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Because we had coordinated before, it didn’t take long before we bumped into Reyage and the others while they were out ‘searching’ for us. While we could have just met up at the site of the battle, I decided it was better if we didn’t. After all, hearing about a battle from my mouth was one thing, actually seeing the carnage we wrought on those nearly one hundred bandits was another. Given that I couldn’t guarantee how Nicole would react after seeing such a sight, caution was the better part of valor.

“Master~~”

Having spotted me from a distance away, Jezsere came galloping towards me while excitedly waving her hands. The moment she caught up to us, she leaped off Mo Ning and right into my arms, like a dog that had just found its long-lost owner.

Ahh… my adorable Jezsere is with me again and everything is right in the world… but… Mo Ning… can you not stick your horse face in mine… you’re blocking my heartwarming reunion with our resident timid girl. Also, don’t lick my face.

Now that we had ticked off the reunion with the servants event, our next mission was to safely reach the village of Lyon.

As for why safely… well… certain unfortunate accidents might happen if we were to bump into that massive crime scene nearby…

While bandits were undoubtedly the scum of the earth, Nicole was still a kind girl deep down, of that I was sure. I was worried that my methods would leave a bitter taste in her mouth. And all that talk about not caring about me… that was all a test… Yes… a test. She wanted to test if I was a bad person.

My Nicole is a kind girl! She would never knowingly leave me to die!

Since this was the first time we were all meeting, I decided to have a short round of introductions. Naturally, I was going to introduce myself as Mo Na, and definitely not Mo Ke.

“This girl here is Nicole, and her companion is Neneth. They are both Demon Hunters from the guild. They have the same goal as us: to take down that Vampire in Lyon. Oh right, Nicole, you may just address me as Mo Na.” Having said that, I then pointed at those gathered around me. “I’m sure you already know Regine. This here is my bodyguard, Zurnalin. The cute girl is Jezsere, my maid. And that’s Reyage, Jezsere’s elder brother and also my most trusted officer. That beautiful girl over that is the guide we hired, Jill.”

And that was all the introductions. Or at least it should have been, had it not been for Mo Ning neighing unhappily in my direction. Seeing that, I could only pat her horse head gently before adding on, “This is my steed, Mo Ning. Don’t let her looks fool you, she’s a very smart horse with the blood of a magical beast mixed into her bloodlines.”

Upon hearing that last bit, Nenenth’s eyes practically lit with admiration. As for Nicole… she was as unaffected as before.

Thanks to that, the whole scene became a little awkward. Once again, it was up to me to save the day. I quickly eyed the cowering bandit leader. “Didn’t you say that you were from Lyon? Lead the way, we still have a Vampire to slay.”

“Okay, I’ll get to it immediately…” Said the bandit leader as he turned around to leave.

“Hold on.”

The bandit leader turned around and looked at me confused.

“Take the shortest route instead.”

At that, the bandit leader almost fell over as he immediately did a complete one eighty to the opposite direction. “Right. Right. I know just such a shortcut. Over here… but it might be a little… unsuitable for horses…”

“Just lead the way.”

“All right…”

Short that exchange might have been, but I knew that Nicole would get a little suspicious of me because of that. That was why I decided to nip that problem in the bud with an excuse I prepared well beforehand.

“It’s getting late now and we still have some ways to go before we reach Lyon. If we can arrive at the village before nightfall, we might even be able to set up some preparations against the Vampire.”

At that, Nicole curtly nodded her head; clearly she was in agreement with my idea.

As for Neneth… she was all excited and clapping. “That’s brilliant, Sister Mo Na. You even thought so far ahead… not at all like Neneth… she’s so stupid in comparison…”

Now that the conversation was suddenly about her, Neneth couldn’t help but lower her head a little, as if to say, pat me now.

Seeing this cute side of her, I couldn’t help but smile a little as I gently comforted her till she finally smiled back.

Our current location was roughly ten kilometers away from Lyon. Because the bandits did not have any horses, we ended up taking longer than necessary. However, that bandit leader ended up finding us a shortcut as he promised. It was a hidden route, and not at all suited for horses as he warned us. Even so, we still managed to reach the village before nightfall.

On the surface, Lyon didn’t seem all that different from an ordinary village. However, there was a palpable sense of gloom cast over the entire village. The villagers were all hidden in their homes and only whispers could be heard throughout the village. Had this been an ordinary village, we would have already seen children running about the streets, playing without a care in the world. Yet everyone was now locked up tight in their homes, as if they wanted nothing more than to permanently seal the windows and doors.

“The sky is turning dark, if there is no other instruction, we’ll be off then…”

Having completed his mission of leading us here, the bandit leader quickly glanced at his companions before throwing out the quickest excuse he could come up with to bid farewell.

Unfortunately for him, there was no chance in heck I was letting him go. His lackeys could leave, but the leader that he was had to stay behind.

“The rest can go, but not you.” I waved my hands to dismiss the other seven lackeys. Finally, I pointed at the bandit leader, “I need you to bring us somewhere.”

“I…” His face almost fell apart.

“To the village chief first.” It was then that Nicole spoke up. Having done that, she glared at the bandit leader. Even if the others were gone, it wouldn’t be a problem tracking them down as long as we had their leader in our hands.

With tears in his eyes, the bandit leader brought us to a relatively large building with two stories on the eastern side. He opened the lock on the door with practised ease and walked in naturally as if this was his home.

Wait… don’t tell me he’s the village chief? No way, he looks like someone with muscles for brains.

“Reyage, Zurnalin, go set up some defenses; it’s getting dark soon. I don’t expect the defenses to be able to defeat the Vampire, but they should at least warn us of its coming.” I instructed the two of them upon entering the house.

The two of them left immediately without saying another word.

Upon stepping into the building, the bandit leader dug out some chairs from the somewhat messy living room before pulling one for himself in the corner.

Seeing that, I was quickly reminded of how odd this whole situation was. “Who are you exactly?”

“The previous village chief is my father…” The bandit leader immediately opened up with a shocking bit of news, but that was only the precursor of what was to come. “During our third attempt at organizing mercenaries against that Vampire, he was slain by Blood Ghouls. I’m now the… interim village chief.”

“…”

What the heck? Why are you even a bandit then? You have a perfectly bright future ahead of you! Do you actually think banditry is better than what you got?

“I know what you must be thinking right now… why would I even choose to be a bandit…” The bandit leader c̲u̲m̲ interim village chief sighed at that point. “I’m sure you all have already noticed what’s wrong upon entering the village. This village is barely alive. That Vampire will at least capture one villager a day. His favourite prey includes beautiful virgins, strong men and children… But with no money to hire more mercenaries, an uncaring lord, and an unresponsive Demon Hunters Guild… we can do nothing about that. The villagers spend every day in terror.”

“Our village isn’t rich. Most of us have no kin outside of the village. Leaving now would only delay our deaths a little. What’s worse is that a slaver party got wind of our plight and even set up shop nearby to capture those who flee…”

A slaver party?! Right outside of the village too? Doesn’t that mean that the Vampire also has some connection to those slavers? But even if they don’t, those slavers have reached a new low. Even a firing squad would be too kind for these monsters.

Speaking of which, the village is already at such a desperate stage and yet the lord hasn’t intervened yet?

Clearly, I wasn’t the only one to share this surprise as well. “EHHHH?!!” Neneth exclaimed loudly. “Is the lord of this region not going to step in even now? The slavers are already openly capturing his subjects.”

“The lord… hmph… didn’t you just mention one of his most profitable schemes just then?” The bandit leader coldly harrumphed.

“You don’t mean…”

“All you noblemen and ladies will never understand the suffering of us common folk.” The more he spoke, the more the agitation in his voice grew, any thought of that spider in his belly long gone by now. He waved his thick arms about in rage as he yelled. “You all are born with a silver spoon in your mouths, never worrying about how to fill your bellies -but we aren’t that fortunate! We wake up everyday to crippling hunger. When you open your eyes, you see a feast spread out before you, while we only have despair on the dinner table if the crops do not meet the winter needs. While we endure the harshness of the cold within our very own homes, you sit by the fireside and make merry… You even have servants to drive you around on carriages while we…”

The bandit leader was on a roll at this point. Unfortunately, his otherwise moving rant was immediately cut short by me.

“I think you’re misunderstanding something here.” I stared right into the eyes of that livid bandit leader and said, “Your misfortune is not justification for robbing innocents. Besides, I was of common birth as well…”

“Impossible!” The bandit leader eyed me from top to toe, not at all convinced by what I said. “There’s no way you are of common birth. Just look at those serving you right now, their auras are nobler than the last. I wouldn’t be surprised if they were all born noble. And as their master, you have the gall to claim you are of common birth? What a joke! Our plight is already miserable enough without your jokes!”

Unfortunately, I was telling the truth here. My family in the past had all been commoners, even if it seemed like I was doing a right fine job for myself right now. However, the world was like this sometimes: a convenient lie might earn you the trust of bystanders while telling the truth might just earn you scorn instead.

Shameless Self-promotion

Announcement: I’ve re-opened my Patreon in case anyone wants to sponsor more chapters. Every end of the month, those chapters in early access will be released for free for all to read. If you sponsored a chapter, you will gain permanent early access to these chapters. Essentially, everyone gets more chapters to read, but those who donated get to read earlier. More chapters will then be translated at the start of the month. Explanation on the Patreon itself.

LINK HERE

If you liked my work translating Devil’s Evolution Catalog, feel free to check out Song of Adolescence. Also, every comment is appreciated even though I might not reply. I do read them.

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When a Demon Hunter advanced to become a Senior Demon Hunter, they would have their own area to hunt in. Should they leave that area… well, that would be a disaster… It was under such circumstances that Nicole, a rising star amongst the Demon Hunters, famed for hunting down creatures in cities, took up this mission of unknown difficulty.

The village of Lyon ended up being in a worse state than we had anticipated. The lord of this region was a veritable bloodsucker to the commoners, concerned only with taxing them but not with administering them. In a lot of ways, he was similar to the Vampire plaguing the village, the only difference being that his tithe wasn’t blood.

Because of that, the village had no way of hiring a proper mercenary troupe that was powerful enough to defeat the Vampire. The lord of the region had no intention of sending his troops either. And while all that was happening, the Demon Hunter Guild administering this region was still trying to determine what the actual difficulty level of this request was.

Naturally, that didn’t mean the village was just going to lie down and await their demise either. The able-bodied youth of the village decided to take matters into their own hands by forming a bandit troupe to raid passing merchants… at least, that was till they bumped into me…

“So what you’re saying is that your initial aim was to gather enough money in order to hire a more powerful mercenary troupe?” I guess that’s an option too. Some of the more powerful mercenaries are just as effective as slaying demons as the Demon Hunters.

“Not necessarily…” The bandit leader paused for a second before continuing, “If we aren’t able to procure enough gold to hire a mercenary troupe, the next plan was to find a way to move the villagers away…”

So they had a backup plan as well… huh… I never expected this bandit leader to be capable of such meticulous planning.

However, I could clearly see his eyes shifting as he said that. In all likelihood, the safety of the village wasn’t his only concern either. Perhaps, that might just be an excuse for his banditry. After all, it would be a lot easier for him to flee by himself versus dragging along an entire village. Between selfishness and self-sacrifice, I was more inclined to believe that Humans chose the former.

Even so, now wasn’t the time to nitpick on the motives for his banditry. With the bandit leader’s brief account, I now had a rough idea of the situation.

Having understood the danger of the village as well, Neneth couldn’t help but throw me a curious look. “Oh right. Sister Mo Na, Neneth and Sister Nicole are both here to slay that creature of darkness, but what are you here for?”

For Nicole, of course. Does it look like I’m here to visit family instead?

Not that I would ever say that out loud, of course; it would be wise to set up an honorable image in front of Nicole and Neneth instead. With that in mind, I first smiled at Neneth then raised my head slightly, eyes peering into the distant blue sky as I said solemnly, “I’ve heard that Lyon has been plagued by darkness, that’s why I’ve decided to lend a hand. I wish to… deliver salvation unto these unfortunate commoners!”

Hear! Hear! Now that was some good speech delivering right there! Just listen to how noble, how determined I was just now. The men would cheer while the women would weep tears of joy! I’m such a genius. Even I’m moved by my rousing performance and selfless spirit…

“Wah~~Such nobility, Sister Mo Na!” Clearly, Neneth agreed with my assessment as well. The next time she looked at me, there was an undisguised fervour in her eyes. “Not only is our Sister Mo Na beautiful, she’s so compassionate as well… Sister Mo Na’s the best, Neneth likes you even more now!”

Hahaha. Just look at my wonderful oratory skills. Dealing with some naive brat is no challenge at all. Now that I’ve successfully persuaded Nicole’s little follower, how long more before I take the prize herself?

Unfortunately, the speech itself did not seem to impact the rest as much as Neneth. The bandits obviously weren’t going to buy it, seeing as they had a grudge with me. But why was Nicole so unmoved as well? My speech was flawless, my acting skills sublime… I doubt there’s anyone in the Western Human Realms who can act better than me! And if there is, step forth right now. I’ll use my actions to prove who is the actor with the bigger sword!

However, I knew better than anyone that overconfidence was a slow and insidious killer. That was why I quickly reined in my conceited thoughts… I mean, my attempts at bravely challenging the competition… As long as you can convince yourself, you can convince anyone!

Seeing that Neneth had completely bought into my story, Nicole raised an eyebrow before coldly asking, “Just by yourself?”

“Of course not, I just got separated from my companions.” I pointed at the pleading bandits. “There were others with me. We just got separated during the chaos of the bandit encounter. They got tangled up with his lackeys while I tried to summon my Fire Elemental. But because of my inexperience, and a momentary panic, I ended up…”

As I said that, I lowered my head as if in remorse.

“Don’t be sad, Sister Mo Na, Neneth thinks you did a fine job.” Neneth quickly tried to change the topic upon noticing my dejected look. “But Sister Mo Na, you mentioned there were others with you? Where are they now? Do they need our help?”

“That’s okay. They are all accomplished warriors, there were just too many bandits at the time, and we were ambushed as well. Oh, that’s right.” I pointed at the bandit leader. “This guy should be their leader, he was the one that had them try to capture me… Even if my companions are still fighting, the battle should be over once we show them that their leader has been captured.”

“In that case, let’s hurry.” Neneth turned to Nicole as she said that. “Sister Nicole, let’s go save them, all right?”

“…fine.” Nicole spat out coldly. Yet as soon as she said that, she drew her sword at one of the large trees roughly ten meters away. “Who’s there?!”

A crescent-shaped, white wave of sword energy swiftly split that half-meter thick tree trunk, causing it to slowly slide downwards and revealing its behind. A slender black figure immediately jumped out from the shadows.

The figure darted to the side of Nicole, and in the time it took to blink, drew out a dagger and stabbed at Nicole’s shoulders.

“Clink!”

Still seated on her white horse, Nicole spun about and deflected the incoming dagger with her sword. At the same time, the black figure, defying all the known laws of physics, managed to launch herself at Nicole in mid-air, despite having nowhere to kick off from. Even so, Nicole remained as calm as before. Her left hand swiftly struck out at the oncoming leg, meeting force with force.

All that happened within the span of a few seconds. Upon exchanging these few blows, the figure landed nimbly back on the ground, choosing not to harass the girl any further.

Naturally, this newcomer was Regine. In order to prevent any potential mishap -such as those bandits suddenly deciding to commit suicide by attacking me- she had been tailing us from the beginning. Yet who would have thought that Nicole’s senses would be so sharp that she could actually see through Nicole’s stealth…

Speaking of which, Nicole is now a Demon Hunter and Regine is my Demoness… things might get a little troublesome…

Even though Ancarin and Regine were Demonesses, as long as they did not go all out, the chances of them being exposed were low. Even so, Nicole was a Demon Hunter, a profession dedicated to slaying just such beings. Plus, she was also the disciple of one of their branch heads. I couldn’t say for certain whether or not she might have some special method of seeing through Regine’s identity. If she had, then it wouldn’t just be Regine’s identity which would be exposed, mine would as well.

“Master.”

Regine continued facing off against Nicole as she said that, both girls strikingly similar in how frigid they were. If there had to be a difference between the two, Regine’s coldness was a result of what she had suffered previously, so while her eyes were cold, they were not empty. As for Nicole, her suffering had a lot to do with me and was most likely ongoing…

“Hahahaha. A misunderstanding, this is all a misunderstanding.” I quickly dragged Regine behind me then stepped forward to explain the situation. “Regine is one of my bodyguards. She was probably worried for my safety so she came chasing over.”

“So she’s an ally then…” Neneth happily clapped her hands together. “That’s great, we have another pretty sister to accompany us!”

Without waiting for Nicole to say anything, I immediately greeted Regine happily and asked, “Regine, how is everyone doing?”

“Fine.” She curtly answered, face as expressionless as before. “No one has suffered any injuries.”

“That’s great! Let’s go meet up with Jezsere and the others then!” I then turned to look at the bandits who were still kneeling before me. “Regine, I need you to look after them. If anyone dares to make a move, kill them. Well, maybe not kill, but at least teach them a lesson.”

“Understood, Master.”

Strangely enough, I couldn’t detect any animosity between Nicole and Regine right now. Perhaps it was because they had both fought each other to a draw, or perhaps they had developed some sort of kinship, seeing as they were both ice queens.

Either way, it was good news that Regine’s identity hadn’t been exposed. In actuality, it was difficult for a Demoness to be exposed, not unless she used the abilities given to her by her Devil patron. Normally, a Demoness really wasn’t all that different from a normal person. That was the reason why there were all sorts of strange books about how to identify a Demoness, though those books had already been declared forbidden by the Church due to the damage they caused. What was worth noting was that they were the ones who wrote it in the first place…

Shameless Self-promotion

Announcement: I’ve re-opened my Patreon in case anyone wants to sponsor more chapters. Every end of the month, those chapters in early access will be released for free for all to read. If you sponsored a chapter, you will gain permanent early access to these chapters. Essentially, everyone gets more chapters to read, but those who donated get to read earlier. More chapters will then be translated at the start of the month. Explanation on the Patreon itself.

LINK HERE

If you liked my work translating Devil’s Evolution Catalog, feel free to check out Song of Adolescence. Also, every comment is appreciated even though I might not reply. I do read them.