‘Life after the war was rough, but not as bad as people thought it would be. Sure, there was a lot of death and people mourned their loved ones, and plenty of buildings and cities got turned to a fiery rubble, but the winners of the war want nothing to do with our people. Most assumed they would assume the ruling of the country, others assumed they would turn us into slaves, but there was nothing of the sort. The war seemed to be a means to an end for them. It begs the questions of Why? Why did our empire start this war? Could it not have been avoided seeing as how after everything was over, the victors simply left.’

-Excerpt from the ‘Lonesome War’ by Sir Graackel

The usual suspects were gathered in the usual house. All eyes and ears were entirely focused on Raizen, who had just finished his explanation of what he was. He thought about telling the entire group of combatants who were gathered this morning, and even the non-combatants, but after talking with the Outpost Leader, he changed his mind and decided to only tell a select few.

Richard who of course already knew, and Lance, Micah, Brandon, Irene, Cristine, Trent, Vanessa, Brockers, Grant, Harrison, Johnny, Hubert, Micheal, Sarah, Li, Trinity, and Nora.

POV Raizen

“That’s pretty much it. Are there any questions?”

“So, you’re an alien?”

“Well technically I am I guess? But I think with the fact that we are apart of the Multiverse now, we might end up seeing a lot more other races. We have already seen two others since this all started.”

“And that was a dumb question Lance.”

“Of course, you would say that Irene.”

“Say that again.”

“This is why I tell you to stop teasing her Lance, and can you please stop hiding behind me.”

“She’s holding her bow! And you’re the only one that would let me hide behind them Hubey.”

“My name is Hubert.”

“Ah I know you love the nickname.”

“Ahem…any other questions?”

“I have one Raizen…”

“Sure Vanessa.”

“Does this mean your going to be using your fire a lot more now?”

“If I need to.”

“What about what you said earlier regarding the fact that Infernals have enemies all over the place. Are we going to be in danger?”

“That may or may not be the case, I don’t actually have all the answers, but I’ll do my best to make sure you all aren’t affected just for knowing me. Though I would understand if something like that drives you away. I’m not sure how the process works after the Tutorial, but I won’t force anyone to stay with me or anything like that.”

…

I ended up answering questions for over an hour and by now the sky was dark. It was another Richard situation where no one really seemed to care too deeply to the point of what to immediately cut ties with me. There were still some doubts which are to be expected but people were generally calm. Again, that could just be because they value my protection at the moment and could change if they got strong enough to be confident in the Tutorial without my help.

Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

Not really sure, but for now everything was alright. And after that we moved on to our next point of discussion. How to handle defense going forward. It was quite simple really.

“Don’t worry about it.”

“Is that it? Just don’t worry about it?”

“Just trust me Harrison. I will handle it.”

There were some other questions after that, but nothing really changed. I will defend the Outpost. They simply needed to focus on training and getting stronger.

It was finally time for the last topic of the night. And Richard kicked things off.

“Everyone agrees we should turn the beacon on?”

“I want to turn it on, but man I’m worried. Who knows if some evil wannabe tyrant shows up trying to claim the Outpost or something.”

“C’mon Johhny why you gotta get all depressing. I doubt anything like that will happen, and shoot if it does Razien will burn them. Right Raizen?”

I looked at both Trinity and Johnny for a moment before simply nodding. I had already claimed one human life and I didn’t like the suggestion of having to do it again. Not that I minded, but I’m not sure if that’s the type of reputation I wanted. I’ll leave it alone for now, but definitely something to watch.

Anyway…seems like the beacon is being turned on.

It will likely happen tomorrow night, as we need time to let the rest of the Outpost know. And if I remember correctly, I think about half of the residents need to agree or something. I don’t remember, but I’m sure Greja will be kind enough to remind me.

Moving on, the meeting ended and everyone kind of went to do their own thing. I would usually just go to my house, but I spotted Irene walking towards the training grounds with a couple others.

“Hey Irene!”

She seemed surprised that I actually called out to her, but she quickly regained her bearings and waved at me, though for some reason the people with her, Micah, Lance, Vanessa and Li all sped off without looking back as I walked over.

Huh…is what I was think is happening, really happening?

Let’s not jump to any conclusions.

“Hey Raizen. Are you heading to the training grounds as well?”

“No, I planned to head home for my spear before heading to the Dungeon. I had a quick question for you though if you don’t mind.”

I hope I’m not coming off too strong. It’s been a while since I did something like this.

“A Dungeon huh…which one?”

“The Goblin Outpost.”

“Mind if I come with?”

“Uh sure...?”

“Great I’ll meet you at the gate!”

….

What the hell just happened?

I kind of absentmindedly walked to the house to grab my things as I reflected on our interaction just now.

I said hello, Micah and the others ran off somewhere, I told her I was going on a Dungeon run, but I had a question for her. Then she asked if she could come, and I said yes.

Hm.

That is…

Well, what’s done is done. I’ll just play it by ear and see what happens. I’m not oblivious to all the signs but no need to jump headfirst into this. I don’t even know if I’m interested.

Eventually I made it back to my house, I gathered my belongings and made my way to the gate. She was already there, standing with a sword strapped to her waist, a bow in her hands, and a quiver of arrows attached to the other side of her waist. Of course, she also carried a rucksack as well.

Looking at her now…she was a tall, well-toned woman with a lightly tanned skin tone and rich brown hair that fell just past her shoulders. Kind of like Angelina Jolie, I think.

Hm.

Yep, let’s play it by ear.

“Are you ready Raz?”

I almost forgot I told everyone they could call me Raz now, though I wonder why she said my full first name earlier but only Raz now.

“Yeah, I’m ready. I know you’ve done this Dungeon before, but it will be only us two, so please do your best to stay behind me.”

“Don’t worry, I will do my best not to be a burden to you.”

She looked very serious as she said that.

“That’s good to hear, but don’t worry, I’ll make sure you’re safe. Let’s go and be sure to let me know if the pace is too much.”

This time I didn’t wait for a response that time and just took off in the direction of the Goblin Village. Though I knew I didn’t need to look back as I heard her steps behind me, keeping up for now.

This was shaping up to be an interesting night.

Eventually, after running the entire time we made it to the Dungeon.

“Take a second to catch your breath.”

“I will just need a moment.”

She drank some water, ate a food pill, and then spent a few minutes catching her breath.

“Ready.”

“Good. Let’s go.”