In Demons Saga, the current number one ranking is held by the United States. However, the place with the highest average level is none other than Korea.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t because the average intelligence of the users was higher, or because of the national pride of being "the ga nation." It was simply because the Korean servers had a geographically advantageous starting location.
They were one of the few countries that began in the Empire, where the surrounding facilities were well-developed. This gave them many advantages and allowed them to progress ahead of others.
Of course, this doesn’t an that other regions were severely lagging behind, but the superiority was undeniable... as Heaven lightly explained.
Yor nodded lightly upon hearing that.
‘No wonder... I don’t see any other races.’
It made sense now, why he had only seen similar races. Apparently, each country had its own designated area.
It turns out that due to the distance, there wasn’t much interaction between the regions. From the perspective of the otherworlders, they were too busy leveling up to bother traveling across countries for weeks or months. Considering the travel expenses and potential obstacles along the way... they could easily end up isolated like the Earth Defense Headquarters.
"Heaven, even though we’re going into another country’s territory this ti... we probably won’t et anyone. The place we're heading is near a forbidden zone, and I heard there are hardly any people there."
As they traveled further south through the split plains, the land ahead began to burn with fire. This extre heat made it uninhabitable.
It was certainly nice to hear this kind of information while being with otherworlders. Yor, with a slight look of apology on his face, turned to her.
"Thanks. It must be quite a long ti for you too... I didn’t expect it to take this long."
"Heh, it’s fine. After all, the escort quest is also part of the deal, so it's no big loss. And..."
Going on a journey together? She hesitated before swallowing the words. Even though they were heading to deal with demons, she was going to travel with a 'man' for several weeks. For soone as conservative as her, this was not an easy thing to endure.
Even though it was a ga, Heaven didn’t want to miss this opportunity.
"Phew, why is it so hard to find a rchant caravan going south... Anyway, leave it to ! With my amazing negotiation skills, I managed to find one."
As they were chatting, Chaerin approached with a confident smile. Yor didn’t know much about rchant caravans, and Heaven wasn’t particularly sociable, so Chaerin had been the one to arrange it.
They then headed to the eting point where the caravan leader was waiting.
Upon their arrival, the caravan leader asked with a slightly dubious expression, "Hmm... is this your party?"
"Yes. Don’t worry. They’re all skilled, for sure."
The leader was already aware of their skills; after all, they were holding B-grade adventurer cards. However, since the destination was risky, he wanted to double-check.
Then, suddenly, the caravan leader’s gaze fixed on Yor. After a brief silence, he cleared his throat and said,
"Ahem... well, please get in the carriage."
It seed like there was a bit of personal interest in his acceptance.
As expected, dangerous jobs often involved won. These jobs usually required strength and bravery, and it was "common knowledge" that won generally had better physical capabilities on average.
Naturally, rchant work was a profession where won gathered. To sell goods, they had to travel far, often facing monsters or bandits along the way. It was a job that required a fair amount of courage.
That’s why it wasn’t surprising that Yor’s presence was drawing attention.
"It’s a bit... uncomfortable..." Yor muttered.
They were currently in the third of five carriages. This wasn’t a problem. Since they had to travel for two weeks, the ride was comfortable, and there weren’t many people traveling with them.
The problem arose during the camping at night. They had to set up tents and sleep wherever they could. And, as usual, flirtatious comnts started to fly.
"Anything you need?"
"Ah, no. It’s enough."
"Hmm... If you need anything, just let know. I can give you whatever you want."
From simple rchant hospitality...
"Hey, want to co to our tent?"
"Yeah, we’ll make it fun for you."
"We might even send you to heaven."
"Hey, you crazy bitch! Heh..."
To lewd propositions from adventurers.
Since they were on a long journey, there were no other otherworlders, but there were several adventurer parties traveling with them.
"I should have just brought a hood."
Honestly, for the first few days, Yor had enjoyed the attention. It was rare for him, who always lived in the forest, to receive such harmless attention.
Usually, when eting people, he had to worry about survival, not flirting. This ti, he allowed himself to briefly indulge in the attention.
But after several days, nearing a week, the stress started to build. He hadn’t reacted, and that only encouraged the adventurers to escalate their advances.
So of them boasted about sending dozens of n to heaven, others even tried to physically engage with him. Even though Chaerin and Heaven were right next to him, these adventurers didn’t care.
It was clear now: these adventurers were driven only by money, with no sense of decorum whatsoever.
"Want to cast an illusion for you?"
"No, you’ll probably know everything anyway."
Of course, Yor’s party felt just as uncomfortable with this situation, especially Heaven. She would deny it, but deep down, she had been hoping for sothing more between them after spending over two weeks together.
‘Even though we’ve been together for more than two weeks...’
Although they used separate tents... ti alone together could easily lead to sothing happening. But, nothing did.
She was disappointed. She wanted to approach him, but... with no experience in such matters, she didn’t have the courage.
Instead, she could feel sothing more subtle. For example... the strange atmosphere between Yor and Chaerin.
It’s said that a dog can recite poetry after three years of living with soone. While she wasn’t a dog and hadn’t been around for three years, Heaven was smart enough to pick up on the change in the atmosphere between them.
Of course, they didn’t seem like a couple, but there was sothing about their physical proximity that seed different.
For example, Yor casually resting his hand on Chaerin’s shoulder or poking her cheek. It wasn’t much, but these little signs of physical contact stood out. Even Chaerin didn’t seem to mind.
It was nothing big, but it bothered Heaven. She couldn’t help but wonder,
"Did sothing happen between them...?"
But she kept these thoughts to herself, not daring to voice them. Ti passed this way.
Just as Yor was about to overreact to another provocation, monsters attacked the caravan. Hyenas, in fact... a pack of them. A pack of dozens of these monsters, to be precise.
It was known that these monsters were tricky and always strategized before moving. They wouldn’t charge forward unless they were confident they could win.
The fact that they had attacked ant they considered the caravan easy prey.
"Damn... of course it’s them."
"Let’s form up with our parties!"
The rchants and adventurers knew what this ant, and their faces tightened.
Yor quietly stepped forward. It was just as well; the stress had been building up for him, and now he had an outlet.
"What’s your deal? Get to safety!"
"You guys stay out of the way."
He slipped into the pack of hyenas.
"Krreeek!"
"Screeeech!!!"
It didn’t take long for the pack of dozens of hyenas to be reduced to a puddle of blood. Amidst the stench of blood and the pile of monster corpses, Yor spoke with a refreshed look on his face.
"Ha, now the irritation’s gone. I was really about to blow up on soone."
The adventurers continued to stare at him with stiff faces. They could almost feel the cold sweat on their backs.
The two-week-long journey finally ca to an end.
Fortunately, after defeating the pack of hyenas, there were no further advances. It beca clear to Yor that any wrong move could have ended badly.
‘Should’ve done this sooner.’
He thought to himself, feeling a bit regretful. Still, it wasn’t all bad, as he had enjoyed the initial days of the journey, so he let it go.
They were now stationed in a territory located slightly to the southwest. They still needed to go a bit further to reach the place where Andras had appeared, but the caravan’s destination was here.
"Well, we’ll part ways here. Thanks for helping us with the hyenas," the caravan leader said.
"Don’t ntion it."
After parting ways with the caravan, they paused for a mont to discuss what to do next.
"So, what do we do now...?"
"I think we’ll need to go a bit deeper to find the demon, but I heard that place is a wasteland... it’s tricky."
"Let’s just find an inn for tonight. We can rest and eat. We may log out, but Yor’s probably exhausted from sleeping in the carriage for two weeks."
Yor nodded at Chaerin’s suggestion and they headed to a nearby restaurant.
"Welco!"
The restaurant was quite empty. It seed to be a small town, and there weren’t many people around. He briefly worried about the food, but the small crowd was a relief.
After all, he had recently realized how uncomfortable it could be when too many eyes were on him. He made a ntal note to always bring a hood next ti. The food, thankfully, was good enough.
"So, should we look for an inn?" Chaerin asked.
"No, I’ll go by myself this ti. I want to look around the city."
"Hmm... alright."
After finishing the al, they briefly separated. Yor wanted to explore the city.
For the first ti since receiving his identification badge, he was walking through the streets with confidence. Even though the city wasn’t part of the Empire, it was still a significant feeling to walk through the streets with such freedom.
He wandered the streets, observing people. So gave him curious glances, while others were filled with worry about the recently appeared demon.
Since this place was close to where the demon Andras had appeared, it seed that rumors about him had spread.
‘The knights still haven’t arrived, it seems.’
After all, the knights had more preparation to do than he did, so they likely had more equipnt to gather.
As he wandered, absorbed in his thoughts, sothing strange caught his attention.
‘...?’
His senses detected sothing odd. Among the people passing by, soone had quietly started following him. At first, he thought it was just his imagination, but when he turned a corner, they were still following him. If it had been Chaerin or Heaven, they would’ve called out to him already.
Soone was tailing him.
‘Tch... this popularity.’
He figured it must be soone trying to strike up a deal with him in this relatively quiet town. It was a bit of an ego boost, but it was the only explanation his mind could co up with.
Since he had covered his collarbone, it wasn’t likely they’d recognize him as an otherworlder. Plus, he had been receiving more than a few advances over the past two weeks. His mind was naturally inclined to think along those lines.
‘Alright, let’s deal with this.’
Of course, he ant in a different way. He intentionally walked toward a quieter, less crowded street. Unless an S-rank adventurer showed up, he figured he could easily subdue them.
He planned to deal with it himself. If it went wrong, he could always just run away.
"..."
As he stepped into the quiet street, the followers began to approach. There were two of them, both wearing hoods, so their faces were hidden.
He quickly swung his spear at them to subdue them.
Swoooosh!
The spear cut through the air, heading straight for them. But it never reached its target.
Crack!
A thick ice barrier appeared in front of him. Although part of it shattered, the attack didn’t penetrate further.
"What?"
He was montarily stunned. Then, a familiar voice ca from the other side.
"Wait, wait! Don’t attack!"
The voice sounded familiar. They lowered their hoods, revealing their faces. Yor was even more surprised.
"...It’s us."
It was none other than mbers of the Legaton faction: Sephir, the fifth-wave mber, and Nikki.
It was a strange encounter in such an unexpected place, and questions naturally arose.
"Why are you two here?"
Nikki frowned and asked in return, "Why are you here? You’re always in the forest, why are you here?"
"..."
A brief, tense silence followed between them.
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