The term speaks for itself: the antithesis of heroes. 

The entire party is referred to as Demon Warriors and they address each other solely by their job titles. 

Each member is a rival to a hero party member, and unless Lucy and her comrades are raised to transcendental levels through customized DLC growth, they cannot hope to win.

In Chapter 2, one Demon Warrior appears randomly, becoming Lucy’s dedicated rival. 

Usually, a spear-wielding warrior appears, creating a symmetrical battle against Lucy, who wields a sword. 

Sometimes, a trickster using magic or poison daggers complicates the future.

And there’s something else to be cautious about: the thief’s movements. 

At the start of Chapter 2, the thief is invited to join the Demon Warrior party. 

Initially, the thief refuses, but if the player fails to properly assist the thief in the unfolding events, the thief faces the greatest crisis of their life and turns into a Demon Warrior. 

Cruelly, the game’s story is designed so that Ravin must become a Demon Warrior to survive.

In short, players must ensure Ravin doesn’t defect and that Lucy has the luck of drawing a manageable Demon Warrior rival, presenting a considerable challenge. 

Although this might be fitting for a DLC, for Lin, who must navigate through this in reality, it was a living nightmare.

“I almost forgot, we have to avoid the Reinhold lackeys too, right?”

If caught, Lin would be forcibly recruited into the hero party before powering up. 

Despite her deadened emotions, Lin felt like she was suffocating from frustration, while Lucy remained cheerful.

“Look, Lin! My hair’s turned brown!”

No, Lucy was pretending to be overly cheerful on purpose. 

She dyed her hair to avoid being identified as a hero and twirled in front of Lin. 

Lin smiled and nodded, but Lucy’s eyes wavered with unease. 

She knew all too well that she wasn’t better than Ravin in any way.

Ravin, who boldly expressed anger on Lin’s behalf over past injustices, genuinely worried and shared trivial chatter, laughing freely. 

Unlike Lucy, Ravin was a straightforward person, a stark contrast to the cheerful, bright thief who seemed a better match for Lin.

So Lucy tried to act brighter too, smiling sweetly, pretending nothing was wrong, and appearing as a normal girl. 

She wanted to show she could be like Ravin. 

But inside, she felt like vomiting from the unease.

Without the heartbeat she once felt, the world seemed dizzy. 

Her outstretched arms, missing Lin, creaked like a scarecrow. 

She took deep breaths, trying to hide the cold sweat trickling down her neck. 

Her crooked smile was like a broken mirror.

Lin knew Lucy was jealous of Ravin. 

Normally, he would have focused on comforting Lucy, but he was silent this time, the reason being the Holy Sword. 

As mentioned before, the Holy Sword was a bound item, not something to be stashed in a porter’s pouch or regular inventory. 

Yet, despite having regained his limbs and summoned the Holy Sword, there was no trace of it or even a small dagger on the hero’s waist.

The Holy Sword was missing. 

As the DLC’s main story started, facing the enemies, particularly the demons, required the Holy Sword, and it was missing. 

Ravin had said the Holy Sword flew from the imperial palace to Ephalter.

“Lucy.”

When preparing and acting, one must always assume the worst-case scenario. 

But Lin wanted to avoid this worst-case scenario desperately, so he tried to ask Lucy with earnest hope.

“Where is the Holy Swo—”

“Sorry to keep you waiting! Damn those three heads for being such a bother.”

“One of the three heads is their leader, right?”

“Shut up, Adora.”

Lin’s cautious question was abruptly interrupted by the sudden arrival of Ravin and Adora. 

Lin closed his mouth again, and Lucy, who was about to hear Lin’s voice, looked resentfully at them.

“What’s with the look?”

“…Hmph.”

Despite knowing the atmosphere was bad, Ravin asked nonchalantly, causing Lucy to immediately turn her gaze away.

“You’re funny.”

Even though the hero openly disliked her, Ravin laughed. 

How thick-skinned could this woman be? 

Lin sighed and stepped forward, prompted by Adora’s desperate gestures behind Ravin.

“Had a tough time? Is the bothersome stuff over?”

“No, more bothersome things await.”

“More bothersome?”

“There’s a three-heads meeting scheduled for tomorrow afternoon.”

Three-heads referred to the leaders of three guilds representing wealth, force, and intelligence, respectively: the merchant guild, the mercenary guild, and the thief guild. 

What? 

Why would thieves represent intelligence? 

Ravin had raised the infamously lawless city of Waltercrua above the surface. 

In other words, she had taken care of the main figures of the guilds that claimed to represent intelligence.

Whenever a major issue arose in Waltercrua’s governance, the three heads and their subordinate guilds would convene to decide the future course through a meeting. 

That was the three-heads meeting. 

The sudden convening of the city’s big shots was suspicious.

“The topic is raising awareness about the appearance of demons and potentially rooting out any demons within the city.”

“Usually, they inform us at least a week in advance, but telling us it’s tomorrow seems like they’ve already set the stage,” Adora pointed out.

“I think so too.”

“So, the meeting is postponed then.”

“It’s no use. They’ve probably accounted for postponement as well. The more time we give them, the more prepared they’ll be.”

“What’s their motive?”

Ravin laughed, seemingly incredulous.

“Intelligence officer.”

“Yes, Captain.”

“Yes, you’re an intelligence officer.”

“Oh.”

Adora, realizing Ravin’s intention, sighed.

“I’ll gather information.”

“See you at midnight.”

On her way out, Adora glanced at Lin and waved slightly. 

Reflexively, Lin waved back, then shrank under the gazes of two pairs of eyes.

“Please write a review~.”

Ravin sent Adora out to work, but why was Lin the one feeling the consequences? 

Adora left the room without looking back.

“Are you two close?”

“Not at all.”

In this city, except for Lucy and Ravin, no one could be trusted. 

Hearing Lin’s immediate denial seemed to please Ravin as she relaxed her gaze.

“What do you think about the upcoming meeting?”

“Are you asking me?”

“Yeah, I’m asking you.”

Lin, though reluctant, started to think.

“Are the three heads friendly with each other?”

“Do you think so?”

No, not at all. 

The three-heads were created to keep each other in check.

“Are you the strongest?”

“The most bothersome.”

Ravin, who had recently taken over the insignificant thief guild and rapidly rose to a three-heads position, was an outsider. 

That was her current standing.

“Then it’s obvious. They’re using the pretext of rooting out demons to expel Ravin.”

“Why do you put my name in there?”

“Without you, Waltercrua would revert to its old ways.”

“Haha.”

Despite the nonchalant answer, Ravin only liked it.

“You’re smart, as always.”

“Anyone could easily figure that out.”

“Anyone seasoned enough could, yes. Trusting their own instincts.”

Suddenly, Ravin pulled a large cloth out of his pocket. 

She fetched a chair, inviting Lucy to sit, but the warrior turned her head away, ignoring her.

“But you, Lucy, you made me realize and understand the reason through a simple Q&A.”

Ravin tapped her own hair lightly. 

Only then did Lucy realize that her hair was sticking out in all directions and had grown too long. 

With no other choice, she sat on the chair. 

Ravin draped the cloth around Lucy’s neck and pulled out a pair of fine, silver scissors from her pocket.

“So, Arsil’s left arm. My greatest rival, Lucy. What would you do in this situation? Two of the three heads want to drown me.”

Before cutting her hair, Ravin brushed it. 

Although he didn’t say it, Lucy’s hair was always brushed by Lin every night or morning, so it was smooth without any tangles or snags.

“No one is perfect, and no one is clean, so they’ll bring up your faults in the Three-Headed Meeting. But they won’t just bring them up out of nowhere; they’ll tie it to a topic that fits the current situation best.”

“For example?”

“Why ask for an example? They’ve already given it all away themselves.”

Snip, snip.

The pleasant metallic sound of the scissors filled the air as they carefully trimmed Lucy’s unruly hair.

“They’ll tie it to the demon hunting. They’ll say you’re either a demon yourself or dealing with them.”

“Wow, that’s scary. So I just have to sit here and take it?”

What nonsense is she talking about?

Lin knew that the agile-minded thief had already prepared a countermeasure.

“You’re not just going to sit and take it. You have to fight back. Do I need to tell you even the obvious?”

“I asked what I should do in this situation, Lucy.”

“I know you’re not related to demons. Even if I don’t know the exact connections.”

Here, ‘connections’ referred to the invitation to join the Demon Slayer Party. 

Ravin understood and gave a bitter smile.

“Then that means they have fabricated evidence.”

“Exactly.”

Skillfully cutting her hair, Ravin brushed off the trimmed locks to the floor. 

If the world were not chaotic and she was born into a normal family, they said Ravin would have become a hairdresser.

“I have a rough idea of what kind of evidence it is. The informant has gone to uncover where it is.”

“Quick.”

“Thanks for the compliment. Anyway, I have to start preparing to refute this evidence from now.”

“Wow, you already had a plan. Why did you ask me?”

“Just in case, you know? Our Lucy might have a better idea? As always, you were one step ahead of me.”

Snip, snip.

As Ravin was trimming her hair, she suddenly chuckled.

“Ever since Lin became the leader, I’ve almost always won.”

“You’ve grown, Ravin.”

“No, you just locked up your cunning mind to cater to Lin.”

And she shouted loudly for all to hear.

“Just like you locked up your emotions in the warrior party.”

“…!”

A chilling dagger flew and hit its mark.

Feeling the tender care and drowsiness of having her hair trimmed, Lucy almost dozed off, but now she felt the fine hairs on her neck standing on end.

“What are you relaxing for, warrior?”

A whisper only she could hear.

Lucy bit her lower lip.

“Stop talking nonsense, Ravin. Just listen to my thoughts.”

“Alright, don’t get too mad. My bad.”

Even Ravin became sulky when Lin turned serious.

“Are you sure they have fabricated evidence?”

“Yes, I’m sure. I confirmed it myself.”

“Good.”

Lin concluded concisely.

“You should preemptively declare that evidence as proof of their connection to demons.”

“What?!”

That was close.

Lucy almost had her earlobe cut off by Ravin’s startled mistake.

“Why bother refuting it? It’s a waste of time and materials. Just use it.”

“Aha~.”

This was why Ravin always coveted Lin.

“Propaganda and fabrication are easy, but explanations are hard?”

And propaganda and fabrication were Ravin’s favorite political weapons.

Lin always proposed strategies that aligned with their leader’s wishes.

To Arsil, a strategy that was straightforward but upheld loyalty.

Even if it was a lousy plan that was obviously going to be carried out selfishly, Lin would propose it and take the role of being refuted to preserve her pride. 

But to me…

That foolish Lin.

“I really like it. I really love it!”

“I’m glad to be of help.”

“You must have been quite helpful in the warrior party too?”

Lin’s resentment and anger towards Lina were unfairly redirected at Lucy.

“Ravin, get out.”

But Lin wouldn’t just stand by and watch.

“Alright, I’m sorry. I won’t say it again.”

“Get out. See you tomorrow.”

“Lucy, that’s your problem! You’re hurting yourself by holding back your feelings and can’t even say anything unpleasant…”

“No, I’m not hurt.”

“…!”

Ravin, shocked, opened his eyes wide.

Infuriated by Lin’s calm gaze, Ravin ground his teeth and put the scissors back in his pocket.

“Finish the rest yourself.”

As the cloth was removed, countless strands of brown hair scattered.

After Ravin left, the two remained silent.

It was more uncomfortable than before he had come in.

Now, Lin couldn’t ask about the sacred sword.

Sighing, Lin looked down at Lucy, who had her head lowered.

Lin couldn’t see the expression on her face or what she was thinking through her drooping brown hair.

All Lucy could do was gently play with the red string around her pinky finger.

No matter how red her nose got or how heavy her eyes felt, all Lucy could do was despair.

She would never give up, but this moment made her realize once again that the world did not look kindly upon her love