"General! I mean, boss!" Called the aged man, wearing a black leather jacket.

"Yo! What's up, Achaeus? You sure get old whenever I saw you, huh..." I took a sit-in next to him.

This is the coffee corner of the family restaurant, it's located at the corner of the restaurant and it faced a window so people could enjoy their coffee while staring outside. Sitting here, drinking coffee while it's raining is one of the things that I enjoyed too.

"Don't say that, boss... I'm entering 50 years old this year, so it's not wrong that I've become old, but it doesn't mean my skills rusted. I could still fight with hundreds of men like we usually did before, you know?" said Achaeus as he shows me his muscle.

"Shut it. This is a peaceful age, where will you fight hundreds of men here?"

"Hahahaha! True," (Achaeus)

"But Charles Zhang, huh..." I muttered the name of my lieutenant's name in this world.

"What is it? Don't you dare mock my name, okay? It's a gift from my late parents," (Achaeus)

"I don't. It's just that I still feel it's funny for you to become a general in the Japanese military army, and take early retirement because of meeting me. Are you sure you're okay with that?"

"It's fine. Entering the military army is one of my desperate attempts on searching for you and the others, to begin with. I thought that since we're all military and battle maniac people, if I want to meet all of you again, then we're going to meet at the battlefield whether as an ally or foe. And it turns out to be true since I met Pierce, Agnar, and Alfonso there," (Achaeus)

"Don't group me with you guys, I'm not a battle maniac, I'm a peaceful guy,"

"Yes, whatever you say, boss. I don't regret taking early retirement from there. I could now spend more time with my wife and my daughter, and I could now visit you more. The income I got here is slightly bigger than being a general anyway. And... Unlike in the Azeroth kingdom... Every battle here... It felt nothing, there is no noble reason, people die because of nothing... Those soldiers, they don't even know what and why they are fighting..." (Achaeus)

"There's no difference now and back then,"

"Eh?" (Achaeus)

"It's just that the wickedness of the world and those who rule it had gotten hidden more smartly. We're lucky to be recruited to the Azeroth kingdom back then. I'm glad all of you took that early retirement from the military, being there will corrupt your hearts,"

"Indeed... Being killing machines... How terrifying..." Replied Achaeus with a wry smile.

"That's just how human is. The never subsiding greed... That's why this city is so convenient..."

"Ah, by the way, the Panama group had sent their payment. The Panama group's chairman sent an additional 20,000 yuan for saving her daughter, so we got 60,000 from him. He asked me to arrange a meeting with you sometimes, is it fine?" Asked Achaeus.

Charles Zhang. Former name: Achaeus.

He's the royal lieutenant in my first life and is amongst the most loyal and strongest soldier around me. After retiring from the army, he now worked at the Chuzu Akuma agency and is the head of the agency since having my name as a head will not be a good idea, I decide to have this former Japanese general be the head of the agency and sell his name to the public.

Unlike the demons or youkai who served me, he didn't recover his memories when I recovered my memories. It seems that he recovered his memories before I was even born in this world. I mean before I was born again. For the third time...

It's not surprising to hear that he got a general rank in the Japanese military since other than his top-notch fighting skills, his judgment skills, his charisma as a former lieutenant, and his high sense of justice must have brought him easily to that rank.

He went to the military, thinking that the others and I must be there too since we're former soldiers of the Azeroth kingdom. It's surprising that he met Alfonso, Pierce, and Agnar in the Japanese military.

But it turns out that Pierce, Alfonso, and Agnar also remembered about the old days. And just like Achaeus, they recover their memories of their previous lives before I was even born for the third time to this world.

It's hilarious since it felt like we're inside a light novel made by a certain someone.

But it also brings me hope, thinking that the others might be also there, completely remember about the past, and trying their best to be able to meet with us again.

"It's fine. Just arrange it, when holiday if possible. He must be dying because of curiosity since he never met the real owner of the agency,"

"Hahahaha! True! But your ideas are as random and absurd as always, huh? Who will ever come up with an idea of making a detective agency and bodyguard service business only for a front, and running a hired demonic agency behind it that accepts revenge, defend, and other shady stuff! As expected of the black general!" (Achaeus)

"Shut up! What do you mean by only for a front anyway? Our agency's detectives are trusted in this city, Rakuzan even entered the newspaper several times. And our business is not shady! We're offering them a service that allows them to defend themselves from youkai attacks, a service that no one had ever offered to them before! And we don't help villains so isn't it fine?" I said with a shrug.

"The fact that we're offering them a youkai service is enough to be called shady, boss. But anyway, this," Achaeus hand me out several photos.

"This is...?" I asked him as I take a look at the photos he gave me.

!!??

"It's the latest case that we're handling. The police asked for our help, so we sent Rakuzan to help with the investigation. But before he could get anything, this happened yesterday," (Achaeus)

"It's a murder," (Achaeus)

There are 5 photos Achaeus gave me.

And all of them, is an image of corpses that got their limbs separated from their body and drenched in blood. It's an image that will make those who weak to blood faint.

In every corpse, there are signs and symbols on their body that seem to be carved with a knife by the murderer.

"Do you know what that symbol means, boss?" Asked Achaeus.

"I don't. This is not from the common language, the demonic language, nor the elven language. These symbols... I never saw any of them inside the necromancy books and dark arts books I used before. Maybe a sort of new ritual or something..."

"I see... So you don't know too, huh..." (Achaeus)

"Is this youkai's doing?"

"No, I mean we're not sure yet. The victims' cause of death is all because of the excessive loss of blood, but the way all of them died without having any sign of resistance made me hesitate to determine whether it's human's or demon's doing," (Achaeus)

"I see... If it's human, then he must use sleeping pills or gas and make the victim lost their consciousness. But if it's a youkai, then he could easily make the victim lost their consciousness with his power... And the fact that the despair felt by the victims who are at the death's door is a tempting food for youkai to feed on their dark emotions made it a reasonable cause to suspect the culprit is a youkai, huh..."

"Yup. Sharp as always. And the problem is... The last victim is found near your academy, boss..." (Achaeus)

"I see... Let Rakuzan investigate more, and since it might be dangerous, don't let him go alone. I'll investigate it myself whenever I got free time (Whenever I feel like I want),"

"Roger, boss," Achaeus answered and finish his coffee.

"Then, that's all I wanted to say. Time to go back to the agency and then go back home," said Achaeus as he stands. When I look at him, the sight of him, using the old armor he usually used when we still serve as a general and lieutenant of the Azeroth kingdom

"Achaeus,"

"Hm? Is something matter, boss?" (Achaeus)

"Don't you feel weird or feel betrayed because it looks like I've joined hands with the demons that all of us used to hate so much before? We also lose lots of our brothers in arms against them,"

"Hahahaha! It's fine, boss! Dying on the battlefield is normal, and after meeting with the demons serving under you, I don't feel any resentment towards them. And you know our enemy is no longer the demons, boss," (Achaeus)

"Indeed..."

Yes, our enemy is no longer the demons.

It is the one who made us lost our lives in our previous life.

"The one who attacked the kingdom after you killed the demon king and made the demonic army retreat," (Achaeus)

"The holy empire," (Achaeus)