After meeting, the old village chief invited everyone into the village.
Along the way, although they were constantly being watched, the three girls felt something was odd.
"Did you feel that? They’re all looking in our direction, but it’s like no one is actually looking at us."
Lureya leaned closer to Lina.
The white-haired girl blushed slightly.
"Miss Lureya, I feel the same. Although I don’t have much confidence in my appearance, the attention on a girl should always be slightly more than that on a boy, right?"
"They’re always staring at Theo."
As the white-haired hero and elf race maiden murmured, the black-haired girl beside them hit the nail on the head.
Indeed! From the moment the five entered, the villagers’ eyes were fixated on Theo!
"I feel a lot of admiring gazes, Shami. Is this the treatment an adventurer gets?"
Theo swallowed his saliva.
"What on earth is going on?"
Shami frowned in confusion.
After a short rest, the old village chief explained the village’s situation to them.
"It happened a few days ago when that demon clan barged into the village. Because of their formidable power, our entire village was powerless to resist. After wandering around the village, they took my daughter and the village mascot, the old sow we’ve had for 15 years..."
The old village chief said, tears streaming down his face.
"I can understand them taking your daughter, but why take the sow too?"
The elf maiden was puzzled.
"That’s not an ordinary pig. It’s unanimously voted by our village as the most beautiful existence of the pig race."
"That kind of voting seems pointless. Isn’t the purpose of raising pigs to select the prettiest?"
"Anyway, please save my daughter and Amy too!"
"Who is Amy? Has the pig even got a name?"
Nearby villagers also made their requests one by one.
"We will. Can you tell us about the demon clan’s general situation?"
The calm black-haired girl kept listening to the village chief.
"We don’t know the specifics too well. But from that demon clan’s tone, he seems to have been the fifth corps commander of the demon clan."
"Demon clan’s fifth corps commander?"
The white-haired hero slightly furrowed her brow, and the four looked towards Lina.
"I know this person. When defeating the Demon King, an adventurer squad encountered him. If I remember correctly, this person is called Aguli, an individual whom many adventurer squads are unwilling to confront directly. Every squad that faced him returned with varying degrees of psychological trauma."
The blonde girl uttered in slight surprise.
"According to records from past campaigns, this person exists. However, during the latter part of the campaign against Demon King Luwaka, he betrayed Luwaka and vanished," the black-haired girl supplemented.
Shami quietly listened.
So, it turns out the village invader is indeed of the demon clan, but not under his command; rather, he’s part of the former Demon King Luwaka’s forces.
Now might be the perfect moment to see how capable the fifth corps commander of Luwaka is.
"Dear guests, currently, that demon clan seems to still be in the mountain over there. If possible, please save my daughter and Amy!"
"Of course, we’ll save them! But don’t put your daughter and a sow on the same level!"
"Our village may not have treasure, but we have an ancient town treasure. If you can rescue them, we certainly won’t let you leave empty-handed!"
With the landmarks given by the old village chief, the five set out again.
This process already feels quite similar to a heroic squad taking on a quest.
Except three among the five are from the demon clan.
"Bastard, let go of Amy! Don’t do that to Amy!"
The village chief’s daughter, whose hands and feet were chained with iron, yelled at the man not far away.
"Hehehe, you can’t decide that. Finally, I’ve found a treasure. I must turn it into my possession!"
A sow of roughly over two hundred pounds squealed, lying on the ground.
A short man with red eyes gazed at the sow.
It was none other than Aguli, the 71st demon king’s 5th corps commander!
Aguli, with multicolored curly hair shaped like a drill, wore a patchwork of colorful cloth, dirty skinny pants, and golden pointed shoes.
"Not every sow can grow so gracefully. Beauty is the perception of all things. To turn a sow favored by the goddess of beauty into food, disappearing into a human stomach, is a huge sin! Preserving beautiful things is correct."
Aguli spread his arms, emotionally looking up at the cave’s ceiling.
After a while, Aguli calmed down, gently stroking the sow.
"Become my doll. Under the name of the goddess of beauty and the title of demon clan’s fifth corps commander, I promise to preserve you well."
"So you were referring to yourself as the goddess of beauty? I thought you meant the elf race’s Airel goddess of beauty!"
"That’s not a goddess of beauty; just a worldly prejudice. Like 99 percent of creatures on earth, they can’t discern what truly is ’beauty’!"
Aguli exuded dark energy, enveloping the entire sow, then dismembered it into seven or eight pieces.
"Become a ’beautiful’ existence and live forever!"
"But at a normal body shape, that wouldn’t be considered beauty. Let me adjust your shape a bit."
Within the cave, sounds of limbs breaking and piecing together echoed.
Witnessing this scene, the imprisoned village chief’s daughter showed a pained expression.
"How does it look, much more beautiful now..."
Aguli looked at the village chief’s daughter. The girl fainted.
"Tch, such ignorant humans. If it weren’t for thinking the pure capture of a sow might be seen as odd by the villagers, I wouldn’t have bothered to tie you back too. Such humans can’t even catch my attention."
"Who’d have thought to encounter such a collectible treasure, that village surely has better beings, must go and check again. But also need to find a time to return; someone’s probably worried by now."
Aguli paced back and forth inside the cave.
"What use is worrying? Wanting to become the demon king is not as simple as taking a dump."
Aguli muttered, when suddenly, a bat puppet alarmed at the cave entrance.
"Hm? Someone’s coming here?"
The man quickly hid deep in the cave to check the situation.
After hesitating for a while, the five decided to go inside.
"This should be the cave, right."
"Then let’s enter in a battle formation."
The magical girl stood in the center, naturally commanding.
Since mages are typically the core of a team, Saili’s calm arrangements made the others feel more at ease.
White-haired hero Lina took the lead.
Similarly wielding the elf sword with quite an attack power, elf maiden Lureya took the second position, responsible for side defense.
The magical girl stood in the center of the team, serving as the main output.
Behind her were villagers Shami and Theo, currently not knowing their roles.
Saili included the two mostly non-combat villagers to observe Theo’s reaction to the demon clan.
"You two are responsible for observing the movements behind us," she assigned a task.
Finally able to participate in cave exploration like an adventurer squad, Theo answered earnestly.
Shami quietly observed the surroundings.
"Shami, should be alright, right?"
The white-haired girl looked back worriedly at Shami. If something went wrong at the rear, she may not protect Shami on time.
Shami replied with a smile.
"Don’t worry, I’ve prepared a weapon too. I’ve got some combat ability."
The blonde girl fearfully looked over, found Shami holding a common farming tool.
"Look, my weapon, called Nige."
"Feels like a subtle dig!"
The blonde girl frowned.
"Alright, let’s go in."
The five slowly entered the cave.