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A Very Long Prologue Part 1: The Hero's Peasant Companion
I was born a peasant in a small village, technically part of the human kingdom of Alfdorn, a relatively small kingdom bordered by the sea on two sides, a small monster kingdom on one and a large demon kingdom on the only other.
Alfdorn was a kingdom that was a harsh place to live for the majority of the human population which were peasants. This was mostly because of the kingdoms high degree of isolation. There were no other human kingdoms close by, or even within long traveling distance. The rare few people from other kingdoms to come to Alfdorn were extremely adventurous and most did not stay long.
It was this extreme isolation that enabled Alfdorn to remain relatively the same for thousands of years, and Alfdorn’s usual culture was made up of an extremely strict caste system. A peasant usually doesn’t move a mile from the place thsey were born in so now that I think about it, it was quite the achievement that I a mere peasant was now standing in front of the demon lord’s castle which was quite the distance form Aldorn probably the farthest I have ever been from “home” in my life.
It had taken us months to get to this point and strangely we had encountered relatively few monsters for an area near a dungeon where a supposedly “last boss” type resided…So I was not very surprised when upon than entering the castle itself we were utterly swarmed…by lesser demons. Hero through luck managed to hit a few…and of course a large amount was easily taken down by myself.
Lesser demons were not that hard to kill so things were going well. Then as usual Hero had to go and mess things up. It happened unfortunately just as I was reaching out to strike the last of the mob that had managed to survive our first attack; Hero seemly tripped over his own feet and knocked me to the ground. To add to this great blunder he then proceeded to fall in such a way that he landed on top of me and I was knocked unconscious.
This was not that strange a situation as Hero was a good deal taller and heavier then I was, plus he was also wearing heavy armor whilst I was just in my usual light leather adventuring clothes. Not to mention I couldn’t dodge because of the position I was in as I attacked that lesser demon. Yes it was not a strange event, but it was my cursed luck and Hero’s stupidity that made it a life ending one.
I awoke to the taste of strange ambrosia, strange not because of an awe-inspiring taste but rather because of the breathtaking utter lack of flavor of any kind, it was a godly pure liquid, that felt like the finest of silks on the tongue and gloriously cool and smooth going down the throat.
But I didn’t get to enjoy the sensation for long though, because soon after I gained consciousness I started to increasingly become aware of a monstrous pain awakening throughout my body…as my own blood was being boiled and was burning the very veins it ran through.
I shoved the bottle still touching my lips away and leapt to my feet, I noticed that I was still grasping my sword in my left hand…and that as I waved the blade to maintain my balance the great pain I was experiencing temporarily decreased. I looked up and saw Hero who was kneeling on the ground in order to low enough to feed me, the bottles contents…a silver bottles contents I noticed with a roar of emotion.
“What the @%#$!!! Is this?” I screamed at him pointing to the bottle still held in his hand
”Potion I th-think” he stuttered at me as he got back to his feet. “Don’t yell at me I saved your life!”
I grabbed the bottle out of his hand and studied it closely… when I confirmed that things were as I had feared I nearly cried out in despair but was able somehow gain control over myself again
You didn’t save my life you ended you moron I thought…I then turned to face him and said…
“Let’s rush the rest of the way.”
”But you always say that it is stupid to rush, and then every time I rush into things you refuse to cook for me.” Hero pointed out confusedly
“Don’t worry, right now is an exception to the rule; I promise that I won’t refuse to cook for you again…”
Hero was delighted at this good news but reality was different as I thought morbidly in my head I won’t refuse to cook for you because I will never get the chance to cook for you ever again.
As we rushed in, I ended up in front of the hero easily and quickly slaughtering all the lesser demons and monsters in our path. I allowed myself to find some pleasure in the ease in which I was killing. I finally had what I had always desired, power .
Power was the reason I had joined the guard with hopes of eventual knighthood and most importantly power was the goal that gave me strength as in every spare moment I pushed myself to the limit training myself in an attempt to acquire it. Power was all I ever thought of until I was cut off from the path of knighthood when Hero looked at the guard recruits and picked me to be his companion because in his own words:
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“I want that recruit, he is so plain that when I am standing next to him I will look even better”
Knighthood had been intended to be a shortcut to the one possible way to gain social power that someone born as peasant had. That is being in a position to rescue someone of importance and then ask to be raised to nobility as a reward, and Hero for the first time then and many times since blundered in and blocked my path. In Alfdorn to be a Hero’s companion usually meant permanent and eternal peasanthood plus the unpaid honor of servitude to a hero, which meant no longer did I have the chance of earning nobility through knighthood.
While hero wittingly chatted with females whom he blinded with his good looks. I worked my @%#$!!! to plan and execute strategies, to defeat our enemies, and solve the missions that Hero’s job entailed, I was the open secret behind Hero’s 100% success rate and thus his high position and rank with in the heroes guild. But did I get any credit or recognition for it? Of course not Hero basked in all the glory and honor of being a “great hero” and I stood in his shadow relatively unknown.
That is outside of the groups of adventurers we occasionally met with, and the legions of hero's fans, most people didn't really know I existed. While probably everyone knew the name of hero (I tell you it as soon as I remember it but as not even the fan's said it often I easily forgot it) probably...no actually no one outside my family knew of my current name situation.
Even though I did not receive any reward directly I probably would have been happy with my hidden success in completely missions, but that was not the only part of my job. Besides doing most of Hero’s work for him I also had to clean up the messes Hero caused, which was almost full time job by itself. So as you can see I speak the truth when I say Hero took away my dream of gaining power in a multitude of ways. Because of him I had very little time to practice or train myself and thus there were very many other people stronger than me and that I didn’t have a chance of being able to fight them.
But right now, thanks to the heroic water I was extremely strong and combined with my well trained skills it was a deadly combination. If any of those strong people I mentioned were here now I could probably easily defeat them. So since I knew I wouldn't be in this life much longer I decided to take pleasure where I could in the small things such as just now beating that ugly high bat shaped lesser demon in one blow despite that I judged by the way it moved it was a much higher level than myself. Yes I decided to take pleasure in my power despite the source of my power being of artificial make.
With my heroic water enhanced speedand well researched knowledge of the castles layout from those who had managed to escape the castle with their lives , I quickly and easily reached the demon lord’s chamber…it was huge, empty and dark…but with glowing red sconces here and there enabling me to easily see the huge gleaming black heavily sculpted and masterfully embellished throne…and the man in black armor sitting on the throne.
He was even more handsome than Hero with his silky long black hair, perfected milk white skin and features beautiful enough to make any courtesan jealous. This statement was perfectly sound despite his obvious inhumanity which showed with his pointed ears, long black horns and slitted red eyes. To my surprise, he didn’t look angry, scared, prideful or even annoyed. He seemed calm and peaceful as if he was relaxing at home which I guess he was .
Hero had very few wits but what he few he had were usually used to judge beauty. Beauty of women and more importantly beauty of his rivals…so when he caught up with me a few moments after I stepped into the throne room and squinted at the throne until he noticed the demon lord, he was soon seething from jealously… he pushed me to the side and then dramatically stood in front of me and faced the demon lord with his most heroic pose then boomed in a theatrical voice, he often used when speaking in front of his many fans.
“Hail evil demon lord I the great hero…” What would have followed this interrupted opening line was a dramatic, cheesy and odiously long speech that I only knew because he had liked to practice in front of me every night for painful hours on end before while we camped for the night while we had been traveling to reach the demon lords castle.
Knowing the contents of the speech I decided to spare both our ears mine and the demon lords and as quickly as it took to reach him whacked him on the back of his head with the hilt of my sword, and he fell to the ground unconscious. I then took his magic sword I had been greatly coveting it since the beginning and as this would be the last opportunity I would ever have to use it and as that was his fault I felt justified in taking it and prepared to attack the demon lord.