Behold the couple composed of former enemies.
Sato was a Child Soldier and unwilling gladiator conscripted to aid the Hero party in their quest against the Demon King, until the so-called "hero" unilaterally went full-tilt Holier Than Thou and threw him out of the party, without consulting the rest, leaving him to his own devices. Satis was the leader of the Demon King's armies and his top strategist, until she experienced one too many defeats at the hands of the same "Hero" party and was not only summarily dismissed from her post, but slated for execution to Make an Example of Them. In both cases, things quickly fall apart because they both were the backbone of their respective armed forces. Through an unlikely string of coincidences, Sato and Satis meet and bond over their eerily similar circumstances. All they want is to be left alone and live in peace, but neither side will let them.Associated Tropes:
- The Call Knows Where You Live: The reason Sato and Satis keep getting dragged into the conflict. It doesn't matter where they try to put down roots, the human/demon war keeps finding them. Eventually, they managed to get on the good side of a human noble who is a talented soldier and general in his own right and even then, one of the Demon King's armies comes for them and Sato finds himself locked in battle with Sabo, a maniacal Affably Evil Blood Knight that just wants to fight him to the death purely for the thrill of it.
- Child Soldier: Sato was conscripted into the army at the age of 5. Before that, he was a gladiatorial slave, hence his ruthless and highly efficient fighting style.
- Commonality Connection: Satis and Sato bond over having very, very similar circumstances.
- Dwindling Party: The moment Reid expelled Sato from his party, their numbers began dropping like flies until only Reid is left with McLean dying from overexertion, Hydra being sent off on an Impossible Task due to Reid perceiving her comment as criticism and Angelica dying in a struggle when she tried to kill Reid after convincing him to steal from merchants.
- For Want Of A Nail: As Hydra lampshades, the journey of the "Hero" party would have gone very differently if any of them actually tried to bond with Sato in any way instead of only seeing him as an emotionless killing machine.
- I Just Want to Be Normal: Both Sato and Satis want to settle down somewhere and live a normal life away from the war, but sadly for them The Call Knows Where You Live.
- Magic Knight: In the setting, there are few swordsmen capable of wielding and summoning magic swords, which makes them all very powerful warriors in their own right highly valued by their armies.
- Outcast Refuge: Benjamin Village's population is comprised of lost souls ranging from heroes to sages or "eccentrics" as they call themselves, who came to the village after losing their purposes and are in need of some kind of company. As such they are very accepting towards Seto and Satis taking temporary refuge even though they already knew the latter was a demonfolk along with helping Hydra recover from her mental state.
- Removing the Crucial Teammate: Both the Hero party and the Demon King expelled a critical piece of their infrastructure.
- The "Hero" party expelled Sato because the self-proclaimed hero just unilaterally decided that Sato's brutal and efficient fighting style lacked "justice" and was disgusted. Since Sato was the only member of the party with essential survival skills, like cooking, being on the lookout, standing watch at night, etc. The party quickly fell apart and the "hero" was called to task, and the Martial Artist was sent to look for Sato, but by then, things had already passed the point of no return, and party members began to drop like flies, Slowly Slipping Into Evil, or both, while still trying to tell themselves that they're working for the "greater good."
- Satis was the leader of the Demon King's armies and his top strategist. The Demon King just decided one day that Satis needed to go because she lost at the hands of the "Hero" party too many times, not only removing her from her post, but sentencing her to execution to make an example of her. The demon armies, now without an overall commander, and not wanting to risk execution themselves for failure, quickly become disorganized mobs and retreat from winnable fights, scatter like the wind, or just try to follow their standing orders without a strategy of any kind and dash themselves against heavily defended human outposts to the last man.
- Soldier vs. Warrior: In the hero party, Sato was the only soldier having lived his entire life following orders and ruthlessly slaughtering his enemies in contrast to the other members that are warriors being individuals chosen for their combat ability. While the hero party is strong in combat without Sato they are incapable of traveling through a battlefield since all they can do is fight unlike Sato, who knows how to survive.
