Tilia's Declaration
"Lena, why are you so obsessed with money?"
This request takes forever and barely pays. This is about money—
While we were working through the commission, I found myself snapping at Lena before I even realized it. All she had talked about the whole time was money, money, money, and the irritation had slipped into my voice on its own.
"Tiable, are you sulking because I said we weren't going? It's not really about the money, you know~"
"If we just rush off because you're curious, then what? We could end up as one of those adventurers who never come back."
"There's a proper order to these things~"
She stroked my head in that easy, unhurried way of hers as she spoke.
"If we die out there, we won't make any money at all."
She said it with a smile, but something about her expression looked sad.
She was right. I had been shortsighted. What Lena meant was that we should start by gathering information carefully, step by step.
"Th-then I'll go tell Redrago."
"Alright~ Should I just pick out the requests by myself while you're gone?"
"Yeah...!"
This time I didn't teleport straight into the office. I went to the door of the study like a proper guest and knocked.
"Come in."
"Hmm. Tiable, is it. What have you come to talk about this time?"
Redrago was buried in work again today. Papers lay in a messy heap across his desk.
"There's a strange rumor going around about Horn."
"A rumor? Ah. The one about the adventurers who went to Horn vanishing."
He set the paper on top of a book, rose from his chair, and walked over as he answered.
What? He already knew.
"I'm already aware of the contents."
"I-I came to tell you about that..."
Feeling awkward, I looked away from Redrago's eyes. His information network was faster than I had expected.
"Hmm. Thank you."
He came right up to me and lightly raised one of those large hands to stroke my head. It had been a long time since Redrago had done that, so I let myself enjoy the touch for a moment. The warm, steady weight of his hand seemed to soothe everything that had happened lately.
Once I had soaked it in enough, I turned to leave the office. Redrago spoke to my back.
"Ah, Tiable. If by any chance—"
"If war breaks out once more—"
He hesitated, as if the words did not want to leave his mouth.
Whether I could help again?
"I'm truly sorry, but could you help us again this time?"
"Yeah. Of course!"
I turned around and answered with a bright smile.
The sky was turning orange.
A guard at Sepia's gate spotted something strange.
"Wh-what is that? Something's flying this way!"
"What? I don't see anything."
"Over there—something's coming!"
A reddish blur tore through the air at terrifying speed and stopped a short distance from the gate. Then it began to walk slowly toward the entrance.
The closer it came, the clearer the figure became: a woman with the beauty of a princess. Purple hair, and a dress that looked like it belonged at a high-society ball.
"Wh-who goes there!"
No matter how noble her clothes looked, no one arrived like this without an escort. They had no choice but to treat her as a suspicious person. A real aristocrat who had been raised gently would never have been left to wander alone.
"I'm Tilia. The king of Horn—puh... puhu..."
The strange woman who had walked right up to the guards broke off mid-sentence and burst into laughter.
"What...?"
For a moment the guards wrote her off as a lunatic. Then the laughter stopped, and the words that came out of Tilia's mouth froze them solid.
"Ah, this is so damn hard to keep up— I'm Tilia. I'm going to destroy Sepia tomorrow."
"I came to declare war in advance~ You have to tell them my name. Got it?"
The refined appearance did not match the crude way she spoke. There was not a scrap of noble dignity in her, and the content of her words was even worse. What kind of fool declared war by announcing their own name like that?
"Wait, what are you even—"
"Kihit."
The woman who called herself Tilia said only what she wanted to say, let out that bizarre little laugh, and vanished in an instant.
The two guards at the gate simply stared at each other for a long time, both wearing the same look of pure disbelief.
Late that night, an urgent report reached Redrago.
"A suspicious woman claimed she would destroy Sepia."
Redrago stroked his rough jaw as he listened carefully to the guard's report.
"Yes, sir. She identified herself as Tilia and then disappeared."
"Understood. You've done well as always."
Once the report was finished, Redrago was left alone in the office.
From the description of her appearance, she sounds exactly like the demon Tiable met. No—judging by what she said, I can assume they are the same person.
I have to finish every preparation before today ends. The claim that she will destroy Sepia is almost certainly true.
What does a demon gain by destroying Sepia?
No. Protecting Sepia comes first. How will she attack? I must prepare thoroughly.
Until the stars faded from the sky, Redrago never closed his eyes. He prepared, and prepared again, for the coming attack.
Redrago came looking for me first thing in the morning.
"R-Redrago-nim? What brings you here so early...?"
The moment Hugo opened the door and found Redrago's enormous frame filling the entrance, he grew thoroughly flustered and greeted him in a complete panic. He was probably racing through his memory, trying to figure out what mistake he had made yesterday.
"Tiable. I need Tiable's help."
Without so much as a greeting, Redrago called for me in an urgent voice.
"What is it this time, sir?"
Hugo immediately shifted into a serious tone as he answered Redrago.
That "what" was almost certainly war. I had promised to help yesterday, but I had not expected to be needed this soon.
"Redrago, is it war?"
Hugo looked startled when the word left my mouth.
"Whaaat—? Wait a second!"
"You said you need Tiable right now?"
"Then last time, when you took Tiable with you—was that so you could use her in a war? Not to protect her?"
"I was sure you took her for protection. Was that not it?"
Hwia had appeared behind us at some point and poured out a flood of words without even pausing for breath.
She was speaking out of genuine worry for me, but the truth was I was not weak enough to need protecting. Thinking about it, I had completely forgotten to tell Hugo and Hwia that I had been taking commissions at the guild.
"Hwia, was it? I don't know how much you already know, but Tiable is a demon. An extremely powerful one."
"Last time we won because of Tiable as well."
"But Tiable is still a child—"
Hwia tried to argue, but Redrago cut her off at once and continued.
"Do you know how Tiable contributed to that victory?"
Redrago fell silent for a moment, as if weighing whether he should say it—whether he should tell Hwia this truth.
"Tiable slaughtered most of Horn's soldiers. That is why Sepia was able to win without suffering any real damage."
At the word "slaughter," Hwia's eyes wavered for an instant. Then she looked at me with a gaze that asked, Is that true?
Hugo rested a hand on Hwia's shoulder and said nothing. She turned and met his eyes. Still silent, Hugo only gave the slightest nod.
Since Hugo and I had gone together, the meaning reached Hwia without any trouble.
"Tiable is... a demon...? Slaughter...?"
"Hwia. Until we heard she was a demon, we thought she was human. Knowing she's a demon doesn't mean we have to treat her any differently."
"And Tiable used her power to protect Sepia... Hwia, she used it to protect you from the war."
Hugo gripped both of Hwia's shoulders as he spoke. Words I never expected to hear from him poured out, and I finally understood how he had always seen me.
Listening to him, Hwia's eyes began to grow damp.
"I don't care if Tiable is a demon or a human."
"I don't care if Tiable slaughters people in a war or does anything else."
Hwia's light-green eyes caught the morning light and sparkled; tears finally spilled over.
"Why didn't you tell me—only me!"
"I thought we'd gotten really close!"
"Did you think I'd hate you if I found out you were a demon?"
Hwia pulled me into a tight hug and poured out her hurt feelings through a voice thick with tears. The sincerity of it was so clear that everyone in the room could feel it, so Redrago, Hugo, and I simply stood there in silence until the crying stopped.
When the tears finally dried, Hwia sheepishly stroked my hair and my cheek.
At the same time, the air itself changed. An enormous current of mana appeared. Even Redrago, who knew almost nothing about magic, could feel the powerful flow of mana crashing down over Sepia.
Redrago and I hurried outside.
The first thing that met our eyes was a dragon soaring through the sky—a Bloody Dragon.
The two of us were probably thinking the same thing.
It's that demon.
Tilia has arrived.
The people of Sepia, who should have been greeting another lively morning, were screaming instead of laughing.
"A d-dragon! Run!"
"A dragon in Sepia?"
"Is there a festival today?"
Some still had not grasped the situation. Just how thoroughly had Sepia been sheltered?
And among the many Bloody Dragons wheeling through the sky was a woman with familiar hair—the same demon I had met in Hiades Valley.
"Tilia has come."
Redrago must have spotted her as well; his muttered voice came from beside me.
"Her name is Tilia?"
"Yes. She said she would destroy Sepia."
Destroy Sepia?
I didn't think I could allow that.