The moment the voice spoke, everyone, including me, turned their gaze. A man was standing in the back, where the boss had been, without us noticing.

Silver—or rather, gray hair, and a black, ominous armor. The shoulder pads were in bad taste, shaped like a Wolf opening its mouth and howling. His eyes were quite sharp. His black pupils, though somewhat murky, exuded an atmosphere that seemed to praise us.

“You’re strong, you lot.”

The opponent continued to murmur. Without a doubt, the one in front of us was a Demon Race. And,

“Ugh…!”

Sofia let out a short groan. I knew why. Yes, this guy was—

“Nice to meet you, I suppose. I am Sheldat, one of the Demon Lord’s Army Executives. I hope we get to know each other.”

A polite bow—this guy was the Executive who attacked Sofia’s Nation, the Barx Kingdom.

This is bad… with Sofia here, they might realize that the King and others are still alive. No, is it okay because she’s wearing the Artifact? Or perhaps—

“A Demon Race, huh.”

Alto muttered and stepped in front of us. Ignos also gripped his staff, ready to meet the attack.

“Oh, quite aggressive, aren’t we?”

He spoke with a laugh—this guy was the Demon Race waiting as a boss when Eina broke into the Castle. Since he appears in the latter half of the scenario, his abilities are naturally high, and he’s not an opponent that the current Sofia and her companions can contend with.

Furthermore, this guy has a troublesome Special Ability… Of course, if I wanted to, I could instantly kill him, but he would notice my abilities. In the game, there were cases where high-ranking Demon Race members, just before being defeated, passed on information to other Demon Race members in a mere instant. Someone as powerful as Sheldat, a high-ranking Demon Race, would likely be capable of that, and there’s a risk of information being leaked somewhere.

Besides, it’s unlikely that he’s acting alone. There’s a high possibility that his subordinate Demons or Demon Race members are hiding somewhere… and through them, a report could reach the Demon King.

Due to the risks, I don’t want to go all out right now. But if he intends to kill us, then I have no choice but to do it—

At that moment, Alto and Stella moved slightly forward. Sheldat then smiled and said,

“Then, I suppose I’ll play with you for a bit.”

In an instant, Sheldat’s figure—vanished.

Short-range Teleportation…! In the game, this guy also had the ability to suddenly disappear and move to another location. The range of his Teleportation didn’t seem very wide, but at least he could Transfer to our location in an instant.

As Sofia and the others were flustered, I focused my awareness to pinpoint the opponent. If he had noticed Sofia, he might aim for her—just as I thought that, I felt a presence and swung my sword.

Clang—a metallic sound echoed around. The location was behind Stella—it was the sound of me deflecting Sheldat’s Sword Strike, who had appeared there and tried to attack.

“Oh, you’re quite good, big brother.”

He praised me. Then, he Teleported again, appearing back in his previous position.

“Hmm, this is a bit troublesome. And those young ladies over there are carrying some troublesome burdens… I’m tired, so I think I’ll take my leave.”

Sheldat looks at Sofia and Kyarun and says… he’s probably referring to the troublesome Spirits. He’s aware of Lefin and the others, but doesn’t seem to have noticed Sofia.

“……Did you create that monster just now?”

I step forward and ask. He nods and says,

“That’s right. Well, I only created the form… the dagger of that lady over there was the catalyst for its rapid growth into a leader.”

Sheldat points at Stella as he speaks.

“I wasn’t interested in her fight. I was planning to leave… but then you all came along from behind. So I played around a bit.”

“……So the root regeneration speed was your doing.”

“That’s right.”

As he answers, he yawns slightly. It seems his words about being fatigued are true.

There’s no doubt that he intervened because we came… In that case, the root regeneration speed makes sense.

Furthermore, Sheldat currently has no will to fight, and he doesn’t seem to have sensed Sofia’s presence or my abilities. However, this will need to be confirmed by my familiar in the future.

“Well, what will you do?”

Sheldat asks. Alto and Stella still showed a willingness to fight… but eventually, they lowered their swords.

“Someday, I’ll make you rust on my sword.”

“I look forward to it.”

Leaving behind a somewhat mocking tone, his form vanished.

At the same time, I let out a sigh of relief. In some cases, I would have had to fight with all my might, but… I managed to avoid it. I certainly don’t want to risk exposing my abilities at this stage.

“……However, he was a very relaxed demon race, wasn’t he?”

Alto opened his mouth as he sheathed his sword.

“Even though we defeated the monster, he seemed uninterested in us.”

“……Perhaps he was wary of us.”

It was Lefin who spoke here. She appeared and addressed us.

“From his words, there’s no doubt he was aware of our presence. Even if he could defeat the contractor, our counterattack would come… that’s why he retreated.”

Sheldat didn’t show it on his face, but he might have sensed the strength of the contracted spirit’s power and become wary. Sofia is contracted with a spirit recommended by the King of Gnomes to the Queen of Sylphs. In addition to being fatigued, he might have been wary of Lefin and the others… that might be it.

However, I don’t know if he sensed that Lefin is the Queen of Sylphs… On this point, too, I need to send a familiar and observe carefully. If it’s exposed, I’ll have no choice but to act after consulting with Lefin.

“I see. In that case, we have to thank you all.”

Alto says. I shake my head and reply, “No need,” then turn my gaze to Sofia.

“Are you alright, Sofia?”

“Yes.”

Her expression remains stern. As a demon race that invaded the castle, it’s natural.

It’s not good to talk about that here, so it’ll have to wait… As I’m thinking, Alto speaks again.

“It’s likely that places affected by such demon races will increase in various parts of the continent from now on.”

As he says, in the middle and later stages of the game, the proportion of requests that come to the guild due to problems caused by these demon races increases.

Moreover, there’s a possibility that we’ll visit this forest to fight stronger monsters in a guild quest… While many background images are reused, the dungeon structures change, so if you underestimate them, you’ll have a hard time.

“Anyway, it seems the monsters that were here have been defeated… Shall we go back?”

Alto says further. He doesn’t seem to be in the mood to search for ancient ruins in this situation.

“And I want to talk to those people too.”

He even says that. I somehow look at Sofia and Kyarun. They both nod slightly, as if it doesn’t matter to them.

“……Understood. This encounter must be fate. Let’s get along.”

“Yeah, nice to meet you.”

Alto says and starts walking to leave the forest. Following him, we head back to town.

I returned to the town and headed to the tavern for a meal. The men and women sat at separate tables, and I began to explain our journey. Of course, I couldn’t talk about Sofia, so I spoke about it as I did in the forest, saying that each individual had their own reasons. Meanwhile, Alto said,

“The Demon King’s invasion made it easier to investigate the Ancient Ruins, so I’ve been happily traveling around various places.”

“Your sister seems to be doing something similar.”

“Yeah… But the Ancient Ruins in that forest didn’t seem to be there, so it was a bust… Still, after what happened this time, I wondered if it was okay for the leader to be so carefree.”

Alto said while drinking beer. By the way, I was just drinking milk.

“Alto, may I ask you something?”

“Hmm? Go ahead.”

“How did you come to be with Ignos?”

“I did some work related to him, and we’ve been hanging out ever since, I guess.”

So, he completed a quest to make him an ally.

“Ignos is a human who wants to defeat monsters and the like, just like Ruon and the others. My goal is to explore Ancient Ruins, and that involves defeating monsters, so he’s coming along.”

I see, I see… As for his abilities, the fact that he reached the depths of the forest means it’s safe to assume he’s achieved a level comparable to Sofia.

If I continue to clear events smoothly, I’ll eventually gain the ability to fight the Five Great Demons… The strength of the Five Great Demons varies based on the basic book and the progression of the scenario. The monsters in their strongholds were all created by the Five Great Demons… Their goal is to drive wedges into the land. In the early stages, they focus on this task, so they are set to be weaker than usual.

However, there is a minimum requirement. In terms of level, it will be tough unless you’ve started learning intermediate techniques… Sofia and Alto probably need one more push to reach that level.

“I see… I understand. Our goals are different, but let’s do our best.”

“Yeah. Still, I’ve thought about a lot of things because of this, and what to do next…”

He murmured, looking at his sister, Stella. She was chatting with Sofia and Kyarun at another table.

“What will your sister do?”

When I asked, he shrugged.

“There’s no way she’d stop just because I told her to… I just talked to her, and she’s decided to act with us for a while.”

—Alto’s sister, which means she is also a Descendant of a Sage. Considering she ventured into that forest alone and handled monsters… There was no mention of the sister being stronger than the brother at the start of the scenario. Therefore, she won’t be a companion in the game, but it’s safe to assume she possesses high achievement abilities, similar to Alto.

Acting together… How should I think about this? Hmm, I should check on them with my familiar… As I pondered, the night deepened with my conversation with Alto.

Although the encounter with the Demon Race increased the things I needed to observe… the fact that I was able to save Stella still lightened my heart.

Perhaps that’s why—I was met with astonishment by the events of the next day.