The event happened after Zich and Lyla met Walter and Ellie. Following their meeting in the garden, Walter and Ellie stayed at the same lodging place as Zich and his companions. Zich and his companions were staying at a considerably luxurious place, and the fee for their stay there was unexpectedly high. Even if they were their fathers’ precious children, one could tell how high the Wolf’s Canine’s earnings were for their leaders’ children to afford this stay.
Perhaps it was because they had already met each other before, but Walter and Ellie quickly became close to Zich’s party. They gathered in the garden; there weren’t many people because of the current situation in the city. At the center of the garden, Zich, Hans, and Snoc faced the children.
While clutching on a tree branch from who-knows-where that was as big as his arm, Walter glared at the three. Ellie did the same thing. As if he thought their behavior was laughable, Zich chuckled while crossing his arms.
“Ahhahaha! You arrogant kids! How dare you provoke the Great Demon Lord, Sir Zich! You must have no fear!” he laughed exaggeratedly and wore a mischievous expression. Next to him, there was a tree branch as long as his arm like the ones the children had.
“Fine! I will praise your courage and face you personally!”
Zich slowly pulled out the tree branch as if it was a legendary demon sword and wielded it against the children. Likewise, the children lifted up their tree branches like swords with serious faces—of course, that was more adorable than intimidating.
“Demon Lord! This is the end of your evil deeds!”
“It’s the end!”
Walter spoke first and Ellie followed. Zich laughed harder when he heard this. “Kuaaaah! The end of my evil deeds? Ridiculous! My evil deeds will continue to spread far and wide. Hero, your skills were quite impressive. Thus, this merciful Demon Lord will give you an opportunity to repent. Join me and become my underling!”
“I won’t!”
“Yeah!”
Walter and Ellie yelled defiantly.
“If you do, I will get you sweet juice from the store in front!”
“Uh, really?” Walter’s heart wavered from Zich’s temptation. The tree branch that he had firmly aimed towards Zich until now dropped slightly lower.
“The Demon Lord doesn’t lie! I won’t give you just one—I’ll buy you juice every day for a whole month!”
“A month?” Even Ellie began to waver while standing behind Walter. Like fish trying to find salvation in a dried-up well, their pupils jumped this way and that.
Lyla and Elena had been watching this scene at a distance, but they suddenly burst into laughter.
“What do we do, Teacher? The world has fallen into danger though.”
“As expected of the Demon Lord. The methods he uses are sly and tricky.”
Lyla held in her laughter. Thankfully, the two young heroes didn’t fall for the Demon Lord’s sly ploy. They refused the Demon Lord’s offer loudly—Lyla and Elena politely turned their eyes away from the clear lingering ache in their voices.
“I will go!”
“Ahhhh!”
The children rushed towards Zich. Of course, the effect of seven and eight-year-old children swinging wooden branches posed as much danger as an ant crawling on the ground to him, but Zich moved like he was blocking the children’s attacks with all he had.
“Kuh! To think your skills were this great!”
“How is the swordsmanship I learned from Dad!”
“Isn’t it impressive!”
In actuality, the two moved much more sharply than most ordinary children. Besides the environment they grew up in, it seemed that their fathers had taught them. After receiving some of their attacks purposefully, Zich backed away hurriedly.
“Hmph! You are quite good, heroes! But I still have my scary underlings with me! Do you think you can handle them?”
From behind, Hans and Snoc walked forward. It seemed they were taking these theatrics seriously as they wore serious expressions.
Koooo!
It was the same for Nowem. He stood up on Snoc’s shoulder with his front legs raised like a bear trying to scare its prey. Of course, no one was scared by this sight. Instead, the young heroes’ eyes sparkled as if Nowem’s cuteness had struck their hearts. Yet, the tiny heroes still didn’t back down from Nowem’s overwhelming cuteness and pressed on.
“Even if two more of you join, there’s no way we’re going to lose!”
“Who said only two?” Zich turned in the direction of Lyla and Elena watching them intently.
“Elena!”
“Sorry?” Elena responded, surprised to hear her name.
“What are you doing! You have to support us!”
Elena blinked. She hadn’t expected her to be called on to be part of this play, and she looked clearly taken aback. Although she enjoyed watching them, she didn’t know how she felt about taking part in the theatrics. Elena quickly turned around to look at Lyla. At times like this, she could only rely on her teacher. She looked toward Lyla with pleading eyes as if she was asking to be saved.
However, Lyla smiled brightly and asked, “What are you doing? You should quickly go.”
It seemed like Lyla had no intention of saving her. With her teacher’s command, Elena couldn’t refuse any longer. Like a cattle being dragged to the slaughterhouse, she walked weakly towards Zich.
“You have to appear like a Demon Lord’s underling when you come.”
“A D-Demon Lord’s underling? How do I do that?”
“Laugh haughtily. Like this, ‘Ohohohho!’”
“I can’t do that!”
“You can’t do it, Miss?” Walter said.
“She is no fun,” Ellie added.
The children looked at her with disappointment. Their eyes looked so pure and clear that Elena had to take a step back. ‘Is this how scary the innocence of children are?’ she thought. Elena looked to her teacher again for salvation, but Lyla simply waved her hand at her leisurely, and Elena had no choice but to give up.
“Oh, oho…hohoho…ho…”
“Yeah, a bit more! Tighten your stomach muscles and use all the strength in your throat!”
“Ohohoho!”
“Good!”
Even though Elena received Zich’s praise and the children’s claps, she was not happy at all. Her bright red face was even more conspicuous under the clear blue sky. Lyla watched this sight with a smile on her face. Demon Lord Zich’s group, including Elena, began facing the children once again. As expected of an ex-Demon Lord, Zich’s act as a Demon Lord was very impressive.
‘Or could his mental age be similar to those children?’ Considering his actions right now, this speculation was very persuasive. Like this, a more peaceful time passed between them.
Their patrol time today was around sunrise. After playing, they planned to eat dinner and go out of the city to patrol. However, their plans were completely shattered by the bell that suddenly rang in the air.
Ring! Ring! Ring! Ring!
Bells that hung around the city walls began ringing one by one, and soon they combined together to make a loud cluttering sound, and the sound scattered like crazy throughout the city. Like a demon’s cry that loudly sang of people’s fortune, it brought anxiety to people’s hearts. Zich and his companions also heard this sound while they were at the climax of their Demon Lord play.
“Zich!” Lyla jumped from the table, and Zich stopped playing and stared at the place where he heard the sound with a stiff face. ‘It’s definitely not a good sign.’
He lowered his head. Walter and Ellie had role-played as heroes with energetic and bright expressions, but they now looked scared.
“Go back to your rooms. And don’t try to go out.”
“Yes, Yes!” Walter quickly nodded and grabbed Ellie’s hand. Then, they ran inside the lodging.
After checking that the children went inside the building, Lyla said, “What are you going to do? Should we run towards the closest entrance?”
“Wait.”
“Do we have time for that? Considering the situation, it seems like a very serious event happened…”
The contract they made with the city was to just patrol around the city. Whatever unexpected variable that occurred in the city had nothing to do with them. However, no one in Zich’s group tried to avoid the current situation.
“If they’re ringing the emergency bells to such a great extent like this, it’s obvious that the army would be mobilized. Then, the city would try to establish a main direction of command, and if the city’s commanding team is not idiotic, they’ll try to gather together all the possible forces inside the city. Thus, people will come to us from the city’s command post. Since they’ll tell us where our strengths are most needed, it’s better to just stay still for now.”
Zich’s words were completely on the mark. Soon afterward, a soldier quickly came running toward them.
* * *
The soldier led Zich and his companions to a certain entrance in the city wall and explained the current situation.
“It’s the monsters! A number much greater than usual are heading straight towards Pialu!”
“Sir, how many?”
“I also don’t know, sir! I’ve been informed that we are unable to get an exact estimate of the number of monsters!”
Considering that they were getting riled up like this, the number of monsters was probably enormous. When Zich and his companions reached the city wall, the soldiers were already quickly moving. There were soldiers already climbing up the city wall after arming themselves, and there were soldiers moving necessary goods.
The door in the city wall, which should be completely open during the day, was barely open for only a few people to pass through. It was ready to close at any time.
“Please stand ready here! The commanding officer will arrive soon!” The soldier led Zich and his companions to the top of the city wall and hurriedly went down.
Zich stared beyond the city wall, but he couldn’t see any monsters yet. He looked immediately beneath the city wall this time.
‘It’s the Wolf’s Canine’s camp.’
However, he couldn’t see anyone in the camp; this was expected. No one was stupid enough to continue staying in a camp when the number of monsters was so great that even a city with high walls would be so tense. Even though the camp was somewhat well-prepared for defense, it was still just a camp. While Zich scanned his surroundings, troops began to gather around the surrounding walls. They were not soldiers; they were mercenaries.
‘Are they gathering all the mercenaries to this side?’
In a way, since Zich and his companions were not officially part of the city’s military forces, they were not much different from the mercenaries in the city’s perspective. There were mercenaries from the Wolf’s Canine among the mercenaries that came up. Til was leading Nick, Max, and a couple of other underlings with a loud voice and quickly climbed up the wall.
“I’m Til, the captain of the Wolf’s Canine! The city has given me command of the mercenaries! Listen to my commands in this battle!”
The paper he held high up in the air with his right hand fluttered in the wind. It was probably the document confirming his authority. When a large group of mercenaries was gathered together like this, it was common to give commanding power to the captain with the largest number of mercenaries.
While shouting loudly like this, Til noticed Zich and approached him. “Ah, Sir Zich! You’ve also arrived. If I knew you would be here, I would have given up the commanding authority to you.”
“It’s fine. Mr. Til, as someone leading a large mercenary group, I’m sure you’ll do a much better job commanding than me.”
“Thank you. Even though shameful events happened between us, let us move on and fight together. I’m saying this for the sake of the city.”
“Of course.”
Til smiling as he seemed to be pleased by Zich’s reply. They shared a handshake.
“I’m sorry, but you must excuse me. I need to tell the others that I received commanding power from the city.” Then, Til began moving around the city while shouting in a loud voice again. The mercenaries followed him from behind. Max was familiar with Zich’s group, so he lightly showed his respects and passed by them. Surprisingly, Nick also slightly bowed his head. Considering how they separated last time, it was a very surprising event.
‘Is he acting like this because I played with his daughter?’
This was the only reason Zich could think of. As expected, Nick seemed to be a sucker for his daughter.