While that conversation was a bit corny, and I’m cringing a little bit as I think about everything I said, I don’t regret my words.

When I first got here, I was pretty content with just hunting and getting stronger by myself but over the last week or two things have changed quite a bit with how I saw the others and how I saw myself. From a college student to a spear wielding, black fire spewing, shirtless killer.

Well, it’s obviously a bit more than that. I just told someone who is at least 10 years older me that I’ll handle everything, and I consider everyone here my people.

Yep, definitely weird. Looking at it from a different viewpoint, I essentially just told all of them I’m their leader and there all under me now. A bit arrogant…well I didn’t really mean it that way, instead I just meant I’ll protect them while they gathered the strength to defend themselves. Maybe I should go back and clarify? Eh I’m sure they understood my intentions, if not someone would probably bring it up.

Anyway.

New pants, and some questions for Greja.

I walked into the shop and just like always Greja welcomed me with a smile.

“Welcome in Raizen! And congratulations on your breakthrough!”

“Thank you as always Greja. Is it alright If I asked a couple questions?”

“Of course.”

“Thank you...it’s about this attack we faced. Is that the added danger you mentioned or is that what every Outpost is facing?”

“Hmm…it’s a bit more complicated than that but yes, the attack you faced today was a bit stronger than what you would’ve faced without the upgrade, though not by much. This stage in the Tutorial can be thought of as a turning point. Things are meant to be hard, and they will get harder. Keep that in mind.”

I’ll definitely keep her words in mind. Now for my next question.

“Thanks again, now regarding the raids, I think I have an idea of the answer, but if we got overrun and the Goblins made it in the Outpost and began killing everyone, would you all help us?”

The smile dropped from her face as she looked at me extremely solemnly.

“We are forbidden from saving your lives.”

“I see...then the situation where the Outpost Leader helped me?"

"The fight was over and no new threat had entered the area. Though the rules can be bent a bit by the Outpost Leader, they can't be bent enough to protect this Outpost should you all fail to defend yourselves."

"I understand. Now I would like to buy..."

It was at that moment I realized all my money was back at home...

"Sorry, never mind, I'll be back."

Her smile came back as she waved me goodbye.

I walked out of the shop and began making my way to the house. I got there after a couple minutes and noticed Richard waiting outside.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

"Everything alright Richard?"

"Weren't you going to get new pants? And yeah, everything is fine, sorry about earlier. I came over to say thank you and let you know we should have another talk."

"Ah yeah I forgot to bring money. Came back to get it. Regarding a talk, I figured one was needed. I both did and said a lot back there."

"Well...you did...but that's fine, the biggest thing though are the Goblins. There weren't any cores left behind. We guessed, for majority of them your...fire...most likely burned the cores, but the ones you cut down in the Outpost didn't leave any cores behind either. Isn't that weird?"

"Yeah, it’s a little weird. The only ‘reward’ we got from that was the repair of the walls and gate. Hmm…I’m going to go buy some pants and I’ll meet you back here. Actually…I’ll buy some other things as well.”

“Sounds good.”

With that, I finally went inside, grabbed a pouch filled with Bronze Coins, and departed towards the shop. Though instead of the short quiet walk I expected, a voice sounded in my head.

‘Do not forget about training. We will be waiting at the training grounds.’

I paused my steps for a moment before nodding at no one in particular. I’m sure he saw it though. I did kind of forget training was no longer in the morning, as that time was now reserved for fighting against Goblin hordes.

So, defend against the Goblins in the morning, train in the evening, and then hit the Dungeons after that.

We are in for some busy days.

Anyway, I made it back to the shop and bought everything I needed before making my way back home.

My purchases were actually quite a bit of things. A pencil, a couple stacks of paper, toothbrush, toothpaste, soap, the Monster Encyclopedia, 5 sets of clothes, and the book called Cultivation Channels that I planned to read when it was time to break through. Of course I’d still talk to the Outpost Leader about that.

Anyway, it was quite the haul, thankfully I was considerably wealthy due to how many Dungeon runs we did as a group and how many I did solo before this new stage.

Moving on, Richard was waiting by the door though he wasn’t alone.

“Ah hope you got everything you needed Raizen. Beverly here was just delivering some good news! Go ahead and tell him yourself Bev!”

The old woman, who looked a bit more lively than I expected, started smiling as she began talking.

“With the help of my Teacher, I was able to break through to the 1st Cycle! I feel like I’m in my 30s again!”

Oh, that was good news.

“Congratulations Beverly. That really is good news.”

I returned her smile with one of my own, and her smile seemed to widen even further before nodding and saying thank you, then promptly said her goodbyes and went off somewhere.

What a sweet old woman.

Anyway, I entered the house with Richard tailing behind me and took a couple moments to put my things away, before finally sitting down to talk with Richard.

“Wow you didn’t hold back at all.”

“Needed a lot of things...actually, give me a moment.”

I stepped into the bathroom, before quickly coming out dressed in a new set of clothes that actually fit.

“Alright, a lot to discuss. Where to start?”

From that point on we talked for quite some time about a lot of different things. We decided to start with the defense of the Outpost as that was something that was coming sooner than we thought.

I simply told him not to worry about it. I had no more qualms about hiding my flames since they were out in the open already and I quite literally planned to turn anything that approached into ash. I would form a wall of flames around the Outpost then bathe everything in the area in an ocean of Eternal Flames.

They would not have to worry.

I would shoulder the burden.

I told him that he and the others simply needed to focus on getting stronger. Strong enough that they didn’t feel like burdens anymore.

Though until they reached that point, I will be here.

Of course…that conversation led to the inevitable question of where I got those flames. I had a couple options here…I could tell him it was some sort of technique I got from the Dungeon that I didn’t tell anyone about, or perhaps I could make some other lie, or…I could tell him what I really was.

“I am not sure how you will react to this, but there is something fundamentally different about me Richard.

“I grew up my whole life believing I was human just like everyone else, but I’ve since been proven wrong”

The confusion painting his face only grew the more I spoke.

“It was when we were all in that white space. One of those metal people called me something else, and that thing he called me has only been confirmed during this Tutorial.”

I paused as I gave him a moment to digest what I was saying, before continuing.

“…Richard. I am not a human.”

“..What..?”

“I am an Infernal.”