The Demon Empire and the Cassiubia League currently divided up the city into two parts—not perfectly in half, of course, and the center of the city was vacant, especially its heart. The reason for this was the cluster of high-rises there, each serving as a fortress of sorts in street battles. Shooting in small private houses while hiding was tough, but imagine shooting in buildings with countless windows, a rooftop, and thick walls. Although it was becoming more like a beehive with many holes as the war intensified, the buildings still served their purpose.
Neither side let the other reach the heart of the city, but the two groups acted differently. The Demon Empire stuck to the strategy of defense under Vepar’s guidance. They turned to the offense only when the other party tried to force a siege. It was like they were making the area into a ‘white elephant’: seemingly too precious to let it be, but would cause more headaches once they occupied it. In a situation where they were already suffering great damages, the Cassiubia League would of course wonder if they really needed to take this place at the risk of more damage.
Thus, the area naturally became vacant. It was obvious this empty place would soon become occupied, be it the demons or the monsters. Even the eighth recruits were aware of this. The clock was ticking, and they needed to think of a solution before that happened. Thus, that night, one person secretly sneaked out of the central building’s window. Some of the Cassiubia League members spotted him scurrying through the dark, but no one shot him.
Ru Amuh successfully crossed over to the opposite side and took out the flag he had prepared beforehand. Then he came out of his hiding spot to plain view, raised the flag high in the air, and waved it. After a while, he felt a presence with his synesthesia. As soon as he sensed it, he lay flat on his stomach and placed both hands on his head; it was a clear display of surrender and peace.
Slid. Slidd—
He heard something dragging across damp ground, and the sound drew closer until it reached him.
“Who are you?” He heard a muffled voice asked; it sounded as if the speaker was underwater. “What’s your identity?”
“Please don’t kill me,” Ru Amuh quickly said. “I came to ask for your mercy.”
A short silence followed, and the voice told him, “Raise your head.” And Ru Amuh obeyed.
He saw two large demons looking down at him in the darkness. They looked like miniature versions of legendary sea dragons—two arms and a face like humans, but the long tail of a snake for the lower body. Several tentacles flowed down from their ears and upper lip, and there were spiky fins that began from the top of their heads and connected to the ends of their tails. Their entire bodies were covered with dark blue scales. They looked like a naga.
“It’s a human,” one of the naga-looking demons murmured. “Are you also a wanderer? If you want to become a slave like the others that had been found, there’s no reason for us to not accept you.” They laughed at him, but Ru Amuh looked hopeful to hear this. Although humanity was in ruins on Liber, they were not all gone. Some had been left alive, although pretty much all of them had been captured as slaves. The Demon Empire was one such example of those who had taken humans as slaves.
Through many conquests, the empire had greatly expanded its territory, but they couldn’t stop here. Because in the end, the birth of demons and humans was the same in that they were both created beings. As beings who hadn’t yet crossed the realm of immortality, the demons needed to consume resources periodically to live. After coming into the Middle World, the demons made up for their lack of labor with slaves. Humans, who had lost their ability to resist, couldn’t have been a better option. The humans could do menial jobs, make food, or even be food supplies themselves. They could even use humans to replenish their lacking troops. Thus, the Demon Empire tended to turn their prisoners of war into slaves rather than killing them outright.
“I didn’t come here to be a slave,” Ru Amuh said.
“What?”
“I have something important to tell. Please let me meet your commander.”
The two demons exchanged blank looks and burst into laughter.
“What kind of crazy bastard is this? What? He wants to meet our commander, Vepar?”
“Should we just eat him? Look at how bulky his chest is. He looks quite tasty.”
The two chuckled and kept up an idle chat. Ru Amuh held his breath.
“I came to help you all,” Ru Amuh said.
“Kuh. A weak human came to help us?”
“Yes. I’m sure you both are aware of the incident that happened a couple of nights ago,” Ru Amuh quickly continued as one of the demons raised its tail, “I have important information connected to the incident and the League.”
The thick tail stopped.
“If you still have doubts, you can pass on to the commander that the monster alliance is about to reach their goal. I’m sure the commander will listen to me then.”
“…”
“Well, do as you wish. Kill me or let me live, but you are going to regret it if you kill me like this.” Ru Amuh closed his eyes, waiting for their response. Even a clearly weaker party could take the strong by surprise if they sounded confident, especially if it was about a serious matter. Both demons were aware of the sudden ambush that had occurred recently—it would have been a bit strange if it had happened just for the purpose of collecting information. Furthermore, they clearly saw mysterious things happening on the monsters’ side, such as the temple-like building that suddenly appeared out of nowhere.
“Now that I think about it, a couple of days ago, there was…”
Since the Demon Empire didn’t know what was happening, they were curious, and their hearts began to waver. Plus, bringing a person to the commander wasn’t such a difficult matter; they simply needed to do what they were told afterward.
“Get up.” The two nagas soon decided. “Follow us. Quietly.”
* * *
“The monster alliance is about to…reach their goal?” A languid voice rang.
“Yes, yes,” replied the naga. “That’s what the human clearly said.”
“Hm…” It was a thin, nasal voice.
A pregnant pause. Then water poured out of an artificially made pool.
“How interesting.” A long figure appeared into view, and the naga bowed even lower.
“Guide me to the human.”
“As you wish.” The naga turned around with its head bowed.
* * *
Ru Amuh was dragged into a mysterious building and soon, he heard a commotion.
“She’s coming. She’s coming,” the nagas guarding him murmured. One of them grabbed Ru Amuh’s head and pushed it down hard.
“Bow down, human.”
Bang. Ru Amuh’s head collided against the floor, and he groaned quietly. A few minutes later, his surroundings became quiet.
Slid—Sliiiiiid—
There was a slithering sound, and the nagas tensed up in nervousness.
“Back away.” A voice that was more clear than he had expected rang in his ears. The naga clutching his head immediately let go.
“Raise your head.” Her voice sounded slightly bored but still authoritative.
Ru Amuh slowly looked up and blinked.
“Oh my.” The Demon Empire’s commander, Vepar, was impressed. She came with no expectations, but the man in front of her was extremely good-looking. Ru Amuh also had the same thought. Vepar looked different from the other nagas. Her dark blue hair flowed down her waist, and she exposed her small shoulders and full breast without shame. Her fair and fine skin and charming features immediately attracted people’s attention. Her lower half was the same as other nagas, but her upper body was human—and not just an ordinary human, but a very beautiful one.
Vepar continued, “So, I heard that you’ve brought important information about the monster alliance?”
“…Yes!” Ru Amuh quickly bowed down again.
“You can look. It’s okay, so keep your head up.” Vepar spoke softly as if she was soothing a child.
“There’s a request I would like to make before I tell you.”
“…A request?”
“I’m well aware that my comrades are being held here.”
“…So?”
“I’ll tell you everything I know, so please let me and my comrades—”
“Go?” Vepar cut him off.
Ru Amuh gulped as her shadow slowly sidled up to him.
“You’re shamelessly brave.” She gently rebuked him. “Listen, human male. The only reason why I came all the way to meet you here is that you got my interest a little bit.” Then she lifted her arm. “I don’t know your motivation, but I applaud your bravery to come all the way here alone. Still, my respect towards your bravery has ended the very moment you arrived here.”
Vepar softly grabbed Ru Amuh’s neck with her webbed hands. “And now that you’re here—you’re worthless.” It seemed as if she was going to carefully caress his skin, but she suddenly grabbed him harshly by the neck.
“Ugh-!” A groan was squeezed out of Ru Amuh’s mouth.
“You probably came here prepared to die, but you must actually want to live.” Her grip was terrifyingly strong. “Yearning to live. It’s not bad…but.” She lifted Ru Amuh with one hand, and he hovered helplessly in the air. “If you want to survive, you need to gain my favor first. Second, the information you brought needs to be more valuable than I expected.”
“Uck-! Ack-!”
“Even fulfilling those conditions would be difficult, but you dare to even make a request.”
“Ack! Acck!”
“I—don’t like it.” Vepar smiled like she was pleased to see Ru Amuh’s pained expression. “You’ve crossed the line of bravery and—”
Even though Ru Amuh felt as if his neck was going to explode soon, he managed to say, “I also…know…! I…! Know…my…place…!”
“Hmm?”
“But…despite this…the reason…why…I ack-made a request…first…is because I…thought it…was…worth that much…!” Even while choking, Ru Amuh finished his sentence.
Vepar lifted one eyebrow. “So you brought information so valuable that a human like you dare ask me for a deal disguised as a request…” A smile tugged at her lips. “Haha, hahahah.”
Amid the sound of her laughter, Ru Amuh felt the grip on his neck lessen. Vepar dropped Ru Amuh to the ground.
“Cough-! Cough, cough-!”
“You look good enough to be a concubine, but I guess you have more guts than I thought.” She looked down at Ru Amuh, who was coughing intensely with his hands on his neck. In high spirits, she said, “It’s important to have enough guts to not give in even while facing death. It seems your statement is at least not grounded in senseless bravery.”
She spoke with a lilt in her tone and crossed her arms. “Fine. Take responsibility for your words.” She glanced sideways and continued, “Bring them. Every single one of them without fail.”
The nagas who were on standby began busily moving. By the time his coughing fit subsided, Ru Amuh felt a large number of presences with his synesthesia. Ru Amuh’s expression stiffened when he looked up. He heard that more than 150 recruits had gone missing. However, looking at the number of people who were brought in, there seemed to be only a little over 100. Most of them appeared to have been treated extremely badly as they were all covered in blood and wounds. Ru Amuh carefully searched for one person.
[Mariaju will be alive. I’m sure of it!]
[You must check if she’s there. You must.]
Afrilith and Eustitia had repeatedly asked him to find Mariaju. ‘Light pink, round wavy bobbed hair…’ Ru Amuh couldn’t see well because it was dark, but he carefully looked at every person coming in one after another. He soon found a person closest to the description he heard—a woman who was struggling to even walk as she was dragged and thrown down.
“Now, the request you so desperately desire is right in front of you.” Vepar spoke with glee and playfulness, as if she was a host saying, ‘Let’s start the game now.’
Vepar continued, “You said you wanted me to show mercy?”
Ru Amuh nodded.
“Well, I can do that. Yeah, I’ll do it. Only if your information is as valuable as you claimed, of course, and—” Verpas’ voice lowered. “In the case I find you lacking, you need to take full responsibility for raising my expectations, right?” The corners of Vepar’ mouth went up. “You’ll have to do well. If you don’t, I’ll make my subordinates assault your comrades for four days and eat them piece by piece.”
It seemed the eighth recruits had also heard her, and a couple of them began trembling.
“My underlings are very hungry because this war has been going on longer than expected.” She smiled with her eyes and continued, “Of course, what happens next is completely dependent on what you have to say.” She tipped her chin up at the end of her sentence and commanded, “You have one chance. Speak.”
Ru Amuh unconsciously took a deep breath. He was standing at the edge of a cliff. Just like how a single misstep could drop him dead, a single misspoken word would end his and everyone’s lives. He would not only doom himself and the eighth recruits, but also the route that his teacher managed to set up with great struggle. All that made him nervous, and he felt extremely pressured. But even then, he thought, ‘I have to do it.’
The Indigenous Monster Alliance had temporarily become their allies. Ru Amuh had only heard the result, but he was sure that it hadn’t been easy. However, his teacher managed to do it, and as he’d done so far, his teacher completely reversed a situation that seemed hopeless. Ru Amuh couldn’t just stand still and leave everything up to his teacher. He needed to also take risks and produce similar results, so that he could be qualified to stand by the man. He needed to keep the promise he made. This was the reason why Ru Amuh had stepped forward without hesitation after seeing his teacher’s message. He took a deep breath and raised his eyes.
“I’ll tell you.” Ru Amuh began speaking.