I Realized Too Late (7)

Everything should have gone smoothly. After finding a demon settlement, the mentor tried to make contact despite the demons' wariness, spending more than a dozen days insisting that they meant no harm and wished to be friends. Perhaps thanks to those efforts, the mentor finally succeeded in winning the demons over.

Any exchange required mutual benefit. So the mentor presented the demons with an offer. It was nothing but a good deal for them.

In exchange for sharing food and supplies handled by humans, the demons would come to a human village so the two sides could get to know each other.

All the demons had to do was visit a human settlement, provide information, and undergo a brief physical examination, and they would receive supplies that were surely precious to them. Even though they would be going somewhere many humans hated demons, it was a good offer—as long as their safety was guaranteed.

Besides, the mentor wasn't asking them to reveal any information they might be reluctant to share. The proposal was simply to exchange cultures.

The village chosen for this exchange was the one where Parna lived. Thanks to the development of agriculture, it produced plenty of food, and its proximity to the royal capital had kept the demons away and the village safe. As a result, few people there knew demons firsthand, and hostility toward them was lower than in other villages and towns... That was why it had been chosen as the place for the exchange.

'I absolutely won't let any harm come to you... Please believe me!'

The mentor pleaded with them desperately. No matter how great the benefits might be, there was no guarantee it wasn't a trap. So at first, all the mentor could do was keep pleading.

And when the leader of the demons in that settlement finally nodded, the mentor was overjoyed from the bottom of their heart. To express that joy, the mentor hugged Parna.

Parna still remembered how the sight of the mentor rejoicing like a child had made Parna smile too.

But it all ended abruptly. Just as promised, the mentor harmed no one and led the demons to Parna's hometown. Together with the many carts of goods the demons had prepared as a token of friendship, they headed for the village.

The mentor brought them there along a route that was normally so heavily guarded that demons couldn't get anywhere near it. And the moment they reached the village, it began.

Parna had been waiting in the village to welcome them. The moment she saw the mentor cheerfully waving as the demons were led toward the village, one of them cast a spell at point-blank range, killing the mentor instantly.

Then demons began emerging from the carts one after another. They slaughtered the adventurers who had been waiting to guard the village, as well as the soldiers dispatched from the royal capital. They killed the villagers, women and children alike, seized their food and supplies, ravaged the village, and fled.

By the time the kingdom's army arrived, it was all over. The village had been transformed into a sight too horrible to bear. All that remained were those who had hidden until the dust settled.

Parna was one of them. After seeing the person she revered killed right before her eyes, Parna had been in a daze. She survived because one of the adventurers guarding the village had taken her away and hidden her somewhere safe.

'I absolutely won't let any harm come to you... Please believe me!'

Remembering those words, Parna burst out laughing.

The mentor had trusted the demons completely because of their kindness. They believed that if they showed sincerity, the demons would surely respond in kind. But that belief had been wrong. The mentor should never have trusted them. They should have been wary, to prevent something like this from happening.

'What do you mean... "Please believe me"?'

Parna bitterly regretted it. Parna cried and wailed, realizing that the demons didn't need to believe the mentor in the first place. From the beginning, they had been enemies to defeat—nothing more than a menace, with no reason to trust them or ask them to trust anyone.

Parna felt intense self-loathing for having yearned, even just a little, for a future where demons and humans joined hands.

At the same time, Parna became certain: demons were evil and had to be killed. No matter what their reasons might be, not a single one of them could be allowed to live.

"...It's already been four years since then."

Afterward, Parna lost the goal she had been striving toward and lived as she pleased. Of course, Parna still worked to grow stronger. But Parna understood that there were things no one could accomplish alone. So Parna simply went with the flow, living however she pleased.

Rather than pursue revenge, Parna tried to live a carefree, enjoyable life so she could forget those loathsome memories. That was the only way Parna knew how to cling to life.

But then Parna met Rex... and Kururu. They were two people with the potential for tremendous power: a Hero and a Sage. They were destined to fight demons, and might one day make it possible for Parna to take revenge on them.

Parna saw them as a revelation from God, sent so that Parna could avenge herself on the demons. So Parna decided without hesitation to join their journey to fight them, despite the high chance of dying. Parna thought she could use their power for her own ends. And yet those two had completely strayed from the path that would lead to the outcome Parna wanted.

All because of one villager and one demon girl.

"Sorry, but I can't let you take this opportunity away from me. It's a chance I've finally gotten... Even if God is responsible for how this world works..."

Parna, too, had struggled with it. After hearing the villager's words, Parna wondered: if the way this world worked really had been deliberately designed by someone... wouldn't the person who created that system be the one most deserving of hatred?

But even so, it wasn't God or a human who killed the mentor. It was a demon.

"I'm taking it back from you, Villager... for the sake of my revenge, too."

After murmuring that, Parna turned her gaze toward a letter lying on the table. Designed to look like an invitation, it bore these words in huge, bold lettering:

'Valman's famous attraction: Mirror of Casino! Please come visit!'