Ash and decay. That was all that was left.

A city that had just suffered through a devastating tragedy met the gaze of another morning's light. The once lively and plentiful city of Aganth was no longer the same. Basking in the light of morning, the very few remaining survivors came to seek out aid.

These poor and pathetic survivors had not hoped for much but to seek out the light of the following day. It would’ve been enough.

During the darkest moment of Aganth, the stillness of a graveyard consumed it in its entirety. The mood was heavy and mournful. Many have lost their friends and families. Many others have done things they would have never done before. Such a gruesome sight was accompanied by every battle.

Yet despite being plunged into the darkest depths of darkness, a single beacon of light appeared to save them.

“Help the survivors.” Elias’ figure was the same as a messiah’s. He was glorified by arriving when they needed him. Not a single person hated seeing Elias’ appearance for he was the one who appeared when all hope seemed lost.

Elias sent his people to aid everyone still within the city. It did not matter who they were affiliated with, it did not matter whether they seemed to be on the brink of death, Elias made sure to send out as much help as possible. The amount of lives he saved was not insignificant.

There were far too many things to worry about, and Elias had decided to act first before thinking about it. During his travels, he would spread the news of where they could take shelter. Some would decline his help and would rather run away, against such living beings, Elias could only let them be.

After the end of a war, it did not matter who was on whose side. They were all living beings.

As he was scouring the ruined city, he began to notice odd key details.

The Salvo Empire didn’t send anyone strong enough to deal with a Great Being. I’m stupid enough to believe them at face value. No wonder they had brought more supplies than what we needed. They wanted me to be the Hero who showed up.

Elias saw an unconscious man bleeding out by the side of a road. He had already anticipated his death yet Elias had so easily patched him up. Feeling that his entire body was no longer cold from the blood loss, he wasted no time bowing before him.

“Almighty lord. I will pay you back for your kindness.” Being able to heal such severe injuries could only mean that the man before him was a divine entity. It was no easy feat to remove corrupted miasma from the Great Devil.

Facing such an action, Elias could only shake his head. He didn’t do anything. For the first time in a long time, Elias had been played around with. He was nothing more than a chess piece that had so willingly acted as his master wanted.

Never again.

“If you want to thank me then can you tell me the direction of where the other possible survivors could be?”

The soldier immediately gave directions to the western side of Aganth. It had been one of the strongholds that decided not to act at all, remaining neutral since the beginning. Unfortunately for them, the battle between a Great Devil and a Great Dragon had caused great damage to their defenses. They were barely able to fight back before crumbling before oppressive might.

Elias proceeded to continue this cycle of personally seeking out those in need. In a mere few hours, he had managed to comb through the entire city using his personal army. With the amount of rations and medicinal supplies that they had brought, unless they had an incurable disease, they could be saved.

During his relief efforts, his reputation quickly rose among the survivors. The soldiers all sang praises of his glorious and selfless actions while those priests showed off miraculous powers to the masses. With his own visible acts of kindness, it didn’t take much for many to give in to greatly appreciating Elias.

After a long day of helping many survivors, he could finally ease up as he felt that he had done enough. He sat down in his own personal tent and collapsed. His body was not tired at all but his mind was filled with countless worries.

“At this point, am I really changing anything?” Elias sighed heavily. “It’s Earth all over again.”

A shadow began to approach his personal quarters. Sensing this initially made him wary yet he quickly realized who it was. This person was one of the priests who was overlooking the aftermath of Alyur’s descent. This was also the person who gave a non-human medicine. A person that Elias could trust to a certain degree.

“Daniel, enter. There’s no need to act like strangers.”

This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

“If the Hero of the Salvo Empire treats me like a friend then who am I to refuse? Good evening, Lord Elias.” Daniel entered Elias’ tent. He was wearing white robes without any decorations at all making it all seem bland. His wrinkled face had simple tinted round glasses that helped him with his vision.

“How many survivors did we-”

“We saved enough. You can stop worrying now.”

“It’s never enough.”

Daniel smiled slightly before taking out his glasses. He took out a white fiber cloth and began to clean his glasses. “Lord Elias, do you remember how you said you wanted to make a change in the Salvo Empire? Honestly, I am of the same mind.”

“But there comes to a point where it is not your responsibility anymore. You are trying to take the burden of the world alone. You aren’t. What happened here isn’t your responsibility or is it your fault. It was a disaster. Plain and simple.”

“Not everyone is as helpless as you think they are. Ah, which reminds me, I know you have been trying to sneak out of the castle from time to time to find a certain person. May I ask what is driving you so much that you’re willing to spend so many resources on it?”

“He’s not dead.”

“I’m just trying to make an example. So, will you let this old man speak his mind?”

“... Go on.”

“If everyone thinks he has died then why do you think he hasn’t?”

“Because he’s not the type of person to die here. That’s not right.”

Daniel placed his glasses back on his face before coming down to gaze upon the layers upon layers of parchment lying on Elias' desk. These were all written in a language that not a single person not native to this world would understand, English.

Blatantly switching to another topic, Daniel redirected Elias' attention to his research. "Quite peculiar, I haven't seen this language before. Is it perhaps your original world's common tongue?"

"It was."

“It is quite beautiful, in a sense. Nevertheless, I just want to offer a piece of my mind. Perhaps trying to integrate into your new way of life will offer a more... appealing outcome."

"I'll keep that in mind. But that doesn't mean I'll stop what I'm doing."

“I never expected you to.” There was a slight pause before Daniel turned to face Elias. “To be imperfect is to be human.”

Silence.

“Fair enough.” Daniel pulled up his old body and sat upright on the bed. “Well, Lord Elias. I hope that clears up the fog filling your mind for the time being. I’ll come back at another time when you have managed to relax.”

“You wouldn’t be visiting me for no reason. What’s the real reason why you came?”

“Well, quite the troublesome organization has started to make a move. I suggest that for the betterment of the Salvo Empire and for your goals, you make a move as early as possible. With the news of the arrival of the Two Heroes, they must be making haste.”

“Who is?”

“The group that has had the greatest hand in Aganth’s tragedy. The only organization that has no roots in this world. A collection of dangerous individuals that normal beings of our world wouldn’t be able to fight back against at all. The alliance of many outsiders. Cipac.”

“But don’t worry Lord Elias. Compared to you, they are far too weak, they have not properly connected to this world. Their summoning rituals were incomplete and far too insignificant. You don’t need to fear them at all.”

“I’ll keep this in mind.”

“I appreciate you keeping my words in mind. But I genuinely did want to lessen your burden.” With that, Daniel left. He patted down the sheets behind him and got up. No other words were exchanged between him and Elias.

Now that he had finally finished, Elias covered his eyes with his arms and started to mumble. “Daniel’s the only person I can trust...”

As if I would believe that. They just want a dog on a tight leash.

~~~

Awakening to the sudden clanging of a metal rod against metal bars did not signify a great morning. Sammuel groggily woke up to see where he was placed. Fortunately, as small and dank as the room was, he was all alone. He tried to recall what had happened from the night before.

After Gregor was used as an example, everything proceeded normally. The procedure for locking them up went smoothly. Even Lilia didn’t make a single fuss. There was just no reason for them to make a mess.

Before Sammuel was a rugged guard wearing this kingdom’s official attire.

“Get up.”

Sammuel did as he was instructed. Since he was still cuffed and limited from accessing mana, he wasn’t able to realistically do anything. He followed the guard out of his cell. He turned his head to find that there were many more cells around him spanning far beyond to what his eye could see. The darkness shrouded the deeper parts of the cell.

If not for the scratching on the walls and the banging on metal, he would’ve assumed that there was no one within those walls. He felt a simple chill down his spine when he did so.

“You don’t want to go down there. Trust me. Now let’s go meet up with the others.”

Sammuel was guided down the hall. They made a few twists and turns that he had not done the night prior. This either meant that they were going down a new path or he was misremembering something. Out of the two, the most likely explanation was the prior one.

After traveling for a little while, Sammuel saw bright lights at the end of the jail walls. Walking through them, he saw the rest of the other suspects that he came alongside with. Half of them were silently sitting down on the ground without any idea of what was to come next.

Another half seemed to be in an agitated mood. The one who seemed to be the most irritated one was undeniably Lilia. If looks could kill, she would’ve killed everyone many times over. Sammuel’s entrance finally signified that this little show would finally begin.

The place they had entered was a pure white room without anything in it at all. It was empty except for the people that occupied this place.

“Is everyone finally here? Good. Then we can start.” A voice appeared from within the walls. Sammuel immediately recognized this voice, it came from the King of this kingdom. “To make it very clear, I fully understand that there are fourteen innocent souls here. But since this tackles the future of the Elevnia Kingdom, I cannot be so forceful in my methods.”

“I know that there are other collaborators with the culprit in here. As such, for the time being, I’ll be holding you captive until you are able to prove yourselves clear from all suspicions. I already know that the culprits behind this are the Cipac. Steel yourselves, the process of clearing your name will not be easy.”

Sammuel heard an audible clack from behind him. A door closed. The only people inside were each guard that accompanied each captive. In total, there were 30 people inside this white room.

This is… going to be a lot more troublesome than I thought.