Click. Clack. Click. Clack.

Click.

Clack.

The demon lord’s bony fingers tapped his throne lightly. Each sound that his fingers made when it hit the solid surface of the armrest caused his subordinates to break into cold sweat.

“Y-your majesty…” One brave subordinate came forward, ready to give his report.

His tapping stopped abruptly. To his subordinates, it was a sign that he was willing to listen to their reports.

“V-Valdavia has finally released their Heroes into the field. With the cooperation of the nation’s adventurer’s guild, their progress have been too smooth. At this rate, we… we… might…” The subordinate gulped audibly. He did not dare to finish his words, fearful of the demon lord’s wrath.

“Hm.”

Just one sound was enough to send the subordinates into submission. The demon lord was simply too intimidating.

The brave subordinate, who was also one of the oldest aide of the demon lord, could still remember when the previous demon lord had been murdered by the current one.

Who knew from which hell the current demon lord crawled out from. Even back then, the demons were no match against this demon lord; he was simply too powerful.

Abiding by the strong-eats-weak mentality, naturally, the current demon lord was given the highest position in the country of demons.

While this change brought about the greatest glory the demons had ever experienced, it did not mean that they were completely happy. It could be said that they had no choice but to follow the current demon lord in his plans of taking over the world as they were too scared of him. Just one wrong move and you’d lose your head. The demon lord held no compassion towards his subordinates, much less to the other species that roamed the lands.

“Have them captured, not killed,” the demon lord ordered after a little bit of contemplation. “I’d like to see just what’s so different about those humans that came from another world.” His voice dripped with darkness as he smirked sadistically.

“””Yes!”””

Meanwhile, Ryouta who had just discovered his new strengths had just arrived at the Republic, blissfully unaware of the dangers that were brewing behind-the-scenes.

“Yo-ta, look!”

Waa~

Shiro spun around as she dragged Ryouta along.

Hundreds of people were rambling around the docks. People of all shapes, sizes, colour, and species, wearing all sorts of unique clothing.

“So this is the Republic…” Ryouta now truly felt that he had entered a fantasy world.

While he was busy admiring the sights, the Skull Brigade was busy with work. The newly liberated slaves, upon reaching land, heaved breaths of relief. They were finally free.

The Skull Brigade gathered them around, ready to take them to register their citizenship as well as find them a place to live. Finally, they were able to start their new lives.

“So this is where we part,” says Elena. The whole time, her eyes did not leave Shiro. She felt it was unfortunate that they were unable to spend any more time together; she quite liked the rather childish girl, and hoped to stay together for just a little bit longer. Alas, it was not meant to be.

“If there’s a chance in the future, I’d like to meet again,” Elena ended their farewells with these parting words.

Ryouta felt sour having to part ways with people whom he had gotten to know for the past two weeks. However, he knew that they had a noble cause to fulfil and did not want to get in their way.

“We’ll see each other again,” Ryouta says, as if trying to convince himself. “Thanks for everything.”

“See, again~ Bye-bye~”

Elena smiled. These two odd pairing sure grew on her. “Mm. See you.”

Elena understood that their paths might not cross again. To her, this was but a minor event that happened while she was working. That was why, she could easily let go of her attachments. Though it was cold of her, it was simply the way in their line of work. If she was unable to dismiss her feelings, then it will only hurt her in the end. After all, who knew whether they would still be alive to meet one another again.

Just like that, Ryouta and Shiro began their journey in the Republic together.