Even though they had a brief and sweet break, there was no more time to play around. The demons were closing in at this very moment, and to resist them, the Royal Knights were needed.
Hans pulled himself together and moved forward, despite Helia dashing beside him. He somehow managed to endure it, but he didn’t really dislike the act itself.
In fact, he found himself looking at her repeatedly without even realizing it. Hans shook his head to clear his mind. In a situation where he had to face demons, he could die if he let his thoughts wander.
Of course, the Royal Knights who had grown to this point would no longer lose to the Blood Demon. However, thinking about the power of the Blood Demon made it impossible to be careless. After all, he didn’t know what might appear.
“Can you please keep your distance?”
“Are you already getting tired of me?”
“No, that’s not it.”
He spoke to Helia, who was sticking to him like glue, but all he got in return was her eyes sparkling like a hamster’s. Thanks to that, Hans couldn’t move either way and ended up being pushed along.
“Alright, we have work to do.”
“Cluna.”
“We need to distinguish between work and play.”
“…Okay, got it.”
Helia glared at Cluna for a moment, then suddenly smiled warmly and backed off. For a moment, a vein popped up on Cluna’s forehead, but it was just a fleeting moment.
“Thanks, Cluna.”
“It’s nothing really.”
“Then let’s start the meeting right away.”
The only thing left was to decide their future course of action. Reading the demons’ movements and responding first was the best course of action now. Things had changed a lot compared to back in the day.
“First of all, we are officially not the Royal Knights. We’re just a bunch of rogues.”
“That’s nonsense! Look how strong we are?!”
“So what if we’re strong? We don’t have anything that guarantees our status.”
“Well, that…”
No one could refute Cluna’s words. Leaving aside the elf mother and daughter who had escaped from the forest, there was Yuren and Ruby, who had caused a real ruckus on Sky Island. And then there was Bayard and Helia, who had escaped on their own…
“It’s nice to call us rogues, but we’re practically criminals.”
“That’s for sure.”
In fact, it would be strange if they didn’t mobilize the military to pursue them right now. Of course, everyone knew that things didn’t end well, but it took a while to realize the reality.
“But we just need to do what we can.”
That had been their stance from the beginning. Killing all the demons and restoring peace. That had now become Hans’s goal. More accurately, living with them had naturally led to that.
“When everything is over….”
“Yes?”
“When all of this is over, I want to go back to Lionheart Fortress and relax.”
“That wouldn’t be too bad.”
Lionheart Fortress was very spacious. It had gardens where they could farm, or they could walk through the forest together, or play in the nearby waterfall. There would be plenty to do.
It wasn’t really the time to think about that right now, but taking a brief moment to imagine it wasn’t all that bad. Thanks to that, the atmosphere improved greatly, and a few of them even began to aim for some objectives.
Like, outdoor naked walks… shiver Hans glanced at Yuren. But Yuren just tilted her head innocently. Hans looked at Yuren and said,
“Did you have some strange thoughts or something?”
“I didn’t think of anything, though?”
“Really? Then, what’s…”
It did feel a bit weird, but Yuren’s expression was simply too pure to dismiss it as a lie. So he hesitated to pry any further and ultimately had to look away.
“Let’s decide on our destination soon.”
Having no aim and wandering around wasn’t as effective as taking action with a clear goal in mind. Besides, no one knew what the demons were scheming until now.
Especially the shocking fact he had heard before, the original final boss was now leading a new faction called the Anti-Demon Alliance. How did it end up like this? Could this have been mentioned in the original story?
But no matter how he racked his brain, he couldn’t find anything about the Anti-Demon Alliance. Initially, information about the final boss wasn’t shared. Wait, now that he thought about it, Zaiha was also involved.
“This is oddly tangled.”
“Huh?”
“I’ve decided on our destination.”
“Where are we going?”
Hans stood up and said.
“We’re heading to the Anti-Demon Alliance.”
*
The Anti-Demon Alliance.
A new faction that stood up against the demons to ensure their survival. Naturally, the Racial Alliance was suspicious of the Alliance’s true intentions, but they had to cooperate nonetheless.
If the former Royal Knights members had been able to carry out their activities, they wouldn’t have needed the Anti-Demon Alliance’s cooperation. However, shortly after that incident, most of them rejected collaboration and recklessly caused chaos.
As a result, the Racial Alliance had no choice but to team up with the Anti-Demon Alliance, and their influence grew significantly. Of course, this was also thanks to the political skills of their leader, Revel, who provided appropriate assistance.
Notably, Cluna and Clara’s mother-daughter duo had been indiscriminately hunting down demons. This naturally became the Alliance’s credit, which they recognized.
“Thanks to that, we can be here.”
Looking at the worn-out map on the old table, Revel took a sip of his drink. Compared to his days as a human, the taste of alcohol had certainly diminished. Was it because this body was ridiculously strong?
“This won’t suffice. It should at least be Dragon Breath to feel anything.”
Dragon Breath, a name he hadn’t uttered in a long time. Revel smiled bittersweetly. A drink that could even get his former dragon friend drunk, it was terribly toxic.
The events leading to the creation of Dragon Breath were quite hilarious as well. Lost in old memories, he wore a faint smile, but as soon as he sensed a presence outside the tent, Revel wiped the smile off his face and spoke.
“What’s going on?”
“We have a visitor.”
“A visitor? At this hour?”
The sun had completely set, leaving nothing but relentless darkness. Yet, a visitor at this time? But if it were an intruder, they would have attacked first.
“Could it be Cluna and Clara?”
“That’s correct.”
“I see, with them, the story changes.”
“They’ve come with another party.”
“Another party?”
At the mention of another party, Revel frowned. In his view, they were definitely not the type to associate with anyone else. Losing a precious person, consumed by revenge.
But those who were such could show up with another party? Revel had a bad feeling about this, and his premonition was dead on. A man with black hair appeared before him.
“I had heard the rumors, but I never expected you to actually be alive. Commander of the Royal Knights, Hans.”
“…….”
“Or should I say, Former Commander?”
With a slightly provocative tone, Revel greeted him. However, Hans said nothing and simply stared at Revel. Revel sighed inwardly at that sight.
‘I can’t feel a single change in emotion. He really is someone who once led the Royal Knights.’
Just surviving the attack from the Blood Demons already spoke volumes about his skill. Even from outward appearances, he didn’t seem to be seriously injured. This was going to be bothersome.
Gaining the cooperation of Cluna and Clara again or at least negotiating something seemed impossible now. He didn’t see them as an easy opponent.
Surprisingly, Revel gave up easily. He had too many experiences where making deals ended up backfiring due to discomfort. So now, what to do?
“Anyway, nice to meet you. I am Revel, leader of the Anti-Demon Alliance.”
Revel quickly made his judgment. Displaying as friendliest as possible and cooperating with them was the best option. Even entertaining thoughts of using them was out of the question; he knew the terror of the Royal Knights too well.
Once upon a time, Revel had held resentment toward the Blood Demons. Unfortunately, back then, their power was too strong for him to rebel. Now that those Blood Demons were gradually crumbling down…
The reason was, of course, the counterattack of the Royal Knights. They miscalculated the estimates, leading to one Blood Demon being killed, and two others sustaining injuries, ultimately retreating. They took a huge hit from that.
Thus, it became possible for Revel to lead the Anti-Demon Alliance while waiting for a chance to rebel. After all, he didn’t think he could stand against Hans alone. So he chose to take a step back.
‘No matter how I look at it, he seems different.’
In reality, Hans was lost in thought about something completely different while looking at Revel.
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