Chapter 16: The Investigator
Three months after Aura and Fingal took control of Follich Town.
Location: Follich, a border town between the Northern Lands and the Central Lands.
Months later, Follich had returned to its former peace, and news of the Orden family head's death in battle had been reported to the kingdom—Lord Orden's second son inherited the title and, using the extermination of the Demons as merit, elevated the family to baron status, winning big.
Three months wasn't long, but someone had come to Follich Town, and a rumor about the place began to circulate—that the new Baron Orden was colluding with the Demons.
Some concerned nobles secretly sent out spies...
...
The forest in the twilight was deathly silent, branches stretching out menacingly to block the sun, with only strands of sunlight piercing through the gray-white mist to hit the ground, creating a subtle Tyndall effect as the light was cut into scattered spots.
At that moment, a thunderbolt flashed through the forest—a white lightning bolt instantly struck a helmeted Demon soldier, shattering his defenses.
Before him stood a orange-haired human Magic user and an elf whose eyelids kept drooping.
"Despicable scoundrel... don't you feel any shame?"
The woman appeared to be around thirty years old, her orange long hair swaying in the air, covering her somewhat charming face. From every angle, she was a beauty.
Her name was Flamme, meaning fire in the common tongue.
She was both the flame that burns civilization and the flame of hatred.
Facing the demon's mockery, she merely smiled faintly, her expression remaining completely unruffled by the taunt of "despicable scoundrel."
"Why should I feel ashamed when dealing with creatures like demons? Do you hesitate when slaughtering humans?"
Boom!
The next second, lightning flashed once more, shattering the demon's body—a fatal blow that pierced through its skull.
Strangely, the enemy's body resembled burning spirit money, transforming into gray fragments and smoke that drifted into the air... This seemed to be a unique trait of demon physiology. Their bodies could slowly regenerate as long as they had Mana, but upon death, they would disintegrate along with it.
"Truly nauseating, this arrogance and self-importance... Demons are always like this."
Flame sighed; demons were all cut from the same cloth.
She turned to look at her newly taken disciple—a homeless elf named Frieren, who had lost her family.
"Are you alright?"