From a fight between humans and demons, the sight had turned into a scene of pure carnage. Captain Inena single-handedly wiped out all of Omulgg’s henchmen and goons, leaving nothing but broken bodies in her trail. She subdued the Superior Tusk Behemoth without breaking a sweat all while Omulgg watched everything in fear and agony.

I could’ve stepped in, but honestly, Omulgg wasn’t worth it. He had been plotting to kill us from the start, so watching him suffer now almost felt… deserved.

(I am kind but not stupid.)

I pulled aside Rogu and asked a bit about Omulgg from Rogu, wondering if he knew something about him from the beginning, and to my surprise, Rogu revealed that he had seen Omulgg through his dreams while watching over the world.

And the fact that Omulgg is a ruthless murderer who preyed on new adventurers, either cutting them down before they could rise or forcing them into servitude under his twisted rule.

In short, Omulgg wasn’t just a bully. He was a power-hungry egomaniac who thrived on keeping others weak.

But… GODDAMNIT if he were to die here, we would not get any reward for our quest and all of this would be waste.

Gah~!!!!!!!!!!

So, I called a vote between the three of us about what should we do with him. Isabelle, unsurprisingly, wanted him dead on the spot, as she said with fury in her eyes, “No point in keeping a snake alive.”

I kinda agree with you here but I need to at least keep him alive until we get our reward.

On the other hand, Rogu didn’t care about him at all, with disinterest he said, “He’s boring.”

Ultimately we didn’t know whether to save him or not… It left us at an impasse. We stood there, staring at Omulgg, unsure of whether to save him or let Captain Inena finish the job.

But then Athena spoke inside my head…

( ( “Kazuki-sama, it’s more beneficial to make a deal with him saying that if we help him he’ll give us 100% of the quest’s reward, admit his crimes, and live behind bars… In return, we’ll heal (resurrect his followers and bring back his arm) and defeat the demons and Captain Inena.” ) )

(Well it’s a good thing she’s here to give us an opinion as a fourth person to help us deal with this impasse.)

Athena kinda blew my mind with what she said, her idea wasn’t too complicated it was smart and simple. Honestly, it’s the best deal he’ll get whether he faces his wrong and learn a lesson or he chooses to die. There’s no other way back for him.

And seriously if he doesn’t accept it I don’t mind him dead, I’ll grind those E-Rank quests and and claim that we fled from demons about this encounter. No shame in retreating against a stronger opponent right?

Omulgg’s fate rests on his own choice now…

And so I approached him ignoring all the demons and debris aside, even Captain Inena looked at me.

“Hey you muscled-wimp how does it feel to be in the same situation as your previous victims,” I said to him.

Omulgg’s lips twisted in resentment as he responded. “You… bas…tard…”

“Wrong choice of words,” I replied with a smirk.

As I continued, “Considering I’m the only person here who can save your sorry self right now.”

He replied, “What can you… even do? She’s a demon army’s Captain she’s strong as an S Rank adventurer. You can’t do a thing on your own…” He said.

And so I replied, “Again poor choice of words, all I’m saying is that I can help you… I’ll get you away from here, heal your arm and followers. Only if you accept my condition, I’ll also throw a freebie and deal with all the demons and that Behemoth, since you look so pathetic right now.”

His eyes flickered for a moment as he asked, “What’s the condition?”

I said, “It’s simple.” As I crouched down, lowering my voice. “You’ll give us the entire reward for the quest and confess your crimes to the authorities. There’s a war coming soon, and they most likely use prisoners due to a lack of troops so you might avoid executions. Who knows? If you fight on the front lines and survive could even earn your freedom back.”

His voice trembled between dread and confusion as he said, “A war…?”

So I responded, “I’m not here to explain the world to you, Omulgg. Just answer me. Do you accept my terms, or do you want to die here without a second chance?”

“Fine… I… accept…”

…

But before I could turn to finalize the deal, a furious shout echoed across the battlefield.

“Don’t act like I’m not even here!” Captain Inena snarled as she showed her demonic aura gushing while charging towards me.

“No, You Don’t!”

In a flash, Isabelle stepped in. Her fist connected with Inena’s gut with such force that the demon captain’s eyes widened in shock as she spewed blood and was sent flying.

The smirks plastered on the demons’ faces vanished, replaced by sheer terror. In that moment, they wore the same look of shock Omulgg’s followers had when they realized they were utterly powerless.

The tides had shifted, and now… we held all the cards.

…

“You…!!! Who the hell do you think you are!?” Inena spat as she landed, fury twisting her face.

Isabelle stood firm, her voice cold and unflinching she said, “I’m someone who’s going to clean up the mess you and your demons made.”

(Shouldn’t “I” be the one saying that? Well, I’ll let her handle it…)

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

Then Inena readily said to Belle as she got up, “Don’t get ahead of yourself! I was caught off guard with that sucker punch. I’m just getting started.”

Then Belle said only three words, “Do Your Best.”

The fight begins.

Inena aggressively attacks Belle with a mix of range and melee attacks but Belle swiftly dodges them without any effort.

(Watching her fight somehow captivates my heart… I don’t know if it's her beauty, her elegance, or just a part of me, proud to have such a strong wife.)

As the battle dragged on, Inena’s movements slowed, fatigue setting in. Her breath was ragged as she gathered her energy inward, preparing for something big.

“HYAAAAA!!”

Of course, it was their unique transformation skill “Demonic Ascension” that transformed them, awakening their primal instinct and enhancing their power.

But… unlike Belle or even me who can use this transformation, Inena only transformed partially. Only her hands had twisted into grotesque claws.

“You should be honored!” Inena shouted, her voice thick with arrogance. “Unlike the other captains, I’m the only one capable of transforming!”

(Uh does she think that’s the full transformation? Heck, we don’t even have the claws like that. Still, It kinda makes sense why she’s different since she’s definitely stronger than Gehrwin.)

Pfffft!

Belle suddenly burst out laughing.

“What?! What’s so funny?! Do you think this is a joke?!” Inena said to Belle with a face contorted in frustration.

Belle chuckled, shaking her head. “Actually, yes. Because what you’ve shown isn’t even 10% of the real transformation.”

Inena’s eyes narrowed. “What do you know about it? |You’re just a human!”

“Human?” Belle tilted her head, and then with a slow smile, she revealed her true self, her horns emerged, majestic wings unfolding behind her like a dark goddess descending.

(I’d almost forgotten what those wings looked like.)

Everyone around froze, mesmerized by her transformation, including me.

“You… you’re a demon? But those wings… those horns… they’re so primal and beautiful just like… our lord… Who are you?” Inena stuttered, as her arrogance began to wither.

“I’m the truth your rulers have hidden,” Belle said quietly.

Inena blinked, confusion written on her face. “What does that mean?”

“It means the power you’ve tapped into is just a tiny fragment of something much greater,” Belle explained.

“No… that’s impossible…” Inena muttered, shaking her head in disbelief.

Desperation gleamed in Inena’s eyes as she realized she was no match for Belle but rather than making a smart choice she did something naive as she reached into her pouch and pulled out a familiar dark lump of flesh.

“ I have no choice but you use this…”

It was the Berserker Drug that Rhibert took when he attacked the Lizardfolk Village.

“Why…? She knows the gap in strength! Why push herself like this?!” Belle murmured, frustration clear in her voice.

Inena gained an impressive amount of strength as she began to lose her mind and her form became more monstrous than before.

And so round 2 began as she charged recklessly, slaughtering even her own demons in her blind frenzy.

But still, Belle was able to dodge effortlessly yet again.

And then, with a calm resolve, Belle sighed to herself. “I guess there’s only one option left.”

With a swift, precise strike, Belle ended the battle.

The woods were totally silent, the ground was littered with the lifeless bodies of humans and demons.

As I looked at Belle, I said to myself,

(I wonder how she’s feeling… after killing one of her own…)

Even so, after Inena perished, the Superior Tusk Behemoth, freed from his restrictions, roared in rage, while charging at me.

I stood up and remained silent without flinching, I only whispered one word.

Devour…

The battle was over. What a mess this had turned into…

And so I switched my attention toward Belle and asked, “Hey are you okay?”

She gave me a small sigh, a tired smile, and said, “Yeah, I’m fine.”

I was still a bit worried, but before I could press further, she glanced at Rogu and smirked. “Look at this useless mythic fox. He hasn’t done a damn thing since we got here.”

(I guess she’s fine.)

As Belle’s playful taunts began raining down on Rogu, Omulgg’s groans interrupted the moment. His voice was weak, filled with agony.

“Argh… Urgh… Who… are… you… people…?”

So I walked forward to him and said, “Now, Now… don’t waste your energy and sleep.”

I put my hand on his head closing his eyes while his body was lying down in suffering.

He too had perished.

…

[20 Minutes Later]

Sigh…

“Why are they making me do all this hard work I’m a mythic beast and a small cute boy,” Rogu said to himself while sulking and frowning as he dragged the lifeless bodies of three red giant monsters.

They were none other than Red Tusk Behemoths.

After things came to an end, Rogu was the only person who hadn’t done a single thing ever since we arrived at the woods, and Belle took notice of him and ordered him to find the monster we needed for the hunt.

Likewise, I agreed with what Belle said and so, Rogu went on his way to the Red Tusk Behemoths, whom he found captured in the demons’ hideout along with two other monsters of the same species.

He had killed them right away but of course, we couldn’t just carry the whole thing back to the guild.

So he brings them to me.

While on our side, we had cleaned all the mess.

In short, I killed the Superior Tusk Behemoth, then partially used “Devour” on it then conjured it alongside side demons and Captain Inena. Similarly, I resurrected Omulgg and his followers and tied them all. Then devoured the Red Behemoths which Rogu came with.

And with that everything came to an end.

There was only one thing left to do and it was to leave these woods, so I used “Teleportation” to get us all out of the woods to back to the entrance of Emeraldorr.

(I could’ve directly teleported ourselves to the guild but I wanted to do things properly and also had to talk with one of the soldiers to explain Omulgg’s situation and our reward.)

Thankfully Athena helped me with all the cover-ups and negotiations while taking off any suspicions the soldiers had.

…

And soon afterward the word quickly spread about us after Omulgg confessed his crimes.

Not only Carla but also many adventurers in the guild were shocked to see us not only killing the A Ranked Monster but also making Omulgg confess to his crimes even though we decided to omit the details about demons and Superior Behemoth.

Although we weren’t able to meet the female elf from before we still got praise from some regular adventurers. For doing something big like that right after we arrived, was certainly an accomplishment no one has ever done before.

And certainly that raised some strong people’s attention and suspicions about us. I could feel the gaze of those two beastmen female warriors and the guy in the hood with dual swords.

Still, at the end of the day, we got our reward of 260 gold coins.

Of course, 5 gold coins were deducted as a fee. In total, we had 257 Gold and 5 Silver coins.

After a long day, we finally arrived back at the Inn without exploring or buying because some proceedings took a bit long time, and soon sky began dimming as we went back to the Inn.

While resting in our room, I sighed a bit then said, “I can’t believe all of this just happened in just a day… it hasn’t even been 24 hours since we arrived here in Emeraldorr.”

Belle also nodded saying, “Yeah,” but Rogu was whining once again.

And the reason was he wanted to rest on his own mattress like us. Honestly, there isn’t much space in bed to begin with Belle and I can hardly adjust ourselves so pretty much Rogu was out of the question.

But still, that mythic bastard took the form of a young child and it kinda made me feel a bit empathetic towards him.

So I said to him, “Fine Rogu I’ll give you a mattress to rest on.”

Belle raised an eyebrow, clearly confused, but I already had a plan about it when we first registered ourselves at the inn. I reached into my “Inventory” and pulled out a mattress I’d crafted myself from Silk and Infernopaca fur.

“Woah! Is that what I think it is?” Rogu’s eyes lit up, practically sparkling as he stared at it.

Without waiting for an answer, he happily dragged the mattress to a cozy spot near the window and flopped onto it, as he showed a blissful grin spreading across his face.

“Ahhh~ It’s like being back home,” he murmured while snuggling into the soft fur.

Well, at least that solved one of his problems.

Growl!

Suddenly, our stomachs rumbled in perfect unison. I slapped my forehead realizing I had completely forgotten to buy spices for dinner.

“Gah~!!! Looks like we’ll have to eat at the Inn’s overpriced cafeteria,” I groaned, thinking about having to deal with that grumpy old innkeeper.

With that, the three of us made our way downstairs.

Just as we were about to enter the dining area, I spotted a familiar face one I hadn’t expected to see right after a few hours of our first meeting.

“Ara~,” I blurted out with a smile, “if it isn’t Hero-kun!”

…