Volume 1. Chapter 13. The Dark Mystery Behind the Onxy Earring.

The conversation became more serious when the demon king again mentioned the attack by the demon king Zerk and the mysterious darkness that came to wipe them out.

"That unknown figure seems to have manifested into an item... now held by the girl who lost her parents."

"Even the demon king's ancestors were baffled. Why would darkness fight against darkness?"

"Why did the darkness save humans?"

"Wait... was the follower who tried to stop Nia and her friends you?"

Rii wanted to make sure that his conclusion was correct.

"Of course... I am the one who killed them all."

The demon king admitted and confirmed Rii's words.

"Why did you let her live?"

"It's because that figure protected that girl."

"Protected?"

They were increasingly curious about the demon king's words.

"When I had killed all the humans, and only that woman was left."

"When I was about to kill her, the mysterious earring in one of her ears attacked me, so I had no choice but to run away."

"That means Nia or Una are in danger!"

"If you do that, the chance of winning against the ancestors will be impossible."

The words of the demon king Neii stopped Mansa's footsteps.

"Darkness becomes a helper. Doesn't it sound interesting?"

"What are you planning?"

Cini suspected the demon king Neii, who suddenly changed from before.

"I am not like Zerk, who thirsts for power, not like Dorf, who is crazy about destruction. I am only interested in something and will be on your side."

"We don't trust you."

Mansa said with annoyance, then went to Norf City to warn Una about the dangerous earring.

"Humans, mere observers. Let me warn you—never trust the words of those within the Union. Warn your friends, too."

The demon king Neii walked away from them, slowly disappearing with the footsteps.

In the guild, Mansa asked Una to give the earring to be destroyed. But Una refused and said that the earring was very valuable. 

"If you keep that thing, a danger that exceeds the ancestor of the demon king will come to this world!"

"I told you, this is not a dangerous thing!"

When they arrived at the guild, they found a small fight, during which Cindy tried to protect Una, and Erik tried to hold back Mansa in confusion.

"Enough...!"

Vail's quite loud voice diverted their eyes.

"What are you doing, Mansa, trying to snatch our friend's thing?"

"Snatch?"

"You should know that the earring must be destroyed before—"

"We won't let that happen."

Rii interrupted Mansa's words, and that made him even more annoyed.

"Don't you also know that the thing item her?"

"Enough, you two! We don't know what's going on between you, but please—stop fighting."

Nita asked them not to look for trouble or cause new problems.

"If this is a big problem, it should be resolved in a good way."

Erik asked them to resolve the matter with a cool head. 

"What's wrong with Una's earring?"

Sara was curious, as were the others.

Elia asked them to sit down and asked the hero to tell them why he wanted to destroy Una's earring.

Mansa said everything, including the demon king Neii, that he had met in the Leindorf forest, and that surprised them.

"So those three little kids, are you?"

Erik was surprised to hear the hero's words.

"We didn't do that without a reason."

Rii told him that they disguised themselves as little kids for a reason.

"The demon king that we met in the forest told me that the darkness that eliminated the demon king Zerk and his army manifested into the earring that is now in Una's hands."

"Attack?"

"What do you mean by the attack on Leson City?"

Elia wanted to make sure that what he said was true, and that surprised them.

"Eli, did you know about it?"

Erik didn't expect his adopted sister to know about the attack that happened in Leson City. "Not directly, but father… the guild master told me. When the S-ranked adventurers and  soldiers were cornered,"

"They saw a ball of darkness shoot from the sky and hit the ground, creating a strong field that caused the building to collapse."

Elia's words made Una remember everything clearly, the devil's laughter, everyone's screams, and the blood.

"This is different from what we—"

Surprisingly, Una vomited and felt nauseous because the memory of the massacre carried out by the demon king Zerk traumatized her.

"Una!"

Cindy was so worried that one of her hands touched Una's shoulder. And the other hand touched her forehead.

To their shock, the earring on the table began to throb like a beating heart, pulsing with flashes of light in rhythm with its sound.

"The earrings!"

Sara was surprised to see the earrings as if reacting when Una was in trouble.

Una was unconscious, and thanks to the Onxy gemstone earrings, she would not remember the terrible trauma unless there was a trigger to make her recall it.

Mansa took the earrings, and that made them worried that the hero would destroy them.

"Mr. Hero?"

"I will not destroy these earrings after seeing their condition."

Mansa explained that he had no intention of destroying the earrings after seeing Una's condition.

As he held the earrings, a haunting curiosity gripped him. He was shocked to find the city of Norf attacked by two demon kings at once.

"Are you okay? You were silent and looked shocked for a moment when you touched Una's earrings."

Rii wanted to make sure Mansa was holding back the urge to destroy Una's earrings.

"I'm fine..."

Mansa placed the earrings on the table and hid what he had seen.

At night, Cindy, Nita, Sara, and Elia guarded their friend. While asleep, Una called out to Vail, addressing him as "Mr. Vail."

"Mr. Vail?"

Elia was so surprised by her friend who was talking while she was asleep.

"Could what she said be true?"

Cindy began to be confused and remembered the words Una had once told her when she was carrying out a request to be a bodyguard for the merchant Grit.

"What do you mean?"

Elia was curious about it.

"When we were escorting the merchant to Souh village, Una told me that she met a prince Gerna from another world in her dream."

"Prince Gerna from another world?"

Elia was confused by the dream Cindy said.

"That's right, she also said that the world she came to had been destroyed. And left only a giant castle with a courtyard,"

Cindy told what Una had said before.

"It sounds unreasonable. How can meet the inhabitants of another world in a dream?"

Sara was surprised by Cindy's words about the dream her friend had, while Nita chose to remain silent and listen to their conversation before finally speaking.

"Elia, does the guild have any records of the attack that occurred in the city of Loren?"

Nita was already curious about the figure Una met and wanted to find out more.

"I'll look for them later. What do you want to do?"

Elia was curious about Nita's desire to want records of the attack on the city of Loren.

"I want to find out more about the mysterious darkness that appeared and saved Una's hometown. And the mysterious earrings that Una has."

"If I know something, it could be that all of this is related."

Nita told them the reason.

"Didn't the hero tell me that the darkness manifested into the earrings that Una is currently wearing?"

Sara reminded them of what happened when Mansa came to the guild and asked for Una's earrings to be destroyed.

Someone knocked on their door. Elia opened it and saw Vail bringing food with Cini for the four of them.

"Here's your dinner. Please take care of your health."

"Thank you,"

Nita helped Elia accept the food brought by Cini and Vail and put it on the small table in the room.

"If you need anything, we're downstairs with the others—"

"Wait, Vail. There's something we want to ask you."

Sara's words intrigued Cini and Vail. They were asked to come inside and tell what they knew about Una's earrings.

Vail and Cini told them what the demon king had told them, except when the demon king Neii was about to kill her and Una's identity.

"From a ball of darkness turned into a mysterious earring after defeating the demon king Zerk and his army, what is the darkness planning?"

Nita put together the knowledge she had gained and ended with a new question.

"There's still more we need to tell you, but it's already night. You should eat before going to bed, and don't let your health be neglected just because you're taking care of Una."

Cini and Vail left them, to discuss the preparations for going to the Gerna kingdom.