Now that the merchants had been completely exposed, there was no holding back for them.
Once they stopped holding back, they all transformed into their demon forms.
There were all kinds of strange appendages that started growing from their bodies as they spread out all around our group.
With the way that they spread out, it was clear that they were wary of one thing.
It was the hero's sword that was in my hand.
They recognized that this hero's sword was dangerous to them, which was why they were being so cautious around it. Especially the ones that had already felt the sting of the hero's sword, they didn't want to be careless and feel that pain again.
As for our party, they also seemed like they were affected.
It was their first time facing demons like this, so I understood why they would feel this way.
"Don't be afraid, this is what you signed up for. It's just that it came sooner than you expected. However, that doesn't mean that you have to be afraid, the demons aren't monsters that can't be defeated."
They were caught off guard when they suddenly heard me say this, but then their shaking stopped and confidence returned to their eyes.
In fact, it seemed like they were looking at me with even more admiration than before.
I couldn't help giving a secret laugh when I saw this.
Who would have thought that one of Yulian's skills as a noble would actually have an effect here.
The noble class gave a special speaking skill that helped them rouse the people under them. This was a skill that was based on charisma and with the combined charisma of all four of us, it really was much stronger than what any noble could demonstrate.
Perhaps only the king would be able to match this skill.
Of course, it wasn't as if that was that impressive since it was only a minor skill that all nobles possessed.
But it played its part here as it filled them with fighting spirit.
Now all that was left was…
"Follow my lead!"
As soon as I said this, I raised the hero's sword above me and had it release its light again. This was a wide area attack that also served as a distraction since it wasn't strong enough to actually harm most of the demons.
But the light itself was bright enough that they wouldn't be able to see clearly.
I led them to charge out of being surrounded by the demons, but before we could get out…
"Please save us!"
This was a cry that came from where the demons were.
The moment that they heard this, my party couldn't help looking over in that direction and once they saw who it was, they couldn't help knitting their brows.
After all, it was a mother and child that were completely surrounded by the demons that were calling out for help.
"Hero, we have to help them!"
They said this after they already started charging in that direction.
I couldn't help shaking my head before running in front of them, but I didn't do anything to help the mother and child. Instead, I raised the sword and brought it down on them, releasing the full might of the hero's sword light against them.
"Hero, what are you…"
None of them were able to finish what they were saying as they saw what happened to the mother and child.
The moment that the light of the hero's sword fell onto that mother and child, they immediately burst into smoke just like the other demons.
When the facts had been put in front of their eyes like this, it really was hard for them to deny it.
"Now, follow me!" I said without any hesitation as I swung that sword at the mother and child along with the demons in front of us.
Once they saw that the hero's sword was coming at them, the mother and child stopped their ruse and revealed their demon forms as well as they tried to block this. Only the hero's sword was too strong for them and they couldn't stop it as they were cut apart along with the other demons.
There were complicated looks that appeared on the faces of my party, but they still followed me in the end.
During this time, I couldn't help asking Amy, "How did you not sense it?"
Amy couldn't help revealing an even more complicated look before saying, "Well, there's too many demons here and the demonic energy is just too strong. I didn't know they were demons since their demonic energy was covered up by the other demons."
I didn't bother answering since I knew that this wasn't the time.
Instead, I just led my group to the edge of the demons and then had them spread out.
This time, it was our turn to surround them.
It wasn't as if they were weaker than the demons since these were demons that had weak demonic energy in the first place so that they could sneak into the lands of the humans.
It was just that they had been caught off guard since it was an ambush and that it was their first time fighting the demons.
Once they roused themselves, it was easy for us to take care of the demons.
Winning this fight had even filled them with enough confidence that they wanted to chase after the demons after they started fleeing, but I stopped them.
"There's no point chasing after all of them. There are too many of them for us to chase them all down and they aren't that strong in the first place, so they'll be able to hide themselves again."
"We can't just leave them in our Abel Kingdom." Andrea said with a deep frown on her face.
"Do you think that the defenses of the Abel Kingdom are that weak?"
Andrea looked a bit caught off guard hearing this, but she slowly shook her head.
As the princess of the Abel Kingdom, she had to at least agree with this.
"Instead of wasting our time chasing after them, we should get more information from the demons. We need to find out how they were able to sneak into the kingdom in the first place."
Andrea hesitated for a moment, but eventually she nodded in agreement.