Chapter 37

Feeling like I might lose a useful weapon if this continued, I reached out to Iris and said,
“Be a good girl, Iris. Quickly give that here.”

Iris then hid the sword behind her back and shook her head wildly. I spoke to her with an expression that said I was trying to calm a toddler throwing a fit.
“It was just a joke before. I only did that because I was surprised when you suddenly started crying, Iris. I’m really sorry.”

Iris’s expression scrunched up adorably. Even with a face like that, she was still cute! It really hit me that being a protagonist isn’t something just anyone can pull off.
“I won’t bring the knife near my neck again, so let’s hand it over quickly. The swo… no, the sword is struggling.”

Hearing that, Iris cautiously brought the sword forward. The demon sword, which had grown about 5cm to a total of 21cm by drinking up my blood, had somehow shrunk back down to a 10cm blade. Adding the hilt, it looked about 25cm long.

“Sa-save me… please… if it goes on like this, I’m going to disappear…”

The demon sword was panting like a critically ill patient on an oxygen mask, groaning in distress. Fearing it might actually vanish if this kept up, I stepped closer to Iris and said,
“You’re good, right, Iris?”

My tone was like soothing a nervous puppy, and surprisingly, it seemed to communicate well. Iris, who had been glaring at the demon sword, reluctantly placed it in my hands. I instantly started patting Iris’s head, showering her with praise.
“Good job! You listen well; Iris is such a good girl!”
“…”

Iris slightly flushed and buried her face, all shy-like, while adorably tugging at my clothes.
‘I want a cute daughter like that too. Oh, wait! Since I’m sort of raising Iris, I guess I can consider myself her half-dad, right?’

Just when I was looking at Iris with a mushy expression, the demon sword let out a voice that sounded like it was on its last legs.
“Sniffle… I thought I was really going to disappear this time. To think that I, who even the Dragon Lord feared, was about to be obliterated by a mere girl… that’s just impossible. What a tremendous shame…”

The demon sword was muttering to itself like a hikikomori in a corner. Since it looked relatively fine, I casually tossed it onto the bed. Iris seemed genuinely relieved and let go of my clothes to grab my hand.
“Arghhh! To treat the great demon sword so carelessly! No, wait, more importantly! Hey, human! What about that human girl?”

As the demon sword buzzed and bellowed, Iris turned to it. The demon sword, which had been causing a ruckus, quickly calmed down.
“Let’s ignore that for now and go have some snacks. They have cream buns today. Let’s hurry and eat!”

I squeezed Iris’s hand tightly, and we left the room. From behind, the demon sword complained,
“What about me? If you give me some blood—”
Thump.

I ignored the sword’s words and closed the door.

While Lian and Iris were having a relatively peaceful life, things were heading south for Noah.
Thud.

Noah glanced at the leather bag that had fallen at her feet. When she lifted her gaze, she saw the cold-faced black sorceress Mia glaring down at her.
“Take this as compensation for what that boy has done so far. And don’t even think about coming back to the mansion or lurking around. It’s annoying.”

It had been a week since Lian disappeared—the time it took for Mia to drop the act and abandon the slaves.
Mia was basically one of those black sorcerers who treated slaves like bugs. Unless they were an inconvenient loss like Lian, whose whole being was a bundle of mysteries, she had no compassion for ordinary slaves.

She had taken in many slaves simply because of Lian, so with him gone, Mia had no reason to keep the others.
She could’ve raked in a good amount by selling the surplus slaves in the slave market, but Mia chose to set them free.

There was a sense of urgency to leave quickly due to the Demon King’s summon, but the thought of Lian’s hard work prevented Mia from sending the slaves to the cruel market.
Instead, she decided to give them the bare minimum for survival and let them loose in the forest.

‘Tch, if he hadn’t gone over to Jiso’s side, I would’ve tried to grab him back.’

After hearing from her informant that Lian had been abducted and handed over to Jiso, Mia smoothly abandoned any hope for him.
She even thought about asking Lania for a favor, but Lania was busy being ordered around by the Demon King. It wasn’t exactly a situation where she could ask for some mere slave back.

‘Besides, it’d be stupid to create animosity between the Heavenly Kings over one slave.’
If Lania and Jiso clashed in any way, it would result in a lot of spilled blood. Especially, with the Demon King’s army actively conquering the continent, any internal conflict might even draw personal attention from the Demon King.

While Lian’s body had been very intriguing, it wasn’t worth stirring up a big conflict over.
‘Sigh, done is done. It actually works out since I would need to be away from home for a long time anyway.’

Mia shook off her regrets, turned, and left the trembling slaves behind in what was called the Forest of Death.

“Brother… what are we going to do now?”
Nero clung to Noah’s hand, his voice shaking near tears. Noah, who had been staring blankly at Mia, finally spoke up with a weak voice.
“…Exactly.”

Surviving on the Demon King’s turf with kids who weren’t even ten was next to impossible. It was pretty much like signing their death warrants.
The shock of losing the purpose of her life, Lian, and the sudden change in surroundings left Noah’s mind in a hazy drift.

It wasn’t that floaty feeling you get when you’re happy. It was that disorientation from not being able to process a series of horrifying events.
“Sniff…sniff…”
“Lian, Lian waaah…”

The pitch-black dried soil, the bizarrely shaped trees, and the eerie sounds filling the forest were enough to terrify the children.
With Lian gone—their large protector akin to an ancient tree—the kids started to weep like little ones.
The sound of their crying snapped Noah back to reality.
Swoosh!

She slapped her own cheeks hard enough for red marks to appear, jolting her dazed mind back.
“Are you finally coming to?”
Julianna flew nearby with a blunt tone. No matter how much she tried to rouse Noah, Julianna had been floating silently nearby, unable to break through Noah’s fog.

Finally recalling Julianna’s efforts, Noah lowered her head in gratitude.
“I’m sorry.”
“Glad you finally came to your senses. But what are we going to do now?”

Regaining consciousness was nice and all, but the predicament hadn’t changed. They were abandoned in a wretched forest where monsters might pop out any second. Just because her mind was clear didn’t mean she knew how to survive in such a place.
“…”
“Sigh, I saw this coming.”

Julianna let out a small sigh, then spoke firmly,
“What we need to do is find a place we can eat and sleep. In other words, we need to solve our basic needs. If we stick around here, the kids will definitely die. And afterward…”

Though not in the Demon King’s land, Julianna was a seasoned mercenary with an abundance of experience camping in dangerous areas. Thanks to her, she had practical survival advice at hand.
“And afterward… we need to go find Lian.”
“…!”

As she finished listing her points, Julianna casually proposed, “Let’s go find Lian,” causing Noah’s eyes to open wide in shock. Quickly, a glimmer began to spread through her previously dull eyes.
“Yeah… Lian would need a place to come back to.”

Noah quelled her impulse to dash out and look for Lian, reminding herself of their goals.
First, survive. If they could find a safe haven where they could stay, they could then set off to find Lian.
‘Lian would surely have made the same choice.’

Since Lian had always prioritized the kids over himself, he would undoubtedly have chosen the same way as Noah.
Noah pledged to protect what Lian had fought for, and beyond that, she swore to find and bring back Lian no matter what.

And so, the seed was planted for a future mighty organization that could even make the Heavenly Kings and the Demon King’s army raise an eyebrow.
Just when Noah got her head together and started comforting the crying kids,
“Master Jiso…!”
Thud!

Using the chaos as an opportunity, Jess darted off into the forest, her nose twitching as she sniffled.