---Hunter's POV---

 

Why now.

 

I have worked as a mercenary for more than 30 years, which led me to fight all kinds of abominations; liches, drakes, ogres, you name it. However, they are all, in the end, mindless monsters made out of accumulated mana attacking all sentient beings indiscriminately.

 

I beat them all, yet there is one creature that scares me, even might make me run away in fear. They aren't monsters. I have witnessed it myself, a mage suffering from Soul Corruption who was rampaging for almost a week 'changed' in front of my eyes.

 

It was no longer human. The horns on its head, the dark purple skin, and that chilly smile, these are the characteristic features of demons.

 

Every time I think about it, I chuckle at myself for being so naïve. I treated the demon as if it was a normal monster and charged with the rest of my mercenary group while raising my axe. Monsters are stupid, they never dodge attacks and would rather commit to a suicidal attack, instead.

 

That single thought which was so ingrained in my head from fighting so many monsters made me careless. While my comrades were charging, a large hole appeared right under their feet and they fell straight down. I was lucky only due to the fact I've been wearing heavy armor, which made me slower than the rest, so I was a step outside the range of the trap.

 

Yes, the demon predicted our attack. We didn't fight a monster; we fought a sentient being capable of logical thinking. It was then that I realized why demons are so dangerous even though they didn't have the raw strength of high-ranked monsters. Demons retain memories from their past before demonification.

 

What I did after the realization was run. Run as fast as possible until I reach someone who can defeat that thing. Monsters which use magic are easy to deal with, but a mage that knows how to fight rationally? Forget about going toe-to-toe with one, even a whole squad of B-rank adventurers will have difficulty trying to suppress a green-robe without having a mage as a support themselves.

 

I lost all my comrades on that day, some of them were childhood friends from the same wolf tribe as mine. I decided to retire from being a mercenary and slowly drown myself in alcohol, but on one fateful night while I was getting out of the pub, a fairy approached me.

 

An enchanting lady with bright pink hair and a pair of glowing butterfly wings can only be thought of as a fairy. I thought that I was so drunk that I started hallucinating, but the fairy started talking-

 

"Head North, where your wish shall come true."

 

I didn't answer back. I was too mesmerized by her calming voice to think straight. She then disappeared as if none of this had happened. After I woke up from my stupor, I decided to do as she told me. I'm not the kind of person to trust a random suspicious woman, yet I couldn't miss a chance to fulfill my 'wish'.

 

I wanted revenge.

 

The fairy's directions were very vague since there were a lot of ways to interpret the word 'North'. Therefore, I decided to trust my gut and head towards the most northern city in Lanthanum, the city of Osmium.

 

While on my way there, I camped next to a river since it was getting dark. Money was starting to become a problem, but I was still able to manage. It was then that I heard a scream and the familiar sound of clashing weapons coming from the roadside. Definitely from a fight between carriage guards and a bandit ambush, I thought. I decided that this might be an opportunity to make a quick buck by saving whoever was in there, so I grabbed my rusted axe and rushed towards the road where the battle ensued.

 

When I reached the carriage, things were a lot different than what I had expected. I saw a mage protecting a black-haired woman, while some tough-looking guards were having a hard time with who I guess were assassins judging by their black attire and fighting style. They were targeting the mage and the woman he was protecting. Seemingly too busy to detect my presence, I used the opportunity to dash in and slash at an assassin who managed to sneak behind the mage.

 

The woman had a surprised look on her face when she saw me stop the sneak attack, while the mage suddenly stopped being defensive and launched a shockwave which blasted the assassins, sending them like ragdolls towards the river I was camping next to. That was definitely a high-rank spell, only possible to cast by a blue-robe at the very least.

 

At that time, I didn't realize I'd hit the jackpot by saving a duke and his wife. By the time I realized it, I was already contracted as the headguard of the Phoenix family. This must've been all predicted by the fairy since the chance of stumbling upon such an opportunity is almost non-existent. Not only that, but I also got to suppress several Soul Corruption cases which were relatively common in a territory famous for having the highest number of mages in Lanthanum.

 

For five years, my life had been pretty stable; rarely going around defeating Soul Corrupted mages and patrolling a mansion was pretty relaxing. However, things quickly turned upside down at the end of the fifth year. The duke's wife silently disappeared as if she never existed in the first place. Duke Magnus refused to tell me what happened and, instead, rebuked me for being careless. Ok, I might have been a bit lax with the security, but I'm still a wolf-kin and can easily track the smell of any person. However, no matter how much I tried, she was untraceable.

 

I thought that the duke was going to execute me for failing to find her, but instead, things eerily calmed down. Duke Magnus got remarried not even six months after the incident and had his second son with the new lady. His four-year-old son didn't like the sudden change and, understandably, decided to distance himself from the new foreign family.

 

Six years later, another son was born into the Phoenix family. Max is his name. Although I haven't met him at the time, I heard some rumors going around about how excited he gets when he sees magic. So excited, in fact, that he shouts so loudly you'd think he hated it. I thought he was going to become a great mage in the future who may even surpass his father due to his unique interest in magic.

 

That thought came crashing down when Max's Soul Depth score was revealed. A manaphobe in a duke's family, especially the one known for its mages, was a great scandal which threw the entire mansion in chaos. I believed Duke Magnus had gone mad when he told me to protect the manaphobe, saying that he might be in great danger or whatever crazy excuse he had.

 

I never took the job seriously and continued my normal tasks. Cases of Soul Corruption increased for some reason, so I didn't have time to play with some sheltered kid. There were times that I've caught Max doing weird things using my sense of smell, such as entering the locked study. It was amusing the first time, but I just reported to the duke and decided to ignore the kid's acts as I had more important things to deal with.

 

One time, while I was going after a rampaging mage near southern Osmium, I was suddenly recalled back to the mansion due to an incident related to Max. Apparently, he escaped the mansion and was almost killed by a monster, only to be saved by his teacher. Duke Magnus severely reprimanded me for my failure which was followed by a change in my tasks resulting in less time to deal with Soul Corruption.

 

Why did that stupid kid have to mess around and cause me trouble?

 

I, reluctantly, taught the insufferable child what I knew about military affairs from the time I've worked as a mercenary for the army. I also prepared the foundations for a new knight's order, albeit I took my sweet time with it. Not like a six-year-old can lead one in the first place.

 

Some weird things also happened during that time, too. A window was mysteriously broken and a sewage monster appeared from within the mansion's sewer system. Added to that, Lady Sarah forbade me from approaching Alice, who was just found out to be a magic prodigy. Whatever, I don't care as long as I'm not implicated in anything serious.

 

I decided to make an abandoned fortress into the base of the knight order. Max wanted to recruit people who had low Soul Depth scores, so I decided the easiest way to do that is to ask a bunch of orphanages for children who have the lowest scores. There's no way am I going to actually put effort into this farce.

 

As expected, Max didn't like my preparations, so I gave him some random excuse hoping that he'd buy it. He told me to train the recruits as punishment. How laughable, as if I wasn't going to do that in the first place. I decided to hire a friend of mine, Gaia, who's an elf archer to help me out with satisfying Max's demands.

 

Two years later, the eldest recruits practiced enough to be passable as the lowest footmen. They won't get very far with their low Soul Depth score, but Max should be satisfied with the current progress for now. It's not my fault that he chose the least talented individuals for his knight order, so I don't have a guilty conscience for giving them minimal training.

 

One day, Max had the brilliant idea to test out his pathetic force and a new toy by subjugating a slime that a village complained about for trampling its fields. At least he was smart enough not to risk his force fighting an actual monster which can threaten him.

 

I followed Max on horseback as we got near to where the slime was. I almost laughed at how serious everyone was. Apparently, Max and his friends wanted to test a cannon they made. A piece of artillery which was invented by the Dwarven Republic as a weapon because they can't use magic. Such an unwieldy contraption has very limited practical use in combat since any mage worth their salt is easily better.

 

When we reached our destination, I saw the monster. For some reason, the slime had a familiar faint smell which made me shiver. It can't be, right? It's just a slightly large slime that got big due to the high concentration of mana around here...

 

My thoughts were further reinforced by how easily Max's queer tactics defeated the thing. I wasn't convinced yet, however, so I quickly picked up the magic core of the slime and sniffed it. A scent of a demon assaulted my nose. I would never mistake this smell for anything else as I can clearly tell that there was demonic mana radiating from the core.

 

I couldn't think straight anymore and immediately switched into a paranoid state. I told Max to immediately return to the mansion, while I sent the recruits back to Fort Erosion. They don't stand a chance against demons. I have to report this incident to Duke Magnus at once before things get out of hand.

 

I knew that the duke was currently leading his knights to take down a recent case of Soul Corruption near the northern border. Riding my horse, I followed a trail through the Osmic forest which acted as a shortcut, then used my sense of smell to guide me towards Magnus's location.

 

Fortunately, the duke was already finished with his expedition and I got to meet him earlier than I'd thought on a grassy field only three kilometers away from the Phoenix mansion.

 

"Duke Magnus, this is an emergency. A demon is on the loose! I request all troops to mobilize to take it down."

 

"Hold your horses, Hunter. A demon? In my territory? Why haven't I heard of this before now?"

 

Dammit, of course he won't believe me just like that. Even I can't fathom how a demon appeared out of seemingly nowhere.

 

"Take a look at this slime core that your son's knight order has subjugated. It is clearly filled to the brim with demonic mana."

 

"This… Alright, I'll send out my men to scour the area around where you found the slime for clues and hopefully eliminate any possible threats."

 

I let out a deep sigh. Although Duke Magnus seemed strangely calm for a situation like this, he still listened to me and gave the order to find the demon. I can relax a bit with this much.

 

"A slime with demonic energy, huh. Something like that would at least be a middle-rank monster, right?"

 

… Now that I think about it, there's no way that Max's force should be strong enough to defeat a creature on that level. Then how?

 

"As expected, it seems like my son has some surprises up his sleeve. I'll increase his knight order's budget to three gold coins. I also permit him to take quests up to grade C."

 

… More responsibilities will be added to my list. Damn that child and his whole charade. I just want to fight Soul Corruption and have fun for the rest of my life. Is that too much to ask?