Volume 8 Chapter 12 Unending Threat
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
The air in the small inn room felt heavy, like it had soaked up every word they’d been holding back until now. Suzette sat by the window in a neat traveling dress—far removed from her usual serving outfit—while Klock stood near the desk, arms crossed, still wearing the dusty gear from the road. They’d split paths back in the Beast Country, and yet somehow, here they were again, drawn back together far too soon.
”This has become… quite the disaster,” Suzette murmured, her tone clipped but steady. “To think the hero party would lose a member.”
Klock gave a sharp snort, tilting his head toward the reddening sunlight bleeding through the window. “And an entire fortress just… gone? What the hell. Are you telling me the Demon Lord’s Army has someone out there as broken as Cianie?”
”I have no certain answer,” she replied quietly, eyes narrowing as if trying to pierce through the horizon. “But even Lady Gildegant, one of the Four Heavenly Kings, would find such destruction impossible.”
No answer. Just that quiet voice, and the light catching the sharp line of her jaw.
According to what Cianie had managed to send them, the Empire’s forward fortress at North Berunsa had been erased—not dismantled over time, but annihilated during active use. That meant whoever did it fought Hermine, the world’s strongest magician, and the Imperial army at once… and still blew it all away.
Klock had never seen Hermine fight, but anyone who could keep up with Cianie had to be absurdly strong. Hermine could command fortress-sized golems, crush sheer numbers like swatting flies. And someone had swatted her down. Someone strong enough to erase her, the Empire troops, and the fortress itself.
”…Could it be the Demon Lord themself?”
”I have never once witnessed the Demon Lord’s power,” Suzette said. Her words came out slow, hesitant, like she was stepping across cracked glass. “But… even for a king, they are still a Demonkin. A fortress, no matter how small, is a large structure. To erase it outright is beyond belief. Yet… if we reason backward from what has happened… the Demon Lord being responsible seems most likely.”
The Demon Lord. That became their leading suspect. If even the Four Heavenly Kings couldn’t pull this off, then only someone above them could have. And there was only one “above.”
”…You think Hermine’s still alive?” Klock asked at last.
”…Honestly… it may be difficult,” Suzette admitted, her face sinking into a pained look.
Klock grimaced. He agreed. As one of the hero party, she would’ve had value as a hostage, sure—but the risk of letting her live would have outweighed it. When someone’s one of the strongest magicians alive, you don’t leave them caged. You put them down.
If Hermine had fallen, then this wasn’t just a single loss. It meant the enemy had pushed frighteningly deep inland. The Dusselhelm Empire ruled the north, but North Berunsa was in its southern lands—northwest across the mountains from the Former Lands of the Federation. From the continent-wide map, that was well inland.
The enemy had landed in the far south and already reached this deep.
Put simply, their advance speed was terrifying. If they were this far in, then maybe, just maybe, they had already taken a quarter of the whole Human Continent. And it had only been four months since the war started.
Hard to judge tactics when they didn’t even know enemy movements… but if their estimate was right, then the enemy had been tearing through most battlefields in just days. Cities meant to hold out for hundreds of days were falling one after another like sandcastles in the tide.
”Our goal’s to drive the Demon Lord’s Army off the Human Continent,” Klock muttered. “But right now, we’re way too far behind. It’s looking bad.”
”In simple terms, should we not just crush their armies one by one? Would that not work?”
Klock shook his head. “We don’t even know how many fronts they’re running. A country fighting several wars at once sounds stupid, but if they’re desperate, they might just pull it off.”
Where the hell could they send Cianie to break through this deadlock? Every front, probably. If Hermine could fall, then Tiet and Oriana weren’t safe either.
”It’s war. You find enemy armies and crush them. That’s how it works,” Klock said. “But that just means Cianie has to sprint around forever while we do nothing. We can’t even keep up.”
”That cannot be helped,” Suzette said firmly. “Sir Klock is a target. Reckless movement is impossible. Our duty is to protect you. Lady Cianie’s duty is to strike. That is the best formation available.”
”No, it’s not. Viola’s the problem. She’s still alive, and she’s probably coming back. If she shows up again and Cianie’s not around, we can’t take her.”
The world was crumbling fast. And yet they had their own nightmare to deal with. That girl who stormed in last night alone—she could put a blade to their throats any time she wanted.
The monster of the Moon Court. The vampire Viola.
She had looked like she’d been beaten, but no—she’d lived. They had only driven her off because Cianie had been there. Without a hero, that vampire girl would run wild.
Last night’s attack had left a few townsfolk and even some Merfolk dead. One moment they’d been standing on the docks, the next they were hurled into the air, blood ripped out of them like red ribbons in the wind.
That had to be the fabled Cursed Eye of vampirism, the power said to steal blood from anyone in sight, ignoring distance. But the strange part—Viola hadn’t even been there at the time. The blood of the Merfolk had swirled together afterward, forming Viola herself.
”She can spy from the moon,” Klock said darkly. “And I think she uses the Cursed Eye from her reflection in the moon. She can’t see everything clearly, I guess, ’cause she just drained anyone she saw—even her own allies. She even hit the Merfolk she came with. Lucky for me, they all turned on each other.”
”So… their coordination for cross-species combat is still immature?” Suzette asked.
”Sure, let’s call it that. And on top of that, she made a copy of herself from their blood. …Three. She’s got at least three abilities. Kill her, and she just won’t stay dead.”
The Cursed Eye of vampirism. The Moon’s Eye. Blood clones.
Three distinct powers already confirmed. Each one top-class on its own. On top of that, she had monstrous strength and could fly, as all vampires could.
”Extraordinary… and illogical,” Suzette whispered. “I’ve never heard of anyone having multiple Unique Skills. Nor any similar Magic.”
Being born with a Unique Skill was rare enough—usually one in a whole town—but multiple? Practically unheard of.
Still… she had called herself an Apostle of the Moon Court.
There had been Apostles of the Grand Cathedral. And the Abyssal Apostles. And now the Moon Court.
…So that was it, huh?
Multiple skills. Cianie had two as well—Stellar Manifestation and Divine Disassembly. She’d called them Stellar Skills, said they were gifts from the gods, separate from normal Unique Skills.
”…Just to be sure,” Klock muttered, voice low, “you think there’s no way it’s Magic?”
”Not zero, I suppose. This era might as well be called the pioneering age of Magic. On the Human Continent, the Empire is said to be breaking new ground again and again. It wouldn’t be strange if some completely new kind of Magic appeared.”
”Yeah, but… at least on the Human Continent, you don’t just whip up something like that overnight. If it exists at all, it’s probably tech from the Demon Continent.”
”And why do you think so?”
”Money. That’s all it ever comes down to. Tech’s only chased because it makes coin. Maybe some rich eccentric could bankroll it for fun, but if it won’t bring back even a single gold coin, almost no one’s gonna dump their time and money into it.”
While the Empire did pour huge amounts of its coffers into Magic development, plenty of individual researchers also chased it. Still, the point was simple: only what paid off survived. Nobody funded things that didn’t turn a profit—research costs didn’t just spring from the ground.
”Magic for fire, water, moving earth—stuff like that boomed because it makes money,” Klock went on, rolling one shoulder. “Move earth and you can build towns faster. Pull rivers into place with water Magic, spark fire and people thrive. That’s why those got so advanced. But something like vampiric bloodsucking? Useless unless you’re fighting people. No demand means no buyers.”
Whether bloodsucking could even work as Magic wasn’t the point. The point was that, even if it could, the odds of someone actually developing it were almost zero.
”I see. Since the Human Continent had long peace, anti-personnel Magic simply wouldn’t create wealth,” Suzette said thoughtfully.
”Exactly. Even for hunting beasts, other kinds of Magic work just fine. But the Demon Lord’s Army… they’ve been fighting nonstop wars over on the Demon Continent. Maybe they’ve actually been grinding away at anti-personnel tech.”
”Gasthira studies Magic too, but I doubt they invest that heavily,” Suzette added, brows knitting. “Gasthira’s biggest problem is internal conflict. Unless they resolve that, they won’t be able to focus on research.”
The main force of the Demon Lord’s Army was Demonkin. Still, it wasn’t like they’d enslaved every race completely.
On paper, the Demon Lord’s Army was one united kingdom, but really it was a mess of rival factions. Even within their “nation,” other races weren’t truly allies. If they all worked together, they could probably push tech to terrifying heights—but that was just fantasy. No race that might stab them in the back any day would freely share its tech, knowledge, or people.
”So bloodsucking’s from her Cursed Eye—basically just an innate ability. That leaves the Moon’s Eye and the blood-cloning.”
”The Moon’s Eye… creating clones from other people’s blood. If that kind of overpowered Magic existed, everyone would be using it. More likely it’s some secret vampire tech, or just another innate ability. But… vampires and Demonkin fought before the founding of the united kingdom. If every vampire had that sort of power, wouldn’t the Demonkin have lost?”
”…Yeah. Better to assume all three are her innate abilities. Damn monster.”
That settled it: not Magic.
If it were Magic, they could counter it somehow—block her Magic circle or Magic stones, disrupt her with anti-Magic interference or overwhelm her before she could cast.
But Unique Skills were different. Klock knew firsthand they were far faster and sharper than Magic.
Magic could be jammed by scattering mana—but that hit your own side too. It wasn’t something you could just toss around casually.
And what, they were supposed to stay scared of someone they’d already beaten?
If it came down to just him, Suzette, and Meina against Viola… they wouldn’t even get past that Cursed Eye. That thing was too damn brutal.
If Cianie was the only one who could kill her, that meant he had to stay glued to Cianie’s side forever.
That was a handicap. The second anyone caught him off guard, it would all be over.
”…Wait. Viola fought the Demonkin in the past and lost, right? If that’s true, how the hell did they beat her?”
”I think… the vampire forces were thinned so badly they surrendered. Vampires are divided into pureblood True Ancestors and halfblood dhampirs, apparently. The ones called Nobility—all the True Ancestors—were wiped out.”
”Vampire Nobility, huh. Sounds like absolute nightmares. Surprised the Demonkin could even stand against them.”
”Now that you mention it… yes. Back then I was still in my home village, so I only heard rumors. Perhaps the Demon Lord personally fought.”
So much for hoping it might give them a plan against Viola. Suzette hadn’t joined the military back then, so she didn’t know much.
But one thing was clear: even if someone was absurdly strong, they could still lose a war. Viola lost her comrades and had to surrender. Humans were going through the same thing right now.
”I’m back.”
The door creaked open.
Klock looked up. “Welcome back,” he said, voice softening without him meaning to. The gray-haired girl at the door smiled.
Behind her, a little golden-haired catgirl with loose waves in her hair peeked in.
”We managed to buy some food~”
”Thank you for your hard work,” Suzette said, standing.
Meina lifted the bag just enough to flash the bread inside.
She and Suzette had both been brought here from the Beast Country earlier via Cianie’s teleportation, and Meina had gone back out with Cianie right away to buy supplies.
This cramped little room was one Suzette and Klock had scouted and begged for.
One single vacant room for four people.
They’d had to go out for food because the inn didn’t serve meals.
The town was starving.
They regretted not stocking up in the Beast Country before teleporting, but it was too late now. They hadn’t realized how bad things were, and now they were paying for it. Sure, they could teleport again, but they couldn’t afford to burn through their strongest fighter’s energy just for groceries.
Teleportation looked effortless the way Cianie used it, but it was supposed to be advanced Magic that drained a huge amount of mana.
”…Maybe we should’ve brought the portable house.”
”Couldn’t set it up inside town anyway,” Klock said. “And if it’s outside, defending it becomes a mess.”
Their house still sat back in the Beast Country.
If they moved it, the Beastkin might think they weren’t coming back. Leaving it there was their way of showing they would return to Boorinel someday.
The Beast Country was stable for now, but who knew what might happen if the Hero vanished from sight. Leaving the house there was like driving a stake into the land, a sign to the Beastkin chieftains that they hadn’t been abandoned. The clever ones would get the message: do anything reckless, and the Hero would know.
”At this rate, the food will only last until tomorrow at noon,” Suzette said, voice tightening. “We must secure preserved rations and reconsider our supply of daily necessities.”
Right now, the mining city of Barreith was drowning in chaos, taking in refugees with no order at all.
Because of that, every inn in town was full, food was scarce, and all kinds of supplies were running out. Down the main stone-paved streets, families had laid out cloth sheets just to have somewhere to sleep.
This wasn’t sustainable. If they cared about order, they’d have to close the town entirely to stop the flood of refugees.
Of course, it wasn’t that simple. The mayor had to have thought of it already. The fact that nothing had been done just meant it wasn’t possible.
”This whole town’s crawling with groups calling themselves the ‘provisional government.’” Klock’s voice was heavy with disgust. “Could be the city guards are so tied up holding order together that they can’t do anything else.”
”That does seem to be the case,” Suzette said quietly. “I have seen them arguing with the town’s soldiers on several occasions. It appears they are clashing with each other inside Barreith.”
All he could do was let out a long sigh.
Self-styled governments and the actual rulers of the town. Normally, the latter would just crush the former and be done with it, but that hadn’t happened here.
An ordinary person might not understand why. Why not just have the soldiers drive them out?
But Klock had realized early on—the mayor probably didn’t have much real power.
It was a weak-mayor system. If every action—vetoes, proposals, the Right of Adjustment, appointments—needed the council’s approval, then the government could freeze up the second something unexpected happened.
Which meant the conflict in this town wasn’t just about outside forces.
It was the mayor and the council, or maybe factions inside the council, fighting each other until policy stopped moving at all. That was the only way things could get this lawless. Humanity was standing on the edge of extinction, and the Humans were busy fighting over scraps of power.
”Suzette and I were talking… maybe it’s time we figure out our next move,” Klock said at last. “This town’s not exactly comfy.”
”Klock—”
He was scratching his head, speaking lazily, when his whole view suddenly tilted.
Someone had yanked him forward.
Cianie’s arm wrapped around him as she pulled him to her side, slipping between him and the window like she was shielding him from something.
”…What’s wrong?”
”…We’re being watched.”
The words left Cianie’s lips sharp and low.
Klock froze, and behind him, the other two reacted fast.
Suzette pressed her back flat to the wall. Meina dropped low, ears twitching, springing back like a startled cat. Their movements were so sharp and practiced it made Klock blink in surprise before scrambling to flatten himself against the wall too.
Watched. By who?
Cianie slipped closer to the window and drew the curtains shut, leaving only a thin crack.
She peeked out, then beckoned them closer with two fingers.
”…Look at the sky.”
Klock frowned but leaned over.
The sky outside was darkening.
Far on the horizon, a faint red glow lingered where the sun had just drowned. The world was rolling over into night.
Deep blue stretched across everything, scattered with tiny silver specks.
And among those stars, wrapped in a thin gauze of light, hung a single enormous one.
The moon.
And on that moon, an impossible eye was open and staring down at them.
”…Viola.”
Of course it was her.
The girl with the unnatural eyes was searching again tonight, sweeping the world from above, hunting for him.
”Sir Klock,” Suzette said crisply, her voice tightening as her hand curled at her chest. “From this point on, please refrain from going outside at night. Lady Cianie as well—please exercise caution. Your faces are known. If you are seen, they will know you are in this town.”
”…You’ve gotta be kidding.”
”If their target is Sir Klock, the moment your location is confirmed we will be forced to relocate. An attack must also be avoided. At the very least, stay by Lady Cianie’s side at all times during the night.”
Suzette’s tone left no room to argue. Cianie gave a small, reluctant nod.
If Klock was caught, it was all over.
They had no other choice.
The enemy they had supposedly beaten was still pressing down on them from above.
”This is like she’s the ruler of the night,” Klock muttered, voice dry. “If the moon’s up, the whole world’s in her range. And she’s not even here. Even if she shows up, it’s just a clone. How the hell do we kill that?”
If Cianie didn’t go on the attack, they couldn’t win this war.
But if she did, Klock would be exposed to Viola’s threat. If they didn’t do something about her, Cianie wouldn’t even be able to set foot on the battlefield.
What then? He could hide out somewhere far away… send Cianie off to a place where even she didn’t know where he was.
But what if Viola found him anyway? The Moon’s Eye wasn’t her only trick.
Moving by day and staying glued to Cianie at night might be safest… but…
Tracking Magic existed.
It could be shaken off with teleportation or sea routes, sure—but the point was, people-hunting Magic was real.
Even if he hid in some mountain village or secret ruin, she might eventually find him.
Staying with Cianie was the surest bet, but they couldn’t fight side by side on the frontlines.
”…We must have Lady Cianie operate alone during the day while you hide at night,” Suzette said firmly. “There are no other realistic options remaining.”
There was no one in this town they could rely on.
Well… maybe Boit, if they could even find him. But asking a merchant for help was worse than useless.
They’d be better off grabbing random local adventurers—and even then, none of them could do anything against Viola.
This was such a pain.
They couldn’t move until they dealt with her.
Where the hell was her real body?
The enemy was right there, in sight… and yet they had no way to strike back.
Viola alone was locking them down completely.
* * *
”Good evening♡”
It happened on the very night the moon first grew that eerie painted eye.
Late at night, at the front gate of Barreith, a small group of figures appeared.
”…Haaah? Who the hell are you lot? Showing up at this hour—normal people don’t do that.”
The gate guard stepped forward to stop them. Even in the dark, his scowl was plain. He clearly wasn’t happy to see strangers.
Barreith’s system for taking in refugees was still full of holes.
But that didn’t mean the townsfolk were clueless. They were getting more uneasy about it by the day.
They’d started kicking out criminals.
Every town had that rule. Under that excuse, the guards had quietly begun tightening the flow of refugees on their own.
”You don’t look like travelers… you’re all girls?”
The guard squinted. Even in the gloom, he could tell from their hair falling long over their shoulders.
They wore cloaks, and none of them were armed—they weren’t adventurers. Most likely just civilians. Refugees.
”Actually… we came fleeing from Rushelora,” one of them said sweetly. “The port town has been taken by the terrifying Demon Lord’s Army. Please… please give us shelter in this town♡”
”…Haaah? Shelter? Like I’d just let shady types waltz in at this hour. You sure you’re not thieves trying to sneak in under cover of dark?”
”Oh, no, never. We would never do something so wild and scary. It’s true. Thieves wave around knives and swords, don’t they? We’ve never even carried anything heavier than a man’s cock♡”
The group of girls giggled softly.
One of them, especially small, spoke in a voice so beautiful it almost rang, and though her face was hidden by her cloak and the dark, the guard’s heart thumped hard.
”…Hahh. Wait a sec. You’re… whores, huh? Heh. Alright. I can let you through. Buuut I still gotta do my job. Gotta check you ain’t really bandits.”
”Fufu. Of course. Then… would you check every last inch? If you like, at your place♡ We’ll prove ourselves… thoroughly♡”
”…Heheh. For real? Now you’re talking… hehehe, yeah. Come with me.”
He was grinning now, forgetting entirely he was on duty as he unlatched the gate.
Normally the guards worked in pairs, but tonight one was missing.
If there’d been two of them… well, then there just would’ve been two victims.
”—Ghhgh—?! Gg—ghh, gghhhgghhh?!”
The sound choked off into the dark.
”My, what a filthy sound you make♡”
The man was half-naked, his round belly jiggling as he writhed on the floor. His eyes rolled back, white showing as he jerked and spasmed, splattering the wooden boards of his own house with streaks of milky fluid.
”Aah, what a waste. Here, let me just slurp it up for you〜♡”
”Ahhh—ah-ghhh?! N-no, stop—th-that—die, I’m—dyi—?!”
A wet, obscene sucking filled the room, slick and loud. His whole body gave a violent twitch. The flesh sagged in on itself as if it were being wrung dry, folds puckering across his skin while his breath rattled thin and broken. He kept spilling, desperate, and the girl drank every last drop as if it were wine, her throat moving with each gulp, her eyes half-lidded with delight.
”Oops. He died already. So weak.”
The smallest of them—tiny, feathered wings flicking lazily at her back—prodded the crumpled body with one finger.
Her chirpy little voice was followed by soft giggles all around the room.
The man was still now. Just a husk.
The girls stood over him in a loose circle, their shadows swaying in the lamplight as their laughter laced through the air.
”Ladies,” came a silky voice from the corner, “good work entertaining the gentleman. Please dispose of him in the river or somewhere convenient.”
One girl sat apart from the rest, legs crossed neatly on a chair as if the death at her feet were nothing more than spilled tea.
She was small, almost doll-like, with features so lovely they looked painted on. Yet her presence felt sharp, like glass. She was nothing like the others. Even here among six beautiful daughters of the night, she stood apart.
Her cloak had already been tossed aside. Rising in a soft swish of her suspender skirt, the girl smiled faintly.
”Now then. We shall spend the night recovering from our long journey in this generous little home.” Her gaze drifted lazily over the walls, nose wrinkling faintly. “It is dreadfully shabby and rather filthy, but… very well. I shall endure it for tonight.
Our target,” she went on, her tone brightening as her lips curled, “is a gray-haired girl with blue eyes. Find the man who travels with her. He will be close. I will try approaching him from the dream-side tonight as well.”
The girls smiled back at her—sweet, cherubic smiles, their eyes gleaming with something cruel.
They were all very pretty.
And very, very wicked.
Notes:
• Suzette – The older maid from Viscount Fennec. The head maid at the Viscount Fennec’s villa. She is confident, clear-spoken, and professional.
• Cianie – A noble girl with a fluffy white and light blue dress, indicating her high status. She has a hesitant and flustered personality but is kind and courteous. Her relationship with Klock begins as an accidental encounter and develops into a romantic interest. She has a fiancé but expresses feelings for Klock, complicating their relationship.
• Gildegant – One of the Four Generals of the Demon Lord. Flame General.
• Hermine – Daughter of the Emperor of the Second Empire of Dusselhelm. A companion and friend of Anna. The mage. She is pragmatic and encourages Anna to focus on her duties as a hero rather than her personal revenge.
• Oriana – A Princess. A companion who assists in explaining the situation to the kingdom. She is supportive and helps Anna navigate her responsibilities. Her appearance is slender, with dark hair and sharp features.
• Tiet – A companion and friend of Anna. A holy knight from the royal capital. She wears light armor and carries a shield adorned with a dragon holding a sword, indicating her affiliation with the National Military Police. She is concerned about Anna’s well-being and tries to support her emotionally.
• Gasthira – United Kingdom of Gasthira. Demonkin-led absolute monarchy; has a parliamentary system this generation; treats humans as enemies; suffers from poor working conditions.
• Meina – She is a golden-haired catgirl employee of the beastman (Larana the cat woman) Inn, appeared performing fellatio, desperate and tear-streaked, with an inexperienced yet earnest approach to her work.
• Boorinel – A town east of Ryzan, where Lord Cattleya’s manor is located; said to be a long journey from Ryzan.
• Boit – A merchant involved in human trafficking, with a villainous face and a loud, obnoxious voice. He is pragmatic and willing to help Klock escape the country in exchange for something. His relationship with Klock is business-like, though both are aware of each other’s illicit activities.
• Rushelora – A port where demons are allowed to stay at embassies under special circumstances. It is a location where humans and demons have trade relations.
Please bookmark this series and rate ☆☆☆☆☆ on here!
Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
Thanks for reading.
Leave a Reply