Scarlet

The next morning – something that I’m still getting used to saying again after spending several months on Tartarus where the day and nights are swapped – finds me quickly going to take a bath with one of the baths I may or may not have taken from Tartarus and stuffed in my pockets. Which is rather odd to think about, considering the whole thing of me carrying around a bath with me in my pocket. But worth it considering how lovely those baths are.

Although it’s awkward taking a bath outside, seeing as I don’t exactly have anywhere to put the thing indoors. Even if the bath itself is indoors and has walls and a ceiling with a lock on the door, it’s still off-putting to know that someone might try knocking on the door if they found this place in the middle of the mountains while I’m bathing.

Then again, I know some Guardians straight up bathe in rivers and lakes out here just for the fun of it. So having an actual building is good enough for me.

Most Guardians don’t bathe outside here though, simply because it’s too cold. Only those with a heat related magic that can heat up the water and area around the water tend to do that.

Coincidentally, those people also happen to often be more… bold. In general.

“I can’t say whether it’s weird one way or the other,” Tar comments as I step out of the bath and put the small building back in my pocket.

Right. Almost forgot that you don’t have a physical body, so you probably haven’t ever actually taken a bath.

“Well, I’ve taken some with you before,” Tar says, causing me pause for a moment before I start walking towards the frontlines.

Don’t say that anywhere near Leonidas, Gramps, or Amelia. I’m pretty sure they’d skin you alive for that.

Tar doesn’t say anything in response, but I notice a hint of fear creeping through our bond despite it that has me smirking.

Allen probably would as well.

He still doesn’t say anything, so I just continue walking through the woods in the mountains while quietly enjoying the snow falling down around me. Because I’ve always been partial towards the snow. It’s just beautiful, and I love the cold.

Although I can’t really feel much cold anymore, considering how tough my body has gotten over my time as a Guardian.

“How long do you think it’ll take for the demon army to realize it’s you hunting down their forces?” Tar asks as he appears and sits on my shoulder, pretty much just perching himself like a cat on the pauldron there.

I glance at him before looking forward again.

Eh, I think a month is a good amount of time to give them. Maybe two.

I’ll probably be able to destroy at least a few battalions by the time they realize it’s me attacking them.

After all, Gramps never actually announced that I was going to Earth, nor did he say that I was going to be fighting against the demons. Which makes sense considering that it would demoralize the troops if they knew they’d be fighting to the death with me while not actually being allowed to kill me themselves. Not that any of them except the Nobles even know what I look like.

Although if they knew a blood lycan Princess was going around fighting them, and saw a blood lycan girl attacking them, I doubt it would be hard to reach the right conclusion.

“They’d have to be stupid to not realize it was you at that point,” Tar says, sounding vaguely amused.

Yep. And demons aren’t… okay, the higher Class demons aren’t stupid.

I blink at that thought.

Most of the higher Class demons aren’t.

Tar sends me an amused glance as he comments, “Took you three tries?”

“Shut up,” I state out loud without deigning to look at the furball covered in snow.

The tanuki actually laughs at that, making me purse my lips. But I still don’t look at him as I walk through the snow.

At some point during my walk, I begin to hear signs of a large force a few dozen kilometers to the Northeast of me. So I change my direction to head there. But after I make it about halfway there, I hear signs of another large force near them, along with some signs of what sound like the start of a battle.

Which means that other Guardians are already attacking that battalion.

Unfortunate.

I change my direction again to head deeper into demon territory in search of a battalion that is further away from the frontlines and not engaged in combat. Preferably one like the first one I took down that was simply on the move towards the frontlines from their base.

“You realize that sooner or later they’ll start putting a Noble in each of the battalions, right?” Tar points out, making me frown a little.

Yeah, I know that. But I’ll keep milking these battalions for EXP for as long as I can before that.

Then I can go to the frontlines themselves, where the Nobles and Class V Guardians are fighting with the main forces and continue my hunt there. I might actually be able to help a bit as well with Blood Plague, since I can target just the demons.

Too bad it won’t do much against the Class Vs though. Wouldn’t be surprised if they were somehow immune to the plagues altogether actually. Simply due to being too powerful. After all, there is a vast gap in power between Class IV and Class V. To the point that Class IVs only get five free points to distribute each level while Class Vs get ten. Something about the power of the contractor growing exponentially due to their reality and body being fully merged.

But it should help a lot against everything else.

On that note, I glance at my army identification paper to find the number of demons I’ve slain currently standing at a little over eight hundred, with a fourth of those being Class IV and the rest Class III. Which is already far more than my actual quota.

Not that I actually care about that rather tiny quota.

I look around for a moment before speeding up in my run.

Let’s see where the next battalion might be.