It didn't take long for reinforcements to arrive from Zeris City at the battle zone on The Great Amber Bridge. Most of the reinforcements came from the Zeris City Adventurers' Guild and a group from the Radiant Church.
As soon as the cultists saw the reinforcements arriving and realized their leader was missing, they immediately fled in all directions, abandoning their dying and wounded comrades on the ground, leaving them to be captured and later interrogated.
When the adventurers and the people from the Radiant Church arrived, they were shocked by the unusual scene before them. There were many injured people here and there, people were crying, and most shockingly, The Great Amber Bridge had collapsed.
The adventurers immediately made an urgent request to the local government, as The Great Amber Bridge was one of the vital structures connecting the Zeris City region with neighboring areas.
It took only about two hours for the collective efforts of various parties to build a temporary bridge strong enough to bear the weight of a heavy carriage.
A holy knight in full armor, with a sword sheathed at her left side, walked across the temporary bridge, accompanied by two young women wearing the garb of the Radiant Church. The knight asked the two young women.
"Cecilia, Elsie. Have you two made sure there's no chaotic Mana around here anymore?" asked the knight, her voice so melodious. One of the young women, with shoulder-length hair in a side ponytail, replied playfully.
"Doneee, Big Sis Clarice~"
Another young woman, with long blonde hair and big assets, gently admonished her junior. "Elsie, please address Sister Clarice as 'Miss' when we're outside."
"Oops~ My bad, Senior Cecilia~" Elsie replied teasingly. From behind her helmet, Clarice smiled slightly at the banter between her two sisters from the Radiant Church. Accompanied by their conversation, Clarice finally reached the other side of the bridge where many passengers sat with a variety of emotions.
Some were crying due to the trauma of the incident, some were praying to the heavens for their survival, repeatedly invoking the Goddess's name and some simply sat in silence, lost in thought and shivering.
Clarice, Cecilia, and Elsie kept walking until they reached a spot. A massive crater where, according to reports, a demonic bird had perished. Elsie, witnessing the scene, immediately exclaimed in awe.
"Woooww... look at this place... it's worse than the other side of the bridge..." Clarice nodded and crouched down, touching the blackened, massive crater. "Killed by intense flame..." murmured the holy knight.
Cecilia confirmed Clarice's words. "According to ongoing investigations, the leaders of this attack are two men who have made contracts with demons. The skinny man, a fugitive named Owen, made a contract with a demonic bird with Mind affinity, and the burly man named Ando made a contract with a demonic snake with Fire affinity."
Elsie then noticed several priests and priestesses surrounding the two corpses covered in cloth. "Is it just me, or are all the demonic cultists just plain dumb~?"
Clarice sighed softly, "That's what makes this group dangerous. In my experience, on rare occasions, demonic cultists can be more dangerous than worshippers of evil gods."
Cecilia turned to look at three people standing some distance away from their current position. "According to the testimony of two adventurers named Emilia and Rudy, a Silver-rank duo, this Owen and Ando, also their own contracted demon, suddenly turned against each other and ended up getting killed."
The woman looked to the right where two bodies covered in white cloth lay on the ground. "May the Goddess have mercy on their souls," Cecilia prayed, closing her eyes.
The woman with the side ponytail then tilted her head. "Strange, they both also claimed that Owen's Demon asked to cancel the contract. They even heard the demon bird's real name, how could that be possible?"
"Demons are prideful beings," Clarice explained. "When a human offers to become an anchor for a demon to manifest physically, the demons only mention their titles, not their real names."
"Some demons would rather die than reveal their true names, but not all of them are like that." Clarice stood up and greeted a few passengers.
"Some are so afraid of death that they'd rather reveal their true names, like the demon contracted to Owen called Somnus." Cecilia and Elsie gulped at the mention of that name, even though the demon was already dead, for some reason it sent shivers down their spines.
Cecilia once again looked at Owen's corpse from a distance. "The fugitive famous for his mind magic met a tragic end. But on the other hand, I'm grateful because with the death of that vile demon, the victims still trapped in illusions and dreams can come to their senses and wake up."
"Now that you mention it, this demon was Silver-rank and excels at mind magic, right?" Elsie asked curiously. "If attacked, we can just self-suggest that the attack is just an illusion~!"
"The human mind is a fragile thing, Elsie." Clarice gently rebuked her, "On the outside, humans may appear strong and tough, but on the inside? This is what Somnus exploits because it knows that humanity's greatest weakness is their minds. Owen and his demon target people with weak mental fortitude."
"In case you two didn't know, according to reports from those who survived and managed to escape Somnus's mind magic, the temptation is overwhelming, and the demon is capable of constructing a world based on memories inside the victim's mind. But the demon doesn't have perfect control over that world, so humans still have a chance to fight back."
"Heeehh~ So its abilities are only half-baked?" Elsie said, folding her arms.
Clarice replied immediately. "Because it's still at Silver-rank. If it managed to ascend to Gold-rank or Mithril-rank..." She paused, "I suspect it would be capable of greater feats, such as mass illusions, full control over its spells, and even constructing illusions, dreams, or memories in this world so real to the point you can touch, feel, or sense them."
Cecilia propped her chin in her hand. "I heard from church teachings that it's extremely rare for a demon to propose contract cancellation first. Most of the time, it's the human contractor who initiates the cancellation, either because the contract price is too high and expensive, or the human dies first."
"Miss Clarice…" Cecilia looked at her seriously. "Emilia and Rudy clearly heard that Somnus wants to return to the Demon World. If it's true that Somnus was the one who proposed the contract cancellation first, what made it behave that way?"
A look of satisfaction crossed the female knight's face. "As expected of our Saintess, good question. Either the demon was so bored that it chose to return to the Demon World..." She then turned to Rudy, Emilia, and the boy they were escorting.
"…or running away from something or someone capable of truly annihilating it.
***
Once the battle was over and the temporary bridge had been built, Rudy and Emilia immediately returned to their original mission: escorting Eric Ostheno. They had been terrified that something might happen to the boy, but after recalling what he had done, they revised their initial impression of the Marquis Ostheno's eldest son.
How could they not? The boy they'd considered ordinary, even weak had single-handedly defeated two human-contracted demons and one Silver-rank demon. Before the siblings could ask anything, Eric simply waved his hand. "I'm fine. Help those poor people, let me catch my breath."
Eric plopped down on the ground, leaving the two adventurers puzzled but following his instructions. They helped several passengers disembark from the carriages, supported the surviving but severely injured adventurers, and even volunteered to move the fallen bodies.
Once finished, they returned to Eric's side, but the two of them chose to remain silent, only occasionally greeting passersby. Rudy and Emilia were completely exhausted by this situation, but they were still able to move on to continue their original mission.
They were taken by surprise when several people from the Radiant Church approached them. Rudy was used to being questioned during exhausting missions, but his introverted younger sister was not.
"Change of plans, you two. Escort me all the way until Ostheno's residence and give the same testimony as what I've said. I'll triple your pay once we get there."
Rudy and Emilia immediately turned to the boy sitting behind them. "What do you mean, Sir Er-" Rudy stammered as he heard the group of church officials addressing them.
In line with the Radiant Church's image as the vanguard in the fight against evil, Rudy, Emilia, and Eric were constantly questioned about the battle.
"The two human corpses over there. What happened to them?"
"Don't know. They suddenly went batshit insane and started attacking each other," said Eric, glancing at Rudy.
The shield-bearer nodded and played his part perfectly. "You hear what he said. Although it's not entirely clear why, I'm certain they betrayed and attacked their own comrades. You church folks know full well that those crazy cultists are always unpredictable. You agree, right, Emilia?"
Emilia just nodded and said nothing. Over the next few minutes, Eric and Rudy shared information such as the demonic bird's real name, details about Owen and Ando, the sequence of events leading to the bridge's collapse, and much more.
After the group from the church left, the three of them fell silent again. Not long after, they were approached once more by representatives of the church, but this time there were three people. Rudy and Emilia's eyes widened as they saw one of them wearing the signature full armor of the Radiant Church.
"A Holy Knight!" Rudy thought to himself, his body tensing. But it turned out that behind the armor came the melodious voice of a woman. "May the Goddess's blessings be upon you. Do not be afraid, we come in peace and only wish to ask a question."
The Holy Knight aka Clarice reassured the three of them, while Elsie and Cecilia bowed slightly. Rudy and Emilia remained silent until Eric commented in a flat tone.
"'We come in peace'? What are you, an alien?" Eric responded, while massaging his temples. Everyone present furrowed their brows at his odd response. Realizing his dry joke hadn't elicited a reaction, he switched to asking, "Right, my bad. Do you need something?"
Clarice nodded slowly. "I just wanted to make sure you three were really okay. Since you three are the closest and know what it was like fighting those two great sinners."
"We're fine, just need some rest," Eric said flatly. After reaching 100% Rage, he slowly returned to his normal state, but it seemed that power had placed a considerable mental burden on him, causing him to feel dizzy.
"I take it Jeremy Memo is doing fine?" Clarice asked.
"Yeah, yeah. He's doing fine. He's reliable when it comes to studies."
"This might be rude, but do any of you three really not know anything about the carriages that fell into the valley but mysteriously floated back up?"
"As much as we want to help you, we don't know either. Even the adventurers who witnessed it don't know. Maybe a miracle from the Goddess? Hahaha..." This time Rudy answered with a fairly convincing tone, and Clarice didn't pursue the topic any further.
Eric and Cecilia's eyes met, and the young woman smiled at him. "Hello, Eric. Got yourself wrapped up in something big again? Fufufu."
He sighed heavily, "You bet. Say, when winter break is over, could you keep this incident a secret and do me a favor by not dragging me to the student council?"
Cecilia chuckled, covering her mouth. "Fufufu, that depends on the investigation. I'm afraid I don't have the authority to grant your request."
Elsie joined the conversation. "Heehh~ Who is this handsome guy, Senior Cecilia?" The Saintess answered calmly. "He... you could say he's in the same year as me at Zeris Academy."
"Woowww~ So he'll be my senior when I manage to get into the Academy~?" Elsie giggled.
"If you manage to get in. Emphasize on the if. Good luck, though."
Eric's reply made Cecilia and Clarice smile, while Rudy and Emilia smiled stiffly. Elsie flustered because Eric teased her back. "That's rude~! I'll definitely pass the entrance exam!"
Eric ignored her and stood up. After he smoothed out his thick fur coat, he asked Clarice. "What are you going to do with that snake?" He motioned his head toward the clerics and priests surrounding Ephis. The snake was confined within a cage of light, thrashing around trying to escape but unable to do anything against the cage.
"Since its human contractor is dead, eventually the snake's body will return on its own to the Demon World. Before that happens, we'll interrogate it, or if possible, force it to reveal its true name and then exterminate it."
Eric nodded slowly. "Good. Make sure that goddamn snake never gets out of that cage, or better yet, kill it." He continued. "Also, I'm afraid I have to continue my journey back to my residence. I don't want to freeze my ass off out here."
Elsie was still a little annoyed with Eric, while Cecilia and Clarice understood that a noble like Eric didn't want to linger and be questioned endlessly.
"You two help me find horses that can be bought from the adventurers around here. I don't care about the price, the point is we should leave as soon as possible." Rudy and Emilia looked at each other but remained silent and obeyed Eric's orders.
Eric nodded at the three women and walked away. Rudy and Emilia gave a slight bow as a greeting and set off to follow their escort target.
Clarice watched the boy's back, and as a seasoned knight, she sensed that the three of them, especially that noble boy, were lying and hiding something, though it wasn't anything malicious.
But she held back from probing further because Clarice was certain, or even had a strong premonition, that the boy would be drawn into another major conflict in the future, and she would be there to witness the truth.