“Ugh, I hate riding a horse!”

  Of course, the one moaning was Ren as she sat atop a brown horse, holding the reins, wearing leather trousers and boots with a tucked-in white shirt and a brown leather vest that had the crest of the Empire embroidered on its back. Her long, silvery hair was tied in a ponytail, flip-flopping behind her back. At the same time, her petite frame was only just a little taller than it was four years ago, but everyone knew better than to bring it up, as it would trigger the little demon’s temper, fring up like a volcano over the topic.

  “I would be filthy rich if I got a coin every time you said that.” Isha snorted, arriving next to her with her horse, wearing a simir outfit. Only hers were filled to the brim, revealing her curves that captivated any traveling merchant’s eyes who passed them on the road.

  “We will arrive in a few days, Ren. Rex!” Leinor ughed, now looking like a handsome young adult, his aura radiating the charm of an elegant prince trying to appease his sulking fiancée. Both wore the same simple silver rings on their fingers, signifying their official engagement, which became official only the previous year when the Emperor held a banquet for them.

  “I hope so! What about Zern and Poli?” She asked, sighing.

  “They are still ahead of us by a day. Going by the letter they sent, at least. They found trails of demons nearby, so they are checking it out.” Isha answered, petting the little pigeon on her shoulder that cooed and soon flew back up, bringing her report towards Cath's Door.

  “Oh? Then we are getting close to the frontlines!” Ren stretched with a tired moan, looking up at the blue skies. "Finally!"

  It was the middle of summer, and even though they traveled through hills and forests, enjoying the shade for most of the time, the simmering air still made their journey unbearably hot, especially in their army-issued uniforms. It was mandatory, so people they came across recognized them as part of the military, without mistaking them for... well, anything else.

  “Then we should get back on the move. Maybe we can exercise before arriving at the fortress.” Ren said, smacking her lips, as she picked up a notebook from her satchel.

  “Did you come up with something again?” Leinor asked, catching up next to her.

  “Kinda. Since st year, I have been compiling the results from Uncle Boursat’s people, whom he trained with our technique. It shows an interesting pattern. Look! I am in the middle of compiling and building a system around the results. Streamlining the whole thing for the different affinities...”

  “You mean?” Isha asked who had little interest in research but always focused on Ren’s ideas, experiencing them for herself.

  “There are affinities that are more common than others." She continued, "If we could build an institution that helps the masses improve themselves, we could more easily find gems amongst them.”

  “What are the main affinities?” Leinor asked, tilting his head, finding it hard to read while riding a horse.

  “It’s still not big enough of a sample to be sure, but it seems like that 40% have an affinity to fire, 30% to earth, 20% have water, and the rest is spread out amongst the rest: wind, lightning, light, shadow, etc. I somewhat expected that there would be some elements that are more common than others... Plus, there is a certain heredity in py, I am pretty sure of it. Anyway, it will be easy to create a stable, fixed system to let them train and spot who has a special talent and can rise above the rest,” she expined as she was scratching her chin while thinking, “I already submitted my findings to Father-in-w and let him devise the standardized training program, first for the army. Then comes the civil popution. We need more data to be 100% sure, but it’s mostly his problem to solve now! I’m more interested in developing my own affinity to match my progress. I reached the ninth level in body refinement, but still, I feel I can improve myself more before attempting to break through. I want to maximize my abilities, before going for it...”

  “Maniac,” Isha said, rolling her eyes as she saw that Ren and Leinor spent most of their time training and only took some days off to rest and rex in the past few years. Which mostly meant they were at home zing on the couch or sleeping together...

  Still, she couldn’t help but feel inferior. The way Ren was improving was shocking, to say the least... which made her work twice as hard, now loitering around the edge of breaking through the ninth stage of body refinement herself. As for Leinor, he was also at the ninth, just like his love, while Zern broke through to the eighth a month ago. Poli, on the other hand, surprised everyone as, amongst the group, he was the first to go straight to the ninth realm before anyone else. Surprisingly, he could also keep up with the fighting speed of Ren, and when wielding his sword, he was even faster. The only thing he had problems with was precision... He was quicker than his own mind.

  “I just feel an imbance." Ren continued, "It’s a weird feeling, really. I just… get this whispering in the back of my head that I need to bance out my inner forces before trying to reach Harmony, or I will end up like Poli.” She sighed, a bit frustrated, putting away her notebook. “Even though my affinity looks refined and powerful, I don't get that... Harmony feeling, you know…?”

  “You're probably right. I have the same premonition when I want to break through, but I feel that something is not ready yet, and I should not rush it. I just don’t know what.” Leinor answered, nodding his head.

  “You guys are just training maniacs." Isha grunted, "Same as the other two blockheads. In the past four years, I have had less fun than when I was out on the streets begging for bread. Constantly, work, work, work... Bah!”

  “Hey, it’s fun to train! Nyahaha, especially when we fight!” Ren retorted with a grin.

  “For you, maybe." Isha countered, "You like whooping Poli’s and Zern’s asses, eh?”

  “They get easily distracted.” Ren giggled with a mischievous smile.

  “Yet I see you two butting heads less and less to butt heads! What happened?” She pressed on, watching the two.

  “Ugh…” Ren twitched her mouth, averting her eyes, which made Isha even more curious.

  “Oh, we do fight.” Leinor smiled with a teasing expression. “It’s just Ren can’t win.”

  “What?” Isha asked, blinking her eyes, completely stunned, and almost falling off her horse.

  “Hey, you said it’s our secret!” Ren yelped, frustrated, gring at Leinor.

  “Ahaha, sorry~!”

  “Hmf! Yeah, yeah, be proud until you can!” She turned her head and continued to sulk, "Show off..."

  “So you can’t beat him? How surprising!” Isha ughed, directing it at Ren.

  “It seems LeiLei got completely accustomed to my energies. His bloodline is scary, you know...” Ren looked at Isha with a defeated face. “He just consumes any attack I aim at him and turns it into his own... Ugh! The longer we fight, and I exhaust my energies, he just gets stronger. A complete cheat! Unfair!” she moaned, frustratedly, grabbing her hair with the accompanying ughter of Isha and Leinor.

  …….…..

  “They went this way!” Poli stood up from the ground where he was checking the trails. They were surrounded by an evergreen forest from all sides, far away from any human presence.

  “It’s too thick to give chase with horses here. Also, this forest itself connects to Catharine’s Forest in the north. They can retreat easily from here as they know the yout, and we don’t!” Zern looked around.

  “Not really, the forest ends at Swordscar pass, and they need to cross that to reach their home ground. It’s a good natural barrier, hard to cross, and we demolished most bridges a thousand years ago.”

  “Maybe they made a new one?”

  “That means someone in the Harmony Realm commands them.”

  “If it’s just one, we can take it on and escape with our lives.”

  “If Master comes, then we can even kill it.” Poli patted the hilt of his sword.

  “Maybe. But we need to be careful. You weren't there when we fought our first Harmony expert. It wasn’t good. We lost badly!” Zern warned him.

  “I heard it from Master. But she also said we are much, much stronger by now!”

  “Have you ever fought with demon folk?”

  “No.”

  “Exactly. Let’s rendezvous with Master and make a decision then.”

  …….…..

  It was already night when the five were together again at the bonfire, grilling their dinner.

  “Mmm, you may be right. They must have made a crossing over the pass! Probably trying to open a second front because Father still holds the fortress and killed the previous leader in the st battle.” Ren crossed her arms.

  “Should we ask for help?” Zern asked.

  “We know too little. We will circle the forest and check out the pass. Suppose we find how they cross, we will decide what to do. If we can, we will destroy it first, then make a report ter. If we can't, we leave, report for duty, and pass on the information.” Ren said after a bit of self-deliberation.

  “What if we come across a Harmony realm demon folk?” Leinor tilted his head.

  “Depends. If it’s just one, we can try fighting it. But not on their side of the pass. We MUST NOT cross over. Got it? If we were stuck there, we would be in deep shit!” Ren warned them. Looking around with a commanding presence, “If the demon comes to our side, good, this is our territory, even if we can’t win, we can retreat safely.”

  “Got it, Master!” Poli nodded enthusiastically as he was itching for a real fight to try out his new powers, finally.

  “Rex. You will have your turn. I also look forward to seeing how sharp your sword becomes!” Leinor patted his shoulder.

  “I just want to get this over with. Really… How the heck am I stuck with you four? I’m supposed to be back home, taking a bath and zing around in one of the brothels.” Isha moaned while massaging her feet after taking her boots off.

  “Well, it was your Daddy’s order,” Leinor added.

  “Fuck off, boytoy.”

  “Oh, you gave up on him?” Ren asked, surprised.

  “Fuck you too.”

  “Lady Isha still has feelings for Mr. Boursat, it’s just… he refused her confession for the… fifth time? If I remember the numbers correctly.” Zern murmured, but of course, everyone could hear him.

  “Zern, you can too, fuck off!” Isha sighed, looking at him with snted eyes.

  “Really now? Oh, this is new~ Isha. If it’s not working and you can’t push him down yet, then maybe you should try making him jealous! Why don’t you two start going out in front of Boursat?” Ren ughed.

  “Huh?” came the exact answer from Isha and Zern simultaneously.

  “Master is right, brother Zern!” Poli nodded with an understanding expression.

  “Poli…” he rolled his eyes as an answer, but Isha put on a thinking expression.

  “I never thought about that… it may work. Yo, Zern, take me out to dinner when we go home!”

  “What? Why? No! You always drink too much, and I must drag your passed-out body through the streets to get you home!” Zern protested.

  “Why don't I remember something like this?” Isha asked, trying to recall something like that.

  “Because you bck out like a dead person, always puking on me in the st 50 meters!” Zern murmured with a frustrated voice.

  “Bwahahaha, so you two regurly go on dates? Nyahahaha! I see I see!” Ren cpped happily.

  “Also, she still has that fetish?” Leinor sighed with the same provoking face that Ren usually wears.

  “You can kiss Zern’s dickhole!” Isha threw her boots at Leinor’s head, who just leaned sideways to dodge them. “Anyway, what is so surprising about that? Every time Zern came over for the reports on the training you asked for, we also sparred a little, and the best thing to do afterward is to take a bath and drink!”

  “I don’t think they realized yet.” Leinor sent over a voice projection.

  “Yeah, Zern maybe did, but he is too reserved, while Isha is just too dumb.” Ren nodded.

  “Anyway!” Zern cut in, clearing his throat. “We should go to sleep. I’ll take on the first shift of guarding.”

  “Good idea. We should ride off before dawn anyway.” Ren stretched, soon climbing into Leinor’s p, curling up like a little kitten, enjoying his gentle strokes on her head while quickly falling asleep.

  “Really… I feel like puking at your constant flirting games….” Isha harrumphed softly, taking out a wine jug from somewhere, turning away, looking at the clear, night sky while drinking, ignoring Leinor’s chuckle.

  “What is this puking thing about?” Poli whispered to Zern, but before answering, Isha threw her other boot at him, firmly nding in Poli’s face.

  “I’ll tell you ter.” Zern sighed, shaking his head but taking a glimpse at Isha’s back as she drank, with a red hue on his face.

  …….….

  “This way!” Poli shouted, riding in the front as they traveled along a gully that was about two hundred to three hundred meters deep, stretching almost endlessly, sometimes a hundred, sometimes two hundred meters wide. Looking down into the deep abyss from the side, a swiftly flowing, violent river churned down there relentlessly, swallowing everything that might fall into it. “There! I found it while scouting ahead!”

  When he stopped on a minor hill and the rest of the team arrived, they saw a freshly built wooden bridge stretching over the gully, called the Swordscar Pass.

  “You were right, Zern. They built a bridge...” Ren murmured as the midday sun shone on them. “It seems weak and only able to support small groups of five or six demons passing over, but it could be only a temporary solution before they expand on it.”

  “It’s made of wood. I just need to burn it down!” Isha commented, ready to go forth and do it.

  “True, but I don’t think it's that simple. Why aren't there any guards? They just left it there? To be found and destroyed?” Leinor asked, furrowing his brows.

  “Also, we are standing on a hill. It’s easy to spot us, but I don’t see any movement,” Zern added.

  “Because I am the one who guards it,” a male voice stabbed into their ears with a strange accent, as if he had only learned the nguage, not yet fluent in it.

  When they turned, a tall man, above two meters tall, stood there, with his hands crossed before his chest. Or at least he looked like a man, but only at first sight. Soon, you could spot the apparent differences, as he didn’t wear any clothes, yet he wasn't naked either. His body was covered in brown scales, leaving him with a V-neck-like, natural attire. Only there, that little spot, spreading up to his face, was where some human-like flesh could be seen. His bck hair, worn in dreadlocks, was shoulder-length, and his eyes were completely bck. Around his waist, he had a scorpion-like tail wrapped around it, and his frame, although skinny, looked tough as nails.

  “He came from underground,” Ren murmured while getting off the horse like the others, sending the animals farther away as they were already terrified and restless by the sheer aura the demon folk was releasing.

  Leaning a bit to the side, the group noticed a hole in the ground behind the man, leading to who knew where, raising the question: Is he the only one here, or are there others?

  “You’re not the first humans here. Sorry to say... But you won’t leave either,” he said as his scorpion tail struck out from his waist, but to his surprise, it was blocked... Zern, standing between him and the group, punched out before the creature even attacked. His hands emitted sparks as they shone in a metallic, silvery hue, blocking his tailstrike. “Oh?” the demon let out a surprised sound while bringing back his tail, blocking Poli’s sword coming down behind him, trying to ssh the back of his neck.

  As the sword sliced the tail, another round of sparks flew everywhere before the demon folk kicked backward. Yet, Poli was way faster and easily dodged, blinking a meter away as soon as the demon found himself surrounded by Ren’s group from all sides.

  “You are not ordinary soldiers,” he said, looking around with a serious expression now.

  “Not really... We are not even actual soldiers.” Ren smiled. “Sorry to say, Mr. Scorpion, but I think you miscalcuted here.” She looked into his bck eyes while licking her lips. “Your aura feels strong, but….”

  “Not as strong as Boursat was.” Leinor finished with a smile on his face.

  When all five of them released their auras, the scorpion-tailed man trembled a little as he couldn’t believe that all five before him possessed strength, easily matching his...

  “It seems I did. But don’t get too cocky, humans.” The demon growled while his hands turned to pincers, rattling around with strength that could snap metal rods in half easily, clearly getting ready to go all out with a fight for his life. "You are still just that... humans."