Epilogue

-Somewhere in Axel…

"Are you sure about this?" The man I brought with me said.

I looked at him disapprovingly. "You know why we're here, Platinum."

"Platinum? Come on, don't do that, use my name."

"You idiot, we're in enemy territory; this a reconnaissance mission to confirm the information given by that failure of a man."

"Aww, don't be like that, Annie; Wulf really tried. Don't you remember how tough things were for us back then?"

"Codenames, you fool!"

"Honestly, I think it'd bring more attention to us if we did; just imagine if you heard someone calling someone else something like 'Platinum' and 'Gold', you'd probably think they're a bunch of weirdos."

"Guh!" I couldn't deny this man's line of reasoning. "F-Fine but try to limit how much you say my name."

"Umu, umu, sure thing, Annie."

I clicked my tongue. This impudent man.

He looked around, a stupid and childish smile on his face. "So, this is it, the Kingdom of Belzerg's, Axel City. Such a nice place compared to the north."

"Kelby-san, please try to stay focused."

"I am. I'm totally focused, but that's no reason not to enjoy the sights."

"We're on an important mission, not some vacation."

"I know, I know."

"Oh, do you now? Then why don't you tell me exactly why we're here; what's our objective?"

"Really now; are you sure—" Seeing my eyes narrow on him, he coughed gently and began to recite our mission. "We're here to corroborate the reports given by Wulf about a certain party who not only thwarted our plans to steal a legendary coronatite core but has supposedly also defeated the Demon King of the West."

"Thank you, seems like you still remember. As such, I want you to focus on the task. Honestly, I wish I could've come with someone else, but the Demon King has decided you were the one to accompany me on this mission."

"I can honestly sympathize with you on that."

"What was that?!"

"Nothing. Hey, look, that must be this town's Adventurer's guild; I'm sure if we go there, we could gather some reliable intel."

"Umu, not a bad idea; let's go."

Suddenly a group of girls passed in front of us; they were walking in the same direction. A loli on the back of a what appeared to be a blonde-haired knightess was yelling loudly.

"Haaaah, what an amazing explosion; I still can't get over it!"

"I still don't understand why you had to use it on a single Giant Frog!" A black-haired girl with similar features to the loli exclaimed. "I could've dealt with it!"

A blue-haired girl spoke; from the look of her attire she appeared to be a priest of some sort. "Those insolent beasts deserve no mercy, Yunyun. I, for one, believe that they need to be utterly annihilated."

The knightess sighed. "How unfortunate. How I wish for us to go back to our early days; it's starting to seem like Giant Frogs might no longer be a threat."

"Oh, shut up, Darkness," the blue-haired priest said, "you just want to be eaten by the frogs. Next time give me your armor while you run around being chased!"

The blonde-haired girl let out a weird noise; something between a sigh and an excited shriek.

"Anyways, since you guys woke me up so early, I say we head back and have some nice wine. And even though I didn't get eaten this time, I still worked up a sweat, so we can all have a nice bath together."

The sensible black-hair girl named Yunyun said, "W-Well, let me get a change of clothes first, please."

The loli replied with a sneer. "Don't worry, Yunyun, I could give you another pair; I have plenty."

"A-Absolutely not!"

I didn't understand the circumstances, but given the girl Yunyun's disposition and reddened face, I could tell it was a rather embarrassing event to recall.

Eventually, the group deviated from our path and their odd conversation blended into the background.

"What a weird group," I commented.

"Umu. Is this what the town of beginners in this part of the world is like?"

"Humph, it's surprising the Demon King of the West was defeated by such adventurers."

"Well, I mean, we don't know that."

"No, you're right, Kelby-san; it's likely he was defeated by powerful adventurers from Belzerg's capital. Yes, perhaps we're wasting our time investigating this place. Powerful adventurers wouldn't stay here; they'd likely congregate at the most important place of the nation."

"I agree, but I don't think scouting this place is a waste of time. After all, all adventurers are beginners at some point. If a group powerful enough to defeat the Demon King of the West exists, then they surely must've come from here."

"Good thinking."

Suddenly, Kelby-san scratched his chin. "Come to think of it, didn't Wulf say he fought against a powerful blonde-haired knightess?"

Both of us stopped in our tracks.

"…you don't think…"

We both laughed and shook our head. "No," I said, "this is the town of beginners; intelligence aside, I don't think that man would lose to a beginner knight."

Kelby-san showed a serious expression once more. "But there's also that little girl; she was talking about explosions. You think she meant the spell?"

I paused to give it some thought. "Impossible. The only ones capable of learning Explosion are devils and beings with abnormally long lifespans. Mana capacity aside, the amount of time it would take for someone her age to learn Explosion would be too long. She would've had had to learn it at such a young age. Not only that, but there'd have to be someone crazy enough to teach her such a stupid spell."

"Hm, yeah, but…black hair and red eyes…"

"…a Crimson Demon?"

"I'm thinking. In any case, Annie, I agree with you; a girl her age wouldn't possibly know a spell like Explosion. It's likely she knows something like Blast or Detonate. Yeah, in fact, that makes more sense; if she was a Crimson Demon then it'd make sense for her to be born with enough skill points to make learning such skills possible."

"Still…a Crimson Demon; the bastards are powerful. To have an Archmage in this city."

"That's not incredibly odd; for all we know, she's probably just started her…" Kelby-san trailed off. "No, they mentioned something about their beginnings…which means…"

"Veteran adventurers?"

"…" He shook his head, and then laughed again. "Perhaps I'm thinking about it too much. Yeah, back in Grimstone there were still the few odd veterans; maybe it's the same here."

"Hmmm, perhaps. Regardless, we're here for intel; if those girls are indeed prominent, we'll definitely find out."

"That's true. Well then, I'll catch you later."

"Wha—where do you think you're going, you fool?!"

"Hm? It's better if we split up; we'll draw less attention that way."

I sighed. "You have a point. Alright, let's meet up at the guild to discuss our findings."

"Ok, Boss," He said teasingly.

"Oh and Kelby-san…"

"Yeah?"

"Don't screw this up."

He sneered. "Not a chance, Annie-chan; I'm not about to let some do-gooders ruin my life of decadence."