Michael and Liara checked into the Mercenary Guild Office in the town first to confirm their completion of the ogre extermination job, and they headed out to hunt the Gore Bulls after a light breakfast.

Once out of sight, Michael held Liara and used One with Darkness, slipping into the shadows. They traversed through the forest to the plains area the Johns confirmed to be the usual grazing grounds of the Gore Bulls.

Sure enough, when they arrived at the edge of the plains, there was a herd of thirty beasts.

The Gore Bulls looked a lot like a bull from Michael’s world, but they seemed to be 50% bigger, with two sets of forward-facing horns coming from the sides of their heads.

Gore Bull (Rank 10)

Str: Rank 14 Dex: Rank 16 Int: Rank 10

Status:

Physical: Normal Magic: Normal Mental State: Hungry, Calm

Injuries:

Abilities:

Charge Teamwork Gore Tactics

Michael finished reviewing the highest-ranked Gore Bull he could find with Liara.

“So, should I take the lead on this? I’m sure I could beat them easily enough.” Michael asked her.

“I am sure you could, my dear. But the purpose is to take them back as intact as we can. The Johns would target either the brain or heart to kill them. An arrow is not going to ruin much of the meat. Attacks from you would likely rip them in half. Thankfully we won’t have to bleed them immediately with the abilities of your void space.” Liara fell into thought, trying to come up with a good tactic.

Michael had to fight back the Lord of War’s urge to run out and challenge the entire herd while they tried to think of a good plan.

Eventually, Liara’s eyes shot open. “I got it! We’ll just do what you did before!”

Michael cocked his head to the side, wondering what she was talking about.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The head of the herd grazed about the field. The day had been peaceful, with none to face them in a challenge. The ogre thought it could challenge them, but they drove it away. It had been a few days since they lost one of the herd, and he expected an interloper to come soon.

Suddenly, something grabbed its legs, pulling them into the earth. Surrounded by darkness, it eventually felt moved to a tight space. The walls around it tightened, preventing the Gore Bull from being able to thrash about.

Where was its herd?! Why were they not helping?! Where were the calls to battle!?

A swift but sharp pain shattered the bull’s thoughts, sinking it into the depths of death.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Alright! Bring it up!” Liara cheerily said, stepping away from the shallow pit.

Michael shifted the dirt to the sides, revealing their eighth and final Gore Bull.

Reaching down, Michael stored the corpse in his Void Space.

“I think the Johns would weep if they saw how easy this was,” Michael chuckled.

Using his mana, he filled the pit trap back up.

“Oh, come on! This was a great idea!” Liara commented with a victorious smile on her face.

Liara’s idea came about when Michael had told her and Rana about how he dealt with the High-Commander of the Hallibrush invasion force and goblins.

Michael formed a pit about the size of the Gore Bulls, keeping the top closed with about ten inches of packed dirt. Next, he would use One with Darkness to kidnap a Gore Bull, pulling it into the pit. To keep the bull from escaping, Michael would control the walls like he did with the goblins and secure the bull corralled within. The final step was for Liara to pierce the brain with her gladius from above.

The plan worked far better than either of them could have guessed. With their job done, the two of them returned to Luffa.

Michael and Liara dropped off the five requested Gore Bulls at the Gore Burger restaurant back area.

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The owner thanked them for the highly fresh game. He tried asking how they did it, but Liara made it clear that it would be a party secret.

The two received their completion marks from the owner and headed up the side alley to get to the main road. They planned to get to the inn to check out, then they would get back to Galgalake.

Liara stepped out into the main road first but immediately threw herself back, pushing Michael back.

“Lia? Wha-?”

“Into the shadow! Now!” Liara urgently ordered.

Michael held her and took her inside with him.

“What is going on, Lia?” Michael asked.

“Look onto the main street,” Liara asked.

With a wave of his hand, a one-way viewing window opened, showing a view from the alley to the street.

“A bit up the street on the left,” Liara said, watching the view.

Michael did as she asked.

The view steadily shifted to the end of the alley and turned to the left.

“There!” Liara pointed at a few soldiers in uniform.

“What about… Oh.” Michael saw what she did. Hana.

The Hero of Io was walking with a few soldiers of Galgalake toward Gore Burger. If Michael had stepped out, the hero would have recognized him immediately, possibly leading to his exposure as the Demon-Lord.

“I recognized the uniforms and figured the hero might have been with them,” Liara said, sighing with relief that she had taken action.

“Thanks, Lia.” Michael hugged her.

Liara eyed the hero as she got closer. “You know.” Liara got a mischievous smile. “She is kind of cute.”

“I already have my hands full with you and Rana,” Michael replied, knowing where she was trying to take the conversation.

“Come on! As much as I love embracing you, it is far too exhausting for the two of us. We could use another party member against Daemos.” Liara argued.

“Daemos?” Michael asked.

“That’s what Rana and I decided to name your mighty dragon,” Liara said with a snort.

Michael was unsure how he felt about them naming his member, but he found it amusing.

Once Hana and her party entered Gore Burger, Michael and Liara hurried out of the shadow and to the inn. Shortly after, they were on their way back to Galgalake. Though it was the evening, and thanks to Michael’s Master of Travel skill, he did not need to sleep. He would rest his eyes and primarily empty his mind while they traveled late at night, holding a sleeping Liara in his arms. Michael enjoyed such nights. Feeling her warmth against his body while listening to her steady breaths helped to calm his mind even more when traveling.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hana entered the restaurant, followed by her group of knights that were assigned to her. Each one took on different roles than the Artillery role that Hana took on. Reginald acted as the Forward, Lucil, and Damien were Operations, and Betty was their Support.

“Like I said, Lady Hana, you will like this place!” Betty stated as they were seated.

“I don’t know, Betty, the names on this menu are… questionable,” Reginald commented.

Hana laughed. “Lighten up, Regi. No one knew about this side of me back in my old world, but I love places like this. They make a lighthearted theme that brightens your day. I remember taking a vacation to try one place where the items consisted of vulgar words, as you would say.”

Reginald didn’t seem happy that she teased him a bit but relented.

A cute waitress approached them. “Hello, everyone! Thank you for coming to Gore Burger. Have you decided on drinks?”

The group happily informed the waitress of their requests.

“Thank you very much. Please know that we have a special today. The Gorrendous Meatloaf!” The waitress informed them.

Hana laughed and decided to go with the special.

The others took some time to decide what they wanted, so Hana looked about the shop, seeing the various joke theme designs. Even though Io said it was a fantasy world with magic, Hana never expected to see a place like Gore Burger. Thanks to the Heroes of the past, the world was far more comfortable than she could have anticipated.

“Hmm?” Hana looked toward one of the empty tables where a ‘Caution: Floor Gored’ sign was.

Below the sign was a decently sized hole. The waitress returned with their drinks, and a happy owner followed.

“Hello! Thank you all for coming. It really is a pleasure to have one of the Divine Heroes in my restaurant.” The owner said.

Hana smiled brightly. “It truly is a pleasure to be here. I love your design of the place.”

The owner was touched by her comment. “Thank you so much. Since this is your first time coming, I will treat you all to your meal on the house.”

“Oh no, I don’t want to cut into your profits.” Hana tried saying, but the owner was committed and got the stubborn Hana to agree to just tonight.

Hana pointed over at the hole in the floor. “Did something happen?” She asked.

The owner looked at where she was pointing and let out a gut-busting laugh.

“Yeah! Something happened. The other day I had this really lovey-dovey couple in here. They were a couple of demons. The pretty wife looked like a cross between a fae and a demon. The husband was a massive, tanned, winged demon. It was clear that they meant a lot to each other. It was cute.” The owner grinned widely. “Anyway, like usual in those public situations, the guys didn’t like it, and the ladies loved it. Well, one guy couldn’t take it and decided to harass the couple. Biggest mistake of that guy’s life!” The owner went into another fit of laughter.

Hana got into the man’s story, wanting to know what happened. “So, what led to the hole?”

The owner chuckled. “The damn fool slams his hands on the table, startling the lovely wife, causing her to drop the last bit of her meal my people worked so hard to make.” The owner faked tearing up.

“The wife, seeing the food she was enjoying so much splat onto the ground, began to tear up, and her lovely red lips began to quiver!” The owner was clearly playing the story up, but Hana didn’t mind.

“Her loving husband seeing that… WHAM! Drives the fool through the floor like he was hammering a nail!” The waitress and owner worked together to recreate the scene with him pretending to bop her on the head. She squatted down and pretended to be in a daze.

“Then get this. The husband then says, ‘No one makes my wife sad.’” The owner finished his retelling.

Hana and the ladies of her group giggled while the men chuckled at how ludicrous the situation was.

“That demon sounds like a great husband,” Hana commented.

“Yeah. Too bad the two of them are leaving tomorrow. Caeldaemos was a hoot!” The owner stated.

“Huh? What was the name?” Hana asked.

“Caeldaemos. You know him?” The owner asked.

“I met him once. He saved the town of Hallibrush.” Hana informed the owner.

“Really? My uncle lives in Hallibrush. If I had known that, I would have treated him to a meal!” The owner laughed.

Hana had forgotten about the giant demon. Asking a bit more about him, she learned that Caeldaemos had come to Luffa to deal with the ogre she had come to deal with. Hana told herself that if she saw the big man again, she would be sure to thank him for helping the people of Luffa. She was beginning to think that just because she was labeled a hero by the gods did not mean there were no heroes in the world already.