Nighttime arrived at the town of Agrona. Just like last night, the dark side of the town once more emerged again from the surface of the marketplace.

The human slaves were being displayed in front of the shop for the crowds gathering around to see along with the dealers blocking and discussing with any potential customers.

I closed my eyes as I felt the gentle wind touching my face and looked up to the starry sky where the full moon was currently present.

The moon showed up again, which means It's already been a month since I became a demon. It's hard to adjust at first, but it's slowly becoming a part of me now.

I mean, besides the red eyes and horns, I don't think I did change that much.

Maybe the magic book has something to do with this, too bad I will never know because I accidentally burned it into ashes.

The wooden door opened and the gentle smile of the old man emerged and walked toward me.

I think he came here to get the clothes hung on the clothesline.

I nodded at him to answer his smile.

"My daughter, Emily, mentioned you earlier, she said that you're quite approachable, which is relatively rare behavior for a new visitor to this place." He put his hand on his chest. "By the way, I'm Rudwick Clause, the owner of this inn."

I smiled. "I'm Casimir Kismet."

He stood next to me and pushed his eyeglasses while looking at the scenery beneath. "Have you been enjoying your stay in Agrona?"

"It has most of what you would expect from a place called a lawless town."

He gently chuckled and slowly shook his head. "Maybe it doesn't look like it at first, but this chaotic place is a safe haven for a lot of people who have nowhere to go back to." His eyes locked onto a certain group and watched them as they roamed around the marketplace.

I turned my gaze to the group he was watching on, and found 3 familiar faces, the 3 youngsters earlier. Now, there were not only 3 of them. Walking with them were 5 children, consisting of beastkin and demon children much younger than them.

The huge genuine smile was completely visible on their faces while buying food in one of the stalls.

I turned my eyes to mister Rudwick. "Do you know them?"

He nodded. "Along with escaped slaves from the human kingdoms, they arrived here a few weeks ago. The 3 elders of the group are trying their best to help everyone in their group to survive. I used to give them food to help them, but they just suddenly stopped coming. Maybe they decided to continue their lives on their own and felt like they were inconveniencing me. Which is quite sad."

"It must have been hard to be in their situation."

"Don't worry, those children are exceptionally strong."

I know they are, I saw it firsthand, but I also saw how desperation has been pushing them to their very limits.

"May I ask, Mister Rudwick, if it's alright?"

"What is it, Casimir?"

"Why did you decide to stay in this place? Are there no other places to go to? I heard that human kingdoms don't have a good relationship with demi-humans, how about the other places? Do other nations have the same treatment towards other races?"

He remained silent for a few seconds before finally answering my questions. "It is indeed hard to live here, especially back in my earlier years in this place, when rules were still non-existent, unlike today, despite getting defied occasionally, it is still there to bring order for everyone." He pushed his glasses up. "However, even with the current state of this town, it is still much better to stay in this chaotic place than to live in greater fear within the territory of the other kingdoms. This place has little to no order, but human's judgment towards demi-humans has no sympathy and I can say the same to the demi-human kingdoms towards a human like me."

There's no place to go.

"Just like those children who have no place to go back to. This is the only place for us. For some, this is a place where you can do whatever you please, but for us, this place is our very last sanctuary. This is the only place where I can peacefully live with my daughter without the judging eyes of others."

Now I understand. A place where the people who have no place to go. This is what kind of place it is.

And what it should be.

The only thing this place lacks is order.

"Mister Rudwick, I just have heard earlier about the people known as the faction leaders, do you know them?"

Mister Rudwick's eyebrows instantly furrowed. "Why? Are you interested in challenging one of them?"

I faked a chuckle. "No. Why would I? I'm just curious."

"I see." He nodded. "This entire town is under the governance of 3 factions, each with their own territory, and the 3 faction leaders are the most powerful individuals in this town, each one of them is so strong that 2 of the 3 leaders are still governing their factions since the 3 factions were established 10 years ago."

So since the 3 factions were founded 10 years ago, only one of them got replaced? From what I heard, tons of visitors come into this town to challenge them. I don't want to know what happened to all of them.

"May I know who they are?"

"Of course, it's not a secret in this place anyway. The faction leader of this place we're standing on is Leo the invincible, of Fang faction." He pointed his finger towards the middle part of the town, which I haven't been to yet. "The central part of this town is under the governance of the second faction, the Marionette faction, led by the Puppet master, Leal."

He pointed his index finger towards the farthest part of the town. "And lastly, half of the town is currently under the control of the Spriggan faction, led by the Shadow fairy, Tanya."

"I see. Now that we're at it, I've met someone earlier who is named Mehrad. Do you know him?"

He smiled. "Of course, remember when I said that only 2 of them remained in their statuses? 3 years ago, Leo defeated Mehrad and Mehrad gladly gave up his throne and agreed to become Leo's right hand."

"That's why people are calling him Master Mehrad earlier."

"Yes, because even if he's no longer in position, the respect of the people not only in this faction but all over the town didn't lessen. After all, Mehrad along with the other 2 faction leaders defended this place for 7 years against the attack coming from the other kingdoms during the war that ended 3 years ago, before Leo arrived and took his place. They are the heroes of the citizens of Agrona."

"I see. It's good to know about it."

That man deserves mad respect.

Now, there's only one thing that I have to do.

If I can't find a good place to live, why not establish one?

I stared towards the marketplace and watched the scenery beneath us.

"First, let's unite all the factions first."

And pray that I won't regret this.