When the girl let out her unexpected proposal, Ryan's group took it as a joke.
'Well, now that she's right in front of me, I inspected her again. She is indeed a mage, but with her stats, she wouldn't help at all,' Ryan thought, ignoring her request and taking a sip of his drink.
"Of course not, just go away, brat," Helen complained, flatly denying her request to join the party.
The girl looked at them all with a pout.
"Don't be silly, accept me, I'm very strong!" she exclaimed. Then she looked down. "Even if it doesn't seem like it, it's just that I don't have my weapon right now," she murmured.
"Who are you calling stupid?" Helen gruffly asked, glaring at her.
The girl looked away from Helen.
'A weapon? Whatever the case, we'll be here for several days and we're bound to find a suitable mage,' Ryan evaluated in his mind.
"You have to admit she looks very cute at least," Mirian said as she squatted in front of her and began stroking her cheeks with a smile.
"Ha ha, hey, that tickles. Stop it," the girl said through laughs.
"Where are your parents, brat?" Helen asked.
"...I'm not a little girl, can't you see?" The blue-haired girl grumbled, clenching her fists.
Then she opened her mouth to say something else, but looked toward the front door of the establishment and swallowed her words.
"Damn it... I have to go," she added, quickly disappearing among the tavern's customers.
"What a strange girl," Mirian commented, looking toward where she had gone until she lost sight of her.
"Anyway, playtime is over. Let's head to the room now, did they give you the key?" Ryan asked, looking at Helen.
After a pause, he added:
"We have a lot to do tomorrow."
"Yeah, I have it right here, so are we going early to gather materials?" Helen asked after confirming she had the key.
"Yeah, let's try to leave early. It might be a tedious quest, so it's best to hurry and finish quickly," Ryan replied, resting his hands on the table and standing up.
"For now, let's go to sleep," he ordered.
And with those final words, they retired to their quarters. The long journey had exhausted them mentally and, without another word, each headed to their room.
...
At dawn, they gathered at the inn for breakfast. And they began planning their day. Then they asked the manager where the best place to gather those materials was.
He replied that it wasn't safe, but that their best option would be to split up to cover more ground. He also recommended not venturing too far into the Demon King's domains under any circumstances.
The party followed the instructions, and Ryan ordered them to head out immediately.
"Alright, we'll meet back here in several hours. Gather as much material as you can."
"Yes!" The girls replied in unison.
Ryan separated from them, and each headed in opposite directions to look for materials on the outskirts of the city. Ryan was near the south exit.
Although it was early, everything was already illuminated by the light of the new day.
He advanced toward the south exit, but as he passed by an alley, at which he glanced out of the corner of his eye, he stopped for a moment. A small girl with blue hair was hidden behind a wall inside the alley, peeking out toward the other end in front of her, as if trying to search for someone with her gaze.
'What the hell is she doing? Is she lost or what?' he thought as he stepped closer.
"What are you doing there?" he asked as he squatted behind her.
"Ah! Don't sneak up behind my back like that, you almost scared me to death!" the little girl said.
As the two looked into each other's eyes, both spoke at the same time:
"It's you!"
"Wait, we shouldn't be here, let's better get out of here," the little girl said.
Ryan frowned at her.
"Go on your own, I have things to do," he said and turned around. But his hand was pulled.
"Wait, don't leave me here, please!" the blue-haired girl exclaimed.
'What a pain...' Ryan looked at her and before he could say anything, a voice echoed behind them.
"So here you were, you damn brat."
"Tsk, they found me." The girl clicked her tongue as two men surrounded them, blocking the path.
'Now what's with these guys?' Ryan inspected them; one was B-rank, and the other A-rank.
"Well, I have nothing to do with this, so I'll be leaving," Ryan said, breaking free from the girl's grip and advancing, but the taller man blocked his way.
"Let me go," Ryan said in an annoyed tone.
"How do you know this brat?" the man in front of him asked.
"I don't know her, so step aside," Ryan ordered with a frown.
The man didn't answer and was about to step aside when the girl spoke:
"Hey, Ryan! You'll let me join your party, right?"
Ryan ignored her and kept moving forward.
"Hey, come back here," the man said again. "She called you by your name, it's obvious you know each other."
'That brat wants to drag me into this now... I guess I'll have to fight them,' he thought as he turned around, standing ground in front of the man.
"I don't know what you're talking about, I have nothing to do with that girl, but if you insist on holding me back then I'll have to defend myself," Ryan added, clenching his right fist.
However, before Ryan could do anything else, the other man exclaimed:
"Boss, look at this."
"What do you want? Just let us through." The voice came from a female silhouette, covered up to her head in robes. Beside her was a small silhouette, which also looked like a child's, at least judging by her height.
She was roughly the same age as the blue-haired girl beside Ryan.
"Those eyes..." The man standing in front of Ryan murmured and, without warning, drew a short sword from his waist and slashed the woman's robe with a thrust.
The woman, trying to dodge, bumped into the girl and fell to the ground, also losing the hood that concealed her face and head.
"Horns?" Ryan murmured, looking at the woman. But the girl didn't have horns. Although her eyes were of an intense violet shade.
'Are they demons?'
"Inspect," he muttered, and the system responded.
[ CHARACTER STATUS ]
› Race: [Demon]
› Threat Level: Principality
› Elemental Manifestation: Wind
› Strength: 1,670 | Magic: 533 | Agility: 1,130 | Psyche: 300 | Defense: 1,220 |
"..."
[ CHARACTER STATUS ]
› Race: [Demon]
› Threat Level: Legion
› Elemental Manifestation: Fire
› Strength: 870 | Magic: 533 | Agility: 993 | Psyche: 400 | Defense: 920 |
While Ryan viewed those stats, the man behind him took a step forward. And now the two of them stood together in front of the two demons with their weapons drawn.
'Threat level: Principality... Legion. These stats are very different from a human's, but this confirms it: they're demons. Now, what are these guys going to do?' Ryan thought, looking at the men standing before him.
However, the blue-haired girl stepped away from the men and grabbed Ryan's arm.
"Come on, we have to take this opportunity to run!" the girl said.
"Don't you dare move," the man with the short sword ordered.
Ryan stopped, but more out of curiosity to see how a demon would act in this situation. Although the system message was different, the base stats shown for the Principality were equivalent to an A-rank.
"Tsk, Zelyn... stay behind me," the horned woman ordered.
"But Cristal, we have to run, they already found us!" the young violet-eyed demon added.
"Don't worry, I don't plan on fighting these men," the horned woman replied, raising her guard.
"You don't plan on fighting, you say? Do you think you'll walk out of here alive?" the swordsman added with a grin while his companion laughed.
"Now you'll learn what happens when you infiltrate our city," the other man warned.
The demon girl fixed her gaze on the men in front of her with a calm smile.
"As I said, we won't fight here..." she added. And the very moment she finished speaking, the horned demon girl pulled out a stone engraved with symbols.
"Damn it, run now, she wants to teleport us!" the blue-haired girl said, pulling at Ryan's sleeves.
But in an instant, a blinding light enveloped them. And when they opened their eyes, they were in a completely different place. Dark, with a foul smell of ashes and a mist of smoke covering the area.