Water Magician

Vol 3. Chapter 693: Bonus Part: Ryo and Abel’s Journey Home (21)

0693 A Strange Tale of the Demon Men Cult III

A black-haired girl and a light-blue-haired man appeared before the gate of Farafao Village.

“Hey, that light-blue hair...”

“It’s him! Go get the chief and Ronja!”

The lookouts atop the gate became a flurry of motion.

In less than a minute, Chief Anju and Ronja had climbed up to the watch platform.

Then they saw the girl and the man for themselves.

“The light-blue-haired one... Father’s killer!”

“Calm down, Chief.”

Ronja steadied the trembling Anju.

He found it strange that the light-blue-haired man, the one who had killed the previous chief, had suddenly appeared in front of the village gate.

He had not brought any of the cultists under his command... and he had not come alone, either. There was an unfamiliar black-haired girl standing beside him.

No one had ever reported such a girl, and Ronja himself had never seen her before.

“You two, don’t come any closer!”

Ronja shouted.

Neither the light-blue-haired man nor the black-haired girl needed to be told. They had already stopped at a certain distance.

“What did you come here for?”

Ronja demanded.

“Before I tell you why I came, I should at least introduce myself. My name is Dainan, and this black-haired one is Raja. We’ve been fighting you people for quite a while, but we never exchanged names.”

The light-blue-haired Dainan answered with a grin.

Beside him, the black-haired Raja gave a bored shrug.

Then Dainan went on.

“A new demonic-sword wielder has joined your side, hasn’t he? I want to fight him.”

“What?”

Ronja could not help answering in a voice full of suspicion.

Naturally.

If the leader of an enemy force suddenly showed up and announced that he wanted to fight some newcomer, anyone would wonder what kind of madness this was.

Perhaps they had not heard his voice, but Ryo and Abel came up onto the watch platform just then.

Then they leaned forward into view.

“You said you want to fight me?”

“Yeah. You. Dueling me, demonic-sword wielder.”

“A duel? What kind? The two of us race to see who’s faster?”

“As if that’s what I meant...”

“Then what, chess? I won’t brag, but I’m not very good.”

“With swords, idiot. Swords! What’s with running and chess? Why would I duel you in anything but swords?”

Dainan answered Abel with anger leaking into his voice.

Beside Abel, Ryo was nodding to himself and murmuring, “Taking away your opponent’s composure is the most basic thing in one-on-one combat.”

“If you wanted a duel with swords, you should’ve said so from the start. Didn’t your Demon Man teach you that much?”

“...What?”

At Abel’s sudden strike right at the core of it, Dainan’s gaze sharpened like a blade.

“What? Did I say something strange?”

“You said ‘servant.’”

“Well, you are a servant of the Demon Men, aren’t you?”

“That’s interesting, demonic-sword wielder.”

Dainan nodded to himself several times.

Meanwhile, Ryo had been staring fixedly at the black-haired girl standing beside Dainan. Then, with a certain conviction, he gave one small nod and whispered into Abel’s ear.

“That black-haired girl is the Demon Man.”

“You’re serious? She’s revived?”

Abel was startled.

Then he turned to Ronja and asked:

“Ronja, have you ever seen that black-haired girl before?”

“No. I was wondering about her too. What is she to that servant?”

“Looks like she’s the servant’s master.”

“What? Then she’s the Demon Man?”

Ronja stared in shock at Abel’s words.

Anju, who had overheard the exchange, widened her eyes as well.

“I want to know why the Demon Man herself, who’s never shown herself before, has come out now. Let’s talk a little longer.”

Muttering that, Abel called down again to the two standing before the gate.

“So, servant. No, Dainan, was it? And that girl is Raja? Is Raja your name as a Demon Man?”

The moment Abel said that, it was like dropping a bomb.

“You—”

That was as far as Dainan got.

His expression had changed completely.

Not a trace of ease remained. Shock, anger, and confusion all tangled together in a deeply complicated look.

Abel pressed harder.

“I hear you attacked only the garrison outpost. Not civilians who’ve never seen battle, but people with real combat experience. Does defeating seasoned fighters awaken a Demon Man? Is that what this is—the final stage?”

“You... what are you, exactly?”

Dainan’s shock mounted as Abel threw out things he himself was not yet completely certain of.

That reaction proved Abel’s deduction had been correct.

Drawing out information while stripping away the opponent’s composure. As expected of Abel. Even though he’s a muscle-headed swordsman, when it comes to these exchanges and the fine points of combat psychology, I’m nowhere near his level.

Ryo glanced sideways at Abel and praised him inwardly.

Only inwardly, of course.

If he praised him out loud, Abel would probably get carried away.

Dainan trembled all over.

But the clear reaction came from the one beside him.

“Ahahahahahaha!”

The black-haired girl burst into laughter.

“Raja?”

Dainan looked at her in surprise.

“This is delightful! Dainan, the man you found is very interesting.”

Raja nodded over and over.

Then she continued:

“I should have noticed sooner. Look, Dainan. Look at that red hair of his.”

“Hm?”

“There is no one in the Eastern Countries with hair like that. Which means he is a human from the Central Countries or the Western Countries.”

“Meaning...”

“Meaning he has crossed paths over there with other Demon Men, or their servants.”

Raja looked at Abel as though saying, Isn’t that right?

Abel merely shrugged in silence.

He was not denying it.

“Who? Who did you meet? No... more than that, it is strange that you have been told such details. Surely you were not cooperating with Demon Men over there?”

“Oh, come on. Even if the world turned upside down, that would never happen. A lot of knights, me included, fought with everything we had. I won’t call it a grudge, but you are clearly the enemy.”

“And yet you are still alive. Which means...”

“Obviously because we defeated Demon Men and their servants.”

Abel said it flatly.

In the war against the Demon Men, the kingdom had thrown its full strength into the fight.

And in the end, it was fair to call it a victory.

“Humans won? Impossible.”

“No, no. You people got cut off by the Wall sealing the Corridor, didn’t you? No reinforcements from the Demon Men could reach you, and the thing that fed your power was blocked off too. Now it’s been opened, so you can draw strength again. Which means someone, some alchemist maybe, managed to seal it once before.”

Raja gave a small shake of her head, but Abel countered her plainly.

Yes—someone, centuries ago, had sealed the Corridor.

Most likely through alchemy.

Because of that, Raja, left behind in the Eastern Countries, had lost her power...

But three months ago, that Corridor had opened.

And so Raja had regained her strength.

“That’s enough!”

The shout that cut through the exchange between Raja and Abel came from Raja’s side.

“Ahh, Dainan’s run out of patience.”

Raja frowned and shook her head.

Once in a very great while, Dainan’s emotions exploded like this.

“Demonic-sword wielder, get down here and fight me!”

Dainan shouted.

“Fight you, huh... but what do I get out of it?”

“I’ll answer what you want to know!”

“Oh?”

Dainan barked that out, and the offer did catch Abel’s interest.

“You hear that, Raja? No interfering.”

“Fine, fine. I’ll stay over here and watch.”

At Dainan’s words, Raja waved a hand dismissively, walked a short distance away, created a stone chair, and sat ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) down in it.

“Lord Abel...”

Anju called out as Abel started down.

“Lady Anju, I’ll avenge your father.”

Abel said that and smiled warmly.

But after walking a little farther, until he came alongside Ryo, he spoke in a low voice.

“If something happens, I’m leaving the rest to you.”

“You certainly put on a grand show for Anju just now.”

“What else was I supposed to say?”

Abel gave a wry smile.

“Those servants of the Demon Men are monsters. You can’t see the bottom of their strength.”

“I believe in you, Abel.”

“Yeah. Even so... those things don’t die.”

“Hm?”

“As long as the Demon Man is alive, they just come back.”

“What kind of nonsense is that...”

“So if it comes to it, you can kill the Demon Man instead, Ryo.”

“You could just take both of them down yourself.”

“Give me a break.”

Ryo’s right fist lightly tapped Abel’s right fist.

And so Abel threw himself into his second battle against a servant of the Demon Men.