Prologue: Betrayed After Slaying the Great Demon
I'd cleared the first playthrough of Chaotic Empire, the game where you're stuck waiting for the expansion pack to drop as the guild leader the empire obsesses over—a demon hunter. And now I'd possessed my second character, the demon hunter Leonar.
Of all the timing, it had to be the prologue. The story where if you don't kill the Great Demon descending upon the world, the Grangtest Empire falls. I took a moment to size things up.
Right now, prologue phase. A penniless demon hunter with nothing to his name. In this world, demon hunters were despised as filthy, lowly scum. Worse, we couldn't unleash our full power against humans—only demons. And with no other skills to my name, I had no way to make a living.
Bottom line: whether it killed me or fed me, I had to stick to the story to earn money and get stronger. No veering off into weird unknown routes. Just follow the main storyline already etched in my brain from experience. Alright. Let's do this!
So I headed to the imperial palace as per the plot, gathered skilled characters from across the empire into a party, and set off on the Great Demon expedition.
One difference from my playthrough: the imperial knight commander joined the party. Knights weren't much help against demons, so I'd refused, but the palace insisted he come along. Some bullshit about real-world experience. What could I do? In the end, he was just hitching a ride on my bus.
Eh, no big deal. And so we killed the Great Demon.
While it thrashed in its death throes, the knight commander fled in terror, not even showing his face. Anyway, we took it down, and I hit max level as planned.
In Chaotic Empire, max level for a demon hunter isn't about being a combat monster. It means your body can withstand the strongest, most toxic potions. Sure, against demons, potions are everything, so yeah, it's basically munchkin status.
By the time we returned from the mission, word of the Great Demon's death had spread, and the empire was already in full festival mode. "Long live the empire-saving hero, the knight commander!" The chants poured from the streets as the knight commander flashed an awkward smile.
"Sorry about this. When we get back to the palace, I'll make sure to inform His Majesty of your contributions."
Hah, contributions. The rumors had already painted him as the slayer before we even arrived, and that mouth of his confirmed it was all premeditated. Forcing a useless knight into a demon hunt party? Classic cliché: after slaying the Demon King, the hero gets exiled while some asshole reaps the rewards.
Of course, from the empire's view, a noble imperial knight made a way better hero than some filthy, lowly demon hunter.
Sure enough, upon our return to the palace, waiting for me were a pouch of "mission pay" and a nondisclosure agreement. A hefty lump sum, sure, but peanuts compared to the ordeal. And that NDA? The final clause was, predictably, an imperial exile order. They planned to erase me completely from the Great Demon expedition.
I signed without a word and pocketed the money. It was my goal from the start anyway, and I'd gotten plenty strong per plan. Usually, they'd just dispose of loose ends like this, right? No clue why they paid up and let me walk.
"Before I go, mind if I at least grab a modest meal with the party members who shared life and death with me? A little courtesy, yeah?"
But no dice. They all refused. I'd sensed their attitudes shift since returning to the empire. Those sly, cunning bastards had sniffed out the winds and switched sides fast.
"Take care, then."
I winked at the emperor, hummed a tune, and left the palace behind.
The empire's betrayal? Revenge? Didn't give a shit. The Great Demon would revive soon enough, and the empire would fuck itself over. This "death" was just phase one of the final boss in the story.
Now, I was off to Nant Duchy, famous for its scenic views and killer wine, to set up a guild. No way back to my old life anyway, so why not settle in a nice spot with mountains and rivers for some chill guild management content? I'd always wanted to run a guild after that first clear.
And with the Great Demon reviving soon, a guild led by a demon hunter was bound to boom. Dump the mission pay from the empire plus my savings—should be enough, right?
But back then, I had no idea. That money alone wouldn't cut it to found a guild. Nor that I'd end up saddled with a heap of headaches my normal sense of morals and ethics couldn't handle. Things—or girls, whatever.
