"Papa! Read us a story!"

"Haha, ok ok, come here boys", the man smiled as he lifted the two youngsters unto his lap, his wife smiling as she passed him a book that the boys loved to listen to.

"Now, where were we…? Ahhh, we were about to start 'The Tiny Knight', which is our favourite, isn't it?"

"YAAAAY!", the boys both shouted together before turning to look at the pages that he flicked to.

"Ahem", he coughed to clear his throat, "Once upon a time long ago, even before Germany was Germany, there lived a blacksmith who was only two feet tall. He was so short that he needed a stool to stand on to shoe the dashing steeds of the knights. This bothered him not in the slightest because, although he was tiny, he was also very courageous. It was his dream to become a knight and one day marry the princess whom he loved".

"She was both kind and beautiful but taller than he, and had long silken hair, which she wore in a braid. But, alas, the tiny blacksmith could only admire the Princess from afar because she was, after all, a princess and he but a lowly blacksmith who was not even tall."

"One day a terrible dragon flew into the kingdom, setting anyone who crossed its path aflame , it trampled houses and burned fields. Many knights battled the dragon but their swords could not cut its thick scales."

"But you can stop it can't you papa?", asked his son innocently,tilting his head backward to look at him.

The question lightly startled the man before he started chuckling, and was about to pat his son gently on the head, when he noticed that his arms were refusing to move from his sides, slowly beginning to become anxious as the feeling of weight on his lap disappeared, his boys looking at him quizzically. Turning to his wife to call for help, he saw her weeping in the corner, her eyes full of pity and hopelessness… She slowly began walking away with their sons on either side of her, leading them by their tiny hands.

"Wait….WAIT! AREN'T I STILL ALIVE!?"

"D..DON'T LEAVE ME! DON'T LEAVE ME BEHIND!"

"I AM ALIVE DAMNIT!!!!", Eric roared.

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Eric blinked rapidly as light filled his eyes, a nurse looking down at him in worry while shaking him awake.

"Mister Elsker. Mister Elsker. I am sorry but you were yelling in your sleep", looking at him nervously whilst she wiped his sweaty forehead dry with clothe.

"Log me in", he mumbled incoherently.

"I think you should go back to slee-"

"I have HAD enough of sleeping! NOW, LOG ME IN!"

"…. Ok ok", she sighed, "just don’t wake the other patients", she said as she was lifting the device towards his head and fitting it in place.

As the log on screen filled his eyes, his whole perception shifted into the 'new' world, where he can feel, touch, move again…. where he can kill. Rage surged through his body as only one thought raced across his mind, 'To make everyone fall as low as he. To make them bleed'.

INTRO SONG: Kono Sekai e Moeru

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"WHAT THE HELL IS THIS!?", Max screamed as he barely dodged a strike to his head from a rusty glaive, a strand of his brown hair parting from his scalp with the orc grinning at him while gleefully chasing him across the wide dark cavern he found himself in.

"Maa… maa relax, they are only low level mobs", Mayumi reassured him, easily despatching them with a single strike of her katana, making it look incredibly easy.

"LOW!? IF YOU HAVEN'T FORGOTTEN I AM ONLY LEVEL 5! AND THESE ARE LEVEL 80 MOBS! GYAAAAA!", Max ran harder for his life as 3 more Orcs decided that he was, perhaps easier to deal with and gave chase, especially when the samurai twins were busy discussing their journey plans and barely paying attention to the orcs who were attacking them but nevertheless still managing to brutally slaughter them in the process. In very vivid and graphic detail that the surrounding Orcs were feeling quite ill from just looking at such a surreal scene.

"I THOUGHT YOU SAID THIS IS A SHORTCUT! MORE LIKE A SHORTCUT TO HELL!", almost crying, he vowed never to trust a beautiful face again as he continued to complain, "AND WHAT THE HELL IS A LEVEL 80 DUNGEON DOING NEAR A STARTER ZONE!!???"

"Oh that? Me and Masumi found it aaaages ago and decided to keep the location to ourselves. It's so travel convenient, with awesome shortcuts all over the continent"

Ducking a sword strike, twisting his body weirdly like an S shape to avoid a spear thrust, he continued to shout, "…NO SERIOUSLY WHY IS IT LEVEL 80?!! ISNT IT LIKE SUPER HARD FOR EVERYONE ELSE?!"

"Ehhhhh? We came here at level 40 and it was already too easy. Ne, Masumi?"

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"Un, nee-san but I think he is complaining because he is doing it at level 5?"

"NO! NO! EVEN AT LEVEL 80 I WOULD STILL DIE! I AM JUST A BLACKSMITH, YOU KNOW! I ONLY FIX AND MAKE THINGS, YOU KNOW?!!"

"… So, isn't there no problem at all then? If you're going to die at level 5 or 80 anyway, might as well still go through this place. I mean, there is even an onsen down here", Mayumi squealed in delight at the thought of a nice hot bath.

"Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuu"

"N..nee-san, I think he is crying"

"Really? I thought he was just so happy to be accompanied by beautiful people like us"

"WILL YOU JUST SAVE ME ALREADY?!", Max demanded urgently as now half a cavern full of orcs were chasing him instead of facing the twins. The orcs around the twins weren't even pretending to attack anymore, doing a lottery style draw from pulling out sticks to see which unlucky ones had the shortest and then they would go and get pointlessly chopped up into slabs of green meat. Orcs have some pride after all.

"UWAAAAAAH! I WANT TO GO BACK TO A LAST SAVE POINT", he screamed, asking for the impossible. Yup, Max has got off to a relatively swell start to Royal Road… if only it wasn't so instantly life threatening the moment he left Serabourg.

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It's been nearly a week since Gerhard ordered his command to proceed deeper into the forest, aware that supplies were fast running out, however, the mood of the men was still un-dampened and even though the hardships they were enduring was slowly escalating, his leadership value now was so high that they would blindly follow him into oblivion itself, if he were to order it. This would now seem to be the case as the tracks of the escaped Orcs they were following had become increasingly difficult to pursue until suddenly all traces had disappeared. There is no worse feeling for a commander than to lead your men into possible doom, just from following your orders.

"….what are you doing", Gerhard asked in genuine puzzlement, finally noticing Lydia standing in front of him and making a weird looking face.

"I am just imitating you. Well, how do I look? Mysterious and deep in thought?"

"No… more like your face was flattened by a frying pan full of bacon"

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

"Wait! Why bacon?!! Couldn’t it have been pancakes instead?!"

"Sorry, but I'd rather have the children at the orphanage enjoy those"

"….YOU'RE meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeean" , she complained before coming closer and said softly, "Well? Have we totally lost their trail?"

Gerhard could only nod as he sighed, "Just early this morning. We still haven't been able to locate a set of tracks even though we went over the same ground three times".

"I told you we should have gotten a ranger, or at least a player that can track, but noooo, you had to be all 'time is of the essence' or 'just believe in me, I know what I am doing'. And this is why men should never decide the choice of restaurants or what movie to watch"

"I resent that. I will have you know I am a fine connoisseur of restaurants and classical music", he retorted before admitting, "Although you were right. I never expected such large beings to be able to move through the forest so quickly".

"You should know by now. Lydia is always right!", she stuck out her chest proudly, leaving little to the imagination as her sizable bosom was hemmed in tight by her dress.

Gerhard coughed in embarrassment before turning away but not until she noticed it and said, "Ohooo, is MISTER Gerhard a cherry boy, hmmm?", she chuckled evilly.

"I will have you know, I have a so-… dear gods woman! Put them away!", Gerhard exclaimed, while the NPC men for some reason started to watch the scene unfolding before their eyes with deep interest.

"What's the matter, hmm?", she asked innocently as she pressed her breasts together with her hands to make a huge seductive mound whilst trying to steer herself to the front of his face. "I am only just talking to you"

"You are doing more than talking, and you know it! Totally shameless this generation! I fear for Max's future choice of girlfriends, I swear!"

"Eh? Who is Max?"

"Oh, he is my-…", Gerhard stopped suddenly as he instantly became alert, a gut feeling warning him that something was approaching with incredible killing intent, turning back to gaze at the rearguard of his troops.

"Hmm? What is it?", Lydia asked only to gape in astonishment as Gerhard took off and raced towards the rear.

"ALL SQUADS MOVE TO THE FRONT OF COLUMN NOW!", Gerhard roared in command, drawing his sword before halting as the last of his men streamed past him after immediately following his orders.

Their drill and efficiency was astonishing since they not only obeyed, but automatically formed the standard double line formation he taught them, of warriors to the fore and with archers to the rear, already notching arrows and readying to fire. Striding forward from the trees, Gerhard tensed as he recognised the armoured figure of Eric the Red gradually materialising from the forest, his tall form splendidly bedecked in red full plate armour, which was topped off with a full faced Sutton Hoo style helm, looking like a Viking chieftain garbed for war. Without a signal from Gerhard, the entire battle group assumed their combat stances, the warriors locking shields together, while the archers raised their bows to the sky preparing to unleash an arrow storm.

However, Gerhard raised his right arm over his head to signal that no action was to be taken unless by his command. Seeing this, all the men could do was watch with mounting apprehension as Eric the Red strode closer to their commander, Lydia basically readying a spell and about to ignore Gerhard's command until, sensing it, he turned to gaze back at her. His eyes seemed to say, 'trust me', and she groaned as she stopped chanting before waving her hands furiously in signal at him, 'I hope you know what you are doing!'

Gerhard strode forward, and when he was barely 50 metres away, placed the point of his sword into the ground and called out, "Halt, advance and be recognised", practically military lingo that only soldiers would understand.

It caused the giant to halt abruptly, a long tense moment passed before there was a response from beneath his helm, "I believe I am known as ‘Eric the Red’"

"What is your purpose... in coming here?"

To which Eric pointed at Gerhard with his battle axe and said, "To finish our duel and kill you".

At those words the air became filled with killing intent, the battle group barely restraining themselves from attacking while Eric just gazed at their commander, completely oblivious of everyone else.

"I am sorry, but under military law, I am forbidden from initiating or participating in duels", Gerhard calmly refused.

"….You do not have a choice in the matter", a trace of anger slowly appearing in Eric's voice.

"Actually, I do. I am honour bound by soldier's law, and therefore", Gerhard calmly threw down his sword at the giant's feet, shocking everyone, including Eric, "You will just have to cut me down".

"…..pick up your sword…", Eric whispered.

"Request denied", Gerhard responded adamantly.

"PICK UP YOUR SWORD!!!", Eric roared, striding forward to swing his battle axe into Gerhard's head.

The entire line of warriors, his soldiers, surged forward in outrage only to stop, baffled as their commander was still alive whilst standing unflinchingly with blood on the side of Gerhard's temple, slowly making a blood trail down his dusty face, caused from the minor cut of the axe blade. Gerhard just gazed into Eric's eyes for one long drawn out moment before suggesting, "However, I may be able to accommodate you. As a noble, we also have our own set of laws. Were you to honour a request of mine, I will gladly accept your challenge and finish what we started".

"….And that would be?"

"You managed to track us. How?"

"….I have the skills required for it."

"And can you see Orc tracks around us?"

"Clear as day", Eric spat out.

"Good, because we CAN'T. Lead us to where those Orcs have gone and let me fulfil my mission, and then I swear to you that we shall have our fight"

"… and why shouldn’t I just kill you now, anyway?".

"…..I can't let you do that. I cannot afford to fail my men. NEVER again.."

Those words struck a chord inside Eric, reverberating round and round like a broken record as the man, whom he once was, recognised the need inside of this commander, this gentleman officer standing before him. Eric was under no illusion who this man was, he knew that this was no ordinary player but a REAL soldier that is still duty bound…unlike what Eric has become. It was several heartbeats before the tension eased from his arm, as he finally took the axe away from Gerhard's head, the atmosphere around them becoming calm to the relief of Lydia and the men.

"…I shall hold you to that…", Eric said in a low deadly tone.

"Its fine, kamerad", Gerhard gazed back at him sadly in understanding, "I know you need this. And you also know that I won't go back on my word", stepping in close to whisper in Eric's ear, "After all, we understand each other very well…. since we are both scarred by our past".

As Gerhard turned away to explain the situation to the others, the armoured giant just stood there, slowly clenching and unclenching his fists, confused and unsure of what to think. Looking back up, he saw Gerhard beckoning him to come forward, and Eric automatically did without thinking. Eric knew he cannot regain what was lost… and that’s why he must fill up the void. And if it is done through the deaths of others then so be it. He owed the world and no one nothing anymore.

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Ending Song: Promise You

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