“Thank you for riding with us. We look forward to your next visit.” True to its luxury, the high-end carriage service had attendants open the door and thank the passengers upon arrival, even gifting a small present. Although it wasn’t worth much, the gesture added a lot of emotional value.
Winnie had arrived in Aurel Town. His equipment for this trip consisted solely of the heavy cloth bundle slung across his back. To be honest, compared to the contents of the bundle, he was more skilled and preferred weapons like spears and swords. However, he hadn’t brought any this time, as technically, the one doing the fighting wouldn’t be him, but his “stand-in.”
Having already eaten and rested during the ride, he was now ready to take on whatever was ahead.
Though, he had to admit, his opponents were demons. Whether it was in this life or the previous one, he had never fought these creatures before. Even if it was just a few low-level grunts, he needed to be fully prepared.
After all, he knew nothing about the demons’ specific combat abilities. From what he remembered in the book, a low-level demon grunt was said to be able to overpower at least ten ordinary human soldiers.
Like regular human soldiers, low-level demon grunts didn’t use magic. In a situation where neither side had magical powers, demons had an obvious advantage in close combat due to their tougher skin, greater physical strength, and superior endurance compared to humans.
Humans only had one image of demons—brutal and terrifying. Many villages and towns with weak defenses had witnessed this firsthand. Even the weakest demon army would be nearly invincible, and if a low-level demon managed to breach the town’s walls, it would be the start of a massacre.
Normal iron weapons could hardly damage the tough-skinned demons. In villages or small towns without magic users, the demons were like meat grinders. Without a mage to fight back, humans couldn’t even raise a hand.
Without external help, with his current strength, Winnie would struggle even to break through the demon’s defenses. One wrong move, and he’d be hammered into the ground in seconds.
Aurel Town, being near the kingdom’s borders, wasn’t like other small towns. It had walls for protection, and the garrison forces were considerably stronger than those in other parts of the kingdom.
Once inside the town, Winnie bought a local map from a specialty shop. The map was eerily familiar, identical to the one in the game.
The location of the event was in the forest southeast of Aurel Town, and Winnie vaguely remembered the spot. He marked it with a black marker on the map and then left the town, heading outside.
“Young man, where are you heading?” Not long after leaving the town, he was called out by a guard from the city wall.
“Is there something I can help with, guard?” Winnie asked, a little confused. Maybe it was a slight influence from Vanessa, but he had started addressing people more politely.
“Aurel Town has been a bit unstable lately. You’re heading toward the Demon River. Occasionally, demons cross over from that area. It’s not safe. I advise you to take a different route,” the guard called out to him.
“Thank you for the warning.” They didn’t know each other, but it was nice of the guard to give him a heads-up. Winnie expressed his thanks but didn’t intend to listen.
Right now, he was eager to increase his strength.
Seeing Winnie turn without looking back, the guard didn’t press further. It was a chance encounter. He had said his piece, and there was no point in trying to force him to change his mind.
After entering the forest, the temperature seemed to drop significantly, and the forest felt strangely eerie.
Winnie ventured deeper into the forest. Thanks to the physical training he had been doing recently, his stamina had improved. Despite the heavy cloth bundle on his back, he could continue walking for quite some time without issue.
As he moved deeper into the forest, he suddenly spotted a familiar, moss-covered boulder.
“This should be the area,” Winnie recalled. In the game, the scene where the event took place had this conspicuous moss-covered boulder. The surrounding trees were draped with vines, and the scene matched. It seemed like he hadn’t gone off-track.
In the original story, Aeciphysis had dealt with the low-level red demons here, even splitting that large boulder in half.
It turned out, watching the show had its risks.
Just as Winnie was about to take the next step, an odd noise suddenly broke the silence of the forest.
Winnie immediately became alert. Even with his human hearing, he could tell that something was moving quickly in his direction, and it wasn’t just one thing. There were many of them, their footsteps heavy enough to turn up the grass with every step.
It was likely the demons.
Winnie had arrived at just the right time, coincidentally catching the demons invading the Aurel Forest.
He decided to observe first and then plan his next move. Quickly, he climbed onto the large boulder, finding a concealed spot to hide.
Holding his breath, he focused, his eyes fixed on the rustling bushes.
The noise was getting closer.
Then, right under his gaze, a small white shape shot out.
Winnie froze, staring intently. He saw that the white figure landing on the ground was a beautifully pure white little beast.
What was this? A fox? A dog? But dogs usually didn’t have this many tails.
As he watched the little beast’s fluffy white tails swaying behind it, Winnie thought to himself.
For some reason, even though the creature was undeniably cute and lovely, it seemed oddly familiar to him, as if he had seen it somewhere before.
But where? Was it in this world? It couldn’t be, right?
Winnie pondered, just as the heavy footsteps of the demons grew closer. Several large red figures burst out from the bushes, violently breaking through several wooden stakes.
What was this?
Looking below, he saw a red monster, three meters tall, with horns on its head, dressed in nothing but crude cloth armor. It was a grotesque, red creature. Winnie’s eyes widened in shock.
Though he had mentally prepared for it, seeing a demon for the first time was still difficult to accept.
How should he put it? It was so ugly that at first glance, he thought it might be a close relative of goblins.
Then, he remembered the game's lore about demons: males were extremely ugly, while females were exceedingly beautiful. With some exceptions, this was the case for most demons.
So, this was probably a type of demon known as a “red demon.”
Winnie’s expression turned strange as he watched the red demons chase the white fox, surrounding it. It seemed like they had been hunting this beautiful fox.
Could this little white creature be a rare magical beast? Even though the human border troops couldn’t handle demons, the human territories weren’t a free-for-all. There were risks. If they angered the Kingdom of Camellia, a few angry gold knights could easily take care of these demon grunts.
In the original story, there was no clear explanation for why these demons appeared in human territories, but since they had the guts to cross into human lands to capture this magical beast, it must be something special.
But it wasn’t that complicated. After all, if it were something really powerful, it wouldn’t be just a few grunts that showed up. It was likely the red demon’s little chieftain.