Nagare and Shoyo did not have to look far.

This place was apparently called the Rin Village and it was in a quite a poor shape, to say the least.

Judging from the numerous injuries and bruises of the villagers and the damaged buildings, it was safe to say that the village recently came under an attack.

Many of the injured had bite marks or missing limbs, making it highly likely that the culprits were monsters.

As soon as the residents saw Nagare, they rushed out to greet him.

“Reinforcements?”

“What happened to the rest?”

“What of the whereabouts of the Hunters who went to deal with the orcs?”

“Where did the Lord Guardian go?”

Nagare: “Wait, wait, wait, slow down a little! I have never been here before”

Village chief: “But your uniform….aren’t you a Demon Hunter sent by the Order to help our village?”

Nagare: “Yes, I am a Demon Hunter, that much is true. But I had no idea there was something going on here”

Village chief: “In that case, allow me to explain…”

Apparently it all started with the village residents being attacked by demons during the night.

Not wasting time, the villagers contacted the Order of Hunters to deal with the nightly demon raids.

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Several hunters and one Guardian were sent to deal with the problem.

After 3 demons were killed by them, Demon Hunters used Holy Seals to put up an invisible, dome-like barrier of Holy Magic.

The entire village was now supposed to be safe from the hands of demons; with the Holy Barrier ensuring that any demon that dared to step foot into the village would be destroyed.

Unfortunately, their problems did not stop there.

Attacks kept on happening, but not by demons.

Orcs raided their village in the middle of the day and started to kidnap people.

Unlike demons, orcs were immune to sunlight and Holy Magic had no effect on them.

The only solution was to track them down, kill them, and rescue the kidnapped people.

Which is why, the Guardian and Demon Hunters were currently away.

It has been about six days.

None had seen any of them come back.

Villagers were too afraid to exit the borders of the village.

When they saw Nagare from far away, due to his Demon Hunter uniform, they thought that reinforcements were finally coming their way.

Village Chief: “Are you a Guardian, by any chance?”

Nagare: “No”

Village Chief: “What rank are you?”

Nagare: “I am a 1-star class Demon Hunter”

Village Chief: “A 1-star? Is that good?”

Obviously, aside from knowing that Guardians were in charge, Village Chief had no idea about the ranking system of Demon Hunters.

Nagare: “Depends on who you ask”

Demon Hunters were generally ranked from 1-star (Lowest rank) to 5-star. And those above them were called the Guardians, known by many as the best swordsmen in the Order.

Nagare did not have the heart to tell the Village Chief that he was technically one of the lowest ranked Demon Hunters.

Blue Sparrow Branch of the Order had not been following the protocols of the ranking system, mostly because all the members but Nagare had perished. If there had been more members, Nagare would have likely been a 2-star or maybe a 3-star class Demon Hunter.

Having Master Hiromasa’s recommendation, Nagare had no need to pass the examination to become a member of the Golden Dragon Branch, which essentially was to survive for several days in a territory infested by demons and monsters.

But because he was essentially transferring as a newbie, Nagare had to start from the rock bottom.

Village Chief: “If you don’t mind me asking, where did your companion go? I was certain you did not come alone”

Nagare: “Oh, you mean Shoyo? He is right here…..”

Looking back, Nagare realized that Shoyo was nowhere to be found.

Nagare: “SHOYO!”