It was noisy.

That was Najin's first thought upon entering the Central Guild. He had stopped by to take on a commission as usual, but tilted his head at the unusually loud commotion.

"What's going on?"

Najin asked a nearby adventurer he recognized from the recent Dochenberg Forest Clearance Operation. Back then, the man had regarded him with hostility. Not anymore.

They had accepted him as a fellow professional. Ever since the day he fought the Bloodred Troll—and word of it spread throughout the city—no one had questioned his potential. His achievements had proven his ability.

"Oh, if it isn't Ivan."

Sure enough, the adventurer greeted him warmly. After exchanging a quick greeting, Najin pointed toward the crowd.

"What's happened to draw such a crowd?"

"Ah, a big commission came in from outside the city."

"A big commission?"

"Yeah. What was it again? Apparently one of the routes a criminal's expected to flee along passes near Cambria?" the adventurer said.

"The next head of House Schulhauser and the nobles whose territories surround it have sent in a whole flood of commissions... The bounties are no joke."

"Just what kind of commission is it?"

"That's the problem. See those people gathered over there? They rushed over when they saw the bounty, then read the details and started shaking their heads."

He shrugged with a bitter smile.

"It's beyond us. Even the Atanga Knight Order has put in a commission... That says it all."

... The Atanga Knight Order?

Najin narrowed his eyes. That was not a name he could simply ignore. After leaving the underground city, information about Atanga had been the very first thing he sought out.

The knight order Ivan had belonged to. The place Ivan had always longed for.

An order formed by those who defended honor and pride and upheld the ancient precepts of knighthood. The moment he heard their name, Najin could guess what this commission concerned. There was usually only one reason the knights of Atanga would act.

"... Is the wanted criminal a knight, by any chance?"

"Yeah. The charges are pretty serious, too. Go take a look."

Najin nodded and walked toward the crowd. Commission notices were posted there: requests from numerous nobles, with Atanga's among them.

He joined the adventurers and read the details.

[Wanted — Berheigen.]

It was a wanted poster. Beneath a drawing of his likeness, his crimes and other particulars were densely listed.

Former commander of House Schulhauser's knight order.

Weapon: Sword.

An accomplished swordsman approaching Sword Seeker.

Charges — Murder of the head of House Schulhauser. Murder of servants, the house's private soldiers, and knights in its service. Turned the estate into a sea of blood in a single night before fleeing...

Those crimes alone were grave enough, but the single line that followed was so shocking that it eclipsed everything before it.

[Special Notes: Believed to have contracted with a demon.]

A contract with a demon.

Demons were evil, sinister beings regarded as humanity's mortal enemies. Contracting with one was a serious crime under imperial law, and the rule was to kill demon contractors on sight, regardless of their reasons.

And yet... a knight had contracted with a demon?

That explained why Atanga's knights had intervened. Such an act was tantamount to sullying knightly honor and trampling on their pride.

"A knight... contracted with a demon?"

Merlin's voice rang in Najin's ears, trembling with faint anger.

"What kind of deranged bastard is he? A knight contracting with a demon? Joining hands with a demon? A knight? A knight...?"

She repeated the same words over and over, as though she could not believe them. Then she let out a shrill yell, making Najin's shoulders twitch.

"A knight is someone who has sworn to slaughter demons!"

"It's been centuries since countless knights slaughtered demons in the name of Arthur, the Knight King, and now a knight is contracting with one? That fucking piece of Camlann shit...!"

Merlin breathed out in sharp, heavy bursts. The weight of the word knight might have changed since centuries past, but there were still lines that must never be crossed. This was something she simply could not accept.

'Try to calm down first.'

"Whew, whew..."

At Najin's urging, Merlin began taking slow breaths.

While she steadied her breathing, Najin observed the adventurers around him. Just as he had been told, those who had flocked to the reward were now clicking their tongues after reading the details.

A commission beyond their abilities. One they should not touch.

It was not difficult to guess why. Their opponent was nearly a Sword Seeker, and was even suspected of having contracted with a demon. Anyone with merely respectable skill would not dare attempt it.

"For something like this, you'd need a White Horn..."

The gathered adventurers murmured among themselves. It was a reasonable assessment. Facing someone of this caliber would require one of the White Horn adventurers at the pinnacle of the city.

But even they would not get involved—or so the adventurers thought.

The commission was far too dangerous, and nothing good came of getting entangled with demons. The demonic energy emitted by those connected to demons ate away at the human mind. It gnawed at the soul, and sometimes even left its mark as a curse.

Nor was that all. Those involved with demons wielded unknown dark arts—abilities known as demonic powers. In other words, unpredictable factors would enter the battle.

Danger, compounded by uncertainty.

Anyone who valued their life would be right to leave this commission alone. Of course, killing the target was not the only task listed. Slaying the knight who had allied himself with a demon was the Atanga Knight Order's responsibility. Most of the commissions were closer to investigative work, such as finding traces of him, or involved stalling him...

'Even that is dangerous, so they'd rather stay out of it.'

Najin rubbed his chin as he gauged the adventurers' mood. He did not yet feel a calling to slaughter demons, nor a responsibility as Arthur's successor to punish a knight allied with one.

He had only just set out on his journey. It was too soon to carry such weighty burdens.

But quite apart from those concerns, this commission interested him. His curiosity had been stirred by the Atanga Knight Order, to which Ivan had belonged, and by demons themselves.

'Merlin,' Najin said inwardly.

'You said that once I reach the pinnacle of Cambria... my next destination would be the Demon Realm, right?'

The Demon Realm, the land of demons. It bordered the Battlefield of Stars and was where Arthur had headed after leaving Cambria... the stage upon which he truly began to be called a hero.

"That's right."

'And demons are what I'll have to face there.'

"They will be."

He considered it briefly. Reaching a conclusion did not take long.

'It wouldn't hurt to get some experience beforehand.'

Najin made his choice.

He took a large step forward. Merlin approved of his decision as well. Letting her cry of "That's the spirit!" pass him by, Najin pushed through the adventurers gathered around the noticeboard and reached the front.

"..."

Every eye turned toward him. With all the adventurers watching, Najin reached for the commission notice they had only stared at, none daring to touch it.

Then he pulled.

RIP!

Najin tore the notice bearing the Atanga Knight Order's crest from the board. That action meant only one thing: he would take the commission.

Some laughed in disbelief at the sight. Others muttered that he had no regard for his own life, while still others marveled at him. Yet none of them mocked him.

Snatching up a perilous commission without hesitation—he looked just like their younger selves, brimming with confidence and enthusiasm when they first set foot in Cambria, the City of Opportunity.

He was someone who truly sought adventure, worthy of being called an adventurer.

2.

"Have you no shame, Berheigen!"

Someone shouted.

At the voice pounding heavily against his eardrums, Berheigen slowly opened his eyes. His contract with the demon had blurred his vision, leaving him able to see properly through only one eye.

The assimilation was not yet complete. The eye that had begun to turn black saw only a blur. Berheigen blinked repeatedly and looked ahead.

"They sent quite a few."

His pursuers stood before him: mercenaries and knights from neighboring territories that had frequently dealt with House Schulhauser, which he had served. Berheigen narrowed his eyes.

There was no sign of Atanga's crest. They must not have caught up yet. He had chosen the escape route farthest from the Atanga Knight Order's garrison.

Berheigen let out a long breath.

"Shame? Why should I feel ashamed?"

"You have betrayed the pride of a knight."

The pursuing knights shouted at him. The mercenaries aimed bows and crossbows at Berheigen, while sword aura surged from the knights' blades. Faced with their brilliant blue auras, Berheigen laughed.

BOOM!

The knights kicked off the ground and charged. The mercenaries released their bowstrings and fired their crossbows. Arrows and aura-clad sword strikes rained in from every direction.

Berheigen did not move an inch.

Arrows sank into his body with dull thuds. Sword aura sliced across his skin.

But the moment their blades struck, the knights realized they had failed to inflict fatal wounds despite using sword aura. Their cuts were shallow. Why?

Because his body was no longer human.

Becoming the demon's incarnation and gradually merging with it had endowed Berheigen's body with resistance. Having taken their blades with his flesh, he stretched his mouth into a wide grin and seized the sword lodged in his shoulder with his bare hand.

"Honor, pride, those damned rules."

The knight allied with a demon smirked.

CRUNCH!

He shattered the sword with his bare hand, then reached out and grabbed the face of the knight before him. No human skull could withstand a grip that could crush even a sword.

The knight's helmet crumpled. Unable to bear the pain, he screamed.

The mercenaries loosed arrows and the surrounding knights swung their swords, but Berheigen ignored them and tightened his grip a little more.

CRUNCH!

The helmet collapsed. Blood and yellowish matter spilled through its gaps. The screaming ceased.

The knights' eyes widened as they watched their comrade die, his head crushed before them.

He was far stronger than their information had suggested.

They realized Berheigen was no ordinary demon contractor. The reported rank of the demon he had contracted with must also have been wrong. With defeat looming, the knights clenched their teeth.

Some felt anger. Others felt fear.

Yet they were knights. They had not always lived up to honor and pride, and at times they had indulged in dissipation... but at the very least, they took pride in being knights.

They were not like this wretch who had allied himself with a demon.

Fleeing was not an option for them. They charged with swords in hand, striking again and again to widen the wound left by their dead comrade's sword aura, then driving their blades into it.

"What a stubborn bunch of fools."

Their assault bordered on obsession. The mercenaries had fled long ago upon realizing things had gone wrong, but the knights swung their swords to the very end. Expressionless, Berheigen killed them, crushing their heads, tearing off their arms, and piercing their hearts.

He had not needed his sword for any of it.

That fact filled Berheigen with exhilaration. Seven knights capable of wielding sword aura and ten well-trained mercenaries. Until very recently, he would have struggled in such a battle, with little chance of surviving. But now?

He overwhelmed them without even drawing his sword. Was he not overpowering them all with his bare hands alone?

"What do pride and honor give you? What do you gain by upholding them? They're empty pretenses, utterly useless..."

Berheigen murmured, drunk on exhilaration. He looked at a knight whose arm had been torn off. Blood gushed from the wound, and blood loss had turned the man's face deathly pale. Yet the knight still held his sword.

The last remaining knight.

Charging over his comrades' corpses, the man drove his blade into Berheigen's shoulder. The sword sank deep into the wound the seven knights had doggedly widened. But that did not mean victory.

Berheigen was still fine. Even this wound would heal overnight.

He tore off the knight's remaining arm, then kicked out and shattered his knee. The knight collapsed, both arms gone. Grabbing him by the hair, Berheigen pulled his head up and met his eyes.

"You gain nothing by upholding them, so why cling to them so stubbornly, my foolish friend?"

Berheigen smirked. He expected the knight's face to fill with fear and despair, but the man only grimaced in pain. He did not despair.

With a groan, the knight mocked him.

"It's precisely because we gain nothing..."

The knight's derisive voice rang out through the blood frothing at his lips.

"...that they have value. A bastard who allied himself with a demon could never understand that."

Those were the knight's last words.

CRUNCH!

The knight's head burst. Shaking the blood from his hand, Berheigen kicked the corpse with a bored look in his eyes.

"How dull."

Berheigen sighed as he pulled the sword from his shoulder. Still sighing, he set off. His destination was the Demon Realm. Until he reached it, he would have to keep moving swiftly.

Ordinary pursuers did not frighten him. The Atanga Knight Order did.

They specialized in slaying demons. If he encountered them while his assimilation remained incomplete, he could not be certain of victory.

Berheigen quickened his pace.