The journey was going well.
　They rarely encountered demons along the way, and when they did, Axe and Cell had killed them in the blink of an eye.
　As expected of an A-rank. Dependable.

　It seems that they are looking for demons, and although checkpoints were laid out in places, it doesn't matter to us.
　They passed through easily.........
　As it was, we followed the route smoothly and reached the village of Zith in five days, instead of what was supposed to be a week.
　Time was going to be very important in this request, so we were happy to shorten our schedule.

　Once we got to the village, we tried to start asking around right away...

Hmmm... hmmm... hmmm... hmmm... hmmm... why don't we take a break?　I am ... tired.
"I don't have time to talk about that....hmmm...hmmm...I don't have time to talk about that...

　Luna and Sora were wonderfully battered.
　Both of them don't have much physical strength........
　On the way, although they had suppressed the consumption of physical strength with flying magic and other techniques, it seems that it was still tough.

''Nya, what do we do?''
'Well I can't force you to do anything, so can you two keep your lodging?　Because we need that too. So, Tania and Nina. And Tina will need a chaperone.
Me too?

　Tania gave him a subtle look.

'We can't just leave Sora and Luna alone now, can we?
Yeah, well it's a bit of a mess, isn't it?
No?
Does that mean you're relying on me?
Of course. Let me count on you.
'Hmmm, well, if that's what you mean, I guess I'll have to do it. Good. I'll make sure that Sora and Luna, Nina and Tina are well taken care of.

　Tania didn't seem to feel bad about being relied upon, and Tania accepted with a smile.
　Behind me, I thought Kanade was saying, "Choloin-nya......." but I decided not to worry about it.

'Nina and Tina, would you mind going to the inn first, too?
Hmmm... that's great, but I'm fine...
It doesn't matter how tired we are. We can get the word out.
You never know what's going to happen in the future, you know. You should take a break when you can. It's just a questionnaire. We don't need as many people as we would like.

　........What a thing to say, but half of it is true and half of it is something else.
　Nina is still a child, so she doesn't know if she'll be able to ask her questions and she doesn't know if they'll answer her properly.
　Besides, sometimes you might have to listen to the tough talk...
　If I could, I would keep Nina away from that kind of thing.

　Tina........................looks like a kettle.
　Tina's storytelling skills have some promise, but there's nothing I can do about it with a kettle.
　It will only surprise them, so let's have them wait here.


Okay. We'll take it easy on you and take it slow.
'Yeah, do that. Well, Tania....
'Yes. I'll take care of it.

　Tania took everyone and went to find a place to stay.

'Nyah, Rain. Are you done?
Yeah, you did it again.

　Now, I'm going to interview him with Kanade.

Are you ready to go in there?
Sorry, are we late?

　While we were discussing it, Cell was waiting for me in a disciplined manner.

''I mean........what?　What about Axe?
'Axe would have sent me to search the area. Just in case we didn't find any clues about the demon in unexpected places.
'That's true, but ... alone?　If you had told me, I would have sent someone out here too.
It's okay. I'm sure the Knights and others have already checked everything out and it's unlikely they'll find anything. To tell you the truth, I simply sent them away because they were in the way.
Well, you're not going to...
'You both have some idea that Axe's head is a thing, don't you?　It's more annoying when people follow you around to interview you.
Meow that's harsh.

　At Cell's relentless words, Kanade was sweating profusely.
　It's hard for Axe too........

　However, I didn't get the sense that Cell didn't think anything of Axe, though...
　Without hesitation, Axe went on a search, as Cell said, without hesitation.
　Cell is Cell, and he's trying to do his part exactly.
　It looks like they are building a trusting relationship.

'Is that you two, Rain and Kanade?
'Ah. We can't afford to have too many people around, and I've decided to have the others find a place to stay.
Fair enough. Okay, shall we go inquire?
Yes, sir.

　Cell walks in front of the...
　Me and Kanade followed suit and started asking around.



----------



　I started asking around and a good amount of time passed.

'Phew.'

　Cell doesn't change his expression much, but he seems to be feeling a certain amount of fatigue, and his face is now slightly contorted.
　Kanade, too, has a mindlessly weird tail.

　It's no wonder the two of them are tired.

　The listening went well.
　We were able to meet with the Pagos villagers who had been evacuated, and we were able to hear a lot of stories.
　I was able to get a fair amount of information.

　Just.....

　The stories are all so tragic that they make me raise my eyebrows when I hear them.
　That's how horrific the incident was in the village of Pagos.

　Hearing such stories all the time would be mentally draining.
　It was no wonder that Cell and Kanade were tired of it.

''Let's take a break.''

　Unable to see, I made such a suggestion.

'Nyah I agree. I'm a bit tired.
Well now that we've heard the whole story, let's wrap it up for now.

　Once we got the approval, we moved to the village square.
　There was a bench set up in just the right spot and we sat there.

'I'm next to Rain...'

　Me, Kanade and Cell sit on the bench in that order.
　The distance between Kanade and me seems awfully close...is it just my imagination?

Phew.

　Cell let out a small breath and looked up at the sky.
　A look of melancholy could be seen on his profile.

''Although I've heard a lot of stories ... you seem to understand them.
'Yes. There's a lot of confusing information.

　Agreeing with Cell's words, I sorted through the information I'd gleaned from the interviews.

　It all started about twenty days ago.
　The people of the village of Pagos were going about their daily lives as usual that day.
　The adults were hard at work in the fields and the children were playing in the square.
　There was the usual scene of calm, he said.

　But........it was suddenly lost.
　The Devil appeared.

　The demon burned houses, ripped out livestock and killed people.
　The village vigilante was helpless in the face of overwhelming power.
　We didn't get any specifics but........
　It seems that demons are so powerful that they surpass common sense.

　It seems that a B-ranked adventurer happened to be staying in the village that day...
　Even that adventurer couldn't give a single graze to the demon.
　It was like being an adult and a child.
　The adventurer was just being played by the devil, and it was as if he was no match for him.

　The demon continued to lay waste to them.
　He enjoyed the slaughter.
　Indulged in the destruction.

　And so it was ... and Pagos was destroyed.

　It was a blessing in disguise.
　Not all the villagers were killed.

　With the power of a demon, it would be easy to eradicate the villagers.
　However, that's not the goal, apparently.
　Destroying the village like a child playing....
　And then he walked away on a whim.

　

'You're going to be a tricky opponent in more ways than one.
Yeah.

　I agreed with Cell's musings.

　A ridiculous amount of power, and an extremely brutal character.
　I wouldn't want to deal with it if I could.

　........Well, that's not really how it works.

''We've gotten a lot of information, but the biggest thing is that we've been able to figure out what it looks like.
Well, yeah.

　The villagers in Pagos told me that....

　The demon is said to be a girl with wings.
　Shining silver hair and deep red eyes.
　A jet black dress that symbolizes death.

　When I heard that information, I thought of a certain girl.

''........Iris.......''