Taesan kicked off and flew through the air. And once again, he stepped on the air.
[You have activated Air Leap.]
Taaht.
His body, accelerating in mid-air, disappeared into the forest. The distance wasn't great, so by stomping on branches and leaping, he was able to arrive shortly.
“Pant, pant, pant.”
A girl was running away, panting heavily. Black hair and black eyes. She was a girl in her late teens with long, wavy hair.
She looked exhausted, but even so, she exuded an air of elegance that couldn't be hidden. However, unfittingly, her clothes were tattered and shabby like a beggar's. It seemed she hadn't washed in a long time, as her face was smudged with dirt.
“Is that the child of the Demon God?”
[She has an overall black appearance. She is indeed the child of a Demon.]
From a tree, Taesan watched intently. An arrow struck the ground right in front of the girl, who was running away in a cold sweat. The girl unknowingly stepped back.
At the same time, a trap under the bushes must have activated, as her ankle was caught in a rope. The girl's face turned pale. She tried to quickly cut the rope and escape, but it was enough time for her pursuers to arrive.
“Phew, that was a pain.”
Several men appeared. A frivolous-looking man whistled at the girl.
“As expected of the princess. There was a reason you weren't caught for 10 years, huh? You're a pro at running away. A pro.”
“You people……”
The girl bit her lip. The men took out their equipment.
“Sorry, Princess. You'll have to let us catch you quietly.”
“I'm not so cheap as to be caught by the likes of you.”
Her tone was light, but an undeniable tension lingered in her eyes. This was the first time she'd been cornered since the chase began.
“Everyone else is dead and you're all alone, so what's the big deal? Isn't it about time you went to meet them?”
“Hmph!”
The girl moved her sword roughly. Her movements were decent enough, but the girl was too exhausted. The swung sword held no power.
Naturally, it was stopped by the man's grip.
“Aack!”
The girl collapsed to the ground. She began to breathe evenly, as if she had fainted.
“Alright!”
The men cheered.
“We did it!”
“We finally caught her!”
“Waaaah!”
The men, in an excited state, began to sort things out.
“How much is this?”
“The bounty was a thousand Gold... divided by each person, it's a hundred Gold, right?”
A hundred Gold is an amount a normal person could live on without want if they were frugal. They had become rich in an instant. Just as they were chattering about what they would do with their lives, someone spoke.
“Isn't it a little... not enough?”
“What do you mean not enough? It's a hundred Gold. A hundred Gold!”
“That's why I'm saying it's not enough.”
The man who spoke scowled.
“Do you know how much Gold we spent to get here? A whole 60 Gold.”
“But that's Gold we all chipped in for, right?”
“No, most of it was my money!”
The man raised his voice harshly.
“Tracking costs, request fees, hush money... I paid for almost all of it! I spent forty out of the sixty Gold! I used up all the money I'd saved my entire life!”
To that man, even with a hundred Gold, he'd only profit 60 Gold. The man had no intention of being satisfied with that.
“So what are you going to do about it?”
“Give me more.”
“What?”
The atmosphere turned hostile in an instant. The man held out his hand.
“You all take only 90 Gold. I'll take 190 Gold.”
“...You spent 40 Gold, and you're going to take an extra 90?”
“The value of money is different. My 40 Gold is worth 90 Gold now.”
The man said confidently. In the quiet silence, someone muttered grimly.
“Do you think we'll allow that?”
“If you don't like it, you can die.”
Amidst the murderous atmosphere, they began to stealthily draw their weapons. The Ghost scoffed.
[As if lowly beings would keep their loyalty in the face of money.]
It was not a new sight for Taesan either. Stories of Somalian pirates who disappeared after securing a hefty price, only to be found again with half their crew dead by their own hands, were not uncommon. In the worsening atmosphere, only one man was fidgeting restlessly.
The man with a gentle face opened his mouth.
“Hey, I'll just…”
“Mind if I join?”
Taesan kicked off a branch and landed in their midst. The men, who had been raising their voices in the heated atmosphere, were surprised and created distance.
“......Black hair?”
“A demon?”
“No, that's not it. The color is faint.”
Hearing their murmurs, Taesan realized.
‘Are demons completely black?’
The girl's appearance was also a black that seemed to absorb light. Although East Asians are said to have black hair and black eyes, many have brown, and it was often not a perfect black. Taesan was also one such case.
“...Who are you.”
“Someone who has business with that woman.”
At those words, the men's eyes flickered dangerously. Judging Taesan to be a competitor, they quickly drew their weapons.
Piiing!
As the arrow flew, eight men charged. Only the man with the gentle face, flustered, hesitated and watched the charging men.
“For guys who were about to kill each other, your teamwork is pretty good.”
Taesan moved his hand. The arrow was caught. At the divine skill of catching a flying arrow, the charging men momentarily faltered.
Taesan lightly flicked his hand. The arrow flew and pierced the head of the man who was staring blankly, bow in hand. A fist blurred, drawing several afterimages.
Kwajik.
The men's chests were crushed and disappeared. Taesan was more surprised by the sight of them losing their lives in a single blow.
“Why did they die instantly?”
I thought they'd at least withstand two or three hits, but they were crushed and vanished as if they had no defenses. The Ghost spoke as if it were obvious.
[They aren't world-renowned swordsmen, just ordinary hunters. How could they withstand it?]
“Even Easy Mode Players can withstand it.”
[That's because your world is unusual.]
This was awkward. I was planning to beat them up one by one and get information, but they all died.
“I guess I'll have to be satisfied with just one.”
The gentle-faced man who hesitated and didn't attack was still alive. The man was startled by the gaze directed at him. They were not weak hunters.
If they were, they wouldn't have been able to catch the princess in the first place. They were among the top bounty hunters, and even a skilled swordsman couldn't easily break through their coordination. But they all died in a single blow.
Moreover, the process of catching the arrow, throwing it back, and killing his comrades—all of it was invisible to the eye. If so, there's only one explanation.
‘...He's at least a Sword Master!’
The man screamed internally as he stealthily backed away. Taesan stomped his foot. In an instant, his form vanished.
The man felt a strong force on the back of his neck and was slammed to the ground.
“Keck, keck!”
“You can withstand this much? Controlling my strength is difficult.”
“S-Save me……”
“I'll let you live if you just answer my questions.”
Taesan, pinning the man down, said leisurely. The man didn't want to die. He not only answered Taesan's questions but also blabbered on about things he wasn't even asked.
Thanks to that, he was able to learn more details about this world.
“You said a revelation came down ten years ago.”
“Y-Yes……”
To summarize the man's words, it was like this. This world was originally an ordinary world. It was a world where humans and demons divided the world in half and lived with a moderate level of interaction.
A being called the Demon King existed, but far from having hostility towards humans, he was a benevolent being, so they helped each other and lived peacefully. The god that humans here believe in is the god of light, Harmon. The demons believed in the Demon God.
Although they believed in different gods, they respected each other, so there were no major incidents. Then, exactly ten years ago, a revelation came down from Harmon. To kill the demons, That they were trying to kill humans, That they were the enemy.
The priests who received the revelation were bewildered. For a divine revelation, the words were too violent and cruel. They checked several times, but the revelation came down once more.
Kill the demons. The words contained a firm will. And then, an unnatural number of incidents caused by demons began to occur.
A mad demon self-destructed and annihilated a village, a serial killer who terrorized the capital was revealed to be an illegitimate child of a demon, and so on; day after day, stories targeting the demons circulated. Thus, the chaos accelerated. The Demon King was also flustered and sought the Demon God, but the Demon God gave no answer.
Having lost their god, they too were agitated and began to cause incidents one by one. And a year later, war broke out. The demons who had lost their god were helplessly swept away.
Their proud Dark Magic was sealed, unable to inflict any damage on the knights in sturdy armor. Their treasure vaults were plundered by lowly beggars, and the noblest among them were killed by ordinary people in vain. Another year passed.
The Demon King died, and the war ended. All visible demons became dew on the execution ground, and those who fled became fugitives with bounties on their heads. After relentless pursuit, most of them were killed.
“And she... is the last princess of the demons.”
The Demon King's child. The hope of the demons. She had somehow managed to survive for eight years while being chased.
“So that's how it is.”
Taesan stroked his chin. He understood what had happened.
“I see.”
“Um……”
The man anxiously darted his eyes back and forth. Taesan said leisurely.
“Answer one more thing, and I'll let you go.”
“W-What is it?”
“What's your level around here?”
The man, realizing the answer Taesan wanted, swallowed and replied.
“As bounty hunters, we're in the upper ranks. In terms of individual strength, we're average among mercenaries, and with our coordination, we can face up to first-class swordsmen.”
“I see.”
Stronger than average. And they're only at this level.
“Are the higher-ups incomparably stronger?”
[Well…….]
The Ghost trailed off. Taesan waved his hand.
“Alright. Go.”
“R-Really?”
The man's eyes widened. Honestly, he hadn't had much hope of being spared.
“Why, should I send you to your friends' side?”
“No! That's not it! Thank you!”
The man scrambled away.
‘What rotten luck!’
He planned to quit this bounty hunter gig and go back to his hometown to farm. Watching the man disappear into the forest, the Ghost spoke.
[You're not killing him?]
“I promised. And he doesn't seem like the type to do anything, so I have no intention of killing him.”
Rather than being happy about subduing the princess, he had looked at her with pity. Rather than attacking Taesan, whom he felt was a competitor, he was flustered. A guy like that didn't seem likely to do anything.
“And even if he does, it doesn't matter.”
If I set my mind to it, I can cover tens of kilometers in a single day. Location wasn't very important information. Taesan looked down at the unconscious girl.
Her black hair was scattered about.
“I think I know what happened.”
Harmon probably made a pact with Lucifer. I don't know how it was done, but it must have been a pact not to interfere in the world. Having achieved his goal, Harmon began to exterminate the demons.
The Lucifer Taesan knew was the type to be possessive of his own things. Seeing the demons die while crying out his name, Lucifer must have been furious. And then he appeared.
Since he was a human, not a demon, he was free to act here. For Lucifer, the minimum condition of possessing what was his had been met, so he probably thought it worked out well. That must be why she gave him the quest, even while accepting some loss herself.
Leveling up through battle