Chapter 91
Taesan kicked off the ground and soared into the air. Then, he landed once more in the air.
[You have activated Air Leap.] With a whoosh, his body, accelerated in mid-air, disappeared into the forest.
The distance was not far, so after leaping from branch to branch, he soon arrived.
“Huff, huff, huff.”
A girl was panting heavily as she fled. With black hair and black eyes, she was a girl in her late teens with semi-curly hair grown long.
Despite her utterly exhausted appearance, there was an undeniable air of elegance about her. However, in contrast to this, her clothing was ragged and tattered like a beggar’s. It seemed she hadn’t bathed in a long time, as grime was visible on her face.
“Is she the child of the Demon God?”
[Overall black appearance. She indeed appears to be a demon’s child.] Taesan observed quietly from atop a tree. As the girl was sweating and running, an arrow embedded itself right in front of her.
“Eek!”
Unknowingly, she stepped back. At the same moment, a trap among the bushes was activated, and a rope entangled around her ankle.
Her face turned pale. She quickly tried to cut the rope and escape, but it was enough time for those chasing her to catch up.
“Phew, that was tough.”
Several men appeared. One nonchalant man whistled upon seeing the girl.
“Indeed a princess. There was a reason she wasn’t caught for 10 years? A pro at running away. A pro.”
“You guys…”
The girl bit her lip. The men drew their weapons.
“Sorry, princess. But you need to be captured smoothly.”
“You won’t catch me that easily.”
Despite her light tone, the tension in her eyes was unmistakable. This was the first time she had been cornered since she started being chased.
“You’re all alone after everyone else died, why bother? It’s about time you went to meet them, right?”
“Eek!”
The girl swung her sword wildly.
Her movements were decent, but she was too exhausted. The sword swings lacked force and, naturally, she was subdued by the man’s grip.
“Aaack!”
She fell to the ground, apparently fainting and started breathing evenly as if knocked out.
“Great!”
The men cheered.
“We did it!”
“We finally caught her!”
“Wow!”
The men started organizing with an excited demeanor.
“How much is it?”
“The bounty was a thousand gold, so… dividing among us, it’s a hundred gold each?”
“Ha.”
A hundred gold was an amount sufficient for an ordinary person to live comfortably without want if saved and spent wisely. They had become rich overnight.
They chatted away about what they’d do with their newfound wealth when someone remarked,
“Isn’t it a bit lacking?”
“Lacking? It’s a hundred gold. A hundred gold!”
“That’s why I’m saying it’s lacking.”
The mood turned sour as the man who brought it up grimaced.
“Do you know how much gold we spent getting here? A whopping 60 gold.”
“But that was divided among all of us for the expenses, right?”
“No, most of that was my money!”
The man raised his voice aggressively.
“The tracking fees, the hiring costs, the hush money, nearly all of it was covered by me! I spent forty out of the sixty gold, you know? I’ve spent all the money I saved up my entire life!”
Even though the total bounty was a hundred gold, the man only stood to gain 60 gold from it. He wasn’t satisfied with that amount.
“So, what do you want us to do?”
“Give me more.”
“What?”
The atmosphere instantly became dangerous as the man extended his hand.
“You all take 90 gold each. I’ll take 190 gold.”
“…You spent 40 gold and now you want to take an extra 90 gold?”
“The value of money is different. My 40 gold is worth as much as 90 gold now.”
He declared confidently. Amidst the tense silence, someone muttered ominously,
“Do you think we’ll allow that?”
“Then die.”
As the situation turned deadly, they slowly began to draw their weapons.
The ghost chuckled.
[Lowly beings, abandoning loyalty over money.] To Taesan, this was a familiar sight. News of Somali pirates who vanished after being paid a hefty sum, only to be found later with half their number killed by their own, was not uncommon.
Amidst the worsening situation, only one man seemed unsettled. The young-faced man spoke up.
“Maybe, I could…”
“Mind if I join?”
Taesan sprung from a branch and landed in their midst. As the heated argument cooled down in surprise, the men backed off.
“…Black hair?”
“A demon?”
“No, no, it’s light. It’s light.”
Hearing their murmurs, Taesan realized,
‘So demons are completely black?’
The girl’s appearance, too, absorbed light like true black. While Asians typically have black hair and eyes, many shades tend towards brown, and pure black is less common. Taesan was one such case.
“…Who are you?”
“Someone with business with that girl.”
At his words, the men’s eyes gleamed dangerously, marking Taesan as a competitor. They swiftly readied their weapons.
A whizzing arrow and eight men charged. The young-faced man hesitated, confused amid the charging men.
“They got along well for people ready to kill each other.”
Taesan moved his hand.
He caught the arrow.
The sight of him catching the incoming arrow shocked the attackers, momentarily halting their charge.
Taesan casually flicked his wrist. The arrow flew back, piercing through the head of the man who had been staring dumbfounded with a bow in hand.
His fist moved, and multiple afterimages appeared.
Crunch.
The men’s chests were crushed, disappearing. The sight of them dying in a single blow surprised Taesan even more.
“Why die so easily?”
He had expected them to last at least a few hits, but they seemed to have no means of defense and were immediately obliterated. The ghost replied as if it was obvious,
[How could ordinary hunters withstand it?] “I’ve seen Easy Mode players take more hits.”
[That’s because your world is the exception.] It was a disappointing outcome. He had planned to rough them up a bit and extract some information, but they all died.
“Guess I’ll have to make do with one.”
The young man, who hadn’t attacked in confusion, was still alive. The man felt the intense gaze upon him and panicked.
The men weren’t weak hunters. If they had been, they wouldn’t have caught the princess in the first place.
Among bounty hunters, they were considered among the top. Individually, they were average mercenaries, but their teamwork allowed them to take on elite swordsmen.
Yet, they all died in a single hit. The process of catching the arrow, throwing it back, and killing his comrades, all of it was invisible to them.
There was only one conclusion.
‘…He must be at least a Swordmaster!’
The man screamed internally as he slowly retreated.
Taesan rolled forward.
In an instant, he disappeared from sight. The man felt a strong force on his neck and was slammed to the ground.
“Cough, cough!”
“Can you handle this? Hard to adjust the force.”
“Please, save me…”
“Just answer my questions, and I’ll let you live.”
Taesan, pinning the man to the ground, spoke leisurely.
The man didn’t want to die. He spilled everything in response to Taesan’s questions, even information he hadn’t asked for. This allowed Taesan to gain a more detailed understanding of this world.
“A divine decree came down ten years ago?”
“Yes, yes…”
Summarizing the man’s story, it went like this:
This world used to be ordinary. Humans and demons divided the world in half, engaging in moderate exchanges and coexisting peacefully.
Although a Demon King existed, it bore no animosity towards humans, instead showing benevolence, leading to a peaceful coexistence.
The deity worshiped by humans here is the God of Light, Hamon. Demons worshipped the Demon God. Despite worshipping different deities, respect for each other prevented any major conflicts.
Then, precisely ten years ago, a divine decree from Hamon came.
To kill the demons,
For they intended to kill humans,
They were the enemy.
The priests who received the decree were baffled. The message was too brutal and cruel for a divine decree. They verified it multiple times, but the decree came again.
Kill the demons.
The message was imbued with a firm will.
And unnaturally, incidents involving demons began to occur.
A mad demon self-destructed, annihilating a village and terrorizing the capital. A serial killer, who terrorized the city, turned out to be the illegitimate child of a demon, and so on. Day after day, the air was filled with talk targeting demons.
Chaos accelerated. The Demon King, in confusion, sought the Demon God, but received no response.
Without their god, the demons too became agitated and started causing trouble.
A year later, war broke out.
The demons, having lost their god, were effortlessly swept away. Their proud black magic was sealed, proving ineffective against armored knights.
Their treasures were plundered by lowly thieves, and their noblest were slain by the most ordinary.
Another year passed.
The Demon King died, and the war ended.
Any demon seen was executed, and those who fled had bounties placed on them, becoming prey. After persistent pursuit, most of them were killed.
“And she is… the last princess of the demons.”
The child of the Demon King. The hope of the demons.
She miraculously survived, being chased for eight years.
“That’s the story, then.”
Taesan stroked his chin, understanding the situation.
“I see.”
“You…”
The man nervously darted his eyes around. Taesan spoke calmly.
“I’ll let you go if you answer one more question.”
“What, what is it?”
“How capable were you in this place?”
Realizing what Taesan wanted to know, the man swallowed and replied,
“As bounty hunters, we were in the upper ranks. Individually, we’re average mercenaries, but our teamwork could challenge even elite swordsmen.”
“That explains it.”
They were above average. Just this level was all.
“Are the upper ranks incomparably stronger?”
[Hard to say…] The ghost trailed off.
Taesan waved his hand.
“Alright, you can go.”
“Really?”
The man’s eyes widened. He hadn’t really expected to be spared.
“Want me to send you to your friends instead?”
“No! No, thank you!”
He ran off in a panic.
‘Lucky me!’
He decided to give up being a bounty hunter and return to his homeland to take up farming. Watching the man disappear into the forest, the ghost commented,
[Aren’t you going to kill him?] “I promised not to. And he doesn’t seem like he’ll do anything, so I didn’t think to kill him.”
While capturing the princess, they looked pitiable rather than joyous. They were more confused by Taesan, whom they considered a competitor, than aggressive.
It didn’t seem like he would cause any trouble.
“And it wouldn’t matter if he did.”
If he wished, Taesan could cross tens of kilometers in a day. The location wasn’t crucial information.
Taesan looked down at the unconscious girl. Her black hair was scattered around.
“I get what happened.”
Hamon must have made a pact with Lucifer. Whatever form it took, it likely involved not interfering with each other’s worlds.
Having achieved his desires, Hamon began the extermination of the demons.
Lucifer, as Taesan had observed, was possessive of his belongings. Watching his followers call out his name as they died would have infuriated him.
Then he appeared.
He wasn’t a demon but a human, so he was free to act in this place. For Lucifer, having someone who had taken a bit of his power met the minimum criterion, so it was convenient for him.
That’s why she personally offered the quest, even at a loss to herself.