When he opened his eyes, in front of him was a boy with straight blonde hair and blue eyes looking at my face.
"What?" I asked.
"Haha... were you sleeping?" he laughed lightly with bread crumbs clinging around his mouth.
I lowered my eyes. I believe I am strong, probably one of the strongest in the world in terms of fighting power. However, even I have a weakness: all of my senses tends to shut down when I check out my mana. The same things happens when he is sleeping. For this reason, I usually only do this when I am in a safe place.
"Sorry, sorry," the boy said, raising his hands apologetically before turning away a couple of steps back.
Standing on the grass, his head looked up staring at the sky filled with stars.
This boy was naturally Zayn.
'This kid…'
Ard have always been curious about this boy's deal.
First of all, he knew of his past travels to the Human Realm which ended a decade ago. He also knew of his name which was certainly not public knowledge. Then he also knew about the Ring of Suppression and actually had the courage to steal it while the Demon King was engaged in a very important battle. He had real guts!
Moreover, wasn't he at least angry or sad that his father had died? From the way he was acting, it's like he doesn't even care.
Yet he was curious about Zayn's real intentions in coming here.
"What are you thinking about?" I asked.
Hearing me, Zayn stopped looking up and turned around and smiled shaking his head. "N—nothing!"
Then he looked once more at me. It was as if he was telling him to ask again.
But then Zayn still was the one to open his mouth.
"Can't I just tag along with you forever?"
'Huh?'
He clasped his hands together.
But but before I could say anything, two adventurers approached.
It was the girl, Jane. She has short brown hair and slender proportions. She was the female archer of their party.
The other was Ellie, the blonde warrior who uses crescent blades. She has the face of someone thoroughly unimpressed by the world. She was a warrior so she was quite muscular for a girl.
"You two settling in alright?" Jane asked while looking at our faces.
Ard immediately remembered. Among those who had been staring at him earlier, this girl had been the most obvious. She had practically been trying to burn a hole through his back with her eyes.
"We're fine," Ard said.
"You don't mind if we sit for a bit, right?" Ellie then spoke. She glanced at the ground, then sat down nearby the tree.
Jane smiled apologetically but unlike Ellie, she plopped her butt next to Ard without his permission.
Seeing this, Zayn was a little startled at first but then he grinned. When his eyes met Jane's, it was as if the two of them silently understood each other.
Ard narrowed his eyes slightly but chose to stand up, making Jane's face turn to stone and her mind descending in shambles.
To cover it up, she forced another smile and made her tone of voice lighter.
"So," Jane said after a moment, lowering her voice while looking up, "we heard from Zayn already. Can you tell us a little about yourself?"
"I'm a traveler." Ard said calmly, looking downwards, which allowed her to see the ample, snow-white curves of her chest, causing his heart to race.
"And?" Jane continued innocently.
Averting his eyes, Ard continued, "…My parents died when I was six years old due to a monster raid. Then demons raided our village and burned our houses. I hid down a well for days, weeks, until I felt safe. Now, I'm here."
Zayn almost clapped. He had never heard the extended version!
Jane, on the other hand, fell silent. Pity flickered across her face, and for some reason, her eyes grew moist. And after what she just heard, she decided not to press further.
"So why are you going to the next town? Why not just go to somewhere else? Although that would probably take a while…"
Yes, The Barony of Salience Town was the nearest town. We had no true destination, but it made sense to go where people gathered. However, as they had heard, there seemed to be a problem.
"That was the plan," Ard still replied. "It's been a long time since we last slept in a proper bed. We miss it."
It had been decades since Ard last went out to observe humans, so his curiosity about the world of humans was also hard to restrain. At the same time, only an idiot wouldn't notice it—adventurers and knights were all heading toward the town, an unmistakable air of danger and anxiety clinging to them.
It probably wasn't the best idea.
But honestly… what could possibly stop him?
Jane lowered her voice then revealed something.
"Salience is a small town you know. It's not exactly big but it's a territory that's being ruled by the younger brother of the Duke of Jian. And the ducal house suspects the baron, his younger brother, is being influenced—or controlled—by a demon. That's why he hired us from the Adventurer's Guild and even sent all these knights."
Zayn and Ard looked at each other, both masking their real expressions.
Ellie had started sleeping for some reason.
"That's why we're here. We're strong adventurers," Jane continued, lifting her necklace to show the silver plate from what could only be presumed to be a proof of her adventurer rank. "I'm a silver-plated adventurer."
Jane followed, displaying her own. "Ellie and Corre are silver as well."
She gestured to the others. "Mike's our newbie, but he's also a very talented archer. And Doctor Angelo was once a teacher to the hero mage."
Adventurers—
Even a decade ago, the Guild had been one of the largest organizations in the world, managing and regulating adventurers across every kingdom and border. Its ranking system was strict but also reliable.
Silver-ranked adventurers stood at the third highest tier.
Reaching that level meant the Guild trusted you enough to accept solo missions—assignments where death sometimes was not just a possibility, but an expectation. Being silver-ranked, it meant you were genuinely capable.
However, with three silvers in one party, and even a team of knights, anyone could already draw a conclusion. The threat of a demon influence is high.
But if anyone stood out, that was the mention of the hero mage which meant the mage girl in the hero's party. An elf with almost unlimited mana and a deck of powerful magic skills.
Ard naturally know who she was. That one spell she once used to incinerate thousands of demons was still fresh in his mind. He had no doubt her spells dealt great damage to Valier's demise.
"I can tell," Ard said mildly.
That answer seemed to please her.
"See?" she said eagerly. To everyone but Ard, it was obvious how desperately she wanted the traveler's attention.
Before long, it was mostly Jane and Zayn talking—stories of dungeon crawls, labyrinths, and dangerous missions Jane had taken part in.
As the night deepened, I leaned my head back against the bark, listening to the quiet hum of the camp and the crackle of flames.
But then—
The mist surrounding that area of the woods started to thicken. It was naturally like this in high places. But then the mist, while normal, something wasn't.
Ard opened his eyes.
Something sharp flicked through my senses and Ard noticed everyone were sleeping soundly everywhere. The picture of Jane and Ellie, almost showing their treasures grabbed his attention for some reason.
'Huh?'
But he snapped out of it immediately.
It was a disturbance in the air.
There was movement in the dark. They weren't beasts or demons. Also, Ellie and Jane wouldn't sleep outside when they had a tent they had fixed earlier. The other knights also were very vulnerable. There were no one who even chose to stay guard.
Ard's fingers tightened around the water flask as he casually drank from it. He was still looking around when he felt a gaze fixed on him.
It was the knight Corre who was looking at him as if he had seen a ghost.
The next to open his eyes was Dr. Angelo, then the stronger knights, and then Ellie who woke up Jane successfully. The others tried waking up the others but failed.
Zayn, however, slept like a corpse. I wanted to kick him.
And in the next heartbeat, muscular figures stepped out of the mist—weapons already drawn, bodies wrapped in furs and leather, faces painted like…wild barbarians.
My lips curved faintly in mockery. It was obvious what was going to happen.