As he murmured to himself, recalling the faces of demons he’d encountered before, a groaning voice rose from within the cloud of dust, the spot where Allen had just kicked away the one attacking the carriage.
“Ugh! Who the hell are you?!” Emerging from the dust cloud was a man who looked to be in his early twenties. He had a completely ordinary appearance, with nothing visually marking him as a demon. But perhaps because he carried powers akin to a Transcendent, Allen could tell what he was without needing to use his own abilities. “Who are you to interfere with our mission? What are you thinking?!”
“What am I thinking? Isn’t it normal to try and help someone when you see them getting attacked?” Allen asked.
“Normal, you say? Hmph! The ‘normal’ prattled by a fool too ignorant to understand the noble purpose of us demons is not even worth considering!”
It seemed the man had no intention of hiding the fact that he was a demon. Judging by the way he spoke, he might have even considered being a demon something to be proud of, something to boast about. Perhaps because Allen had been silently thinking that over, the man seemed to take his silence as a snub. His face twisted in anger as he glared at Allen.
“You dare mock me?! Very well! You’ll learn firsthand what happens to those who scorn me!”
That hadn’t been Allen’s intention at all—in fact, he was honestly hoping to hear a little more from the man—but clearly that wasn’t going to happen now.
“Well, I got the basics of what I wanted to know, at least,” Allen murmured.
The man had spoken of a “noble purpose.” That almost certainly meant it had something to do with revenge against the world. In other words, attacking the person inside that carriage must somehow contribute to that goal, which meant Allen could now say with certainty that this was a major problem. But honestly, he’d known that from the start. At least now he could brace himself for whatever came next.
In any case, the first order of business was dealing with this man. Sometimes demons were referred to as enemies of mankind, but Allen didn’t particularly harbor any personal hatred toward them. Frankly, if the man just backed off now, that would be ideal, but judging by his demeanor, that wasn’t going to happen. No way he’d just listen and go quietly. It looked like there was no choice but to fight.
Even so, Allen wasn’t too eager to kill him. So far, all the man had done was attack a carriage. That alone didn’t feel like enough to warrant ending his life. Allen wondered if maybe injuring him a bit would be enough to scare him off. As the man began to move, Allen also shifted his weight, bracing himself...and that was when it happened.
“Huh? Commander? Wh-What do you mean?!” The man suddenly stopped moving and shouted into thin air. To an outside observer, it might have seemed like he’d lost his mind, but Allen didn’t think that was the case. Most likely, he was using telepathy.
Allen couldn’t hear the other voice, so he didn’t know what was being said, but whatever it was, it clearly wasn’t what the man wanted to hear. All he did was protest over and over, but it seemed those protests were rejected. With a scowl, he glared at Allen and snorted.
“Hmph. You’ve been spared, it seems. Ordinarily, I would have torn you limb from limb for your insolence, but I have been ordered to stand down directly by the commander. I have no choice. Consider yourself lucky to have survived! Be grateful.”
With that, he turned and walked away without hesitation. His displeasure was obvious from the way he carried himself, but Allen averted his gaze, scanning the area instead.
The man hadn’t noticed, but the command he’d just received had clearly been given for his own sake, to protect him. There was no way that was a coincidence, which meant the person he was talking to had been watching the situation unfold in real time. And apparently, that person was called “the commander.” From the name, it seemed they were a superior, someone the demon followed. But that raised other questions.
According to what Allen had heard, demons were typically individualistic creatures. They might cooperate occasionally, but rarely did they serve under someone else. If this group was merely an outlier, then fine. But if demons were starting to gather under a single leader and act in an organized fashion, then something truly abnormal was happening. Allen wanted to gather more information, if possible, but...
No lingering presence. Looks like they’ve already pulled out.
Maybe they knew about Allen. If so, that made the situation even more complicated. But there was no point worrying about that right now. Shaking the thought off, he turned his eyes in the direction the carriage had fled in. Away from the demon attack, but not far off, it had come to a stop. The vehicle and the horses both seemed unharmed, and from the look of it, they were waiting for Allen. Honestly, they could’ve just kept going and left him behind. That might have been better, since it would’ve spared him the hassle of getting involved any further, but it was too late to complain.
With a resigned sigh, Allen started walking toward the carriage. It wasn’t far—close enough to clearly see with the naked eye, so he reached it in less than a few minutes. Perhaps out of courtesy, the person who had been sitting on the driver’s bench stepped down to greet him. Still, there was a hint of caution in their posture. They bowed their head when they saw Allen approaching but kept their hood up the entire time.
What made Allen tilt his head in puzzlement, however, was how small the figure was. Not exactly child-sized, but clearly too small to be a grown man, which could only mean the coach driver was a woman. There was nothing odd in particular about a woman acting as a coachman, but it was admittedly unusual.
Still, that small mystery was quickly resolved. Or rather, it stopped mattering entirely, because the moment that followed left no room for such trivial concerns.
“Thank you. You saved us.”
With those soft words, the girl pulled back her hood. Her face, which had been hidden until now, was revealed, and Allen let out a dumbfounded sound.
“Huh?”
It was a girl’s face. But that wasn’t what had shocked Allen. What shocked him was that he recognized it. Unless his eyes were playing tricks on him...
“Mylène?” He muttered her name under his breath, the question of Why is she here? rising in his mind, but he never got the chance to voice it. Because just then, an exasperated voice drifted out from the carriage.
“I know you’re genuinely trying to express your thanks, but the way you say it could really lead to misunderstandings, you know?” the voice remarked.
“I meant it.”
“You don’t get to be the one to decide that. Honestly, what am I going to do with you?” With a sigh, the speaker stepped out of the carriage, and the moment Allen laid eyes on her, his brows knitted together in confusion. Someone he thought he knew appeared to be a complete stranger. And yet, the face was unmistakably familiar. So was the voice.
Mylène’s presence had already given him a vague idea, but the girl stepping out was undoubtedly Noel. Or at least, she should have been. However...
“I apologize. That girl is genuinely trying to thank you, in her own way. But more importantly, I should be thanking you first. Thank you very much for coming to our aid.”
The words were utterly unlike Noel. Not just the wording; even the way she bowed her head so politely was uncharacteristic. In truth, Allen might have sensed something was off the moment he saw her, but he pushed that doubt aside, calling her name with clear hesitation.
“Noel?”
“Um, sorry. Have we met somewhere before?” Noel—or the girl who should have been Noel—replied, as if to suggest Allen was the mistaken one.