‘That music, is not a music from my memories.’

Roan Lancephil gave a frown. The feeling that he had heard of that music being played by the strange group was a mistake. However, it was not something he did not know either.

‘It’s something in the memories of the sorcerers, not my own.’

He bit his lower lips. Although he had never heard it himself, he could still remember.

‘The sorcerers that had attacked me but ended up dying and having their memories stolen…’

It was a song from their memories.

‘It’s slightly different but this is definitely…’

His face turned rigid.

‘The dark elves’ music.’

Unfortunately, that was the end of what the sorcerers had known about this. During all that, the group passed through the messy streets and slowly approached closer. The kids that had been making a fuss until just then were now lowering their heads onto the ground quietly.

It was not something that young children should do. Quickly copying them, Roan lowered his head and pulled up his five senses to the max.

The group was strange. In the lead, there was a musical group with black cloths covering their faces, with three extremely massive carriages in the middle and dozens of middle-aged men wearing black horses following them from the very back.

Raising his head slightly, Roan was thinking of closely examining the members of the group. But then,

“Mr Beggar don’t raise your head.”

“You’ll be taken if you do.”

The kids murmured in a whisper and their voices trembled slightly. It was evident that they were frightened and Roan who was about to raise his head had lowered it back down.

Babababababam! Babam! Babam! Bababam!

During all that, the group left behind only the strange and loud music and travelled further. Only then did the kids raise their heads with deep breaths.

“Fuu… we were safe today as well.”

“Just like what mum and dad said, it is the best to just lie down on the ground when you hear the sounds of the drum.”

They heaved sighs of relief. Consciously forming a scared expression, Roan asked in a small voice.

“What was that group just then? Is it like a prominent person in this area?”

The kids tilted their heads in response.

“Prominent? Prominent?”

“What’s that?”

In the first place, they did not even know the meaning of that word. From amongst the children, the one with the thickest head spoke with a tense expression.

“That’s a group of devils. They’re not from our village.”

“Devils?”

Roan had a frown, while the kids shook their bodies.

“They’re the devils that descended down from the west mountains. After the devils visit the village, there’s always…”

Around there,

“Gretta! Come back quickly!”

“Gilbert! Where are you! Come back quick!”

“Grinis!”

“Gaylen!”

Urgent voices sprang forth from all sides.

‘They’re the mothers I assume.’

And surely enough,

“I’m here!”

“I’m going now!”

“Uaaang mommy!”

“It was scary! Scary!”

Perhaps they had become relaxed hearing their mothers’ voices, the kids broke out into another cry and separated into several directions back into their houses. Roan chased their appearance from the back with a slight smile. There was no scene more beautiful than a kid following their mother’s back, but at the same time,

‘Devils?’

The words left behind by the kids were stuck in his head.

‘I should go check it.’

This Burrantee Village was located on the west most area of the Blackburn district that was located in the Northwest region of the kingdom. Turning his head, Roan stared towards the west.

‘The west mountain is referring to the Grain Mountain Range, huh…’

It didn’t give off a good feeling. Carrying the luggage, Roan slowly carried his feet. He was planning to visit a bar that was in the middle of the village or something.

But before that,

“Nathan.”

A low voice.

“Yes, your majesty.”

Without even showing up, the deputy leader of the Amaranth Taemusas, Nathan, replied in a whisper. With an extremely low voice, Roan gave a secret order.

“Chase after that group from before. If you deem it risky, then fall back immediately.”

“Yes sir, your will is our command.”

Together with the reply, Nathan’s presence vanished. At the same time, the presence of the Amaranth Taemusas that had been heavily surrounding the entire village had disappeared. Only around 10 Taemusas stayed behind to protect Roan from the sides.

After giving his orders, Roan slowly headed off towards a bar. Opening the firmly shut wooden doors and stepping inside, a fierce-looking owner glared back. Roan made the most amiable smile he could and waved his right hand, but what returned was a cold scolding.

“Leave!”

The violent owner came in large strides and pushed Roan’s shoulder with his right hand.

“Beggars are not allowed in our bar.”

In response, Roan made a wronged expression.

“Aigo, I’m not a beggar. I’m a merchant, a wandering merchant.”

As soon as his words ended, the owner repeated another reprimand.

“Our store…”

His gaze was vicious.

“Does not welcome soliciting merchants either!”

Large trees supported the blue skies. In between the large trees, small sheds made of dry branches and leaves were located. And in front of the most shabby and unappealing shack, lots of men… no, existences were grouped up.

Sharp ears, white skin, sharp nose and red lips. The existences with beautiful appearances that made people gasp in admiration – elves were the ones filling the forest. They sat down on the ground with their eyes closed, welcoming the forest’s clear air into their bodies while waiting for someone.

Their minds were connected to the shed in the front.

And soon,

Creak.

Along with the sound of the door creaking open, a lady appeared from within. The woman that had the appearance of both humans and elves despite being neither, was Aily Rinse or rather, Aily Lancephil.

“What’s going on everyone?”

While collecting her breath, Aily asked in a low voice. In accordance with the regulations of the elves, she was concentrating on the Pisces ritual and training. A few days ago, when the ritual had stepped into its latter stages, the elves had gathered onto the surroundings of the shed. Not daring to interrupt the Pisces ritual, they waited for Aily to finish.

After who knows how long, Aily had finally finished the ritual and the training and showed herself outside the shed. With a slightly rigid expression, Laham approached and lowered his head.

“We have found traces of them.”

In that instant, a small wave appeared on Aily’s beautiful face.

“By them you mean…?”

“Yes, the dark elves.”

Laham gave a nod and Aily let out a short sigh in response.

‘We have finally found them.’

Her two eyes sunk deep.

The elves and the dark elves. The time to finish the unpleasant relationship passed down for centuries had arrived.

“Where were they?”

Welcoming the clean air of the forest into her body, Aily asked in a low voice. Laham replied in a whisper.

“It was in two places. One was the north of Persion Kingdom and…”

The north of Persion Kingdom was quite far from the Grain Mountain Range they were currently in. Laham’s eyes sparkled brightly.

“The other was from the Northwest region of the Amaranth Kingdom, the Blackburn area.”

Blackburn.

It wasn’t too far from here. The elves and Aily did not know, but the location where Roan was currently in was none other than Blackburn. Aily slowly nodded her head.

“First send a few elven warriors to the North region of Persion Kingdom. The rest, please follow me to the Blackburn area.”

“Yes.”

When Laham lowered his head, the elves all stood up from their positions and bent their backs. It was a form of respect and admiration to the Pisces. Staring at them, Aily spoke with a slow, yet powerful voice.

“I’m planning to put an end to the long war with the dark elves.”

She then breathed the air in deep resulting in the clear air of the forest etching into every single part of her body as her eyes pointed towards the north. At the end of her gaze was Blackburn.

***

“Uhahahaha! This friend is quite the amusing one!”

“You’re right! Kukuku!”

“There’s no place on earth you haven’t been to!”

The middle-aged men carried their wooden cups and broke out into laughter. They raised their thumbs at the young man sitting before them with a soft and innocent countenance, Roan.

“I’m telling you, really. The Capital Castle of Mediasis is bright during the night just like how it was during the day.”

He continued the conversation with exaggeration.

“Kukuku. I did hear something like that before.”

“The city of light, or the castle of light…”

“If it’s bright like a day during the night then how do you sleep?”

“More than that, it would be perfect for a round of drinking.”

Giving their own opinions, the men raised their cups up. The cheap, low-quality beer spewed out left and right. Chiming in and hitting the cups with others, Roan quickly downed the alcohol.

“Uhu!”

A long burp escaped from his throat.

‘The atmosphere is good now.’

Placing the wooden cup down, Roan made a strange smile. In that situation where the men’s wariness had been completely dropped, he started a conversation with a soft tone while wiping his mouth with his sleeves.

“By the way, what was the group that was in the village just then? The kids called it a group of devils…”

Roan slurred his sentence at the end to observe their reactions. But,

“Hmph, what group of devils.”

“That’s just something made up by the cowards.”

A few men scoffed. It was an unexpected reaction, and Roan asked again with curiosity.

“Made up?”

When he brought it up, the men started conversing in a loud voice.

“After those guys leave, the little kids disappear or whatever…”

“Right, right. There are rumours that little girls and unmarried virgins would disappear.”

Scoffs and disdains were heard from around. Roan made a frown.

“Wouldn’t there be a reason for such rumours to go around?”

A careful tone and expression. In response, the men checked the surroundings one more time before answering in a small voice.

“That’s…”

“Kuhm. The truth is…”

As if they found something bitter, they clicked their tongues. Soon, one of the men continued on.

“They’re slave merchants.”

“Slave merchants?”

An unpleasant look surfaced on Roan’s face, and the men nodded their heads with a few random coughs.

“The households that are finding it hard to live on are selling their kids. The large carriages are filled with children that had been sold as slaves and they’re playing that strange music to hide the kids’ cries.”

“Things about the devils and virgins disappearing are things that the ladies of the town made up to scare away their kids.”

“Because they don’t want them to play around the slave merchants, they made up a few strange rumours.”

In fact, because one or two kids that they had been playing around with would disappear after the slave merchants passed by, it was natural for them to appear like devils from the kids’ perspectives. Roan who had been listening to it for a bit tilted his head.

‘Slave merchants? Music to hide the children’s cries?’

At a glance, it was a believable story, but Roan could not throw away that little bit of doubt he had.

‘Slave merchants playing the music of the dark elves?’

He could not understand it even if they were slave merchants.

“Doesn’t our kingdom stop unofficial trades of slaves?”

It was one of the details included in the announcements. But the men made bitter smiles and clicked their tongues.

“That’s true but…”

“To the people that can’t live right now, it’s something they can’t avoid.”

“Even if they were to keep them in their houses, both the kids and themselves would die.”

“The other areas got war compensations or something and are living handsomely but our Blackburn area didn’t have much damages during the war so we haven’t received much.”

“And yet our taxes increased massively… tch.”

The men poured alcohol into their wooden cups. Their faces had signs of frustration and irritation that could not be erased by their short hustle and bustle.

“The taxes increased?”

Roan tilted his head and asked carefully with an expression that seemed to not understand.

“That’s…”

When one of the men was about to give an answer.

“It’s because the lord is trying his hardest to look good before the ones with power in the centre.”

A cold, sharp voice was carried by the wind. It was the voice of a girl that was similar to his own age. Turning his head, Roan searched for the owner of the voice and soon, his eyes were widened.

‘A female… warrior?’

There was a lady leaning on the door of the bar. She appeared to be in her early-mid twenties and the clothes that stuck tightly on her body accentuated her smooth figure. Her hair fell short onto her shoulders and the appearance devoid of any signs of makeup along with the thick, beautiful eyebrows gave off an impressive feeling. Rather than pretty, she was closer to a cool appearance.

Tapping on the large blade hanging on her waist, she stared at Roan and the men. Seeing her appear, the men heaved out long sighs.

“Beryn. What’re you doing here?”

“Right, you hate coming to the bar don’t you?”

In response, the lady, Beryn asked in a whisper that was extremely low.

“I heard the devils had come. Where did they go off to?”

The men frowned as soon as she finished but Roan sparkled his eyes and immediately chimed in.

“Devils? I heard they were slave merchants not devils?”

A somewhat light and excited voice. In response, Beryn stared directly at Roan’s two eyes before scowling.

“Slave merchants? Hmph, did the cowardly old men there say that?”

Placing her left hand on top of the scabbard, she stood up straight and a cold glare filled her eyes.

“They are not something like slave merchants. They are true devils.”

As soon as she was over,

“Beryn! Just stop! How long are you going to spread those wrong rumours around for?”

“Because of you, the strange rumour is all around the village.”

The men started reprimanding her but Beryn turned around and stared directly at the men. Within her deep eyes, an unhideable killing intent surfaced.

“I have definitely seen it.”

From her lips, a cold voice escaped.

“W, what did you see?”

Roan purposely acted frightened and asked carefully. Beryn turned back to him and stared directly before whispering in a soft, soft voice.

“I saw them kidnapping the kids…”

Her next words were truly horrible.

“And drawing out their blood.”

End.

Translator: Lunargrasp

Proofreader: Deathwing