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The priests of the human Capital’s church were not expecting a man to appear in a column of light.
But they knew just by looking at him that he was sent by the gods. A solution to the problem that was covering the land, spreading like a plague. And so, they immediately started familiarizing him with weapons, the world, and started looking for potential party members.
Even the strongest adventurer was nothing without allies.
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Adachi was still unconscious. If Sou wasn’t able to see her slow breathing and the few times she had stirred slightly, he might’ve thought she was dead.
Even since they were captured during the attack on the village they had been kept chained in a dark cell. Occasionally, a demon would come in to get information out of him, or simply to torture them for seemingly no reason. He tried to stay quiet the first few times, but that just seemed to make the torturers worse.
Not all of the demons were torturers, oddly enough.
There was an inhumanly tall red-and-white insectoid one with huge blade-like limbs that ended in small claws, and a long head shaped vaguely like a mantises– albeit with a huge barbed spine attached to the back of the head. Evidently, that one was responsible for their capture. Sou almost wished that it would torture them, the way that it hovered slightly above the ground despite its folded wings, never saying a word– just watching with its solid red eyes– was unnerving.
There was one that looked not unlike the female fox-Beastkin that Sou had met before, though it had black and grey fur, and solid green eyes that glowed softly. That one was fairly friendly (something that Sou never thought he would assign to a demon of all things), and made sure that Adachi was properly treated for her injuries. They were more helpful than the healers back in the Capital’s church, which was strange and not something that he was certain how to feel about.
He had heard a few conversations between them– or at least he thought they were between them, as the white and red one didn’t seem to talk a lot– apparently they were making sure that other demons didn’t kill them accidentally.
At least they weren’t the red-skinned humanoid demon that wore the clothes of a king. He wasn’t sure what that one did to him and Adachi, but he was feeling much different.
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“He seems to be warming up to us.”
Krika hummed in agreement as he hovered alongside Balta, one of the few demon generals that came close to him in intelligence and motivation.
Balta was about equal in intelligence to Krika, but she did not possess the knowledge of their true purpose like he did. She did however have a love for dramatics, and wasn’t averse to using her carefully planned battlefields as a stage.
Their shared dramatic flair had set them as fast friends after the generals were picked, and they often shared plans and worked together on attacks.
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Krika had not told her the truth of their existence– he was uncertain how she would react, and wanted to see if she would realize it herself– but he had told her of his plans surrounding this new threat that had appeared.
To put it simply, the new variable was not something that could’ve been planned for, so they would have to overhaul most of their plans to include a contingency.
Plus, checking on the prisoners was always a fun activity.
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Saho was not sure what to make of this new world.
It was much. . . greener than the one he was familiar with. It had people that he had never seen before, from the tall, sharp-eared people called elves, to the short, bearded ones named dwarves. The many different forms of the beastkin, from animals he was familiar with to ones he could scarcely believe, dazzled him.
But there were also the dark races.
The enormous, muscled bodies of the orcs, which seemingly were always escorted by 4 or 5 armored guards and bound in chains thicker than his arms were frightening. Their small eyes burned his skin with rays of hatred, and their slow, methodical flexing of their hands whenever they saw him encouraged him to stay away.
He had taken to the lessons in swordplay and magic use quickly, although the reports of demonic attacks that he overheard sent shivers down his spine. He had been evaluated as being stronger than even the most powerful adventurers, and more than a match for any demon, but that didn’t stop him from feeling weak when he heard how vicious they were.
Hopefully the evaluation was right. After three months training, he would be going on his first assignment.
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Well, the first hero finally finished training.
They are certainly stronger than what I was anticipating. I thought that a simple house-sized demon king would be a perfect match, but it looks like I’ll have to spruce it up a bit. Maybe a little bigger, decidedly stronger, and. . . perfect. A tough fight, but not one that they can lose.
It won’t be very specialized, just a bigger, stronger, faster demon.
The invasion is going well, about half of the central continent is occupied, with the human capital and the outskirts of the elven and dwarven lands being currently under siege.
. . .
Ooh, the hero is going against a mob of undead!
They haven’t gotten much action so far.
. . .
I could be referring to either of them.
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Fuyuko wasn’t sure what to think of the Hero.
He had arrived, summoned by the gods themselves. He didn’t know much about fighting, but he was undeniably talented and learned very quickly. Still, she didn’t know much about him. The only thing she knew was his name.
The undead hadn’t been a significant threat so far, mostly being just a slowly growing horde of skeletons milling about without a direction. They would attack any adventurers, but they were defeated easily.
Perfect for the Hero’s first mission.
Sure enough, the horde rushed them as soon as they were spotted. Dozens of skeletons, still-rotting corpses, and fresh bodies ran, lept, crawled, and stumbled towards them.
Saho, for his part, didn’t freeze up– a commonality among newer adventurers– but he did seem unnerved. He took a deep breath. . . closed his eyes. . . pointed his sword at the horde. . .
Light shot from its blade, turning the monsters that were ready to add to their number to ash.
Fuyuko grinned. No way they would lose with him on their side.
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Akira smiled.
Ever since she approved the sending of a hero from Earth, her worries had been loosening. He was powerful, far more so than any demon that had appeared.
But when he used that spell for the first time. . .
He would bring peace and prosperity to Asyke. She knew he would.