“Th-The Four Fiends?!”
He had to be kidding. The Four Fiends were the four head commanders of the demon army. I knew our opponent today would be tough, but I obviously hadn’t expected this. I thought they’d send a small force of elites for a surprise attack, not someone as strong and important as him. If I knew this was what we’d be facing, I wouldn’t have let them take me on this quest.
“You were deceiving us this whole time?” asked Claira.
“Yup. I didn’t just change my looks, but the nature of my mana. And boy, was that tough. Thanks to that, I now owe that bastard a favor, but kidnapping you should more than make up for all that.”
“I-I can’t believe this! Father trusted you!”
“It’s your fault for being so naive.”
“Then the person behind my kidnapping must be...”
“Yup, that’s me. And just for that, I went through the trouble of transforming into a beastman and hiding inside the empire for years! Yet...” He glared at me. “My whole plan fell through due to you bastards. This was my chance to position myself above the other Four Fiends!”
In a plot spanning multiple years, a Four Fiend himself had snuck into the empire. Of course nobody would notice. It wasn’t until recently that we knew the demons were up to something anyway.
“So that’s why an imperial princess was locked away in a place like that.” One of the Five Commanders would have plenty of chances to kidnap her.
“Yup. Sure, it was a pain in the ass, but I managed to capture her without a hitch. Once I used her power to crush the Hero of Ishtar, they’d have seen my worth! That Hero had climbed to fame in a flash! He was a threat to us, and one we didn’t know much about.”
The fact Allen lacked a nickname like the other Heroes must have played a part in that. He had only been active for a year, and it had been even less time since he had started to make a name for himself. Thus, the only intel out there was that a Hero with crazy sword skills had suddenly appeared on the scene, and it wasn’t like Allen was the type to travel much either.
“In the end, it turned out he was just a weakling. Even just figuring that out was enough for us. But we’ve still got use for the girl. She’s mine.”
A force like nothing else washed over us. I don’t think I had ever heard anyone speak so maliciously before.
“Hey, Lloyd? Should we run for it?” asked Daggers, whispering in my ear.
“I’d like to, but I don’t think we can. He’s fast. He’ll catch up to us in an instant.”
“So we’ve got no choice but to fight, huh?”
“Or wait out the fog, at least.” But there was no guarantee that would happen. No matter what we did, it’d still be hopeless. “Daggers, I’ve got just one idea.”
“What is it?”
I explained my plan in a whisper. “Though it’s a bit of a gamble.”
“You can say that again. There’s not much chance it’ll work.”
Our strategy was based on two things: how long we could hold out, and how quickly reinforcements would find us. It wasn’t just riding on factors we could control, but factors we couldn’t.
“Well, I guess we’ve got no choice.”
✦ ✦ ✦
“Damn it! No one said there’d be fog!” Inside the misty woods stood a scowling beastman who twitched his ears. His hair was light blue and his skin pearly white. Despite the sharp look in his eyes, his clothes were rough and tattered—not something you’d think to wear when heading into the mountains. He held no sword, staff, or anything else but a knapsack, and he had no friends in sight.
“Why the hell now?! Of all times!” His expression was permanently contorted into a ferocious frown, and he made no attempt to hide his anger. The sharpness of his eyes only made him look scarier, enough to inspire tears in any child.
The ground beneath his feet crackled and froze as if synchronized with his emotions. The air around the beastman was extra cold, not that he minded.
“Damn it! How could they leave her to S-rank adventurers?! They’re weak as hell! What’s that shitty emperor thinking?!”
Not only did he call S-rank adventurers “weak,” he even spoke ill of the crown. He had to be pretty confident in his skills.
“No way am I letting those demons get their hands on Claira!”