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Ariel didn’t respond. She just sighed as if she was sick of hearing the same spiel from Murumuru.

“Are you staying still because you don’t know the Demon Empire’s habits? It’s not just my kind! Are you acting like this because you don’t know what might be happening to our captured allies and League members at this very moment!?”

When Murumuru raised their voice and refused to step down, Ariel replied with finality, “…I also feel apologetic for having to withdraw after we suffered great damage from my mistake.” Then she continued calmly, “So let’s be more careful. While our opponent’s power is still intact, our forces suffered a significant loss that cannot be ignored—”

“Our loss hasn’t been that great!” Murumuru shouted. “Thanks to the human male from Shalyh, we were able to find a way out! If the Commander-in-chief comes forward and boosts morale, we can fight again with our current—”

“Excuse me.” Ariel opened her eyes sharply. “You must be forgetting that two great demons had come to stop us. Two. Both of them are at the top of the hierarchy, and they were waiting for us with their territories fully established. Don’t you understand what that means?” She continued with a slightly displeased voice, “We should’ve attacked earlier if we were going to attack—when the Demon Empire was in chaos after they failed to invade Shalyh.”

“We weren’t just staying still.”

“Yes, but we were passive. Of course, there was the problem with the Hala Forest, but it was because we didn’t want to stop the chaos of the Demon Empire short by attacking them too hastily.”

Murumuru fiercely attacked her, but Ariel’s response was also formidable. “I’m not criticizing the decision at that time. The reasoning was rather sound and above all, the will of the League is absolute. However, the Demon Empire overcame their struggle and has become even stronger. We ended up giving them more time.”

Although it was a coherent explanation, Murumuru looked extremely frustrated. It seemed as if her explanation was merely a good excuse, and there was another real reason behind her action.

“If territorialization is the problem, I can solve it.” Chi-Woo stepped up.

“Solve it? You’re planning to neutralize a great demon’s territory? Not just one, but two great demons at the top rank?” Ariel retorted in disbelief. Even Murumuru looked back at him with shock.

Chi-Woo cleared his throat and said, “I can’t be sure, but I think it’s worth a try. I’m confident that I can at least create a situation in which we won’t be one-sidedly defeated.”

“Then I can’t allow it.” Ariel shook her head, way too readily. “I’m not ignoring your reputation, but I can’t risk the lives of the League members in a battlefield where victory is not certain, especially in a situation like this.”

“Commander!”

“Stop!” Ariel finally shouted back when Murumuru yelled again. She continued, “Just wait for now. I’ll act as soon as I receive a reply from the Cassiubia League. If they tell us to fight even in a situation like this, we’ll have to fight even if we don’t want to. To our fullest!”

Chi-Woo felt an unknown sense of ominousness as he heard her shout. It seemed quite clear that she was sick of Murumuru’s protest. He asked, “Then if they tell you to retreat…”

“The will of the League is absolute.” Ariel turned away. Considering her reluctance to talk further, it was a clear order for them to leave. Murumuru angrily shouted a few more times after that, but she remained firm. In the end, Chi-Woo had no choice but to return without making any progress.

* * *

After Chi-Woo left, the rest of the expedition members were able to reach Shalyh sooner than expected. Purupuru had lent them a mount in consideration of their condition. Upon arriving at Shalyh, the expedition members returned to Seven Stars. Surprisingly, their base had changed while they were gone. One of the seven buildings circling the main one had completely transformed into a workshop.

“You’re here? Have you arrived? Where’s Chi-Woo? No, what about the toharis?” Yeriel rushed over as soon as she heard that the expedition team had returned.

“…What, what did you say?” When she heard their explanation, she asked in shock.

“We risked our lives. We even had to leave the legend behind and run away—all for these five beads.”

“…”

“That’s not all. Mr. Ru Amuh, who had gone to do what we could have done with our full strength, is missing, and the captain had to leave for the battlefront as soon as we returned. All by himself.” Yunael spoke flatly and squeezed the beads in her hand. “Frankly—I still don’t understand. I wonder if these…and you are worth all that.” She gnawed on her lip for a while and said, “So I sincerely implore you from the bottom of my heart.” She held out her hand slowly. “Please show us that you’re worth doing this much for.”

Yeriel fell silent. She stared at the toharis in Yunael’s hand and then—

“What the?”

Yeriel snatched the toharis all of the sudden and immediately turned around; then she ran with all her might as if she was running away and disappeared into the newly built workshop.

“Geez…” Yunael smacked her lips and turned around. Most of her teammates were silent. Actually, they had been silent the whole way back. Among them, Evelyn looked especially wrecked. Yunael said to her, “Don’t worry too much.”

“…What?”

“I told her that to make her feel pressured, but I’m sure she left like that because she knew the weight of the task already. And she’s a Mariaju after all. If their reputation isn’t all a sham, she’s going to show us something.”

“No…it’s not that…” Evelyn shook her head. She was a native of Liber. She didn’t know much about the Celestial Realm and wasn’t really interested in it either. There was something much more important than that. Evelyn had only one thought since she separated from Chi-Woo.

“I wonder if he’ll be okay…?”

“What? What do you mean?”

“I’m talking about Chi-Woo…”

Yunael paused when Chi-Woo was mentioned; she could roughly grasp how he was feeling, but he seemed rather calm for someone put in his situation. Not knowing the full story, she thought Chi-Woo would probably be fine. “Why, is there something wrong?”

At Yunael’s question, Evelyn bit her lower lip with a pensive expression. She didn’t know why, but her heart felt heavy, and she couldn’t forget Chi-Woo’s face as they separated. The more she recalled it, the more anxious she got.

“…Just…” She wrapped her arms tightly around her shoulders. Lowering her head slightly, she struggled to say, “He looked like he was really…really forcing himself to endure…” Like a bubbling, active volcano that was about to erupt.

* * *

That night, Chi-Woo didn’t sleep. All kinds of thoughts crossed his mind and made it impossible to fall asleep. Ariel had a plausible, believable reason for opposing military action. However, there was something fishy and questionable about it that prevented him from taking her justification at face-value. The information Murumuru gave him further cemented his suspicion.

[Since I’m not part of the commanding tribes, I don’t know the exact circumstances.]

[But one thing is for sure—there’s definitely something strange about the Cassiubia League’s movements.]

[In the first place, I heard that this expedition only took place because the Last Dragon pushed for it.]

[I don’t know what it is, but…there are more than one or two tribes who are skeptical about fighting the Demon Empire now. There’s even a considerable number of tribes arguing that we should end our alliance with humanity.]

In other words, it hadn’t been an illusion that Ariel seemed to have no intention of mobilizing or even fighting at all after their earlier loss, which perturbed Chi-Woo; he thought they had done a lot for the League so far. As a result, he knew that the public opinion in favor of humanity had gradually increased within the Cassiubia League. However, just recently, the opinion had suddenly changed again. Unless there was something that only a few members of the League knew and humanity did not, there was no way the tide could be so quickly overturned like this. On the other hand, Chi-Woo also had his suspicions as to why the League might have suddenly changed their tune—it was his brother’s absence.

[Ahahhahahah! Seriously, get real.]

[You have way too romantic a view about alliances.]

What was the reason for forming an alliance? There was only one: necessity. It was safe to say that the value of humanity had fallen to less than half its original value since his brother disappeared.

[This is the world we live in. That’s how this world works.]

It was a place where factions could hold hands if necessary but stab one another in the back at any time. This was Liber. Thus, there was nothing and nobody he could trust; he could only believe in himself. ‘If they don’t believe me…’ Then there was only one method left: make them believe even if he had to use force. That was where Chi-Woo ended his thought.

He didn’t know how long his musing had taken, but after emptying his head, he opened his eyes and could keenly sense his physical condition. His heart was pounding; it felt hot, as if his blood was boiling. Did he become like this after meeting Ariel? No, it had been like this since he left Narsha Haram—this whole time, all this time. His heart didn’t show any signs of cooling down; it seemed to burn the more he tried to calm it down. The fire grew so fierce that it could no longer be contained. In the end, Chi-Woo got up and strode out, without looking for anyone’s help and simply moving where his instincts led him. Alone, he headed to the enemy camp.

* * *

At late dawn. The Demon Empire’s camp was quiet, and the atmosphere was favorable because they had shown the League a hellish time after they attacked without knowing their place. The fruit of victory, which they finally tasted after their continuous defeats despite the advantageous situations, felt even sweeter than usual. Moreover, how could they not be happy after capturing and acquiring a large number of slaves? The demon soldiers standing guard could not suppress their smiles and laughter. They eagerly chatted among themselves and seemed ready to quickly change shifts so that they could check out the new slaves. But then…

Booom! One soldier suddenly heard a shockwave.

Bang! Then his head was penetrated by an arrow of light and exploded. The guards froze in shock, and while they were in a daze, another soldier was smashed in the head and fell. Everything happened without warning, and they hadn’t felt any presence nearby. It was so out of the blue that the last remaining sentry looked around with blank eyes. Soon after, his face was filled with shock. He thought the League might have taken advantage of the dawn to ambush them, and the infiltration team would be made up of half-demons.

However, he could only see one person on the dusky plain. No matter how many times he looked around and rubbed his eyes, there was only one lone figure. In addition, that one person was waiting for him to react. Even while three soldiers were on guard, only two were knocked down and one was left standing—as if the person watching them precisely let him live so that he could go and alert the others and make everyone come out. As if he was challenging a whole army by himself.

No way, did this human seriously come out by himself to face two legions of the Demon Empire? In a place where two great demons had finished their territorialization, making their defensive capabilities far above a regular fortress? It was an unbelievable situation. It was so hard to wrap his head around that the sentry stood frozen like a stone statue and didn’t know what to do. The person standing alone sighed softly, and then the sentry clearly witnessed what happened next.

[La Bella’s Bible]

A book that glowed brilliantly fell from the sky.

[La Bella’s Sanctuary]

At the same time, brilliant light spread out around the human, and the light violently shot through the darkness surrounding him and—

Bamm! It hit the outskirts of the camp solidified by the great demon’s territorialization and collapsed the barriers instantly.

“What…” Even while the watchtower crumbled and fell, the sentry could not take his eyes off the person, who walked through the scattered darkness alone without a word. “What is that…” And that was the last thing he saw. The sentry was soon engulfed in light and burned without even being able to scream, turning into a handful of ashes. Soon after, one man walked past the ashes scattered on the floor. Light shone on the place where darkness had faded as the moon set and the dawn broke. In the distant future, in the long chronicle of Liber’s war, the dawn of the day that would be recorded as the starting point of the new legend rose.