PAID

… Ihan had many questions.

What could have possibly happened in the five hours he had been away from the estate?

And why—

“…are you in such a ragged state, Kunta?”

“C-Coach, be gentle with the healing. Kunta hurts a lot.”

“Stop whining.”

After roughly bandaging him up and thoroughly soaking the wrappings with a potion, Kunta’s expression relaxed noticeably.@@novelbin@@

It wasn’t the kind of injury that could heal with just this level of treatment, but as expected of a Barbarian—

With their naturally superior physical constitution, his recovery was swift.

“Feeling better now?”

“Kunta is fine. But I need to return to Arno and Kuma right away. They’re in danger.”

“…Tell me exactly what happened first.”

“The kids are in danger right now. They’ve been captured. And those guys said… If I didn’t bring you, they’d do something terrible to them!”

“Those guys?”

“They were strange. Their pupils were weird, and their skin looked unnatural. But most of all—they were unbelievably strong!”

“……”

Ihan had a bad feeling he knew exactly who Kunta was describing.

‘Demi-Fiends?’

The traits Kunta pointed out matched those of the Demi-Fiends.

Those who consumed special elixirs made from monster flesh to obtain the power of the "Fiend."

Ihan’s expression hardened instantly, yet something about this felt off.

Something was… strange.

“The Swordmaster?”

“I don’t know. At least, when they were threatening Kunta, she wasn’t anywhere in sight.”

“…What is that woman doing?”

Even with the presence of a great warrior like the Swordmaster, the fact that the Demi-Fiends were freely running rampant, capturing Arno and using Kunta as a pawn to deliver their threat—it didn’t add up.

Even if she lacked humanity, her strength wasn’t something that could simply be ignored.

“……”

Suddenly—

“Iliad. What happened to him?”

“Hm? Arno’s father? No idea. I… didn’t see him…?”

“……”

Smack!

Ihan reflexively slapped his forehead.

A dreadful possibility flashed through his mind.