"Every time I finish fighting a monster, someone jumps out and says this kind of thing. I’ve already gotten used to it."

Ariel gazed up at the sky with melancholy, recalling the past.

Maybe it was because her appearance was too harmless, or because her “performance” was “a bit meager.” Every single time in situations like this, there would always be someone who doubted her strength.

So what if it was fighting across tiers?

So what if it was chopping down a Demon General across an entire major stage?

So what if it was chopping down a powerful Demon General—one tempered in a hellhole like the Abyss—across an entire major stage?

Is that really that outrageous?

Is that really worth doubting?

Is that really something to be surprised by?

That’s why these adventurers these days—on the surface they look experienced, but in reality they have zero insight.

And besides, just because they haven’t seen something before doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.

She was only a tiny bit stronger than ordinary people, that was all. What was she supposed to do about it?

"Come to think of it, up until now, the only one who has never doubted my strength seems to be..."

The more she thought, the stiffer Ariel’s expression became.

As if she had gotten something filthy on her, she immediately started shaking her head while spitting out a few rapid ptoo-ptoo-ptoo sounds.

Damn it, why did she think of that hateful guy again?

Bad luck. Bad luck.

"Alright. Believe it or not, either way, just tell me what’s going on first."

After driving that annoying shadow out of her head, Ariel didn’t want to get tangled up with these two guys at all, arguing about whether she had really beaten a Demon General—such a meaningless matter.

Some things didn’t need to be proven.

"On the way here I also ran into demonfolk chasing down adventurers on a large scale several times. The demonfolk’s movements right now are extremely strange. Why would they spend effort like this, where the gains and costs don’t match at all, running all the way to a remote place like the Abyss and capturing adventurers everywhere? Adventurers at most just gather herbs, dig a little ore, or occasionally deal with a couple of strong demonmen to grind levels. Demonfolk shouldn’t be making such a huge fuss over that. And based on what I’m seeing right now..."

Ariel glanced at Roya beside her.

"They seem to only be trying to capture women?"

Demonfolk were an extremely disunited race. It was common for tribes to slaughter each other, and Ariel had fully experienced that during this stretch of travel.

There had even been situations where a demonfolk tribe, in order to wipe out an enemy tribe, set aside its hatred with humans and invited her to help them act.

But the demonfolk’s current movements clearly didn’t look like it was just one single tribe hunting adventurers.

That was what confused her the most. The °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° entire loose, scattered demonfolk seemed to have been suddenly united by some kind of force overnight.

From useless rabble that had been a pile of loose sand, they had become a powerful force that any country on the continent now had to face with full vigilance.

What was more, the ones being hunted down were male adventurers. They instead captured all the women. It was obviously not just for revenge, but for some other purpose.

"Since you have the strength to defeat a Demon General, why didn’t you ask the Demon General directly?" Dolan was clearly still not convinced about Ariel. With a provocative look, he said, "Do you really need to ask us?"

"Sir, aren’t you being too rude—"

"Oh?"

Ariel once again stopped Roya, who was unhappy with the other man’s attitude. She raised an eyebrow.

"Saying that—are you trying to fight me? To test whether I really have that ability?"

"Heh, I’d love to—"

"Enough."

The Python, Burt, was clearly more authoritative. He barked at Dolan.

"Now is not the time to fight among ourselves!"

"Hmph, she started it—"

"No matter what this young lady said, that still isn’t a reason for you to fight your own people. The danger hasn’t been resolved yet."

Burt scolded him harshly.

"Oh~"

Ariel’s mouth curled into a cold smile.

So Mr. Burt sounded fair, but in the end, he also hadn’t believed it at all.

Good.

That way, later on... it would be less trouble.

"Let’s talk business. What happened here, we don’t really know either. We only know that demonfolk are currently searching in the Abyss on a large scale for female adventurers, and that the matter is personally overseen by that Enchantress Grand Duke. That alone shows how seriously demonfolk are taking it."

"The Enchantress Grand Duke?"

Ariel blinked, curious.

"You mean that several-hundred-year-old female succubus who likes women, from the rumors?"

During this time, Ariel had more or less figured out demonfolk’s general situation. The thing she was most interested in, naturally, was the race that basically only existed in demonfolk rumors and was extremely rare in reality—succubi.

It definitely wasn’t because this race was said to be nothing but cute girls with big chests, long legs, perky hips, and little tails that swayed around!

"Yes. There are rumors that this capture operation is also related to the Enchantress Grand Duke’s preferences. She seems to have put out word, telling human women aged eighteen to twenty-five to throw themselves into her arms. Otherwise, she will slaughter every human within the Abyss."

Burt’s reaction was the complete opposite of Ariel’s.

When Ariel heard “Enchantress Grand Duke,” what she pictured was a shivery, exciting female succubus. But when he thought of that succubus monarch, all he could feel was the pressure of a demonfolk Grand Duke.

"The Enchantress Grand Duke’s brutality is famous even among demonfolk. She’s not only cruel to enemies—her methods toward demonfolk are vicious to the extreme as well. Her seductive appearance is only poison. To this day, no one knows how many demonfolk who offended her had their skins personally stripped off by her, stuffed, and turned into collectibles."

Burt shuddered. Even though he was tall and burly, he was still afraid of it, as if he had once faced that terror in person.

"But even so, would demonfolk really make such a huge move just for their own preferences? Are demonfolk that free right now?"

Ariel was even more puzzled.

Even though during this period she had been focusing wholeheartedly on striving for the true love she still hadn’t found, she could still learn about the situation between demonfolk and the Empire from various hints and rumors.

She had originally planned to gather a bit more information in the Abyss and then go help the Empire’s frontline.

Even though she hated Muen Campbell, she still couldn’t just sit back and watch the war between the Empire and demonfolk without doing something.

"We have no way of knowing that."

Burt shook his head, then looked at the group.

"So what are your plans next? Dolan and I are planning to leave the Abyss first and not get involved in this muddy water. And if we keep staying here, and a Demon General comes back again, that’ll be trouble."

"Of course we’re leaving together with you seniors."

Termir immediately let out a sigh of relief and looked to the side with a bit of excitement.

"Big sis Roya, you agree, right?"

But Roya didn’t answer. She didn’t even notice Termir’s gaze. Her worried eyes fell instead on Ariel, who stood on her other side.

"Plans next?"

Ariel rubbed her smooth chin and thought for a moment.

"By the way, how many women have been captured so far?"

"I don’t know the exact number. But based on what we know right now from the gathered information, at least dozens of female adventurers have already fallen into demonfolk hands."

"Dozens..."

Ariel’s eyes flickered.

That number didn’t seem like much, but the number of adventurers who even had the courage and confidence to explore the Abyss was already extremely small—let alone women. And demonfolk had captured dozens of them in a short period of time...

You could tell demonfolk’s actions weren’t just for fun.

"Teacher, do you have any leads?" Ariel asked inwardly.

"Right now I can think of seventeen methods of blood sacrifice, fifteen methods of strengthening oneself by extracting women’s essence-blood, and nine methods of forcing women to become pregnant and using tender human infants to create curses."

Ariel’s teacher said.

"But as for the ‘leads’ you mentioned... I really don’t. Because I don’t believe any of the methods above would actually help demonfolk as they are now. With fewer than a hundred women, even evil cultists would sneer at a sacrifice of that level."

"That’s true..."

If it were some newbie evil cultist, maybe it would make sense. But this was demonfolk—an enormous demonfolk that dared to challenge the Empire—yet when it came to doing something evil, they were just capturing a few dozen women? If word got out, some extremist organizations would probably kick them out of the evil registry on the spot.

Too embarrassing.

"Then is it really just that succubus monarch’s personal desire?"

"Rather than personal desire... it’s more like they’re hiding something."

Ariel’s teacher analyzed.

"Capturing women might be a smokescreen. The real purpose is hidden among those women training in the Abyss. They might be searching for something among them."

"I see. Yes, that makes sense."

Demonfolk’s purpose... the secret hidden among the women training in the Abyss... and demonfolk’s strange movements as a whole...

It was getting more and more interesting.

Looks like there was a need to go and see it personally. Whether from her own perspective or from the Empire’s perspective, it was impossible to let demonfolk act so recklessly.

But...

Ariel let out a soft sigh, then coolly brushed back her bangs again.

"Sigh. This kind of irrational behavior doesn’t really fit my steady, absolutely-never-take-risks style of doing things."