Chapter 21 Trouble In Arkansas

"Now... What is happening..." Lyan muttered under his breath.

He walked directly towards the mercenary guild from the inn, but even though it's quite a distance, there are still no words from the usually noisy spirits inside the grimoire's space. But what perplexed him more is the scene of the mercenary guild that is filled with uneasy faces.

Lyan entered the mercenary guild, and saw that the receptionists are busy running from place to place while carrying bundles of papers, and calming down some mercenaries that seems to be asking something to them in impatience.

"Looks like a storm is brewing..." (Lyan)

The first time Lyan entered the mercenary guild, everything is in order, the mercenaries line up and wait patiently, and all of the receptionists are handling them professionally and efficiently without showing any sign of agitation on their faces. But today, it feels like the whole mercenary guild is in a state of panic.

"Looks like today is not a good day to ask for quest recommendation, huh..." (Lyan)

(Where did I see this scene before, I wonder... Ah... It's the first time I appeared in the demon world, huh...) (Lyan)

The first time Lyan got brought into the demon world, he found out that the prime minister's houses and president palaces of all over the world got teleported to the demon world as well. Thousands of people gathered and swarmed the building according to their region, asking for explanations.

(That was quite a traumatic view to see, isn't it?) (Lyan)

"Ah! Mr. Evocatore!" A cheerful voice called him.

"Hm?" Lyan shifted his gaze, and a brown-haired girl and a black-haired girl entered his view.

"Ah... Miss Kukumila and Miss Azerman. But why the two of you are not using your uniform?" Lyan pointed at the casual clothes Lichia and Rea are using.

"H-How formal..." (Rea)

"Fufu. Today was supposed to be our rest day, but since some of our coworkers have some problem and could only arrive at the guild late, we've been substituting their shift until the sixth bell. But as you can see, things suddenly get hectic after the news from the Astellia kingdom appeared," (Lichia)

(Astellia kingdom... Isn't that the kingdom where Griselda came from...?) (Lyan)

"What news?" (Lyan)

"Oh. You haven't heard? The Astellia kingdom's mercenary guild and adventurer guild sent us a letter, saying that there is a high possibility that a goblin king has appeared in the great Cosrane forest!!" (Rea)

"A goblin king?" (Lyan)

"Yes. It's the most dangerous type of goblin that only appear once in several decades. But even though its ability alone is already high enough, the most troublesome thing is that the army of goblins that it could raise," (Lichia)

"The biggest goblin army raised by a goblin king in the history reached even ten thousand goblins. When the number of the goblins got too big, they stopped hunting inside the forest and starts pillaging and raiding villages to eat and capture the women. That's how dangerous the goblin king's appearance is," (Lichia)

"And terrifyingly, we got the news that seven villages at the north and the west got destroyed and have all of the villagers and the resources inside it disappeared. Together with the sightings of a big group of goblins with hobgoblins and goblin shamans, the accuracy of the information regarding the appearance of the goblin king is high," (Lichia)

"I see..." Lyan shifted his gaze towards the restless mercenaries that keep on pestering the mercenary guild's receptionist.

"Those are mercenaries that either has their comrades in the middle of taking a quest in the forest or have their village near the Cosrane Forest. They're asking for the guild to send reinforcement quest to search for their comrades and defend their villages. It's not that we didn't care about them, it's just that the reinforcement needed to defend and the search they asked is unreasonable, and they don't even have the funds to pay for the rewards, to begin with," (Lichia)

"I see... How will the guild act towards this turmoil?" (Lyan)

"We're going to finish the goblin king before it got its army even bigger and makes more victims around the region. But since we still didn't know where the location is, the guild had sent veteran mercenaries and our official staff that excels in scouting to look for the possible place where the goblins are hiding. This supposed to be a job of the adventurer guild, but since it appeared near our city as well, it can't be helped..." Lichia let out a heavy sigh.

"Will we join force with the Astellia kingdom and its adventurer guild?" (Lyan)

"Of course! We didn't have enough manpower to fend them alone, after all! But still... It will take some time before we could accurately find the lair of the goblin king. I hope that there won't be more villages that got attacked by the goblins..." (Rea)

(Goblin army, huh... Yesterday when I'm heading towards this city, all I defeated was a giant hunting serpent, direwolves, slimes, and a group of goblins. By the time I arrived in the city, I realized that my mana had decreased to half of its original) (Lyan)

(It means that even though I still possess the same abilities and magical properties of an incubus, my mana pool had gotten significantly decreased, which means that my strength had gotten significantly reduced as well. The goblin king and its army seems very fantasylike, but it holds a considerable risk as well. Well, I got the eight spirits with tremendous power with me, though) (Lyan)

"Mr. Evocatore? " (Lichia)

"Eh? Yes?" (Lyan)

"I'm telling you that even if you're strong, you must not recklessly-" (Lichia)

"Lichia! Rea!" A girl's voice suddenly cut in the conversation.

A beautiful wavy pink-haired girl equipped with a black magician robe rushed toward Lichia's and Rea's direction with a grim expression on her face. Behind her are a girl with black hair and a girl with white hair, wearing a butler uniform.

(Wait this girl is... Where did I see her before...? Wha-) (Lyan)

When the girls approached them even closer, Lyan noticed a hint of a sinister mana filled with malice from the girl before him.

(This... Mana...) (Lyan)

"Belle?" (Lichia)

"What is wrong, Belle-chan? Even Raine-chan and Ravia-chan came here," (Rea)

"*Pant!* *Pant!* Is it true...? *Pant!* *Pant!* There is a goblin *Pant!* King...?" Asked Belle as she desperately tries to catch her breath.

"Yes, the possibility is very high. It could be said that we're already sure that there is a goblin king. But why did you rush towards here so much, Belle? Where are Alina and Xena?" (Lichia)

"They're searching for a dark attribute magic stone and the seed of the Flaahgra we defeated yesterday to cure me! They are still inside the forest and haven't returned yet!" (Belle)

"What!?" (Lichia)

"Is that true, Belle-chan!? W-What should we do, Lichia-chan!?" (Rea)

"Before that, who are you, strange guy? You've been staring at Belle with a scary face for a while there, what are you thinking?" Ravia stared at Lyan with eyes full of suspicions.

But giving her no heed, Lyan suddenly disappeared from his place.

"Mr. Evocatore!?" (Lichia and Rea)

(So fast!) (Raine)

"Tch!" (Ravia)

(He's so fast! No, there's a hint of magic in the air, is it illusion magic?) (Belle)

*Clank!*

Behind Belle where Lyan appeared, Ravia the black-haired girl attempted to strike Lyan with her knife, but got blocked easily with his sword that is still inside its sheathe.

"Tch!" Ravia clicked her tongue and was about to attempt to strike again, but without missing the chance, Raine also draws her sword and attempted to strike towards Lyan, but the words he uttered stopped the both of them from their tracks.

"I see. So the evil mana came from a curse, huh... It surprised me..." Lyan uttered as he wipes the sweat on his forehead.

"You know about the curse?" (Ravia)

"I'm quite familiar with curses, excuse me a bit," Lyan extend his hand and put his palm on Belle's back.

"W-Wait!" (Raine)

"W-What are you- A-Ahhnnnn!!!" Belle suddenly let out a loud moan.

""EEHHHH!?!?!?!?"" (Rea & Lichia & Ravia & Raine)

"Uhhh... Ahhnnn!! W-What is... Ahhnnnn!!" (Belle)

"I see. The evil mana got sealed neatly. This makes it easy, wait a bit," (Lyan)

Following Lyan's words, his left hand that is holding Belle's back slowly got enveloped by red and black mana.

(H-He's extracting the evil mana with his hands alone?) (Ravia)

"Now for the finishing touch," Lyan retract his left hand and replace it with his right hand.

"Ah... It's getting warm..." Belle stopped her moaning and starts to feel nice because of the comfortable warmth from her back.

"And done," Lyan retracts his right hand.

"Eh? It's done! I-I could sense my mana again!" (Belle)

"You could!? Does the curse disappear!?" Ravia immediately opens Belle's robe from behind to check her back.

"Eh? EH!? Ravia-chan!?" Belle desperately tried to pull back her robe.

"It's gone! It really disappeared!" (Ravia)

____________________________________________________________________________

Name: Lyan

Occupation: Mercenary

Money: 22,800 Elnes

Weapon: Hobgoblin's Sword

Equipment: Black leather cloak

Grimoire's Companions: 8 High Spirits, Shadow Hobgoblin