Zolgas was the closest human city to the demon territory.

It was a frontier city.

Usually, this characteristic would define it as a nucleus for commerce and one of the bigger melting pots of Ouroboros.

That would have been if the two confining states had good political relationships.

This was way, way far from reality.

The populace remembered the blood flowing in the streets during the war between humans and demons.

The conflict caused deaths, and those alimented fear mixed with rage in the hearts of humans and demons alike.

Before the war, humans differentiated between demons(warriors of the Demon King), monsters(animalistic creatures created by mana accumulation), and mythical creatures(monsters gifted with logical thinking and no affiliation to the Demon King).

The wars ended, but a cold war based on espionage and secret missions was still in action.

At this point, no differentiation was needed.

Every dead demon was a good demon as a past killer.

Every dead monster was a good monster as a possible risk of death.

Every dead mythical creature was a good mythical creature as a possible demon secret agent.

In all of this mess, the Cinder Forest was contemporarily the cause and the break of this relationship.

On one side, the forest represented a natural Buffer state between the two fighting parts.

The average level in the forest was 100, and the average soldier was a level 50.

This meant that only the elites of the elites managed to traverse the forest and actually enter the respective offensive battlefield.

At the same time, this insurmountable wall for any average citizen accentuated the physical and social distance between the two parties.

The only source of information for the humans, like for demons, were the rare soldiers that survived the battlefield even though mentally and physically scarred.

There was no doubt the popular perspective of the citizens was clearly biased by the bloody, horrible effect of the cruelties of war.

Eric wasn’t sure if on Earth there would be any SJW ready to condemn this kind of racism.

For him, this was just the consequence of all the pain the people who overcame belligerent times had absorbed.

He didn’t care about the moral point of view or other impractical stuff like that.

At this moment, all he cared for was finally having a comfortable bed to sleep on tonight and registering for the Adventurer guild tomorrow.

After all, the guild identity card was a viable identification document in the human kingdom, and it would make it easier for him to find his past favorite information network: ‘’The Sewer Rats’’.

If he wanted to organize a good ‘’get back together party ‘’ with his oh-so-dear comrades, he, infact, needed information, and much of it.

He didn’t know how much time passed since his death yet, but he was sure those damned snakes managed to monopolize enough political strength through the results he had obtained, paying with his own life.

*Ok, one step at a time! *

Just a few days ago, he said to himself that his main focus was eliminating those betraying pests in order to enjoy the rest of his life with Rubra, but now he consciously understood that.

*No matter how much I try not to think about the past, It will continue haunting me until I can get them some nice flowers…for their tombstones! *

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Suddenly a smile, dark and scary, appeared on his face.

Luckily for the sanity of both Eve and Rubra, none of them managed to see his face, covered by his hooded cape, but as if checking one with the other, they started trembling almost contemporarily.

Eve resisted for about a second longer before having the same reaction as Rubra.

Meaningless was their level difference with Eric in that context.

What they felt wasn’t simple power.

It was pain, rage, fear, ire, and sadness: all mixed up in a dark aura that started surrounding Eric.

This wasn’t something simply obtained by killing monsters and getting stronger.

They had just observed the ability to make feelings bend reality.

Rubra was shivering instinctively and had just linked that not-so-rare event with the moments of Eric’s rage.

The only two times she had seen him in those conditions was when he told her about the betrayal of his past comrades and during the fire incident that preceded their first experience.

On the other hand, Eve’s mouth was opened, and gasping for air.

Her mind had returned to the thought she heard repeating for two whole days at this point.

*Just who are you?! *

She, differently from Rubra, had already seen a similar power.

In the dragon village, when she was just a child, she remembered seeing one of the strongest elders, capable of using his mind to materialize happiness around the newborns he was currently teaching.

That moment represented her idea of happiness in her mind for a long time, and it emitted colors full of light and vibrance.

In the opposite way, these emotions couldn’t be easily described.

The aura emitted by him seemed to gnaw away at the sanity of the observers.

These were the emotions she managed to identify.

She would feel if she ever met her divine mother, Tiamat.

At that moment, Eve described that moment as her first encounter with the immortal realm.

Being her first time with such an oppressive aura, all she could do to resist was try shouting, but just a strangled cry managed to exit her mouth.

‘’Agh! ‘’

After that, instantly, everything returned to normal.

Eric stopped emitting the aura and instantly turned around as if asking the reason behind that interruption.

Seeing the panting Eve and Rubra nodding to him, as if saying ‘’Yes, you did it again. ‘’

He sighed slowly.

Then he grabbed Eve’s hand, bringing her closer to him with the help of the wind he instantly tamed.

‘’I’m sorry if it was too sudden for you.

Sometimes my emotions became quite dangerous!’’

Similarly to the eyes, he had the day before, his eyes were a magnet for the two women.

The difference was now he was genuinely saying sorry to Eve, and somehow she felt the difference.

*Why is my heart beating so fast?…is it because of the previous aura he emitted? *

He then continued.

‘’You two should use polyform magic when in the human kingdom.

When we are done with the check at the entry gate, you should rest. ‘’

Hearing his words of care, more questions originated from Eve’s head.

*Why is he holding my hand so softly, and why do I feel happy even though I was scared because of him in the first place? *

While she was thinking, confused, a cannonball was flying towards them.