Part 1.

  It was a quiet and uncomfortable walk back towards the station. We walked side by side, but were completely aware of each other’s personal space and did our best to avoid touching or communicating at all as we walked. Sumire walked on my right, the entire time her eyes were focused down, only lifting them for an occasional glance at Hina. She was young, but had a strong grasp of the mood, and avoided making any noise as much as possible. As upset as I was about everything that had happened, the silence was killing me on the inside.

  Hina, as if sensing my growing angst asked, “Are you guys going to get a divorce?” Her voice was flat. As if even though she was asking a question, she had already assumed an answer.

   “No.” I said shortly.

  Sumire looked up at me with a surprise on her face. She had obviously felt guilty about everything, but the truth is, I love her. I only had questions with no answers yet. I may be a hot head sometimes, but I like to think I was a logical person. So, making a rash decision before hearing the other side was just asinine.

  “No sweety. Mom and I have things to talk about, but I trust your mother. We will just need to talk about everything that has happened, and then we move on from there.” I said, touching her head gently. She gave a small flinch, but in the end accepted my touch. No doubt she was still scared from what had happened earlier that day. “Does Daddy scare you?” I asked, keeping the heartbreak I was feeling as hidden as I could.

  “Papa. You did a bad thing to that man. Teacher said that violence is wrong.” She stated matter-of-factly.

  “It is true. You should always do your best to avoid violence.” I said pausing to try to organize how I would say this to a very small child. “That man was bad. He was doing a bad thing to you. You felt bad when he was touching you right?” I asked here, receiving a nod back in response. “So sometimes, when bad men are doing bad things, the only way to stop them from doing bad things, is violence. I wanted to make sure that he, and everyone there, knew it was bad that he was touching you. I also wanted to make sure he would not have chance to do that to someone else either.” I paused thinking about whether or not I got my point across clearly.

  “So, then violence is okay, sometimes?” she asked politely.

  “Only when you are in danger, and all other options don’t exist.” I responded. “Protecting yourself is important. Being able to know when you should fight and when you shouldn’t is important. Not all battles can be won, and not all battles you can win, need to be fought.” I said to her, her hands clasped in mine.

  “Will you help me fight those battles daddy?” she asked.

  “I will always be there to help you in any battle you can’t win.” I said assuredly.

  “So that is why you fought that man today. Even though I didn’t like it, he was bigger than me, and I can’t win.”

  “That wasn’t your battle to begin with. Those aren’t your battles yet. You just focus on growing up and studying really hard.” I said her hands were still in mine. I pulled her close and held her firmly.

  “Since today didn’t work, tomorrow night, how about we go to Konica?” I said with a smile. Her response was to return a big toothy grin.

  “Do you want to come this time?” I said standing up and looking to my wife. Her expression was one of guilt and pain, but she stared me directly in the face, smiled and nodded her head in approval.

  It was shaky, but it was fine, the three of us were still here.

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Part 2.

  The four of us were in a stare down, each of the three men had pulled daggers out from hiding. The women that had been entertaining them ran toward the center of the room, away from current standoff. The guards that were in the corners of the room made moves to surround the four of us, it seemed it was less about stopping us and more about trying to create a barrier between us and the girls.

  I bent down and held out my hands behind me. “Get on my back little one. Hold on tight. I’ll protect you.” She hesitated, and for a second looked as if she was about to start bawling her eyes out. In the end she complied though. After she was on my back, her arms wrapped around my neck, I used [Create] to fashion another long piece of linen, wrapping it around the two of us snuggly, and tying it off on my chest. Now that she was secure, I gave a quick jump, testing out just how much so. Confident in my hastily fashioned rucksack, I looked back up at the men, who had been silently edging forward.

  “This is your last chance. Let me past, or I will kill you.” I said it flatly, devoid of any emotion. My face was sone cold. The look in my eyes was a warning. ‘To me you are nothing but bugs. I will squash you if you annoy me.’

  “Look, I know you are supposed to be some hero that they summoned, and out of respect for that, I’ll let this go. I need you to drop the kid and walk away, or else I’ll have to hurt you.” he said calmly while twisting the knife in his hands. The other two men behind him were slowly edging towards my flanks.

  I said nothing, I let out one single long breath through my nostrils, gave a quick exhale then let my body simply move.

  I launched forward with tremendous force, no doubt to do with [Quick Acceleration] which was stronger than before, as well as my increased dexterity. I was in front of the man on my left before he even knew I had moved. With my eyes met his, the fear he felt caused [Intimidation] to kick in, but it didn’t matter. My punch hit with enough force to decapitate him and sent his head hurtling with speed behind him.

  By the time this had all taken place, the other two men had just managed to turn their heads to face the direction of the violence. I twisted my body in their direction and leapt forward using [Jump]. I had just enough time to adjust my leg out in front of my body before it collided with the man’s torso. Whether or not [Kick] actually activated, I didn’t know, but it didn’t matter. I felt the mans rib cage melt before the force of my attack, and his internal organs turning into jelly inside his chest. The force of the attack also managed to break his spinal column before sending his body on a collision course with the man behind him. The first thing met was one man’s torso to the other, there was just enough pause from that exchange to allow the first man’s head to meet up with the other man’s face, shattering his nose, before both men were sent plummeting into the wall behind them.

  When the two men met the wall together, a crater formed and nothing moved for a good three seconds, until inertia had finished its role and both bodies dropped to the floor. The entire exchange had lasted for less than ten seconds.

  I looked around the room for any other possible adversaries, but everyone else was still in too much shock to move. With no new takers, I knelt down and unbound the wrapping to check on the little girl. She was dazed, no surprise there, moving that fast all of a sudden would mess with anyone. Even I was a little lightheaded.

  “If this is going to be the new speed, I will have to train for it. This is definitely in human though.” I thought to myself, while rubbing the little girl’s head gently.

  “Come one. Let’s go somewhere safe.” I assured her, picking her up in my arms and carrying her like a little princess. “Once again, I’ll be taking her with me. Anyone have a problem?” I said assertively. Without a response, I opened the door to the adjoining room.

  Everyone in here was very aware of a ruckus coming from the neighboring room. When the doors opened, the guards were already in a position with weapons drawn to fight against whatever it was that was going to come through. Their job was to of course to protect the merchandise, all the women in the facility, from anyone that would do them harm, and they were paid very well to do so. To their surprise however, the only thing that walked through the open door was one young man, carrying a small girl wrapped in white linen in his arms. He made no quick or aggressive movements, he simply looked at the group of armed guards with a cold uncaring expression on his face.

  “You will stop what you are doing and clear a path.” Was the only thing that was said. The guards, in unison, like they were under some mind controlling spell, all stood straight up and dropped their weapons. They gave a ninety-degree turn, and backed away, creating a clear walkway between them. The man then walked through the crowd to the next door a disappeared, but not before saying, “You are free now.” With that last command, all the guards standing at attention relaxed and gave each other looks of confusion as to what happened and as to where the man and small child had gone.

  “Tell me, Holdebark. How does he stack up to the legends?” asked Hordin.

  “He has a way to go to match what the legends say about the power of the Heroes. But, if I had to measure him against the warriors I know of, only the Great General could go up against him.” Said the grizzled man. “Though, I don’t think the General would win.” He finished.

  “So, it is a good start then. I was worried about him after Royden’s death. Who knew all he needed was a little pet to make him feel better.” Chuckled the Prince.

  A sound was coming from the bodies that had slammed up against the wall.

  “He will need to be more thorough. He should always make sure an opponent is dead before leaving the scene. Otherwise, there are witnesses. Holdebark, please finish this.” Said the ruler coolly.

  Holdebark gave a short bow and stepped over to the two bodies. The man with the broken nose has survived the ordeal, thought he looked worse of than he actually was. Holdebark kicked the man over on to his back. The injured man grunted and reached out his arms, trying to stop Holdebark’s foot from coming down on his neck. A first he eased on, feeling the man’s Adam’s Apple under his sole, once he was sure, he shifted his foot forward and slammed his heal down with all of his grizzle weight on the man’s throat. It was rather quick and painless, but the terror in the build up is what caused Holdebark a big smile to form on the Grizzly’s face.

  “You can be rather sadistic sometimes you know.” Said Hordin. “Well, now we have an issue with the Margrave.” The Prince let out a rather long sigh before continuing, “I guess I will just have our problem starter take care of it for me.” He said to himself.

  “Willian.” Said the Prince.

  An older looking man in a butler’s attire appeared seemingly from nowhere. He got down on one knee and placed his hand over his heart and spoke in his usual polite tone. “Yes sire. How may this man be of assistance?”

  “Send a unit to the capital. I want updated reports of any movements happening there. Also…” He paused for a second, just long enough to do a double take on his thoughts. “Also, place Katrine on monitoring our Hero. I feel like things may get interesting around him.” Hordin was wearing a large smile on his face about the thoughts running through his head.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  “I will see it done.” The man got up with incredible ease for a man that looked his age, gave a deep bow, and just as he had appeared, vanished in the blink of an eye.

  Hordin then turned around, looked at the mess around the room and said, “Come Holdebark, I am not in the mood anymore. Another time my ladies.” He walked into the other room and gave a survey of the room. While business had been interrupted, at least no one here was injured. He looked to one of the guards and said, “Send me the invoice for any damages.” With that last part, he sauntered out and back to the castle.

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Part 3.

  With the girl in my arms, I made my way back to my quarters. I had surmounted the stairs, taking two steps at a time, and made my way through the halls, at a brisk pace, all the while doing my best to ensure that it was as smooth as possible for the tiny maiden in my arms.

  Upon arriving at the door to my quarters, I noticed the maid staff down the hall.

  “Hello! Ah-yes you! Thank you, madam. Could you please bring whatever food is left from lunch to my quarters as soon as possible? I worked up an appetite downstairs.” I asked in the politest way I could. Their faces were that of pleasant surprise. I doubted that they were talked to very much in such a way, though from what I could tell, none of them were ever mistreated by The Prince or Princess, but the two of them still kept the air or their positions and treated others as so.

  Then I went inside the room and placed the girl on the bed.

  “Now what? There were definitely those that saw me leave a brothel, with a child. I am definitely going to be labeled a pedophile for this.” I paced around in front of my bed back and forth, trying to think how I would explain this to others. It wasn’t as if I had weird tastes but would the others in the castle believe me. “I am not one to care what other people think of me, however, these people are my only allies in this world. So having them not think I am some deranged person who enjoys the company of little girls would be helpful.”

  I stopped pacing and looked at her. She was sitting there on the bed, wide-eyed. She was obviously confused about what was going on. From her perspective, I was some random person, to took her by the hand, pulled her out of a cage, killer her captives, and… brought her to a private room and put her on the bed. “I mean, it sounds okay… at first.”

  I pulled a chair up to the end of the bed and sat facing her. She was sitting in the center of the bed, she was covered in dirt and muck, though her hair seemed to remain clean and was a beautiful silver white. Underneath the linen I had wrapped around her, she was wearing muddy torn rags made of coarse thick fabric. Judging from that I concluded that she was from outside the town, probably some countryside village. The question being, should I have the lord send her back, should I take her back myself, or for that matter, does she have anywhere to go back too? My impulse to rescue her and to protect her had now left me with a new responsibility, and a great number of questions, about her and myself.

  A soft knock came at the door behind me, and the sound of the door opening followed. I quickly rushed to my feet and met the maid trying to open the door.

  “Thank you. I will take it form here.” I said politely, while taking the tray from the young miss.

  “Oh, but sir…”

  “Nope, I got it from here. Oh, and if possible, could you bring a basin of warm water? I would like to clean myself off.” I said, cutting her off. She bowed as gracefully as she could while wearing a rather confused look, and scurried off.

  I shut the door and turned back around to face the little miss, still sitting on my bed, and still wearing a blank stare, no doubt trying to assess the situation she had found herself in.

  “Here.” I said, putting the platter in front of her. She simply looked down at the food and returned her gaze to me, dumbfounded. “Food. Your food.” I said, pointing first to the food and then to her.” Again, she looked down and then up at me.

  “Do you understand?” I asked her, in a gentle tone, while taking a seat back in the chair. Again, nothing. “Dear god… what have you been through.” I said aloud.

  “Maybe she doesn’t speak Hume.” I thought to myself. “I don’t see elf ears sticking out. She is small, so maybe Dwarven?”

  “Getag da betcha dwargen?” I asked her in Dwarven. The only difference from before was her tilting her to the side. No doubt even more confused by the sudden change in language. However, her facial expression only went from blank to confused.

  “So… she has probably never heard Dwarven. The only other major language would be that of the best continent.” The language of the continent, well at least the southern part, was Kimmimonian, or as they said Kimmimoki. Learning that came rather simple for me. If Hume was similar in rules and structure to English. Then Kimmimoki was the sister language to Japanese. Even the nuances were the same. Having studied the geography and history of this world in my time with Vathsvala, the Kimmimonian Dynasty culture was incredibly similar to that of old Japan, however, with the new regime in place, many things had changed.

  “Kimmimoki?” I asked her. As simple one word phrase to say, “Do you speak the Kimmimonian language?” Instantly her eyes lit up, and tears began to form. No doubt hearing her native language in a foreign land had brought a level of comfort to her. Someone who had no doubt been on guard this entire time, as she changed hands from one adult to the next.

  Through her tears she let out two distinguishable words. ‘Kenzō’ and ‘Tamamo.’ They sounded like names, of what I could only guess were her guardians, and judging by their absence, I came to a dark conclusion as to their whereabouts. I moved from my chair and on to the bed next to her, wrapping her in my arms in an effort to console her as best as I could in place of her two loved ones. In return she cried harder, and her voice rose, which in this case were good signs. It meant that she felt comfortable crying aloud and she wasn’t being reserved and holding back tears, she was willing to let herself be exhausted to let out all the feelings she was bottling up ever since whatever terrible incident had occurred.

  “Sucho” I told her in a soft voice. In response to that, I felt her small hand tug on the front of my shirt and her face nudge even closer in my chest. She had done an incredible job up to this point while keeping it together, however, everyone has a limit and she had gone beyond hers. “Giite” I told her, pointing at the food in front of us. She looked at it, and back at me. I shook my head confirming it was okay, and she shot to the platter at supersonic speed. It was as if it was the first meal she had ever eaten. She didn’t bother with any cutlery; her hands and mouth were all she needed. Though knowing where she was from, a pair of chopsticks may suit her better. “Giitashi?” I asked, showing her a pair of chopsticks, I quickly made using [Create]. Her eyes opened wide, almost as wide as her mouth looked stuff full of food. She swallowed hard, and gently took the pair out of my hands, and looked up at me, her eyes ready to tear up again.

  “Ogotama.” She said in a soft, calm almost whispered voice. It was probably the first thing she had said in a while, mixed with a piece of her culture was probably had a lot of emotions all swirling at once. With them in both hands, she lowered them, sat them on her lap and said in the loudest voice she could muster. “Ogotama.” Her smile was big and bright and the tears in her eyes only added to the sincerity in her voice.

  Our moment was interrupted by another knock at the door. This time, my reaction was too slow, and the maid walked in carrying the basin of warm water. When she saw the two of us, sitting on the bed together, her eyes grew wide. “Ohh. I apologize for interrupting you sir. I’ll just leave the this here on the table and I will be out of your way.” After putting the basin down, she quickly turned on her heel and scurried out the door.

  “Son of a bitch! Yup…they are all going to think wrong thing.” I thought, looking down at the little girl beside me. I let out a smile, and then simply laughed. “Is what it is. I’ll handle things as they come up.”

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Part 4.

  After she finished eating, she clapped her hands together and said a little prayer, then looked up at me with a smile on her face. I gave her a little pat on the head, took her tray from the bed and sat it on the table. Picking up the basin, I walked to the side of the bed and placed it on the nightstand next to the candle resting there. “Mega”, I told her calmly. Her reaction was one of shock, and her smile changed to a face of fear. “Mega, ey... duka.” I said, taking me a second to remember the correct word.

  I pulled a soaked rag from the basin and held it up, “Duka.” I repeated. Her face was still in shock, but she turned herself around and removed the linen I had wrapped her in. I removed the small dowel from the loop that was at the back of her neck and pealed her top from her skin. The caked-on dirt and mud made it slightly more taxing with just a single hand. Her skin was dirty and dingy, marred with grime from her travel here, given that a majority of the roads were made of dirt, save for the East-West Highway.

  When I pressed the warm wet rag to her skin, I could feel her body shaking underneath. I had saved her, and fed her, regardless of that, we were still nothing but strangers to one another. Given the environment she had been in up until I had found her, she probably had some imagination of what someone coming there would want to do. Yet, she did her best to remain brave, and refused to let out a single sound as I ran the rag up and down her small back.

  Underneath all that grime, she had a rather pale complexion. Judging by her outfit, I assumed she was living in some village out in the middle of the plains, and without much shade to be found, my mind started to wonder down a path of different causes it could be. After a moment of hypochondria, I brought myself back to reality, and continued to work on gently cleaning her back. After that was clean, I put the rag back in the water to wash and wring out the rag.

  “Kina ha ito.” I said softly. She turned her head back at me, a look of surprise on her face. Probably having assumed that I was getting some sort of twisted enjoyment of wiping down her body, only to have her finish it herself.

  “On?” she asked. Her already soft voice was now a scared whisper. Thinking I wanted her to put on some sort of show.

  “Suta!” I said quickly. Turning my head off to the side. “Dai-houta. Kina ha ito duka.” I said pointing in her direction. Feeling movement on the bed coming from her direction, I made the venture to look, and saw her back facing my direction and her rubbing the rag on her front section.

  Relaxed now, I made the dirty water vanish with [Destroy] and used [Create] to replace it with warm clean water. I then moved the basin closer to her side, then straightened out on the bed, facing the ceiling. “What now? I saved a little girl, but it is not like I actually thought this out. I can’t really take her with me can I. Though when I did find her, that as my first thought, but it isn’t like that isn’t really realistic, is it?” I said to myself in a barely audible mumble. I lifted my head up and looked in her direction, she was cleaning the rag off in the basin before starting to clean off her arms. I laid my head back down and returned to staring up at the wooden moldings on the ceiling.

  “Realistically, if she is here in this condition, it isn’t like she has a place to return to. I could ask Hordin to have someone look after her, but then again… she doesn’t even speak the language. She would be left in a strange place, unable to communicate and entirely alone. What am I, some GI bringing home his foreign wife before leaving back to duty? – Let’s not make that comparison again, I am not really into the whole child wives’ things.

  “I guess taking her on a unknowably dangerous mission that spans the entire globe, to defeat the greatest evil this world has ever known… is the best option? Jeeesuus…” I finished with a sigh. I looked back at her, she was now focusing on her legs, scrubbing them briskly. “Hey… hey… little girl?” I said aloud in an attempt to draw her attention. In return was I got was… nothing. She was either completely ignoring me, or didn’t know that the words I was saying were directed at her. “Well, at least that solves that question. She doesn’t know the Hume language at all. How was she surviving on this continent without knowing how to even recognize it?

  She rinsed out the rag one last time, replaced the linen cloth, hopped down from the bed, picked up the basin, which honestly was almost as heavy as she was, and carried it to the table. She hoisted it above her head and slowly pushed it, so it sat squarely on the table. Afterwards walked back to the bed, her two arms reaching up, and grabbing onto the duvet, and climbing back onto the bed, where she sat, knees folded and staring blankly at me.

  “Giyo?” I asked her, wearing a big smile. She returned a big one of her own and showed off the milky white skin on her arms. “Keene ma?” I asked her. Regardless of the options I thought about, whatever she was going to do would be up to her. So, I figured that it was just a better idea to ask her directly.

  She sat there for a second, her eyes looking directly into mine. Her pale blue seemed to be staring into me rather than staring at me. I wasn’t sure if it was just my imagination but felt a swirling sensation in my chest. Grabbing it, as if to make sure it was still there, I looked at her in amazement. Sweat was forming on my brow, but I couldn’t bring myself to take my eyes off of hers, there was a soft pale light emanating from them, one that I couldn’t seem to help but find myself attracted to.

  After a short while her eyes stopped glowing and with it, the swirling feeling in my chest subsided. She gave a smile while I tried to catch my breath. She crawled towards me, while I couldn’t quite find the willpower to move. She placed both her hands on my chest and grasped on to my shirt, she bent down and put her face between her hands. “Kokoni.” She said, in an audible, if not muffled voice.

  “So, you feel safe here then?” I said aloud. “Well, if you are going to stay with me, the first step is learning Hume. Since we are here, it would only make sense that you learn it. We can use Kimmimoki if we need to talk in private.” I said, look at the lump that was her head still resting on my chest. “But I think that is enough for now. How about a nap?” I gently took her arm and gave it a soft pull, and she moved herself, so she was laying down next to me, her face buried in my side. “When we wake up, first thing we will do is find a library, so we can get you studying the language.” With that, I closed my eyes and drifted off.