CHAPTER 287: CHAPTER 286 - THE HEROES ARE BACK.

The next morning.

The sun had barely crested the horizon when the whispers began.

By midmorning, the whispers had become shouts.

From the highest spires of the royal palace to the narrowest alleys of the capital, news spread like wildfire that was carried on trembling tongues.

The king was dead.

Servants spoke first—eyes wild and voices trembling.

They had been the ones who’d awoken in the middle of the night, slumped in the hallways like discarded dolls, their dreams disturbed by Clara’s lingering spell.

They woke not to silence but to a scream—high, raw, and broken.

It was Velric.

When they rushed toward the voice, they found him crumpled in the ruined resting chamber of the king, clutching Lorian’s mangled corpse in his arms, sobbing uncontrollably, and crying of demons—screeching the word again and again until it branded itself into every ear.

By morning, a tide of humanity pressed against the palace gates, as the words that left the lips of the servants had reached almost everyone in the capital.

Farmers, merchants, scholars, and beggars—men and women alike stood shoulder to shoulder, faces pale with fear.

Their murmurs wove together into a single suffocating atmosphere.

"Demons..."

"If the king himself fell, then what of us?"

"Fuck, I knew this would happen when I saw how lax the security of the palace was!"

"Wait... if the demons aimed for the king, then wouldn’t they have tried other nobles as well?"

"Which lord might already be possessed?"

"Could we be serving demons?"

"What if my master, my neighbor, my child—"

The crowd grew restless, panic riding their every syllable. Guards stood tense atop the gates, hands tight around their spears.

No one knew what they could do at the moment because everything was falling apart.

The king, one of the supporting figures of Velmoria, was slain, and according to rumors, it was done by the demons.

But still, they were all rumors, so no one could be sure of anything.

That was why, despite feeling uneasy and scared, all of them stood before the royal palace, waiting for someone to come out and give them something that wasn’t a rumor.

Then—

The balcony doors opened.

Velric, the crown prince, emerged.

However, he wasn’t the person they recalled him to be.

The Velric they knew was someone who, despite looking mature, didn’t have any outstanding qualities.

He was dressed in polished black and gold, the crimson mantle of state flowing behind him, and he carried upon his brow not just a circlet but the crown—his father’s crown.

That wasn’t something to scoff at, as that act alone announced that the king was dead.

But no one spoke yet, as his expression was like grief sculpted into marble.

It was fury, sharpened into steel.

When he gripped the balcony’s edge and leaned into the light, the crowd fell silent.

"My people." His voice cracked once, but it did not falter again. "You wonder what transpired last night. You wonder what has taken your king."

All eyes rose to him, the air hanging thick with dread.

He didn’t address the topic of the king’s death because the fact that he was here instead of the king spoke volumes.

Velric bowed his head, his hand tightening into a trembling fist. "I... I woke to screams. My father’s screams."

His words rolled across the square, soaked in sorrow. "I ran through corridors where every servant lay collapsed as if cursed. But I did not stop. I reached his chamber... and what I saw..."

He lifted his face, letting anguish twist into rage. "Three demons. Crawling things wrapped in shadows, their claws buried in his flesh. They tormented him, demanded he surrender his body, and demanded that he give himself so they could claim our kingdom as their own."

Gasps rippled through the crowd. Mothers clutched their children tighter. Men exchanged horrified glances.

"Demons... inside the palace..." Someone whispered, their voice cracking.

Velric pressed on, letting their panic build. "Yes. Even here. Even our blood was not spared their taint. And if demons can take a king, then who among you is safe?"

The square erupted—shouts of fear, accusations flung like stones, and sobbing that cut through the air. The mob’s fear became a storm, surging, spiraling.

"I knew it!"

"There’s no way we could’ve fought the demons! We are all going to die!"

"They could be anywhere! In anyone! Who am I supposed to trust?!"

The panic was seconds from collapsing into a riot when Velric raised his hand.

"ENOUGH!"

His voice boomed, fierce and commanding.

For a heartbeat, he looked like the monarch he pretended to be. The crowd froze, caught in his grip.

"Do not lose hope," he thundered. "Yes, demons are strong. Yes, they deceive. But that does not mean they cannot be fought."

His tone softened just enough to tremble with emotion. "Last night, when those creatures saw me... they abandoned my father. They struck him down before I could save him. They decided that I was more fit to be their vassal, and when they turned on me..."

He let the pause hang, heavy, unbearable.

"...they were stopped."

The words rang, sharp as a bell.

Velric’s hand swept outward, and his voice climbed. "Stopped by those the world believed dead! A band of heroes, led by the one who can sniff demons no matter where they hide. The one the fiends fear above all else!"

The crowd gasped again—this time not in terror, but in disbelief, in desperate hope.

Velric’s voice broke like light through storm clouds. "The Demon Sniffer!"

The balcony doors opened once more.

Then, gasps rang as everyone saw who it was.

It was the small beast padding before them, fur colored like earth, nose twitching as if sniffing every hidden shadow in the capital.

Nibbles.

The Demon Sniffer.

But before the people could erupt, Velric continued, his voice carried over the vast square, sharper now, alive with urgency.

"However, the Demon Sniffer alone cannot win this war. He is our compass, yes—but without hands strong enough to wield the blade, without hearts fierce enough to defy the abyss, his gift means nothing."

He lifted a hand toward the open doors behind him, eyes blazing.

"Which is why you must welcome the ones who walk beside him. The heroes we thought were dead, who have chosen to step from the shadows into the light."

The balcony widened in the eyes of the people, no longer just a platform but a stage.

From its threshold, figures began to emerge one by one.

First came Raven, striding forward with calm confidence, his dark cloak stirring in the morning breeze.

His silhouette alone drew whispers, but when his face caught the sun—sharp jaw, storm-born eyes, and the faintest curve of a smile—the whispers turned into gasps.

Behind him came Selena, cool and elegant, her molten gaze sweeping the crowd like a queen surveying her court.

Clara walked beside her, serene and gentle, balancing Selena’s silent intensity with quiet strength.

Then Siris strode out, crimson streaks in her hair catching the light, her smile faintly too sharp, the steel glint in her eyes making several men in the crowd instinctively flinch.

Lia followed like grace wrapped in royal poise, her presence calming and maternal.

Graye practically swaggered in her sleek armor, flashing a grin and waving openly to the gawking men, who very quickly forgot how to breathe.

Jessy emerged too—rolling her eyes at Graye’s antics but still standing tall, grounded, the only one who looked mildly uncomfortable under the sea of gazes.

Behind them came Rufus, scratching the back of his head with sheepish ease; Jake, quiet as a shadow, moving with silent certainty; and Alex—who promptly tripped on the balcony’s lip, only to yelp as Nibbles launched himself onto his head, curling like a furry crown.

The crowd erupted.

"It’s the Vaise heroes!"

"They live!"

"The heavens have blessed us!"

Velric let their cheers rise like thunder, and then he swept his arm wide, booming.

"They were never gone! They did not fall, as we all feared—they watched! They protected! They fought in the shadows, in ways we could never comprehend."

He paused, glancing at Raven, his gaze flickering with nervousness, and only when he heard Raven hum lightly, as if telling him to continue, did he continue.

Velric’s expression turned serious again as he turned to the crowd. "Now, now that demons dare show themselves in our halls, they stand before you, revealed at last!"

The cheers shook the stone foundations of the palace.

Velric turned, his expression lined with reverence, but fear was there, deep within his eyes. "Their leader—the one who forged them into a blade sharper than any—has come with a plan to banish fear from every heart. Raven, the floor is yours."

Raven stepped forward, calm as still water, that faint smirk curling his lips again.

That was all it took.

Women screamed. A few fainted outright, caught clumsily by their husbands or strangers.

One girl flung her kerchief into the air; another tried to scramble up a cart to get a better look.

Even among the men, a few muttered grudgingly, "Damn it, he is handsome."

Clara sighed under her breath. Selena’s eye twitched. Siris looked two seconds away from throwing a knife into the crowd.

Raven, utterly unbothered, raised a single hand.

But it wasn’t his gesture that brought silence.

It was the sharp, indignant chitter of Nibbles, perched proudly on Alex’s head.

The tiny beast’s nose twitched once, and a ripple of awe hushed the square like a divine decree.

Raven dipped his head slightly. "Thank you, Nibbles."

The squirrel fluffed its tail smugly.

Then Raven turned back to the crowd, voice even and sure. "People of Velmoria. You fear demons in your midst. You wonder if you can trust your leaders. That ends today."

The crowd leaned forward as one.

"This evening, every noble of this kingdom will gather in the royal court. The Demon Sniffer will sniff them out. No trick, no mask, no lie can hide them from him. Then, once they are revealed..."

His eyes hardened, cutting like a blade. "...they will die. Not one traitor to humanity will live past tomorrow."

The silence lasted only a breath. Then—

A roar.

The city erupted with cheers, with fists raised high, with chants of Raven’s name and Nibbles’s shrill squeaks echoing like a war cry.

The storm of fear had broken.

Now, there was vengeance, unity, and hope.

But Velric, who was standing just behind Raven, couldn’t smile at all.

It wasn’t because he was unhappy with the situation.

No, he wasn’t.

His father, who had turned to the demons, was killed, and he had gained the throne, as he always wished to.

If one looked at him from the outside, they would think that he had the perfect life anyone could wish for.

After all, what could be better than being the king?

But only he knew the truth.

He could still feel the seal on his soul, the mark of obedience Raven had placed on him.

Even if he was the king, he was a puppet, with its strings in the hands of two people, Raven and Selena.