs humans to even reproduce, and her slave.

Xa’shala began digging a new burrow with her strong legs. As a creature of the a̷̲̯̦̮͂b̸͖͎̈́̌̒ͅy̸͇̜̏̀̓͝ͅs̶͚̹̱̹͛̚s̸̖͈̟̠̉ͅ, she wanted to get out of the sunlight as soon as possible.

But as she dug, she couldn’t take her mind off those two monsters. She kept thinking back to how they had fought together to defeat her.

I wonder… what that sort of relationship is like…

-ooo-

After many days of travelling through the barbarian wastes, Talaran and his companions finally returned to the Forest of Eldraine with a cargo of weapons.

I can only pray that we are not too late, Talaran thought.

But as Talaran walked along a familiar path, taking care to not make any sound, he noticed something odd. When he’d left, the signs of vermin were common throughout the forest: clawed footprints, broken branches, fruit eaten directly off the plant, and of course the tell-tale stench of demonic energy. Now, he saw barely any signs of vermin, as if the forest had returned to normal. And from the troubled expressions on his elves faces, they’d noticed this as well.

“Do not let down your guard,” Talaran warned quietly. “This might be a ruse.”

The elves continued walking quietly and scanning their surroundings. If they were attacked by a horde of vermin, they would respond immediately and do their best to take as many of the enemy with them as possible.

But they arrived at their destination, the elf village of Viridiana, without incident. And when they arrived here, they encountered another surprise.

“How… How is this possible?” one of Talaran’s companions murmured.

The village now had an upbeat atmosphere. Elves walked around and chatted happily with each other. There were still a few guards standing at the boundaries of the village, but even these looked relaxed.

“Oh, you’ve returned!” one of these guards said. “My apologies, but it seems your journey was for naught! The vermin have disappeared!”

“They’ve disappeared?” Talaran repeated. “You mean… They’ve been exterminated?”

It was difficult to believe. Talaran had fought the vermin personally on multiple occasions, had seen their seemingly endless numbers and tenacity.

“No one’s sure of that, to be honest,” another guard said. “But for the past three days, not a single vermin has been seen anywhere. Every village has sent out scouts to investigate, and found only the evidence of a recent, intense battle.”

“Could they have fought amongst themselves?” Talaran wondered out loud. “If no elves took part in that battle, then it’s the only possibility.”

These words caused the guards to look uncomfortable. It was clear that something else had happened while Talloran’s group was away.

“Technically speaking, there were two… creatures who came to the forest, who were neither elf nor vermin,” a guard said. “They looked like humans, and encountered a scouting party and saved them from a vermin attack. These two were then guided to Sylmark… only for them to be unmasked as monsters by one of Sylmark’s elders.”

“Monsters that could disguise as humans!?”

“To think they got so close!”

“It’s true, outsiders should never trusted!”

Talaran’s companions had the expected reactions of shock and disbelief to this news. And Talaran himself said, “That is grave news… But in that case, why have you allowed us so close to the village without being more suspicious? What if these monsters were able to disguise as elves?”

“We’ve already set up a countermeasure for that,” the guard said. He pointed at the ground beneath Talaran’s feet. “Examine the spellwork on the place where you’re currently standing.”

Talaran did as he was told. He closed his eyes and focused on the threads of magic running through the ground underneath him. He detected the usual set of defensive spells, plus an additional one that felt new.

“This is… a spell for detecting demonic energy?” muttered Alisa, one of Talaran’s companions who was the best in the group at understanding magic.

“Yes, it was added by our own Elder Rana, the moment we heard about what happened in Sylmark,” one guard said. “With this, there is no chance of monsters infiltrating any elf village again!”

“Now, please come inside,” another guard said. “You must be exhausted after spending so long out in the barbarian wastes.”

Thus, Talaran’s group stepped into Viridiana to enjoy a well-deserved rest. Talaran himself dropped off the cargo of dwarf-made weapons at the village storehouse—even if they were made by crude hands, the weapons themselves were of decent quality.

The outside world is… not quite as hostile as I first believed, Talaran thought. It has many threats, certainly, including this new threat of monster infiltrators. But there is also good in it. The dwarves we bought these weapons from gave us a fair price, despite the enmity between our races, and then there’s the two humans who offered to help us.

Of course, two humans on their own wouldn’t have been enough to turn the tide against the vermin. But if the elves had been willing to ask for help from nearby human nations, then perhaps the conflict would have ended earlier. Perhaps fewer elves would have died.

It does no good to dwell on the past. I must focus on the present and the future.

AN: For a story arc set in the homeland of the elves, this doesn’t show a lot of elf society. I included these little snippets at the end of here and Chapter 40 to make up for this.

I originally planned on having all of Xa’shala’s text in an unusual font. But I only found one suitable font and having all of her text like that would be hard to read. I therefore decided to limit this to certain words.

Chapter Text

Adam and Lilith were now outside the Forest of Eldraine, accompanied by a swarm of more than a thousand insect monsters.

This… seemed much more manageable when we were still inside, Adam thought, looking around at all the insect monsters. Now that we’re out in the open…

Almost every single type of insect monster that Adam had been taught about was present here: arachnes; ant arachnes; beelzebubs; devil bugs; giant ants; greenworms and their adult stage, the papillons; honey bees; hornets; mantises; mothmen; soldier beetles and vamp mosquitoes. Literally the only ones who weren’t present were those native to completely different regions, such as the desert-dwelling girtablilu and the Zipangu-dwelling ushi-oni.

If this group were to approach a human nation—any nation—they’d cause panic and quick preparations for war. It would take countless lives to stop them. And now… the two of us are in charge of them all.

A quick glance to his side confirmed that Lilith was putting on a mask of confidence. But it was obvious to Adam that she was just as uncertain as he was. Anyone would be in a situation like this.

We must do something… but what? Simply telling them to not attack humans is unlikely to work, we don’t have the power of a god—or equivalent—behind us. We can’t replicate the miracles that occurred in the south sea and in Zipangu.

Yet while Adam was puzzling over this dilemma, Lilith spoke up.

“First of all, we don’t know much about you—all of you,” Lilith said. “We’ve told you about ourselves, but could you—could some of you talk about yourselves? I-It doesn’t have to be everyone, just a few of you!”

That’s… a good idea, Adam thought. It’s a common tactic for breaking down social barriers, but it’s commonly used because it works.

Though there was still the question of whether the insect monsters would be willing to go along with it. They were a mix of completely different races that normally didn’t interact, except via competition or predation. On top of that, most of these races weren’t very social to begin with. The only thing that even linked them together was being the former minions of Xa’shala, the atlach-nacha.

There was an uncomfortable silence. Many of the insect monsters looked down at the ground or at each other. Yet Adam and Lilith couldn’t afford to press them on this issue, not if they wanted to avoid being tyrants.

Eventually, one of the giant ants spoke up in a timid voice, “A-A while ago, we found a big pile of fruit under a true. Ate them all…” Then the giant ant trailed off under the gazes of countless other insect monsters.

“That must have been quite tasty,” Adam said, quickly coming to the rescue. “Was this before or after you were forcibly recruited by Xa’shala?”

“Before,” the giant ant continued, waving its antennae around in what seemed to be bashfulness. “Times were better then. Gathering food. Building the nest. Caring for our family.”

“At least our nest is safe,” another giant ant said. “It’s far from here. But with most workers taken away, our queen’s had to go into hibernation. Most of the brood must have died off by now…”

All of the giant ants lowered their heads sadly. It was clear that even if they’d now been freed from Xa’shala’s service, the consequences of being pulled away from their nest wouldn’t disappear.

“Could—you—talk—more—about—what—it’s—like—living—in—a—family?” one of the soldier beetles asked.

“Well… it involves paying lots of attention to—”

And little by little, the insect monsters became more talkative. Multiple conversations started up around Adam and Lilith. There were so many that it became impossible for Lilith’s translation spell to keep up, causing Adam to just hear incoherent screeching and buzzing and hissing.

Perhaps I should try to learn more languages, Adam thought. Though that’s difficult even at the best of times. And there are so many languages used by monsters, some with concepts that don’t even exist in human languages…

On that topic, Adam saw many instances of the insect monsters having trouble understanding each other’s languages. Again, this made sense due to them being of many different races that normally didn’t interact. But these language barriers weren’t complete, presumably due to the insect monsters having some experience working together.

Come to think of it, I wonder how their languages have developed? Most insect monsters are solitary or live in small groups, but even the solitary ones interact with others occasionally. Their languages would be affected by the sounds they’re capable—and incapable—of producing. And from the things I’m hearing right now, it seems some of them have borrowed words from human languages. It would be a fascinating field for scholars to study.

Adam walked around the area, amongst the insect monsters. On occasion, he stopped to share more stories about himself. The insect monsters were quite curious about what he had to say, eagerly waving around their antennae or other appendages to catch every word.

Then Adam sensed a disturbance some distance away. He hurried over to find an argument between some arachnes and various other kinds of insect monsters. When Adam focused on this argument, he was able to understand what was going on.

“—still remember you! You ate my friends!”

“They were too weak to survive! You’d have done the same if you had the chance!”

This… is something we expected, Adam thought. Now, to settle this…

Adam stepped forward. The insect monsters who were in an argument quickly fell quiet and looked at Adam in fear.

“It’s clear that you have a bad history with each other,” Adam said. “And I’m sure there are other cases of that here.”

Adam took a deep breath. He and Lilith couldn’t afford to just rein in all the insect monsters by force as Xa’shala did. That was an unsustainable method which would break down as soon as the two of them couldn’t keep an eye on everyone.

“I won’t tell you to simply stop this,” Adam said. “That would be unfair to you. Instead… I’ll tell you about one story that’s told in the town I come from.”

Adam glanced around, but none of the insect monsters looked like they were about to interrupt him. Taking this as a good sign, he continued.

“It’s a story about an old feud between my hometown, Merith, and the nearby town of Valeria. A few centuries ago, there was a dispute over land, which soon spiralled into outright war.”

“Wait, humans fight each other?” one of the greenworms asked.

“Of course they do, you idiot!” retorted one of the beelzebubs. “They fight each other just like we fight each other!”

Before anyone could take offence to being called an “idiot”, Adam quickly said, “And this war lasted for years. It devastated the land, including the very land which had started the whole thing. Humans killed their fellow humans because they were from a different town, an enemy town. Then they killed in revenge for their own friends and family being killed. And many died not to violence, but to starvation or cold or disease, all because of the devastation of the war.”

And many died due to increased monster attacks, but Adam felt that now probably wasn’t the best time to mention this.

“What… happened in the end?” asked a devil bug, its mandibles clattering together nervously.

“In the end, the people of both towns decided they had to stop fighting,” Adam replied. “It wasn’t an easy decision, of course. Everyone had lost friends and family in the war. Everyone had legitimate grievances against the other town. But… they realised that they had to stop, or more would die.”

“So you mean we should give up as well?” asked one of the insect monsters who’d originally been arguing with the arachnes. “We should get along with our old enemies, or else we’ll die like that?”

“I wouldn’t say you need to go that far,” Adam said. “Even when the war I speak of ended, Merith and Valeria still hated each other for decades. It’s a perfectly natural feeling. For now, the only I ask of you—and this applies to everyone here—is to not start any new fights.”

At this point, Lilith chose to enter the conversation. “If there’s anyone who you have problems with, you just need to stay away from them. That’s all we’re asking. You don’t need to talk to them or do anything else. Is that alright?”

A few moments of tense silence passed. Adam held his breath in nervousness.

If we can’t persuade them, then this will be the impetus for them to all scatter, Adam thought. After all, they have nothing truly tying them together. And after they’ve left, some might choose to stop attacking humans, but many will revert to their old ways. Unless we… stop them here, but hopefully that won’t happen.

Finally, the silence was broken.

“That makes sense… alright.”

“I—can—do—that.”

“If those spiders can stay away from us, then fine.”

“Guess it’s better than being killed.”

“If that’s your order, fine.”

There was a veritable flood of positive responses. Some of them were clearly driven by… less than desirable motives, but there wasn’t anything that Adam and Lilith could do about that yet.

After this was settled, there were no more arguments. Adam began walking around the area again, still listening in on conversations and occasionally contributing. While he still saw some harsh glares and aggressive stances, none of it led to anything more serious.

The conversations continued for another hour, long enough for the sun to start nearing the horizon. The insect monsters learned more about each other, and even Adam learned more about them. For example, he learned that devil bugs actually gave considerable care to their own offspring, rather than leaving them to fend for themselves as many outsiders thought.

Eventually, a new topic arose: that of where the insect monsters would go next, and what they would do from then on. And with their newfound knowledge, Adam and Lilith could now give an answer to this.

“All of you have homes that you were taken from, to serve as soldiers in another’s war,” Adam said. “The best option would be for you to return to them.”

“And it would be best if you stopped attacking humans,” Lilith added. “It might be difficult, but remember that you don’t need to eat humans to survive… and if you attack them, you’ll almost certainly be killed in revenge.”

“But what will you do from now on?”

“Where will you go?”

“Will you follow us?”

Those were some good questions. There were many problems in the world, such as the planned crusade against the monsters of the south sea and the succession crisis in Lescatie. But recent events pointed towards another problem, one that overshadowed all others.

Adam and Lilith looked at each other. Just from that, they confirmed that they were thinking the same thing.

“Multiple monsters seem to be aiming for the title of Demon Lord,” Adam said. “You’re all familiar with Xa’shala, but there are others, such as a baphomet and a kraken, who were aiming to increase their power significantly.”

“Like we said before, letting a new Demon Lord appear would be horrible for everyone, monster and human,” Lilith said. “So… after this, we plan on going to the heart of all this. To Royal Makai.”

“Are you sure about that?” asked a papillon. “It’s really dangerous there…”

“Fool!” one of the vamp mosquitoes retorted. “They just beat that spider, so of course they could win!”

I wish I had their confidence in us… Adam thought. Though I suppose it would be difficult to be so confident when we’re aware of people like Justinia, who are still above our level. Well, we’d better do our best to live up to their expectations.

With everything settled, the swarm of more than one thousand scattered in various directions. There were some mixed-race groups who were leaving together, which was a good sign. Adam and Lilith went off to the north, soon leaving all of the insect monsters behind.

-ooo-

Sunset arrived before long, so Adam and Lilith stopped for the night. They found a small cave, went inside and then slumped to the ground, exhausted. The battle against Xa’shala had been nothing in comparison to keeping a massive horde of insect monsters in line, even if the latter was only for a few hours.

“I still have trouble believing that just happened,” Adam said quietly.

“Me neither,” Lilith said. “If it wasn’t for the evidence, like both of us still having traces of that… atlach-nacha’s demonic energy, I might be thinking of this as a dream.”

Adam took out his waterskin and gulped down the contents. It soothed his exhaustion somewhat.

Growing up, I did have the occasional dream about giving speeches to crowds of people, acting like a hero of legend. But when I actually started my hero training, such dreams were quickly replaced by more realistic notions. Yet just now, I spoke to an entire crowd of monsters…

“Do you think they’ll really go along with what we told them?” Adam asked. “Perhaps we should have followed one or more groups for a time, overseen their behaviour? After all, during the founding of Zipangu, Kagachi spent considerable time in order to create a society where humans and monsters could coexist.”

“We could’ve tried that,” Lilith said. “Still, we also had something else to do, something more… important.”

That was the crux of the matter. In the past few months, there had been three separate attempts by a monster to become the next Demon Lord. Only Xa’shala had explicitly stated it, but when Adam thought back on the actions of the baphomet and the kraken, the sheer scale of their plans, it was clear that these two had had similar intentions.

Calling many races of monsters to one’s side is, historically, an act associated with Demon Lords. The three recent contenders all did this and had goals that would lead them towards the throne: increasing their own power, killing many humans and disheartening the rest of humanity, letting their followers feast on human—or elven—flesh…

All three of them have been stopped, but not before causing many casualties. Future contenders would cause even more. And this would be nothing compared to the casualties from a new Demon Lord actually appearing. Justinia may be wrong in her methods, but she’s certainly not wrong in wanting no more Demon Lords.

“But in the long term, what can we do?” Adam asked. “We could try killing off any new contenders to the position of Demon Lord—itself easier said than done—but from what we know, that won’t be enough. From what we know, new Demon Lords arise when humanity becomes too powerful.”

“And that’s something we couldn’t stop, no matter how hard we tried,” Lilith said sadly. “Everyone wants to grow their country, tribe, whatever group they’re part of. They do it for better defence against monsters and to compete with their neighbours. Even if we could somehow convince everyone in one country that there’s a need for it, they’d look at what other countries are doing, at the monsters out in the wild, and quickly change their minds.”

Yet if persuasion couldn’t work, that left two other options. One was to follow Justinia’s lead and cull the human population… something that neither Adam nor Lilith could ever do. The other was to brainwash people into compliance, which had its own issues and would be impractical on the scale needed.

It would be necessary to brainwash… tens of thousands of people at the very least, all across the world. And to repeat that for all eternity. Even if a succubus were to become Demon Lord—something that’s never happened in recorded history—I doubt she could manage such a feat.

Then Lilith spoke again, causing Adam to stop this line of thought to listen.

“I’ve just… thought of an idea. It’s not a pleasant one, but it might be our only option. But it’s…”

“Whatever it is, you can tell it to me,” Adam said reassuringly, taking Lilith’s hand in his own.

Lilith took a deep breath. “Do you remember what we did to those centaur children, before we went to Zipangu?”

Of course Adam remembered that. Even when he was on his deathbed, he would certainly remember that moment when he’d killed parents in front of their children, and then forced said children—or rather, given that burden to someone else—to stay away from humans in the future.

“I remember it,” Adam replied. “But didn’t you say that you could only make those children fear humans? You couldn’t remove their desire to attack humans, simply override it with the desire to survive.”

“I did, but that was before I knew what I was dealing with,” Lilith said. “It was before I got much more practice with mental magic, when I was training you on our way to Lescatie. And it was before both of us became so much stronger.”

Adam considered this for a few moments. “So your suggestion is to try and remove the god-given desire to attack humans from monsters? Thus reducing monster attacks on humans, and in turn, human animosity towards monsters?”

“Yes, but that’s only the beginning,” Lilith said. “If I’m right on this, then removing this desire from monsters should also remove it from their descendants! After all, the Chief God gave that desire to the original monsters, but we’ve never heard anything about it getting renewed over time. Both of us know what divine power feels like, from interacting with Poseidon, yet we’ve never felt anything like that in our lives.”

These words were incredibly blasphemous, but fortunately there were no worshippers of the Chief God in this cave. And upon hearing these words, Adam began to do some calculations.

Based on how long it took Lilith to alter the minds of those centaur children, this wouldn’t be a quick process. But even if she could only do it for ten monsters a week—probably a conservative estimate—that adds up to over five hundred each year. And if that were repeated for every year of our expected lifespans… it would amount to tens of thousands, a considerable fraction of the total monster population.

Now Adam understood the rest of Lilith’s suggestion. “With most monsters no longer wanting to attack humans, there would be much less threat from a Demon Lord. They wouldn’t be able to recruit the massive armies that allowed past Demon Lords to devastate the entire world. And… if by some chance, a new Demon Lord lacked the desire to attack humans, it would remove their threat entirely. Since monsters who attack humans are more likely to be killed by humans… after enough generations, there would be no more of them. They’d be outcompeted by monsters who are capable of coexisting with humans.”

It seemed too good to be true… and there was a good chance of that being the case. Lilith’s suggestion depended on multiple assumptions: her being able to remove the Chief God’s order to attack humans, this removal being hereditary, and the Chief God not interfering with this at any point. But it was a potential solution, nonetheless.

“I believe that could work,” Adam said. “We’d have to test it out first, before committing to it, but it could work. Thank you for bringing this up, Lilith.”

Lilith squirmed around in embarrassment. “It’s an idea I had just now, and it might not work anyway… And now I wish I’d thought of it a few hours earlier.”

“To ask the insect monsters if we could use it on them?” Adam said. “That might have been possible, but most of them would likely have refused. It’s not an easy thing to let someone alter your mind. If we attempt your suggestion, we should reserve it for those that we can’t persuade, or who ask for it.”

The two of them started feeling hungry, so they prepared and began eating dinner, still discussing their future plans.

“It’s hard to believe that, less than a year ago, we were just an ordinary succubus and hero,” Lilith said, biting into a wild tuber.

“Though you weren’t, by most definitions of the word, ordinary back then,” Adam said, starting on his own tuber.

Lilith turned away to hide her red face. “You know what I mean!” she protested, her voice slightly muffled. “I wasn’t any stronger than other succubi, and I didn’t have any grand plans or anything! And now we’re heading right into Royal Makai, somewhere that most people have nightmares about!”

“Perhaps, but we’ve definitely improved greatly since then,” Adam pointed out. “We’ve reached the point where we can fight against true dragons—not defeat them, but we can put up a reasonable fight against them. I doubt that many residents of Royal Makai can claim the same thing.”

They continued eating for some time, reminiscing about the various things they’d done. It was already the stuff of legend, even if they’d had help for almost every step of the way.

Then something occurred to Adam. “If we’re heading to Royal Makai, Lilith, then is there anything you want to do regarding your… home village?”

“…I was trying not to think about that,” Lilith admitted, looking downwards. “But… I want to do something about them. I’m not sure what exactly, but I can’t just leave them to… keep doing what they’ve always done.”

Trying to help troubled family members was always difficult, even if it was for something as mundane as alcoholism or gambling addiction. Considering that Lilith’s family and childhood friends were essentially combinations of rapists and murderers, she had an even greater burden to bear than most.

“This is just a suggestion, but would it be helpful if you returned there with me at your side?” Adam said. “To show them how it’s possible for succubi to get along with humans.”

“I don’t think that would work,” Lilith said. “They’ve only ever thought of humans as food… food that’s fun to play with.” She shuddered. “It would take a lot for them to change their minds. And how exactly would I introduce you to them? You’re not technically human anymore…”

That was a good question, one that Xa’shala had also brought up. In most regards, Adam still felt human, but the demonic energy within him indicated otherwise.

“It’s true, I don’t have much resemblance to any known race of monster,” Adam mused. “If anything, I should be some kind of succubus variant, since I’m like this due to an infusion of your demonic energy. Yet the only physical change is that the colour of my eyes now matches yours.”

“Hmm… well, I guess there’s not much point thinking about that now,” Lilith said. “Unless more people like you show up, we’ll never know how much of… this… is normal.”

Afterwards, they finished off the rest of their dinner, which included rabbit meat in addition to the tubers. The food still tasted the same as it always did, something that reminded Adam of how, despite the changes he’d undergone, he was still the same person.

As they prepared to settle in for the night, Lilith said, “Wait, hold on. There’s one more thing I need to bring up. You remember that atlach-nacha, the way her voice sounded odd when she said certain words?”

Adam nodded slowly as he recalled that. “Yes, I do. At the time, I wondered if she was trying to influence our minds using magic in her voice. Now, it doesn’t seem like she was doing that.”

“Now that I’ve had time to think about it, it reminds me of stories I heard back when I was… still in my village,” Lilith said. “Stories of forbidden words that would hurt anyone who said or listened to them.”

That elicited a frown from Adam. He’d also heard stories of forbidden words, though these claimed that such words hurt those who read them. But the general idea was similar.

“Supposedly, those forbidden words could be used to summon ancient monsters,” Lilith continued. “Ancient monsters of incredible power and evil… which is why the words are forbidden in the first place.”

“Did you ever hear anything about such monsters being immune to—well, the power of the Chief God?” Adam asked. “Xa’shala was completely unaffected when I used Evil Obliterating Incantation. And while it’s true that you’re unaffected by it as well, that was apparently caused by my transformation. I doubt you have anything in common with a mysterious spider monster.”

The two of them puzzled over this for a while. They mentioned various myths and legends that they knew about, ranging from the plausible to the outlandish—recent events showed that even the outlandish ones could potentially have a grain of truth. They spoke of fallen gods, fallen heroes other than Justinia, demons of chaos, intruders from other worlds.

In the end, they weren’t able to come to any firm conclusions. They therefore settled in for the night, though not without enjoying some time together first.

AN: Now we’re heading for the endgame. With the scale of recent events, I decided that now was about time.

Chapter Text

AN: Here's a chapter focusing on minor characters only. Specifically, this focuses on characters who’ve never even been mentioned before, but have nevertheless been affected by Adam and Lilith’s actions.

In a small workshop within the town of Valeria, Arnold sat up in bed and stretched out his arms. Based on the amount of light tricking in through the window, the sun had only just risen. Still, it was time for him to get up and begin the day’s work.

While dressing himself, Arnold reviewed what he had to do for the day.

Let’s see… I need to finish off that door I’ve been working on for the past few days, and deliver it to Steve before lunchtime. Shouldn’t take too long, I just need to sand the rest of the surface. Then I need to cut the remaining legs for that table Merry wants. And I also need to fix up that broken oak chair that Lord Serrick sent in yesterday. I don’t have any oak here at the moment, so I’ll need to head out to buy more…

Arnold picked up some dried beef and put it into his mouth. He chewed while continuing to review his work.

And if today’s anything like the past few days, I’m likely to get three or four more requests that I’ll need to start on as well… But if I can’t finish my current requests soon, I’m going to get yelled at again.

To wash down the dried beef, Arnold poured himself a mug of cheap ale and gulped it down quickly. A drink like this was definitely an acquired taste, but Arnold had long since gotten used to it. Now he needed it each morning to make his body function properly.

Now… time to get to work.

Arnold picked up a sanding block, walked over to the unfinished door and began scouring away the rough patches.

-ooo-

A few hours later, after finishing some of his requests but receiving even more, Arnold slumped down into a chair.

Ugh… I need to pick up an apprentice soon… There’s just too much to do on my own… But I can’t just pick up an apprentice as easily as buying a new tool. For now, I need to make sure I keep on top of things.

Next… I need to buy the oak I need for fixing Lord Serrick’s chair. The actual fixing won’t take too long, but it’s a request I need to finish today. Can’t keep the lord waiting, after all.

Arnold forced himself to stand up. He wolfed down his lunch—bread, cheese and dried fruit—and stepped out of his workshop, pulling a hand cart behind him.

His next destination was a sawmill on the edge of the town of Valeria. This wasn’t the closest sawmill to Arnold’s workshop, but it offered better prices and had friendlier workers compared to the closer sawmills. Arnold thus made a point of coming here for his wood.

On arrival, Arnold noticed that the sawmill workers were oddly cranky. They had looks of annoyance on their faces, moved around with slightly less skill than usual and, every now and then, snapped at each other for minor mistakes.

Arnold walked up to the nearest worker, a young man by the name of Ren who normally had a smile on his face. “Hey, what’s the matter here?” Arnold asked.

“Here for more wood, Arnold?” Ren said. “Sorry, we’ll get that to you in a moment. It’s just… well, it’s nothing much, really. Normally, all of us would have had lunch by now, but we haven’t had a single bite yet.”

“Why’s that?”

“Today, it was Matt’s turn to pick up our lunches from the nearby bakery,” Ren answered, gesturing over towards his left. “But it’s been nearly an hour since he was supposed to come back. And all of us are too busy to check up on him.”

“He must be getting first crack at our food!” one of the other sawmill workers shouted.

“That can’t be happening,” Arnold said. “Hold on, I’ll check out what’s going on with Matt.”

Arnold walked over to the bakery, leaving his hand cart behind. He knocked on the door, but there was no response.

That’s odd… it’s the middle of the day. There should be someone on duty…

Arnold pushed the door open and looked inside. The interior was dimly lit and, furthermore, had a strange foul stench. There wasn’t a single person in sight.

“Matt?” Arnold called out, a trace of nervousness in his voice. “Are you there?”

There was no response. Arnold took a few steps inside.

“Is anyone here?”

There was a chittering sound, like that of crawling insects but much louder. Arnold immediately turned and ran for the door with all his might.

Arnold burst out from the bakery and was soon knocked to the ground by an immense weight. Claws dug into his flesh, drawing blood.

No—it can’t end like this!

Mustering up all the strength in his body, Arnold threw away the weight on him. This allowed him to get a good look at his attacker. It was an insect of horrifying proportions, as large as Arnold himself and covered in spiky black armour. Its six legs were each tipped with fearsome claws, some covered in blood. A pair of long antennae grew out from its head, whipping around to sense its surroundings.

A devil bug! It must have killed Matt and the others inside! Wait—but they never come alone!

Arnold didn’t have time to worry about that, because the devil bug here pounced on him again. He desperately pushed it away to avoid being decapitated by its mandibles, but the devil bug’s legs still raked at his body, causing him to scream in pain.

“Hold on! We’re coming!”

For a few more desperate seconds, Arnold continued to hold the devil bug away. He was about to succumb when Ren came to the rescue, hacking off the devil bug’s head with an axe. Yellowish-green blood spurted out from the wound, coating Arnold and causing him to gag. Yet despite being decapitated, the devil bug’s head and body both continued to twitch.

“Th-Thanks!” Arnold said.

“Fuck! I can’t believe monsters got into Valeria!” Ren said, looking at the entrance to the bakery. “That means Matt must have been…”

“There’s more in there, be careful!” Arnold warned as he staggered to his feet.

More of the sawmill workers hurried over, also carrying axes in their hands. But although they watched the open door of the bakery for several moments, no more devil bugs emerged. They could still hear a faint chittering from inside, however.

“Why aren’t the rest coming out?” Arnold wondered.

“They don’t like the light,” one of the workers, the same one who’d complained about Matt, explained. “They like dark and damp places. The one that followed you out must have been the bravest.”

“So they’ll stay in there?” another worker asked. “Could we just burn down the place and kill them all?”

“We could try, but they’d run out the moment the fire started,” the previous worker said. “I’ve seen it happen, back when I was part of the town guard and helped fight monsters. We’d all just… end up like Matt.”

“Then we’d better get the current town guard in to help,” Arnold said. “We can’t let these things multiply anymore.”

-ooo-

An hour later, the town guard of Valeria had assembled outside the infested bakery, blocking off all the streets leading away from it. Their numbers were supplemented by volunteers so they numbered over fifty in all. They wielded a range of weapons—spears, axes, clubs, bows—but were united in the single purpose of protecting Valeria.

Arnold watched over the events from more than fifty paces down the street. His wounds from earlier had been cleaned and bandaged up, but they still meant he couldn’t join in the battle… not that he’d want to in the first place. The memory of that devil bug snapping at his neck still haunted him.

The operation began with several guards setting down torches next to the walls of the bakery, then hurrying away to a safe distance. The torches continued burning for several minutes.

Then a flood of chittering black horrors rushed out from every exit of the bakery, including some small cracks that Arnold hadn’t even realised existed.

The archers let loose a barrage of arrows. Some of the devil bugs fell, but others continued moving even with arrows piercing their bodies.

Finally, the swarm of devil bugs slammed into the town guard and there was absolute chaos.

Arnold, like many others, had been raised on stories of heroic battles against monsters. But the reality was nothing like the legends. Men flailed wildly at any part of the devil bugs within reach, severing limbs and heads, crushing bodies into bloody pulp. Devil bugs lashed out with their claws and mandibles, tearing through the weak armour of the guards and eviscerating flesh. Blood, both red and green, watered the ground.

When it was all over, the bakery was a burning wreck and all around it were the corpses of over forty devil bugs… along with ten human corpses. There were also dozens of humans who’d been injured, and these were now being patched up.

And even then, it’s a miracle we found this infestation so early, Arnold thought. If it went on any longer, they would have multiplied, spread to other buildings, eaten more people…

Arnold imagined himself in bed, being forcibly woken up by devil bugs biting into his flesh. The devil bugs didn’t try to kill him quickly, instead trying to savour his taste for as long as possible… The thought caused him to shudder.

It’s lucky that we stopped them. But that won’t help the families of those they already ate.

If only there was a way to get rid of monsters, once and for all…

-ooo-

Beneath the surface of the south sea, Jetstream moved his fin-tipped legs rapidly, propelling his body through the water. He spotted a school of fish—haddock, to be specific—in the distance, so he swam up to it and threw his trident. The trident pierced through the school and each of its prongs impaled multiple fish.

That should make a decent lunch… Now I just need to find something that goes well with haddock…

The merman continued exploring for ten more minutes. He eventually found a bed of red seaweed that lent a spicy taste to food, so he pulled up several handfuls of it from the seabed. He stored the seaweed in a bag attached to a belt around his hips.

That’s all I need. Time to head back.

Jetstream turned towards the west and swam home with his cargo of food. He soon arrived at a coral reef that looked no different from any others, but on closer inspection had doorways cut into the coral.

After a bit of searching, Jetstream found his friends gathered in a small alcove. They were playing a game that involved rolling dice—made from the densest stone available, to better sink in water—and advancing along a board with numerous tiles. It was one of various games played down in the sea to pass the time.

Jetstream stopped in the alcove and passed around the haddock and seaweed he’d gathered. Everyone spread the seaweed over the fish and, with no further preparation, bit into their meal.

“Mmm… nothing beats the taste of spiced haddock,” said Meron, a merman with red scales covering most of his body.

“Oh, I can think of one way this could be even better,” said Arshan, a blue-scaled merman. “We could try out this ‘cooking’ that the humans like to do.”

“How would we cook our food?” Jetstream asked in between bites. “Don’t the humans use fire to do that?”

“They usually use fire for that, but there’s this interesting idea I heard a couple days ago,” Arshan explained. “There are humans who live in places where hot water springs from the ground, and they use that for cooking. We could try that with the hot water from the volcano!”

Jetstream paused to consider this idea. It could work in theory… but that volcano was now completely deserted. None of the sea monsters wanted anything to do with it after its eruption. The dark history of that place didn’t help.

“Maybe… but there might be safer ways to pull that off,” Jetstream said. “For example, I’ve been hearing rumours of some people trying to figure out how to use fire magic underwater. If that works, it could be used to make hot water anywhere, without needing to depend on… that place.”

“That could work as well,” Arshan said. “Anyway, it doesn’t matter how it’s pulled off. If I could be the first to cook food in the sea, I’d be famous! Mermaids would beg me to fertilise their eggs!”

Meron scoffed at this. “The only mermaids’ eggs you’ll be fertilising are in your dreams—”

“How dare you!”

Arshan and Meron got into a brief scuffle that left them both with cuts and scrapes, which would heal by tomorrow. This was an everyday occurrence for them.

“Anyway, we can’t cook anything yet, so let’s just focus on this food we’ve got in front of us,” Jetstream said.

The group of mermen thus continued their meal in peace. When the others finished their current game, Jetstream joined in as a player for the next one.

“The humans do have a lot of good ideas,” Jetstream said, after one roll of the dice. “If we had better ideas, we could learn a lot from them.”

“Definitely,” Meron agreed. “We’ve also got a lot to offer them in exchange. For example, they have a hard time diving to collect pearls from oysters, while we can collect those easily.”

“It would be interesting to taste human foods, too,” Arshan said. “They grow so many kinds of crops up there, and have so many kinds of animals to hunt.”

Jetstream looked at the fourth member of the group, a purple-scaled merman by the name of Sanor. He hadn’t said a word since Jetstream had returned with the food, though this was hardly abnormal for him.

“Is there anything you’d like to get from the humans?” Jetstream asked.

After a moment’s hesitation, Sanor replied, “I’d just like to know them… to talk to them. To know what it’s like living up on the surface.”

The other three mermen looked a little embarrassed at these words. Sanor’s suggestion was much more achievable than any of theirs—in fact, it was a prerequisite for their own suggestions to come true.

“But that’s stupid, I know,” Sanor continued, looking down at his hands. “I have trouble even talking to other merfolk, there’s no way I could—”

“No, Sanor, it’s a good suggestion,” Jetstream said. “In fact, how about we try that out tomorrow?”

“Wait, what?”

“I was planning to go to the surface to look at the humans again tomorrow,” Jetstream said. “I think you should come with me. If we’re able to approach any humans, we could try talking to them.”

Now Sanor was visibly panicking. He looked like he was on the verge of swimming away at any moment.

“Of course, you don’t have to do it if you don’t want to,” Jetstream continued. “There’s obviously danger in approaching humans, no matter how we do it.”

“That… That…” Sanor said. His expression became serious. “I’ll do it. We’ll never get anywhere if we’re not willing to brave danger.”

-ooo-

The next day, Jetstream and Sanor swam up to the surface near the coast. It was just the two of them as the other two members of their group had other issues to deal with. Then two mermen began swimming parallel to the coast. For reasons of comfort, they swam just below the actual surface, but kept their eyes and ears open for any signs of human activity.

It wasn’t long before they came across a large human boat—and this one was clearly in trouble. It was tilted at an unnatural angle and the people inside were shouting in panic. And on closer inspection, Jetstream could sense water flowing into the boat.

“They’re in trouble!” Sanor cried out. “We have to help them!”

Sanor hurried towards the boat as fast as his fins could propel him. Jetstream couldn’t help but be impressed.

He was so nervous before, and now he’s like this. I don’t think he’ll need too much help from me to talk to humans.

Anyway, I can’t let myself be left behind! It’s weird to save humans after a lifetime of hunting them, but it also feels good!

Jetstream and Sanor reached the human boat. In the next instant, both of them were pulled bodily out of the water and onto the deck of the boat. Before either of them could react, blades pierced their legs, pinning them to the deck. Humans with weapons and armour surrounded them.

This was a trap!? Jetstream realised. Shit! I have to—at least get Sanor out of here!

Jetstream lashed out with one clawed hand. On its own, this would be meaningless against armed and alert opponents, but it was merely a distraction. With his other hand, Jetstream attempted to cast a water spell to blast these humans away.

We should have known this might happen! But—argh!

One of the humans struck Jetstream in the head with the pommel of a sword. This disrupted the merman’s consciousness and prevented him from casting any spells. But even with an overwhelming dizziness filling his mind, Jetstream could still hear Sanor’s cries of fear and pain.

Shit… this all happened because of me! Because of me, both of us are going to—

Suddenly, one of the humans approached. This one didn’t have a sword or any other weapon in hand. She instead gave off the mysterious atmosphere of a mage.

“Are—ready for this?” one of the other humans asked, though it sounded faint to Jetstream’s ears. “To—a monster’s mind—”

“—no other choice,” the first human said.

Then a series of memories flashed through Jetstream’s mind: memories of him swimming through the sea, messing around with his friends, attacking humans, being told by Poseidon to stop attacking humans, and finally his efforts to help humans who were lost at sea—

No—get out of my head!

Then Jetstream stopped seeing all these memories—though he suspected that this wasn’t because he’d managed to stop the human with his willpower, but because the human had learned all that she wanted to know. And this was confirmed by her next words.

“I found it. I know where the sea monster lairs are. And…”

“What is it, Nina?” asked one of the other humans.

“It’s nothing—just some monster trick,” Nina replied. “Now… let us finish this.”

The last thing Jetstream ever saw were steel blades dropping towards his head.

The last thing Jetstream ever felt was regret at dragging Sanor into all this.

-ooo-

Sitting in a mansion within the great city of Lescatie was a young woman with pale skin, light blue hair and dark blue eyes. She was dressed in a fine dress of white silk with golden trim, paired with matching elbow-length gloves and thigh-length boots. She could be mistaken for an ordinary noblewoman were it not for the slim sword lying against her chair. This was Magdalene Noscrim, a member of the proud House of Noscrim that had supported Lescatie since its earliest days.

But at the moment, both the Noscrim family and Lescatie were facing a crisis of unprecedented proportions. Both of Magdalene’s parents had perished during the earlier attack by a baphomet’s army, and while she had two siblings, both of them were still children. It fell to Magdalene to keep her family together and ensure it continued to do its part for Lescatie.

And on that topic, the person Magdalene was supposed to meet finally arrived. An elderly man in a pristine white robe entered the room and bowed.

“Greetings, Lady Noscrim,” the man said. “Thank you for allowing me some of your time.”

“It’s nothing, I’m simply doing my duty, Priest Hadrian,” Magdalene said, her face a perfect mask of courtesy. “Now, what would you like to discuss with me?”

Priest Hadrian sat down on a chair opposite Magdalene and began his proposal.

“Lescatie, as I’m sure you’re aware, is in a horrid state. Our beloved first prince was killed, as were many others, and even our supposedly impassable wall was breached. Due to the devastation of that battle, our citizens are now starving in the streets and crime is at an all-time high. To ensure that Lescatie remains a beacon for all of humanity, it is essential that order be restored.”

“That makes sense,” Magdalene said. “And how do you think this should be accomplished, Priest Hadrian?”

“The key element is strong leadership,” Hadrian replied. He leaned forward slightly. “With a leader who is strong, capable and above all else, just, the citizens of Lescatie will be reassured. We could finish repairing the damage to the wall, heal the wounds inflicted on our economy, train more brave warriors to replace our losses—in short, we could bring Lescatie back to its former glory.”

“Though at the moment, there are two aiming to become this leader you speak of,” Magdalene pointed out. “Prince Phillip and Princess Myra. Both command great authority and influence, and neither seems willing to yield…”

The atmosphere in the room shifted imperceptibly. The conversation had now arrived at the main topic, something that both Magdalene and Hadrian had been aware of since the beginning.

“True, they could both be strong leaders,” Hadrian said. “But for Lescatie to be restored, it must have one clear heir to the throne. That is something that everyone, from the highest noble to the lowest beggar, can agree upon. And… I believe that Prince Phillip would be the appropriate choice. He is the elder, so by the basic laws of succession, he ought to be heir. He was raised by the finest tutors in Lescatie, giving him a good knowledge of how to manage a country. He is well-liked by the people. He is capable with a sword, allowing him to lead Lescatie in times of war.”

“Hmm… all good points,” Magdalene conceded. “But if Prince Phillip is such an ideal candidate, surely the king will soon select him as heir?”

Hadrian froze for the briefest of moments. He quickly recovered, but not quickly enough to evade Magdalene’s notice.

“I am sure King Rahm will make the right decision eventually,” Hadrian said. “But for the good of Lescatie, it would be best for him to make that decision as soon as possible. And the support of the House of Noscrim would be very valuable for Prince Phillip’s prospects—”

Magdalene began casually toying with the hilt of her sword. “That’s true,” she said. “You have given me much to think about. I need time to make the proper decision.”

Recognising this dismissal, Hadrian stood up and bowed. “I am sure Prince Phillip would deeply appreciate your support.”

Then Hadrian left the room, leaving Magdalene alone to her thoughts.

Magdalene silently stood up and drew her sword from its sheath. It was a masterpiece by one of Lescatie’s finest blacksmiths, an unequalled weapon that had taken the lives of many monsters… yet it hadn’t allowed her to stop Prince Noctis’ death, and it didn’t allow her to cut through the petty politicking that was now consuming Lescatie.

Magdalene began performing a series of practice slashes and thrusts against imaginary targets. She moved her body on instinct alone, leaving her mind free to consider the situation.

Prince Phillip is… well, everything that Priest Hadrian said about him is true. But knowledge from tutors is not the same as knowledge of how the world truly functions, beneath the facades of honour and justice. And more importantly, he has a known weakness for women, both chamber maids and even the occasional noblewoman. That will get him into trouble one day, if it hasn’t already. We cannot afford a prince who angers his own nobles or is vulnerable to succubi.

As for Princess Myra… she seems to be more familiar with how the world functions, and lacks the obvious vice of her brother. But there are those persistent rumours of her involvement in criminal activity… some even claim that her support is what allows Lescatie’s underworld to continue thriving, despite attempts to stamp it out. I wouldn’t normally give credence to rumours, but when there’s so many being whispered, and for so long…

It was truly regrettable that Prince Noctis had fallen to the baphomet. He had none of the flaws of his siblings, being the perfect crown prince who was beloved by all. Though in hindsight, his presence might have allowed his siblings to think they didn’t need to put in as much effort.

But there’s no point thinking about that now. Now, I can only worry about how the two royals are fighting over who becomes the next heir, and so all the nobles and heroes are trying to align themselves with the eventual winner. No matter the cost to Lescatie… oh?

Magdalene heard footsteps outside the room and instantly recognised their source. In the next moment, two rambunctious children burst into the room.

“Hey, are you finished with that boring meeting?” asked Nolan, Magdalene’s younger brother.

“Can you play with us now?” asked Miria, Magdalene’s younger sister.

Magdalene smiled and ruffled the hair of her younger siblings, causing them to shriek and try to get away.

At least my own siblings won’t turn out like the prince and princess… hopefully.

With no more work for the day, Magdalene allowed her siblings to drag her along to their own games. Still, in the back of her mind she had an idea.

I could just leave… take these two with me, and go to somewhere far away, far from the intrigues of Lescatie. With my skills, I’m sure I could carve out a comfortable life for the three of us…

But I could never do that. I am still a Noscrim, and as a Noscrim, I cannot let Lescatie down.

AN: I originally planned to have a POV of a Zipangu character as well. I eventually decided to leave it out so I could release this chapter earlier (back when I first posted this on other sites).

Chapter Text

Royal Makai was just like Lilith remembered it: a wilderness of black soil, purple grass that resembled countless knives, trees with leaves of midnight blue, and above all of this, a sky filled with dense clouds. Even though it was technically morning, there was so little light that it seemed like dusk.

Then there was the demonic energy. It was denser than anywhere else in the world, denser even than in Dragonia’s Graveyard of Dragons. It even sent a chill down Lilith’s spine: while she’d grown up here, she’d spent a long time in the outside world and forgotten what it was like in the heartland of monsters.

Speaking of which, they encountered monsters regularly here. Most kept a wary distance from Lilith and Adam, and the couple did likewise. It helped that Adam had learned how to hide his spirit energy on the way here, so monsters mistook him for a fellow monster rather than a human.

Some approached just close enough for a conversation, and it was from these that Lilith and Adam learned about events in Royal Makai.

“There’s several powerful monsters gathering there,” said a demon, a powerful humanoid monster with blue skin, pitch-black sclera and a pair of wickedly sharp horns. “They’re using treasure, promises of power, threats, any tactic available to bring armies to their side. Sides, rather… they’re all enemies to each other.”

“They must all be trying to become the next Demon Lord,” Lilith said, a worried expression on her face.

“Who are these powerful monsters?” Adam asked.

“I’ve heard of a hellhound, an echidna and a vampire”, the demon replied. “I haven’t met any of them in person, merely seen them from afar. But even from that perspective, I could tell that they were more powerful than the three of us combined.”

Lilith and Adam were hiding their full power to avoid drawing unneeded attention, so this didn’t necessarily mean much. Still, it was a warning to remember.

“Have you considered joining one of them?” Lilith asked.

“Of course I considered it,” the demon said. “With a new Demon Lord, I could corrupt many more humans into depravity than I can now. But the long-term risk would also be greater; more heroes are born during such eras, after all, and all Demon Lords are slain in the end. No, I’ll stick to keeping a low profile.”

The demon walked away.

That was definitely an… enlightening conversation, Lilith thought. Some monsters can realise, on their own, the pointlessness of this cycle of death… Though that doesn’t necessarily mean they stop attacking humans.

Moving on to a different topic, there was a third category of monsters: those that attacked Lilith and Adam, seeing them as weaker monsters and thus prey. They ambushed them from dense vegetation, from underground or from the sky.

Of course, none of them was a match for the couple in their current state. Even the most powerful of them, a high orc who commanded a dozen regular orcs, was brought down in seconds. And because of their own power, Lilith and Adam could handle them in a different way than usual.

Lilith bent down in front of the fallen high orc. The porcine monster was taller than any human or succubus, with muscles strong enough to use a log as a club, and a thick layer of fat that could deflect swords and arrows. But right now, the club lay shattered on the ground, while the high orc himself crawling away and squealing in fear.

“I-I’m sorry!” the high orc cried out. “We didn’t know—please don’t kill us!”

“It’s alright, we’re not going to kill you,” Lilith said reassuringly. “First, could all of you tell us your names?”

“H-Huh?” the high orc said. “I’m… Barkas Bonecrusher.”

One by one, the other orcs also nervously introduced themselves. The others didn’t have surnames—in that regard they were similar to humans, who reserved surnames for nobility.

“Does that mean… you don’t want to kill us?” Barkas asked. “You want us to… follow you instead?”

“No, we don’t want that either,” Adam said. “Tell us, what was your goal in attacking?”

“It’s… It’s the orc way,” Barkas said. “Strength is the only justice in this world. So we take what we want from anyone we can beat. Anything else would be… not orc-like.”

“Well… strength is definitely important in this world,” Lilith said. “But if you just attack whoever you want, you’ll eventually run into someone you can’t beat… and if they’re not as nice us, you’d be killed.”

The orcs trembled again at these words.

“There are other options for you,” Adam pointed out. “You could put that strength of yours to good use farming, or mining, or logging… Even if you’d prefer to fight, you could find work as guards or mercenaries.” The orcs didn’t seem to understand this, so Adam clarified, “You could fight for others and be paid for it, rather than attacking travellers to take their things.”

“A-Alright,” Barkas said. “We’ll give that a try. You beat us, so it’s only right.”

Then Lilith and Adam parted from the orcs. It felt odd to just let their attackers go, but if Lilith’s understanding of orc culture was correct, the orcs would keep to their promise.

Still, there’s no guarantee they’ll avoid attacking humans. One thing at a time, I guess…

-ooo-

After wandering around the edges of Royal Makai for a few more hours, Lilith decided to stop putting off the inevitable. She decided it was time to return home.

Melipon was one of several succubus villages in the world. There weren’t many of them since succubi weren’t populous by monster standards. That said, they were quite developed by monster standards due to the intelligence and magical prowess of succubi.

And Melipon was even more developed than when Lilith had left. The buildings were all made of stone now, and painted in bright reds, whites and yellows. Glass windows dotted the walls of the buildings, giving their interiors plenty of natural light while keeping out the elements. In front of the buildings were neatly arranged gardens with colourful flowers.

As they approached the village, Lilith whispered to Adam, “Are you sure about this?”

“I want to see your home for myself,” Adam whispered back. “The good and the bad.”

“For a human, I think there’ll be much more of the bad than the good,” Lilith whispered. “But… alright.”

Lilith and Adam arrived at the village. As the couple came into view, the local succubi looked up from their activities. Their faces lit up in delight… and lustful hunger.

“Lilith!”

“You’re finally back!”

“Lydia! Your daughter has finally come home!”

“Just what have you been up to!?”

“Why did you go out alone in the first place!?”

This was the kind of welcome that Lilith expected. It was common for succubi to leave their homes to see the world and enjoy themselves. It was less common but not unheard-of for them to do so on their own, since succubi were relatively fragile compared to most monsters. But overall, she expected her friends and family to give a warm welcome home.

…Unfortunately, she hadn’t returned alone. And for that reason, she heard words that made her blood boil.

“Look, she brought back a man!”

“He’s so handsome… and he looks tough, too! I wonder how long he’ll last!”

“Wow, Lilith, just how much have you been feeding on him!? He’s overflowing with your energy!”

“I just want to take that armour off him, push him down and—”

“You can’t, Beth! It’s clear he belongs to Lilith!”

Lilith didn’t clench her fists or do anything else that might give away her true feelings. She just kept a smile on her face, the same kind of vapid smile that her friends had.

But almost everyone else here is a succubus as well, Lilith thought. They might see through me anyway…

But even when the villagers surrounded Lilith on all sides and peppered her with questions, none of them showed any signs of suspicion. They were just happy for her, something that send a brief pang of guilt through her heart. A very brief one.

“This here is Adam,” Lilith said, wrapping one protective arm around the man in question to prevent any other succubus touching him. “I found him ten months after I left.”

“He’s a hero, right?” asked Ashara, a pink-haired succubus dressed in a black bustier and miniskirt. She was one of Lilith’s former friends. “I can’t believe you managed to bag a hero!”

“You really have to let us taste him,” said Shireen, a blue-haired succubus who was another of Lilith’s former friends. “Please? Remember that time I helped you out when you were flying?”

He’s not a piece of meat to be traded around! Lilith thought. Out loud, she said, “Maybe later. Right now, I’d just like to see how things have changed here.”

Lilith glanced momentarily at Adam. Her partner had a vacant expression, the sort expected from a succubus’ mindless thrall, and hadn’t said a word since entering the village.

Is there any chance he was hurt by what I said? Even if this is just an act, I—

“Lilith?”

That familiar voice caused Lilith to freeze in place. She’d been preparing herself for this moment for a long time. She’d already met her former friends. But there was simply no way she could fully prepare herself to meet her mother again.

Lydia looked like Lilith in most aspects, most notably in that she had the same silver hair. She even looked just as young as her daughter, since succubi didn’t show any signs of ageing until they finally died of old age. The only difference was that her eyes were blue instead of red. Supposedly, Lilith inherited her eye colour from her father… not that she’d ever known him, for obvious reasons.

“It is you! You’ve finally returned!”

With a brief run, Lydia threw herself at her daughter and pulled her into a tight hug. Lilith returned the hug after a moment’s hesitation.

“I was so worried, you going off on your own…” Lydia said. She pulled away and looked Lilith up and down. “You’ve… changed. In more ways than one.”

“Well… after spending more than a year away from home, it would be hard not to change,” Lilith replied. She tugged at one piece of her armour. “It’s not easy surviving out there without picking up a few things.”

Lydia turned her eyes towards Adam. To Lilith’s disgust, there was an obvious desire in her gaze.

“I’m glad to see that you’ve finally caught a man,” Lydia commented. “You never even touched one when you where here.” She leaned in closer to Lilith. “Tell me, how fast are you able to get him to—”

If Lilith allowed her mother to finish that sentence, she would definitely lose control. She therefore smiled more widely and said, “Before that, how about you show us around the village? It’s clear things have changed a lot here as well.”

-ooo-

Over the next hour, Lilith and Adam were shown around the village of Melipon by the former’s mother and friends. During it all, the village succubi continued to look lustfully at Adam and make lewd comments, straining the limits of Lilith’s patience.

Fortunately, there were various distractions to draw Lilith’s attention. Some were familiar, like the young succubi going for flying lessons and magic lessons, or the elders telling stories of the past. As she watched one girl crash face-first into the grass after a failed take-off, she couldn’t help but smile as it reminded her of her own failures.

There were also new things, like the process used to construct the newer buildings in Melipon. Normally, buildings of stone were slow and expensive to build due to the difficulty of shaping so many stones, whether by tool or by magic, and then placing them into the desired positions. But the succubi had come up with something that bypassed most of this effort: they shaped a few stones and placed them together, then covered the surface with detailed runes, and finally triggered the runes to automatically draw in, shape and fuse together additional stones. It required a lot of effort for the first few stones and a lot of demonic energy for the additional stones, but it allowed an entire house to be constructed in a matter of days.

“That’s incredible,” Lilith said when she learned of this. “Especially when it’s coming from succubi, who’ve never been good with earth magic. I mean, I learned some of it while I was away, but I’m still not as good with it as with the other elements.”

Ashara scratched her head and laughed with a sheepish expression. Lilith recognised that gestured very well.

“…Where did this idea come from?” Lilith asked, though she was already dreading the answer.

“Well, I actually left a couple of months after you did, and came back six months ago,” Ashara said. “And I came back with this human scholar! He’s not much to look at, but he makes such cute sounds whenever I ride him!”

Lilith clenched her teeth. Even at this point, none of the other succubi noticed her feelings—but Adam did, for he shot her a brief glance of concern. No matter how much Lilith had improved her acting skills in her time away, this seemed a bit excessive.

Is it because they don’t expect me to be angry at them? Because they… still see me as one of them? They can’t imagine me thinking differently…

“And this scholar of mine, he’s got some really great ideas about magic!” Ashara continued. She giggled. “Though he doesn’t do much thinking nowadays… but before that point, he told me lots of things, and all I had to do was bat my eyelashes and flash a bit of my tits! And then I brought him back with me, and he keeps me nice and warm at night!”

This, Lilith mused, was the intended purpose of succubi. They didn’t devour the flesh of humans like other monsters did, instead attacking humans in a subtler and more insidious way. That scholar could have improved human society immensely, but now his ideas were turned to the service of monsters… well, to succubi and no other monsters.

“Hold on, he’s still alive?” Lilith said, noticing something off about what Ashara had just said. “This might sound odd coming from me, but I’ve… never heard of any of us keeping a human for six months…”

“That’s another change we’ve made recently,” Lydia said from the side. “It’s one that has made our lives much more comfortable. Come, we’ll show you.”

Lilith and Adam were led into the former’s childhood home. The interior was furnished with ornate wooden furniture, causing Lilith to briefly wonder if this was also the result of stealing human secrets. But there were still reminders of Lilith’s life here… old toys, old clothes, the occasional drawing from a child’s rough hands. She couldn’t bear to look at any of them.

Then they stepped into a bedroom and Lilith came to an abrupt stop. On the bed was a man with scruffy brown hair and red eyes and not a stitch of clothing. He had a vacant expression on his face, no different from the one Adam was putting on. When Lydia stepped into the room, his face brightened… but still showed no signs of intelligence.

“We’ve started taking care of our prey,” Lydia said. “Our old way of life was far too wasteful, it forced us to gather more men regularly. But if we avoid draining them to death, and give them proper food and shelter, then they can stay alive and give us a regular supply of spirit energy.”

In the end, no matter how much succubi might resemble humans, they couldn’t escape their origins. They were predators created by an evil god to cull humanity, as hunters might do to over-abundant deer.

No… we can escape it, Lilith thought. I’ve done it, other monsters have done it, and I won’t rest until this damn cycle is stopped.

“I actually kept your original room around, Lilith,” Lydia said, smiling. “I always knew you’d return.”

Guilt wracked Lilith’s heart again. No matter what her mother, and everyone else, were guilty of, they did love her.

But she couldn’t let that stop her. Even if the man on the bed—and the others kept in the village—was technically still alive, his mind and heart were thoroughly broken. It was no way to live, and she couldn’t let it continue for one day longer.

“Thanks, Mother,” Lilith said quietly. She steadied herself to say her next words. “I’d like to meet everyone, tell them properly about what we—about what I’ve been doing. Could you get everyone gathered for dinner tonight…?”

-ooo-

Night arrived. The clouds parted to reveal a blood-red moon—a frightening sight for the average human, though for Lilith it was still comforting.

Over four hundred succubi gathered in the centre of the village around a large bonfire. Some even brought their prey with them, apparently to show off to others. A large boar was cooking over a spit on the fire, and even from a distance Lilith could smell its mouth-watering aroma.

It’s been so long since I got to taste this… The boars here are definitely better than the ones anywhere else…

But though Lilith stared at the boar, she still had enough presence of mind to slap away the hands of Mylene, one of her friends who was trying to touch her Adam.

“Hey, you could at least let me touch him!” Mylene complained.

“No,” Lilith said resolutely. “I did not… go through everything I did to let anyone else touch him.”

“Fine…” Mylene said, pouting. “But then you have to at least let me watch when you take him tonight!”

After that, there were no more incidents. The Demon Realm Boar was cut up and its meat, along with various vegetable dishes were distributed to everyone. Then Lilith stood up and everyone’s attention gathered on her.

“I’ve been away for a long time, and there’s a lot of things I have to talk about,” Lilith said. She glanced at Adam, who nodded slightly, and resolved to continue. “But first, I should talk about things that happened before I left.”

There was some confusion among the other succubi, as this clearly wasn’t what they were expecting. But Lilith pressed on.

“When I was six, I first saw what we succubi do to human men. I learned about how we do this to have children, to feed ourselves, and just for fun. How we ignore the men’s wishes and—until recently—killed them. And that horrified me.”

Now the confusion was replaced by shock. The worst of it came from Lilith’s own mother, who looked at her daughter like she couldn’t believe her ears.

“And that’s why I left all on my own,” Lilith said, looking resolutely at the other succubi. “I couldn’t stand to be around… people who would do anything like that.”

“No… you’re lying…”

“You can’t be Lilith! You have to be an imposter!”

“It can’t be!”

Just as Lilith had expected her warm welcome back to the village, she’d also expected this reaction when she finally revealed the truth: that while her friends had family had always seen her as one of them, she’d seen them as rapists, murderers and—more recently—slavers. It wasn’t the kind of thing that anyone could take lightly.

Though on closer inspection, Lilith saw something odd in the faces of a few succubi. They still looked shocked, yet there was something else as well… relief at finding someone who agreed with them.

“I swear to all of you that it is the truth,” Adam said at last, to the further shock of the village succubi.

“I never brainwashed, or seduced, Adam,” Lilith said. “I saved him from other monsters when we first met, and then I talked to him. It was rough at first, but eventually I made him realise that not all monsters want to prey on humans.”

“From that point on, we began travelling around the world together,” Adam continued. “We visited countless places, from the desert in the west to the sea in the south. We fought other humans and other monsters, any who disturbed the peace. We learned harsh truths about the nature of this world. And from all those experiences together, we fell in love.” He glared at the few succubi who’d brought along mindbroken men to this dinner. “Not what you have here, but true, sincere love.”

It was an awe-inspiring speech, one that stirred up a little embarrassment in Lilith as well. Despite being a succubus, she felt like a human girl bringing the boy she liked to her parents.

But then the atmosphere was broken by harsh laughter. Lilith turned around to see that it was coming from Serana, one of the oldest succubi in the village—even if she didn’t look it.

“It’s hard to believe that this has happened,” Serana said, stepping forward. “But I suppose it was inevitable. Our young ones are still so naïve when they spread their wings, so it’s possible for one of them to fall for a human instead of just the other way around.”

“I’d say you’re the naïve one,” Lilith bit back. “To not see the truth when it’s right in front of you.”

“Humans are nothing but prey!” Serana shrieked, her aura of demonic energy flaring up at the same time. “It seems you fell for this one after charming him, and are imagining some fairytale story of a princess and knight—but it’s nothing! To show you how meaningless it is, I’ll make this hero of yours mine!”

Serana looked at Adam and her eyes glowed with deep blue light. This was one of the signature abilities of succubi, to charm people and bend them to their own will.

“Now, hero!” Serana commanded. “Tell me how much you love me! Show this pitiful fool that—”

“I’m afraid I was raised to never tell a lie,” Adam said brazenly. “But if you’re asking what I think of you, I think you are indeed naïve.”

Serana’s mouth gaped. “That’s… impossible…”

One of the other elders stepped forward. “Lilith must have put him under a particularly strong charm—but it should break with enough power!”

“Yes, that’s right!” said another elder.

Serana regained her composure, and she and the two other elders all tried charming Adam simultaneously, bathing him in various colours of light.

This might be bad! Lilith thought. Even if Adam is strong, and has his dragonium armour, he might not be able to resist three veteran succubi at once! Should I help him!?

Lilith began reaching for her spear, ready to attack the three elders. Yet she hesitated.

Because…

Because…

Because she still remembered when these very same elders told her stories and rocked her on their laps.

Eventually, Serana said, “Now, you must have fallen under our sway! Submit! Submit to us!”

“No.”

That one simple word shocked everyone present. The three elders, and many of the other succubi, reeled away from Adam as if he was some terrifying Demon Lord. On the other hand, Lilith had fallen in love with him all over again.

“That’s right,” Lilith said. “He’s mine, just as I am his. We’re in love with each other, and nothing you can do can tear us apart.”

“Lilith… then… was this all just a lie…?”

That weak voice came from none other than Lydia. It was something that Lilith had to answer… no matter how much it pained her to do so.

“No, Mother, it wasn’t just a lie,” Lilith said, more gently than before. “I still love you, and everyone else in this village. But… I can’t let these horrors continue anymore. Monsters… all monsters… don’t need to prey on humans, any more than they need to kill us.”

“That’s—That’s just ridiculous!” Shireen cried out. “It’s only natural for us to—”

“No, it isn’t!” Lilith shouted in response. “Monsters are driven to attack humans because we’re nothing more than pawns of the Chief God!”

That silenced everyone. A few such as Lydia, looked like they wanted to say something, only for words to fail them.

“I mentioned earlier that we learned harsh truths about the nature of this world,” Adam said. “This is the greatest of them. We learned that the Chief God is no ally to humanity, but intentionally created monsters to cull the numbers of my race. There is more blood on their hands than on the worst Demon Lords in history, combined.”

“But we don’t have to give in to this—this desire to attack humans!” Lilith said. She gestured at herself. “I overcame that, and I met other monsters who did the same thing! In the east, there’s an entire island of them! We can be better than this!”

Lilith was met with looks of disbelief. She couldn’t blame them; if she’d never changed, and heard one of her friends claiming that monsters could live in peace with humans, she might have seen them as a lunatic as well.

At her wits’ end, Lilith extended her mind to form telepathic contact with every other person in the village, from the elders down to the youngest girls. This was a feat of magic that she couldn’t have managed when she’d left the village, and now… now it merely gave her a minor headache.

Lilith felt countless other succubi struggling against her, no doubt fearing she was trying to take over their minds. But that wasn’t what she was trying to do.

Here—this is what you wanted! To know everything I’ve been doing!

She showed them her memories of when she’d seen succubi kill a human and pass it off as something natural. She made them all feel her visceral horror at the murder.

She showed them her initial travels through the world, her fear of other monsters and of humans alike. Yet she also let them see those incidents where she’d secretly saved humans from monsters.

She showed them her initial meeting with Adam. The start to their relationship was incredibly tense and filled with suspicion, yet they decided to stick together nonetheless.

She showed them her adventures together with Adam. These were events that wouldn’t appear out of place in legends: finding an ancient pharaoh in the desert, diving to the bottom of the sea to hunt a kraken, visiting the dwarves to obtain equipment fitting for a hero, discovering an isolated and peaceful society, fighting off a monster army laying siege to a city. And throughout it all, she and Adam grew closer to the point that they would lay down their lives for one another.

She showed them the confrontation with Justinia; a reminder that even the greatest of heroes could fall into evil. Then she showed them her own desperate efforts to save Adam’s life… efforts that were eventually rewarded, and which led to the couple finally acknowledging their feelings.

It was a chaotic whirlwind of memories, thoughts and emotions. By the time she got to the present, Lilith felt like her brain was about to burst from the strain of linking with hundreds of people. But she had to do this!

Lilith cut off the telepathy at last, and swayed on the spot… then Adam caught her with his strong arms.

“Are you alright, Lilith?” Adam asked.

“I’m fine… just need some rest,” Lilith replied. “More importantly… did it work?”

Adam smiled. “It seems so.”

The other succubi were all deeply distraught. Many were outright weeping. A few looked at the mind-broken men nearby and then tore at their faces with their own fingernails. The reactions of the children hurt the deepest; they were only victims in this, having yet to attack men themselves.

But… I had to… make them realise… Had to make them stop…

Some of the succubi walked over to Lilith while crying. They thanked her for saying what they’d all been too afraid to say.

So I wasn’t as alone as I always thought…

Then there was Lilith’s mother. Lydia half-walked, half-staggered over to her daughter, looking like she’d just had the life drained out of her.

“I’m sorry…” Lydia cried. “I was… a horrible mother to you…”

“No…” Lilith replied, grasping her mother’s hands. “To me, you were a good mother. But I… I couldn’t call myself a good daughter if I let you keep going down this path.”

-ooo-

After that, all the succubi in the village swore off attacking humans forever. But that still left the question of what to do with the men they’d already kidnapped and broken.

First, keeping them here was categorically not an option. Making the succubi continue to care for their own victims would be just cruel to all involved.

Second, there was no way to restore the men’s minds. Lilith examined each and every one of them, but they were just too far gone, the mental equivalent of men who’d had every bone in their body broken and then healed improperly.

Finally, there was no way to send these men back to human territory. Royal Makai was simply too dangerous for that, even if Lilith and Adam were to escort them. And if they did somehow make it back out of the most dangerous place in the world, there was no guarantee they’d be accepted by their fellow humans. They would never be able to think or act of their own accord ever again.

That left just one option, the same option that other humans would do to these men if possible: end their suffering.

I know this is the only option, Lilith thought. I know they’re hardly even alive anymore. I know that if they were aware of their current states, they would almost certainly want to die rather than continue like this. But still… it feels too much like—

“It feels too much like what Justinia is doing,” Adam said, finishing Lilith’s thoughts out loud. “But we must. I was taught long ago that death can, sometimes be a gift.”

Lilith laughed sarcastically. “We’ve avoided killing so far after coming to Royal Makai. We tried to save these men. And now they’re the first ones we’re going to kill. We’re… making their lives shorter than they would have been otherwise.”

But there truly was no other option. Thus, the next morning, Lilith and Adam went to each of the men and killed them using death magic—as uncomfortable as it was, this was the most painless way of killing someone. They then buried the bodies outside the village.

Several succubi came to watch the burying, Lilith’s mother among them, and more watched nervously from the boundaries of the village.

“It’s hard to believe,” Lydia said. “Just yesterday, I was… using one of them…”

“That’s in the past now,” Lilith said, though even she didn’t quite believe her own words. “If we want to… improve, we need to focus on the future.”

“On that topic…” Lydia said, looking up at Lilith. “Just how do you two manage it? I’ve never heard of any succubus in history being able to lay with a human and leave him unharmed…”

“I don’t know,” Lilith admitted. “I didn’t even start until I changed Adam into… what he is now…”

“And we’re not even sure how that happened,” Adam said. “Lilith mentioned hearing a strange voice during the process, but we’re still not sure who that was.”

“So I’m not sure if this is even possible with a normal human,” Lilith said. “Well… we did hear a theory that it might be possible because of… because of love, but… ugh, forget what I just said.”

“Because of love…” Lydia said. “Perhaps that is something to consider…”

The atmosphere grew awkward, so Lilith finished the burying of the bodies as fast as possible.

With that done, Lilith and Adam set out from Melipon, aiming for the deeper parts of Royal Makai. These were naturally the more dangerous parts, so Lilith’s mother tried to persuade her to give up, but there was no changing her mind.

“We’ve come too far to stop now,” Lilith said. “Don’t worry, I’ll come back again. I did this time, didn’t I?”

“You did,” Lydia admitted, hugging Lilith one last time. “But… even after everything, a mother can’t help but be afraid.”

Then they parted. Lilith walked away from her home once more, this time with Adam by her side.

Once Melipon was no longer in sight, Lilith slumped against a tree and finally let down her guard. She looked wearily up at Adam.

“Did we do the right thing?”

“We could ask ourselves that question until the end of our days,” Adam replied, though he looked conflicted as well. “I know it must have been hard for you to oppose your own family…”

“That’s not it,” Lilith said, shaking her head. “Or at least, that’s only a part of it. I’m wondering if we were too soft on them, just because they were my family…”

“That, I believe there is a definite answer to,” Adam said. “And that answer is ‘no’. We were no softer on them than the other monsters we’ve encountered recently.”

Lilith glanced back in the direction of home again. It was a meaningless gesture since the village was completely hidden by the intervening terrain, but she couldn’t help it.

Then she turned to the opposite direction and faced forwards.

“Alright. There’s no turning back now.”

AN: I originally planned to have Lilith outright brainwash everyone in her home into not attacking humans, then break down crying afterwards. Due to the way this story has developed, I thought this would be a more fitting resolution.

What to do with the captured men (whose story is based on something from Succubus Notebook) is something I didn’t consider until writing this chapter. I eventually decided that this was the only possible outcome. At this point in the timeline, not everyone can get a happy ending.

Chapter Text

Adam took a break from cooking dinner to survey the landscape of Royal Makai. This was partly to check for possible enemies, and partly to just take in the sights of this eerie, yet also beautiful landscape.

I’ve been here for two weeks now, yet I’m still not fully used to it, Adam thought. An entire country where the sun’s light never reaches the ground, where the air itself is almost pure demonic energy. And yet I’ve seen that it still has its own flora and fauna, and is still populated by people.

People suffering under a divine curse, driving them to murder, but people nonetheless. This has gone on long enough. It’s time to put an end to all this.

The task of stopping monsters from attacking humans had seemed impossible as recently as a few months ago, and impractically difficult as recently as a few weeks ago. But after what he and Lilith had achieved ever since the Forest of Eldraine, it now seemed like something that could be obtained within… well, not their lifetime, but two or three lifetimes at most.

In the past two weeks, Adam and Lilith had visited over a dozen villages scattered around Royal Makai, and also encountered over two hundred monsters who were solitary or lived in small groups. Most of them could be persuaded via the same means used on the insect monsters at the Forest of Eldraine: a display of strength and the fact that Adam and Lilith were already working together. Some were more resistant and required Lilith to show them her own experiences with Adam, as she’d done for her own village.

For now, we can’t be sure if they’ll actually change. Rather, it’s likely that a considerable fraction of these monsters will revert to their previous ways, without us being able to track them constantly.

But it’s still worth it. If even one-tenth of them change, that’s a difference that will grow into something more. It might take centuries, but one way or another, we’ll put an end to this cycle of death.

Unless the Chief God opposes us…

That was the one potential hindrance that Adam and Lilith weren’t sure how to solve. They could be as successful at converting monsters as they wanted, it wouldn’t matter if it could all be undone by the whims of a deity.

Poseidon is on our side, yet the current Chief God is apparently more powerful than her… Mere mortals like us wouldn’t be able to make a difference, no matter how numerous we were.

Could we… somehow convince the Chief God that this cycle isn’t necessary? It’s the sort of feat that doesn’t even appear in legends… but from what Poseidon has shown, gods seem to think and feel much as mortals do. I still don’t understand this population control… and have no intentions of understanding it… but perhaps we could settle this with words rather than with combat.

Perhaps… though if she’s allowed this cycle to continue for so long, I doubt the likes of us could change her mind.

It’s something to consider, at least.

At that moment, Lilith landed nearby. She’d flown off a few minutes ago to scout the surroundings.

“There’s nothing dangerous nearby,” Lilith reported. “Well, nothing except what’s normal for this place.”

“Dinner’s ready as well,” Adam said.

They sat down together to enjoy dinner made with the ingredients local to this area: meat of enormous spiders and fruits that resembled pulsing, bloody hearts. While it looked grotesque to Adam, the food was surprisingly tasty and he’d grown to enjoy it.

“We should arrive at our next destination tomorrow,” Adam said.

“The last succubus village…” Lilith said, her eyes distant. “I’m starting to get used to this, after all the others.”

“Are you alright, Lilith?” Adam asked. “There’s no shame in taking a rest—”

“I can handle this,” Lilith said, shaking her head. “Don’t worry, I’m not about to break any time soon.”

From looking at Lilith, Adam could tell she wasn’t just hiding her feelings. Still, it grated at him that there wasn’t more he could do for her.

Hopefully tomorrow brings with it good news.

After they finished dinner, Lilith looked at Adam with a now-familiar expression.

That night, the two of them didn’t get much sleep.

-ooo-

The next morning, they arrived at their destination, the succubus village of Hika. This was located on a mesa surrounded by steep cliffs, ensuring that only those who could fly—or climb very well—could even access it. Furthermore, the buildings of the village were made of the same stone as the mesa beneath them, making them hard to spot from a distance even for those who could fly. The only reason Adam and Lilith even knew about it was because one monster—and only one out of the hundreds they’d encountered in Royal Makai—had mentioned its existence to them, though not many details.

“It’s weird how I’ve never heard anything about this before,” Lilith commented, as she flew towards the mesa where Hika resided. “Even though my village sometimes traded with other succubus villages, I never heard anything about one in this place.”

And when they approached the village, they realised the answer to this question. It was something they hadn’t expected coming here, but a welcome surprise all the same.

“They’re… already living together?” Adam murmured in Lilith’s arms. “Not as masters and slaves, like in other succubus villages, but as… but as…”

In the streets of the village, Adam saw succubi walking arm in arm with human men, chatting with their fellows, browsing shops and eating and drinking together. The men moved around energetically and independently, with not a single sign of being brainwashed.

When the inhabitants of the village noticed the strangers approaching, they looked up and pointed. Some started running in fear to the newest building, while some of the more powerful-looking succubi flew up to meet Adam and Lilith. The latter had colourful auras of magic around their hands, though none were carrying weapons.

“Who are you!?” demanded one of the succubi.

“Wait, these two…” said another succubus. “They… They seem to be like us?”

“That’s right!” Lilith said. “And if you’re the same as us, then we have no reason to hurt you!”

The village succubi still looked suspicious. Adam couldn’t blame them, being surrounded by monsters who were—until recently—all hostile to humans. If the true nature of their village was publicly known, they’d be attacked as fools who’d forgotten their purpose as monsters.

“May we come down to see your village for ourselves?” Adam asked.

The village succubi came together in the air for a quick discussion.

“Alright… but we’re going to watch you every second you’re here!” said the first succubus. “And if you put one toe out of line, we’ll kill you immediately.”

They’re not taking any chances… we’ll just have to fulfill their expectations, Adam thought.

Lilith landed and set Adam down. The village succubi landed nearby, still looking at the strange couple warily.

“Thanks,” Lilith said. “We won’t let you down!”

-ooo-

Over the next few hours, Adam and Lilith explored the village of Hika. The locals were cautious at first, but gradually gave in to curiosity and started approaching them.

“You came from the outside world!?”

“How did you figure out how to stop attacking humans, all on your own!?”

“How did you two meet!?”

“I’ve never seen a succubus with a weapon or armour before!”

The barrage of curious questions was remarkably similar to when Adam and Lilith had come to the latter’s home of Melipon two weeks ago. But there were crucial differences. There were human men asking questions as well—though considering the demonic energy that was coming from their bodies, ‘human’ might not be the best descriptor. Many of the questions were also being directed towards Adam, when he’d previously been treated as just Lilith’s mindless slave.

It’s a… there’s no other way to describe it, it’s a heart-warming feeling, Adam thought. To come across somewhere, even in the depths of Royal Makai, where we don’t need to fight.

At the same time, they learned about how this village had come to be. A few decades ago, some succubi from another village had quietly disagreed with the normal succubus way of life. They’d left and eventually found this mesa where they could hide from the other monsters of Royal Makai. As time passed, more like-minded succubi drifted there. With so many succubi in one place who didn’t prey on humans, it was only a matter of time before they discovered how succubi could have sex with humans without killing them. That led to them starting to find men who agreed to come here with them.

If things had turned out slightly differently, Lilith might have joined this village and we would never have met, Adam thought. I might still be a hero who saw monsters as the only enemy.

The questions eventually died down enough for Adam and Lilith to move around properly. They walked the streets, browsed the shops and stepped inside the occasional home.

Overall, it was similar to exploring the average human village. The main differences were the more common use of magic, the generally higher quality of life and the increased emphasis on sex.

The last of these was something that actually made Adam and Lilith uncomfortable. While the people of this village didn’t go so far as to have sex in public, or to spend a majority of their time in this activity, they were still incredibly frank about what they did in the bedroom.

It was a slightly different kind of coexistence than what Adam and Lilith were aiming for. Still, it was a functional one.

-ooo-

But they couldn’t stay in Hika forever. Adam and Lilith had to go out into the danger of Royal Makai again to continue their mission.

There was some resistance to them leaving. Even if the couple had explained what they’d previously done, it was naturally difficult for the people of Hika to really understand this emotionally.

So before they left, they needed to put on a little demonstration. They simply stopped hiding their power. The villagers immediately flinched at the full force of Adam and Lilith’s auras.

“…Looks like we’ve been underestimating you from the start,” one of the succubi said. “Even if we had attacked you… you could beat us all easily.”

“This is the power we gained after we realised our feelings for each other,” Lilith said. “And you could probably reach the same level, if you trained and fought a lot.”

“Not that we’re asking you to do that,” Adam said.

“No… maybe we should,” the succubus said.

“We’ve been hiding here for too long!” another succubus said.

“I used to be a soldier before coming here!” one of the men said. “I can’t let my skills go to waste!”

“Things are changing nowadays,” another man said. “We can’t let ourselves get left behind!”

Now, we have a group in Royal Makai itself who is willing to fight for us, Adam thought. Though they’re too inexperienced in combat to be sent out yet.

Lilith clearly had the same thoughts, for she said, “Right now, what we’d like you to do is wait here and train yourselves. There’s no need to head out yet, there’s still lots of danger waiting out there. But—”

Rummaging in her pocket, Lilith pulled out a small gemstone that held a little of her demonic energy. She handed this to the villagers, a gesture she’d done at each of the villages they’d visited previously.

“This will let us keep in contact, even from a long distance away,” Lilith said. “When we need your help, we’ll call upon you.”

With that, Lilith took off, carrying Adam away from the mesa where Hika stood.

-ooo-

Not everything in Royal Makai was so easy, however. A mere few hours later, when the sun was nearing the horizon again, they encountered one monster who wouldn’t be persuaded.

A massive black-furred hound approached them when they were on the ground for a break. This hound stood as tall as a knight on his horse, was as long as several houses combined, and so heavy that its paws led deep prints even in rocky ground. Judging from its build, it was a male. His eyes were crimson-red and literally blazed with fire. His fur was unkempt and criss-crossed by various scars, showing he was no pet dog but a fierce predator that had survived even the wilderness of Royal Makai. His massive jaws were lined with teeth the size of daggers, between which dripped a foul saliva.

This was a monster considered fearsome even by the standards of Royal Makai. This was a hellhound, one of the guard dogs of—according to legend—the underworld.

“A succubus, and someone who smells like a man, but not quite right,” the hellhound said. “You’re the ones who’re spreading foolishness around here.”

Adam didn’t reach for his sword just yet, instead facing down the hellhound. He sensed something strange from the canine monster… something that sent a chill down his spine.

“We are,” Adam said simply. “I take it you disagree.”

The hellhound snorted. “Monsters exist for one thing. To hunt down and devour humans. Anything else is foolish. I reminded those fools of our purpose.”

Adam suspected that this hellhound had learned, one way or another, of the original purpose for monsters. At the same time, he realised just what he’d been sensing from the hellhound.

“You killed them…” Lilith said, now raising her spear. “All because you were too much of a fool to see how things don’t have to be this way!”

Logically, Orthrus could only have found and killed some of the monsters that Adam and Lilith had been encountering. Still, the thought of it filled Adam with a tranquil fury. He drew his sword and held it before him in a typical combat stance.

“Quiet,” the hellhound growled, a sound that seemed to shake the very earth. “You seem a bit more powerful than most, but you’re no match for me. I am Orthrus, slayer of heroes, the one who will become the next Demon Lord. Remember this as I rend your flesh!”

Orthrus pounced, his legs propelling his massive bulk through the air like a stone from a catapult.

Without exchanging words, Adam and Lilith met the hellhound’s attack. Their first move was to reveal their true power for the second time this day; a simple trick, but one that caused Orthrus to slightly widen his eyes in surprise.

Then Adam ducked to the side while slashing at one foreleg. He cut deep, though not deep enough to hit the bone, and smoothly withdrew his sword to avoid having it pulled out his grip. At the same time, Lilith struck Orthrus’ head with a colossal pillar of ice.

Orthrus howled as he landed, the sound itself being infused with demonic energy. Dust was stirred up from the ground and trees shook in a sudden gale.

“Petty tricks!” Orthrus roared as he whirled around to face Adam, completely unhindered by his injured leg. “Not enough to defeat me!”

Orthrus let loose a fiery breath. This melted away all traces of Lilith’s ice and hit Adam head on, only to be cut in two by Adam’s sword. Even after doing so, and even with his dragonium armour protecting him, Adam felt the burning heat upon his skin.

The breath subsided, so Adam charged at Orthrus to deliver his own attack. He was met by a massive paw rushing towards him, so he slashed at the paw with his sword. The adamantite blade dug into the flesh, but then Orthrus forced it back out by emitting a pulse of flame from his body. This same pulse sent Adam flying backwards.

From high up in the sky, Lilith chanted another spell. This caused the ground to rise up and surround all four of Orthrus’ paws. But then the hellhound roared and pulled his paws free with nothing more than brute strength.

“Fall!” Orthrus shouted.

A second breath of fire erupted from Orthrus’ mouth, filling the sky in Lilith’s direction. Lilith evaded by flying faster than Adam had ever seen her fly before, almost instantly moving to the other side of the hellhound.

After recovering, Adam approached Orthrus for another attack. However, the hellhound was now surrounded in an infernal aura that left no gaps, causing even the rocks beneath his paws to glow red-hot. Simply getting close caused Adam to sweat within his armour.

But there is no victory without risk!

Adam plunged into the inferno. He was burned on the parts of him not covered in armour, but he managed to close to sword-range.

“Die!” Orthrus said, bringing his fearsome jaws towards Adam’s body.

Adam jumped at the last possible moment, at the same time bringing his sword across Orthrus’ left eye, reducing the organ to a bloody ruin.

“Arrrrgghhhhh!!!”

Orthrus reared up, striking Adam out of the air. The hero landed roughly on the ground over thirty paces away.

“For that, I’ll crush you slowly!”

“Not while I’m here!”

Lilith bombarded Orthrus with more than a dozen ice spears. Most were reduced to steam by the hellhound’s fiery aura, some missed due to evasive movements, but two found their mark, impaling Orthrus in the flank and shoulder.

“No ice—can stand against the flames of hell!”

With another howl, Orthrus intensified his fiery aura. The two ice spears melted away like the others had. Furthermore, Adam noticed that all of Orthrus’ wounds were now cauterised, stopping the flow of blood.

No Demon Lord contender would fall so easily, Adam thought. But neither can we afford to fall here! There is still much more we must do!

Adam rose to his feet again and charged back into the fray.

Again and again, Adam and Lilith fought with the hellhound Orthrus. Sword, spear, claws, fangs and magic all clashed. Crater after crater was gouged into the ground. Entire trees were reduced to ashes by stray flames. Blood and tufts of fur littered the ground.

Three minutes of intense combat later, Orthrus was covered in more than fifty wounds. Though all of these were cauterised to prevent him bleeding out, the damage to his muscles and tendons prevented him from standing properly. Furthermore, his right eye had also been destroyed, though that hadn’t slowed him down due to his other senses remaining sharp.

Adam and Lilith were in better shape, but they were still far from unscathed. Even with Adam healing himself and his lover at every opportunity, they’d still accrued numerous cuts, scrapes and burns.

We won’t be able to keep fighting for much longer, Adam thought.

I’ve seen undead monsters who were less persistent than this! Lilith communicated to him telepathically. When is this going to end!?

“I—won’t—submit,” Orthrus growled, spitting out bloody saliva. “I’ll never—submit.”

Orthrus pounced again, lacking any of the coordination from before—this was a brutal attack with the sole purpose of crushing his opponent at any cost.

Adam similarly jumped, except that he jumped again off a platform he formed in mid-air. With that added altitude, he dodged Orthrus’ pounce and met up with Lilith, who caught him and then flew higher and higher.

“Grr… get down here!”

Orthrus breathed fire again, but his fire was a mere spark compared to before. It could no longer reach Adam and Lilith at their high vantage point.

“Ready?” Lilith asked.

“I’m ready,” Adam confirmed.

Adam focused spirit energy and demonic energy into his sword, the latter supplemented by Lilith’s own demonic energy. His sword was surrounded in a purple light that extended its length by several times, shining brighter than any fire, brighter even than the currently obscured sun.

Then they descended, trailing streams of purple energy behind them.

Orthrus, to his credit, did not try to flee. He raised his head to the sky and howled once more in defiance.

They made contact. Adam’s sword cut the hellhound in half from shoulder to flank, and also cut a deep gorge into the ground beneath.

Lilith landed and released Adam. They had clearly won, no one could possibly survive such a wound. Yet Orthrus had not died just yet.

“You—are stronger,” Orthrus said, even as his breathing slowed and the fire in his eyes flickered. “I—acknowledge that. But I’ll never—acknowledge your goal. Monsters—should only be—predators—”

Then the fire in Orthrus’ eyes died out to nothing.

Adam and Lilith checked their surroundings to make sure no other threats were nearby. Then they immediately slumped to the ground.

“We’ve really hit our peak,” Lilith said. “We can’t cheat anymore just by having sex.”

“We can still grow stronger by conventional means,” Adam said. “It will be slower, but considering how far we’ve come, I think we can afford to take our time.”

Lilith shifted slightly to look at Orthrus’ remains. “We can even take down Demon Lord contenders now… Still, we can’t be everywhere at once. We can’t protect everyone…”

That was a harsh truth they had to accept. No matter how far they’d come, they still had their limits. Not everyone would agree with their new philosophy. And with monsters like Orthrus rejecting it violently, there was a chance—no, it was guaranteed that some monsters would revert to their human-culling ways, if only out of fear for their own lives.

Humans are no different, Adam thought, recalling the planned crusade against the monsters of the south sea. We haven’t had many clashes with those kinds of humans yet, but it’s only a matter of time. And I’m not certain if I could fight them with my full potential…

“Is there anything else we can do?” Lilith wondered out loud. “At this rate, we’ll be stuck in an endless back-and-forth of violence. Things will still get better, but slowly.”

That question puzzled Adam for a good long while. Then he looked at Orthrus’ remains and was struck by a bolt of inspiration. He jumped to his feet, causing Lilith to also jump up in alarm.

“Where are they!?” Lilith asked, spear in hand and looking around for the next enemy.

“No, that’s not it,” Adam quickly clarified. “I just had a—a possible answer to your question just now. Lilith… what do you think about becoming Demon Lord?”

Lilith froze. She spent a few moments presumably thinking about what Adam had just said. Then she shook her head rapidly… and adorably, if Adam was honest with himself.

“Nonononono!” Lilith said. “There’s no way I could do that! In the first place, I’m not even strong for that!”

Adam simply gestured towards the two bloody halves of Orthrus. “Truly? Because while we worked together to slay him, that demonstrates that we aren’t too far off, individually, from the level of a Demon Lord contender.”

“Maybe… but there’s still no way I could do that!” Lilith said. “Even if I got strong enough on my own, monsters would never accept a Demon Lord who didn’t want war with humans!”

“In the past two weeks—and the months before that—we’ve seen plenty of counterexamples,” Adam replied. “With the additional authority you would have as Demon Lord, we could potentially stop this conflict within our lifetimes.”

Lilith looked at Adam and cupped her face nervously. She was clearly having doubts about the whole thing, yet several moments passed and she didn’t muster up any more counterarguments.

“Of course, it isn’t something you must do,” Adam added reassuringly. “It’s an incredibly risky plan, with no guarantee of success—”

“No… No, I’ll do it,” Lilith said, her eyes now resolute. “Even those peaceful succubi back in Hika, and their husbands, are now preparing to fight. I can’t let them down. I’ll become the next Demon Lord—I won’t try to become the next Demon Lord, I will do it.”

Adam hugged Lilith tightly. “And I’ll be there at your side, every step of the way.”

The journey ahead of them was even more fraught with peril than before. But whatever they faced, they would face it together.

-ooo-

Hero Arslan looked out at the turbulent sea from the deck of the ship. He was no expert in naval warfare, but he was the most senior hero in the entire crusade, so it was expected of him to take overall command.

There could be an army of sea monsters in those depths, and we wouldn’t know until the moment they struck, Arslan thought. But we will not falter. We will deliver the Chief God’s wrath to these denizens of the deep.

Arslan walked across the deck to a large magic circle with half a dozen mages standing around it. He addressed one of these mages, “Grisha, how much longer will the ritual take to prepare?”

“Approximately thirty more minutes,” Grisha, an elderly man dressed in a red robe, answered. “But you can be assured of success, Hero Arslan.”

Arslan nodded and sat down on a nearby barrel to wait. It wasn’t the picture most people had of heroes, but even heroes were only human.

Something Elena never hesitates to remind me of, Arslan thought with a smile. I can’t wait to finish this so I can return to her. It’s only a few more months until we have another child!

The objective of this crusade was to find the sea monster lairs and bombard them all with powerful magic from the sea’s surface. Actually descending to fight the sea monsters in their home turf would be foolish, so this was their best option.

Then Arslan sensed a disturbance. He looked up to see storm clouds gathering on the horizon… and doing so with unnatural speed. He wasn’t the only one to notice this, as sailors were running around the ship in a panic.

“Impossible, the sky was clear a moment ago!”

“That kind of storm will capsize us!”

“Could it be their doing!?”

Arslan hurried towards the first mate of the ship, who was currently barking out orders and trying to maintain calm.

“Can we avoid that storm?” Arslan asked.

“At the speed it’s approaching, we’ve got no chance,” the first mate admitted grudgingly. “We’ll have to batten down the hatches and try to ride this out.”

The first mate resumed barking out orders, which included ordering anyone non-essential below deck. Arslan remained on the deck to keep the crew’s morale up. Near their ship were two others which were going through a similar flurry of preparations.

The storm arrived less than a minute after it was first spotted, causing the ship to toss and turn in the waves and violent winds. It had clearly come too fast for the sailors to finish their preparations, as evidenced by their looks of dismay.

“We’re doomed!”

“It’s Poseidon’s wrath!”

“We should never have—”

“We will survive this!” Arslan shouted at the top of his lungs. “I promise you all, we will not sink! We will endure!”

To tell the truth, Arslan was lying. He wasn’t nearly so sure about survival as his words implied. The storm was so severe that, no matter what, at least some of them were going to perish. But when he looked at the despair of the sailors, some of them barely older than his own eldest son, he couldn’t help but do something.

Then the full fury of the storm hit. The ship creaked as the storm threatened to tear it asunder. Arslan could only cling to a mast for dear life to avoid being swept overboard.

The others weren’t nearly so lucky. Again and again, he watched men and women be swept over the edge into the raging sea, screaming until they hit the water.

In the distance, through the torrential rain, Arslan saw one of the other ships tilting. It was sinking at the same time, and some of its crew were jumping off in the desperate hope that they might survive.

Then there was a flash of blinding light, a deafening boom and a thick smell of burnt wood. The mast Arslan was clinging to began tilting unnaturally.

Lightning… Lightning hit the mast…

Arslan let go before the mast could drag him overboard. He quickly clung to a railing instead, but even this was creaking in the wind.

Elena… I’m sorry…

The railing broke, and Arslan fell into the sea like so many others before him.

-ooo-

In the depths of the sea, Poseidon watched her handiwork from afar. Ship after ship sank into the water, their crew dying from drowning, from the impact of hitting the water, from being struck by flying debris or—on occasion—the mere shock of the situation.

With this, their crusade against the sea monsters has failed. And with this, there will be no sea monsters attacking them in retaliation.

Poseidon turned away, unable to look any longer. She had done this countless times before. Storms, tsunamis, whirlpools, waterspouts… every kind of disaster associated with the sea was of her making. The total number who’d perished in her waters was greater than in any single turn of the Demon Lord cycle.

But I… I!

The pain was too much to bear. The sea was meant to protect and nourish life, yet today it was stained with blood yet again.

Chapter Text

Lilith felt a comforting warmth around her. She slowly opened her eyes.

As usual, the dark and oddly beautiful landscape of Royal Makai came into view. And as usual, she found Adam's arm wrapped around her.

Even now… after it's been like this for weeks… I still have trouble believing that this is actually real. I never thought I'd ever be allowed to feel this kind of happiness.

But it's not time to settle down just yet. Not until we can do more to fix this damned world.

Lilith thought back to the confrontation with the hellhound, Orthrus, yesterday. It was still infuriating how their work could be undone so easily, but that was almost impossible to avoid.

Unless I became the next Demon Lord… and  that's   not something I ever imagined myself doing. But, with the strength me and Adam have now… and the monsters who'd be willing to support us… could that be possible? We've made it this far, won against opponents who should have been far above us, seen things that were supposedly impossible…

Or should we stop now? Leave the seeds we've planted to sprout, find somewhere quiet to live and hope things get better without us having to fight any more?

It was an attractive proposition. Lilith wouldn't have been unreasonable if she didn't at least consider it. There was no guarantee that she could succeed at becoming Demon Lord or, if she did succeed, there was no guarantee that would let her stop monsters attacking humans completely. Nor did it guarantee that humans would let go of their—quite justified—hatred of monsters. There was always the option of accepting that two people could only do so much, and running off to somewhere to spend the rest of their lives in peace.

But I can't… we can't do that. Even now, people are dying for no good reason, for the sake of an evil god. There can never be any peace as long as that goes on. If I give up this opportunity, will someone else be willing to try it? And will they have the power and support to succeed?

No… I can't give up. I, and Adam, need to follow this through until the very end.

Adam began to stir. He looked so cute as he slowly opened his eyes. Lilith made a heroic effort to look away, but she just couldn't help herself.

"Good morning… Lilith," Adam said.

Lilith quickly looked away to hide her face, which was undoubtedly very red by now. "Good morning, Adam."

Adam got to his feet and the two of them began their usual morning routine. They washed themselves in a nearby stream—which was an opportunity for some fun of an adult nature—gathered wild herbs and small animals, cooked breakfast and then ate.

It was while they ate breakfast that an interruption came. A presence that they were familiar with… and one that brought nothing but fear and dread.

A human woman with short brown hair, pale skin and watchful blue eyes approached. She wore masterwork armour covered in a few flecks of grime and blood, and had a greatsword sheathed on her back.

Of course… this isn't her first time here, so we should have seen the possibility of her coming back,   Lilith thought.  Especially after we've been doing so much here, attracting attention…

Adam was clearly thinking the same thing, judging from the look on his face. He and Lilith stood up and drew their weapons. Justinia, however, did not draw her own sword.

"I never expected you to survive our last encounter," Justinia said calmly. "Then again, perhaps I was underestimating you too much. I also survived several things that should have been certain death, along with my old companions."

Lilith felt her eye twitch in annoyance. Justinia couldn't have been doing it on purpose, but it was still irritating for her to highlight the similarities between them.

"I've heard about what you've been doing, here and elsewhere," Justinia said. "What I tell you next is no lie: I admire your work. It's something you couldn't have achieved without immense effort."

Justinia drew her sword. There was an expression of clear regret on her face.

"But that does not change the fact that this path will not solve anything. If monsters refrain from attacking humans en-masse, humans will grow too abundant and a new Demon Lord will soon arise. All of your work will be undone in an instant."

"Not if  I   become the new Demon Lord!" Lilith retorted.

Justinia froze. This was clearly a possibility she hadn't considered—but why would she? The Demon Lord she'd defeated, along with all others in history, was a brutal tyrant and mass-murderer.

"That… while it's quite possible you could succeed at that," Justinia conceded. "But even if you could rein in the monsters—itself not an easy task—the Chief God would never allow it. The only way to truly minimise the suffering of this world is to keep the human population down, as the Chief God desires—"

"Humans are not weeds or vermin to be cut down!" Adam shouted, incandescent with rage. "Neither are monsters! We can be better than that!"

"Do you think I  don't   know that!?" Justinia retorted, now shouting as well. "Do you think I'd be doing this if there was any other option!? Do you think I'd be betraying all of my lost friends if there was another way!?"

Justinia's aura burst forth from her body, causing every animal nearby to flee and even causing Lilith and Adam to flinch. She drew her greatsword.

"What I want most is to fall upon my sword, so I can finally bring an end to this miserable life!" Justinia continued. "But I cannot do that—and I cannot oppose a goddess, either! So my only option is to delay this cycle of death—no matter what it takes!"

"…Then, perhaps, you should try to work with us to  persuade   the Chief God," Adam said, more softly than before. "To find a way to approach her, and persuade her that there is no need for this cycle."

"It might sound ridiculous, and to be fair, I think so as well," Lilith said. "But we already have one god who agrees with us, Poseidon! We know that it isn't impossible to talk to gods! No matter how hard it is, there has to be a better way!"

Justinia hesitated, her sword wavering in her hands. She looked down at the ground.

"It's true, there's still some potential there," Justinia murmured. "For one thing, the current Chief God is not the one who began this cycle. There's still much we don't know about that situation, but… perhaps it might be possible to persuade the current Chief God."

Lilith internally breathed a sigh of relief that things were heading in a more peaceful direction. While she didn't like the fallen hero for all the crimes she'd committed, that didn't mean it was smart to have her as an enemy.

Then Justinia's next words caused Lilith to swear out loud.

"But there is no guarantee of that," Justinia said, gripping her sword more firmly and looking at Lilith and Adam. "There's a good chance that we would all simply be erased from existence for the blasphemy of trying to speak to a god. Can you deny that?"

Lilith couldn't, no matter how much she wanted to. The fact remained that she knew essentially nothing about the Chief God, current or former.

"Only the method of population control is guaranteed to work… no matter how distasteful it is," Justinia said. "So I cannot accept your suggestion. And it's clear you will not accept mine. Thus…"

"Thus we have no choice but to cross blades," Adam said. He then chuckled. "In my childhood, I always wanted to meet one of the legendary heroes in person. I was so saddened when I heard that they'd all passed away… as far as most knew."

Justinia smiled, ever so slightly. "I apologise for not living up to your expectations. If it's any consolation, I felt the same in my own childhood. And now… I am honoured to meet a hero like you. No… I should say that I'm honoured to meet  two   heroes like you. The title of 'hero' isn't something that should be limited to those blessed by the Chief God, or even to humans."

There were a few moments of silence. Lilith thought that, if she'd met Justinia in another life, with none of this baggage weighing down on them, they might have become friends.

Then a young hero and succubus clashed once more against a hero of legend.

Lilith didn't take to the sky immediately, since Justinia would obviously expect that. She instead ran to the side while Adam ran towards the fallen hero.

"Haaaahhhh!!!"

Justinia swung her sword in a wide arc, creating an immense wave of blue energy that sliced through the air. Lilith avoided it by ducking low to the ground, while Adam cut open a gap using his own sword. Behind them, the wave vaporised several trees and boulders.

We're not the same as last time—now we'll show you what we can do!

Lilith thrust her spear into the ground with her right hand, causing the earth around Justinia to rise up and try to entomb her. Justinia dispelled this with a pulse of blue light from her hand. However, Lilith also cast a fireball from her left hand, and this flew towards Justinia's direction.

Adam reached Justinia at the same time, so the fallen hero turned, presumably considering him a greater threat than one measly fireball.

That's a big mistake!

Lilith ran towards Justinia in the wake of her own fireball, as it would obscure not just her appearance but also—due to being infused with her demonic energy—her demonic energy signature.

Then the fireball struck, covering both Adam and Justinia in licks of flame while harming neither. But although the flames died down from Justinia's armoured body, they clung to Adam's.

This was something the couple had discovered recently while in Royal Makai. Just like how Adam couldn't hurt Lilith with his Evil Obliterating Incantation despite her being a monster, she couldn't hurt him with any her spells. On the contrary, they could strengthen each other using spells normally just meant for attacking. The reason for this remained a mystery, but that wouldn't stop them from using it.

Lilith didn't give Justinia any time to ponder this mystery. She thrust her orichalcum spear wildly at the fallen hero's head. Justinia dodged by twisting her head to the side, but this left her unable to dodge a flame-strengthened slash from Adam, which hit her armour and knocked her back.

Now to finish this!

But before either Lilith or Adam could close in for a finishing blow, Justinia thrust both of her hands forward. A wall of pure, invisible force slammed into her opponents, knocking them back and giving Justinia some space.

Lilith stabbed her spear into the ground to come to a stop. She quickly pulled it out, ready to fight again immediately, and then she saw a tremor of fatigue from Justinia.

Of course—even if both of us have been fighting through Royal Makai, we can replenish our energy just by having sex, but she can only replenish it with rest and food!

There was no way for Lilith and Adam to match Justinia's strength, skill or experience. She was a hero who'd slain the previous Demon Lord, while they had trouble against a mere Demon Lord contender. Even if they outnumbered her and had equal equipment, they might have lost… but with this advantage, they could potentially outlast her.

Winning with the power of sex isn't something you hear about in the legends—but I'll take any advantage I can get!

Justinia charged at them again. She was certainly aware of her own disadvantage in stamina, so she would be aiming to end this as soon as possible.

Lilith waited until Adam was close to their enemy again, then cast an overcharged sleep spell over the entire area, leaving no room for either to dodge. Justinia swayed for a moment, while Adam moved as smoothly as usual—if anything, he seemed to be moving a little  faster , as though Lilith's sleep spell had made him  more   alert.

Then Adam and Justinia began an exchange of blows. Each time their swords clashed, explosions rent the air and the earth creaked beneath their feet. Despite her disadvantages, Justinia actually seemed to be pushing Adam back slightly. However, she was grunting with effort and dripping sweat with every movement. Unlike last time, she was actually fighting with her life on the line.

Not that it matters if we  still   can't beat her! We can't fall here! We must win!

Lilith thought back to one of her lessons back when she was growing up in Melipon. This was something she'd avoided for most of her life, due to the terrible memories associated with it. But after settling the score with her home once and for all, she was prepared to use even these lessons.

"When conjuring illusions, it's important to understand what you're trying to represent on a fundamental level. By knowing what it is, inside and out, you can conjure up illusions that no one can see through. You can make a man think you're just the most beautiful woman in his world, allowing you to—"

Lilith returned to the present and began focusing on a major spell. In the distance, her lover continued fighting against the greatest enemy that they'd ever faced, but she did not let that distract her.

What I understand the most in the world…

Lilith lifted her spear towards the sky, channelling a massive quantity of demonic energy into it.

… is you!

An army of illusory Adams appeared from thin air, and rushed towards Justinia as a unified mass.

"That's—how can that be!?" Justinia exclaimed.

These Adams weren't just visually identical to the real thing, nor did they just make the same sounds. Each and every single one of these Adams was emitting both spirit energy and demonic energy. In all of Lilith's training and experience, she'd never heard of or encountered anyone able to create such lifelike illusions… and judging from Justinia's reaction, neither had she.

I couldn't do this with anyone other than Adam—but that's all I need! Do you understand him like I do!? If you don't, you'll never be able to see through this!

Justinia performed the most logical action for someone in her situation. She thrust her sword into the ground, yelling as she did so, and a blue explosion erupted from her body.

But that wasn't enough. Lilith made all of the illusions copy Adam's next action precisely: she made them stand their ground and block the explosion with their swords—though for the illusions, it merely  looked   as if the explosion was blocked. And when the explosion reached Lilith herself, she simply stood her ground and endured the explosion, possible thanks to her dragonium armour.

I can't cast any other spells while keeping this up—it's up to you, Adam!