Once the promise was made between him and Glyea, Zephyr was on his way back home. The instructor would remain in the village for a while longer, during which the fiend had to find a way to get rid of the army that was heading their way. The first order of business was to find any signs of it even being out there, and for that, he had a plan–or rather an offer to make to the hero and his companions.
The ring of retreat was already offered to them, and in turn, he will ask them to venture out and find any signs of an approaching army. Ideally, he would've preferred to keep any information about said army a secret to avoid any suspicion, but since there wasn't much time to first find and then deal with the monsters, he had little choice but to reveal it.
Not to mention, it wouldn't be him but Glyea taking all the credit. The quest would be hers, directly passed on from Zephyr to Rudy. None of the guild members would be made aware of the quest to avoid causing unrest.
'But an army, I wonder what kind of monsters it has?' The thought intrigued Zephyr; after all, he had plenty of monsters from nearly every species guarding his dungeon. And if anything has changed in this world since before he'd gone to sleep, it would be the monsters. 'Either way, I will have to find a way to unite the adventurers, the mercenaries, and the so-called Ascended fangs from the Greenhorn.'
At a glance, the threat seemed infinite, but only because Zephyr couldn't participate in the fight himself. One spell or a swing of his fist could shatter whatever army was headed his way, but to avoid getting the rest of the company killed would've been difficult to say the least. Besides, he would also be revealing the fact that the Archfiend had awoken–not exactly ideal, at least not until the hero was ready to face him.
Distracted by his thoughts, Zephyr kept walking without looking where he was going. That is, until someone ran into him. His body remained steel, and the person fell to his front. Snapping himself out of the haze, he honed his eyes on the familiar woman. Offering her a hand with narrowed eyes, he said.
"Let me help you."
"T-thanks…" Taking his hand, Roxanne picked herself up while using her free hand to dust her back. Standing straight, she looked not to the man who'd helped her get up but to her back from over her shoulders. "I..I should go, thanks again, and I'm sorry for running into you!"
Taking a step forward, she tried to walk away, but the pressure of Zephyr's hand on her shoulder kept her from moving an inch. Looking back at him, she held her breath with rampant movement of her eyes.
"What's wrong?" Asked the devil, and she looked back again.
"I…" Grabbing his hand out of nowhere, she began leading him elsewhere. "Just come with me, I'll tell you elsewhere!"
Following her down the same path from which he'd come, Zephyr wanted to peer into her mind and figure out what was going on. However, the moment Roxanne led them down a dark alley, his desire to unravel things step by step and to preserve the mystery took over. Besides, a few more steps into the dark, and Roxanne stopped in her tracks anyway.
"I hope he's not following me now."
"And who's he?"
"Rudy…" She responded, her eyes still peering at the light.
"What exactly happened?" Zephyr asked, growing ever more curious.
But his question brought a frown on Roxanne's face–almost as if she didn't wanna remember what had happened, much less recite it back to someone else. Glancing back and forth between Zephyr and the street, Roxanne was crippled by her anxiety.
"Rudy…he," shaking her head, she swallowed and looked at the fiend. "He confessed to me. I thought we were just going out to talk about what we were gonna do next and the items that we'd need, but out of nowhere, he started talking about all this weird stuff… and well–"
"So you ran?"
"No!" Freezing for a moment, Roxanne closed her eyes tightly. "Yes… I ran, but what else could I have done? He wouldn't take the hint, and I don't think I'm ready for a relationship, not now, and who knows if I ever will be?"
"What exactly happened?" Raising an eyebrow, Zephyr fought the urge to look through her memory again. To peer into her mind would've been easy, but the fun of it all was in unraveling the mystery rather than knowing it. And thus, with a hand on her shoulder, he offered her yet again. "How about you come with me for now? Doesn't seem like you want to be around him right now, and staying at the inn probably won't be a good idea."
Looking up at him again, Roxanne's eyes lingered with a look of uncertainty. Lowering her gaze for a moment, she contemplated the offer, but then again came a question to which she had no answer.
"Where would I go then if not the inn? My parents don't live here, so I can't go to them or anything."
"The shop has an extra bedroom, you can use that instead." Roxanne's head lifted to Zephyr's words, but quickly her neck turned left and right as if she were mimicking a deer who'd just heard the crack of a dried leaf. "Cecilia will get you settled in, and come morning, I have a meeting with your leader, so I would advise you to join him then. For now, how about we get you some rest? It's late as it is."
Although her lips contorted to the suggestion, Roxanne was almost scared of running into Rudy again–at least that night. Perhaps morning would be better once the hero has had time to accept the rejection from her.
"If you insist," nodding at him, she gestured with her head for Zephyr to lead the way.
And lead, he did, back to his shop for the girls to rest–or perhaps not yet.