Twenty-four hours later, we were still running through the forest without having caught a wink of sleep. Ishtar was still outside the scope of my detection magic, but we had to be close. We’d probably arrive in another few hours.
“Yui, Daggers, Cross, Silica. We’ll be back in town soon. I’ll return your weapons now so you’ll be ready to fight.” I conjured their weapons from storage and handed them out.
That’s when my detection magic picked up on some signals. “What the...?”
They were still quite a distance aways, so I didn’t know how many there were. But I had detected multiple life signals, and only a few of them. Maybe they were just the dregs of the monster horde. If that was the case, they weren’t anything to worry about, but...
Even so, I had a terrible feeling about all of this.
One of those signals seemed especially odd. Had I sensed it somewhere before...?
This wasn’t the time for stops or detours, but I had a gut feeling I would regret passing this up.
“I guess we should check it out.”
I stopped to change directions, and noticing this, the others stopped too. “What’s wrong, Lloyd?”
“Sorry. Continue on without me.”
“Huh? Why?”
“My detection magic picked up on something. Something...foreboding. I’ll check it out real quick.”
This mana... Could it be...?
“Then I’m coming too!” announced Yui.
“No, I’ll be fine on my—”
“I mean, who knows what’ll happen. You can’t fight alone, right?” Yui looked me in the eyes, her expression serious.
She was right. I couldn’t fight on my own. And if my predictions were right, there was a high likelihood this would devolve into a battle. It’d mean imposing on her, but it was probably best to take Yui with me.
“Yeah, sorry. Could you come with me?”
“Of course!”
“Sorry, Daggers. I’ll be borrowing Yui for a bit. We’ll be back as soon as we can, so go on ahead and—”
“No, we’re coming with you. I’d be worried about you two if something happened,” said Daggers, before looking over his shoulder at Cross and Silica.
“Yeah, I’m with Daggers. We’re coming with you.”
“Yes, I’ll accompany you all as well!”
Apparently, both Cross and Silica were coming with us. That meant four S-rank adventurers, which was definitely reassuring.
“Got it. In that case, follow me. I’ll take you there,” I said before dashing off at full speed.
As we drew near, what I had sensed gradually came into view. There were eight signals in total—neither monster nor human.
“Demons and a beastman?” There were seven of the former, and one of the latter. It was an odd grouping—one that seemed impossible. The presence of a beastman was fine. You’d occasionally catch sight of them in Ishtar, so it was neither rare, nor shocking.
But that wasn’t true of the demons.
The nation of demons was known as the Necromancers’ Kingdom, and its current relationship with the powerful nation that housed Ishtar, the Fuhlen Kingdom, was hostile.
I had only learned of this a year prior when I joined the Hero’s party, but apparently the Necromancers’ Kingdom was an enemy of all three of the major nations of the Fuhlen Kingdom, Forress Empire, and Holy Principality. A long time ago, when a being known as the Demon King ruled the Necromancers’ Kingdom, the nation launched a great war against these three kingdoms in an attempt to claim greater land and rule over the whole continent. While the Demon King was now absent and the demons had largely settled down, their entry into these three nations was still strictly prohibited.
At least, it should have been from what I had heard. According to the knights, there was a harsh security system in place to prevent any demons from entering our territory.
“So we’ve been invaded...”
It was probably safe to assume that the kingdom’s defenses had been breached, which meant other demons had likely slipped in as well. If we didn’t deal with them quickly, they could enter en masse.
“I’ll have to report this to the knights later.”
But first came the situation at hand. If there were demons here, it was hard to think they weren’t related to our current predicament. They were likely the perpetrators.
Not to mention, I sensed the same mana that the black stone was emitting coming from the beastman that was with them. This might give us a hint that would help us solve the mystery of the disappearing monsters and monster hordes.
“Guys... There are demons up ahead.”
“Got it. Demons, huh? Wait! D-Demons? The demons I’m thinking of?!”
“Yeah... There are seven of them, all in the same place.”
“W-Wait! Lloyd...” said Daggers, causing me to halt. “Demons shouldn’t be able to even enter the kingdom. What are they...?”
“I don’t know. But I sense the same magic that came from the black stone as well. I doubt this is unrelated to those monster hordes.”
“Wait, for real?!”
“Unfortunately, Cross, for real.”
I’m sure they didn’t want to believe demons had infiltrated the kingdom if they could. The news had Cross going pale.
“Hey, Lloyd... Do we really gotta go there?” asked Yui, timidly. She probably wanted to stay away if possible, but...
“We do. If I’m right, they’re planning something, and if that’s an attack on Ishtar...that’s plenty of reason for us to check it out.”
The disappearing monsters, the mysterious magic that could manipulate them... Considering how close the demons were to Ishtar, I had a hard time thinking that was the end of it. They likely were plotting something, and everything began to fall into place when assuming that’s why they had remained here. Not that I had any real proof or evidence...
“So what will we do? I’ll let you guys decide.”
“No, let’s go!” insisted Yui.
“Yui...” said Silica, looking worried.
“I mean, these guys might be after Ishtar, right? Well, maybe they aren’t, but we can’t just let them be! We’ve gotta do something!” she said, inciting her party members to action.
It didn’t seem to fully relieve their fears, but...
“Well... I guess you’re right. According to Lloyd, this might help us figure out what’s happening, right?” asked Daggers, seemingly defeated. After a moment’s hesitation, Silica and Cross agreed to the plan as well. Since I had always intended on leaving the decision in their hands, that left us all in agreement.
I transformed our buffs into those meant for combat. Then, we headed for the demons.