The Demon Saint is Missing, so I Ran to Another World

Taking Sides (Part 1)

***The Sea of Sand, Cherflammen***

When Lady Noir Usarved's household departed for Cherflammen, there were three coaches plus a squad of demon cavalry from the House Usarved's guards' retinue, all armed with lances, swords and demon weapons—or in their own words, the 'crack horns'. As she intended to return to her clan's stronghold at the city of Darkmoor, they chose the main desert road going through the middle of the Blighted Lands, then the mountain passes that led to the port city itself. Lady Noir also expected to meet the Lord Kuro at the other side of the border, taking him along to her destination for an 'extended stay'. So, for that reason, she hired some human maidservants and menservants to serve the needs of her 'guest'.

However, when her convoy reached the crossing outpost, they found out that the Lord Kuro was missing. The border guards told her he continued on his way towards the Sea of Sand—on foot and with meager provisions, much to Lady Noir's horror.

"Why didn't you stop him?" she bellowed at the terrified soldiers, "Not even us demons can cross that damned desert without proper preparation!"

"Y-Your H-Highness," the commander of that border guards' unit tried to reason, "there's no order for us—"

"Can't you use your heads at least once?" Lady Noir snapped back. "The Lord Kuro's a human, and that place behind you is a freaking dry and dead desert! I'll have your heads chopped off once I reached Darkmoor! I expected you to at least have some common sense!"

"Milady," it was Shevaun, "while it's normal to get mad at the indecisiveness of our soldiers, at this point, we should send search parties to scour the Sea of Sand instead for the Lord Kuro. And we need some of them to help us, so please, I implore you to stay your mighty hand and spare their lives."

The redness on Lady Noir's pale face never disappeared; she was shivering, fists clenched. However, following her chamberlain's request, she did take a deep breath and walked away a few paces, before deciding. "Very well, do it," she told her chamberlain. "I'll revoke my desire to execute these fools. They should help in the search instead, together with my guards. You have to bring him back."

"But milady, don't you think that having your guards away from you is—"

"I said send them all, Shevaun. That man, the Lord Kuro, is worth more than I, so I won't hear any more of this unless he is back here safely."

The demon chamberlain, while she tried her best to keep her disagreement to herself, couldn't help but heave a sigh. As the Lady Noir's words couldn't be broken, she just took a bow and went back to the soldiers. Minutes later, groups of demon search parties embarked towards the infamously inhospitable desert known as the 'Sea of Sand'.

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Shevaun Ilkes, Lady Noir Usarved's chamberlain, knew the risks involved once she had the entire guards' retinue of her mistress go on a search for their missing human. Though they were at the border crossing with some of the demon soldiers loyal to Prince Hurion Devras, they were still at a relatively close distance to the Blighted Lands—which was a well-known region controlled by the 'Knights of Cassandra David'. Only the wrath of the demon prince was keeping those villains from making a move against the members of the House Usarved, and no one knew how long would that fragile stalemate would last.

"..."

And so, it was for that very reason she divided the guards of her lady. One group would do the searching, along the soldiers from the border outpost, while the other would remain in the company of Lady Usarved's convoy. She also urged her mistress to continue on their way to Darkmoor, as remaining on the border outpost (actually, a blockhouse) was dangerous for them.