《The True Demon of a New World》 A Sacrifice for a Sacrifice (Prologue, chapter 1) Prologue: I''d been reading fantasy stories and watching movies about old heroes since I was young. Ever since my mother first allowed me I''ve been playing any video game I could get my hands on, I fell in love with fantasy games and the stories they involved. I fell in love with manga, light novels and anime because it felt like being transported to a different world. There were even stories about being transported to different worlds, and they fascinated me. Eventually, everybody grows up. The responsibilities of adulthood hit me like a truck. The light of my youth began to flicker, but never fully went out. What a strange fate awaited me, the kind I had dreamt about when I was a child. The kind of passion I still desperately clung to as I aged. Despite knowing the impossibility, fantasies of being in other worlds were always there to keep me from completely losing the innocence I once had. From the time I was a child where I imagined the long stick I found was a staff, and I was a powerful wizard, to the dreams I had about besting the strongest swordsman. "Hey Klein!" This was an old voice I hadn''t heard for years. While we hadn''t broken up on the best terms, I''ve never been one to hold grudges like that. "It''s been a long time! How''s it goin?" I wondered what Samantha was doing in Washington. "It really has been a long time, it''s nice to see you''re well" I said sincerely, though not entirely enthusiastic about this encounter. Either way, we ended up walking together for a ways and talking about how our lives were now. That''s when I saw it. There was a truck barrelling down the road at what I can only imagine is much faster than the speed limit, but that''s not what caught my eye. The truck had ran a red light and nearly hit a few pedestrians, showing no signs of slowing down. Perhaps the brakes failed or the driver was simply drunk, but I saw something else. A little girl and her mother. They had been crossing the road legally, they had the right of way. This truck didn''t care about that. Even if it made the effort to stop at the point it was at there would be no way to avoid hitting them, and it didn''t look like they saw it coming. The decision was among the fastest I had ever made. I''m no hero, and I''m not cocky enough to believe myself to be immortal, but maybe the child in me that still fantasized about being in magical worlds came to the rescue. I could hear the confusion in the voice of the woman I had been walking with as I darted towards the road. I was only 30. The life I had flashed before my eyes and I relived every moment in an instant. Chapter 1: I opened my eyes to see what resembled a throne room, but the whole area was dark and had a slightly gloomy feel to it. The woman sitting on the dark throne was a truly stunning woman, though her eyes seemed to contain a sinister aura that made me feel like my guts were being ripped out. Down the short staircase, standing on either side of me in a sort of center facing formation were more than a dozen ominous figures. Some of them looked like normal humans, but it seemed that more than a few of them were most definitely not human. My heart began to pound. I have no idea where I am, and I''m getting a feeling from every one of these individuals that I''ve never felt from any being. Was this fear? No. I''ve been through life and death situations, I was a soldier. Just moments ago I relived the combined memories of my life, from the happy times to the time I held that man''s head in my lap while he took his last breath. I''ve felt fear, this is different. This is a feeling of overwhelming power surrounding me, something beyond the realm of humanity. "The ritual is complete, my lord" The rattling voice came from an elegant human looking man, of the sort you would assume to be royalty. The only visible difference between him and a normal person was that his skin was a flat grey color. What the fuck. Where the hell am I? What ritual are these people talking about? The questions running through my head are endless, and at this point I wonder if I might not have died. Maybe I''m in a coma and this is an incredibly strange and twisted dream I''m having. I really hope that''s the case, because if it isn''t, I don''t believe the outcome for me is anything good. "You''ve done well, Limone. To be honest, I wasn''t expecting this curious experiment of ours to work. It seems that you''ve outdone yourself." These words were from the one who appears to be the queen, and I believe that I am the ''curious experiment'' she spoke of. "Thank you, my liege. What do you wish to do with this one?" The one named Limone glanced in my direction as he said that. "As much potential as he may have, he is still weak and human. If we begin to overtake his mind now the process will be easier when he becomes what he is truly meant to be." She looked towards me. "State your name, human" Mind control? I was summoned to this strange place in order to have my mind stolen from me? No way in hell I''ll let that happen. If my name isn''t - "Klein Vangarde, my liege" What? What the fuck? When did this happen? I said that, but I didn''t order my body to do so. Has it already begun? Did it begin before that facade they put on? How powerful is this demon woman in front of me? Just where the hell am I? "Klein, you have been summoned here from an unknown place. Your soul is in a body that is likely much sturdier than the old body you once had, but you will need to train it. Unlike us demons born with the powers we have, you must grow yourself through hard work and dedication. Fortunately, your soul and body have more potential than any human on this earth, and this should come simply to you." After explaining this, the queen burst into laughter. "This is great! It''s wonderful! To think that one of the races in the alliance of six would be their ultimate downfall! The irony of it is hilarious!"This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. "Yes, my liege. " I said this naturally, and my mind started wondering the different training methods I would be seeing. It didn''t seem that I could fight the hold this woman had over me, but would I have a chance to do so if I became stronger? "Ashker, escort our new toy to his quarters" "Yes, my liege" A tall man with dark hair and red eyes came to my side. He had black wings folded behind his back and seemed to be some form of demon. He motioned for me to follow him. My body moved without my conscious decision once again, and I followed him out the door. "You''re lucky her majesty has a sense of humor, or you would have been slain on the spot once the core molded into a human." I was unable to respond, but at this point my mind is going through too many paces to care. We walked down a long hallway, taking countless turns, and eventually ended up outside of the large castle. It was truly massive, like something you would see in a story. The entire area felt grim, as if the castle radiated evil itself. "Our queen may have a sense of humor, but a pathetic bug such as yourself would not be permitted to stay in the castle grounds." We walked to a house separate from the castle, yet still within the walls surrounding it. I mentioned house, but it was really more of a run down shack. It seemed these ''people'' really thought highly of me. Upon reaching the shack, the monster guiding me opened the door and picked me up by the throat. "Count your blessings that you survived an encounter with me, you are the first human to have ever done so. You may be under her control, but the sight of you still makes me sick, and I wish I could kill you right now. Be a good human and stay in there." This was all unnecessary, as currently the mind control seemed so effective that my body would have killed itself if ordered to. This man was a sadist. He threw me inside the shack and slammed the wooden door. I could hear him walking away muttering about something. It sounded like he was upset that he wasn''t allowed to kill me. I laid there for hours, unable to sleep and unable to stop thinking about the situation I seemed to be in. I had free control over my body unless I attempted to break the orders placed on me, as I found out when I tried to open the door to go outside. My body had locked up and I ended up standing still for about 15 minutes before I could move again. Best not to try it right now then. The shack was empty, with nothing but a very small, old bed that creaked if you looked at it in the wrong way, accompanied by some stains that were most likely blood and (possibly) vomit. I didn''t want to imagine the fate of the person or thing occupying this room prior to me. There was a small opening on the floor a few feet away from the bed, which I can only assume is the equivalent of an outhouse. At least they didn''t expect me to go on the floor, what humane treatment. I looked down at my body. I felt younger, and upon closer inspection it seemed like the body I had when I was 20, but felt stronger. She said this body was ''new and sturdier'', but for some reason I was in the same clothes I had been wearing before. I had a habit of dressing fairly plainly, so I was wearing blue jeans, a grey tshirt and a green hoodie that I bought years ago. At least I didn''t come here naked, that might have been awkward. The watch on my wrist was still working, but I assumed the time was off due to the fact it read 3:00 PM, and it was pitch black outside now. It was still useful to me, and I was able to use it to keep track of the time I was in here, which had been a total of three hours. By my estimation, it was probably about 2:00 AM. Just as I was thinking that, something strange happened. There was an explosion nearby, followed by a bright flash of light. What the hell is going on? After the explosion, nothing happened. I don''t know what it was, but it seemed like the threat was gone for now. Then I felt it, there was an aura coming my way fast that felt on par with the demon that led me to this shack. I was surprised I''m able to tell honestly, but it''s not something I had time to think about. Moments later, the door broke down, and a small group of what appeared to be knights rushed into the room and surrounded me. Am I saved? Are these people here to rescue me? "You must be the one, I''m glad we found you" The words came from the man who appeared to be their leader. "We''re here to save you, my name is Knight captain Nevilam of the Sargonya royal guard." As soon as he said this, my mind twisted. I tried to give warning to the men in front of me, but found myself unable to speak. It must have been a defense mechanism set with the mind control, should some people attempt to rescue me. My body lurched forward, faster than I thought possible. My hands tensed as I clawed into the armor of one of the nights. To my surprise, his metal helmet creaked under my hand and was crushed. I can only hope he died quickly and without much pain. There were 7 knights in total. I had just killed the one I believed to be the leader, yet none of them wavered. They leapt at me one at a time while I sliced them all down individually. When the carnage subsided, I was standing with blood covering my clothes, and seven dead men surrounding me. The fight was over in less than 10 seconds. I was in pain. Agonizing on the inside over what I had done, and knowing that there was nothing I could do to stop it. I wondered where I had gotten that burst of power from, because I hadn''t felt it until that moment. "I see, I wish I hadn''t let them come in alone." This was a female voice, and one that didn''t seem scared at all about the massacre laid in front of her. ''Please run. Run as far away from this place as you can before I do something to prevent you from running.'' I thought these words in my head praying they would be answered, but the time for that was gone. This woman''s fate was sealed. My body moved again, just as fast as the last time and with just as much ferocity. My hand was approaching her throat, and this would mean certain death for her. But then, my hand stopped. Did I do it? Was my will enough to overcome this? Maybe, just maybe I would be able to fight the control. No, it wasn''t me. I didn''t fight this control, there''s nothing I can do as I am now to do so. What actually happened was something that surprised me immensely, yet filled my heart with joy. My wrist was caught. A vine was now wrapped around the hand outstretching towards her neck, and it was immobilized. "I understand, I can sense that a powerful mind control spell has been cast on you. It would seem that even given your lack of experience, this spell is able to pull some of your latent potential. The terrifying forbidden spell ." My right hand being immobilized, I instinctively raised my left foot for a kick that would free myself. Unfortunately for the woman standing in front of me, the kick connected as she was pushed back to the wall. I instinctively ripped the vine connected to my arm, and my wrist was now free once more. My now free hand was prepared to strike again, when she looked at me with saddened eyes. "" She pointed two fingers in my direction as she said this, and my body was completely immobilized. The ring on her finger turned to ash as she cast this spell "I really wish it didn''t have to be this way, but you are far more important than you can imagine." "" What? What is this? This light overflowing my mind. The female knight seemed to have a lot taken out of her from casting the spell, and she was panting. Observing her more closely, she was the epitome of beauty. "What is your name?" "Klein" I can answer? This is amazing! Has the mind control been broken completely? What a powerful woman to override the magic of that evil queen. "You have a powerful name, Sir Klein." It seemed the spell had taken more out of her than I thought, she looked utterly exhausted now. "Are you ok? We should leave, there are dangerous monsters here. The faster we get out of here the soo-" "No" She cut me off midway through my sentence. "Ultimate spells all come with a price, and I was forced to use two of them on short notice. The ring I was wearing paid the price for , but the cost of was my life." "You..." "My mount is outside, his name is Bastion. Go to him and tell him Lilyana, third princess of the Sargonya Kingdom wishes for him to take care of you, and give him this pendant. Please be quick, my kingdom is to the east of here." "You''re a Princess? You''re asking me to talk to an animal? None of this makes sense, please be rational. Isn''t there any way I can save you?" "You really are kind, I''m glad that I came here" She looked at me with reassured eyes. There was no way I could deny her resolve. A princess had given her life for me, and I had taken the lives of seven innocent knights. "Thank you, princess." Chapter 2: Escape from the dark castle After I talked to the princess, I left the shack in search of the mount she had told me about. What I found was not a mount, but what appeared to be a person. While the sight of a human was reassuring given the personalities I had met before this, I wasn''t able to put my full trust into anything here except the one the beautiful princess had entrusted me with. The man appeared to be middle aged, yet elegant. He stood tall and had his hands folded behind his back in a proud manner. Everything about this man screamed that he was at the very least, a high servant of royalty, and I had the feeling my only option was to trust him. "Excuse me, sir" The man turned my way when I said this, and stared at me. "I''m looking for somebody named Bastion, on behalf of Princess Lilyana." "So, it''s true then" The man looked sad as he spoke with an english accent, reminding me of an old butler of sorts. "Please, I don''t want to let her die in vain" I was pleading. What else can I do? Coming to this world was a major shock to me, and then after everything that happened it ended in tragedy. I couldn''t let her death mean nothing. "Of course sir, please come here" As I walked over to the man, another insane occurance I would have never believed yesterday fell before my eyes. The butler had transformed into a horse, and an unordinarily large horse at that. Wait. That''s not a horse. Upon the head of the majestic beast was a spiraling horn. The horse was black through and through, but the horn was a beautiful ivory color. There is a mythical beast standing before me. Cautiously, I walked towards him, and it seemed like the saddle had somehow already been mounted. Perhaps this is more magic at work, though it''s still a mystery to me. I managed to pull myself up in one go, thankfully not embarrassing myself too much in front of this beautiful creature. As soon as I got on the saddle, a new force I hadn''t felt before pushed on me. It was as if there were some sort of magical seatbelt attached to this saddle. I once owned a motorcycle, and there were a few times where I had been a bit risky and driven much faster than the posted speed limit. The wind in my face at that time was refreshing, it was dangerous, yet I felt free. This was different. I had never felt this in my life, and I was more terrified than I had ever been. This was at least twice as fast as I had ever dared to go on my bike. After about 15 minutes of moving at this speed, we started to slow down. Eventually, bastion came to a stop. After I dismounted and fell to the ground in a dizzy mess, he reverted back to his human form and bowed to me deeply. "Greetings, Lord Klein. The dying wish of Princess Lilyana was that I look after you and assist with your safety. I apologize for the sudden speed while we were fleeing that place, but we had no choice if we wanted to escape with our lives." I don''t remember telling him my name. But I understand what he''s saying. I believe every word that comes out of his mouth, yet why do I feel this way? My emotions that have been building up since I arrived in this world are pushing at the gates. This man is calm, he is patient, incredibly respectful. He doesn''t deserve the wrath that my heart so desperately needs to distribute. The grievances of an aching, confused heart are more than I could dump on this beautiful creature. "Master Klein, I''m a unicorn. I can read your heart like a book. Speak your mind so that I may assist in your troubles." With that, I couldn''t stop myself any longer. I wasn''t saying it with the intention of taking my problems out on Bastion, but by telling me those words he opened a floodgate. "WHY THE FUCK AM I HERE? WHY ARE THERE MONSTERS SUMMONING ME TO THIS STRANGE WORLD AND TRYING TO TAKE OVER MY MIND?" My voice trailed lower and began to tremble. "Why did they have to die for me? I''m not worth what they say I am." What was received by my outburst was not anger, and not excuses. I was embraced by the butler with tears streaming down my eyes, such as a child is embraced by their father. "It''s not your fault." I haven''t cried like that for years, and to be reduced to that state in a single day surprised me immensely. After what felt like an hour, I told him about exactly what happened in that room, and we set off to the kingdom of Sargonya. We went much slower this time, it felt like the speed an actual horse would probably gallop, and it was a welcome change of pace. Though I''m no expert in horseback riding, it seemed that Bastion had no concern for my skill, and instead would simply take me where I want to go. We arrived at a small town called varillio just as night was beginning to fall. It was obvious that Bastion was exhausted, though he refused to show it. I guess running at that insane pace took a lot of energy from him. That being said, riding into the town was awkward. When you have a man in strange clothing riding a unicorn, people are bound to stare. People were curious, but they seemed to shy off a bit when we got close. Once Bastion changed back to his original form, we decided to start talking around a bit to look for some quick work. As it turns out, Bastion has been Lilyana''s personal servant since she was born. He was more of a father to her than the king, and he never received any sort of payment for taking care of her. After all, all his meals had been provided and he didn''t need to worry about lodging.Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. That being said, we were broke. Me being a traveler from another world without knowledge on the world''s currency, and Bastion, a penniless unicorn. We ended up setting up camp not far outside of town that night, it didn''t look like it would rain and the summer made it fairly refreshing to be outside. The following morning, we visited some of the local shops to find somebody looking for help. I couldn''t help but have a strange feeling as they all turned us down one by one. Maybe it was the demeanor of the residents in the town, or how it seemed that everybody was afraid to get to know us, but something was giving me a bad feeling. In the end, I decided to do what any smart man would do. Eavesdrop. I mean I didn''t eavesdrop personally, Bastion explained to me that this world has some sort of level system intertwined with it, so right now I''m actually level 1. I''m slightly stronger than the average person and definitely better trained, but outside of those aspects I''m just a regular guy right now. Bastian isn''t very high level, in order to raise your level you need to engage in combat and win, kind of like getting experience in a game. As a Unicorn, his forte is quick movement. Due to this and the fact that his previous master was so strong, he didn''t have many opportunities to fight for himself. His level is about 10, but his speed, endurance and health will never change regardless of what level he achieves. Those were maxed the day he became an adult. However, as a level 10, he''s more nimble than I am and can easily sneak around to listen in on conversations. So we decided I would wait at our camp for news. "Master Klein" "Oh, hey you''re back already! That was fast" "Unfortunately, yes. I''ve learned news that I believe I cannot stand by and ignore" What''s happened? It''s gotta be something serious if he''s this worried about it. "What''s the news Bastion?" "It seems the lord of this land has become a demon. Or he was possibly killed and had a demon put in his place as a doppelganger." I understand why he''s worried. I''ve met these demons and seen what they''re capable of. "It seems that this is a low level demon, and an especially cruel one" "A low level demon has the townspeople so riled up?" "I believe the misunderstanding you have in this aspect would be the lack of world knowledge you possess. A low level demon is different from a low level adventurer. I would venture to guess the demon is probably around level 20. It would be possible for an experienced team of adventurers to take it out with relative ease, but this is a small town on the border of a nation. Adventurers of that caliber rarely come out to an area like this, and the demon would likely grow in strength by the time they do." "So, why are the people in town avoiding us like the plague?" "I can''t say, for now we need to be cautious in our movements." After our conversation, Bastion went back to town to see if he could gather more information. What''s going on with the people around here? Is it mind control again? To keep them from giving away information? Just as I was thinking that, I heard movement in the bush near me. Crap. That burst of strength at the castle was the result of the mind control, and is completely gone now. I don''t even have a weapon right now, I was hoping to buy something when I managed to get some money. These circumstances definitely aren''t looking good for me. I''ve always kept myself in good shape, and been confident in a fight between myself and another human. What I''m worried about is the monsters of this world. Level 1? Level 10? What''s the difference in strength between them? The time I had to think was quickly stripped away as I realized what was approaching me. I instantly recognized it. The monster before me was about 4 feet tall, and stood in armor that seemed rusty, with a sword appearing to be on it''s last leg. Even so, a damaged sword wins out over no sword. The green skin and ugly face were obvious, but I also noticed that his muscles seemed to be fairly well defined. This is a goblin. It looked at me, as if it was eyeing up the situation. Despite the size and weight difference, I was at a disadvantage due to the sheer fact that I had no weapon. The light of the camp fire had the effect of making this threat more ominous. Should I run? Or should I fight? In games and stories, goblins rarely fight alone. I only see one, but could there be more hiding in the shadows? Just as I was thinking this, the goblin charged me. He was fast. My options had been lowered to one, and I ended up jumping to the side and rolling towards the camp fire. I managed to escape a fatal swing of it''s sword, but my left shoulder had been cut. Maybe it was the adrenaline running through me, but the pain wasn''t as bad as I thought it would be for a wound this deep. I had a bit of a plan in my mind, but there was no way to be certain if it would work. As soon as I stood up from my roll, I ran towards the fire and kicked it as hard as I could in the direction the goblin was facing. The smaller pieces of kindling blew in his face, and he let out a startled noise. This was my chance. I rushed the goblin as fast as I could while he was distracted, and after a quick punch to the face I went after the sword. The goblin was surprised. Maybe it had expected me to be weak prey, or maybe it thought I would fight fair. The look of terror in it''s eyes made me feel pity, but this monster had attacked me. I had not picked a fight with it. Slowly the wrist the goblin was using to hold the sword twisted back towards him. Though I was no expert, the knowledge I had of jujitsu came in handy with manipulating his joints. Despite the struggling monster, the sword slowly moved towards his neck, and eventually pierced. I wonder if it would have begged for its life if it could talk. I feel that if I had begged for mine, this is the same fate I would have received. Letting the lifeless corpse fall to the ground, I picked up the old sword and took the sheath for it from the goblin. It wasn''t anything fancy, but it was better than nothing. Just then, I heard something else. Goblins don''t travel alone. Maybe this one was a scout that got cocky. I was completely surrounded, there were six goblins in total. All of them had about the same type of gear the first had. To be honest, I was kind of hoping for a miracle here. Each one of these had the strength slightly less than that of a human, but with weapons and numbers on their side my disadvantage was massive. I really hate to use the same tactic twice, but it''s pretty much what it had come to. When you''re fighting against multiple people, the best way to lose is to get surrounded. I kicked the remaining embers of the fire towards the two goblins directly in front of me. It seemed to daze them enough for me to make my escape directly through. Pushing off, I let my sword slice along the throat of one of the goblins as I ran. He crumbled to the ground as I ran past. The remaining goblins were chasing me, and I was already tired from the previous fight. The tactic that I was planning to use was simple. The best way to fight multiple enemies with swords is to try and isolate them so they''re forced to fight individually. I hid behind a tree. As soon as one of the goblins passed by, I lunged at him with my sword. It ended up being effective, and I pulled the bloody sword from the dead goblin. The armor they were wearing wasn''t something I could pierce, but there were plenty of openings and it was by no means plate armor. I''d say it was more like pieces of metal that protected some of their vital organs. "Two down, four to go." I whispered this to myself quietly as I continued to run, and just as I had taken out the last one I managed to kill two more. Then it hit me. I looked in my shoulder to see an arrow that wasn''t there before, and a few seconds later another hit a tree close by me. I can''t fight that. Was I going to die here? Another arrow hit the back of my thigh while I ran, and I felt the pain coursing through me as I pushed myself to continue moving. One of the goblins had a bow, I didn''t notice because of how fast I fled. At this point, my mobility was completely gone. I was slowly limping away, trying to stay under the cover of trees so the arrows would miss their target. "" The woman''s voice came from my left, followed by a flash of light towards the goblin. My eyes went dark as the blood loss took effect. Chapter 3: The Face Thief of Varillio When I awoke, I was next to a camp fire. It seemed like the wounds from the fight had been almost completely healed. "Oh, look who''s finally awake" This was the same voice I had heard in the forest. She appeared to be fairly young, and taking a closer look it seemed that she was some sort of mage. She was wearing a set of long green robes with white trimming, and there was what looked like a staff on the ground next to her. "I''m glad I was passing by, I think another few minutes would have been the end of you" "Who are you?" She looked at me with pursed lips "Jeez, maybe ''thank you for saving my life, you''re my hero'' or something" I laughed. "Yes, thank you. This was my first encounter with monsters like that" She gave me a look of shock "And you managed to kill four of them? The sword you''re carrying is similar to theirs and one was unarmed. Does that mean you didn''t even have a weapon when they attacked?" "It was mostly luck, I just ended up making the right move" "How humble can you get?" "You still haven''t told me your name" "Since you seem so hung up on it, my name is Elena" "My name is Klein. Are you an adventurer?" "Yes, although I just graduated from the magic academy in the capital last month. To be honest, if you hadn''t taken out those goblins I don''t think I would have been able to save you." "What level are you?" "What a rude question." Maybe that was prying, but I was curious. The spell I heard her chant was called '''', but I don''t know enough about this world to understand the rarity of spells. "I''m level 12. I''ve been performing quests for the adventurers guild in Calerion for the past month. I came out here to visit my parents in Varillio, I was about to head into town when I saw you." Oh. I think it''s safe to assume she doesn''t know what happened, but maybe I can work with her to try to fix it. "There are some things you should know" I told her everything I knew about the situation, how the demon had somehow replaced the lord of the land and the residents were acting strange, as if they were cautious of everybody coming into town. "I see, I hope they''re ok. My parents have always been pretty resilient so I think they''d be fine, but if the residents are acting strange there has to be a reason for it. I can''t see any way a low level demon would be able to control the minds of the entire town, so I don''t believe that''s the issue." It''s probably not mind control then? "How do you want to go about this? I doubt we can fight against him with the strength we have right now." She stood up proudly. "I am Elena Scharthschil, granddaughter of the champion Reichard Scharthschil. If a demon dares lay his grasp on my home, I will move forward and destroy it. I am going to town to challenge this demon." "..." This woman was an idiot. Should I stop her or just let her march off to her death? Damn these morals of mine. I stood up from where I had been sitting, grabbed her staff and hit her over the head with it. "Ow! What was that for?" "What was that for? Are you stupid? You want to walk up to a lesser demon and try to take him head on? I''m weak, but at least I admit that. You''re level 12, and he''s at minimum level 20 with enough strength to take over the entire town and have that effect on them. Now I need to stop you from running off to a meaningless death." She looked towards the ground. I guess my words got to her. The confidence that had swelled up inside her had disappeared, and now she looked sad. She began to cry. "My family is in that town, and I have friends there. How powerless am I after graduating from that horrible academy that I can''t even take down a stupid demon" She was sobbing at this point. I had to stop her, but I''m not the type to comfort people with reassurance. "If you want to save your family, help me come up with a plan to take down this demon. I have a friend inside the town doing surveillance right now to try and get more information, so please just stop crying" "I''m sorry I''m so useless, I''ll get stronger" The crying continued, and it seemed she completely misunderstood my point. This woman was hopeless. After about 15 minutes of this, Bastion found us. "I see you''ve made a new acquaintance, Master Klein. A pleasure to meet you my lady." He said this as he performed a respectful bow. "I have some interesting information from the town, it would seem that the demon is not a particularly strong one, and probably about the same level as the lady present. The reason the townsfolk are so cautious is because as it would seem, this demon is a doppelganger." "A doppelganger? Like a mimic?" "Yes, at first it took the appearance of the town''s noble and was caught by an investigator from the guard, but it hasn''t been seen since." It makes sense that the townspeople are cautious of new people coming into town. I doubt it actually benefits them to be wary of new people though, as the doppelganger could easily take the place of one of them. What is it''s goal? It seemed our only option was to venture into town and continue our investigation, maybe the residents would be less wary if a familiar face showed up. Or maybe they would be more wary due to the nature of the issue. Luckily, I had a unicorn. Words that just a few days ago I never thought would cross my mind did so like it was nothing. Bastion had the ability to read the hearts of people, so the plan we formulated revolved around him reading every person in town individually to try and find out where the mimic was, and take it down. A simple plan, but I couldn''t think of a better one. Walking through town, we saw a gathering of people in the middle of a wide clearing. We kept a slight distance, but moved close enough to find out what was going on. There was a man standing on a podium, perhaps a preacher or public figure in the town. He was a handsome middle aged man who seemed to have charisma seeping from his every pore. He wore a black suit with a red tie, and was speaking about the troubles the town was having. We stopped at the back of the gathering, and I turned to Bastion. "Do you see anybody suspicious?" "That''s him" He was pointing at the podium. Were the people somehow fooled into believing this man was the public figure they believed he was? "That''s Father Baldrick, he''s the town''s priest and one of the most respected people in town. To think that this demon has his grasp so deep. Does this mean that the real father is -" "Dead. More than likely your priest has been killed. It''s unfortunate, but the only thing we can do is try to prevent further things from occuring."This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. "Mommy, are those the strange people the nice priest man told us to be careful about?" This was coming from a young girl as she pointed in our direction. At this point some of the residents began to notice us. As they had before, they began acting strangely. Before long a commotion had been made to the point we could no longer hide the fact we were there. But what did she say? The priest had told them to be careful of us? "As I predicted, the face of the deceptive demon has appeared before us in attempt to bring ruin to us all! The Goddess Sofia has guided me to this discovery, and one of his bodyguards has even stolen the appearance of one of our townspeople!" What... "We cannot allow him to speak! His lies will brainwash all but the strongest people, and attempt to turn you against the path of righteousness! We must take him and end the scourge that plagues this town once and for all." "Master Klein, I suggest we run." "I agree" Elena seemed to be in shock. Her people were being turned on her and her brain didn''t have time nor energy to keep up with it. I grabbed her, threw her over my shoulder, and jumped on the now transformed Bastion as we made our escape. Once out of town, we built a fire and checked the pitfall traps we had been using for food. "They were going to kill me" "They aren''t in their right minds, the demon is working to convince the people that all outsiders are enemies." Elena had tears rolling down her eyes. "My parents were in that mob, they looked at me like I was a monster." This girl cries a lot. I guess it''s understandable considering the situation, but it''s really not productive. "Master Klein. I am no tactician, but the only approach to this that I can see is to infiltrate the town''s church. I would suggest undergoing this effort at night." I''m very thankful to have the assistance of this man. If it weren''t for him we both would dead right now. This was a good plan, we were past the point of doing anything in the open, especially during the day. However, if we killed the priest, we needed to find some way to convince the townspeople that he was a demon before we became the target of a witch hunt. So that night we packed up our camp and decided to set off to the church. Bastion stayed just outside of the area to keep lookout for us, as well as act like a getaway van for our crime. It was a beautiful church for such a small town. Not very large, but not small enough to be considered mediocre. I''ve never been a churchgoer, but I had always admired the artwork people create for them. The top of the building was a statue of a beautiful woman with wings spread. I can only imagine this is a depiction of the Goddess Sophia he mentioned. The windows were all a beautiful stain glass, with many different religious symbols and decorations. All of this beauty meant nothing in the hands of the rock that was thrown towards it. The window shattered. Luckily the church was fairly secluded, but that glass breaking may have alerted anybody who may have been inside. "We need to be careful" I glared at Elena, who was now regretting her decision to throw a rock at the window. Just then, I heard footsteps around the corner of the church and pulled her behind a large tree just outside. Is it normal to keep a roving patrol at a church? This security is strange for a building used only for worship. Time to see if this mage can actually be useful. "Can you subdue them?" "Yes, but I need time to prepare. She began to chant in a slight whisper, and two guards turned around the corner to investigate the source of the noise. Elena had cast illusion magic to make the window seem in tact, so hopefully they would just continue their patrol. Had we been spotted? They started walking toward us. Maybe because this is the only spot in the area you would be able to hide behind, I had no choice but to prepare for a fight. " Elena finished her chant in time, and just as they were about to come in our view. The two guards collapsed to the ground, and showed no signs of movement. I guess she was reliable after all. I mean she did save my life. We pulled the guard behind the tree and propped their heads up slightly, then continued into the church. It seemed to be empty, so we split up to search for any evidence of the demon. There was a small office in the back of the church with a desk inside and a few unlit candles lining the walls. Honestly, I don''t know what I was looking for. Hopefully I could find something that could bring the truth to light, but I was doubtful. Did I hear something? It sounded like a voice was coming from below, but I must be crazy. Am I? I went to meet up with Elena again, as she was busy searching through the altar like a thief robbing a jewelry store. "Does this church have a cellar or basement?" "I think so, but nobody ever used it when I lived here. It was probably just for storage." So our objective changed. Rather than searching the church, we began looking for the entrance to the basement. After a few minutes of searching, we found a hidden door under one of the rugs used near the altar. Slowly, we opened the wooden trap door, and it creaked slightly at the hinges. I went first, sword in hand, followed by Elena. Even though she was stronger than me, magic users are meant to take the backline positions for support, so I had to suck it up and act as a vanguard. The staircase was longer than I thought it would be, and once we reached the bottom there was a dark sight. Six people were standing at each point of a star on the floor, each holding a candle and wearing a hooded robe. In the center of the star was a man I recognized. The priest of the town, or the demon who had taken over the priest of the town, was performing some form of ritual right now. He glanced our way, and I saw a look of haste in his eyes. "We must hurry, the demons are here and they intend to stop the strengthening. Hurry!" As he said that, the hooded figures pulled something out of their robes. Knives. This was a sacrificial ritual, and the people here were probably innocent villagers brainwashed into doing this. "Stop this now!" Elena yelled as loud as she could, but it was as though her voice couldn''t be heard by them. The hooded figures fate had already been sealed. I sprinted towards the demon in the middle, fortunately nobody made any intention to stop me. As my sword plunged into his chest, the knives plunged into the stomachs of the sacrifices as well. Before this, I had asked Elena to begin the chant for a spell I''d heard once in the past. Of course this would be a weaker version, but on a demon of this level it should have effect. "HAHAHAHA" The demon began to laugh loudly, my sword still buried in his chest. I pulled it out and backed off several feet. "If you morons had arrived five minutes earlier, you might have actually won! I was weakened during the ritual, so it might have been possible to kill me. Now that it''s complete and I''ve achieved this nice boost in power, I''m happy to be able to test it on you!" "" The demon froze in place "What is this? Bind magic? You wish to stall for time to make an escape?" I took a rope I had found earlier and used it to tie his hands firmly behind his back while the bind was in effect. I''ve always been very skilled with knots, and while he was slightly stronger than before, I didn''t believe he could simply rip through this thick rope. "What are you planning to do?" As he said this, I stared at the sword I had pulled from his chest. The blood was not red, but black. I looked at him for a moment with hatred in my eyes, and turned my eyes back to my sword. "What''s the most helpless feeling you''ve ever had? I hope to be the one who takes all the control you ever thought you had from you." The demon looked at me with absolute terror in his face. As if he was the one staring into the eyes of a demon. The sword I have was taken from the body of a goblin. It''s not exactly dull, but I wouldn''t venture so far as to call it sharp either. That being said, It took several swings to lop off the head of the demon standing before me. I will never forgive them for what their mind control made me do. I would have liked to report this to the people of the town, but I had the feeling the earlier hostilities brewed would have been fresh in their minds still. So we left the town for a few days, making sure to leave a path to the basement so the people could discover this scene on their own. While we were out, we discovered the nest of the goblins that had attacked me. In order to get stronger, I needed to fight. It was a cave just west of the town, and it seemed to be the home of about 30 more goblins than what we had seen before. This time was different than the last, I don''t know if defeating that demon had somehow made me stronger, but these goblins felt much weaker than the ones I fought before. I slaughtered them mercilessly, and at the depths of the cave we found a few valuable looking items that might be worth selling. After three days away from the town, we decided to venture in and hope that all was well. Once again, I rode into town on Bastion. This time Elena was with me, clinging on my back for dear life(She had a fear of horseback riding). As we got into town, we once again were met with wary looks from the townspeople, and eventually stopped and dismounted in the middle of town. Kneeling in front of me was a man with a face of strength. The kind of man who you wouldn''t assume to bend his knee easily. "We are deeply ashamed of the acts that we have attempted against you, hero." So they knew. They must have been nervous, I assume they feel the guilt of what the demon did, and curse themselves for allowing it. "I am Jeran Scharthschil, the senior representative of the Guard of Varillio. I thank you for taking care of my daughter." "Daddy!" Elena ran to the man and hugged him tightly. After that, we were able to conduct business in the town without issues. We managed to get about 5,000 peli from the trinkets we found in the goblins cave. From the values I''ve seen so far, that would probably be equivalent to around 500 US dollars. Not bad, considering we started with nothing. We were able to get food and a few assorted potions that would help in our travels. Thankfully, Elena''s parents had extra rooms for us in their house. They seemed pretty well off. I took the last 3,000 peli we had left over and took it to the local blacksmith. "What can I buy with this?" The blacksmith looked at me with a wide smile. "You saved this town, and we tried to kill you. I think it''s safe to say that each and every one of us are in your debt." "I only did what I thought was right." "You''d be surprised how few people are willing to do that." He said this as he reached below his counter, and pulled out a large trunk from underneath. "These are heirlooms of the champion Reichard Scharthschil, given to my grandfather by him as his dying wish, along with this note" He handed me a note. ''These personal effects assisted me greatly in my life, and my greatest wish is that a part of myself can help another who shares my will to achieve their dreams.'' "Consider these a gift from this town, as payment for your efforts." There was no way I could turn this down, I''m really amazed how humble all these people are. "Thank you" The first thing I pulled from the box was a set of light armor, it was pitch black and had a beautiful sheen to it, as if it would glint if the light touched it. To my surprise it fit perfectly, the shoulder cape attached to it felt a bit cheesy, but apparently it was imbued with magical effects, so it was worth it. At the bottom of the box was a long, thin case. When I pulled it out and opened it, I couldn''t believe my eyes. Inside the case was a longsword with a pitch black blade. When I picked it up, I noticed that it was incredibly light. To test the sharpness of the blade, I lightly ran my finger across it to get a feel of it. After cleaning the blood, reattaching my finger and drinking a healing potion, I sheathed the sword and attached it to my hip. "You look so cool!" The voice came from Elena, seeing me in my new armor as she walked into the blacksmith''s store. We had been in this town for a week, and Elena had asked to travel with us. She was kind of an idiot, but she seemed like a reliable mage, so I agreed. After saying our goodbyes to the people we had met over the past few weeks, we headed out towards the city of Calerion. Chapter 4: Land of the Beasts It had been three weeks since I had been transported to this world. I was still getting used to a lot of things, but thanks to my time in the military I was used to living in poor conditions, and sleeping outside was nothing to me. In this world, even though I had already been through some terrible situations, I felt a freedom that I had only fantasized about. Together with Elena and Bastion, I set off from the small town of Varillio towards the city of Calerion. The roads in the kingdom were by no means safe, anybody moving between them was taking a risk. Merchants usually travelled in caravans, with adventurers paid to defend them from monsters and bandits. A lot of travellers would be able to hop on these caravans and attain safe passage for a small fee. "!" The woman to my left directed this at the three ogres standing in front of us. We were caught completely off guard. Bastion was hit by one of the ogres when we stopped to rest, and was now laying on the ground. It seemed he was out like a light. The spell had the effect of blinding the target, and dealing a small amount of damage. On an enemy of this level, the damage was incredibly low, but the three ogres were momentarily stunned, and I was able to take this opportunity. Using the new equipment I had been given, I leapt forward and sliced the arm of one of the ogres off in one clean blow. It felt like my endurance was better than it had ever been. I was moving at a speed that surprised me, and not even being winded by all of this to top it off. I landed behind the ogre, and without missing a beat managed to turn myself and slice his head off. Blood sprayed in a large area and the ogre fell to the ground. This wasn''t something I could pull off again. I had the feeling wouldn''t have an effect on these guys next time, so we needed a plan to take down the other two. Elena was still a novice mage, and didn''t have a wide array of attack magic yet. Outside of , she had no magic that didn''t require a long incantation. The ogres were visibly upset at the death of their comrade, and looked at me with murderous intent in their eyes. I would think this is a good thing that meant they might make a mistake, but I''m not naive. Ogres use their strength to fight, not skill and technique. No matter how good I feel right now, these ogres are much stronger than I am. If it weren''t for this sword of mine I probably wouldn''t have been able to hurt one, much less decapitate it. The first ogre began running towards me at a full sprint. I managed to dive away just in time, only to see the second ogre charging towards Elena. This is bad. I might be able to dodge these two, but there''s no way she can. Mages are back liners, their agility and strength will improve with levels, but it''s a minor change compared to what a swordsman would gain. Elena would die from one blow. I moved fast, as fast as my legs would possibly take me. I managed to evade the swinging right fist of the ogre between me and Elena, and push through. I wasn''t going to make it in time. Suddenly, I felt something moving towards us at a high speed. A blur darted past me and slammed into the head of the ogre attacking Elena, causing the monster to lose it''s balance. I took advantage of the opportunity. As soon as I got close enough, I swung my sword. The blow connected and left a large gash in the ogres chest. As the ogre fell to the ground, the blur I had seen was clear to me now. A wolf. It had black hair with a grey stripe along his head, with one blue eye and one crimson red. Truly a beautiful creature. Was it here to help? Or was it just attacking anything it saw? As I was thinking this, the wolf charged towards me. When it was a few paces in front of me, it jumped. I raised my sword to defend myself, but I was completely outclassed. There was nothing I could do to stop this monster coming towards me. Wait. Is this wolf not aiming for me? I thought these words right as the wolf''s teeth connected with the neck of the ogre behind me. The battle was over so fast I could barely tell what happened. Three ogres surrounded me dead on the floor, as the wolf in front of me sat down. Slowly, a bright light enveloped the beast. A few seconds, kneeling before me was a man who had only a moment ago been a giant wolf. He still had that grey streak in his hair, but he didn''t look much older than 20. "I''m glad I could make it in time, friend of the future king of beasts." "Huh" "Huh" The words came from both me and Elena, who were both equally confused. "The man on the ground over there is the heir to the throne of Lycania. One of only four unicorns in existence. I am a demihuman. You may think of my specific species as a werewolf." I thought he was a servant of the Sargonya kingdom. These new things just keep popping up. "I imagine you''re quite confused. Let us go to my village, you can rest and recover there." After transforming back into his animal form, the werewolf grabbed Bastion with his mouth by the collar of his shirt and gently threw him over his back. We walked for about an hour until we reached our destination. As it turns out, the road we had been travelling on ran along the border of Lycania. We ended up in the border town of Basken, which was a diverse town sitting directly on the border of the two nations. The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. Apparently there was still a lot of tension between demihumans and humanity from skirmishes in the past. Though the relationships had improved a lot over the past hundred years, if you were a human in a demihuman nation or a demihuman in a human nation, you would be looked at with judgemental eyes. This place was different. It was basically split right down the middle, half the people living here were lycan, and half were human. Demihuman refers to all species that became human or partially human through another species. Usually they''re caused by evolution from their animal counterparts, such as the foxmen, the only traits they retain are the fox like tail and ears, along with a few of the more keen senses. Sometimes they''re developed by magical interference with animals, like the lizardmen who were originally created by a magical experiment that went out of control, or the werewolves whose origins are a curse they were able to overcome. This was all explained to me by the werewolf who saved us, Lumis. The sight we saw as we entered town of Basken was truly something to be marveled at. Honestly, it felt almost like I was at some kind of convention for people who dressed up like animals. The difference was that this was real. It was truly awe inspiring. It seemed like the town had been alerted of Bastion''s visit prior to our arrival, and a crowd seemed to have gathered in the town square. I think they may have been expecting a speech, but Bastion was still unconscious and needed to rest for a bit. Upon seeing this, Lumis moved to the front of the group and began to speak. "His Highness has arrived, but is currently resting and unable to give ceremony. I understand you all are excited to see his majesty, and I assure you that he will make his presence known soon!" Disappointed grumbles were heard all around as the crowd slowly but surely dispersed, and Lumis led us to our quarters. It seemed that Bastion really was royalty, and an appropriate lodging had been prepared for him. No doubt the lord of the mansion we were staying in had been panicked to death making sure everything for his stay was perfect on such short notice, as he looked extremely nervous as we approached. "Welcome to my estate, sir. Allow my servants to escort you to your individual rooms while we await the awakening of his majesty." I''m still not used to being talked to like this, but everybody in this world seems to follow a hierarchy. It seems really awkward that the king of beasts has been treating me as his master, but I''m sure there''s a reason for it. There was a common area in the hallway between our three rooms, and myself and Elena had made ourselves comfortable on the couches while we waited for Bastion to wake up. "You didn''t tell me he was royalty" "I didn''t know" She didn''t see how surprised I was when I heard? "I mean either way, that seems like a rather big fact for him to just forget to mention" "I''m sure he has a good reason for it, what''s strange is that he practically raised Princess Lilyana. What''s a prince doing in servitude to another nation?" "PRINCESS LILYANA?" Well I mean, I guess that is a bit of a bomb to drop if you don''t know about it. I''m probably gonna have to drop a few more to clear things up, I want to be open with the people in my party. "Yeah, that''s how I met him in the first place. I have some things to tell you, but I need you to promise you won''t overreact to it." "I would never do something like that, I''m a lady of a very prideful and esteemed family after all." So I took the next 15 minutes explaining the things that happened since I arrived in this world. As soon as I finished, I heard a door open not far from me. "Bastion!" Elena was busy panicking on the couch after what I told her, so I decided to let her be for a while. "Where am I?" "We''re in Basken, a werewolf named Lumis saved our lives and brought us here" "Oh" "Oh? How is oh the only response you have for this? Prince Bastion, future king of Lycania." Hearing this, Bastion chuckled lightly. "Ahh yes, there is that" He seems really light hearted about this whole thing. "Why are you in servitude to Sargonya when you''re the heir to this country?" "I''ve never been in servitude to Sargonya. I was only in servitude to Princess Lilyana, who happened to be the third princess of Sargonya." "Why?" His usual servant demeanor had changed to that of an equal, and now he gave off the air of royalty. "I am a unicorn Klein. I instinctively read the hearts of people and judge them based on my reading. That being said, I am much older than I look. Though I have the appearance of a middle aged man, I am actually three hundred years old. Lilyana had a very pure heart, and I did my best to guide her in hopes that she would achieve her goals." But she died in the end, she never achieved the goals she wanted to. "Did she achieve those goals?" Her death was my fault. I should have died in her place. "I believe she did. Before we departed for those dark lands she confided in me about a vision she''d had. Lilyana was a powerful mage, but she was also a seer. She had seen a man from another world being summoned, with two paths laid in front of him. One path led to peace and joy, and the other led to certain destruction. She told me that if she was able to get you out at the cost of her own life, it would be her pleasure to pay." "I''m not worth as much as you two are claiming I am." "You''d be surprised what you''re worth, Master Klein" He said this with as much confidence as a man can exude. "If she had just killed me, she would still be alive" "Princess Lilyana took the gamble of her own life to save yours. All of her faith was given to you. You need to stop looking down on yourself and think about the ways that you can pay back her trust." ... He''s right. I''ve been wallowing in self pity over the woman who gave everything for a dream. I need to move on from this, and make sure that her sacrifice wasn''t in vain. "I understand." We continued to talk for the next hour or so about various things. It turns out that Lycania and Sargonya are part of the alliance of six that dreadful queen had been talking about. We stayed in the town of Basken for about a week, and met all manner of different people and demihumans. Honestly, this entire world is filled with magic, but this place felt more magical than anything I had seen so far. I may come to live here if I''m still alive when my journey ends. Unfortunately, most of our current time here was spent sitting in meetings to support Bastion, so we didn''t get to enjoy the sights. It seems that Lycania was seeking diplomatic aid from a small merchant country on their western border that was not part of the alliance, and they had been out in search of Bastion for about a month to occupy his position. It seemed like the unicorn and I needed to part ways for now. "You''ve seen how fast I can run, Master Klein. Should you ever find yourself in the situation where you need me, use this and I will drop everything to move to your side. I have sworn to protect you, and I will do my best to fulfill that oath." He handed me a small object, it was about the size of my pinky finger and black, with a small lip nozzle. It was a whistle. "Bastion, I wish there was some way I could repay you for everything you''ve done. If it weren''t for you I wouldn''t be standing here right now." "If you truly wish to repay me for the things I''ve done for you, live the way she would have wanted. That is all I can ask" "Thank you for everything." The mythical beast standing before my eyes just smiled, and we parted ways. I don''t know when the next time I see him is, but I''ll keep this whistle close. "WAIT" A woman called out to us as we were preparing to leave the town. "What is it?" She was at a full sprint running up to us. She appeared to be a foxman, or foxgirl, or foxperson. I''m not one to be politically correct but she was clearly not a man. Her beautiful orange hair flowed in the wind, and although she was fairly short it was incredibly clear she was an adult. She wore a suit of light armor that seemed to accentuate the curves of her body, and while I pride myself in my ability to maintain eye contact, the first thing that caught my eye on this woman was her abundant cleavage. On her hip was a short sword, and on her back was a large shield. "You guys are adventurers, right?" "Yeah, why" The response came from Elena. "Please take me with you!" Chapter 5: The Fox in Basken "What did you say?" "Take me with you!" We were at the border of Basken, and the voice was coming from the beautiful fox girl standing in front of me in full battle gear. I looked at Elena "Do you know this girl?" "Why would I know her? You''re the one who gets into all sorts of trouble, you probably just forgot about it." She looked at me like I''m obviously responsible for everything. This woman... The fox girl in front of me started to speak really quickly, as if she was embarrassed. "I''m sorry, you don''t know me. I''ve seen you guys around and you looked like strong adventurers. I''ve wanted to become an adventurer since I was little, but my parents always said it was too dangerous. I train myself every day though and people say I have natural talent as a vanguard" A vanguard? This girl weighs like 100 pounds soaking wet. I can''t imagine she''d be much use in a battle with ogres or similar large beasts. Although, we do need a vanguard. I''m using a sword but I don''t even have an adventurers card, and when I get to the guild in Carilleon I may decide to go a different route. I''m definitely not a sword and shield kind of guy, so I usually prefer to avoid or parry hits rather than block them. That being said, I don''t want somebody who''s completely incompetent to join us, so I needed to test her in some way. I''m not very strong right now, but I''m not expecting people stronger than me to join up at this point. "How about a match?" "Huh?" "Unfortunately, I can''t take somebody into my party if they can''t hold their own in a fight. Duel me and we''ll make our decision based on that." "Can we do that? Won''t people be kind of freaked out if they see two people fighting right at the entrance to the town?" Elena voiced her concerns, she might be right. In any case it''s something to double check first. After asking a few guards, we found out that there was an arena in Basken meant for training that people occasionally use for duels. We ended up at the arena about an hour later, but only ran into more troubles. "What do you mean two days?!" "Sir, exactly what I said. The wait time to use the arena currently is two days. There''s a travelling circus in town and they''re bringing in tons of people who want to watch. If you can pay the reservation fee now I can schedule you in two days." I thought about just leaving and forgetting all this happened, but the girl sounded so hopeful when she asked us to take her with us, so I decided to give it a chance. We weren''t really in a hurry anyways. "How much is the fee? We managed to sell some of the stuff we had pulled from the ogres and a few other monsters for about 10,000 peli, so we had a bit of spending cash right now and enough for lodging while we waited. After paying the 2,000 peli fee, we decided to explore the town a bit more. The time we spent here was mostly sitting in meetings and talking to nobles about Bastions duties, so we never really got the opportunity to look around. It turns out Basken has a really entertaining strip of vendors, and some great food stalls. It makes sense, Basken is like a melting pot of diversity in this world, so people and demihumans from around the world came here to live and visit. A lot of them brought dishes from their country and took the opportunity to sell them here. "Oh! There''s a specialty kebab stand here!" The fox woman was still hanging around us, I guess she was just trying to keep an eye on us so we didn''t run off before the duel. "This place is amazing! How did I not know about it before? This thing is so cool!" This came from the airhead next to me, as she played with this world''s version of a Chinese finger trap. I''m starting to wonder if she really graduated from a prestigious magic school. "Klein, can we keep this?" She said this while holding what looked like a Guinea pig up to her chest, she had found it in a pet stall. There was a tinkle in her eye while she asked me this. "Elena, If you try to take that thing with us I will eat it the next time we run out of food." "You can''t eat Master Valkarth! He''s my friend" Master Valkarth? Why is she trying to give such an intimidating name to a rat? "No" She looked down sadly and muttered under her breath, reminding me of a child who was told they can''t have ice cream. "Fine" I ended up getting one of the best steaks I''ve ever had from one of the stalls and we called it a night. A small part of me wishes I could just stay here, but I need to keep moving forward. Two days passed and we ended up back at the town''s arena. It was finally time. The beautiful fox girl was standing in front of me with sword and shield in hand, and I was standing still with my longsword sheathed. I call it a longsword, but it was really a single edged sword with a slight curve in it. Not quite a Japanese Katana but not quite an actual longsword either. "Are you sure you want to go through with this? I''ll try to pull my attack if I think you''re going to get hurt, but I can''t make promises." There was an intermediary from the guard force to oversee the duel. Duels to the death weren''t allowed in Basten, so the rules said the first to score a hit that would have been deadly was the one to win. A voluntary damage reduction spell was distributed before the duel began" "I''m completely sure" "By the way, you never told me. What''s your name?" "My name is Ember. Let''s begin, I''ve been waiting for this. " As she said this she leapt forward and a flame appeared around her sword. She wasn''t particularly fast, but the effect of her weapon caught me by surprise. If I parry this will the flame leave the sword and come towards me? I''m still not very experienced with a sword. After using one for about a month I''d improved, but I was no expert in technique. I had to do something fast, so it''s better to move now and think later. I went to parry as a feint, and when her sword was about to connect to mine I dropped to the ground. I''m not sure what those flames would do when they connected with my sword, but I didn''t really want to find out. If I could end this quickly it would be much better for me. Sure enough, the fire coming from her blade lurched out when she swung at me. If I hadn''t made the move I did, I would have been burned. What a scary technique. I ended up on all fours with one leg forward like I was about to start a race. I kicked off towards her, slashing my sword at the same time. She managed to block it with her shield. As soon as she did I rolled towards the shield, grabbed it with my left hand and twisted my body so it would be difficult to reach with the sword.Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. I got her back. The fight was mine. My sword moved directly behind her back. "Winner!" The call of the guard sounded like a referee at a sports game. The only thing he needed was a whistle. To be honest, if that move hadn''t worked out I probably would have lost. I don''t have much experience fighting people with shields, and can''t say what I would have done if my level didn''t give me the upper hand. After the fight, we ended up walking through town for a while visiting vendors and enjoying one more night here. "What is that sword?" "It was a gift from my papa before he died, it''s name is Fyri" "Your sword has a name?" "All rare class weapons do, an enchanted sword is a living thing. I''m sure yours does too, that thing is definitely stronger than a rare class like mine. There are also different moves they can use, like my sword''s " I looked at the dark blade, I didn''t see any markings on it. Now that I think about it, something always felt a bit off about this sword. How do I find out the name of this weapon? "The blacksmith I got this sword from didn''t say anything about a name, and the letter that came with it didn''t mention a name either." "Hmm, I mean you could take it to an arcane blacksmith to be appraised, but the closest one is in Calerion. That''s like a 10 day trip on foot." "That''s where we were going anyways, you can find out the name of your sword there!" Elena had been silently listening for a while, but she got excited about this for some reason. "Why are you so interested in it''s name?" "There are different types of magic I can study as a mage. In school I studied combustion and illusion magic, but I''ve researched a little bit about arcane enchanting and it''s really interesting to me" There''s gotta be a light switch somewhere on this girl. One second she sounds like a total idiot and the next she sounds like a genius mage. Maybe there''s a little angel and demon on her shoulder flipping it off and on again for fun. "That''s really awesome Elena! I''m a maladroit, otherwise I would have wanted to study magic too." "Malawhat?" "It means she has no mana, it''s almost impossible for her to become a mage." "Almost impossible is still possible, couldn''t she at least give it a shot?" "I said almost because there are a few forbidden rituals that can give maladroit the mana they would need, but they''re forbidden for a good reason. All of them involve human sacrifice to steal the mana core of someone else." "Oh" Well that really sucks, I wonder if I can use magic. That night, we tied up the last few things we wanted to do in the town of Basten, and actually went to leave this time. "Wait!" Oh god, not again. This time, it was a man in plate armor running up to us, he had wings like an eagle on his back, and I have no idea what his race was. "He''s a pegasus, they''re a fairly rare race because a lot of them die really young. It''s actually pretty sad" Ember whispered this in my ear, it''s probably a touchy subject. "I overheard you guys talking about going to Calerion. I know that you protected Lord Bastion, so I wanted to give you this before you left." He handed me a sealed envelope. "This is a letter of endorsement from the Knight Captain Elrak of Lycania. If you run into trouble in Calerion, you can present this to the guards and they should let some smaller things pass. Thank you for your assistance!" "Thank you, I''m sure this will be helpful." With that, the man gave us a salute, bowed his head and went on his way. At last, we were finally free to continue our journey to Calerion. How does this world have so many distractions? At least in my old world you were able to move from one place to another without getting stopped by six people. So we set off. We had bought enough provisions to last us for a few days, and had some equipment with us to hunt with for food as well. Elena had a spell to purify water, so it made our lives a whole lot easier. I would really hate to fight and defeat giant ogres, only to later die of dysentery. The path to Calerion was mostly through the woods, and the fire was able to deter a good amount of monsters at night. During the day the occasional few would pop out, like goblins and smaller wolves, there were a few giant bats as well, but it was nothing we couldn''t handle. After 10 days of travel, we finally made it. The forest path suddenly cleared, and now we were standing in a beautiful, hilly plain. The grass was green as far as the eye could see, and I could already start to see glimpses of a giant city in the distance. Calerion was huge. It was a beautiful city from a distance, but to be honest, I don''t know how advanced this place would be. Some of the nicer places I stayed had magical toilets and showers, so you really didn''t see a lot of people throwing their waste on the streets or anything, but poverty still existed. If I had to equate the actual technology of this world, I''d probably put it at about the middle ages. All of that didn''t matter. We had arrived, it was time to go get an adventurers card and find out the name of my weapon! Interlude Limone walked the halls of the dark castle late at night. There was no guard, for the beings residing in this castle were strong enough to detect an enemy, and automatically raise an alert the moment they entered the castle. However, this was mostly limited to the castle itself. The long grounds outside were difficult for them to keep tabs on with senses alone, so normally there were guards posted in strategic locations in the event of an intruder. Idiot. The thought rolled through his mind as he looked back to the actions of Ashker, the Demon Lord of Dark Divine, a race with relations to angels that had fallen. If he hadn''t moved on his own, that man would still be our prisoner. The method the intruders used to enter the barrier was still unknown to them, but it was most likely the work of that woman. Considering she had nearly killed the high level demon posted guard near his shack, it wouldn''t have been a surprise if she could somehow manipulate a small portion of the barrier. The thought of reinforcing it ran through his mind. After the walk that always seemed like eternity, he reached his destination. The castle depths - the dungeon. Moving down the eery spiral staircase, he slowly walked towards the holding area. The dungeon was massive, with a hallway leading down the middle. They could imprison an entire army here, though he couldn''t imagine a reason to leave an entire army of races alive. After another few minutes of walking, he reached the end of the hallway and entered a set of stone double doors. The room was large and open, with several tables set up in the middle. Several things would catch a person''s eye on their first arrival in this room, such as the content of these tables or the chains lining the walls, but none of this concerned Limone. He was here for another reason. On the wall at the end of the room there was a man chained to the wall, his movement completely restricted. Behind sticking out from his back on the right side was a single black wing. The man had cuts and bruises covering his entire body, and his left wing was laid on the ground in front of him, torn from his very body. "Limone" The man said this weakly, as if completely broken. Torture was originally a method to extract information, and once the required information was received the subject would normally be put to death. This was not meant to extract information. The queen knew that Ashker had not intentionally betrayed her, but he was an example for anybody stupid enough to try. Ashker had been taken here the moment the queen found out what happened. He had made a foolish decision to keep the man outside of the castle, and his thoughts that humans are beneath us led to the human escaping. My orders were to determine when the punishment was complete, and remove him from the dungeon. He would recover from his injuries fairly quickly, but that wing would never grow back. "Ashker, you have made a mistake that could effect the outcome of the war between us and the alliance of six. Do you understand why you''re here?" He looked at me with surprised eyes. This is most likely the first time anybody has actually spoken to him in this torture chamber. Our dungeon master has a habit of toying with the minds of the ones he tortures. He will purposely say nothing to them the entire time, and let the receiver get their own twisted delusions of why they''re down here. Some believe they''re in hell, some believe it''s payment for what they''d done. Nevertheless, they all break in the end. Ashker was not as stupid as he had shown himself to be, and as a demon lord he already knew about that man''s habit. That didn''t stop the month of torture from having psychological effects on him, but it did give him the ability to keep his mind in tact. It seemed he was still sane, and would be of further use to the queen. "Yes, Sir Limone." After he barely managed to push these words from his mouth, the chains surrounding him dissipated. The two demons walked back down the long hallway, back up the winding stairs and through the halls until they got to another room with large doors. "It looks like the last two have arrived" The words were coming from a woman standing to the side of the queen. This was a succubus and the queen''s right hand, Alenette. The murmurs settled as they took their places in the formation. There were thirteen people gathered in total, with the leader of the demon lords kneeled before the throne. "The highest of the demonic beings have gathered, my liege" "Very well" The queen was calm, but the amusement she had with the human had been long extinguished. A rage was boiling in her heart for having her prize ripped from beneath her lap. "While the events of the last few weeks were truly unfortunate, we cannot count it as a total loss. Sadly, the human and the unicorn managed to escape, but it seems a princess of the Sargonya kingdom lost her life in their escape. We will take advantage of this situation and use it for our future military actions. Kazalim, I leave this to you." Kazalim was the lord of the vampires, one of the thirteen demon lords standing here. "Yes, my liege." The queen directed her eyes towards Ashken and unleashed some of her aura. The once proud Dark Divine quivered in fear. She then turned to face Limone. "As for this fool, he will be given opportunity to repent for his incompetence. He will have the task of tracking down the stolen human and returning him to us alive, so that we may use him to accomplish our goals." "It will be done, my queen" Limone had his head dropped nearly to the floor, and was relishing in the might of his master''s aura. Whatever mistakes that idiot has made in the past, he will not repeat. Though he is weakened right now, Ashken should more than suffice to retrieve the one who was lost. "If you manage to find the prince of Lycania with him, feel free to send him my regards." As she said this her face turned sour, and she was no doubt dreaming of gutting the unicorn herself. Within a week, two beings departed the dark castle. Each had a different destination, and a different goal. Chapter 6: Carilleon The adventurer''s city of Carilleon was massive. The three of us were currently on a beautiful green hill overlooking the city. "Whaaaaaaaat? I thought Basten was big!" "Have you ever left Basten Ember? The royal capital is bigger than this" "Bigger?! I was born and raised in Basten, this is my first time outside the city walls." Wow, to think this wasn''t the biggest city in this country. There was a giant wall surrounding the city and I could just barely see a set of twin gates that looked like pieces of art. Unlike the cities of my world, there were no giant skyscrapers. This didn''t take away from the beauty of the city though, from where I was standing the construction within looked fairly advanced. I was excited to go inside. On each corner of the city stood a large tower that somehow twisted in a way, with what looked like a giant ball at the top. There were lots of huge buildings still, and the roads all seemed improved. The streets in Basten had all been gravel, but these looked like brick. In the center of Calerion was a large hill with a giant castle on it. So we took everything in. I used this opportunity to try and familiarize myself with some of the roads I could see from up here. "Identification." The guard asked in a tone that sounded like he would rather be anywhere else. We had arrived at the front gate and were stopped at a checkpoint, I guess the traffic inside was controlled fairly strictly. From what Elena told me, the adventurers card issued by the guild is the equivalent of an ID card in this world. Along with that, they also issued normal ID''s to non adventurers for a fee. That sounds more like a DMV than an adventurer''s guild. "These two are my guests, we''re planning to get them adventurer''s cards in town. Can you let us through?" "Ma''am, I can let you through, but your friends have to stand in line to get a visitor''s pass before they can enter. I''m sorry, but I just can''t break the rules" The guard pointed to a line of what must be upwards of 1,000 people, snaking down the castle wall as far as I could see. "I''m sorry Klein, I was really hoping I could get you inside right now. The line should only take about three days, and the fee is only 1,000 peli per person. I''ll see you guys inside!" Ember broke out into a cold sweat. "Why is it so long..." ... Elena was about to abandon us to this line and go inside by herself, what a great companion. "Sir" I pulled the attention of the guard, and brandished the letter from my backpack. "This is..." He examined the letter, and looked back at the three of us. "Are you three nobles? The Knight Captain of Lycania is a very famous man, and to get his endorsement despite his seclusionary nature. Very well, I can let you through. This is a one time thing though, so make sure you get your adventurer''s cards." "Thank you." I looked over to see Ember breathe a sigh of relief, and we all headed inside. It was already evening by the time we got in, so we decided to search for lodging. We were down to about 4,000 Peli, so we had to find some jobs pretty soon. Apparently all the inns here were full except for one that seemed to be particularly high class. "2,000 Peli for a single room?!" The registration fee for adventurers was apparently 1,000 Peli, so that was everything we had set aside. The astonished face was from Elena, who was blushed slightly. "I guess it''s ok, I mean it''s not like we have a choice but to all sleep in the same room" I have no idea what thoughts go through this woman''s mind. We''ve been travelling for almost two months now, and most nights we ended up sleeping near each other by the camp. How is a hotel room any different? "Fine with me!" It seemed like Ember was enthusiastic about the whole thing. I guess it only really bothered Elena, who seemed to have a dirty mind. We headed up to our room and dropped our bags. The room only had one bed, but it was very fancy. The bed was large and had a red drapery surrounding it. In the corner of the room there was a door that lead to a very large magic imbued bathtub, that looked more like a hot tub. It seemed it had some built in spell runes on it. Elena said that there was pretty complex magic involved, so mass producing them was an issue. They had spells to fill it with water, drain the water, heat it up, and make air jets. All of this was operated by a series of buttons. As an excited Ember inspected every inch of the tub, a thought ran through my mind. "So who''s sleeping where?" "We''re all gonna sleep on the bed, duh!" I feel like Ember was a bit more enthusiastic than this then Elena, who was standing in the corner acting shy. I tended to keep to myself a lot in my old world, but I had been with a few women and I understood that I will never understand them. I was ok with it, everybody here was an adult and the bed looked big enough to hold six people. We took turns bathing and decided to get ready for bed. I was just going to sleep in what I was wearing, so I crawled in bed and tried to close my eyes. A few minutes later, Elena came out flushed from cheek to cheek, and I could immediately tell why. What is it with this woman. She was wearing a very short silk nightgown that seemed to accentuate her chest, which wasn''t as large as Ember''s, but wasn''t small enough to not be noticable either. Elena was shorter than me by about a head, and had long dark hair that she usually kept wrapped in a ponytail. Right now it was flowing all the way to her shoulders. I''m starting to wonder if she misunderstood something, but if that''s what she wants I''m not one to argue. She stood there at the doorway, staring at me shyly. It''s almost like she was trying to build up the courage to walk over. Just then, an orange blur darted past her and jumped on the left side of me on the bed. Maybe this is just how they sleep? Her nightgown was even skimpier, it was basically a silk bra with some fabric hanging down just enough to touch her panties. Honestly, the whole thing went well with her orange hair, being a bright red color. Elena had a look of confusion. It seemed she didn''t realize how much of a free spirit Ember was. Slowly, she walked over and climbed in bed. I woke up to a loud snoring on my chest, and I realized that at some point during the night both of them had somehow managed to find their way to me. I now had Elena''s head on my right shoulder, and Ember''s on the left side of my chest, with her left leg sprawled across my legs. If I hadn''t been so exhausted from the trip, I probably would have woken up to that in the middle of the night. Right now I didn''t want to wake them, it had been a long trip so they deserved to rest. I slowly pushed to sit up in bed, with the intention of crawling out, as the snoring fox girl''s hand connected with my face and pushed me right back down. I guess I wasn''t complaining, I had two of the most beautiful women I had ever seen laying on my chest right now. I ended up laying in silence until they woke up.Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. I would call it silence, if it weren''t for the chainsaw on my chest. After what must have been an hour of laying like this, I was greeted by the face of Elena panicking and jumping out of bed. She started talking really fast with her face bright red. "I''m sorry I was sleeping my body just moved on it''s own it''s not my fault I''m sorry I''m sorry I''m sorry" I laughed out loud. The sight of the embarrassed idiot in front of me was hilarious. "Why are you laughing! This isn''t funny, I''ve never slept with a man before!" "Good morning Klein, good morning Elena." The fox girl lifted her head from my chest. It seemed the panicking Elena didn''t faze her at all. Her arms went above her head as she stretched thoroughly, arching. This girl is the definition of erotic. After calming down Elena, we made our way to the adventurer''s guild. We had 2,000 Peli left, and she us told that should be just enough to cover the registration fee. Walking inside of the guild, it seemed a bit stereotypical of an adventurer''s guild from a game. There were tables with various adventurer parties talking and eating, near the end of the guild was a bar with a few rough and roudy looking guys sitting at it, and at the end was a long counter with three people standing around behind them. All along the walls of the guild were cork boards with papers pinned on them, they must have been the quests the guild had active. One of the clerks was an older lady, there was a very beautiful woman dressed formally, and a boy who couldn''t be older than 12. We walked up to the booth and were greeted by the boy. "Whaddya want?" Well then. "We''re trying to register as adventurers." "MOM, THESE GUYS WANNA BE ADVENTURERS." The kid yelled this as if she were in another room, and the older lady walked over to the counter. As she walked up, she swatted the child over the back of the head. "What did I tell you about yelling for no reason? I was standing right over there. Be nice to the customers and talk to them courteously. I really hope you don''t think I didn''t hear you when you greeted them." What a scary lady. The kid looked down and walked away towards the back slowly. With that, the mother''s attitude completely changed to a wide customer service smile. "How can I help you today?" "The two of us need to register as adventurers, ma''am." I talked to the lady I just watched ream the little boy with a bit more respect than I otherwise would have. "Great! There''s a quick test but we should be able to get you guys processed in no time!" A test? I mean we were already fairly strong, so I wasn''t worried about it. "IRYNA, WE NEED YOU TO GIVE THE TEST TO THESE PEOPLE!" The woman who had just reprimanded her son for yelling did the exact same thing he had. "Ok momma, you don''t need to yell. I''m standing right here." Iryna came out from behind the counter and turned to us, putting on the same customer service smile her mother had. This girl was about the same age as Elena, and a world class beauty. "The admission for the test is 1,000 Peli per person." I guess money means everything in this world too. We handed her the 2,000 peli. "If you''ll follow me, we administer the test in here." We followed her through a door to the right of the counter, and into a room with nothing but a small table in it. On the table was an orb about the size of a soccer ball. "Who''s first?" "I''ll go!" Ember stepped up and volunteered faster than she could probably think about it. "Ok, this is called the orb of internal seeing. When you put your hands on the orb it will sense your strengths, and create your adventurer''s card for you. "Ok!" As soon as she touched the orb, it began to glow. "It''s really hot, I cant move my hands." "You''ll feel the heat, but it will have no effect on your body. Relax." After a few minutes the orb seemed to settle down, and Ember released her hands. "So what now?" Just then, a small card appeared in front of her. As soon as she touched it something crazy happened. It was like a hologram shot out of the card, and a screen like interface was in front of her. "This is so awesome!" I can''t blame her for being excited, this is really cool. Iryna took the card from her and pulled the hologram up. "It looks like you''re a vanguard, level 10. It''s unusual for somebody to be that strong before they even register." "I mean we''ve fought all sorts of monsters, and I''ve been training myself since I was little. "Ah, I see. Well then sir, could you step up to the orb?" I did as she asked, and a similar effect happened. It really was hot, it was as if my hands were going to burn off. I felt like a child who just shoved his hand on a stove burner. But I couldn''t move my hands. After a few minutes of this excruciating pain, my hands were freed and it was as if there had been no pain in the first place. "They say the orb is more painful for people with more potential." The guild clerk looked at me when she said this. As she did, a card appeared in front of me as it had to Ember. I handed it to Iryna and she pulled up the hologram. "This has to be a mistake, I don''t understand." She was muttering to herself as she scrolled through the contents of the card. "I need to go verify something, please wait by the front counter." With that, we went back to the front counter and waited. Iryna had pulled her mother aside behind the counter and they were whispering back and forth. After a few minutes, her mother passed out and fell on the floor. What the hell is going on? About five minutes later, the boy came out with a bucket of water and splashed it on his mother. She slowly rose to her feet and walked over to me. As if the sight that just unfolded before my eyes never happened, she spoke to me with that same customer service smile. "I apologize for the wait, my daughter thought there might have been a mistake on your card, but we verified it." "What do you mean?" "You seem to be a battle mage." "A BATTLE MAGE?" The sound came from Elena, who was standing there in awe. "I don''t understand, what''s that?" "Were you born under a rock? Maybe you got our cards mixed up, he''s the vanguard and I''m the battle mage. There''s no way someone that ignorant could be -" I think Ember was jealous. "We have verified the accuracy. As for you sir, a battle mage is a special class of mage that fights primarily as a swordsman, but intertwines magic with their sword skills. It''s a very rare class, and there are currently three known to exist. You''re also currently level 16." "Oh" "What do you mean oh? This is a huge deal, and you''ve almost caught up to me in level? I just hit level 20 two days ago and I''ve been studying magic for years." I couldn''t tell if Elena was upset about this or excited, but it didn''t really bother me. So I have some sort of crazy ability I guess. Maybe I''ll become formidable. It seemed the rest of the guild heard the commotion, and murmurs started going around the whole building. "A battle mage? Here?" "I''ve never seen a real one" A few of them came up to me over the next few minutes and asked me to join their party. I''m not one to relish in the spotlight, so we mingled with the people in the guild for a few minutes and made our way out. We needed to find this arcane blacksmith, and find out the name of the sword on my waist. We knew there was one here, but it was difficult to find. The shop ended up being hidden in the back of a dark alley. It looked completely out of place with a large sign reading ''Arcane Arts''. How did they get customers here? As we walked in there was a bell on the door that rang a few times, like walking into an old antique shop. A short old man was sweeping the floors and didn''t seem to notice our entry. "Umm" Ember felt out of place too, it was kind if eerie. "Is he the arcane blacksmith?" The man stopped sweeping when I said that. "What business do you have looking for the arcane blacksmith?" The voice we heard was cold, and I thought I sensed hostility in those words. "I want to get my sword appraised." "The Arcane blacksmith is a man who will only deal with worthy customers. If you wish to prove yourself, go to the caves north of here, fight the dragon residing there and bring it here alive. Then you will be allowed the presence of the arcane blacksmith." The old man''s voice was cold and sour. A dragon? How am I supposed to bring a dragon back here alive? I need to find out the name of my weapon, so I guess my only choice is to try. "Then we''ll be back." "Wait, stop!" A man ran in from the back of the shop. I couldn''t tell if he was a scientist or a mage, and he had a monocle on his eye. "Gramps, you need to stop messing with my customers." The old man let out a hearty laugh. "I''m serious, even if they managed to capture a dragon, bringing it in the city would be dangerous by itself." "Fine then, I was only having a bit of light fun" ... This old man was messing with us? He placed his broom against the side wall and walked towards the back room. "I''m sorry about that, my grandfather likes to scare people. My name is Hadrien, the arcane blacksmith running this shop." "In that case" I drew my sword and placed it on the counter in front of me. The eyes of the blacksmith went wide. "Th-that weapon..." He stumbled on his voice as he said this. "It-it''s nothing special, I''ll give you 3,000 peli for it." What a horrible liar, this guy is trying to scam me. I picked up the sword and pointed it at him. "W-w-wait, hang on hang on. I just had to try ok?" "Why are you trying to scam me?" "I''m sorry, I really need the money, my shop is going to go out of business unless I come across something big." I laid the sword back on the counter. Maybe if he set up shop outside of an old alley his business would be better. I''m sure the old man scaring off customers doesn''t help. "Don''t try to scam random travelers. Besides, my sword isn''t for sale." "Oh, in that case, what are you doing here? It seemed like he was still nervous, I guess when you get caught red handed trying to do something like that it makes you feel small. "I need to know the name of this sword, and whatever powers it has." "How could you not know that? You''re holding a legendary weapon you know." Legendary weapon? I guess it did belong to a champion before. "That''s the legendary longsword, Abyss. It was used by the Champion Reichard Scharthschil in the war with demons 100 years ago." "Why did that blacksmith have my grandfather''s sword?" Elena looked at me judgingly, I forgot to tell her who it had belonged to. "He wanted the blacksmith to give it to someone strong. Either way, Hadrien, what skills does this sword have, and how do I use them?" "Abyss is a weapon that grows with it''s user, so if you''re level 1, it will be level 1. It''s skills will develop as you grow, and they would be different for each user. You can see the skills your sword has on your adventurer''s card." This is a very interesting weapon. "It''s also very picky. If the sword doesn''t like it''s user it will become very heavy and awkward." Ember was still mean mugging the store clerk, and had been ever since he tried to pull that stunt. We ended up leaving the store and heading back for the adventurer''s guild. We needed to get stronger, but no matter what, we were broke. Hopefully we can find a few simple quests at the guild to clear and make some quick cash for dinner. Back at the guild, we made a quick line for the bulletin with quests posted. "Hey, look at this one." Ember was holding a quest to kill a higher dragon. Suggested party level was 80, and suggested size was 15. Was she trying to die, or am I travelling with two idiots now? "Can you read? Let''s get this one." As I said that I pulled up a goblin quest from the wall, but something caught my eye next to it. Imps. The quest was about level 20, and called for extermination of an imp cave to the north. Apparently they like to kill cattle in the area. I felt like this would be interesting, and the reward was 50,000 Peli. We walked to the counter with the paper, and set out sights for our first real quest. Chapter 7: Disaster in the Imp Cave "Do you have any books on imps?" We were at the library in Calerion. When I think of imps, I think of very small, weak creatures that used numbers to their advantage, and liked collecting things. This was probably not accurate, and neither of my party members knew about them either, outside of what they looked like. "We have a lot of books regarding imps. Are you looking for fiction or non fiction? Perhaps we can ignore the book for now and go do something a little more..." She let her gaze drop to my waste. I guess the librarian is a pervert. Elena glared at me, while Ember stood to my side looking excited. "We just need information on imps, thank you." The librarian looked a bit disappointed, and led me to an aisle towards the back of the library. "This is all the information we have on imps, if you need help with any other... issues, feel free to let me know." The perverted librarian gave me a wink and walked off to stock some more aisles. It''s strange, the people in this world don''t speak english, but I understand what they''re saying and I''m able to speak back to them fluently. That being said, I can''t read their language, but I guess that''s covered with some kind of magic as well. Every time I look at the strange written language, it twists itself into an english translation before my eyes. This phenomenon usually takes a few seconds to kick in, but it always happens. I really do miss having access to the internet, this would have been much quicker. Shuffling through the shelf, I found a book titled "The extermination of imps, and what to expect." Apparently imps were small creatures, about a third the size of an adult human male. They were ugly, they were basically small demons with grey skin. Imps tend to breed in caves, and survive off of livestock stolen from the surrounding area. They would sometimes pillage weaker villages if they were confident in victory. No way of communication was known, or at least public enough for people to care. I doubt many have strived for peaceful relations with them. The book listed the various different imp types, it went along the same platform as the rest of the trouble types in this world. You had lesser imps, imps, greater imps, imp lords, and the imp king. The imp king was described as a demon lord with the appearance of a human. The book says; ''Should you encounter this imp king, do not attempt to fight. Do not attempt to cause a distraction. Do not sacrifice yourself to allow your friends to escape. Turn around and run as fast as you can in all different directions. If you do this without the thought of anything else in your mind, there is a small chance of escape.'' A grey skinned demon lord with the appearance of a human. I wonder the possibility that demon Limone is our imp king. That was beside the point, we knew that he stayed at that dark castle, so we didn''t need to worry about him right now. Greater imps were around level 20 on average. Those were the highest level creatures we would see, and there probably wouldn''t be more than two or three. With the information we needed, it was time to depart the town and head to the imp cave. The imp cave was about two hours north of the town. We took the trip early and made it around noon. Imps are nocturnal so they should sleep during the day. That doesn''t mean they won''t wake up, but they''ll be groggy for a bit and it can give us an edge. We entered the cave in a slight wedge. Ember took point with me slightly behind to the left. Elena was following in the rear and had cast a support spell on us to see in the dark. It had the effect of making everything grey, but we were able to make out all the small details. Slowly, we crept down the cave, careful to watch for traps and flanks. It seemed to be straight for the most part, but I wanted to make sure none of the imps surprised us from behind. Eventually, we saw a large opening in the cavern. There were two imps posted guard at the entrance, so we took the opportunity to hide behind some stalachtites. I signaled Elena to cast her sleep magic, and heard her softly chanting. Thankfully, sleep magic causes you to lay down quickly, but doesn''t necessarily make somebody pass out. It''s more of an intense desire to go to sleep right where you are. If somebody is riled up already it won''t work, so it isn''t suited for combat. It is, however excellent on stealth missions where you don''t want to be heard. The two imps were fast asleep on the ground and we continued on. I couldn''t believe it. The large cavern I saw before was even larger than I thought, and on the ground before me were at least a hundred sleeping imps. Talk about light security. Elena didn''t have a spell that would take all the imps out at once, so we would have to go around slicing throats. Imps are technically demons, so I have no issue wiping them out with extreme prejudice. Before we started, elena set a barrier trap at the entrance that would set fire should any imps attempt to escape. This was going to be a massacre. One by one, Ember and I sliced the necks of the imps. We had killed about 50 of them when one of the remaining imps woke up. Upon seeing what we were doing, it let out a loud scream to alert the rest of the sleeping imps. One by one they all rose, we were running through them at this point, slaughtering imp after imp. About 15 of them ended up getting away, and immediately fell prey to Elena''s flame trap. About a hundred dead imps surrounded us. Flames were still bursting from the trap, toasting the still dying imps. *tap*If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. *tap* *tap* The sound was coming from a tunnel leading further in the cave, and slowly coming closer to us. *tap* *tap* After about a minute of this, we saw the source of the noise. A short, grey figure about Ember''s height revealed themselves from the tunnel. It had a large shield in one hand, and a claymore in the other. I couldn''t believe what I was seeing. This wasn''t a greater imp, there was no way a greater imp could wield a claymore with one hand. This was an imp lord. From the book I read it had an average level of 40, and was generally a skilled fighter. Why was there an imp lord here? Is that why the quest paid so much? I didn''t have time to ask those questions. We had practiced our battle formation prior to coming here. "Ember, Elena, get ready to fight" I gave direction as clearly as I could. The two of them moved in unison to their positions. Elena had learned a new magic, but it required a chant so, we needed to buy some time. "" We closed our eyes simultaneously to avoid the flash of light. It seems this creature isn''t stupid, as it did the same. I guess we need to fight with everything we have. Cheap tricks won''t work" "" She yelled as she leapt forward towards the enemy. Flames surrounded her sword as she swung downwards from above. The enemy parried the attack with it''s sword like it was nothing, and used it''s shield to nonchalantly deal with the aftereffect of the flames. While it was distracted, I pushed into the fight, diving low and slashing at the opponent''s knees. It jumped back just in time and snarled at me. We needed to continue the assault and keep it from counter attacking. This time I was at the front. I darted forward with all my might and dealt a side swipe with my blade. The enemy connected his blade to mine and sparks flew between them. Was it smiling? Is this monster enjoying this? I''m going to kill it. While my blow was parried, Ember came at it relentlessly from the left. The first attack was a bashing move with her shield, where she lifted it and struck with the side. This was immediately followed by another blow from her sword, and the flames that followed. Taking the distraction, I grabbed hold of the shield the enemy held and moved towards it to escape the sword arm, as I had done in the fight with Ember. The imp lord pulled away, thrusting it''s giant sword as it did. My arm was caught in the crossfire and my right shoulder was slashed. Blood spurt out. "Klein!" Ember looked worried. "I''m ok, don''t lose focus." "" Six giant icicles appeared, and immediately moved to impale the monster from above. Then it disappeared. It didn''t disappear, but moved so fast that our eyes temporarily lost sight of it. This must be a special skill. The imp lord was still here. We needed to get an advantage, quickly. If we didn''t, we would all die here. It reappeared in front of Ember. I looked over to see her shield cut in half and blood spraying from her chest. Crap. Just as I thought that, I suddenly felt a presence. I looked above me to see the claymore falling towards my shoulder. "" I had learned a few spells before we came out here. The adventurer''s card has a skill point system, so you can pick different skills related to your class as you level up. This particular spell caused a wall of stone to encircle me completely. There was a smashing sound, and I saw a small piece of rock fall from the barrier. It had been hit hard and probably wouldn''t last another hit. I removed the effect and moved away a few feet. "A battle mage? I''ve never faced one, this should be fun." This thing can talk? Another assault found it''s way towards me, and I used magic to encase my left arm in steel. "" The claymore was blocked, and I counterattacked with my own sword. The imp lord blocked my strike with his shield. This is bad, I''m running out of moves here. "What a pity, if only you had more time to get stronger. You might have won." "Come at me and try to settle this then." I saw Ember move slightly. Thank god she''s alive. She had a strong will, and it seemed she wanted to get back up and help. "You will die if you keep fighting him, leave this to me." She looked sad that she couldn''t help, but I know she''ll get stronger. I just need to make sure she has the opportunity to. "Very well, battle mage. I will kill you in the next attack." The swing was fast. The fastest movement I had ever seen, and it was directed to my throat. I had to block it, if I can block this swing, I can win. "" The spell came from Elena, as a four inch wall of ice came directly between my opponent and my neck. The claymore smashed through the ice and continued moving towards me. Maybe this is the end. Maybe the dream I had after death has come to a halt, and my life will end here. I''m not gonna let that happen. "" My sword slashed down from above Abyss contacted the slowed enemy sword, and sliced through the blade like butter. I kept pushing forward, and my blade ended up slicing through the shield he had blocked with, deeply cutting across his chest. Blood sprayed when my sword made contact. That wound had won me the fight. Pulling back a few feet, I continued to stand on guard. "Huhuhu...*cough*...huhuhu" He laughed as he clung to his life a few more moments, the imp lord choked out a few words. "What a strong human." I''m glad we bought the healing potions we did, or Ember probably would have died. As soon as the fight was over, I rushed over and gave her a minor healing potion. Her wounds closed, but she was still hurt and would need a while to recover. We might be able to buy a greater healing option to speed the process, but they''re expensive. Come to think of it, the adrenaline had worn off and I had an excruciating pain in my left shoulder. I downed another minor healing potion for myself, and we got ready to leave the imp cave. "Wait, we have to explore a little." Ember was oddly enthusiastic for the state she was in a moment ago. "Why? We finished the quest so I really don''t wanna be hanging around here." "You read the book too, imps hoard valuable stuff." Oh. We ended up going down the path the imp lord came from, and eventually found a door. Why is there a door in this cave? Opening it, we found a room that was completely out of place. A large bed was in the center, with a few various portraits mounted on the wall. There were a few drawers and chests in here, and a magic light that illuminated the entire room. "Woow" The two by my side were impressed with the room, and immediately began tearing through the drawers and chests. Honestly, it felt like I was robbing a house. We ended up finding a few valuable looking weapons and accessories, a few were gold with some diamond, but some of them ended up being enchanted in one way or another. The adventurer''s card had a function to appraise items. While it was sometimes a rough estimate, it told us the items stats as well. I ended up taking a necklace that increases mana. Elena found a bracelet that increased the power of destruction magic, and Ember found a defensive pendant that made her shield stronger. At least it would when we got her a new one. Our first quest had turned really dangerous. 50,000 Peli and the haul we got from looting the imp''s room was worth it though. When we got back to town it was early evening, and the guild was still open. Thankfully, shops in this world weren''t on the same awkward schedule from the ones in mine. After collecting the 50,000 Peli, we went to a few shops and tried to sell as much of the stuff we got as possible. After a while, we ended up with a total of 15,000 peli. This would last us for a while, so we decided to get an inn and rest for a few days. The first quest we had was complete, and my level had grown to 25 after defeating the imp lord. This is a massive jump, but for perspective sake, hero adventurers were usually around level 250. I can only assume the demons I saw were similar. I still have a long way to go. The three of us had made it a habit of sharing a room to save money, so we took the opportunity to get the same fancy inn from before. The hot tub felt amazing for my sore muscles, and I think I was in there for a long time. When I finally got out, Elena and Ember were already fast asleep. I crawled into bed and shut my eyes. The sounds of the city alarm woke me up, and I looked up to see the two girls next to me gone. "Klein, get up! The city is under attack!" Chapter 8: Fallen Angel I awoke to the city''s alarm bells ringing, and was greeted by the voices of Elena and Ember in their battle gear. "Klein, get up, the city is under attack!" What the hell? Quickly, I got dressed and we rushed out of the inn. The streets were empty of their usual bustle, with only the occasional guard or soldier running off somewhere. We made our way to the adventurer''s guild to see what the commotion was about, and found a large crowd there. It seemed like we didn''t miss much. "Adventurers, we need your assistance. Guard scouts have sighted an army from the north. Soon the city will be under attack by one of the 13 demon lords." The older lady who manned the counter of the adventurer''s guild was speaking to the crowd. "A demon lord? Can we fight it with our power?" "I''ve heard they were monsters on par with the six heroes." "How are we supposed to defeat something like that?" The murmurs coming from the crowd were not enthusiastic. I don''t think I would stand a chance in a fight with this monster how I am now. "You will all be back line support for the hero Eldridge. Thankfully, he is in the city to visit and has agreed to assist in it''s defense." "The hero!" "We''ll definitely win then! There''s no way a demon lord can defeat a hero!" I think they were too enthusiastic. The demon lords were the 13 monsters I had seen in that castle, and each of them was terrifying. "The demon lord has brought an army of roughly 10,000 lower class demons along with him. This is an invasion, and all of you will need to fight your hearts out. If anybody wishes to evacuate the city, we are not going to force you to fight." "So we just need to clear the low class demons for the hero?" "Precisely." A loud cheer emerged from the adventurers. After staying for a bit the plan of defense was explained in more detail. The hero was going to move through the middle of the defense force, and attempt to spot the demon lord among their ranks. If anybody saw the demon lord they would immediately disengage and report it. The enemy wasn''t at our front door, but they would be within about three hours. That gave them barely enough time to position people. My party ended up on the wall near the front gate, and now it was a waiting game. "Klein..." "What is it Elena?" "I''m just worried about you, you have history with the demon lords. I don''t want you to do anything that will get you killed." "I understand, I would love nothing more than to kill this demon lord with my own hands, but I don''t have delusions of grandeur, I know the difference in our strength. If we find him, I won''t try to fight." "What experiences do you have with demon lords?" A confused looking Ember asked this. "We''ll explain later." The army appeared over the hills, they were marching in large formations and approaching very quickly. The enemy stopped a few hundred meters in front of the gate, and arrows rained down by archers on the walls. Most of them were blocked or missed, but a few demons in the front fell to the floor. Just then, a giant fireball flew from the front of the formation, towards the front gate. A barrier? The fireball was stopped in it''s tracks and the barrier stopping it became visible for a moment. That wasn''t all they had, another fireball was flung towards the gate. And another, and another, and another. "The barrier is supported by the four towers on each corner of the city, but if it takes too much damage it will need to be repaired." Elena spoke this as she realized what the enemy was doing. They just kept coming and coming, about 20 giant fireballs were flung in total, each rattled the entire city. All of them were the size of a small house. And then, a crack appeared in the air where the attacks struck. It looked eerie, as if the sky itself had splintered in the spot where the fireballs were impacting. The next fireball would break the barrier. The enemy knew this, two fireballs came flying back to back. The first impacted, causing the barrier to vanish with the effect of shattering glass. The second looked like it was going to disintegrate the front gate. Then it disappeared. I looked towards the gate and saw a large formation of mages waving their staves. They had cast some form of mass formation spell to cancel out the giant fireball. The attacks had stopped, the barrier was broken but the battle had turned to a stalemate with long range warfare. The army rushed the walls. I guess they didn''t want to make this a siege. Some of the demons jumped to the top of the wall, and there were ropes thrown up that others were climbing. The first wave was coming, and my party braced ourselves. Elena was nervous, but she leveled up when we defeated the imp lord, so she''d be ok. Ember was holding her flaming sword in one hand, we''d bought her a new shield that was much stronger than the old one. A group of six demons had climbed the wall next to us, and were smiling as if hunting prey. "" A burst of fire came from the hand of the demon at the front. Ember stood forward and blocked the spell with her shield. As soon as she realized what was happening, Elena began to chant. Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! Ember and I rushed the group of six, and in a well coordinated attack managed to take down the one at the front. Serves them for being cocky. I slashed forward with my sword, towards another demon soldier carrying a sword. He parried a few of my blows but fell fairly easily. Four demons remained in front of us. "" I heard Ember yell her skill as she made contact with another of the demons. Her blow was parried, and the flame on her sword engulfed the enemy. He fell to the ground writhing in pain as she finished him off. "" Six giant icicles appeared from above and impaled the three remaining demons. It was a pretty gruesome sight, and I don''t know if I would call it an ice "prison". We had gotten stronger. It was amazing how far we came from when we fought the ogres on the road between Varillio and here. After defeating the six demons, I saw another quickly approaching along the wall. Normally, the first thoughts running through my head would be trying to formulate a strategy to defeat the enemy, but not this time. We needed to run, as fast as possible. I need to think of a way to get out of this area with my two teammates alive. I have no hope of defeating this man. "It''s been a while, little human." Shit. This overwhelming aura is making it difficult to think. Before me stands an attractive man who looks to be in rough shape compared to the last time I saw him. I wonder what happened, it seemed like he was missing a wing. Ashken. This is the monster who told me he would rather murder me rather than control me. "Luckily for you, I''ve been ordered not to kill you. Somehow you were able to snivel away from your cage, but it won''t happen again. You''ll be coming with me." I can''t let that happen. How can I come so far just to be captured again and have my mind stolen? I absolutely refuse to let Lilyana''s sacrifice go to waste here. I brandished my weapon, and the demon laughed. "You think you can beat me? Fucking humans, so conceited. How about you come at me with everything you have, and I''ll show you how worthless you really are." I knew he wasn''t bluffing, but I don''t have the luxury to not attack right now. I can''t run, there''s no way I''d be able to escape this thing. "" I screamed my new skill as I sprinted towards the demon lord. The skill had the effect of absorbing the light particles from the air around it, and converting them into pure energy. It was truly powerful, and would have killed the imp lord with ease. The darkened energy radiated towards the blade of my sword, causing the air around the blade to become pitch black. Releasing the attack a few paces from him, the attack struck it''s target with fearsome accuracy. He hadn''t even made any effort to block it. Hopefully this was a grave mistake, and I was much stronger than he realized. Maybe it would at least hurt him and allow us to escape. The attack cleared, and I stood in a defensive position. The demon was just standing there, looking confused. "You know, that attack might actually be powerful one day, too bad you''re so weak. I''m surprised though, that tickled." What? I would understand if he blocked it, or took some damage but brushed it off. There was just nothing there. It was as if the attack was just a breeze that touched him. The demon stood with his army by his sides and a wide grin on his face. "You''re very brave, adventurer." A hand touched my shoulder, and the man speaking those words appeared in front of me. "Ashken, king of the Dark Divine. This is where I kill you." He was a tall man, wearing golden armor that matched his long, blonde hair. He had a giant greatsword on his back, and a strong aura emanating from him. "Don''t get in my way, Golden Hero. I''m only here for the boy." The hero Eldridge looked my direction. "What the hell do you want with that kid?" Gee, thanks. "Enough talk. If you can walk over my dead body, you can have him." "That''s exactly my intention. The world will have one less hero tomorrow." As Ashken said this, the hero drew the greatsword on his back, and rushed towards the enemy with incredible speed. Their swords clashed, and the sound alone was earsplitting. The instant their swords touched, a crack appeared in the wall beneath them. We took the opportunity to make our escape. As we attempted to, another group of demons appeared in front of us. This was troublesome. We began our fight with these demons, as the battle between the hero and demon lord continued. "" The hero''s sword glowed, as he struck out toward the demon lord. I can''t even tell who''s winning, the difference in strength between us is insane. "" Our fight with the demon group was going well, and I managed to behead two of them so far. "Do you want both of us to die? Are you an idiot?" The demon lord was panicking while he talked to the hero. "If it''s to slay you here, I will sacrifice even my life." The hero''s sword had grown in a twisted shape, and was now wrapped around the sword and arms of the demon lord. It appeared they were both stuck. "" When the hero said his spell, a burst of light came down from the sky and engulfed both of them. "Noooooo!" The demon lord was screaming, and it seemed the fight was over. After the light vanished, the two of them were blasted in opposite directions. The hero ended up leaned against the edge of the castle wall, and the demon lord on the ground nearby. I need to make sure it''s dead. I walked up to the burnt looking demon, and I heard it cough. "Ha... Ha... He couldn''t kill me after all. That pitiful hero gave his life for you, and now I can take you back and clear my name." "Clear your name?" "Yes *cough* the queen pinned the blame for your rescue on me, and my chance to redeem myself is to provide you to her alive." His hand slowly reached for me, it seemed this moron was too loyal. He couldn''t move enough to fight, I drew my sword and walked towards him. "My sword''s skill isn''t strong enough to kill an opponent of your caliber yet, but if you''re already wounded I think this will suffice." "" This skill had the same effect as , but rather than launching the attack it would gather the energy in the blade of my sword. This is how I was able to slice through the claymore and shield of the imp lord so easily. My blade plunged into the neck of the demon lord, after choking on blood for a moment he stopped moving. With any luck, the damage has been redistributed due to two people taking the attack, and the hero would be alive. I ran to him with a greater healing potion in my hand. He was far to strong for me to let die. I saw him sitting up against the edge of the wall, a few droplets of blood on his lip. It didn''t look like he could move, but he had a pulse. Apparently the magical effects of a potion aren''t caused by drinking, but can be used by just touching the skin. I dumped the potion on his head, and his wounds cleared. "Well, adventurer, it seems I owe you my life." The hero rose to his feet and picked up his sword. "That demon lord is more than likely alive as well, I must go finish him off." "I already killed him." "You whaaaa-" "I finished him off before I came over here." "Are you saying you dealt the killing blow on a demon lord?" Why is he so worried about this? "Yeah, why?" "Take a look at your adventurer''s card." Pulling out the card, my eyes went wide. "Level 60?!" The hero burst into laughter. "Levels are generally distributed by the killing blow, this is how the rules of our world work. Party members will gain from it as well, but the bulk went to you. Though I''m surprised you managed to damage him at all, I can''t help but think I know why he was after you." "Why do you think that?" "You''re going to be stronger than me one day. I''m sure they want that." He wasn''t wrong, that is part of the reason. Either way, now isn''t the time to think about that kind of thing. It seemed the battle had been won, and the adventurers were finishing the cleanup on the demon army. We won. This was my first real battle in this world, and the victory came down to the fact that I was there. How special can I feel. After the victory, there was a celebration feast held at the adventurer''s guild. It seemed Eldridge had taken a liking to me, so my party was sitting next to him at the large table they set up in the middle. "Who are they?" "I guess they''re adventurers that were able to help Eldridge in his fight with the demon lord, they must be strong." "I can''t imagine they''re that strong, they probably just got lucky." Whispers could be heard around the table. Some were praise, some just brushed us off, but it didn''t bother me much. The feast concluded, and Eldridge asked us to walk with him for a bit. "I want you to have this." He handed me a ring. "I''m sorry, but I''m into women." "It''s a Phoenix Ring, if you die it will save your life at the last moment. It''s a one time use item, but incredibly useful. I was planning to use it in my fight with the demon lord, but the damage split more than I thought." "In that case, thank you. I hope I never have the opportunity to use it." He laughed again. "I like you, you''ll definitely grow strong." The hero seemed excited. "I have some business in the royal capital, I''d like to spar with you next time we meet." I doubt I could give him a challenge as a sparring partner, but I agreed to humor him. We parted ways and went to get some rest, it had been a long day. Chapter 9: Princess Lilyana "I wonder how they''re doing." These words came from Bastion as he travelled in the back of a large carriage. Due to his bloodline, using his true form to move from place to place was only necessary in an emergency, and the nation''s nobles did not like it when he refused their transportation. Fifteen ogres appeared in front of the carriage he was riding in, as the largest one in front threw a stone towards him. He still had a bit of a grudge against ogres, they had somehow managed to catch him by surprise last time he ran into some. This was his time to get back at them. Bastion had told Klein he was only level 10 in attempt to allow the boy to awaken his own power. In reality, he was actually on par with the six heroes. A three hundred year old legendary creature was not somebody to be trifled with. On his waist appeared a sword that hadn''t been there before. The ogres in front were slowly moving to surround the now disabled carriage, thinking they had come across easy prey. Drawing the blade, a katana with an ivory blade was presented. The sword was a family heirloom, and one of the ten most powerful swords in existence. The blade was forged with the horn of his ancestor, and had absorbed all the magic within. "I have no need to use this weapon''s skills against the likes of you." He said this as he cut the first monster down as if it were a fly under a swatter. The other ogres exchanged a fearful look, but they weren''t ready to back down yet. Six of the ogres rushed the man before them at once, their heads flew faster than they could comprehend. Screams could be heard, these giant monsters were running for dear life. Ogres are stupid, but they aren''t stupid enough to run to certain death. Bastion wasn''t going to let them escape, it''s more difficult to be merciful when you know your actions would only result in more innocent lives being lost. These beasts would not hesitate to attack the next travelers they saw. With a few quick movements the remaining ogres were all cut down. He sheathed his sword and got to work repairing the carriage. In front was the carriage driver, a Lycania knight ordered to protect the Prince at all costs was standing next to the carriage. He didn''t even have an opportunity to fight. "It''s ok, Meladim. I''ve told you, the only reason I took the offered protection is because the nobles wouldn''t give me the chance to refuse." "I''m ashamed I was unable to assist with this matter, lord Bastion." "Don''t worry about things like that. You are a brave fighter, but that many ogres would have been too much for you." Once the carriage was repaired, the unicorn continued his journey. His father and brother were still on a diplomatic mission in a small kingdom to the west, and he was currently headed to investigate an occurrence in the royal capital of Sargonya. The return of Princess Lilyana. Bastion''s head was flustered. As much as he wished to cling to the hope his friend was alive, he knew all too well what this was. Princess Lilyana was dead. The demons from that castle had done something to her body in attempt to weasel their way into Sargonya''s politics. He had raised Princess Lilyana since she was a baby, and placed part of the blame for this occurence on himself. Maybe he could have retrieved her body and gave her a proper burial, though that may have put the boy at risk. Bastion thought back to the little girl running away from the castle to explore the outside world, not knowing that he was watching. The young lady who studied every night until she fell asleep in her book, and took every ounce of combat training with seriousness as if it were life and death. He thought about the woman who slayed a basilisk single handedly, wielding advanced magic far beyond her age. He thought about the Princess who sacrificed herself for something she believed in, and his heart saddened. He was going to kill Princess Lilyana. This world contains countless magic. Creating storms with your hands is possible, using the power of gods to smite your enemy is commonplace in war, healing magic that can pull somebody back from the brink of death is a miracle that happens every day. But you can''t bring somebody back from the dead. Ultimate magic requires a trade. Whether it''s stored mana, or some form of enchanted accessory. The moment Lilyana cast ultimate magic with no trade, her life was forfeit. The trade for the magic was her very soul. If one were to cast ultimate healing magic on her at that time, there would be no effect. This is the price she paid, and one that she bet the fate of the world on. Resurrection magic doesn''t exist in this world. He had been travelling for 14 days, and the royal capital crested on the horizon. The capital city of Sargonya, Karion. The city was at least twice the size of Calerion, and the layout of the roads was much more deliberate. Karion was divided into six sectors, with a giant wall encasing each. The royal castle stood in the center, and the sectors surrounding it created a neatly formed giant circle. Bastion entered the city through the merchant district. As he showed the pendant he wore as proof of his bloodline, the guards let him through with no hassle. He had been thinking about how he should go about this since he heard the news. If he marched directly into the castle and killed the princess, he would surely become an enemy of the state and it would ultimately lead to war. On the other hand, if he spoke to the king, the odds that he would be believed were low. The king had deep love for his daughters, and it wouldn''t surprise Bastion if he was too blinded by her survival to see the truth. In the end, he decided to take up residence in the castle for a while and evaluate the situation further. This was a matter on a national level, and could not be taken lightly. "Lord Bastion, I haven''t seen you since the princess ran off on her adventures."If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Raphten was a noble of Sargonya, and a decent man. Most nobles were greedy, and only cared to maintain their own status. The emotions Bastion read from this man''s heart had never had any of that, and it seemed he truly cared about the people of the kingdom. "Ahh, Raphten. It''s been too long, how have you been?" "The kingdom is in a good state and my people are happy, for now. I trust you heard of the incident in Calerion. Incident in Calerion? "I''ve been travelling for some time, and have been quite separated from the outside world." "Ahh, I see. It would seem the adventurer''s city was attacked by the Demon Lord Ashken, but he was slain by the hero Eldridge and his army repelled." "I''m glad to hear that, I have friends in Calerion I would hate to see injured." "Friends of the great unicorn? I would hope to be able to meet them one day." "I''m sure he''ll find his way up here soon enough. He''s going to be strong, after all." Bastion parted ways from the noble and proceeded to the quarters provided with news of his arrival. As he was walking the hallway, he saw her. The dead princess was standing before his eyes, and he sensed no animosity from her heart. She was dressed formally, wearing a beautiful yellow dress with her hair draping past her shoulders. "Bastion!" Lilyana was excited to see him. A confused Bastion was met with a giant hug from the girl he raised. Was he wrong? Unicorns could sense the hearts of people, and the heart of the woman in front of him was the same he had raised. "What happened at the castle?" Lilyana looked down and started to ponder. "I remember casting ultimate magic with no trade, and then my eyes went dark. After that, I woke up outside the castle walls. How''s Klein?" "Ahh, he''s well." "Where is he right now? I''d like to see him." The princess said this with a huge smile, but Bastion was hesitant to give more information. There was a chance this was some magic he hadn''t seen before. "I can''t really say, we parted ways about a month ago." "Ahh, I''m sure I''ll meet him again someday." Lilyana was strangely oblivious to the situation. If anybody should know the dangers of her coming back from that place after casting an ultimate spell, it''s her. "How long are you staying in the castle, Bastion?" "I''m not entirely sure yet." "I''ll see you around, hopefully we can talk more while you''re here! I miss having you around." The two parted ways and Bastion finally arrived at his room. There were so many things going through his mind that he couldn''t make light of. That night, he didn''t sleep much. The next day he had lunch with the king. They were old friends, and outside if his daughters, the king trusted nobody over Bastion. "I''m glad you were able to take care of my daughter for all these years, Bastion." "I was only doing what I thought was right for the world, King Pelifa." "Either way, she would never have gotten to the point she is today if it weren''t for your mentoring. You raised a wonderful woman, and I only wish that I could have done the same." It didn''t seem he had suspicions of what happened. "You''re too kind, I believe your daughter became the person she was on her own. I merely tried to point her in the right direction." "Ahh. I see." The king''s tone changed to a darker one. "I have a favor I need to ask of you, Bastion." "What is it?" "This is not a favor from one country to another, but from a father to his one true friend." The king seemed like he was fighting some sort of internal struggle. "You said it yourself a few moments ago. My daughter became the person she was on her own. She didn''t become the person she is, which only means that you have knowledge that I dont." He was truly a smart king. Perhaps I had been a fool to assume he would be blinded. "I need you to kill my daughter." "I see." "So you understand?" "I didn''t read anything suspicious from her heart during our meeting, but there was a bit off from the way she was speaking." "Yes, Lilyana cast ultimate magic in exchange for her own life. There is no way she should be alive right now. The true Lilyana would have never returned here for the chance her mind would be used against her." "I agree, but is there any solid evidence? On the off chance this is a miracle, I don''t want to do anything rash." The king nodded. "Since she''s returned, there have been a few incidents. Firstly, there is a representative from Calerion residing here while maintaining a portion of the barrier remotely. He was found dead two days before Demon Lord Ashken''s assault, which resulted in the barrier being severely weakened." That was surprising indeed, not many people would have access to this information. "Second, the princess was never this perfect. Everything I asked of her she would argue with me, and throw alternatives at me with the massive intelligence she has. Now she''s been acting how a princess should be expected to act." Ahh. The princess has always been rebellious. Such is the very state of her soul. If her soul is gone, her mind may very well have it''s memories but I would not be able to read anything from her heart. It would seem anything she has told me was a feint. "Kazilim." The princess was most likely the thrall of a vampire. It could be expected that the vampire responsible was none other than the Demon Lord Kazilim, king of the vampires. "I understand, King Pelifa." They shook hands, and Bastion saw tears trickling from the eyes of the king. "Thank you for everything." "I want you to know that she didn''t die in vain. I believe the man she sacrificed herself for will become the lynchpin for the war against demons." The representatives of the two nations went their separate ways. Bastion headed to inform Meladim to prepare for departure the next day, but he was nowhere to be found. The knight was a reliable man, so he decided to leave it at that and inform him later. There was much to be done. Once again Bastion found himself face to face with the former princess. "Bastion! Are you busy? Do you mind going for a walk, just like we used to?" He mustered himself to maintain his poker face. This was going to be more difficult than he thought. The woman in front of him was a servant of a Demon lord, but contained all the memories of the little girl he had raised. "By all means, let us reminisce." The two walked outside the castle grounds, and came to the gardens Lilyana had always admired. "You know, it''s already too late." ? What did she just say? "What do you mean, it''s already too late?" She laughed. "You know, you''re a terrible liar Bastion. You always have been." "I''m sorry, I don''t understand what you think I''ve lied about." "You can drop the act now. I was listening in on your meeting with the king." She smiled at me with innocence. "I''m a thrall of the Demon Lord Kazilim, you said it yourself in the meeting with my father. But I''ve already passed enough information to serve my purpose. The secrets this nation wanted to protect so badly are already in their hands." "Lilyana." "Yes, I am still her in a sense. I have everything she had except for a soul. The memories of all the times she took this walk with you when she was young. The memory of her giving her life to that boy, only to end in a meaningless sacrifice. You know, she really thought it was the right thing to do." "I''m sorry." The woman snickered, in a way it was a bit creepy. As she did the bag she carried dropped to the floor, she opened it to reveal the head of Meladim, the knight Bastion had rode in with. She burst into laughter. No longer was this the innocent face of the princess he had protected, but the twisted face of a monster with no remorse. Bastion sat in silence. "I wanted to make you suffer. I know there''s no way I could kill you but the memories this girl has make me sick. How could somebody look up to someone like you? I guess taking out somebody close to you was the only thing I could really do to stick it to you. You totally believed I was her until the king said something too! What a worthless idiot. If this is the type of man that rules a country, it''s going to be a hell of a lot easier to take out the races then we thou-" Her voice was cut off by the ivory sword running through her chest. Blood ran along the edge as she coughed. "" "Bastion" The twisted face changed. The blue eyes of Princess Lilyana looked up towards Bastion as she smiled with a slight spurt of blood. Maybe this was the real woman speaking, happy that he was the one to end this. Maybe this was the twisted demon playing with his emotions in attempts to haunt his dreams. No matter what caused it, there was no turning back. The skill took effect, and the princess was swallowed whole by the blade. At dawn, residents of the capital and surrounding towns spotted a rare majestic site. Some claim a unicorn was spotted running to the west, in the direction of Lycania. Normally this would be deemed a sign of good luck, and symbol prosperity. The people didn''t feel this way though, as the unicorn seemed to be crying.