Chapter 1, part 2

The guest room in the house of Cressa’s Mayor was full of people. There was the mayor himself, the guild master of the local adventurers' guild, the head of the city guards. Three members of “Fortress” were present too, including Baur Olan Valur, the brother of the Empress.

“I am not sure how much assistance we can offer,” explained the guild master “With “Claw” gone, our highest ranked team is platinum. While they can take care of lesser demons, they won’t be of much help against the ones who defeated “Claw.”

“That is precisely what we’ll need from your adventurers,” Baur assured him. “We will take care of enemy’s main forces. However, the demons numbers are such that just the five of us may not be enough to contain them all. That’s where the other adventurers will come into play.”

“The city guards should only need to fight if the enemy breaks through the line of adventurers.” He continued to explain.

The head of the city guards was quite pale, city guards were much weaker than adventurers, even an experienced city guard would be comparable to a silver ranked adventurer at most. If the guards had to fight the demons, their casualties would be enormous. However, according to Baur, the chances of the city guards fighting were quite slim. Relieved the head of the city guards nodded his acknowledgment and left the Mayor’s house to explain the situation to his subordinates.

Guild master had left as well, to gather all the adventurers presently in town and to organize their defense.

“We appreciate your understanding and help in this matter,” Baur addressed the mayor. “Also it is troubling, we hope you will bear with us."

“Still, to use the citizens of this city as bait... Granted, if you are here we should be fine,” replied the mayor.

“Then we will head out and wait for the demon’s attack. According to Potemur, it should commence today.” Baur said before bowing and heading out of the building.

After leaving the mayor’s house, he suddenly stopped, a look of concentration appeared on his face. A minute later it was replaced by one full of worry.

“Oi, oi! What is this? I’ve never seen you so worried,” exclaimed one of his team members looking at his face. Leoh Bur was a hulking paladin clad in adamantite plate armor, a large 2 handed sword on his back.

“I got a [message] from the Empress.” – replied Baur “It appears we have been underestimating these demons all along. We need to call everyone together now, I will clarify the situation once everyone has gathered.”

Hurriedly they went to their meeting place on the city wall. The other two members of “Fortress” were already there. With everyone huddled around him Baur began his explanation:

“I have received new information regarding the demons which we could be facing. Although our general assessment of their strength was correct, there are several incredibly powerful beings amongst them. First, there are five masked demons wearing maid uniforms.”

“Maids?” snorted Otoro – the most imposing of the five paladins he wielded a huge two-handed mace. He, even more so than Leoh, was the main damage dealer of the party.

“Demons really have a heck of imagination” – commented Beyrun Toumur – short and thick, clad in plate armor with a large shield and mace, he looked like a moving fort.

“All jokes aside, these maids are incredibly powerful,” reigned them in Baur “Just one was able to nearly kill two adamantine adventurers, and put up quite a fight against three.”

All of his companions had grave looks on their faces. Maid outfit or not, a demon who could defeat two adamantite adventurers was no joke.

“And there are five of them?” Asked Pilin Sauro – a tall, lanky guy, a sword at his side and a shield on his back. “Even assuming we are stronger than the aforementioned adventurers, it’s not the kind of odds I like.”

The others responded in agreement.

“It gets worse,” Baur continued, a solemn look on his face. “The one leading them, a masked demon called Jaldabaoth is even more powerful. Under no circumstances are you to engage him if you see him. I will be the only one fighting him.”

“Trying to hog all the glory for yourself?” Joked Leoh. “Look, I understand you are the strongest amongst us, but shouldn’t our power be of use to you?”

“No, you won’t be able to do anything against that Demon. Frankly, I am not even sure if I can damage him,” Baur replied.

“Hey, hey! What are you saying? If you, the second strongest person in this country can’t even damage him, who the hell is going to stop that demon?” Shouted Otoro. The thought that there was someone his leader couldn’t even damage made him want to vomit.

“From what I was told, Evileye, the strongest magic caster of the Re-Estize Kingdom, capable of using 5th tier magic, was unable to inflict any damage on him,” Baur replied. “While I am stronger, it is unclear how much so.”

“Could it be he had magic immunity?” Asked Beyrun.

“It’s possible, though a total magic immunity seems unlikely.”

“That’s what we are here to uncover,” summarized the situation, Baur.

“Since our victory is uncertain, no, since our defeat is a likely outcome. Should we evacuate the citizens?” Asked Beyrun.

“No. If we do so, the demons will notice, and simply attack another place. We can’t be everywhere at once, so this is our chance to gauge their strength. Moreover, there is a chance that these demons are not related to Jaldabaoth and his horde which attacked the Re-Estize Kingdom. In that case, we can defeat them here and now, putting an end to their threat.”

“In other words, we are gambling with the lives of the citizens of Cressa being our bet,” summarized Pilin.

“Our lives as well,” added Otoro.

That was the truth. The empress was very clear that evacuating the citizens of Cressa would simply result in the demons attacking elsewhere. Not only that, but the demons could catch on to the fact that their attacks were predicted, and begin to attack randomly, making it impossible to defend against them. As much as it pained Baur, he had agreed to this plan, and to gamble on the power of his group.