18 years ago.

Victor, Idarin, and Aaron were in an adventurers guild’s inn, drinking, located at Arterio City. He had long hair and sharp facial features at age 26.

“Enough drinking, let’s hunt! Hunt! Hooray!”

With his shout, everyone in the inn who was drinking also raised their cup and shouted.

“Hooray!!”

“Yes, yes, let’s hunt. I’m going to try something new today.”

Idarin grinned. Victor realized that Aaron was still sitting, and he slapped the back of Aaron’s head.

“Hey! prince. Less drink, more slaughter.”

“Can’t we just at least have a day off?”

Aaron asked with a tired expression.

“NO!”

Both Victor and Idarin shouted simultaneously.

“See? Even the grandpa agrees.”

After Victor said that, he felt a tingly sensation in his stomach. It was Idarin’s punch.

“Heh, you hit like a girl.”

A vein popped up on Idarin’s forehead.

“Don’t push your luck if you don’t want me to drown you in a meteor rain.”

“Fiiiineee.”

Victor walked towards the notice board.

“What should we pick today? I wish we could hunt some mythical creatures.”

“Yeah, me too.”

Idarin also began to look at missions.

“That won’t do it.”

Idarin closed his eyes and pointed his index finger towards the notice board.

“Oh, he is choosing, he is choosing.”

Victor waited excitedly for Idarin’s finger to stop on a random mission. The notice board they were looking at only included SS+ rank missions, so they all had the approximately same difficulty. Idarin stopped and picked the paper his finger was on.

“Hunting ghosts?”

Aaron was surprised because usually, when a group picks a mission, another group isn’t able to pick it, but this mission wasn’t like that. It had no limitations.

“It is decided then! Let’s go!”

They picked that mission and hit the road. The location of the mission was in two-day travel distance. When they arrived, an abandoned town welcomed them. The houses were dilapidated and looked like nobody had set foot in years.

“Now… How do we hunt ghosts?”

Victor asked, and they began to walk between the houses. They walked and walked, but nothing appeared. Finally, after an hour, they heard a voice.

“My lady! Please don’t be so stubborn. Your father is looking all over for you.”

“I said no! I don’t want to sit in a castle all day.”

“Your father is worried about you. Please try to understand. You are his only daughter.”

“No! I won’t come back!”

“You can’t hide here forever!”

When the group turned the corner, they saw two people arguing. Victor paused for a second.

‘B-beautiful.’

Victor’s heart skipped a beat. Her long red hair was shining under the bright sunlight. Her skin was so smooth, and there were two little horns on her forehead, but those only made her cuter. Victor lost himself in her green eyes. Hearing her voice made him feel like he was walking on clouds. He was still standing there, but Idarin and Aaron were already next to them.

“Hello! Have you seen any ghosts?”

Idarin said joyfully.

‘Oh, people!’

Celia said inwardly. She was staying here for a while, far away from humans. Before here, she was stuck in a castle, so seeing people was unusual for her. Her cheeks began to redden. According to her dad, the outside world was dangerous, so she tried to avoid people as much as she could.

‘They don’t seem dangerous.’

“Who are you?”

Salron said with an irritated tone. He was already unsheathing his sword.

“Who are you?”

Aaron asked the same question.

“W-wait, don’t fight.”

Celia panicked.

“Umm. We are not fighting.”

Idarin was confused.

“Oh, my lady! Is this guy bothering you?”

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Victor quickly came and held her delicate hand carefully.

“Ah, n-no, no.”

“Hey!”

Salron swung his sword at Victor without thinking. Celia panicked more, but unlike her, Idarin looked around to find some ghosts, and Aaron was yawning with a bored expression. Victor didn’t even turn to look. He simply tilted his head to dodge while looking into Celia’s eyes.

‘Huh?’

Salron quickly tried again, but instead of swinging his sword, he tried to grab and push Victor away. But he wasn’t able to hold him. No matter how many times he tried, Victor was still holding Celia’s hand.

“Huff. Huff.”

Salron was out of breath.

‘What the hell is he?’

Then he felt a hand on his shoulder.

“Don’t feel down. You can’t touch him unless he lets you.”

Idarin said while patting him. Aaron was also nodding.

“Oh, my lady! Travel with me. Let me show you the beauty of this world.”

Aaron hit the back of Victor’s head.

“Stop bothering other people. Let’s focus on the mission.”

“Have you seen any ghosts?”

Idarin nodded and asked again. But there was something they didn’t know. They couldn’t find ghosts because somebody had already collected all of them—someone from far, far away.

A crazy-looking man set foot in the Mohan Empire at the same time when Victor met with Celia.

“Hehehe. Let’s find a suitable place.”

For days, the man looked around in the empire and finally found a cave deep in the forest.

“Ingredients, ready!”

He organized all of the different types of materials around him. Then he took out a tiny stone. It was glowing.

“Souls, collected!”

That little stone contained the souls he collected.

“Experiment begins! Hehehe.”

He began to cast a spell. For hours he continued. The experiment he was doing was, putting a soul in a vessel and giving it life. His energy was almost completely depleted, and he was out of breath.

“Huff, and finally, the last part. Giving you a purpose.”

The vessel in the middle of the magic circle was waiting for him. He took a deep breath.

“Okay, I found it!”

He smiled.

“You are a demon. The only remaining demon after a big war years ago, and your sole purpose is reviving the demon clan. Mohan Empire is the one that is responsible for demons to go extinct. Avenge your race, and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. Hehehe.”

Then he turned and left the cave.

“Show me what you can do now. I’ll be watching. Hehehe.”

* * *

Meanwhile, Celia and Salron also joined Victor’s group. Salron was nagging at Celia as always.

“Please, your father will be outraged this time.”

“Hmph, I don’t care.”

Victor turned towards them.

“Don’t you get bored saying the same words repeatedly?”

“You! Shut up! You let her astray. Even if a strand of her hair is damaged, you will be held responsible.”

Victor quickly stood in front of Celia.

“Don’t worry, my lady! I’ll be your shield and sword at the same time.”

Celia blushed.

“Stop seducing her! Do you even know who she is?! She is the daughter of mighty Vanoth.”

“Vanoth? Hmm…”

Idarin stroked his chin like he was trying to remember something. Days passed by like that. Victor showed Celia beautiful places she had never seen before while the others followed them around. Salron was supposed to report to Vanoth as soon as he found her but ever since they’ve met with Victor’s group, Celia was smiling like the happiest person in the world. Salron was aware of that. Even though they had been together since childhood, he never saw her this happy. Because of that, he decided to postpone his report. But sooner or later, he had to do what he had to do if he didn’t want to get decapitated. One day, in the first rays of the sun, Celia was listening to Victor’s stories on a cliff with curious eyes. Suddenly they both felt hot, and someone roared behind them.

“Celia!”

A middle-aged man with a white goatee was walking towards them. His eyes were also green like Celia’s, and he looked furious.

“D-dad! Wait!”

Celia panicked.

“Oh, your dad!”

Victor quickly walked up to the man and bowed sloppily.

“It is an honor to meet you, sir!”

He tried to soften the atmosphere, but that only made Vanoth angrier. Vanoth swung his arm, and flames swallowed Victor.

“No! Stop!”

Celia shouted, but Vanoth had no intention to stop.

“You are already guilty enough. Stop trying to make it worse. The playtime is over. We are going back home.”

Vanoth said and turned back to leave, but he stopped because a face was closely examining him. They were almost about to kiss. Vanoth reflectively took a step back.

“Are you the mighty Vanoth that Salron was talking about?”

“Bastard, how did you survive?”

Vanoth didn’t wait for an answer, and a long sword appeared on his hand. He swung it without hesitation, but Victor was calm. He leaned backward just a little bit, and the sword passed under his nose.

“Dad! Stop!”

Celia came running behind and held his arm. Vanoth immediately soften.

“Celia! Why are you getting close! Are you hurt anywhere?”

The sword in his hand suddenly disappeared, and he began to examine her.

“No, I don’t.”

Vanoth sighed.

“Good then, let’s go back.”

He held Celia’s arm and tried to drag her back, but she refused.

“I don’t want to!”

Celia got rid of Vanoth’s grip and hid behind Victor. Vanoth raised an eyebrow.

“What? Are you choosing a random man over your dad?”

“You always force me to stay in the castle! I want to see the outside world.”

“The outside world is dangerous! You are not a fighter! Many people will judge you just because you have horns!”

Vanoth shouted, but he began to panic after seeing her teary eyes.

“Aah, now you made her cry.”

Victor patted Celia’s head.

“H-hey, don’t cry.”

“My liege!”

Salron Idarin and Aaron came from the forest.

“Aaah. Vanoth…”

Idarin said like he remembered something.

“I knew your name sounded familiar. You old sly bastard.”

Vanoth turned towards them and grinned after seeing Idarin.

“Are you finally out of that tower?”

“Why are you asking the obvious?”

“But you know…”

Vanoth’s expression became serious.

“What is the meaning of this?”

“There is no meaning. We found her and learned that you were holding her against her will.”

“For her own good!”

“Y-yes, he doesn’t even let me set foot outside.”

Celia was clearly playing for sympathy right now, but because she was doing that while crying, Vanoth panicked again.

“Tch, tch, tch. Shame on you.”

Idarin also got next to Celia to comfort her, and then Victor, Aaron, and Idarin all began to nag at Vanoth.

‘What is this situation?’

Salron was speechless. Vanoth couldn’t take it anymore, but he felt a pain in his heart whenever he saw the crying Celia. He coughed and cleared his throat.

“F-fine, two more days. But I’ll also come with you.”

Hearing that made a smile appear on Celia’s face, she ran and hugged her father.

“Yaay!”

Vanoth’s face became red after getting a hug from his daughter, and he had a proud expression. He looked at Victor and smirked like he won, but there was something he didn’t know yet. Today only made Celia to discover her dad’s weak spot.