“Huh? Huh, everyone, why are you like this… yes, I’m glad to see you too.”

As I stepped outside the barrier protecting the city, a loud roar erupted from the furious lesser demonic beasts on guard around me.

What should I say, they seemed very enthusiastic about my arrival.

It’s not like I’m a female idol here for a visit, so what’s going on?

In the midst of my confusion over the unexpected welcome from the demonic beasts, a charming squeak caught my attention.

“Oh? Ari, you were here too? I was wondering where you went since I couldn’t see you.”

From somewhere, a cute sound accompanied the arrival of a small firebird, Ari, who then perched gently on my shoulder, rubbing against me in a playful manner.

While I was petting Ari’s head for a moment, I accidentally glanced around and saw the demonic beasts’ reactions.

Some were trembling as they looked at me, while others seemed relieved, as if they had just come back to life.

And at that sight, I couldn’t help but chuckle as I realized what had taken place here just a moment ago.

“Ari, I was wondering where you ran off to, and I see you’ve been keeping these kids in line?”

Squeak!

Ari tilted her head innocently as if claiming she had no idea what I was talking about.

However, given the way the surrounding demonic beasts were shuddering and looking at her as if to say, “Look at that brazen one…” I could tell my guess was spot on.

Moreover, the intensity of their reactions suggested that this wasn’t just a one-time ordeal.

Ari often perched on my shoulder, but occasionally, as she did today, she would fly off somewhere, and I assumed she had been around the area controlling these demonic beasts each time.

Earlier, I had wondered why they greeted me so fervently, but it seemed they saw me as a savior who would liberate them from the torment of their superior.

Thinking this made me feel a bit sorry for the demonic beasts, so I flicked the bridge of Ari’s nose with my finger, who was making a face like “Oh no, I’ve been discovered.”

“Take it easy, take it easy. They’re already doing their part without needing to be pressured like that.”

Squeak…

Upon hearing this, Ari responded somewhat reluctantly.

At that moment, the demonic beasts seemed to send silent cheers my way, as if celebrating some great achievement.

I raised my hand in acknowledgment while I noticed Ari hanging her head low beside me.

Maybe hearing my remarks was so shocking that she deflated.

I smiled slightly at Ari’s dejected appearance and gently patted her head as I spoke.

“Still, I appreciate the sentiment. I know why you did it. You wanted to earn more praise from me, right? But I already feel grateful for your help, so you don’t have to overexert yourself. Got it?”

Squeak… Squeak!!!

Fortunately, Ari perked up quickly after my words, bouncing back and sticking to me.

It took some time to calm her down afterward as she kept clinging to me, seemingly very touched.

Anyway, after spending some time with the demonic beasts, I shifted my focus back to the original purpose of my visit here.

The reason I had come all the way outside the city today was to utilize the Holy Sword of Truth that I borrowed from Yoon Si-woo to locate the Lust Witch.

“Well then, shall we give it a try?”

To determine where the Lust Witch was, I needed something to inscribe her into the Holy Sword of Truth.

As I had previously explained to Sylvia, this inscribing could also be achieved through magical energy.

The spot I had come to today was where the great army led by the Lust Witch had clashed when she invaded, the site still thick with the unpurified magical energy from that day.

Here, it was certain that the residual magical energy from when she wielded her powers remained.

To find that, I drew the Holy Sword of Truth and began to search the magical energy lingering around me.

However, contrary to my expectations of locating it quickly, I soon found myself in a difficult situation.

“Hmm… this is problematic. It seems the magical energy left by the Lust Witch isn’t the only thing here.”

A problem had arisen.

The Lust Witch had the ability to brainwash and control living beings.

Unfortunately, due to that very ability, she had brought all kinds of demonic beasts here, and the different magical energies from the dying beasts had become mixed up, hampering my search.

To find out where the Lust Witch was, I needed magical energy specifically tied to her with less interference from other types. But given the current situation, it would likely take some time.

While I was lost in thought about this dilemma, Ari, who was resting on my shoulder, suddenly flapped her wings and began to circle in front of me.

Startled by this sudden behavior, I saw her looking at me and chirping something.

“Squeak, squeak!”

“…Are you saying to follow you?”

Squeak!

With a cry, Ari confidently flew off in a certain direction, and I hesitated for a moment before deciding to follow her.

After walking for a bit, I noticed a long mark on the ground where she was leading me.

A long black streak on the ground looked like a giant skid mark.

As I approached, I realized what this mark was.

“Oh, could this possibly be…”

This black mark was the trace left from the attack I had launched against the Lust Witch previously.

As I recognized it, I also understood why Ari had brought me here.

The mark indicated that if I followed this way, I would reach the spot where the Lust Witch had established her position during the battle.

Indeed, her magical energy would likely be more concentrated there than anywhere else.

How did Ari even think of this?

“You’re quite clever, aren’t you?”

Squeak!

She might not be clever but just instinctively knew where to find different types of magical energy. Regardless, it was undoubtedly helpful, so I praised Ari and followed the mark.

As I reached the end of the mark, the exact spot where the Lust Witch had taken my attack, I drew the Holy Sword of Truth and plunged it into the magical energy surrounding me, speaking aloud.

“Tell me where the Lust Witch is.”

Upon my words, the Holy Sword of Truth emitted a faint glow, and at the same time, information flowed naturally into my mind.

It was a sense difficult to put into words.

Like migratory birds flying long distances but still finding their destination perfectly.

Or like salmon returning to the stream where they were born each year.

How it was possible, I couldn’t explain, but I instinctively understood.

I now knew where I had to go, where the Lust Witch was located.

Turning my head towards the far-off west, the direction where the Lust Witch resided, I muttered.

“…Better wash your neck and wait. This time, I’ll come for you.”

*

After successfully gathering crucial information about the location of the Lust Witch, the preparations for the hunt progressed smoothly.

“Okay then, westward, huh? Looking at the map, where do you think it is roughly?”

“Maybe… around here.”

“Hmmm… the western coast, the place where it’s said there used to be a city of mermaids. That’s quite a distance… What will we do? Just traveling that far seems like it would take a lot of time.”

The base where the Lust Witch was located was to the far west of the city.

Once upon a time, it was said to have been the city of mermaids before the Lust Witch annihilated them.

The problem was, looking at the map made the distance appear quite significant.

At first, the far-off location of the Lust Witch irritated me, but fortunately, we had a way to overcome that great distance.

“That’s alright. We can fly there. It should be dozens of times faster than walking.”

Indeed, flying was the solution.

For long-distance travel, nothing beats flight; speed is crucial.

“Certainly… if it’s Sylvia’s flight spell, we can move quickly.”

“I have my flight spell too, but you also have that excellent means of transportation, Lady Scarlet.”

“Means of transportation?”

“That thing on your shoulder, she’s not just a regular pet, you know? Are you planning to let her carry anyone, or something like that?”

“Uh, Ari… can you give us a ride?”

Squeak!

“Oh, she says we can hop on.”

“That’s a relief.”

Initially, I had only thought of Sylvia’s flight spell, but upon reflection, I had my own personal transport in the form of Ari.

Our means of transportation was ultimately decided to be Sylvia’s flight spell and Ari.

Since we had decided to take to the air, the composition of the hunting party would inevitably be somewhat reduced from the original plan.

Flying meant we couldn’t form a large hunting party as we would if we were walking.

In that context, there was one downside.

Squeak, squeak!

“…Uh, Sylvia. It’s fine that Ari can carry me, but she might have to brace herself for other meanings as well.”

“…Oh, you’re right. Thinking about it, we can’t just sit on a fireball and go. Sigh… I guess that means I’ll have to carry everyone myself.”

“Haha, sorry about that…”

The unfortunate aspect was that Ari could only carry me.

Sadly, neither Ari nor I had the ability to selectively decide who could be carried, so if anyone else tried to hop onto Ari, they would get burned to a crisp, leaving us with no choice.

So, in the end, it was decided that only the remaining empty spot on Ari’s back would be filled with a few of the furious lesser demonic beasts instead.

Additionally, when it came to who would be included, there was a bit of a commotion among the demonic beasts.

It seemed they all wanted to help me, so there was a bit of a scramble with everyone stepping forward to volunteer, which made things slightly awkward.

However, when I said, “You guys better think carefully. If you come along, you’ll be riding on Ari’s back, can you handle that later?” the number of volunteers dwindled considerably.

They must have been scared about the potential consequences later on.

Perhaps later, Ari might jest, “Hey, guys? Isn’t the world a great place now? Even the rookies are riding senior members. Right?”

In that sense, the ones who volunteered without hesitation seemed to be those who had enough experience to handle Ari without appearing too wary of her.

Considering the circumstances, it wouldn’t be bad to have a hunting party filled with strong members.

“All that’s left is selecting personnel and preparing supplies. Diakonos, how’s the supply preparation going?”

“Yes, everyone in Dolos is working their hardest, so it should be done very soon.”

“There’s really no need to go to such lengths.”

“Don’t mind us. We all want to put an end to this long-standing enmity as soon as possible.”

“…I see. I understand.”

In any case, the preparations for the hunt were quickly completed, thanks to everyone’s cooperation, especially the enthusiastic support from the Dolos family.

Once we were informed that we were ready, we decided to set out immediately without dragging it out.

With the Gluttony Witch potentially poised to revive at any moment, the most lacking resource for us was time.

And thus, the day of departure finally arrived.

*

“Everyone, come back safe!!”

“Don’t die, you all!!”

Amid the farewell wishes from the people praying for our safety, we began to gather our luggage and climbed onto our means of transport.

Five volunteered furious lesser demonic beasts and myself onto Ari’s back.

The carefully filtered elite heroes, 30 in total, alongside five members of Dolos, including Diakonos, were all on the huge constellation created by Sylvia.

The faces of those embarking to defeat the Lust Witch were filled with solemn determination.

Watching that scene made me feel a bit anxious too, so to calm my racing heart, I quietly closed my eyes and murmured to myself.

“It’s fine; we’ve prepared perfectly, so we’ll finish it without any issues.”

After regaining my mental calmness, I opened my eyes again.

“Wait…! Stop…! Florene wants to go too…! Please let her join!”

And at the sight of the pink-haired girl causing a commotion in front of me, a well-known phrase left by a certain witch came to mind.

“Child, life never goes according to your desires.”

My peace of mind was swiftly whisked away, long before we even began our journey.