After four days, Ryan's party finally arrived at Ehres Valley, a frontier city bordering the territory of Demon King Rohan's demons.
When the little girl blurted out her unexpected proposal, Ryan took it as a joke.
'Well, now that she's right in front of me I inspected her again. She is indeed a mage, but with her stats, she wouldn't help at all.' Ryan thought, ignoring her request to take a sip of his drink.
"Of course not, just go away, brat." Helen grumbled, sharply denying her request to join the party.
The girl looked at them all with a pout.
"Don't be stupid, accept me, I'm very strong!" She exclaimed. Then she looked down. "Even if it doesn't look like it, it's just that I don't have my weapon right now." She muttered.
"Who are you calling stupid? Brat." Helen grumbled, glaring at her.
The little girl looked away from Helen's sharp gaze.
'A weapon? Whatever, we'll be here for several days, we're bound to find a suitable mage.' Ryan evaluated in his mind.
"You have to admit she looks really cute, at least." Mirian said as she crouched in front of her and began stroking her cheeks with a smile.
"Ha ha, hey, that tickles. Stop it." The little girl added.
"Where are your parents, brat?" Helen asked.
"...I'm not a little girl, can't you see?" The blue-haired girl grumbled, clenching her fists.
Then she opened her mouth to say something else, but looked toward the establishment's door and swallowed her words.
"Damn it... I have to go." She added, quickly disappearing among the tavern's customers.
"What a strange girl." Mirian commented, looking at where she had gone until she lost sight of her.
"Anyway, playtime is over. Let's head to the room now, did they give you the key?" Ryan asked, looking at Helen.
After a pause, he added.
"We have a lot to do tomorrow."
"Yes, I have it right here, so we're going early to gather materials?" Helen asked after confirming she had the key.
"Yes, let's try to make it early. It might be a tedious mission, so it's better to hurry and finish quickly." Ryan replied, resting his hands on the table and standing up.
"For now, we're going to sleep." He ordered.
And with those last words, they retreated to their quarters. The long journey had exhausted them mentally, and without another word, each went to their room.
...
At dawn, they gathered at the inn for breakfast. And began to plan their day. Then they asked the manager about the best place to gather those materials.
He replied that it was uncertain, but their best bet would be to split up to cover more ground. He also recommended not entering the Demon King's domains under any circumstances.
He explained that although those materials were useful for crafting magical scrolls, the demons didn't consider it a threat because they could only store low-level abilities.
He further explained that a barrier, created by artifacts brought by the church's SS-rank heroes, kept the city protected. Because of that, the city was still so lively even after being attacked.
The group followed the instructions and Ryan ordered them to head out immediately.
"Alright, then we'll meet back here in two hours. Gather as much material as you can."
"Yes!" The girls replied in unison.
Ryan separated from them, each heading in opposite directions to search for materials on the city's outskirts. Ryan was near the south exit; he could already see the guards watching the gate.
Even though it was early, everything was already lit by the light of the new day.
He advanced toward the south exit, but the shriek of a young voice stopped him.
"Hey, let go of me! I already told you I need more time to pay!"
Ryan slowly turned his head. The girl from the tavern had appeared again. But this time she was in an alley surrounded by two men, whom Ryan quickly inspected.
'An A-rank and a B-rank, what kind of mess did that little girl get into...' He thought as he walked on, ignoring her.
"Hey, you! You're going to let me join your party, right?" The girl shouted at him from the alley.
"Hey, come here." One of the men said. "Unless you want a hard time."
'That brat, now she wants to drag me into this...' He thought as he turned around.
"I don't know what you're talking about, I have nothing to do with that kid." Ryan added, raising his hands in annoyance.
"Don't lie, she called you as part of her party, it's obvious she knows you." The man added while holding the girl's arm.
Ryan looked at the south exit; it was still far away. He walked to the alley with slow steps.
"Alright, what do you want." Ryan asked in a flat tone full of indifference.
"This brat owes us, so come along, we're going to talk to our leader." The man said, stepping forward while pulling the girl by the arm.
Ryan followed him.
And the other man walked behind him.
'Will I get into trouble here if I attack them right now? It'd be a total pain if their henchmen show up too.' He thought.
"Well, look at this."
Ryan snapped out of his thoughts at the alert voice of the man in front of him.
"What do you want? Just let us pass." The voice came from a female silhouette, covered to the head in robes. Beside her stood a small silhouette, which also seemed to be a little girl, at least judging by her height.
She looked about the same age as the blue-haired girl.
"Those eyes..." The man in front of Ryan muttered, and without warning, he unsheathed a short sword from his waist and slashed the woman's robe with a thrust.
Trying to dodge, she bumped into the little girl and fell to the ground, also losing the hood that hid her face and head.
"Horns?" Ryan muttered, looking at the woman. But the small girl didn't have horns. Though her eyes were an intense shade of violet.
'They're both demons.' He thought.
The man behind him stepped forward. And now the two of them stood together in front of the two girls with their weapons drawn.
"Inspect." He muttered.
The system window quickly appeared before him.
'Threat level, Principality... Legion. These are very different stats from a human's, but this confirms it, they are demons. Now, what are these guys going to do?' Ryan thought, looking at the men in front of him.
However, the blue-haired girl backed away from the men and grabbed Ryan's sleeve.
"Come on, we have to take this chance to run." The little girl said.
"Don't even think about moving." The man with the short sword said.
Ryan stopped, but more out of curiosity to see how a demon would act in this situation. Even though the system message was different, the base stats shown for the Principality were equivalent to an A-rank.
"Tsk, Zelyn... stay behind me." The horned woman ordered.
"But Cristal, we have to run, they already found us out!" The young violet-eyed demon added.
"Don't worry, I don't plan to fight these men." The horned woman replied, raising her guard.
"You don't plan to fight, you say? Think you'll walk out of here alive." The swordsman added with a smile as his companion laughed.
The demon girl fixed her gaze on the men in front of her with a calm smile.
"Like I said, we won't fight here..." She added. And the very moment she finished speaking, the horned demon girl pulled out a stone engraved with symbols.
"Dammit, run now, she wants to transport us!" The blue-haired girl said, tugging at Ryan's sleeves.
But in a flash, a blinding light enveloped them. And when they opened their eyes, they were in a completely different place. Gloomy, with a foul smell of ashes, and a fog of smoke covering the area.