“What in the world is happening…?”

Enoch muttered with a sigh. He stood dumbfounded, unable to believe what his eyes were seeing.

Not just Enoch—the others reacted the same way. The more they looked, the harder it was to believe, and they let out strangely deep sighs.

The cause was none other than Romei disguised as an ordinary village girl.

As discussed the night before, Romei had removed her snow-white uniform and now wore plain but neat everyday clothes from who knows where.

Her hair, which she always tied back in a single ponytail, was now braided on both sides and secured with ribbons, topped with a bright blue headscarf that caught the eye.

On the surface, she looked exactly like a village maiden, but she was far too beautiful to be considered ordinary.

Her golden hair that sparkled like ripples when it caught the light, her untanned snow-white skin, and the calm smile on her lips—just looking at her made them restless.

Noticing the heavy atmosphere without understanding why, Romei carefully asked, “…Do I look strange?”

“No, that’s not it…”

“Or is it awkward? Honestly, I don’t often wear skirts, so it feels a bit strange.”

She tried to break the frozen atmosphere with a smile and a half-joke, but everyone remained standing stiffly in place.

With the uncomfortable silence continuing, Romei fidgeted with the hem of her skirt. She had thought she looked just like any village resident, but their reactions made her confidence drop.

This was particularly concerning because her role as bait was crucial to the operation. She felt guilty for seemingly not handling her part properly.

Aron, who was the first to notice Romei’s increasingly darkening expression, took a deep breath and mustered the courage to speak.

“Romei, your disguise is perfect. It’s perfect, but…”

“…?”

“You don’t look ordinary at all.”

“Really?”

Romei was a bit surprised by this unexpected criticism.

With the investigation stalled and this being her proposed strategy, she had done her best. She had even borrowed the clothes and headscarf from villagers, fearing that new items might arouse suspicion.

Yet they were telling her she didn’t look ordinary at all.

“What do you think is the problem?”

“…”

“Do I really not look ordinary at all?”

Romei looked at her friends, who stood like borrowed sacks of barley, seeking an answer. But none could respond.

The reason Romei couldn’t pass for an ordinary village girl wasn’t simply about her clothes or hair. It was the aura emanating from her calm, noble expression and appearance that made her extraordinary.

And that wasn’t something that could be fixed by mere words.

After a long silence, they suddenly seemed to wake from a deep sleep and began speaking one by one.

“Well… I think this is good enough? If we consider her the prettiest girl in the village, it might work.”

“Right. The plan was to lure the devil with beauty and then ambush it. Not bad at all.”

David shrugged with feigned nonchalance. Edward nodded in agreement.

“Yeah. It’s shocking, but still more normal than when Enoch dressed as a woman, so you’re fine, Romei.”

“Hey, wait. Why bring that up now?”

Romei watched in bewilderment as Enoch and Edward bickered about a past event Enoch had desperately wanted to keep hidden.

The fact that Enoch had once dressed as a woman was quite interesting, but she couldn’t understand why that story had suddenly emerged while they were checking if she looked like an ordinary woman.

‘Well, by whatever standard, they said I look more normal than Enoch in women’s clothes, so I guess this should be fine.’

Thinking this, she was slinging her holy sword with its leather-wrapped scabbard over her back when Aron approached.

When Romei turned to look at him, Aron handed her a small gun and an old pouch. Romei accepted them readily. The gun aside, the pouch was quite heavy with something inside.

“A gun and flares. If something happens or you’re in danger in the forest, fire this. I’ll come to you without delay.”

“Thanks, Aron. When did you prepare these? You must not have had much time.”

Romei asked curiously.

She was very grateful for his thoughtfulness, but she had only proposed the bait operation last evening. Since the meeting ended late at night, there had been almost no time to prepare flares separately.

In response to Romei’s question, Aron rubbed the back of his neck shyly and said, “Just… I brought them along in case they might be needed.”

“You’re so well-prepared, Aron. Anyway, thank you. I’ll use them well. Oh, though it would be best if I don’t need to use them at all.”

Realizing belatedly that what she had received from Aron were flares and a gun for dangerous situations, Romei smiled and corrected her mistake.

Aron smiled back, agreeing with Romei’s words before adding an earnest request.

“That’s right. It’s best if you don’t need to use them. And Romei.”

“Yes?”

“Our job is to track traces of the devil, and we’ve trained for that, but if it seems dangerous, make sure to run away. In that moment, don’t worry about justice or responsibility. Understood?”

It was strange that Aron was saying exactly what Brodie had told her before coming here, but Romei didn’t show her surprise and nodded.

“I understand. I’ll do that.”

“Hearing your answer makes me feel a bit more at ease.”

Aron let out a long sigh of deep relief, then quickly settled the ongoing noisy conversation about Enoch’s cross-dressing and returned.

The time had come to execute the new strategy.

* * *

Romei walked toward the stream with her holy sword slung across her back and the gun containing flares at her waist.

In one hand, she held a bucket, which she had borrowed along with the clothes. Every step she took produced an unpleasant metallic “creak” from the handle joint, caused by rust.

The surroundings were quiet with no one around, but if she concentrated, she could sense small presences. Her friends, including Aron, were carefully following her.

‘I hope everything goes according to plan.’

Fortunately, no disappearances had occurred while they were searching for traces of the devil. But that didn’t mean they had caught the devil, nor had they discovered how it had consumed people’s souls without leaving any traces.

Romei walked toward the stream, hoping this time would yield results. She kept all her senses alert, not forgetting to look for any small traces the devil might have left.

After walking for some time, just before the stream came into view, she saw an unfamiliar cave naturally opening its pitch-black mouth.

Romei paused and looked at the cave suspiciously.

‘Was there a cave here?’

They had investigated the forest for over a month. She had become familiar with the terrain and recognized most paths. But she had no memory of ever seeing anything resembling a cave.

‘Then…’

Romei unconsciously swallowed the saliva pooling in her mouth. If her thoughts were correct, this was definitely a trap set by the devil.

“Aron! There’s a strange cave here! I think it’s a trap set by the devil!”

Romei shouted toward where Aron might be hiding. But as her cry echoed through the forest, there was no response from Aron or any of her other friends.

Only then did Romei realize that the presences that had been circling around her had disappeared. Contrary to the plan, no one was nearby.

‘Where did they go? I definitely felt their presence until just now…’

“No way…”

For a moment, the thought flashed through Romei’s mind that her friends might have been attacked by the devil without her knowing. Nothing else would explain their absence.

Romei decided to search for her friends. The devil’s trap was no longer the issue. She could lose her friends if something went wrong.

“Aron! Edward! Enoch, Martin! David! Answer if you can hear my voice!”

Throwing the bucket she had been holding to the ground, Romei called out their names and fired the flares Aron had given her into the air several times, signaling for a response if they saw it.

But even as time passed, the forest remained eerily quiet, and she couldn’t sense anyone’s presence.

Romei finally took the holy sword from her back and prepared to leave.

She didn’t know where things had gone wrong, but staying alone was dangerous, and if her friends were under attack from the devil, joining forces with them was the right thing to do.

However, Romei couldn’t move a step. Just as she was about to walk away, a pitch-black arm suddenly rose from beneath her feet and grabbed her ankle.

“What in the world—!”

Startled, Romei swung her holy sword to cut off the wrist of this unknown evil entity.

But her blade had no effect. Rather, it remained pristine without a scratch. Struggling was useless. The grip was so strong that she felt her ankle might be torn off instead.

‘It might be better to sacrifice one foot and escape than to be caught by the devil here and be unable to do anything.’

It would hurt terribly, but she wouldn’t die. She might not be able to wield her sword fully like before, but if she delayed any longer, she would have no options left.

‘You have to do it, Romei. You can do this.’

As she steeled herself to cut off her own ankle, the black entity, seemingly reading her thoughts, began pulling Romei with all its might.

With the suddenly increased force, Romei was helplessly sucked deep into the ground.