The beast tamer exiled from the hero’s party and the cat eared girl from the strongest race meet
The four of us walked around the demon city.
Fortunately, Sora and Luna’s magic was functioning properly.
No one noticed that we were humans.
“Shops, houses, and what seems to be public facilities…”
“It’s not that different from our towns.”
“In fact, isn’t it almost exactly the same? There doesn’t seem to be much difference between a human city and a demon city.”
“I thought demons lived in violent, decadent cities… but this is surprising.”
Everyone was astonished.
I was astonished too.
Just like Sora said, I had braced myself for a chaotic, dangerous situation…
But when we actually looked, that wasn’t the case.
What we saw was no different from a human city—peaceful and calm.
It was hard not to be bewildered.
“…Could it be that demons aren’t so different from us?”
Do they really have gentle hearts?
Do they grieve and shed tears when someone close to them dies?
But if that’s true, then why do they treat humans like their sworn enemies?
Did something similar to what happened with Iris occur in the past?
Or is it because of the upper ranks—like the Demon King?
…No good.
No matter how much I think about it, I can’t figure it out.
There’s just not enough information—or maybe it’s not even that.
The basic assumptions are so different that I can’t even begin to think things through logically.
“Earlier, we heard something about upper and lower classes… Sora, Luna, do you know anything? Do demons have some sort of hierarchy?”
“Hmm… honestly, I’m not sure. There’s no doubt that there’s a higher authority like the Four Heavenly Kings, but…”
“I’ve never heard of upper and lower classes either.”
“In the first place, there’s very little information about demons.”
“But when you think about it, demons are living beings too… and if they have a nation with a Demon King at the top, then of course they’d have citizens, right?”
“Still, why does everyone hate humans so much…?”
As we continued looking around the city, we casually asked some demons questions.
The result? Every one of them considered other races as enemies.
Their hatred toward humans was especially strong.
I could feel a powerful conviction that humans must be annihilated.
But it didn’t feel like an emotion born out of hatred.
It didn’t seem like revenge for some terrible act in the past.
Rather, it felt like a sense of duty—almost like a mission.
Seriously, what is going on…?
This unexpected reality was so far from my expectations that I couldn’t keep up, and confusion just kept piling up.
“Rain, what do we do?”
“…Yeah, right.”
Yuki’s question brought me back, and I organized my thoughts.
Honestly, I was still confused…
But we couldn’t keep sneaking around forever.
We had to move on to the next step without wasting time.
“…There are a lot of things I’d like to know about this city and the demons living here, but we’ll put that aside for now. Our priority is the same as before: rescuing the kidnapped people. If possible, we’ll also try to find out what Altera’s goal is.”
“Understood. That’s definitely the best course of action.”
“Yeah. That shocking discovery almost made me lose sight of our original goal.”
“You stayed calm and kept your focus, Rain. That’s reassuring.”
“Not really. I was confused too, so I’m not sure you can call that reliable.”
Thanks to everyone being here, I was able to calm down and think clearly.
If I had been alone… I don’t even want to imagine it.
Just thinking about it is terrifying.
“So, where should we start looking for the kidnapped people?”
“The usual would be a tavern or an adventurer’s guild…”
“Would a demon city even have those?”
“A tavern seems likely, but an adventurer’s guild? Probably not.”
“Maybe there’s a facility similar to a guild that we just don’t know about. Let’s keep looking around the city a bit more.”
“Roger that!”
We resumed exploring the city—checking various places and, when possible, asking questions without drawing suspicion.
Is this really a demon city?
That question kept growing in my mind…
But for now, I pushed it aside.
We walked all over the city, searching for any information about the kidnapped people.
However, this city wasn’t that big.
Actually, it was rather small.
It was about the size of a village, mostly filled with houses.
The only places that seemed like they could provide information were a diner and a tavern—and neither of them was open yet.
With no useful leads, we returned to the park.
“This is a problem…"
“We haven’t been able to gather much information.”
Sora and the others all had uncertain looks on their faces.
We still didn’t know if it was true or not, but…
It had become clear that demons, like humans, had their own culture and lived peaceful lives.
Being able to communicate through language was helpful, but they were still demons.
They might look the same as us, but there could be taboo words hidden in everyday conversation.
Something that seems normal to us might be completely unacceptable to them.
With that in mind, it was hard to ask direct questions…
As a result, we weren’t able to learn anything about the kidnapped people.
“Our top priority was supposed to be finding the kidnapped people, but at this rate, we’re not getting anywhere. It feels like we’re playing tag on thin ice.”
“Should we start by learning more about this city… and the demons living here?”
“That would be ideal if we had the time, but… hmm.”
While we were sitting here, the Four Heavenly Kings might already be plotting something.
They might be preparing to attack Kriegland, using the chaos as cover to kidnap even more people.
“The enemy will act fast. I think the Four Heavenly Kings will begin their operation within a few days—at most, a week.”
“Hmm? And what makes you think that?”
“For one thing, some of their plans have already leaked to us. The bigger the operation, the harder it is to maintain information control—especially as the plan nears completion. The fact that we know this much suggests they’re already deep into preparations.”
“I see.”
“The other reason is the atmosphere in this city. I can’t be certain, since this is my first time in a demon city and it’s so different from what I expected… but there’s a bit of tension in the air. It feels natural to assume the demons here know about the Four Heavenly Kings’ plan.”
“You were paying attention to details like that? Sora didn’t even think that far.”
“It was just by chance, really.”
My job as a Beast Tamer had trained me to observe everything around me.
That’s the only reason I noticed.
“If Rain is right, then we really don’t have much time. We should probably hurry.”
“But how should we proceed…?”
“We might have no choice but to take a risk and ask more direct questions. Not vague ones like ‘Have you seen any humans around here?’ but something like ‘I heard humans were kidnapped—do you know anything about that?’”
“Luna might be right. We may need to push forward… There’s no reward without risk, so we should be prepared.”
Just as we were about to settle on that plan—
“Hey there!”
A loud, cheerful voice called out from nearby.
We turned around and saw a guy about the same age as me.
He had long hair and a well-proportioned face.
There was a certain wildness about him, which only made his masculine charm stand out more.
Judging from his presence, he was a demon too.
Of course, he wasn’t someone we knew.
“…Uh?”
Had he figured out our true identities?
I pretended to look confused, while quietly preparing myself to move at any moment.
Who the hell is this guy…?
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