Side Story 30: Onlookers of the Winter’s Coming. [Release Version]

“Hmm, it seems he won’t be escaping. Shame.”

A large distance away from Griffonpeak, a lone man was sitting in the shadow of a tree. Blood was dripping down the stump of his right arm, tainting the dirt underneath him in red. He was heaving large breaths in between taping sips of his potion, too exhausted to down it in one gulp.

It was the demonkin Prince of Pride.

“Unbelievable. Why is such a large dragon flying to Griffonpeak of all places? Has that false Goddess truly ordered her lackey to send one of his lizards to protect that saintess and champion? Shameful… but truly demonic, kehehek!”

His yellow skin, the mark of a demonkin attuned to the sin of pride, was now saturated with shades of  purple-blue — a sign of arcane corruption. His twin horns were slightly cracked and numerous wounds were scattered across his body, revealed through his tattered suit. His body was like an abstract painting, dyed in red and purple.

Still, even as he was bearing through the pain, he smiled. He tapped the car-size beak next to him, admiring the trophy of his most recent kill. He thought of how he ripped it off the face of the Griffon King, Assurfel, after sacrificing one of his arms. Against an A rank monster as old and experienced as that griffin, losing a limb for the victory was well worth it.

At least, that was what the demonkin thought. All the intrigue and scheming he left to his minion had been successful, giving him the opportunity to duel the griffon king by himself. However, Assurfel wasn’t just a mighty A rank, but also a dungeon master. The dungeon itself moved to defend its master. It was never a true duel.

Losing a single arm was merely the price for the privilege of living.

“That tonic is still imperfect. 30%? Or maybe even worse — 20%? I felt my ancestor’s power rising inside me, but it wasn’t enough. It was too weak. That alchemist must be slacking, yes,” he uttered, bringing up the near empty potion bottle. A little drop of black liquid was still inside.

What abominable ingredients were used for this creation? Only its creator could possibly know, but, without question, it was absolutely a heretical item inside Peolynca. In a way, the demonkin by themselves could be construed as heretical, since they were the spawns of demons and Peolyncian denizens. At least, that was what the church of Aurena truly believed.

This tonic, however, had the purpose to bring out the power of a demonkin’s heritage. A liquid able to churn their blood and heart, to fully unleash the beast inside. It was the tonic the demonkin of envy used to slay Saintess Eshe and her knights. A more refined version than the black elixir the troll shaman used moments before it died to Hestia in the Belzac forest.

It was rather fortunate that none of the demonkin learned of the modified version Davison created in his quest to transcend the weakness of human flesh. The black potion — the payment for Davison to work for Hamil — was modified to suit and strengthen humans without the side effects of their flesh undergoing a hideous transformation into something akin to an eldritch horror.

If this demonkin of pride had known his work had been used for the ambition of bettering humans, what would he have thought? A failed prototype to aid the demonkin in becoming like their demon ancestors, turned into a final hurrah attack for desperate demonkins and their agents, was used by a human to draw out the potential of his own race. With his hatred for humans as great as it was, this demonkin of pride would have most likely only felt disgusted.

But, alas, the only copy of the perfected potion was used up by Davison himself. The secret to its creation was lost forever with his death and the destruction of his guild. Maybe it would have helped the demonkins in their own potion creation if that secret had survived?

“The dragon shouldn’t be able to find me after I used up all the demonic power I had been storing in my body. In this state, I’m little better than a human.”

Demonic energy — one of the demonkin’s defining features, along with their iconic appearance and nearly one-dimensional personality controlled by the sin singing in their blood.

Just like how Ellaine was able to draw out her demonic abilities by allowing Klea’Hatma to infect her  mana with the demoness’ own, or how [Assimilation] requires the demon of lust to inject mana directly into Ellaine’s blood. This process was simply the norm for a demonkin. Their blood carried their ancestor’s powers.

However, similar to how Klea’Hatma would become drained after Ellaine used up too much of her mana, the energy within a demonkin’s blood could be exhausted as well. In this state, they would be unable to freely use their demonic powers without serious repercussions. If they didn’t want to risk their lives, they were required to rest.

“I should leave this place soon. Taking on an A rank monster like that was nearly more than I could handle. Considering that lizard’s size, it probably is a S rank.” He stood up after the right arm had stopped bleeding, pausing only to pick up the beak. “However, soon, yes. There is still so much to do for the future. True freedom for this world from its false gods. A world where this constant war has finally come to an end. Humans… Hmph, at least pick a proper Edjurl god to pray to. The betrayer Plesia or the mighty Marsven, either would have been better, but what could you expect from a bland race like them. The weak attracts the weak.”

“The weak attracts the weak.” A statement spoken with a deep seated grudge and hostility. The constant conflicts the demonkin had to suffer From the persecution of the Church of Aurena was just like history between humans and beastmen. Entirely filled with little more than blood and strife.

“Too bad, too bad, young U’Skaie. Children like you deserve to see a better world than all of this… Humans and beastmen love celebrating their days of birth, even those barbaric grimgarians cherish their childrens’ births so much they would call their whole tribe for a festival in honor of even a single babe… How is being born into this world a gift?”

Footsteps. The drizzle of the rain masked the presence of this hunter, returning to his camp victorious after a successful hunt. In the distance, the rain froze into snowflakes, cooling down the raging inferno, the young kin of a being able to call in the next ice age.

Today they wouldn’t meet.

“U’Skaie, I shall see the world fit for your reincarnation. May the Goddess Ilsaphone bless you with the fortune to come back to us. Until then, our kin shall know of your feats and accomplishments. You have made me proud to have a subordinate like you, very proud indeed.”

His purple complexion slowly turned yellow as a bright smile shone on his face. Pride in his subordinate caused his blood to pump rapidly.

**************************************************

“You look terrible, Eithalr. I thought you just wanted to get Hamil out of there, not pick a fight. I didn’t think you would get yourself in so much trouble,” the young man expressed in surprise, squinting his eyes at the man walking towards him who looked as if he just survived being ravaged by a beast.

“Well, it was more fun than I expected, you know. Had to make it worth coming all this way. Getting a merchant and more helpers on board wasn’t exactly what I called thrilling, hahahaha!”

Current fifth head of the black mercenary company Yanderu Eluseuss, Eithalr. Known as the “Phantasmael Armory.” Known by most in the underground as a lax but highly competent mercenary who used to go by the nickname of “Weapon Stealer” and “Weapon Copier.”

One weapon for every kill. It accumulated until it was an entire armory. Even with an army, it would be hard to defeat such a person at this point.

However, Eithalr’s clothes were tattered, burned away, in fact. He had to replace them with spares he salvaged on his way out of Griffonpeak. But none of them could hide the number of burns and the trail of puke he left across his whole body. The wounds and burns were slowly healing, but he still looked more or less like a zombie himself.

“Well, every fight is an experience. I never thought I would— Urp! Buuuwaaaaaaaark!” Eithalr fell on his knees, puking out more purple fluids.

“Shit! Damnit, are you alright?” The young man helped Eithalr up.

“N-Not really, hahaha…” he laughed weakly before pounding his chest, acting strong. “Guess I’ll probably be out of commission for a bit. Shitting ain’t gonna be fun. That toxin was a real threat, never thought I would get this wrecked with such a ‘simple’ job.”

The young man watched Eithalr drink a bottle of Health potion as well as an antidote, trying to get himself fit again. The young man scratched his short brown hair, showing off the trained muscles underneath his monster leather armor. If this were Earth, he would have the perfect physique for an MMA fighter.

“Where is Hamil?”

Eithalr chuckled. “Don’t worry, he should be traveling to the endpoint of the underground river in the Lecartiglio duchy. We’ll meet him there and pick him up. But I presume you are more interested in this, right?”

Eithalr threw a satchel filled with documents to the young man.

“All he has. His connections to that demonkin and all the other nobles. Hamil is neurotic as hell, as the Boss guessed from the information. He really made sure to document everything and even paid a large sum of money to make sure he has agents in the Empire. Everybody that demonkin of envy met with.”

The young man smirked as he read the first one. “He’ll be pleased. We got enough dirt to bring down quite a few of these corrupt nobles. Wonder who he will pick. Well, he’s resolute in doing justice the proper way, so we will need all the evidence for their trial. Will Hamil work with us?”

“He’s planning on betraying the demonkin, yeah. Well, only if we can bring those responsible for destroying his family down. Haaaaa, the Boss really is a stickler for all of this formal stuff. We could just kill them, you know.”

“… Light does not like that. We do things his way, Eithalr.”

The young man glared at Eithalr, trying to intimidate him into his place.

“Whew!” Eithalr whistled. “You’re trying to tackle a beast too large for you, man. I guess you were a bit of a low-class bully back on Earth, huh, Ryuji?”

Ryuji Enokida. One of Saori’s students was standing before Eithalr at this moment. Staring him down, his wariness for this mercenary was apparent. A mercenary was a person who only did things according to their interests, and they would be able to discard all previous contracts and break any promise if a better opportunity presents itself. This was, even more, the case for a black mercenary.

“Hey, hey, no need to look so morbid, man. Hahaha, we are allies, right?” Eithalr tried to calm him.

“Only if our interests are still aligned. If you were on our side, you would have cut yourself off from the Yanderu completely. You are a threat to my party’s operations.”

“And you know I can’t do that. The moment I do that, I will be hunted down by the others. The reason why I could just casually stroll into Griffonpeak and take over the Yanderu operations in this area is ‘cause I am the fifth head. The Boss told me to get here for Hamil’s information, and boy, I was lucky that a certain event happened that let me completely gain his trust.”

“The slave auction?”

“Yup! Learned from the crew that Hamil used Gestien for nearly everything, ignoring the mercenary rules set up by Blackreach. Due to that accident, I got into everything faster. That was also the only reason I was able to learn that the demonkin would strike Griffonpeak today.”

It rained around them, but, in the distance, the two could see snow falling down after a silver dragon flew by. The giant fire explosion they saw was gone, a vanishing memory underneath a veil of winter.

“… This leaves a bad taste in my mouth,” Ryuji uttered, contorting his face in disgust. “We shouldn’t be working for these demonkin.”

“This is war, Ryuji. You don’t reform a whole entire fucking empire by being nice and pure. You must dirty your hands, or at least allow those under you to stain theirs.” Eithalr stared blankly into the distance. “Not all of the demonkin are bad, Ryuji. You saw them. Some simply wish for peace and happiness, just like any other human and beastmen. We worked with the radicals today, but, to create Boss’s ideal, we need to take every opportunity we have to move forward.”

“Hey, Boss!” a voice resounded from behind the trees. Both men looked over, seeing a group of humans and beastmen approaching.

“Yo! Good to see you alright!” Eithalr exclaimed, waving at them, only to receive a cold response.

“Fuck you, did you really have to take on this job! All of our people were nearly wiped out by that damn ice witch!” The pantharae stepped forward, shouting as loudly as he could. He twirled his spear, only to groan out from exerting the wound on his shoulder.

“Damnit, Kaian, shut up!” The rabbit woman chided him by slapping his head.

“Yoewch! Friel, what gives?! I told you we lost a few new bloods during that mission! I nearly lost my life to Tasianna and that damn noble!”

Kaian and Friell, the two Yanderu Eleuseuss members Hestia and company worked with to free the kidnapped orphan kids from Hamil’s slave auction. Back then, they were allies; however, today, they turned back into enemies.

“Hahaha, I see you have some energy left after that! I mean, just look at me, Kaian. Do I look like I got out of my fight without a wound? I’m pretty sure that kiddo’s toxin is still inside me, probably trying to kill off my organs. It’s almost hydra or basilisk levels of obnoxious.”

Seeing Eithalr in that state, Kaian and the other weary Yanderu silenced themselves. Today was a successful job, but neither they nor their Boss got out of it unscathed. At this moment, the members simply felt a sense of sympathy.

“My Boss risked his life for the job, just like us,” they thought before reminding themselves of Gestien, their previous leader. “We are Yanderu, of course, we need to get dangerous jobs,” was their next thought. They knew the rules and what living like this would get them. As one of the most notorious gangs, taking on impossible jobs was normal.

As was losing people… but aside from a few new members, those they have known and fought with the longest were still here. Breathing and complaining with each other. And just like that, everybody’s mood was raised. You couldn’t stay depressed for too long in this line of work.

“Big Sis Friel?” A small wolfkin child tugged on Friel’s robe. “I’m tired. I don’t want to walk anymore.”

“Hahahaha!” Eithalr let out a boisterous laugh. “So you brought the kids with you, huh?”

“… You told us to leave. If I’m going, then I won’t leave the kids behind. None of them have anybody else,” Friel justified her action. Awaiting to be scolded, the man next to Eithalr caught her in surprise as he replied.

“Don’t worry, our Boss likes children. Once we’re at our base, we’ll make sure to get you a place and the kids to stay, Miss Loopridae.”

“… Who’s he, Boss?” Friel asked.

“One of your new partners, everybody.” Eithalr smacked Ryuji’s shoulder before turning around and shouting, “Hey, get out there now! We need to get going!”

To the Yanderu mercinaries’ surprise, the air behind Eithalr suddenly began to wobble around like jelly before breaking into light fragments like a mirror. Friel gasped as numerous people suddenly revealed themselves behind it, with multiple wagons ready for travel.

“Yanderu of Griffonpeak, I present to you your new family and crew. This is my crew, the people I’ve worked with as the fifth head of the organization. Hope you’ll get along. Hey, get them up to speed, will you?”

“Got it, Boss!” One of the men ran over, stopping in front of Friel and Kaian. “Hey, welcome to the party. We got everything ready for a long trip. Boss told us to ready a wagon only for children and their caretakers. That would be you, right? Come on, let’s get them on. Night is about to come.”

“Wha-What?! H-How?” Friel looked to Eithalr in surprise, only to see him smirk as if he had this planned all along.

Asshole, Friel thought before smiling.

With Kaian and Friel having accepted the situation, they decided to save their questions for later. Eithalr may have not told them everything, but the members of the Yanderu felt like they could trust him, even for only a day.

A Boss who fought with them, taking on an even mightier threat all by himself. He bled with them instead of sitting at the headquarters, sipping wine as if none of the jobs were his responsibilities. Eithalr was far better than Gestien, who was more like a cutthroat than a leader. Even among criminals, real leaders with actual charisma were needed to inspire everybody.

Seeing the trust and merriment his old and new crew were showing him as they began sharing food and drinks while getting on the wagons made Eithalr smile. He opened his bag and took out a fried piece of pastry. “Want some?”

“Hmm? … Huh? Where did you get that?”

“Oh, this? This donut? From the Greenveil pastry shop in Griffonpeak. Forgot the shop name, haha! Let me guess, you never saw this in Peolynca before, eh? Me neither.” Eithalr quickly took a bite from his glazed donut before offering Ryuji one.

Eithalr inspected the pastry before taking a bite, widening his eyes at that nostalgic taste. “… Are you kidding me? Hehe, while we were trying our best to fulfill the church’s goals and get ourselves back to Earth, Tamae-san and her party went on to spread Earthen pastries to Peolynca? Damnit, those freeloaders! Mamph!”

Ryuji devoured the whole donut in seconds, completely ignoring the complaints he threw at his fellow classmates.

Uuuuuuuuu! The frying, the sugar, the damn umami! Fuck me, I would give everything to get some high sugary treats, again.

“Did you get more?” Ryuji inquired greedily. In all his time in Peolynca, Ryuji had completely pushed his sweet tooth underneath his persona as a tough guy. Now confronted with such nostalgia, he couldn’t stop himself.

“Glad you like it, sugar pal!” Eithalr grinned as if he had found a kindred spirit, handing him another donut. “Also, who is this ‘Tamae-san’?”

“One of our classmates. Daughter of some high-profile chefs. Great cook and baker. When we still went to school together, she would bring tons of her experimental pastries for us to taste. Good wife material, I say,” Ryuji answered.

“Ahhh, I see. Hmm, wish I had met that person. I think we would have gotten along pretty well,” Eithalr imagined his meeting with her and what dishes she could cook. “But, this recipe wasn’t made by that girl. It was somebody else.”

“Huh? You serious? Well, Tamae-san went with nine others from our class so who—”

“Nope, none of them.”

“W-What?”

“Hahaha, boy, do I have a lot to tell you. But, first, you want this?” Eithalr took out another glazed pastry, but this one didn’t have a hole in the middle. Instead, it was filled with jelly as Eithalr bit into it. “ ‘Berliner,’ they call it. Simply scrumptious.”

“ ‘Berliner?’ … Hold on, did you just say ‘Berliner?’ Like in, a Bismarck or Krapfen?!” Ryuji snatched Eithalr's pastry, causing him to eke out a meek “That’s mine…”

Ryuji turned the Berliner around, and bit into a spot Eithalr has not bitten into yet. Once the taste of the sugar glaze, the fluffy breading, and the fragassa jelly entered his mouth, Ryuji suddenly remembered a time when he went to Germany with his best friend. There, his best friend made sure to introduce him to a variety of historical spots.

Of course, Ryuji wasn’t very fond of it. History wasn’t very much his thing, even if this was a new and unknown place. However, his mood instantly brightened when they went out to find stuff to eat. Germany, allowing drinking at the age of 16, made it easy for the two to enjoy the stuff they couldn’t in Japan.

He had fond memories of those times, but what stayed in his mind the most was Germany’s delicacies.

“Pfannkuchen… this is a Pfannkuchen! Ein Berliner!” Ryuji exclaimed. “W-Where did you get this?! I know Tamae has never made a Berliner before! She doesn’t know much about any pastries that her parents didn’t teach her! Where did you get this?!”

Ahhhh, so that’s how it is. I know who you are now, Princess~ Eithalr thought, his deduction giving him the information he needed.

“I’ll tell you everything, don’t worry. But, first, tell me this. What does ‘Licht’ mean?” Eithalr asked.

“‘Licht?’ That’s some specific pronunciation. That’s not common, that’s German. Where did you learn that, Eithalr?!” Ryuji insisted, but Eithalr kept his mouth shut. The former caught on. “… It’s from German, a language from our Earth. It means ‘Light.’”

“‘Light’, huh? Interesting, pretty similar to our Boss’s nickname, right?” Eithalr then took out another Berliner and bit into it. “Come, let’s get going. I’ll tell you everything on the way.”

Princess Hestia Atsuko Kargryxmor. I had a feeling you were an otherworlder, but I had to make sure. We’ll probably meet again, but I do hope it’ll be as allies…

… not like I think you would accept it. Hahahahaha! See ya later, kiddo!