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–––Annero’s viewpoint

I looked through the papers the guild master had together with him. One of the pages had a large map of the entire city, with many spots marked. Another page listed all the incidents that happened in those places.

“Huh, there’s been an increase in public violence and extortion since the attack?”
“Yes. According to the guards that’s because there’s been an influx of people from other cities who fled during the attack, and now they’re causing issues here…though I have a feeling that’s not exactly it.”

If people barely escaped without any possessions, then they would definitely struggle to get any money or food now. The government had people in charge of watching over refugees like that, building simple tents for them to stay in and bringing them food until they could support themselves again. But not everyone would be happy with only that, and some would be in a terrible state of mind having lost their families and possessions, so it was normal to assume those people would cause issues. But was that enough to double the amount of cases reported in the city? I kept wondering, and the guild master seemed to think the same.

“…This definitely looks like planted incidents.”
“That’s the logical conclusion.”

We nodded to each other. Not just demons, but it was common amongst races for a foreign country to start sabotaging another one after harsh battles. I heard demons had shapeshifting magic so they were the most likely culprits this time though, pretending to be humans and causing public unrest to weaken the country further. Though there was always the chance they were doing it just for fun. But thinking of that made me realize something else, the country had already been through so much because of demons recently, yet there was no response to all those reports.

“If there’s all this information about the incidents, are there any knights responding and investigating them?”

That much should be obvious. No matter what the state of the country was, maintaining public order was still a priority and there were plenty of guards who could take care of it. But after a bit of hesitation, the guild master gave a defeated answer.

“About that…for some reason the people above prohibited any investigation past cleaning up the crime scenes.”
“They prohibited that? So the perpetrators aren’t even being searched for?”
“Precisely.”
“…I can’t believe it.”

It was hard to believe something like that was possible, but the king was already being threatened so maybe it was an extension of that? In either case, this situation was not normal. Still, that was the very reason why people like me were here to help. Most of the details from the reports were non-important, so instead I focused on memorizing the locations where they happened more often. Once I remembered everything, I turned around.

“Um, you’re leaving?”
“I’ve learned everything I needed, thank you. You can resume your work now.”
“You’ll investigate yourself?”

The guild master sounded dubious, and I nodded without turning around. I probably would not find much, but at least I would catch the demons’ attention. If they thought of me as enough of a threat, maybe they would stop targeting other people and focus only on me.

“I know it’s weird for me to say this to a hero like yourself, but take care and don’t do anything reckless.”
“Thanks, I’ll keep that in mind.”

I left the guild after that. I knew it could get dangerous for me, but I still wanted to do everything I could for Lapis and the others to move around more freely.

§　§　§

–––Bandit’s viewpoint

Not long after we parted ways with Lapis we found a pub. It was still daytime so there weren’t many guests inside, but there were always a handful of drunkards who were there drinking all day long, so the small building reeked of alcohol. I picked a table not too far from where the other clients were and called a waitress.

“Welcome, what are you having?”
“Some ale and two glasses of wine please.”
“Right away sir.”

I placed a handful of copper coins on the table, which she stuffed in her apron’s pocket and then went to the kitchen. Merely a few minutes later she returned with three mugs which she placed on the table.

“Enjoy.”

I promptly took one of the mugs and drank from it, a bitter and lukewarm fluid pouring into my stomach. I could tell I was grimacing terribly, and my two sisters sitting in front of me didn’t look any better.

(This is bad. They don’t even know how to chill their ale in the capital? Or is this how they like to drink here? I heard you can tell the food situation of a country from their pubs, but this is terrible.)

I looked around to see how everyone else looked, and none seemed to really enjoy what they were drinking. There were some who kept mumbling to themselves and drinking mug after mug, but those were only looking to get wasted instead of enjoying their drinks.

“Argh! Goddamnit!”

One of those drunkards shouted all of a sudden, slamming his mug on the table. Everyone’s eyes focused on him, but seeing his bloodshot and menacing eyes they all quickly looked away, except for us three. He obviously noticed our curious and careless stares, which made him stand up and rush towards us.

“What’s with you! Is there something on my face?!”

He held his hand out as if thinking of hitting us, but I simply took hold of it and used his own momentum to slam him on the table. My sisters knew that would happen, so they had preemptively picked up their mugs to keep them safe.

“Ow! F̲u̲c̲k̲ is wrong-Owowowoww! Stop!”

I slowly began twisting his arm around, until the man could not bear the pain anymore and began yelling. He tried to get up and escape, but I placed my weight on top of him and kept him still. I spoke as normally as I could.

“Now calm down pops. I dunno what’s goin’ on with ya, but we’re just tryna enjoy some drinks here. Don’t go ruining other people’s fun now.”
“Don’t pretend like you know anything about me!”
“I don’t, but I’m willing to listen. Wanna tell me why you’re so angry then?”

I kept smiling, but I glared daggers at him for a second and that calmed him down from the shock. It felt a bit too conceited to say this, but I knew how to silence regular people without using much force. Controlling someone trying to fight in a pub was easy enough for me.

“A-alright. I’ll tell you, just get off me first.”
“Good choice. Anyway, waitress! Bring a glass of water for him too!”

I took out a copper coin and flicked it to the waitress. Meanwhile the man held his released arm, gently rubbing it, while sitting down with us looking slightly bothered.