“—Then he punched the air and flames came out of his fists! It was amazing! Flames! Out of his fists!”

A young boy who had long black hair and wore a sweater too big for his frame cheerfully said while walking next to a carriage with several other people. The carriage was way too fancy for ordinary warriors like the ones escorting the carriage.

One could see that it was from a noble household since there was an insignia in the back.

A golden lion, in other words, the Berkley House.

The curtain behind the coachman opened, revealing a woman with beautiful long brown hair and honey brown eyes. She looked like an older version Norn.

“Nait, would you stop that? They have to stay alert. You should know that we’re travelling with a lot of stuff so being attacked by bandits is highly likely.” A young woman’s voice came from inside the carriage, “Ugh, I regret refusing Lady Anna’s suggestion to bring their household knights.”

“Miss Teresa, you should’ve seen it! He was so cool!”

“Yes, yes. All the girls talk about it whenever we have to do chores in the mornings.”

“You’re saying a mere adventurer did that?” one of the hunters, a recently new inhabitant who began living in the village a few weeks ago, asked. He sounded doubtful. Well, all the migrates who came to their village were doubtful since they didn’t witness Nova’s greatness.

“Yeah!” Nait cheerfully replied to the man, “He was like a knight! No, hero! No, Hero Knight!”

All of them laughed.

“You really admire that guy, Nova, don’t you?” Gut said with a smile, “Well, who can blame you, I admire him too. The guy managed to make such a name for himself in the same year joining the Guild. No adventurer can claim they’ve faced a fully grown wild dragon on equal grounds when they were newbies. Not just that, he killed demons that even S-rankers would struggle against.”

Nova’s achievements spread to nearly every city, village and town.

The reports of the demon attacks were officially released yesterday to every nation on the continent. According to an official statement from elite mage, Melissa Frin, there were several similar cases that were kept secret since it would cause a big disturbance if others knew of new races of demons appearing in this world.

There had never been this kind of thing ever since the war against the demons.

Unlike their village, the other regions of the Duke that were attacked suffered more severe casualties. That portal wasn’t the only one this far west after all. Many sightings were reported to the Imperial Force and Magic Tower.

Some of the many women who were captured by the demons managed to make it out alive but the problem was that they were pregnant. Because of this the Second Magic Tower told their families that the women had to come to the facilities in the empire to receive proper help.

As said by Nova, the demon offspring don’t come out like humans do. They literally claw their way out of the woman’s belly. A few women have died because of this.

Although the offspring, which resulted from those abnormal births, had lived. They were currently being kept in cages at the headquarters of the Self Defense section in the Second Magic Tower building. The Overseer of Research assigned to that place was Melissa Frin, the one who handled all the reports and research about the demons.

They wanted to study the creatures since demons like them are a new addition to the monster encyclopedia that the empire had at the moment. They won’t keep those creatures alive, though. The creatures were a danger to everyone, after all.

“So why did you come with us, Nait?” Teresa asked as the carriage moved slowly. They had a lot of stuff that they took with them so it was dangerous to move too fast since the stuff might break, “A little boy with a wooden sword doesn’t exactly make a difference in our manpower, y’know?”

Nait’s face flushed red, “Y-You’ll regret saying that once I become a great adventurer and join Misteltein!”

“What? You think he’ll accept you just like that?” Teresa shook her head, “You’re way too young… and weak. Putting aside your age, you should have to be able to fight at least F-rank monsters if you’re a hunter of the village.”

“….”

The hunters laughed when Nait went silent. His confidence from before was now replaced by gloominess.

“A-Ah, but I’m sure he’ll love to have you in his party one day when you’re older.” Teresa said in a hurry when she noticed him being silent.

“R-Really?” His dead eyes sparkled.

“Of course! But you should train hard and become strong!”

Teresa wasn’t being serious, of course. There was no way a little kid from some backwater village could become strong enough to join an A-class adventurer party.

There were rumors going around that Nova was as powerful as the Sword Master of the Empire and Justice, leader of the Testaments. One was in the mid-level 70s while the other was close to level 100.

In comparison, Nait was a little boy with little to no talent for Ki or aura mastery. Of course, one’s circumstances didn’t define your future but Teresa was finding it hard to picture Nait fighting a wild dragon and low-tier demons like Nova had.

Nait’s confidence came back when he heard Teresa’s encouraging words.

Thinking that she only ended up creating false hope, Teresa pulled her head back in.

Her mother and little sister were sitting inside with her.

Norn was busy reading a romance novel that she borrowed from Teresa. This was unlike her since she never read novels in her entire life unless she found something interesting. Teresa had noticed that Norn only bought books about love and books aimed at young women.

Perhaps she was at that age when she finally noticed the opposite sex.

Claudia was busy knitting something to keep herself busy.

“—Everyone is talking about this mysterious man who saved our village. You said you’ve met him. What was he like?”

Noticing that Teresa was looking at her, Claudia asked and put down her knitting material.

“…Powerful…”

Teresa could only describe him like that.

“Powerful?” Norn looked up when she heard that word, “You hadn’t even seen him fight, though.”

“No, what I mean is that one feels safe just by being there with him. He’s like an immoveable mountain that blocks out any storm that comes your way. Didn’t you feel it too, Norn? Just by hearing the confidence in his voice could we feel assured.”

Norn suddenly went silent. She hid her face behind the book.

“…Yeah.” That was all she said before she continued reading.

“You haven’t told me how you escaped that den of demons, Teresa. I’d like to hear about it if it’s okay with you.” Said Claudia gently.

“It’s fine.”

Claudia got back to the village a few days ago so she hadn’t been in contact with her children for awhile. She had to stay in the city to finalize some legal stuff with Anna’s attorneys to avoid any trouble with the house she bought in Nuaria city.

She also didn’t have a chance to talk to her children when she got here since she urged them to pack all their things, say goodbye to everyone and leave the village.

Although Teresa felt uncomfortable explaining everything that happened again, she knew she couldn’t run away from what happened for convenience sake.

A mage named Melissa Frin visited the village not too long ago to hear the full story. It was apparently to publish everything that happened in the imperial newspaper so everyone was aware that demons were now able to come to their world.

There was already an article about the demons that was published not too long ago but not one that went in depth about the demon attacks.

“It all happened fast,” Teresa began speaking, “I was chatting with my friends while we were collecting fruits and herbs in the outer forest. Everything seemed normal, just like every morning. We suddenly heard a lot of roaring coming from the inner forest which scared all of us. I think the demons weren’t aware that there was a village near their den so we were safe… for a while.”

She continued, “Uncle Gut and four other hunters went into the forest to look around and see if they can find out what happened. It was a grave mistake sending our people there since that was what led the monsters to our village.”

Claudia didn’t interrupt. She only silently looked at her daughter and listened.

“Some goblin-like thing chased the five of them—well, there were three left since two were captured and possibly killed by the demons. Uncle Gut and the others shouldn’t have ran to the village but instead taken the opposite direction so that it would give us enough time to escape.”

Teresa knew she probably sounded selfish. But still, the hunters put everyone at risk when they ran back to the village.

“But those idiots didn’t know what to do in that situation… Everything after that was just slaughter… lots of slaughter. I saw one of my male friends have his head cut off when he tried to save his wife. The demons only took the females back to their den.”

Teresa looked at Norn, “I never got to thank you for what you did to save our lives. I know going to the city alone must’ve been hard for you, little sister.”

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

“…No one else had the guts to ask for help from adventurers. Everyone in our village thinks adventurers are scum. But look outside, they’re still talking about that same guy who’s an adventurer. Quite ironic.”

“Hahaha…”

The village people didn’t like adventurers since they were a crazy bunch who had powers strange to the common folk. No one in the village had the potential to use magic or fight with aura and Ki.

So far only Luke had shown talent in that.

Teresa was outside the village during the time of the attack. She and a dozen other women and children were returning from their morning routines. They heard screaming and other strange noises coming from the village.

It was too late to turn back so Teresa searched for her husband at that moment. The thing she wanted most was to escape with her lover and sister.

However, she was left for dead the moment they found each other.

It’s funny how that demon didn’t attack her when he pushed her towards it. Instead, it ran towards her husband and mauled him with its fangs and claws.

In the end it was meaningless for him to even do that. All he did was betray the trust she had towards him.

Teresa didn’t miss him. He was scum who made empty promises just to get into her pants.

Claudia heard all this and silently closed her eyes, “You’ve suffered the most, Teresa. If I could take your place then I would. I’m just glad that you were able to make a full recovery after what happened.”

It took awhile for Teresa to be able to walk like she used to before the incident. Her left eye also went lazy for several days so she had to wear an eyepatch.

However, she was still grateful to both Nova and Lucri for everything they’ve done. Nova only did what was in his interests and Lucri just had a kind heart but both of them were equally appreciated by the people.

“So how’s Luke doing? I haven’t seen him in months.”

“Well, I hadn’t seen him yet after the things that transpired at the castle. The head butler only gave me a letter that Luke wrote to us before they left to go god knows where.”

“What did it say?” Norn spoke after being silent for awhile.

“I’m going to get stronger.”

“Ha. Should’ve figured.”

“Of course he would say something like that.”

Norn and Teresa spoke respectively.

Luke had always been obsessed with fighting monsters and hunting for his village. He wasn’t the village’s best fighter for nothing. Although he couldn’t hold a candle to Nova, who could fight a wild dragon on equal grounds, he was still strong in his own right.

“What the heck motivated him to get stronger? I thought his definition of getting stronger was fighting monsters and not training.”

None of the hunters knew swordsmanship so none of them could teach Luke to get stronger. All of them were ruffians with weapons but that was enough to put food on everyone’s tables.

“Well… Anna said that Luke wanted to have a rematch with the eldest son, I guess? I don’t know what he meant by that.”

“Oh…” Norn spoke, “I think he means from that time he fought the young master.”

“What? When did this happen?”

“Back when the Duke introduced Luke to the family. The young master wanted to fight Luke to test him, apparently. The scumbag got what he deserved for bullying Luke. Luke kicked his butt good.”

“Wait, Luke won?” Teresa asked in surprise.

She knew about Arnold von Berkley since she always used to travel to the city once a week to buy things at the stores.

He was a powerful 5th star knight at only 17 years of age. How could Luke—a nobody from some village—win?

“How?”

“Uhm, he got mad that the young master hit me and this giant wall of golden power engulfed the young master. The family allowed me to stay for dinner as an apology for what happened so that was resolved.”

‘What a shitty person and here I was thinking it’ll be nice to get into a relationship with him. Bad idea if he hits women.’

Claudia spoke, “Golden power? Luke was able to use the power from that time he fought off the bandits?”

“Yup, they called it golden aura. Power of heroes but I call it a bunch of bull.”

“Maybe we should ask Luke what that power is. Although I’m happy he can become a duke and has a bright and secured future, I’m still confused why our own duke would want to adopt him just like that.”

“If he can defeat a 5th star knight then maybe he’s special?” Teresa thought out loud.

“Maybe. But…”

“Stop worrying, Mother. Luke will become one of the empire’s only 40 dukes. He also has an education which was what you wanted, right?”

Plus, Luke could buy them anything they wanted. Teresa could get any amount of dresses she wanted with the wealth the Berkley Family has. She also wanted to built herself a house that had a big garden where all her children can run around in.

“Still, if the pressure is too much then who will help him?” Claudia asked uncertainly.

“Surely the duke will be there to help. He was the one who adopted a commoner after all which is rare anywhere in this empire’s history.”

“…Fine but I want all of us to support him every step of the way, okay?”

“Alright, you can stop worrying now, Mother. Geez.”

Teresa looked out the window again. The escorts and Nait were still talking about Nova.

“It seems we’re almost at the city.”

Although they needed to travel another kilometer, Teresa could see the empire’s walls.

“That’s odd.” Teresa leaned her entire body out of the window to have a better elevated view.

“What is?”

“There aren’t any people, horses or carriages on the roads leading away from the highway or any on the highway itself. I thought the Eulia had close to two million people. Surely there should be a lot of going and coming, right?”

That was how she remembered from her last visit to the empire.

“Something’s wrong... Coachman, stop the carriage!” Claudia hit the wall of the carriage multiple times.

The horses neighed as the coach pulled their reins.

“What’s going on?” Norn seemed to be so absorbed by her book that she didn’t hear what Teresa said.

The carriage door opened, revealing Gut and the other hunters, “Why did we stop? Is nature calling?”

“We need to turn around. Something’s wrong in the city. There aren’t any people going in or out and the gates are sealed shut.”

“Crap. We can’t take a separate path since this entire road is covered in hundreds of meters of trees and vegetation.”

“So we have to go all the way around?”

‘We can’t do that. It’s almost nighttime.’ Teresa looked up at the sky. The clouds were being bathed in orange light as the sun was setting. Dusk was already here; it was only a matter of time before it was night.

“Yes, miss Claudia. I suspect bandits probably attacked people on the highway to the city. That means that this road is dangerous—”

A deafening vibration assaulted their ears, followed by roars from different locations.

Claudia, Norn and Teresa immediately left the carriage to see what was going on. They could see hundreds, nay, thousands of pillars of lights rising up to the sky.

Teresa looked back the way they came. The pillars were rising from there as well. In fact, there were more there than up ahead.

“What’s going on? Is this an attack on the empire?”

That was the most reasonable question to have considering the sheer scale of what was happening. The pillars of lights were even reaching as high and far as the mountains.

“M-Maybe it’s just a lightshow? M-Maybe there’s a special event in the empire that we’re unaware of.” Norn spoke nervously as if to convince herself.

The horses suddenly started neighing louder and louder when the trees towards everyone’s left started parting as a giant shadow came closer.

“I guess we’re about to find out what’s going on.” Gut unsheathed his sword, his companion hunters following suit.

*

Nait looked up at the trees that reached 15m and higher in the air. Something was easily bending those trees just by walking.

Was it a wild dragon that was considered the top predator down here in the farmlands?

Or was it just a mutated troll that grew way taller than its brethren?

Nait formed all kinds of scenarios in his head about what was going on.

His legs trembled.

There was a voice that told him to run and not look back.

His entire reason for coming here was to escort Lady Claudia and her two daughters. All three of them were incapable of fighting so he took it upon himself to fight for them.

He loved Lady Claudia. If possible he wanted to marry her but he knew that was only a dream.

She was a grown woman and he was a boy.

But he still wanted to show her that he was capable of fighting. Perhaps then she would see him as a man.

He looked up at her.

She was standing directly behind him and holding onto his shoulder.

Perhaps it was only a reflex to grab onto the nearest person to her but Nait was happy that she was relying on him.

He felt powerful.

Nait threw aside his wooden sword and unsheathed the dagger on his hip that was hidden underneath his sweater.

It was a small dagger he saved up for during the last four months.

Nait couldn’t work since he was only 10 years old at the moment so he hunted rabbits and birds and went to sell the carcasses in the town near their village.

The branch guild only gave him a copper for each hunt regardless of how many he brought but he was happy getting any money at all considering that he was still a child.

His dagger glistened in an orange light as it faced the sun.

Nait looked at Claudia.

She was also looking at him with widened eyes.

“N-Nait, why do you have a dagger?”

Nait only smiled and said confidently, “I’ll protect Lady Claudia, Miss Norn and Miss Teresa!”

A confused expression appeared on her face before a warm smile spread on her cheeks.

'Beautiful...'

She was just too beautiful.

Nait’s face instantly reddened so he turned his face forward in a hurry.

Claudia’s hand was still on his shoulder.

But.

The trembling had stopped.

Did his words reassure her?

Nait felt confident for a second but he was forced to swallow that confidence once that "thing" emerged.

“What the fuck is that!?”

“A-A mutated monster?!”

Two hunters reacted instantly when they saw the behemoth monster that appeared beyond the trees.

It was probably more than half the size of the tallest trees in the forest.

It was a tall skinny monster with grey skin, a tall neck with long face and long sharp claws. It looked like there were worms where its face ought to have been. There was a large gash in its stomach that looked like a surgical injury.

The monster didn’t seem that strong at first glance considering its skinny limbs. How was it able to make so many trees move out of its way?

“P-Protect the ladies!” Gut shouted.

“Roger!”

All of them formed a half moon in front of the three women, their weapons ready to strike at any given moment.

The monster only looked towards its left, in the direction of the city.

It suddenly looked at the carriage, specifically at the horses.

The horses neighed wildly and tried to run away but the reins attached to the carriage prevented them from doing so. The monster slowly walked towards the horses.

The gash in its stomach suddenly burst open, with two tongues sprawling out. It had rows of teeth meant for ripping apart steel and bone.

“Shit! If it gets the horses then we can’t move the supplies! Attack it now!”

The hunters responded to Gut’s command with an affirmative.

The monster stopped after it heard their exclamations. It turned to face them.

It looked at the horses and then back at the group. For some reason, drool began leaking from its mouth.

“Eek!” Norn fell onto the ground when it looked at her.

Although it had no eyes, they could somehow tell that it was looking at them like they were food. The wormy things in its face wiggled around as if it was smelling something.

A bloodcurdling scream erupted out of the stomach which sent shivers down their spines.

The hunters who bravely unsheathed their weapons retreated backwards.

The monster didn’t outright attack them but it was slowly moving towards them.

It stretched its long claws out towards them while growling.

“Move back!” Gut roared at them to move backwards, “Once you’re far enough I want you to run as fast as you can!”

“W-What about you, sir?”

“I’ll find a way to kill this thing. For now I want all of you to prioritize protecting the women. There are definitely more of these things, I can hear their footsteps in the forest. Kid, you go too! You’ll be useless against this thing.”

“N-No! I can help!”

“Nait, don’t be foolish,” Nait heard Claudia’s voice, “We need to leave as soon as possible.”

The monster was moving slowly even though it could rip them all apart in one swing. Maybe it was just slow in general?

But whatever the case—

‘A hero doesn’t run away from monsters when there are people in danger!’

That was what he believed. A hero only backs down once everyone was safe and the danger passed.

Nait’s life was on the line right now but he wanted to believe that some god out there was willing to give him power.

If he believed hard enough then maybe he would receive a blessing.

This was his chance to find out if heroes really could be anyone.

“I can be a hero too!!!!” Nait held his dagger in a backward grip and ran towards the monster that towered over 7m.

A boy had the courage to stand up to a monster that could kill them all ten times over.

It was laughable how the adults were afraid but Nait wasn’t.

“—Admirable. But not today, kid.”

A voice suddenly entered Nait’s ears as if the person was right next to him.

He stopped.

A sudden gust of wind swept past Nait, heading straight for the monster.

The monster continued approaching while drooling at its mouth.

However, the next moment they knew an arc of power rose from the ground after that gust of wind swept by.

It cut the monster into two halves.

The one responsible for that one slash that could decimate the monster just like that wore a long black coat, had blue eyes and silver hair that danced in the winds.

Monsters were approaching them from all around after hearing the commotion from earlier. The man jumped lightly, although he actually flew towards the monsters at breakneck speeds.

He severed the heads of ten monsters with one strike each. The monsters that tried to attack him were also dealt with easily.

One after another the monsters fell.

The self-proclaimed strongest swordsman on the continent, Nova of Misteltein landed in front of the group.

“Is everyone okay?”