The rain continued to pour. He walked alone through the rainy night. Without moonlight or starry skies to guide him, he seemed to have lost his bearings, causing his steps to slow down.

A wave of hunger struck him. He remembered there were two dried meat strips left in his backpack, so he reached his hand in and started searching for them.

He didn't feel the dried meat strips. Instead, a cold and sharp object touched his fingers. He took it out to examine it.

It was an uncut, semi-transparent gemstone, with distinct edges and incredible hardness. It emitted a faint white light under the night sky, but it was not enough to illuminate his path through the darkness.

Because, at its core, there floated a cloud of darkness even darker than the night, even murkier than chaos itself. Despite its tiny size, it instilled fear in anyone who beheld it.

Yet, he did not feel fear.

If anything, the word “disgust” would be more accurate than "fear."

He despised this stone, yet he had no choice but to personally deliver it into the hands of High Priest Nafal, the leader of the Dawn Prayers.

The stone was discovered by a priestess of the Dawn Prayers in the distant reaches of the Northernmost. She referred to it as the "Tainted Moonstone." The priestess also conveyed to him that this stone held the fate of the world in its balance. Dark forces were gathering in The Northernmost, and she needed to carry this dreadful message back to the headquarters of the Dawn Prayers on the continent of Asate.

Indeed, the priestess had some urgent matters to attend to, which prevented her from carrying out the task herself. That's why she entrusted him with this mission.

He should have been like his kin, sneering at the so-called ancient evil god. However, he couldn't do it, for in his younger years, he had faced the minions of the dark god, Cloysu, head-on.

It was a one-sided massacre.

A strange man with dark skin, tall and muscular, and sporting goat-like horns on his head, arrived at the small town where he was at the time, accompanied by a horde of ghouls. Then, without any apparent reason, he initiated a massacre.

Blood burns in the flames. Screams echo in the slaughter.

Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

The lower part of that man's knees resembled animal hooves. With each step he took, flowers and plants withered into hay, and corpses decayed into bones. He savored the slaughter before him with a twisted sense of delight, his eyes gleaming with pleasure. His sharp laughter was cold and hollow. A pair of enormous bat wings unfurled behind him, obscuring half of the sky.

Years later, the sole survivor of that massacre learned that the man responsible for the carnage was none other than the legendary "Demon" – the highest-ranking servant of Cloysu. As for the other people in the town who were slaughtered, they became grave markers in the form of crosses, forever resting among the ruins and debris. Among them was his father.

In that massacre, he not only lost his father but also someone he deeply loved. From then on, he nearly lost everything.

From that day on, he made a vow—if the war against Cloysu is ever waged in the future, he would join the side that opposes the demons without hesitation.

And so, he accepted the mission from the priestess, taking on the task of delivering the tainted Moonstone to the High Priest in her place.

With such determination in his heart, he embarked on this journey. Upon returning, he realized that this expedition was far from easy.

Firstly, his previous activities were limited to the northeastern part of the Asate Continent, which included the Hermit Bay area, Seagull Town, and the Acorn Town where he grew up, and where was destroyed by the demon in the end. The farthest he had been was to the eastern town of Echo Water. As for the central city of the continent, North Sail, he had only been there once. Due to the passage of time, he couldn't recall the exact location of Northsail City. Consequently, he got lost.

Secondly, he was truly hungry.

He put the Moonstone back into his backpack and searched for the remaining two pieces of dried meat. After feeling around for a while, he disappointedly withdrew his hand. He remembered that he had eaten them not long after leaving the ruins.

He sighed with disappointment. The rain continued to pour down. Cold and hungry, he shivered in the damp rainy night, feeling a bit of regret. He should have first gone to the "Sword Sheath" inn to have a good meal and drink before setting out on his journey.

At that moment, he caught a whiff of a delightful aroma of grilled fish, wafting through the rain. He sniffed with determination in the downpour and finally pinpointed the direction from which the scent emanated.

He rushed through the undergrowth, almost as if guided by an unseen force, towards the source of the aroma. There, he stumbled upon a concealed cave with a faint flickering of firelight inside.

He rushed over without hesitation, not just because of the enticing aroma of roasted fish that the rain couldn't wash away, but also because that fragrance was mixed with a familiar scent—one he could never forget.

His heart raced at that moment. The intense anticipation made him forget about his hunger. The mixture of excitement and anxiety caused his steps to falter. Despite his usual agility and nimbleness, he even tripped over a stone and bumped into a fir tree.

[It's her scent, it must be her...]

He paid no attention to the pain, quickly standing up. Jumping down from the rocks, he emerged from the exposed roots of a giant tree. Finally, through the curtain of rain, he saw the girl inside the cave, roasting the fish.

[...Irene, you're still alive...]