Before the sun had even risen, the Cursed Children had already captured some demons for interrogation. They were brought a distance away from the royal capital, in the middle of a forest. To be specific, three demons have been captured, the rest unfortunately could no longer be found. But that should be plenty enough of them to extract answers from.

They were dragged into a cave, where they were tied, and tortured. One demon was named Droz. He was covered all around with his own blood, his clothes were heavily torn. A pool of blood formed on the soil to where he was kneeling. The chains tightly wrapped around his arms and legs that he could hardly properly move.

The two demons with him were in a similar state.

Since it was already somewhere around the middle of the day, or a little later than that, the five Cursed Children with them were already in their human form. Their hair was black and their eyes were the color of amber. Droz was a bit intrigued by how normal they appeared right now. Well, except for the part that currently their hands were as monstrous as last night. A cursed child grabbed Droz by the chest by digging in his claws deep into his flesh and lifted the demon up.

“Aagh!” The cursed child bashed him violently into the cave wall. Droz took in heavy breaths as his wounds healed in mere moments. But that, of course, didn’t mean he was spared from the pain.

“Talk!” the cursed child shouted. He used his other hand to cut through Droz’s stomach and pulled out his intestines, and, along with it, a good amount of blood.

“Gah! You fuck!”

The cursed child dropped him to the floor and stepped on his chest.

“Where did they teleport to?!”

“Couldn’t you have guessed that already?”

“There are many spots they could have gone. We need something specific!” He pushed his foot into his chest, and there was an audible cracking sound.

“Fuck you! Never telling you!”

“Where is the teleport’s destination and where are they heading after that?! Answer me!”

“To your mum’s pussy hole!”

The cursed child dug his foot into his chest, blood splattered. Droz screamed and writhed in pain as his heart was crushed like a fruit and one lung damaged along with it. He chuckled as he began to heal, glaring at the cursed child looking down at him.

“I-I ain’t s-saying anything.”

“You demons are most of the time selfish, it will only be a matter of time before one of you talks.”

“It won’t matter anyway, they’ll be long gone. Not like you ever had a chance of catching up to begin with, he-he-he.”

“Oh yeah? If it’s so pointless, why not tell us already, hm?”

Droz grinned. “Why should I? I enjoy seeing you guys all worried and scared for your dear princess.” It was an enjoyable thing sometimes to witness one’s torment.

In his displeasure, the cursed child crushed his throat without hesitation with his foot.

“You wretched demon.”

Meanwhile, the two other demons were not spared a moment’s relief. Not ever since they were captured. Droz glanced towards his two colleagues being torn apart. Their inner organs being ripped and pulled out, skinning their faces, cleaving them almost in half, waiting for them to heal and starting again. They ripped out their eyes, tore their throat, pulled out their tongue, draining out their blood like cattle. They have not even asked a question, just inflicting intense and perpetual pain and agony.

Droz hadn’t experienced as much suffering as they did. His torturer was more lax compared to the others.

One of the demons tried to crawl away, only for their leg to be stomped and crushed.

“If you talk, you will be relieved of this suffering, demon.” The cursed child grabbed the demon’s face. “Tell me now.”

The demon turned his eyes to look at Droz.

“Don’t tell them anything!” Droz shouted.

“Easy for him to say,” the cursed child said. “He isn’t suffering like you do. Now that isn’t fair, huh?”

The demon in his hand shifted his eyes towards his torturer.

“Don’t expect you’ll get any time of relief from me like your friend there. He’s in the hands of another. I can do anything I want with you.”

The cursed child dug his hand into the demon’s chest and pulled out his heart. He flourished it and stuck out his tongue to lick the blood off it.

“What I want, I can do to you. And unlike your friend over there, you will not even have a moment of freedom from agony.”

“Don’t fall for their words!”

The demon turned his eyes again towards Droz, and the latter shook his head.

“A-Alright… I’ll tell you.”

However, it appeared to be pointless.

“Don’t be dick, you moron!”

“Fuck you, Droz!” bitterly shouted the demon. “You ain’t the one getting the heavy beating here! Pain sucks!”

“Dammit!”

Can’t say he was too surprised, this was bound to happen sooner or later. Demons were just like that, some were just too petty. At the very least, Droz hoped they would hold on for at least the entire day, but that may be expecting too much of his fellow imps.

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“Then, where are they?” asked the cursed child. “And don’t lie to me, I’ll know if you do.”

The demon took a deep breath before answering. “They teleported to the harbor in the Eventon Republic.”

“The harbor? They have a ship prepared? I doubt they can sail immediately.”

“Yeah, well, they can. We paid the humans big time, you know. To sail out the moment we arrive.”

The cursed child narrowed his eyes. “And where is the ship heading? Straight to the demon lands?”

“Yeah right, no humans would go straight there. Especially if they also have packages to deliver.”

“You don’t have your own ships?”

“You expect demons to have ships of their own? Well, we do, but they’re shit. One bump from the sea monsters and down they go.”

“Yeah, demonic sea monsters are no joke. They’re fucking jerks, I tell you,” the other demon sudden added.

The seas surrounding the demon lands were incredibly dangerous. Had to watch out for small creatures and the big ones. The latter ones were the most dangerous. They were as frightening as dragons that ruled the sky. If they were as strong as them, however, was debatable. Thus, cluelessly going straight for the demon lands wasn't advisable; and humans would never dare to do that. Although there was a particular route that was safe to use.

The land demons and sea demons were not on good terms for the most part. The most problematic were those in the sea, they were extremely territorial. And they were quite unforgiving of whoever sailed their waters, whether they were humans or demons. As one might expect from the demon race, violent even against their own.

There could be a chance that a ship could get through, but that would be a dangerous and fatal gamble. Humans would rather use the route that was guaranteed safe than risk losing their packages and their own lives. And with them transporting the princess, even the demons had to be more careful about where they sailed through. The sea demons would eat her without care.

“So, where is the ship heading?”

“... To the Shinoroa archipelago.”

“Where specifically?”

“To the northern island — what’s it called again? Ah, Hokunoa.”

“Which port?”

“To the port town of Enikada.”

“I see. Tell me more of the details.”

“Shit…”

And thus, to comply with the cursed child’s request, the demon spouted out details like the sequence of their plans in transporting the princess. Once that was done, the Cursed Children looked at each other, and one of them nodded. The cursed child stepped away from the snitch of a demon and began walking out of the cave.

“So, we’re free to go?” the snitching demon asked daringly.

The cursed child paused and glanced at him from the corner of his eyes.

“As if.”

The demon frowned. “Of course you won’t, you freak.”

The cursed child frowned. “Pull out his windpipe for me, would you?”

“Got it.”

Hearing that and seeing a cursed child coming at him, the demon aggressively rattled around.

“No no no wait, I w-was just kidding!”

But of course, his windpipe was ripped out.

***

At the Wisterian palace, the corpses of the Wisterian soldiers and knights had been completely sorted out. One by one their names were listed out, from thereafter their families would be notified of what happened. Of how they died as heroes protecting the kingdom. The number of deaths right here at the capital, none of the people here have experienced such a thing in their lifetime.

Among these people was a female knight, Ayana. She was at the side of where the deceased elite knights were placed, kneeling right beside a corpse whose body was covered. Ayana had a sad expression on her face, her eyes red from her recent cry. The one before her was a close friend.

“Rogan…”

She clenched her fists placed on her lap.

The discovery that he perished when she returned to the palace shocked her. And from which after, grief struck like lightning. She refused to believe it, as one would usually be when knowing someone close to them was gone. However, reality was ruthless.

She had never imagined that a man like Rogan would fall. In truth, she had a great faith in him. He was a reliable man after all. Although he was quite annoying sometimes, he was still a good man. One of the most important persons in her life. And for him to die, it was just too painful.

“I’ll take care of your funeral…”

It will be up to the knight’s family how to handle their funeral, whether they want to be buried in their family’s land, or by the capital. Most of them would choose to bury their loved ones in their own lands. However, it would be a different case for Rogan.

Rogan despised his family. Nor did his family even ever truly cared for him. He wouldn’t want his body to be given to them. All that Rogan had were his friends.

Ayana grasped Rogan’s hand.

I won’t give you to them… You will be buried where you deserve.

That was the least she could do. As an elite knight, and the princess’s personal knight, he must be buried with the greatest of honor and respect.

Holding his hand, she failed once again to hold back her tears.

I’ll miss you…

Thinking that she could never talk to him again brought her great pain inside.

It was then that two men walked up behind her. She let go of Rogan’s hand and she quickly rubbed the tears off her face. She turned around to see both Alan and Elson. Both had a sad expression on their faces. Alan in particular pursed his lips.

“Dammit…” He looked away.

Ayana was aware that both Rogan and Alan were quite close friends as well. Rogan would frequently tease Alan, but he would often look out for him. In fact, now that she thought about it, Rogan had a lot of friends. He was always conversing with all kinds of people. He was even so casual with the commoners, which Ayana found quite weird. Even she becomes reserved whenever speaking with them.

Elson placed a hand on Ayana’s shoulder.

“He was a good man, and an impressive knight.”

“... Indeed he was.”

He sighed. “I imagine he passed the way he would have preferred. Slaying as many as he could in his dying moment.”

Ayana faintly nodded.

“I will surely miss the young lad,” Elson added. “Also, I should let you know. He was dearly fond of you.”

Hearing that, Ayana lowered her head.

I know…

She was aware of that, Rogan didn’t exactly make it less obvious. The way he always looked at her, and often asking her out for a casual stroll or some lunch outside. But Ayana mostly didn’t take him up on his offer. She liked him, he was nice, but she just couldn’t help keeping him from getting closer.

She wanted for them to stay friends.

That was because she was too focused on her career, to climb up the ranks. That was all that mattered to her. And thus, she stayed away from making closer relationships, especially romantic ones. She wasn’t ready for it yet.

And that was now her greatest regret with Rogan.

When exactly would she have been ready?

Perhaps if she had truly tried, she might likely have changed her mind. Perhaps, things would have been different. If she could change something, she would have accepted all of his offers. Perhaps she could have felt something filled with happiness.

But now, it was too late.

She blamed her drive to achieve her ambitions, to achieve the future she wanted. And she failed to appreciate and value more of the present.

Nothing could ever remove that regret.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She couldn’t help but imagine for a moment what could have been.

“Excuse me,” someone stepped in. It was an old man that Ayana was familiar with. The princess’s butler. He gave the three of them a small smile. “My condolences to you. You must have been close.”

Elson nodded. “And you work together.”

“... Yes. It was truly shocking to hear about his death. He was a valued coworker, and a friend.”

The old man, Vernon, crouched beside Rogan’s corpse and gently placed his hand on Rogan’s chest.

“May the gods bring your soul to paradise, my friend.” He closed his eyes. “Don’t worry about the princess, I’ll do what I can. And I have faith she will be alright.” He retracted his hand. “Mera will be wretched once she learns of everything that happened…”

“You haven’t found the princess yet?” Alan asked.

“Not yet.”

“I see…”

“I will be notifying Rogan’s family of his death,” Vernon said. “I imagine they will want to possess his body.”

“Please don’t give it to them,” Ayana abruptly said, looking at Vernon with pleading eyes. “They won’t respect him.”

“... Where would you like him to be buried?”

“I was thinking of where the bravest knights are buried, as is fitting of his station as a princess’s personal knight. Where the past royals are buried with their most honorable and loyal subjects.”

Vernon smiled. “As I hoped. I will convey your request to the king… I’m sure the princess would have wanted the same thing as well…”

“Thank you.”

Ayana’s lips formed into a relieved smile.