Trinitas Mundus

October 24th.

Under the high, clear skies of autumn, the Rays load their horses in the courtyard of the Mercenary Corps headquarters in Marcut and finish preparing to leave.

Around us were Hamish, Valeria, and the mercenaries of the Red Arms gathered to give voice to the three Rays.

Hamish said, "Come on!," he smiled and slapped Ray on the shoulder, "I'm going!," responds cheerfully with a red face.

Hamish did the same to Stella before standing in front of her beloved daughter Ashley.

"Have fun! Well, come back once in a while. Sometimes......"

When Hamish said that while embracing Ashley, Valeria was frightened next door.

"Can't you just leave me yet? I can't believe you're coming home to a kid who's going on a fun journey now."

Mercenaries smile at the words.

"The captain is a shape-shifter! Are you already laying on Valeria's ass?

The loud laughter of the mercenaries clings to the courtyard with a word from Hal.

Hamish is the only one with a subtle face, but the three Rays were also laughing.

Valeria took Hamish's arm like that and said, "Leave it to me about the captain, Ash. Come on, you're good to go!," he pounds Ashley's shoulder.

And then I looked at Hamish, and I said, "But sometimes you keep in touch. To keep you from chasing this guy," he had a slightly mean grin.

The laughter spreads further with the words.

(It's really good to be here. They are really all good people......)

The Rays leave the headquarters gate as the mercenaries drop them off.

He waved back again and again until he couldn't see HQ.

"You're going to miss me," he whispered to Ashley with a lonely expression.

She replies, "Right," but when he glanced at her expression again, he was pointing a blown out smile at him.

"Let's just say we enjoy our journey. Wherever you go, there's a place to come back!

He nods, and smiles at Stella as well.

"It's been a long time since the three of us traveled together. Well, let's go."

Stella nodded small, "Yes, let's go!," he said, smiling at both of them.

Ashley felt the difference in her expression from when she first met her.

(Stella's laughing now, too. When I first met him, he seemed like a doll with no crying or laughing. I wonder what Ray thinks about this? Am I honestly happy......)

And shake that idea off right away.

(Ray told me I was the ”best”. Isn't that okay? If you like Stella, that's what I admit. Now, it's not about thinking.)

She was going beside him and starting to talk about her plans for today.

Stella had seen Ray and Ashley speaking with pleasure and noticed the dark emotions swirling in her mind.

(I don't want to interrupt between you two... No, I don't mean that. I want to monopolize Ray... Ashley is very good. But I don't want to give that one to you... even though you shouldn't think about this...)

After a slightly darker look, she immediately shakes her head and returns her expression.

(Now let's just think of something fun. corner, because we were on a journey together...)

The three depart Fonce, king's capital of the Kingdom of Lax, where they spent nearly five months, proceeding with their horses towards the south.

On the cheeks of the three, a dry, comfortable wind of autumn was blowing through.

The time goes back about three months ago, when we were in August.

Is it the city of the north? Summer festivities, August, don't make you feel the harsh heat from the clothes of people walking in the city.

A view was about to take place in a heavily built mansion with a large mansion, black roofs on white walls and beautiful white and black monotones.

Is it in the late twenties? Beautiful dark hair, long cut black eyes, white skin to fall out of, and a beautiful woman with crowed black wings on her back sit in a lavish chair as a queen naturally.

The expression was stiff and looked down at the equally beautiful brunette who knelt before her.

"I wonder if you haven't found it yet? It's been three months since Asuras sent out the Yangtze. Looks like they were there once, but still, it's time to take action. Varma, what are you doing?

Slightly lower glossy voice, but the woman known as Varma - dressed in black leather armor and with black wings similar to the beauty in front of her - lowered her head even more as if she had been held down, her face bloody and pale.

"Also, I'm sorry. I've got some information that you're in a city called Periclitle, but I haven't been able to confirm who you are yet. Please wait..."

"Then I'm telling you it's too late! The rhinos have already been thrown!

The woman sitting in the chair blocked the words and said in an even harsher tone, "There must be no such thing as our Moon Demons lagging behind the Wing Demons and Ghosts!" and reprimand him.

Varma said, "But I'm sorry! Dear Elise!" he lay flat and begged for forgiveness, "I will go out myself now and bring your son with me".

The woman, called Elise, said, "Okay. Then head right over," he nodded to Eagle Deep.

"Let me give you a couple of wing demons. At any rate, by the end of the year, before Orvo of the Great Ghost can attack, we have to find him. You know that."

Varma replies forcefully, "I understand".

Elise exhales when she leaves Varma.

And he said, "I am not allowed to fail as a witch. This time it was led by our Moon Demons. Failure will never be tolerated......" he muttered.

October 24th, 3pm.

The Rays, who left Fonce, were well south down the street.

Fonce Avenue, which connects Fonce to Periclitle, seemed to be a major street with a lot of people flowing.

Especially seeing mercenaries going up north from the south. Some of them were a hundred-sized mercenary regiment that solidified themselves with the same gear, like a group headed further east from Fonce to the Tulok demonic crusade.

"That's a lot of mercenaries," Ray tells Ashley.

Did she think the same thing, "Right," she replied,

"At the head of October His Majesty requested the nations to support the Demonic Crusade. I hear you used the winged lion Griffon, so within a few days, you should have received information for each country. Now heading north would be the mercenary regiment that left Fortis - the land of mercenaries..."

It is insensitive to the invasion of the Demonic Nation, but it is imperative that nations work together to hit it.

In response to the Kingdom of Lax's call for a demonic crusade, troops had been dispatched from neighbouring countries with standing armies.

The situation in each country, but no request for support has itself been made to the Kaelm Empire in the south, where relations with Lax are deteriorating. Because there is no guarantee that the Demonic Crusaders will not remain a Lux invading army.

Only financial assistance has arrived from Aurelia, a country of merchants with only a degree of security, and from the academic city of Doctus.

With regard to the Saint King Luke's kingdom in the southwest, there are distance constraints, which means that we have not asked for any support here either, but there have also been observations that light theism would be actively involved even if left alone, saying it was to destroy demons who believe in the Dark God (Noctis).

The southern kingdom of Kaum has not sent out reinforcements this time. This was because the Kingdom of Kaum is adjacent to the land inhabited by the demons, Kwaedam Tenebre, and is concerned about further large-scale invasion operations.

With the exception of Sartooth, which forms the United Kingdom with Lax, the country most active in support was Fortis, the mercenary country.

As a country, it supports the Demon Crusade, but for the mercenaries, dealing with the Demons was rewarding and foiled their own mercenary regiment, so they were actively participating.

Fortis to Fonce can arrive in around twenty days, even through the regular streets if the mercenaries travel at speeds. You can also go to Fonce in about fifteen days through the Porta Mountains - rugged mountains 500 km east and west and 200 km north and south stretching to the north of Fortis.

It was Ashley's view that the mercenaries that Rays missed would be the ones who left Fortis shortly after they were contacted.

"Perhaps a few days will be different from many mercenaries heading north"

Ray questioned Ashley's view of a few days.

"A few days? After that, you don't think there's any follow-up?

"Right. This is all a massive reinforcement. If you're late, by the time you arrive, it's possible that it's already over. That way, your ankle costs don't make much money out of it. So you should be on your way to contending ahead. In fact, some troops will be forced to cross the mountain"

Ray questioned the words.

"Then you don't think the Knights of the Springs will crusade?

With a little thought, she talks about her view as a mercenary.

"I might think about it, but I hear it was a pretty massive request for help. It would be more natural to see that the Knights cannot handle it alone"

"But the Fonce mercenaries headed east, too, and are the merchant corps escorts okay?

"You're probably in trouble. Duke's youngest father - Fonce's mercenary guild chief, Duke Selzam - said he was blurred. They complained about the lack of escorts from commercial guilds."

Ray was uncomfortable with the word.

(It is good to carry out the demonic crusade. But isn't it strange to act like it affects distribution? If this is what the Demons are after... isn't it? But I don't know what the devils think.)

As Ashley expected, the figure of the mercenaries heading north to the border three days later was rapidly decreasing.

And on October 29th, he arrived in Hastiglow, the city of the border.

Hastiglow was a city of about 5,000 inhabitants, a fortified city on the border with the Free Border Zone. There is no classification on the map as a free border zone, which is the territory of the Caerm Empire, but because it is a force zone of the Union of Urban States, people had the perception of a free border zone.

In a square city surrounded by walls about 10 m high, there is only one castle gate on the east side, and when you go inside, it is interesting to see how heavily it feels to be a castle city next to a gray stone city.

However, in the last few decades, there has been no invasion of the Caerm Empire that would reach here in Hastiglow, and there has been little tension among people about the city of borders. In fact, Hastiglow was a transit point in trade with the Union of Urban States and thrived as an accommodation town.

I was on my way to the inn with a guide to Ashley familiar around here.

"I've been to this city with my father several times. Today I'm going to make it an inn frequented by mercenaries called the Warrior's Lounge."

There was no difference between Ray and Stella, so we headed to the warrior's lounge.

When I arrived at the inn, I was idle to say it was after 4pm.

When Ashley called out at the front of the inn, her husband, feeling like a forty lashes, came out with a grumpy face.

When Ashley called out, "Toby, it's been a long time," her husband's face suddenly burst.

In a bronze voice that suits my physique, I said, "You're a lady! You look good!" and came closer in footsteps.

"I'd like to ask for three rooms per person if I'm available... sounds like less today"

Toby's face darkens again in that word of Ashley.

"Oh, it's because of the reduced escort of the merchants. Until a couple of days ago, it was busy with the people taking part in the Demonic Crusade..."

His story was that there were no more mercenaries to the north, and more idle birds were ringing under the influence of fewer mercenaries escorting the merchants.

The merchants themselves have not diminished, and the other inns have not affected them so much, but the warrior's pavilion, which has many mercenary guests, was affected by the decrease in escorts, he said.

A word or two, after a public talk, they introduce me and Stella.

"This is Ray Arklight, that's Stella. My traveling companion."

When Ray and Stella briefly greet each other, Toby sees Ray with a frigid look on his face, but is immediately convinced to notice the red-armed armor on his arm.

"Are you also the Mercenaries of Markat (Red Arms)? Then forgive me for thinking it's my house."

Toby said he was a former Red Arms mercenary and retired about ten years ago after suffering injuries. Hamish cared about him and recommended working here at Husty Grow, between Fonce and Periclitle. Later, Hamish also stayed several nights in escort work and so on, gradually gaining a reputation as a mercenary inn, and eventually, from the previous innkeeper, Toby became entrusted with the aftermath.

(Is that why this guy is pulling his legs a little? But you're still a celebrity here, Mr. Hamish. I guess just staying at the hotel will advertise the place...)