“Aren’t you a pretty little thing?” Salicia said, looking Siti up and down in a salacious manner. “You know, I happen to favor women.”

Siti blushed, backing up a bit more. “Stay away.”

“Aren’t you interested in playing with a Hero?” Salicia smirked, seemingly completely calm despite everything.

“H-how are you a Hero?” Siti cried out in disbelief.

As the pair were talking, I was too stunned to move. I barely noticed that the walls of Regency had already been breached, and the so-called town was being ransacked. There wasn’t much left behind to take, but that didn’t stop the Bandits from going into any house that wasn’t burned down and trashing the place, or setting even more fires to finish off the once largest city in the west. Thankfully, the ashen ruins of my own location held no interest, and covered in ash as I was, no one seemed to notice me.

“Well, to be fair, this body is just my puppet. Don’t worry. You’ll be meeting the real me soon. As for why I’m a Hero, I’m going to be taking care of a problem for all of you.” Salicia, or she was calling herself Calypso now, spoke with an evil grin. “My son, the Demon Lord Aberis, I will be the one to kill him.”

What did she say? Demon Lord Aberis? Wasn’t he killed by Elaya? How could he still be alive? She called him her son! I also couldn’t help but wonder about the name Calypso. Calypso’s tower was the monument to the death of the real Bandit Hero. He had been betrayed by a woman named Calypso. Was this the same woman? If that was the case, how old was she?

No! What was I even suggesting? This was Salicia? This was Carmine’s sister? What the heck was going on? I could still feel her bond.

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It was then that I felt a sudden surge of pain in my back. I was already weak, but I suddenly felt even weaker. I felt like I was being drained. It was then that I realized what had happened. Salicia had attempted to attack me from behind. Siti had used a spell tossing me to the side. I had still managed to get grazed by the knife. That my only extremely weak soul was being further corroded by that knife. I might die for real any moment.

I desperately started trying to use healing, only to find to my horror that my connection to mana had been cut off. I pulled out a vial of Waters of Life and drank it. As I did so, I watched as my energy continued to decline more and more. In a last-ditch effort, I switched my jobs over. I equipped Dark Priest, Dungeon Builder, and Demon Knight, sacrificing the job I normally would have gotten from True Hero. These were all miasma related jobs. For some reason, I thought that they might be able to protect me in the end.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to remain conscious long enough to realize if it worked. I didn’t know how long I was unconscious, or what happened with Siti, but I heard yelling that jolted me awake. The cut on my back felt like a dull ache. The yelling seemed hollow and distant.

“Where did he go? The one I cut?”

Someone suddenly grabbed me and started pulling me from the wreckage. I felt so weak I couldn’t resist a thing. I felt myself being dropped onto the ground.

“He seemed to have disappeared, however, we did find this girl.”

“It doesn’t matter. With that cut, he’s already dead.” A beautiful woman looked down at me. “She’s pretty and to my liking. Conquering two beauties in a single battle, I must be lucky. Put her with the other one. They’ll make good concubines for my harem.”

“Wh-who…” I barely managed to get the words out.

The woman reached out and stroked my face. “Little girl, you seemed to be hurt when that building burned down and you were left behind. Their loss, my gain. I am Calypso, your new Master. I will teach you… so many things.”

I felt her lips press against mine, and I passed out just as I felt a tongue entering my mouth.