I was Born in the Final Demon Realm of a Dark Fantasy

Arnen approached behind Elia and covered her mouth.

Seeing this, I shrugged my shoulders. If her desire not to talk about it was that strong, there was no need to pry.

“Don’t worry about what Elia said. Those weren’t even hunted by us, but by you, Bell.”

“Hmm… it’s fine. What I caught is practically yours anyway.”

I had received a lot of help from these sisters. It didn’t matter to me whether the beasts I hunted were used to pay off debts or for food. I owed them enough that I could afford to be generous.

“Bell… you’re really strong. I’ve never seen anyone as strong as you.”

“…”

Elia, who had been struggling against Arnen’s hand, finally broke free and opened her mouth wide.

“I’ve never seen wolves go boom and the ground collapse! You’re really super strong! Can you fly in the sky too?”

“I can’t fly.”

“Aww, that’s too bad. I wanted to ride on your back.”

Elia came closer and counted the wolf carcasses on my shoulder one by one, then looked at Arnen with sparkling eyes.

“Is Bell stronger than Dad?”

“Hmm… maybe.”

Arnen hesitated for a moment, then carefully nodded while glancing at me.

“Dad would go swoosh swoosh with his sword and cut down even beasts larger than wolves.”

“Sword?”

When I asked with interest, Elia turned to me and nodded vigorously.

“Yes! When you infuse mana into a sword, there’s nothing in this world it can’t cut. That’s what Dad said.”

“Mana?”

Elia giggled, seemingly finding my repeated questions amusing.

But I couldn’t laugh. These were all unfamiliar terms.

Sword… in the kingdom where I lived, it was a weapon long ago concluded to be less efficient than bare hands.

I couldn’t imagine how expensive a metal would need to be for a sword to become as sharp as a special-class warrior cutting an enemy with the side of their hand.

Perhaps the claws I obtained from the bear cave in the forbidden zone might be an exception. Materials with that kind of cutting power weren’t easily obtainable.

‘Could such things be commonly available here?’

And mana? Did that mean not only mages used mana?

At least in my understanding, that was the case. The term “mana” was something I had only heard in my past life, years ago. In the kingdom, such a term wasn’t even used.

Indeed, the world is vast…

While Elia was too busy laughing to answer, Arnen asked:

“Don’t you use mana, Bell?”

I didn’t even know what mana was. Just in case, I summoned my intent.

A red aura enveloped my fist.

“Is this mana?”

“…It seems different from what father used.”

Arnen and Elia shook their heads in unison.

Judging by their reaction, the power I used was definitely different from mana.

The red aura that had settled on my fist lingered briefly before smoothly fading away.

I felt like meeting the sisters’ father once, but I didn’t voice it.

A face I hadn’t seen once in the six months I lived here. And these two living alone in this remote forest.

Asking about their father’s whereabouts would have been foolish.

I had enough tact for that.

Having hunted more than ten beasts, we returned home that day.

Regardless of Arnen’s concerns, I had hunted the wolves purely to help them, so I told Arnen to use the carcasses as she wished.

Catching beasts wasn’t difficult, and I had no need for the carcasses myself.

To ease Arnen’s burden, I went out hunting nearby beasts whenever I had the chance.

I spread my awareness across the mountains and systematically brought down beasts that came into view.

It didn’t take long.

I had plenty of free time, and the task was easy in comparison.

As the number of hunted beasts increased one by one, the storehouse of Arnen’s house filled day by day with carcasses.

Although Arnen had initially said I didn’t need to go that far, as I effortlessly went hunting and brought back ten carcasses at once, she couldn’t hide her increasingly brightening face.

One day, Arnen cautiously brought up the topic of debt. She seemed to think she should tell me since I had helped her.

“We borrowed money because of father.”

“Did you inherit your father’s debt?”

“No.”

Arnen shook her head and said with some hesitation:

“We borrowed money because we wanted to find father’s… whereabouts. Do you know about the Dark Guild?”

Dark Guild? It was a term I had never heard before.

Seeing my unfamiliar expression, Arnen continued as if she had anticipated it.

“The Dark Guild operates its own information guild and even extends into moneylending. Of course, they’re involved in all sorts of other affairs too.”

“So you asked the information guild about your father’s whereabouts. And since you needed money for information, you borrowed that too.”

Though the concept of a Dark Guild was unfamiliar, I quickly understood the situation.

Arnen quietly nodded.

“So did you find your father’s whereabouts?”

“…No. We only found his last known location.”

“So you’re continuing to borrow money to find his whereabouts?”

“Not anymore. Actually, I planned to visit the place of father’s last known activity after paying off the debt. I’m also becoming an adult this year…”

So Arnen is becoming an adult this year. I had thought she was much younger, but she wasn’t that much different in age from me.

Though I didn’t know exactly what age one becomes an adult here.

“It’s true that we were in a situation where it was difficult to pay off the debt. The Dark Guild’s interest is higher than expected… and coinciding with winter, we couldn’t hunt properly. But…”

“Now you can pay it off, right? Because I keep hunting beasts and piling them in the storehouse.”

“That’s right. However, I’m not sure if it’s okay to use what you’ve hunted to pay off our debt.”

“That’s fine.”

With all the help I’d received, how could I pretend not to know?

Rather, I felt a sense of relief at having found a way to help.

After that, I more diligently roamed the surrounding mountains, hunting beasts and piling them in the storehouse.

Arnen occasionally skinned the carcasses, collected them, and went down the mountain. When she returned, she brought a pouch filled with money.

She said she planned to settle the debt by paying off both the principal and interest.

A month passed like that.

Having steadily saved money, Arnen finally went down the mountain again, saying she would pay off all of her debt to the Dark Guild.

And she didn’t return.

The nearest city was quite far, so it was natural that if she left early in the morning, she would only return the next day.

But it was strange that there was no news even after three days.

Elia said they should go look for her sister. The Dark Guild people weren’t exactly quality individuals. Something might have happened.

I decided to go with Elia to find Arnen. Elia knew where the Dark Guild’s headquarters was.

As soon as we left the house, I held Elia tightly in my arms and took a step forward.

Instantly, the surroundings changed. From the middle of the mountain to its base, then to another mountain, and to the opposite side of that mountain. After descending from the mountain and running quickly along a sparsely populated road, we soon arrived in front of a massive city gate.

When I released Elia from my arms, she turned her head around in bewilderment.

“Did you use some kind of magic?”

“No. I ran.”

“That’s insane…”

“Don’t we not have time for this?”

“Ah, right.”

Elia and I passed through the city gate. There were guards at the gate, but the inspection wasn’t very strict. Our eyes only briefly met as we passed, with no particular interference.

The scenery inside the city was both familiar and unfamiliar.

Compared to my hometown, the materials and structures of buildings were slightly different, but the basic appearance of the streets was similar.

‘There are many stone buildings.’

I couldn’t determine whether they were just similar-looking stones, or if this city was as underdeveloped as the abandoned village.

Another difference was the large number of people. It seemed even more populated than the capital where the king resided.

While following Elia and looking around at the scenery of the city I was visiting for the first time, she stopped in front of a building.

It looked like a small tavern. The atmosphere suggested a shabby pub would appear when opening the wooden door.

A man wearing worn leather armor with a dagger at his waist was sitting in front of the door.

Elia approached him and spoke.

“I’ve come to look for my sister.”

“Huh? …Ah.”

The man looked at Elia with raised eyebrows as if not understanding, but then his expression softened as if recalling something.

“That hair color… does seem familiar.”

He spoke nonchalantly while picking his ear.

“But she never came to us?”

“That can’t be. She left saying she would pay off the debt.”

“Hmm…”

The man with curly, medium-length hair glanced at me standing quietly behind Elia. He scanned my physique and asked:

“Are you with her too, mister?”

“What about it?”

“…You must be quite strong? Judging by your arrogant speech.”

“Ah, I haven’t been learning this language for long.”

I could have been more formal, but judging from the man’s attitude, I determined it wasn’t necessary.

I could tell just by his expression and gaze that he wasn’t friendly toward us.

“What… did you come from living in the forest?”

The man snorted, then quickly changed his attitude. He straightened his half-leaning body and revealed a wary gaze.

“Anyway, I don’t know what makes you so confident, but if you don’t want to get into trouble, back off. Better yet, take this little one with you.”

“I haven’t heard the answer to where Arnen is. She asked you.”

“Ah, I said I don’t know. She didn’t come here.”

The man, with an irritated expression, abruptly stood up and drew the dagger from his back.

I gently moved Elia back and stepped forward.

The man thrust his dagger without hesitation.

‘Is this… a sword?’

I quietly gazed at the dagger pointed at me with a curious look.