After Noemi stored everything back into her inventory, we kept going on our journey.

«Where are we going?» (Me)

«To the neutral demon lands, up north. If we follow the coastline, we'll arrive there in a few weeks.» (Noemi)

«Sounds good. Hey, Ogre. Why are you so loyal to a human?» (Me)

«I... I was caught as a slave when I was a small child so they named me "Gonzo" and forced to do all kinds of work. My life was made of poorly eating and manual labor... that is until I met her four years ago. She treated me like someone who had a life. She bought me to aid her in the search for her lost older brother. She never mistreated me nor abandoned me even after he was proclaimed dead. She kept me by her side while constantly getting stronger. Now the only thing she could think of was to kill all the demons that could be responsible for her tragedy. Yet, she never looked at me with ill eyes. Perhaps because I couldn't have done it or perhaps because I was a precious ally. I swore to myself that I would protect her with my life... but in the end, I failed.» (Gonzo)

Deep regret sprouts all over his face. It's Noemi who tries to comfort him.

«You didn't fail to protect her. You let someone else do it when you couldn't. That's just as good if not better.» (Noemi)

«How did you save her? Now she is in the middle of the demon country with only us as allies, right?!» (Gonzo)

«I'll explain that once she wakes up. It might be hard for her but it's something she must know. The reason that I was siding with the demons, that is.» (Me)

We keep on walking and as we are about to enter a city, Laura moves lightly.

«Let's stay out of the city for now. She's about to wake up and it would be a mess if she goes into a city without knowing anything.» (Me)

As Noemi is taking the camp out of her inventory. Laura opens her eyes and calmly analyses the situation. She first looks at Gonzo and then at me and then at Noemi. She then jumps and tries to take out her sword. Luckily I took it from her a while ago.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

«Why?! Why did you take me from the battlefield?! And more important, why do you know my name!?» (Laura)

«I wanted to protect you.» (Me)

«Why would a demon want to protect a human?!» (Laura)

«Because... I am no demon...» (Me)

She looks at Gonzo, who is calm and composed, and then turns back to me with an angry yet confused expression.

«Even if they don't see me as human, I'm...» (Me)

I take off my half broken mask.

«Still your older brother, right?» (Me)

I smile as Laura's expression suddenly changes from the previous angry confusion to a mess of tears and emotions as she jumps and hugs me. After a long while, she looks up at me while probing my back for scars. Once she finds them, she forces a single word out of her mouth.

«H-how?» (Laura)

«Sit down and I'll explain to you.» (Me)

She sits next to Gonzo. At this point, Noemi was already making that face she does when she sees two lovers.

«As you know, it all started because of a single lion man demon. Using a power that I never knew about, I defeated him and everyone started to fear me. Until here it's as you know. I got very sad and so, father took me on a trip on the wind dragon. And then, mid-flight I was attacked... And this is where the lies begin.»(Me)

Laura looks at me with a deeply concerned look on her face. She is a smart girl so she knows very well that it's something to do with humans but...

«Father stabbed me.» (Me)

Her expression breaks into despair.

-That's just as I expected to be honest...-

«No... Don't joke about such things... I can't believe this... You're just a doppelganger aren't you?!» (Laura)

Luckily, all of Father's weapons have a certain characteristic. They always leave a deep, golden colored scar. It's a unique enchantment passed down the family that nobody else has. I show her my belly and a deep golden scar could be seen as clear as day.

«No way...» (Laura)

She touches my scar as if in disbelief.

«How did...» (Laura)

She couldn't finish the question but I understood it nonetheless.

«I was saved by Galgo and Mirim. Two demons. Mirim is a dryad and Galgo is the lion beastman that I had defeated previously.» (Me)

«Why would they? Didn't they attack to kill us?» (Laura)

«No... The humans were exploiting their reserves. They were forced to attack to survive. Galgo and Mirim are good demons but... Looking at it again, they were probably being played with as well. I then departed with them to the demon school to train and try out a new life as a demon but... I couldn't act like everything was fine anymore. She... Noemi opened my eyes once again and I made my decision. I want to destroy this world so I can build it new. This way, everyone will get a new life. A life free from shackles made by the strong...» (Me)

I was about to continue when I realized Laura wasn't following anymore. She was in pure disbelief.

«Humans are... bad?» (Laura)

«Not all of them but yes. Same with demons. Not all demons are bad. That's what I discovered in these last years.» (Me)

«Do we have no allies?!» (Laura)

«We do. The four of us are allies. Two humans and two demons. We just need to find the others.» (Me)