Tola didn't believe Kaitou Kid or An Rong, but the village was clearly empty. His brother and sister-in-law were nowhere to be seen, and the house had nothing left inside.
"Brother! Sister-in-law!" Tola went wild, trying to rush into every house to search. But some buildings contained critical equipment, and Zhang Dong couldn't let him get close. So the soldiers stepped in and restrained him.
Tola had grown up under double gravity. It took all the soldiers combined just to barely keep him from breaking free.
"What are you doing?!" The rest of the caravan—eight people—pulled out their weapons: knives, axes, long swords, all kinds. No two were alike.
Tension filled the air like a taut bowstring. Zhang Dong looked at the 30-round Type 95 automatic rifle in his hand, then looked at the blades in the locals' hands. He couldn't help but laugh bitterly. So the people on this planet really were stuck at medieval tech level.
"Kaitou Kid, quick, translate before they start fighting."
Kid gave a nod. "Please put down your weapons. We mean no harm. When we got here, the village was already empty. In fact, we were attacked by two terrifying-looking monsters just last night. I wonder if the villagers moved away because they were scared of them?"
Hearing that, the locals murmured among themselves. Even Tola seemed to lose all his strength.
They slowly lowered their weapons, though their faces were filled with either sorrow or fear.
"Kaitou Kid, what's wrong with them?" An Rong asked, puzzled.
Before Kid could ask, the caravan leader spoke up. "Tola, let's go. The villagers were probably eaten by demons. Your brother and sister-in-law too. Hurry, the demons are still in the forest. We need to head back the way we came."
Kaitou Kid was startled. Just two monsters were enough to scare them into retreating completely? That was a bit much.
But Tola suddenly looked up at him. "You were attacked... and you're still alive? Either you're lying... or you're the demons."
The leader's face turned crimson, clearly thinking the same thing—treating Kid's group as monsters.
"We have stronger weapons than you do. That's how we scared them off," Kaitou Kid explained. "You call those monsters 'demons'? And they eat people?"
Kid thought, 'What is this, Journey to the West? What kind of world has so many people-eating monsters?'
"Let's go," the leader said. Seeing that Kid hadn't made a move, he just wanted to get Tola out of there as soon as possible.
"I'm not leaving." Tola stood firm. "I want to avenge my brother and sister-in-law. I'm going to find the Greatsword and kill those demons."
Another clue. So the demon-slayers on this planet were called Greatswords.
"You're insane! You don't have the money to hire those bloodsuckers!"
"I don't care. I want revenge." As he said it, this giant of a man broke down in tears. That's right—he had gold coins. He could find a Greatsword.
"Hey, uncle—what's a Greatsword?" Kaitou Kid asked. He'd only skimmed their memories to pick up the language, so he didn't know the details.
"They're not human. Half-demons with golden hair and silver eyes. Just as terrifying as the demons themselves."
Kid fell silent. That setup sounded awfully familiar—man-eating demons, silver-eyed female warriors who hunted them down. Wait... the term "Greatsword" must literally mean "giant sword" in their language. At first, the name hadn't clicked. But now that he thought about it, wasn't this the world of those silver-eyed sword maidens?
No... not a world. A planet.
Kaitou Kid looked up. That wormhole—they'd confirmed with Batman and Superman that it was a spatial jump, not time travel. Which meant this planet really was somewhere in the universe. Just a coincidence, then. A planet with Greatswords and demons. Just a strange cosmic coincidence.
"Captain Zhang, let him go." Kaitou Kid gave the order. Then he turned to the caravan leader. "Mind having a quick chat? The ones you call Greatswords—are they women dressed in tight suits carrying massive silver swords?"
"That's right."
Kid nodded. 'Well, this just keeps getting better,' he thought. 'How many surprises does this universe still have in store?'
"Let them go!"
Since Kid was the only one who could speak the alien language, Zhang Dong had no choice but to listen to him. Besides, he also felt this group of locals posed no real threat.
A few soldiers helped Tola up, stopping him from struggling further. The caravan leader turned the wagons around and led them back the way they came.
As the caravan left, Kid suddenly asked, "One more thing—how do we find the Greatsword?"
The leader turned and replied, "Just put up a wooden stake at the edge of the village, tie a piece of red cloth to it. They'll come soon. Just make sure you have enough money ready."
"Thanks!"
Kid turned back and gathered everyone to the side, quickly sharing what he'd learned.
Man-eating demons and sword-wielding demon-slayers. Sounded insane.
"So... they're human too?" Sony asked. That was what concerned him the most.
"Apparently yes. I don't know why, but they are definitely human."
Sony frowned, thinking deeply. He muttered, "No... no, this doesn't add up." In his mind, it made no sense for humans to be here. "It just doesn't make sense."
Let the old scientist worry about that. Liu A'dou wasn't bothered at all. It was either a coincidence, or humans had once been powerful and spread across the stars. Or maybe some powerful race had scattered humans across the universe—like the nine realms protected by the palace of the gods. There were plenty of ancient human colonies on various planets, supposedly brought out by Odin himself.
Or maybe Earth's humans weren't even the original humans. Maybe they were the ones relocated.
Either way, Liu A'dou didn't care.
"So the monsters we saw before—those were the man-eating demons?" Zhang Dong asked.
"They eat human organs, to be exact." Liu A'dou actually chuckled. "Interesting... I'm going to invite a Greatsword to slay them for us."
"Is that really necessary? We've got enough weapons to protect you," Zhang Dong said. He wasn't a transmigrator—he didn't know what a Greatsword meant to someone like Liu A'dou, who saw them as anime legends.
Kid thought, 'You're going to protect me?' "No more arguing. I've made up my mind. We're inviting a Greatsword."
As he spoke, he rose off the ground. Reaching toward the forest, a tree as thick as a man's waist lifted clean from the roots.
Everyone was stunned, unsure what Kid was doing. Then they saw him move his hands as if shaping the air. The treetop and roots were sheared off neatly, turned into a solid post. He tied a red silk ribbon around it—any fabric would've worked, but he just happened to grab some silk.
Finally, Kid spun the tree stump over his head like a staff, then slammed it straight into the ground.
This performance shattered everyone's understanding of who Kaitou Kid really was. He wasn't just incredibly strong—his precision and control were terrifying. Zhang Dong felt like a fool. With skills like that, why would Kid even need to team up with them?
And now, Kid was clearly starting to act like a dictator. Before, when he kept his distance, it wasn't obvious. But now he was becoming the kind of person who said something once and never changed his mind.
Standing beside the post, Kid quietly wondered how the organization could track this signal. How would they know they needed a Greatsword?
The anticipation was overwhelming. This planet—discovered only because of a wormhole—was starting to feel like a real gift. A surprise worth unwrapping.
"..."
But the others didn't share Kid's optimism.