The Misfit Party trailed behind the crossdressing boy as he led them deeper into the forest.
Their voices dropped into quiet whispers.
"It's already weird enough that a kid lives alone out here," Irving muttered, glancing around the trees. "But a crossdressing one?"
"I just need to get my reward money," Ivy replied dryly. "Then we continue our travel."
Kovalski leaned forward slightly, his face wearing the unmistakable expression of a man thinking extremely questionable thoughts.
"He said he has a sister, right?" he chimed in. "It's been ages since I met a proper adult woman. The women in Merryhall were basically children and fat aunties."
In Murica, Solo had enacted extremely strict pedophilia laws.
Thankfully, Murican pedophiles had no issue following them. The loli-looking demons like Bella were all fifty-plus years old anyway. Easy.
Bella smirked mischievously. "But what if the 'sister' is actually a 'brother'?" she said with a soft giggle. "Kukuku~ Perhaps crossdressing runs in the family."
Kovalski immediately stiffened.
His optimism wavered.
"Uhh—excuse me!" Kovalski suddenly shouted toward the boy walking ahead. "What's your sister's name?"
The boy turned around slightly.
"Catherine," Robert answered in a sweet, feminine voice.
Kovalski slowly turned back to the party with a triumphant whisper.
"Clear." He gave a satisfied nod. "Big Sis Catherine it is!"
"Tch." Bella clicked her tongue in disappointment.
---
"I am eternally grateful, noble knights, for rescuing Robert."
A beautiful priestess stood before them.
She bowed politely, her gentle smile full of warmth and gratitude.
Her posture was elegant. Her voice soft and refined. Her expression kind.
She would have been absolutely stunning.
If not for the fact that she was a sixty-something grandmother.
Kovalski froze like a statue.
Bella, standing behind him, immediately burst into uncontrollable laughter.
Apparently, Robert lived in an orphanage hidden deep within the forest.
It was an old stone house beside a small chapel that looked just as old. The entire place was surrounded by a simple stone fence.
A strange sight considering bandits roamed the forest and wolves were common. And yet somehow, this fragile-looking orphanage had survived all of it.
"You didn't tell us you lived in an orphanage," Irving said.
Robert scratched his head awkwardly. He is now surrounded by several small children with excited chatter.
"Ah—sorry," Robert said apologetically. "I was so excited to bring you all to Sister Catherine and the children that I forgot to mention it."
"Well, we're here now," Ivy said with a grin. "So please ask the kind sister about my reward."
---
A few minutes later.
Ivy and Irving stared down at the reward placed in their hands.
A handful of copper coins.
Their expressions were perfectly synchronized.
Pure disgust.
"I'm sorry we don't have much," Sister Catherine said shyly. "But surely noble knights such as yourselves understand."
Then her face brightened suddenly.
"Oh! The children also want to give you something!"
The children eagerly ran forward.
One by one, they handed Ivy and Irving their gifts.
A few candies.
A couple pieces of leftover chocolate.
Some broken little trinkets.
All of it carefully placed on top of the already underwhelming handful of copper coins.
"These sweet angels…" Sister Catherine said proudly. "Even though it's so hard to get sweets in a forest like this…"
---
Moments later, those same sweet angels were crying loudly.
Sister Catherine desperately tried to comfort them.
Robert stood near the gate, staring at the departing Misfit Party with trembling lips.
Betrayed.
The Misfit Party walked out of the orphanage carrying several questionably valuable items and stolen food.
Their newly acquired loot.
"Haah… what a waste of time," Irving sighed as he stuffed various "maybe valuable" objects into their subspace bag.
Ironically, the local bandits had never touched the orphanage. Even they still possessed a small shred of humanity. From time to time, they would quietly drop off food and sweets out of pity.
But today…
The demons had ended that tradition.
"Tch, next time I'll ask payment upfront before rescuing somebody." Said the ordinary human girl that somehow more evil than the demons walking beside her.
"Let's hurry to the next town," Bella said happily while munching on stolen bread.
"Yeah—and hopefully they've got a proper young nun," Kovalski said with renewed enthusiasm.
Bella recoiled.
"Eeeeh? Why a nun?"
Kovalski spoke with complete seriousness.
"Because Sister Catherine reminded me that I've never been with a nun."
He folded his arms thoughtfully.
"There are no churches in Murica. And every Ravendawn's churches were abandoned when Vandoria left."
Irving glanced down at his map.
"There are a couple towns around this forest," he said. "Let's at least buy proper supplies and rest in a proper inn."
The Misfit Party continued walking down the forest road.
Behind them, the crying of the orphanage slowly faded into the trees.
---
Brightfield Town, Entrance
There were far too many guards stationed at the small wooden gate.
And they were all young.
Every single traveler approaching the gate was being stopped, questioned, and checked thoroughly. Bags opened. Faces studied. Papers inspected twice.
For a quiet rural town, the level of security felt… personal.
Not far from the road, the Misfit Party watched the scene from inside a patch of bushes.
Each of them had a pair of binoculars.
"Not good. They're looking for us," Kovalski said.
Pinned to the gate wall were several wanted posters.
Four of them.
Each one containing a horrible sketch.
Ironically, the terrible drawings made their human disguises somehow ended up looking less like humans… and more like demons.
Which, in a way, made them more accurate.
And for some mysterious reason, Ivy's sketch looked particularly horrifying, even compared to the actual demons.
"WHY do they draw me so UGLY!?" Ivy hissed.
Bella lowered her binoculars and sighed. "The news from Merryhall must've spread already."
"Well, they're practically neighbors," Irving said calmly. "We expected this."
He folded his binoculars.
"To the next town."
---
Loomwick Town, Entrance
The situation was identical.
Young guards.
Angry expressions.
Wanted posters pinned to the gate wall.
Travelers being stopped and checked.
"Sigh… next town," Irving said.
---
Fairview Town, Entrance
Also identical.
The guards here somehow looked even more motivated.
The same four posters hung on the gate.
One of them had additional angry scribbles around it.
"WHAT THE—!? NEXT!" Irving snapped.
---
Rockdale Town, Entrance
Identical again.
The guards.
The posters.
The suspicious glares toward travelers.
"W-W-WHY!?" Irving gasped.
What the Misfit Party didn't realize was actually quite simple.
The Merryhall firework festival—the one whose entire event budget was currently sitting inside the Misfits' pockets—was the only firework festival in the entire region.
Naturally, youths from every neighboring town had traveled to Merryhall for it, expecting romantic moment for romantic confessions.
"Sigh… maybe we skip to the next province?" Bella suggested.
Irving pulled out his map and studied it carefully. "We can't."
He tapped the paper.
"Past this town is nothing but endless grassland."
Kovalski sighed. "And we still haven't bought supplies."
"I guess we have no choice but to wait until the festival date is over," Ivy muttered. "Maybe they'll stop looking for us."
Bella looked at her.
"And when is that?"
Ivy answered immediately.
"In two weeks."
For a moment, nobody spoke.
Then the entire party let out a long, miserable groan.
A groan so heavy it raised a very serious question in everyone's mind.
Was the Single Piece really worth this much suffering?
---
Hearthguard Cairn, Grand Fortress
Back to geopolitics.
A few days after the destruction of the Moth Pole.
Inside the grand council hall of Hearthguard Cairn, the three Grand Council member sat around a massive stone table: Tubrat Silverfist, Calgirra Oakenbrew, and Orroth Sandbeards.
The hall was quiet except for the voice of a foreign office staff member reading a report.
"Our ship carrying the bodies of Sir Togar Bluespire, the eighty-five victims, and the remaining survivors will arrive tomorrow morning. Council member Nelfilyn Bluespire is already on her way to receive them."
"Thank you," Tubrat said slowly. "You may dismiss."
The staff member bowed and quickly left the hall.
"At least the Muricans were decent enough to return everyone despite the tension," Orroth finally murmured.
"They were," Tubrat agreed. "Their ability to retrieve that many corpses from the seabed is… impressive."
He rubbed his beard thoughtfully.
"Any new communications from them yet?"
Tubrat and Orroth both turned toward Calgirra. Her sub-clan oversaw the foreign office, meaning any diplomatic message passed through her first.
"Nay," she replied smoothly. "Other than the three-country meeting tomorrow, nothing new."
Before anyone could continue the discussion—
The grand doors slammed open.
A military officer rushed in, breathing heavily.
"Grand Councils! Urgent report!"
All three dwarves turned.
"What is it?" Orroth asked sharply.
The officer swallowed.
"The Moth Pole… has been destroyed."
For a moment, the sentence didn't seem to register.
Then—
"W-WHAT?!" Orroth exploded. "What do you mean destroyed?!"
Tubrat's eyes narrowed.
"Wasn't Dwordoug there with the demons?"
"Yes, sir," the officer said quickly. "Several survivors reported that Minister Leviathan and Ambassador Mara suddenly went hostile after meeting the Grand Marshal… and attempted to kill everyone."
Tubrat and Orroth froze.
The officer continued, his voice shaking.
"The Grand Marshal and his troops fought the demons. But the demons were too strong."
He hesitated.
"So the Grand Marshal ordered the airships to collapse the Moth Pole… burying the demons under the structure."
The officer lowered his head.
"…Along with himself."
Silence swallowed the chamber.
"A-Any chance the Grand Marshal survived?" Orroth whispered.
His voice trembled.
"I'm afraid not, sir. The collapse buried the site under thousands of tons of rock."
Orroth covered his face with both hands.
His shoulders shook.
"Send a rescue team," Tubrat said weakly. "Search for more survivors."
"They're already dispatched," the officer answered. "But with the size and depth of the crater… we doubt we can dig fast enough."
The three councillors fell silent again.
Dwarves understood digging better than anyone.
If thousands of tons of rock had collapsed into a crater that deep…
It would take months to clear.
"You're right…" Tubrat muttered. "Still… tell them to try."
"Yes, sir."
The officer waited a moment.
"Anything else?"
Calgirra spoke this time.
"No, that will be all. You're dismissed."
The officer saluted and left.
The heavy doors shut behind him.
"Oh… Dwordoug…" Orroth whispered. His hands still covered his face. "How could this happen…"
"I suppose what he feared was true," Calgirra said coldly. "The demons did have ill intent."
Tubrat frowned.
"But why?"
"The reason is irrelevant," Calgirra replied immediately. "Murica and Ravendawn have taken too many dwarven lives—including two main clan elders now."
Her eyes hardened.
"We cannot let this go unanswered."
"But they promised an investigation," Tubrat argued. "What if a third party orchestrated this? We'd be fools to start fighting each other."
"Even if that were the case," Calgirra said firmly, "Murica and Ravendawn must still pay."
She leaned forward.
"If we do nothing, every nation in Talvaris will think the Dwargonians have grown weak."
Her voice dropped.
"And once the world believes dwarves are weak…"
She tapped the stone table slowly.
"…it opens the door to our slavery again."
Then she looked toward Orroth.
"Don't you agree?"
Orroth slowly lowered his hands.
The grief on his face had changed.
The sadness was still there.
But now it burned.
"Calgirra is right," he said hoarsely.
His fists clenched on the table.
"Murica… must… PAY!"
Tubrat leaned back in his chair.
For a long moment, he said nothing.
Then he closed his eyes.
Defeated.