An hour later, on a road nearby a city's gate…

Will is following alongside Greaves while focused on a sheet of paper in his hands, only glancing up momentarily to look where he's going. The city's walls are now visible, forming a dark silhouette around the warm, orange glow pouring above into the black sky. Greaves glances at Will, who is straining greatly while trying to read in the dark.

「…I can't believe you gave that guy a potion.」

Greaves grumbles, shaking his orange head.

「I said that I would, and so I did… What was I supposed to do? Lie to him?」

Will replies, shrugging his hand before adjusting his glasses. He angles the translation sheet in an attempt to catch some of the city's glow.

「Personally, I would have killed him if Will let me.」

Using her new spear as a walking stick, Lian chimes in. Both Greaves and Will cringe, glancing at her nonchalant face over their shoulders.

「Yeah, that's…」

「…That'd be really unnecessary, Lian.」

Greaves and Will reply, then glance at each other with awkward grimaces on their faces.

「…No need to kill him off, I'm just saying let the idiot suffer. Why should he get a potion if he's a murderer!?」

Greaves adds, throwing his arms up in frustration before crossing them. Will lets out a sigh.

「It's down to whether you believe that people can change, Greaves… His band is dead, his arm is broken, he's in a lot of pain…」

Will replies, adjusting his glasses.

「Well deserved pain.」

Greaves quickly chimes in with his mouth scrunched to the side.

「…Maybe so. But maybe he'll appreciate how close he came to death, and with a little act of kindness, he'll change his ways. It'd be a shame otherwise… He was a pretty smart guy.」

「Pft.」

Will shrugs, partially agreeing with a tilt of his head as he continues trying to read his translation sheet. Greaves scoffs in ridicule, shaking his head.

「That is an incredibly naive thing to think, Will. People seldom change. I know that very well.」

Lian remarks, and Will peeks over his shoulder at her, listening quietly as she speaks.

「I don't disagree…」

He nods slightly, adjusting his glasses while keeping his head lowered, thinking.

「…But I think I'd rather be kind to people who don't deserve it than be mean to the people who might not. It's far too quick and easy to be mean to people who are just misunderstood.」

Will shrugs, glancing at Lian again as they draw near the city gates. He notices the guards are absent, but remains silent, only furrowing his brows a little.

Greaves and the party enter the city, crossing the gates as the paper lanterns hanging above bathe them in orange light.

「Wha…?」「Huh?…」「What happened here?…」

Greaves, Alicia, and Will look at the smears of blood stretching all across the streets with shocked expressions on their faces. Lian is somewhat surprised, but only furrows her brows slightly as she looks around. A building at the end of the street appears to have had a hole punched into it, and there is some of debris lying around on the ground just outside of the hole. A small group of spear-armed guards notice the party enter the city, staring at them for a few seconds with incredibly unnerved eyes before then turning them elsewhere.

Will adjusts his glasses and approaches the guards with a purposeful step while reading the sheet in his hand. The guards look at him and wait.

「…What happen?」

Flashing a quick point of his finger at the large, stretching bloodstains, Will asks in his best attempt at speaking in the local language.

「Foreigners, huh?…」

The guard remarks with his spear loosely resting in his crossed arms while looking at Will and the rest of his party.

《Didn't that mean outsider?… Was my pronunciation off?…》

Recognizing the word with visible surprise on his face, Will checks his translation sheet to verify. He quickly adjusts his glasses and nods his head in response.

「…There was a pretty bad demon attack a few hours ago. Alotta people died. Luckily some foreign guy killed most of 'em.」

With a grim expression on his face and a nod of his head towards where the trail of blood intensifies and grows wider, the guard replies. Slightly confused, Will nods his head.

「You should get off the streets, it's not safe here. They might come back.」

Another guard chimes in, looking directly at Will with a troubled grimace. Will returns a tight-lipped grimace and blinks at him, then peeks down at the sheet in his hand.

「…Excuse me, what?」

Will says in an inquisitive tone, furrowing his brows. The guards exchange mildly annoyed, but also concerned glances.

「Listen. Here, dangerous. Go to safe place, other place. Understand?」

Another guard replies while gesturing heavily with his armored hands. The plates on his gauntlets clatter softly with each motion. Will adjusts his glasses, nodding.

「Where metal dragon… Place?」

「Metal dragon?…」「…Metal dragon?」「Huh?…」

Will asks while consulting his translation sheet, and the guards look at each other with deeply confused eyes before turning them back to Will.

「…Wait, you mean the wyrm, right?」

「Ah, he might have meant that, yeah…」

One of the perplexed guards asks, tilting his helmet. Another one nods his head, concurring. Will stares at the two for a few seconds, then shrugs.

「You go down this street, take that corner, then keep going straight until you reach the third intersection. Take a turn to the left, and it'll be just there…」

The guard leans in, directing Will with his hand, who nods along with each step while listening and watching carefully. When done, the guard then pulls away, straightening out.

「…And, uh… Avoid looking at the market on your way there. It's not a pretty sight.」

The guard adds with a uniquely unsettled face, a mixture of fear, concern, while desperately attempting to return a polite smile.

「Thank you.」

Will replies with a bow of his head.

「Yeah, don't mention it…」「Get out of here already.」

The guards nod their heads and wave Will away, turning their backs to him.

「…Watch yourself, kid. We're in for some rough times.」

Another guard remarks to Will in a grim tone while he's returning to Greaves and the rest. He nods, then looks down at his translation sheet.

「…And?」

Greaves asks in an expectant tone, spreading his hands.

「I had a really hard time understanding them, but I think I figured a few things out… I know where to go, too… I think…」

Will replies as he sets his backpack down and reaches inside for his writing implements, then begins scribbling down more notes as he slowly begins to run out of writing space.

「…Something came and killed people, then some foreigner killed it, I think. They also told me it's dangerous around here.」

He adds with a shrug of his shoulders while kneeling down, glancing up at Greaves and the rest.

「Something came?…」

Alicia asks as she peeks out from beyond Greaves, furrowing her brows in worry.

「Yeah… They said some word I didn't understand… But from what I can guess…」

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

Will nods as he packs his writing implements and stands back up, putting his pack on.

「…Probably demons…」

He adds, adjusting his glasses. Alicia and Greaves exchange concerned glances.

「…And that foreigner was probably Straf… Who else?」

Will sighs out, throwing his arms aside with his mouth aslant.

「Yeah… Sounds like it.」

Greaves concurs with a greatly displeased nod.

「…Okay. Follow me, I hope I understood the guard correctly.」

Will turns on his heel and motions his hand for the party to come with. Clutching tight onto her silver wand, Alicia hops over the dried blood with a worried grimace on her face.

Following the guard's direction, Will takes a turn and goes down a long street. Greaves follows by his side while Lian and Alicia trail behind a few paces. He peeks down each way when crossing an intersection, then continues onward. The streaks of blood on the street lead into one of the turns down an intersection ahead. Will follows the trail with his gaze.

「Ah… So that's what he meant…」

Will stops in his tracks while looking at the corpse-filled, blood-stained market. The locals are looking with nervous grimaces at the corpses laid out in an orderly fashion while carefully navigating between them. One by one, a few of the people shamble away from the collection of mangled, dismembered, and torn bodies.

Some scream in anguish, other collapse and sob on the blood-splattered ground, others simply stare in daze at the guards while they carry some of the corpses away, only to throw them onto the growing pile. With a greatly concerned grimace on his face, Will quickly peeks over his shoulder.

「Let's go, Alicia…」

He says as he steps in the way, walking beside her and blocking her line of sight to the market.

「What's going on there? Is someone injured?…」

Hearing the dismayed screams, Alicia asks while fruitlessly trying to peek past Will.

「…Nothing interesting. Just keep going.」

He replies, adjusting his glasses. Will turns his serious gaze to Lian, who can see everything at the market.

「…Huh? Okay…」

Though a little confused, Alicia nods her head and follows along, albeit peeking over her shoulder towards the crossing as they continue onward. Greaves turns around and waits for Will and Alicia to catch up, staring at them both with a grim expression on his face. Alicia glances at Lian and blinks at her a few times, almost expecting an explanation, but she remains silent. Though she can sense that something is wrong from the party's demeanor, she doesn't press the issue further.

「…This ought to be here, right?」

Will remarks after taking a turn as instructed by the guard, when he notices a large metal snake strongly resembling a dragon hanging over a building's double doors.

「Seems like it… Is this thing a dragon, though?」

Greaves asks, furrowing his brows at the metal beast's flat profile embedded in the wall above.

「…I think it's a wyrm. It's kind of a dragon. Nobody really knows if they were real and just went extinct, or a myth. Kind of fits the description.」

Will replies, then shrugs his shoulder and approaches the double doors while adjusting his glasses. He pushes his way in with his shoulder, entering the large room.

It doesn't take him long to find Straf and his group sitting at one of the low tables. He notices Will as well, staring at him and his party as they approach. An enticing smell of frying meats fills the air. Though most of the tables are occupied, there are plenty of people simply sitting up against the walls, curled up and blankly staring ahead at the floor of woven mats. Everyone in Straf's group appears to be in a sour mood, except for Straf himself.

「Took you long enough.」

Ssssshhhhh!…

Straf remarks, and drops down a small slice of raw beef onto the hot wrought iron bars in the center of the table with a loud sizzle. He points his chopsticks at the free space across, then flips the pieces of meat already on the grill. Greaves and his party sit down while charcoal embers crackle beneath the iron bars.

「Your highness…」

Will bows his head towards Cycelia, who nods back and returns a forced smile.

「Here's yours.」

Straf says as he drops a few ready slices onto Stripe's small plate in front of her.

「…I don't feel like eating. You can give it to them.」

Stripe quietly replies and nods her head up at Greaves and his party.

「Oh for fuck's sake!…」

Rolling his eyes in frustration, Straf throws his arms up.

「…Okay! People died, who gives a shit!? People die every day!… My bad! Next time, I will run into a fucking telephone booth and go save everyone, vacation or not!…」

With his mouth heavily scrunched to the side, he shrugs his arms while looking around the table. Greaves and Will look at him, furrowing their brows.

「…I'll be a fuckin' superhero immediately, and definitely protect everyone!… All over the world! This one's all my fault!… Now, can we have a very cliched yakiniku?」

Straf asks, and turns his annoyed grimace to Stripe.

Ssssssshhhhh…

He plates up ready slices of beef onto a new plate, and sends it flying towards Lian, sliding it to a stop perfectly in front of her before throwing more raw pieces onto the grill.

「I'm not blaming you. You did what you could. If you hurried up… You'd save a handful of people more at best. There are plenty who owe you their lives already…」

Stripe sighs and replies, staring at Straf with her pupils forced into oval shape again.

「…If not for you, it would have been a worse slaughter than it already was. A lot of guards gave their lives too… I just lost my appetite.」

She adds, shrugging her shoulders with her arms crossed while looking at the beef on her plate.

「I'll have some… What's a telephone booth?」

Nona chimes in while leaning over the table. She tilts her brown, fluffy head as she asks.

「That's more like it!… 」

Snap!

Straf snaps his fingers, pointing at Nona as he plucks the small plate away from Stripe, and hands it to her instead.

「…Telephone booths are something that people invented to explain the existence of telephone books. There's no proof that they ever existed.」

He explains while deftly plating more beef slices.

Ssssssshhhhhhh!…

「…Telephone books? Nom.」

Nona echoes, and picks a piece up with her teeth right from the plate while Straf quickly throws more raw pieces onto the grill.

「Don't think about it too hard, it's not important, anyhow… Lia?」

Straf shrugs in response, then holds the plate out for Cycelia. She shakes her head and waves her hand in front of herself with a small, forced smile, politely turning it down.

「Tsk… Seriously?…」

He clicks his tongue and lets out a sigh as his shoulders slump from disappointment. Cycelia shrugs with her brows apologetically furrowed.

「…Carrothead, twerp, Alicia… Help yourselves out. The cat is paying.」

Straf turns his eyes to Greaves and his party, then points at the lined up pieces of raw beef on their side of the table. Lian is slowly and leisurely eating her portion.

Exchanging troubled glances, Will and Greaves reluctantly reach out for the chopsticks resting on their small, wooden stands. Will pinches one of the pieces of beef and throws it onto the grill.

Sssssssshhhh!…

「…Straf… What happened? I saw some… Grisly stuff on the way here.」

Will asks, carefully choosing his words after a quick peek at Alicia.

「Demons.」

Straf nonchalantly replies with a shrug while nibbling on a piece of meat.

「…Thought as much. Can you elaborate? No need to get detailed… Just the important stuff.」

Will nods with a dark grimace on his face, and throws another piece on.

Ssssssshhhhh…

「Tsk… Fine. But some of you better do something cliched soon-」

Straf clicks his tongue, throwing his hands up with his mouth aslant.

「Will, eat the veggies too.」

Lian says in a hushed but stern voice, staring at him with a side-eye when Will scoops meat and only meat onto his plate, then pulls it back and prepares to eat.

「Geh… Okay…」

Will winces under Lian's piercing gaze, and throws a random assortment of so far untouched peppers and greens onto the grill.

Ssssssshhhhh!…

「Nice. That's more like it… Anyway…」

Straf points his chopsticks at Lian with an approving nod, then begins telling Will and the rest the events so far…