The half-wolf's nose could distinguish thousands of different types of smells. After the monster was killed, the scent of rotten lemon was gone, and only the smell of burning flesh remained, but the current of air, which came through the holes in the ceiling, brought an explicit smell of dried blood.
With his curiosity instigated by that odor, Luke followed that.
The trio of half-beasts went deeper into the crystal cave, and soon they were faced with a pile of headless corpses. Some of these bodies appeared to be peasants because of the simple clothes; other bodies were notably city knights or adventurers. Among so many corpses, one won Alexis Dmitry's attention. This particular corpse was wearing an all-black outfit, and from his pants pocket came a white cloth on which a yellow cross had been embroidered.
"Do you know this person?" Luke asked, seeing the sad countenance of the half-dragon who was looking at the white cloth and the wedding ring on this corpse's hand.
Alexis pulled some air into her lungs and answered:
"This was the emissary that the Pontiff commented on... We did some work together two years ago... A pity we were too late. Since it's been a few months since he came here, he was lucky that he died only a few weeks ago, apparently."
Afterward, Alexis reached down and took the white cloth from the emissary's pocket. As she did that, a piece of letter paper was pulled along with the fabric. Alexis opened the letter and began to read it aloud.
[I don't know why I am writing this letter, but I think what is happening in Latgor needs to be made known, and if not by me, then by someone else.
I arrived in this small town six months ago, when it still seemed like an ordinary town. Strangely enough, here are two nobles living in this town, who call themselves the Count and Countess of the region. Up to this point, I could deduce that they were just two crazy people with royalty syndrome, but within a few days of my arrival, I found out that things were worse than I could imagine.
The cases of attacks by mysterious creatures that I had come here to investigate became more recurrent, and at the end of a long investigation with the help of a local guard, we eventually discovered that the new nobles were indeed the culprits.
The battle against them was long, but not productive. The two demons destroyed and tortured every guard in town with their teleportation abilities. Now we are just under a dozen.
Currently, I am trying to find ways to leave the city, but I can't find ways to overcome the monster that's circling the city. Even so, tonight the last six guards, brave enough, will accompany me to a tunnel that can be our way out of the city. Hopefully, the Spirit of the Heroine Hera will protect us!
If you are reading this letter and I am dead, please don't tell my family. I know that the pain of a missing husband might not be easier to bear, but it might be easier to overcome.
- Signed by the Seventh Cardinal Church Emissary, Endrew Bezerra.]
After finishing her reading, the half-dragon crumpled the letter, deciding to carry out the emissary's final design.
"We are here to avenge them, and if Yoelona's memory is correct, we know Masink's demon name... I will personally kill him after he confesses to the Emperor."
"All right... Now we know about his powers too." Meredith pointed out, since it said that the demons destroyed the guards with teleportation abilities in the letter.
"We can't wait any longer. The people of Latgor are suffering, and it may be a while before we find an alternative way to get the demons out of the Mansion." Luke spoke, looking at the pile of bodies.
"What do you suggest then? The battles against the demons are dangerous, even more so because we need to exhaust them one by one to seal them away." Alexis pointed out, because no matter how urgent the mission was, it should still be done cautiously.
"We have everything we need to save people. We have guys outside the city, we killed the thing that was blocking people from escaping, and we know a house that can open the door to hear us again." Luke spoke up. He perfectly understood why the half-dragon wanted to proceed calmly, but he could no longer agree with her on this. "What else would we need?"
Alexis looked down at the ground, glanced at the emissary's body, and answered:
"All right. Let's talk about a plan, then."
The half-wolf nodded in agreement.
As they walked out of the cave, the trio of half-wolves debated all the possibilities that arose in their minds. The S-Class had a lot of experience fighting demons that Meredith and Luke didn't have; however, they collaborated for a complete plan, contributing their experiences from years of living in Oukiwa.
For Meredith, a rescue and evacuation plan wasn't much different from a robbery plan. They analyzed the environment, plotted the routes, chose a specific route and other auxiliary routes, based solely on the memories of the base of the town, which they saw from the top of the hill.
The residents of Latgor might not believe Meredith about the monster in the area is dead, but that didn't matter, because from the moment she told them that there was an S-Class in town and the noises in the Mansion started, everyone would want to leave their homes to escape.
Just before she separated from the two adventurers, Meredith went to the door in the people's alley that housed them and tried to convince them to leave the house. Since they had seen the S-Class earlier and heard about the giant monster being killed, they accepted on the spot, and with the help of the man from this family, Meredith began to convince crowds to leave their homes.
Meanwhile, high up on the hill, a man was watching the humble Latgor from the second-floor balcony of his Mansion. This man had long black hair, elegantly combed back, highlighting his vanity. The pointed ears of his ears denoted that he was an Elf, but this could be easily seen thanks to the extremely delicate traces of his face.
"My love, I wonder where Rufus is? I haven't seen him on the streets for over two hours. That way, the citizens might notice and run away." Masink asked his beloved, carefully swishing the wine in his goblet.
The woman at the table behind him raised her head, looked at her husband, put a hand on her chin, and spoke:
"You know how hard it is to keep that kind of monster obedient. He's probably resting in those caves like every day."
This woman, Marie, also had her hair combed back, but her hair was blonde and also shorter than Masink's.
Ding, Dong~
The bell of the Mansion echoed through all the rooms of that massive residence, alerting the two demons. After all, who could it be at this time of night?
This 𝓬ontent is taken from fre𝒆webnove(l).𝐜𝐨𝗺