These Demons Do it for Free-Chapter 104

“I’m kidding, I’m kidding. What about Enigma?”

“Ah, yes. If Conquerors and Frontier are working together, I think they’ll join for the fun of it.”

“True. With their mindset, that sounds about right.”

Not quite normal.

But if I were to say it, I’d probably be dead.

“We were planning on accepting from the start, so let’s just talk things over with the staff and wrap it up. Did you meet him last time? Kirantel.”

“Ah… the Dark Elf, right?”

“Yeah. He’s darker than me.”

Honestly, that’s about as far from a filter as you can get.

By the way, Kirantel is quite something.

“Ah~ you really laughed hard. Well, now, you can go. While you’re here, go play with Asar as well.”

Once she had her fun, Viola just wanted me to leave, typical of her.

As soon as I received the dismissal, I immediately stood up.

I’d said what I needed to, received everything I came for, so there was no reason to stick around and waste energy.

When you can leave, you leave.

So, I went out and found Kirantel, and after some discussions similar to those with Frontier, I finalized the contract.

I was about to ask if there were any leftover buildings like I did with Rep, but it wasn’t as easy as I thought.

Kirantel seemed like someone who would insist on using ‘sir’ even in his inner thoughts.

The word xiao sha (elegant) seemed to fit perfectly.

With his neatly combed hair, not a single strand out of place, his clothing that exposed his body but had no real exposure, and the clean lines of his attire, he looked as sharp as a blade.

I asked Asar, and (excluding Viola) Kirantel is apparently Frontier’s top swordsman.

I wonder why someone like him is in charge of these kinds of administrative tasks.

They say curry takes 3 minutes to cook, but it only took a minute for the contract to be printed out in front of me.

Two copies of a contract that could shake the city if even one was released.

The most uptodat𝓮 n𝒐vels are published on freёnovelkiss.com.

Honestly, I was feeling a bit of a collection urge.

Later, I’ll be getting one more from Enigma, but now that I’ve got two, maybe I should collect them all from the five major guilds?

Like how those trainers go around collecting badges at gym competitions.

“Uhm… don’t you think that’s a bit much?”

“Is it?”

“They say too many cooks spoil the broth, don’t they?”

“…Isn’t that the opposite?”

If there are too many cooks, the broth goes to the mountains, right, Leef?

“Ugh, I misspoke! It was a slip of the tongue!”

Leef hastily pulled her hood down, muttering.

By the way, Ray’s been quiet.

She’s usually the one to jump in and tease everyone in these situations.

“Ray? Are you sick?”

“Uh, huh? No. Ah, I just forgot something for a second. Go on ahead, I’ll catch up.”

And with that, she quickly turned and ran off.

What’s going on?

I glanced over at Leef, confused, and it seemed like she shared the same sentiment, looking back at me.

“Is she still upset about what happened last time?”

“I don’t think so.”

Ray might grumble, but she wasn’t the type to hold grudges.

Then what’s going on?

There was something going on, I could tell.

For a moment, we stood there, and the passersby seemed to hurry us along with their curious glances.

“Should we go for now?”

“Ah, yes!”

§

Ray returned to Frontier’s guild house.

Everyone stared at her as she suddenly came back in after just leaving, but Ray walked straight through, ignoring their questions.

Some of them were friends of Ray, but right now, they weren’t in her line of sight.

Right now, Ray was about to do something that might be the biggest gamble of her life.

Her heart was racing.

When she escaped from slavery, she wasn’t as tense as she was now.

Back then, she even felt exhilaration.

But now, there was a bit of fear mixed in with her emotions.

“Haah…”

Is this the right choice? The thought kept tormenting her.

She had spent the whole trip wondering if there was another way, but in the end, the conclusion was the same.

Sure, there might be other ways, but none more certain than this.

“Can I go in?”

“If you’re done thinking.”

So, she was right all along.

Of course, she was.

The owner of this room was one of the top eight explorers among tens of thousands of them.

Ray entered Viola’s room, preparing for her final decision.

“I came here to ask for a favor.”

“Before that.”

This was different from when she spoke with Roman.

The current Viola had a distance to her. She was a cold and calculating guild leader, not the kind of older sister Roman would have imagined.

Roman may not have known, but Ray did.

She knew from having gone through it once.

Ray bowed her head.

All the way to the waist.

“I have a favor to ask.”

“Hm.”

Viola crossed her arms and exhaled through her nose.

Ray knew from experience that this was her habit—her way of showing she was willing to listen.

“I want to get stronger. Teach me how to fight.”

“Why?”

“…I can’t stand being left behind.”

At first, she thought she was always ahead.

And, in truth, she probably was.

In the early days, during the training camp and just after graduation.

Roman’s ability to use space magic was a huge shock to Ray, but she didn’t think that meant she would lose.

Back then, Roman took some time to move, and he could only go to places he could clearly sense, so there were limitations.

If she could catch him, she could neutralize him with Arzentus.

Leef was the same.

She had no idea Leef was a high elf, and before that, she was like a ticking time bomb, unsure of when her spirit would revolt.

Ray had always thought that the only one who could reliably perform their role was herself.

She had thought that way.

But gradually, things changed.

Space magic, illusion magic, infinite curse stacking, perfect guidance.

Roman was surrounded by magic that could be considered cheating.

A spirit of water with considerable output, and the wind spirit sealed in the Abyss.

Leef, with her high elf bloodline, had absolute command over spirits.

Compared to them, Ray’s beast kin bloodline and Arzentus were fading in comparison.

Ray had definitely gotten stronger.

After receiving training from Viola, she laid the foundation for her growth, and with the Azure Rail from the floating island’s altar, she gained her wings.

If she were to return to her old slave days now, she wouldn’t need to rely on strategy or luck.

She could push her way through with pure strength.

In fact, in the senior promotion exam, Ray showed overwhelming skill and passed with ease.

If she were thrown into a group of senior explorers now, she’d likely be in the top ranks.

But that’s not enough.

Not nearly enough.

The truth that had been lingering in her mind became clear after Roman’s duel.

Roman, facing an expert explorer, didn’t lose ground and effectively won by decision.

Could Ray have done that?

No, it would have been impossible.

Svetlana’s defense, agility, and reflexes… everything surpassed Ray.

Without Arzentus’s destructive power and Azure Rail’s mobility, she couldn’t win.

Even Svetlana, being a martial artist, made it almost impossible to break her defense with Arzentus.

“Hmm… well, I did tell you to come back if you felt you were lacking in learning. But you came faster than I thought. I thought you’d show a bit more pride.”

“I’m used to accepting reality.”

And not just accepting it, but struggling against it.

“Please help me.”

A single word, born from desperation.

As Ray waited for an answer, Viola’s voice fell on her.

“To be honest, I was a bit surprised. When I first saw you, I wondered where this little brat came from.”

It seemed like a somewhat disconnected topic.

“You, how did your first duel with Asar go?”

“…Three matches, three losses.”

Ray had kept this hidden from Roman and Leef.

“And how did it go at the end of the training?”

“Three matches, one win, one draw, one loss.”

“That doesn’t make sense. Asar is a sword I personally forged from start to finish. I raised him to be the next pioneer of Frontier. By the time we sent him to the training camp, he was already near completion.”

At that point, Asar was already at a level where he could have easily passed the senior level.

If he hadn’t been so obsessed with developing his inherited magic, he might have even reached expert rank if he just followed Viola’s techniques.

Viola considered Asar a prodigy who could have reached Master status before thirty and challenged the position of Pioneer when he retired.

And now, this beast-kin brat had surpassed Asar.

Though there was the natural synergy between Asar’s pure mage abilities and Ray’s destructive magic, it was still impressive.

“And yet, there are even crazier bastards than you, right? And they’re right next to you.”

Three future pioneers walking together?

And they met by chance at a training camp?

Is there some kind of fate behind this?

And there really were cases like this, or even worse ones.

The First Expedition.

Seven superhumans, coming together through a mixture of fate and coincidence.

And they became a turning point.

If there’s fate, it must be that.

They determined the direction of history and shaped the flow of the world to suit their will.

If what Viola is seeing now is also the result of a greater destiny,

what kind of future is this leading to?

“Alright. I’ll teach you. How to fight, how to grow stronger. How to walk beside them.”

“…Thank you.”

“But it won’t be free.”

It was a sea of preparation.

A lesson that some would pay a fortune to learn, but because of a little connection and some teachable talent, Ray would get it.

Even if something more is added, she was ready to accept it.

That’s why she was here.

“You’re prepared. Let’s get started. You’d better start right away, right?”

“Anytime.”

Ray had said she would catch up with Roman and Leef quickly, but she was probably going to be a little late.