Dragon's Wrath: The Cursed Returnee

"You found them all?" Ivan asked with a blank expression on his face.

"I found all of those who were smart enough to stay in a group," Ethan replied.

"Who are their leaders or representants?" Ivan asked.

Although Ethan more or less gained their trust, the members of the Clannian people didn't feel that welcome since many of the mercenaries were glaring at them. Regardless, Maerys stepped forward and studied Ivan while imagining what he was about to do.

"Ian, go prepare some tents for them," Ivan said. "Make sure to maintain their tents with enough food and water."

"Yes, sir," Ian said.

"We need to talk," Ivan said while looking at Maerys. "Do you want to do it now or after your people are properly looked after."

"We can talk now," Maerys nodded.

That was a conversation Ethan wasn't interested in, so he just approached his tent and then lit the campfire he had made in the previous night. For some reason, Cen and the others followed him, probably because Maerys was talking with Ivan in his tent.

"I didn't think you guys were that meek," Ethan frowned. "Anyway, sit around the fire while your tents are being prepared."

The Clannian people obeyed Ethan pretty fast, so fast that even Ethan and Emily frowned. After doing that, Emily smirked… it looked like she was spending too much time with Ian.

"You are sounding like a leader, even though you don't look like one in the slightest," Emily said.

"I am not a leader," Ethan said. "I am something like a… mad dog. At least when it comes to wars and battles."

"I never heard anyone analyzing themselves like that," Emily said. "Regardless, to be honest, I didn't think you would succeed."

"It wasn't that hard. All what I had to do was to hit some people's heads and take away their weapons," Ethan explained. "Anyway, did you guys find anything today?"

"No, we just focused on killing as many monsters as possible," Emily replied. "Ian said that will be our job in the next few days while we evaluate the strength of our targets."

Truth to be told, Ethan was itching to see those with his own eyes, those devourers. It has been a long while since he felt like that when his opponents were only monsters. Still, it was understandable. In any case, given that the number of monsters decimated the population of an entire world, it was impossible to deal with all of them in just six days. So, if something happened while they were on Earth… it was probably fine. Ivan would just forcefully teleport them to this planet.

"Emily," Ethan said. "What do you know about the hero who failed to save this world?"

"Not a single thing. Why do you ask?" Emily frowned. "For obvious reasons, his identity is hidden."

"Obvious reasons?" Ethan frowned.

"Yeah, he failed to save this world, so some people might hold a grudge against him since a good part of Greece was destroyed," Emily explained.

"I guess that makes sense," Ethan nodded. "But would things change if people discovered that he failed because he wanted to fail?"

"Do you have proof of that?" Emily asked.

"The word of the survivors," Ethan replied.

"Well, this complicates things a little bit," Emily scratched the back of her head. "Even if they are telling the truth, the other part can always claim that they are just being revengeful because they lost their world. If he is a minor, he always can play dumb and say that he didn't know the weight of his responsibility."

Emily was right. In some parts of the world, minors can escape even the harshest punishments because of their age. If ordinary people could make use of that, of course, 'chosen' individuals would do the same. That was really, really annoying.

"If you don't mind owing Ivan and Ian a favor or two, maybe they can discover that for you," Emily said. "That being said, nothing good would come of knowing that. If you try anything, the one who will lose the most will be you."

Ethan was fully aware of it, and in fact, he didn't want to do anything. He just wanted to keep that troublesome individual in check at all times. What was done was done, and killing the asshole wouldn't do anything. Besides, Ethan didn't have a single reason to seek revenge for the Clannian people. However, truth to be told, Ethan knew that sooner or later, he would find him, and a clash would be inevitable. His instincts were telling him that.

After a while, Ian finally finished his job, and then he guided the Clannian people to their tents, and then eventually, he and Anna joined Emily and the others. For some reason, maybe because he was afraid of Ethan's punishment, Ian didn't look playful that night.

"You really are something else, Ethan," Ian said. "You found all the survivors of this planet in a single day when the other explorers didn't find a single one in months."

"Why are you praising me? You are creeping me out," Ethan said. "If you want to say something, stop beating around the bush."

"Well, since you said so… maybe you should be more careful in showing such a land mine to everyone around," Ian said. "Although you may have saved them from the fate of dying in the crossfire, you just put them in the eye of the storm."

"Did you hit your head or something?" Ethan frowned. "You don't look like someone who worries about that kind of thing. Besides, if something happens, I will deal with it."

"How so?" Ian asked.

"By striking at the core of the problem and making it sure that it won't lead to any other problems in the future," Ethan replied.

"Even if the core of the problem is other humans?" Ian asked. "How do you intend to make sure that they won't cause problems in the future?"

"Do you want me to say that in front of your little sister?" Ethan asked.

"You can say it now," Ian said, and then he covered Anna's ears.

"If humans cause problems for me, I will kill them if that is what you want to hear," Ethan said. "There is no real difference between us and other creatures that can talk like demons. I killed millions of demons, so why should I hold back against humans? Do you think I am that hypocrite?"

"No, I just wanted to hear you say that with your mouth," Ian smiled. "When the time comes, now I know that you will do what you will have to do. I am glad."

Emily didn't know if those two were just joking around, but she couldn't help but gulp when she heard that Ethan had killed millions of demons. She truly hoped that Ethan was just joking and that he didn't think that humans and demons were the same. Otherwise, Ethan would be saying that he was a mass-murdered and she couldn't imagine someone sane declaring that out loud.