Ning arrived at the location called the 'High Castle'. It was a defunct fort, left to ruin long ago, not far from the northern shore.
Ning looked around to make sure he was in the right place, but his map had said so, so must've been.
Suddenly, an arrow fell next to his feet, clearly intending to hit him.
"Wait! I'm not an enemy," Ning shouted. "I'm with you guys."
"Bullshit!" a voice came from in there. "Why would a demon be working with us?"
"I was given a task by a girl named Gariin. Ask her if she's here," Ning said.
The voice inside didn't speak for a moment. Then it said, "Wait for us to confirm. If you move in the meanwhile, we will kill you."
Ning sighed and stayed there while the humans went to confirm. After 2 minutes, a woman came running, this time with no wings behind her back.
When she saw him, she looked surprised. "You… you really came. Don't tell me you did it," she said.
"Of course, why else would I be here," Ning said.
"Captain, what's going on?" the men started asking.
"Stand down, that's a friendly demon," she said. "Come, let us sit somewhere quietly and talk."
Ning nodded and walked in. As he went it, he saw that the ruin he was walking into had been lived in for a few weeks at least.
However, the humans hadn't seemed to plan on fixing it anytime soon.
The woman took him to an upper floor, high in the castle. As Ning walked up there, he saw the north through the broken walls in the circular staircase.
He saw people cutting down trees left and right, all working to make massive ships.
"Sit," the woman said. Ning nodded and did as she told him.
"So, you say you killed him. You killed Besailach?" she asked.
"Yes," Ning reiterated as he made himself comfortable on a chair next to a giant table.
"Do you have any proof?" the girl asked.
Ning frowned. "A proof? What sort of proof would you want?" he asked.
"You said you killed him, then you must have proof to back your claims right?" she said.
Ning continued frowning. "I'm not sure I have any," he said. "I killed him while he was distracted fighting others in the middle of the battlefield, and left right after."
"Well, if you don't have any evidence that you really killed him then—"
"Ah! No, wait," Ning quickly stopped her and pointed to his earrings. "I forgot I did get something after killing him. This earring belonged to Besailach, and I got it after I killed him. This should do right?"
The woman looked at Ning's earrings for a bit and frowned. "That does look like it might belong to the commander, but I must say I do not know much of what he wears, just what he looks like," she said.
"Come on! You didn't actually expect me to bring his head, did you?" he asked.
"I did not, but—"
"Leader!" A voice came from the staircase, and both she and Ning turned around to look at the person who had just arrived.
The one that arrived was a man from before, but next to him was a panting man that was trying hard to catch his breath.
"Harrand, you're back? What's the news?" she asked.
"Winterheart won, leader," the man said in between his breath.
"It… won?" the girl looked surprised.
"Yes, leader. Their commander died mysteriously, so they lost morale and were thus defeated," the messenger said.
"What do you mean 'mysteriously'?" the woman asked while glancing at Ning through her side eyes.
"Just what I say, captain. One moment he was fighting 2 dozen fighters with still 20% of his health remaining, and the next moment he just died from a giant crab hand. No one knows who killed him or what."
"Some people are trying to take credit for it, but they've been unable to prove it," the messenger said.
"See?" Ning said. "I told you."
The woman looked back with shock in her eyes but said nothing to Ning. Instead, she looked back at the messenger and said, "Good work. Rest for now."
She then turned towards the other man that had come with the messenger. "Send someone to give my message to the city of Winterheart," she said.
"What message would that be, leader?" the man asked.
"Tell them… to abandon the city. Tell them we will have ships prepared within the week and will come around by the fort to pick them up," the leader said.
"Yes, leader," the man said, and together with the messenger, they left.
Ning looked confused. "Why would you want the city of abandon why they won the war?" he asked.
"Won the battle, not the war," she said. "We've already lost the war. While this victory looks promising, deluding yourself in the possibility of winning is the last thing we can afford to do right now."
"What do you mean?" Ning asked. "Do you worry about another potential invasion?"
"Potential? Hah! You don't know do you?" she asked.
"What do I not know?" Ning asked curiously.
"Winterheart was the last city to be attacked because the demon commander was amateur and couldn't take care of things as quickly as he should have, unlike the others," she said.
"Others?" Ning's eyes went wide when he realized what the woman meant.
"Yes, Winterheart was but a single city to have survived the assault. Every other city in the continent has fallen to the demons and as such sooner or later, they will come for it again," the woman said.
"Then… you will be leaving?" he asked. He recalled the ships outside of the castle and finally understood why there were so many of them.
"Yes," the woman said. "This continent is in the hands of the demons now and a human like us has no place here at all."
"As such, we are leaving for the Starsoar continent," she said. "Do you want to come with us?"
