We continued along the road for another day or so, then we stopped by a village that was on the way. There weren't enough inns to house everyone, but there was enough space inside the walls to set up camp, so that's what some of our caravan did.

Not my party though. The big merchants had reserved the best inns before we even came here, but Granuel knew of an out-of-the-way inn which we immediately booked.

The building was clearly not as expensive as others, but I could tell that it was well-maintained. It was run by two centaur men who told good stories and made even better ale. They were unashamed to talk about how one of them was descended from a human, so his sister actually owned the place on paper, a situation very similar to Granuel and Therick's. The two centaurs moved here after they got married because they wanted a slower and quieter lifestyle.

Apparently, people were a lot more active in the plains, not just because of its massive agricultural projects and the need for deliveries across the continent, but also because people felt safer there.

"They feel safer? Really?" I asked. "I mean, maybe there are less monsters in terms of population, but it's not like you don't have your level 40 predators right? Hell, I think you have more natural level 40s from I've read."

"We do," Robb confirmed. He was a bulky centaur man with pale skin and pitch-black hair and fur. "I never said it was less dangerous. Just that people were less scared."

"You're probably used to it," Jark added. He was Robb's husband, and he looked like a very average centaur. "But the imposing trees of the forest, the songs of creatures just out of sight. That's scary. People prefer to stick in larger groups here from what I've seen. Not that I go out much nowadays."

"Damn, so it's already working on you!" I laughed, and ordered more ale. Jark went to get some with an amused smile. The rooms here were full because of our caravan, but there weren't too many people here in the lobby because most were fast asleep by now. We were still up, unfortunately, because we had a lot of preparations to make for tomorrow. It was admittedly Granuel who did most of the work.

"That doesn't make sense," Granuel complained. "I've done some research, and I believe the plains are actually a little bit more dangerous."

"It's not logical," I gave my friend some sage wisdom. My contacts almost glimmered with the real terrifying eyes within. "Fear is not logical."

~~~

"Hey!" It was the next day, and everyone was preparing to depart. I cringed at the speech I was about to give–everyone else had already moved on and I just wanted to do the same–but it would bother me forever if I just ran away from this problem. "Sorry about yesterday. I uh, didn't realize I brought something contagious to camp. So, just in case, I wanted to give everyone here a heal to make sure no one's gonna get sick because of that."

People began murmuring. Some merchants rolled their eyes at the disruption. The adventurers were a mixed bag, and there were accusations thrown at me about making a show and a scene out of this. That was obviously projection coming from them of all people, and I hardly even felt any surge of anger from those comments because of how pathetic they were. The other common passengers and civilians were predominantly in favor and understanding, even if many did think I was dumb for making the mistake in the first place.

I took it in stride, and I did not freak out.

Those who agreed to get healed clustered together, and Moonwash began to draw the ritual using ingredients we spent the entirety of last night trying to procure from the locals, along with some that we foraged for in the night or had brought with us to begin with.

Some of the village denizens had also gathered around the park to watch what was happening, and Therick asked around to make sure that there was no one missing from our caravan who might not get the opportunity for a heal. The caravan would eventually bleed out passengers and take in new ones, but not in some random small village this close from whence we care from.

"Cure Disease."

My girlfriend spoke the words, grass grew and flowers blossomed, and the people inside the circles and illustration drew sighs of relief and contentment.

That was it. I made things right. A few people came up to thank me, and I just gave them some curt words and nods.

"Not bad," Anny the healer said, standing beside me and watching everyone else pack up. "I didn't think you the type."

"I don't either. I'm not."

I did not elaborate.

~~~

The caravan rolled out of the village but then was forced to stop just a few minutes out because we encountered a downhill patch of road, followed by an uphill climb shortly thereafter. The downhill was hard, and Moonwash observed carefully how the wagons handled it. She infodumped about the winches and brakes to me as she edited her designs.

Uphill was even harder. The centaur wagoners strained as they pulled the large vehicles along, and my girlfriend noted how the brakes were used to help them, but then a harness suddenly broke. The wagon rolled down the hill, the two centaurs at the lead were dragged across the ground, and people yelled as their transport crashed and broke against a tree.

“What the hell!?” A large merchant climbed out of the wagon, then began berating the injured centaurs for breaking the wagon and injuring everyone.

“Enough of this,” the deacon merchant came down from uphill, as the other wagons had successfully parked there. “You are both exiled. Aron, I’ll see about helping you recoup the damages, but we cannot be held up by the likes of them. Understood?”

“...Okay. As you wish.”

“W-what?” one of the bleeding centaurs said in horror.

“No, please!”

The woman’s guards pushed them away when they tried to beg, further worsening their wounds. They were exiled just like that, and they limped away in a defeated daze.

Another pair of centaurs took their place, and then a woman of the same species was sent off to deliver the news of the people who had just been exiled. Those injured from the incidents were healed if they could afford it, and workers buzzed around the damaged wagon to repair it. At least no one had died in this ordeal, but people were already complaining about the hold up.

“Can they even just exile people like that?” I asked. Moonwash made a privacy barrier around us that actually kept her out because she watching the repair process of the broken wagon and harness. “They’re just some merchants right?”

“The decision is with some other officials, I believe,” Therick said, “but it’s most likely going to go through.”

“Being abandoned here is like a half-exile already,” Berry added. “It’s very hard to enter towns and even villages without any sort of identification, which I doubt they have. News of two exiled centaurs would just make them be treated as bandits on sight.”

“...Excuse me what?” I looked at her incredulously. “Why would they be treated like bandits? How!?”

“I don’t understand either,” Granuel said. “I get that they’re likely to become bandits, but… they’re not necessarily going to steal from random travelers, right? Or live with those sorts of people…”

“Oh…” Berry sighed. “It’s not that simple. Effectively, and even officially, they will be classified as bandits. I know because I have gone on missions t-to…” she hyperventilated, but eventually got her breathing back under control, “to exterminate them.” She made one long scream, before continuing. “I-it isn’t whether or not you pillage and rape that determines if you’re a bandit. If you look like a bandit, if they think you’re a bandit, then you are a bandit.”

“Oh.” The both of us fell silent at that. I patted my friends back as the privacy bubble came down, and people were complaining even harder as the repairmen and women were taking a bit of a while to fix the broken vehicle.

The two exiles did not come up in conversation once. They were long forgotten.

~~~

“This is great.” I practically inhaled the noodles, savoring the taste of my meal. It was a beautiful night, spent under the starry sky. Granuel knew just which herbs were best and fresh, meanwhile Moonwash was able to make pasta in record time.

“Thank you,” my girlfriend said, her voice still bland but somehow full of love. “I’m glad you like it.”

I smiled back at her, but the moment was unfortunately interrupted, and I very nearly killed someone.

“Hey, Haell right? Haell Zharignan?”

A human man suddenly sat across from me along the campfire. He was dressed in the scales of a creature that was far above his own level. I narrowed my eyes at him and settled for a curt, “Yes.”

“Excellent! I’ve been hearing about you, and I saw what you did with giving those who were born less fortunate charity! Your friend even did an entire ritual!” His voice boomed and flowed like silk, causing many of the nearby onlookers to turn our way. “I must say, it’s very becoming for the heir of Golex the Hero to be like this! I would love to get to know you better, if you Harvesters would be willing to join my Antiraiders in a quest or two? Or we might instead just go for a drink if that’s what you prefer!”

He winked. He actually winked at me. He had a very punchable face.

“No. Not interested.”

He clicked his tongue.

“There is no need to be this rude and unfriendly. Why are you even still wearing your helm while you’re eating? It’s quite rude, and the grandchild of a hero mustn’t be so shy–”

If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

His words were cut off when I slapped his hand away. My face had settled into a furious grimace, and I realized just then how much force I had actually put into that. My hand stung from the telltale aftereffects of using wrath magic, but his was bent at an awkward angle.

But this insolent fool was about to grab my fucking horns. No one did that. Not unless I fucking allowed them to. And I certainly did not remember giving him permission. That was justification enough to kill him. I could even slaughter everyone else here. They were all part of the problem. If all these hateful creatures just disappeared, then I would have to hide no longer. And then they can finally see my face in death! Just like they fucking wanted!

“Y-you dare!?” he squeaked. He didn’t know how close I was to killing him right here and now. “My grandfather is a shepherd, you know? I’m a knight! You're nothing!”

His grating voice pushed me closer to the ledge of violence, but I didn’t act on that desire just yet. “Don’t fucking touch me.”

He flinched, as if struck for a second time. “You ungrateful bitch…”

The tension got worse, everyone could feel it. His party members moved behind him, ready to back up their leader, if very visibly shaking and scared. I too quivered in hatred, and the excitement gnawed at my bones.

Bring on the fucking bloodshed.

“Hey! What’s going there!?” A richly dressed man–one of the head organizers here–walked over to our group with his three guards in tow, two of them higher level than me. It would not be enough to stop me from murdering them all.

Therick quickly stepped up to explain before things could escalate that far.

“It’s a sort of… conflict. They tried to grab my companion’s… head, so she swatted his arm away.”

“Lies!” the man in shining armor shouted, wincing visibly from the pain of his broken right arm. “She attacked me without provocation! You don’t just break someone’s arm from a swat! Everyone here can attest to that!”

His party agreed, but almost everyone else looked away, clearly not wanting to get involved.

“Maybe you’re just weak,” I couldn’t help but taunt. I knew it was unproductive and would just make the situation worse, but I was fucking mad, and it was the least I could do to insult the opposition.

“WHAT DID YOU SAY!?”

I looked him straight in the eye. “I said that you’re fucking weak.”

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!” He screeched like a dying pig, before drawing his sword with his one good hand. I drew my own, the mana within me roiling at the inevitability of the coming fight. But then the merchant’s shout ground us to a halt. Again. I really could not get to fight tonight!

“ENOUGH!” He watched as all movement ceased for a second with barely concealed satisfaction, as if his words could actually control me when I could kill him so easily. He looked at the two parties in conflict with each other, his gaze lingering on me with a calculating glint. “Stand down. We will deliberate.”

I tensed, wondering if my secret had been exposed. I had shown a very small part of my true strength earlier, when that pathetic freak tried to touch my horns.

The merchant didn’t say anything about that, however, nor did we have a quick and bloody battle. What we did instead was a long and boring investigation, wherein the merchant and some of his aides asked the other witnesses to piece together what had happened.

“Mr. Areth here had certainly overstepped his bounds and made a fellow escort of this caravan extremely uncomfortable,” he eventually concluded.

“What!?”

“Silence!” He glared at the jackass who interrupted him. “However, I believe that Haell’s reaction here was a little bit overblown and violent. Hence, she will be asked to pay for his healing, or otherwise provide it herself.”

I stared, in part in shock, and another part in dissatisfaction. The merchant’s expression turned into a deeper frown the longer I stared at both him and the other party. I didn’t wish to give this horn-grabbing bastard anything. I wanted nothing more than to fucking kill him.

But, I knew what troubles that would bring. So, I reluctantly accepted the offer.

“Fine.” I growled. “I’ll pay for it.”

Just as I’d declared, I went to go find Anny, informed her of what had happened, then left back to my camp. The person who’d started all this glared at me the entire way, but he got his healing, then finally walked away from us and this entire fucking mess.

“I hope there is no bad blood left here, Haell Zharignan. The cost of the healing was surely trivial to one such as you,” the merchant whispered to me when we passed each other by. “I’m Ven Diagro, of the Diagro Company. I hope we can work together again someday.”

Huh. For all my anger, did I actually get off easier than I otherwise would have in that ordeal? Well, easier being a relative term. I would just have to kill a bunch of people if it came to it. The only problem was how that may affect and bleed over to my party.

“...Sure.”

~~~

The days marched on, and so did we. Even the vast and beautiful natural scenery around us began to blend together, yet I still loved to be in nature like this. It would be even better if most of the people here other than my party were just gone.

I remained vigilant even when most of the adventurers had abandoned their attempts at emulating true readiness. But I hardly saw any action because the few monsters that dared to attack us were swiftly taken care of by the sheer power of numbers. The only times I got to fight was when I hunted for our meals. It helped that I shared my kills sometimes, so most of them had gotten used to me by now. They appreciated getting to eat something better than dried rations.

"Why don't you guys just do the same thing?" I had asked them at some point. They did hunt sometimes, but they mostly looked for easy and small game. "Your prey is right there. Just get someone good at tracking, someone who can fight, and there you go. You can have fresh lunch anywhere.”

I got a range of responses from the adventurers, from those who were offended, to those who gave me a chance and just took my question at face value.

"Not everyone is as insane as you!"

"It's way too risky."

"Even a small party might lose someone."

Those were reasons that I... did understand. My eyes flitted over to Berry and the rest of my friends, and I understood that most of them did not share my same drive to be the strongest thing in existence. But this realization still made me feel confused and perplexed.

Here was a fantastical world, where power was within reach. How could anyone settle for the mundane and the mediocre when they had unlimited potential at their fingertips? They could be free, they could be immortal, the powers they might get were amazing and fun by themselves!

But I didn't begrudge them their choices. I knew what I wanted, and it was fine that other people desired different things. Even now, during this entire journey, I did not slack off. I used what little combat I saw to further train using my memory core. I spent the long marches parsing through the memories of my countless battles and trying to spot the countless flaws with my approach. I planned with Moonwash, coming up with new potential use-cases for my magic, discussing what materials may be good to obtain, and working on the design of my new greatsword to come.

I was just in a private conversation with Therick about swordsmanship when Angerly suddenly stuck her head into our bubble and yelled right next to our faces, “BARKBARKS!”

The sound barrier went down, then I heard Granuel’s voice appraising us of the situation.

"Over there! From straight ahead!"

I looked at his finger, then the road ahead of us. Soon enough, I saw dust and disturbances coming from far away, followed by the soft sound of a thousand tiny feet that was quickly growing louder. The white grasshopper-dog hybrids finally came into view, and I roared out a warcry that made way too many adventurers pause for a second as I ran ahead to the frontlines.

If that much makes you hesitate, then what the fuck are you here for!?

I was hardly able to hold back the retort as I felt the tsunami of hatred that begged me to curse and berate them, do even worse. But that was dumb, it would make me unnecessary enemies, and I didn't actually want to do that even if they were a bunch of pathetic cowards.

I reached the front of the wagons, and there I stared at the approaching mass of sharp teeth and large maws.

I felt that they were weak.

Individually, they were nothing to me, and they would fall so easily if I just unleashed all of my pent-up rage. They would freeze under the glare of my eyes, and they would stagger upon the weight of my aura. Some would die without me ever doing anything.

But I could not show those abilities here, so I crushed the first wave that reach me to pieces with one swift slash using my sickeningly normal greatsword.

That was only the beginning. I kept up the assault, killing dozens of them with each strike, but many more began to make it past my guard. I stepped back, Therick helped me pick off the ones that had clung to my body, and I used a regular old fire wand to burn them all.

The result was clearly not as great as the magic I inherently possessed, but it was still enough to throw my enemies into disarray. The chaos only spread the flames further, and they began to die in great numbers as the other adventurers finally got their act together and fought.

Ogres and centaurs took to the front. Kobolds breathed fire that slaughtered many of them at once. Humans and others darted in between the melee and killed the monsters. Others yet stuck from afar, with arrows and spells of varying kinds.

And then an ogre woman was overwhelmed by way too many barkbarks and had to be pulled back. A man of the same species suffered the fate, but could not be saved on time because he got separated from his own party. A human rogue had an arm ripped off by the sheer mass of them, and a human mage had strayed too far towards the frontlines and had her face bitten off. Screams started to come from the wagons, as the civilians found themselves under attack by the barkbarks that had snuck in between the gaps of our formation, or had circled around through the trees.

Large masses of soil then started to land in front of me, covering the road and burying some of the monsters, though many of them managed to dig themselves out. That was not the purpose of this, however, for my friends soon joined me on the frontlines. It was Granuel and Moonwash that had shot those clumps of dirt, and they now used it to grow thorny grasping plants that stemmed the flow of enemies. Berry and Angerly soon arrived at our side too, and the Harvesters had finally assembled as one once more. The barkbarks had no chance, and we slaughtered them with impunity.

“NO!!”

“RUN!”

“It’s a dodoom!”

“AAAAHHHH!!”

Cries of fright and pain suddenly came from behind us, just as the barkbarks were finally starting to scatter and flee. I glanced briefly at my party, and Granuel shouted, “GO!”

I gave one curt nod, turned around, then charged for the bird/T-rex monster. I used as much wrath magic on my legs as I was willing, speeding up a hair beyond what any human my level should be capable of if they were to use their adrenaline gland.

A centaur man had already been killed by the dodoom, his guts spilling on the road. Anny the healer was staring down its beak, and I could possibly make it if I ran at my true full speed…………… but she was not worth risk. I did use my eyes to try and stall the monster a little, but it barely paused with my contacts in the way, and Anny's head was entirely bitten off before I could make it there. A human man was crawling away and was about to be killed in the same when I finally arrived and met the monster's beak with my greatsword.

"AAAAAAARRRRRRRRRGGGGGHHHHH!!!"

My shout resounded as I let out the rage for having to make the choice I just did. The dodoom looked back at me with disdain as blood poured down its face, but I dashed past its bite and slashed at its thigh. The monster tried to turn around and face me, but it stumbled on its injured leg as I circled around it.

I observed my prey’s movement, dodged a swipe from its wing claws, then attacked its other leg, thereby robbing the monster of most of its mobility. The rest of the fight was not hard, I did not make a single mistake as I systematically tore apart the enemy, until finally it died to a vastly restrained version of myself.

“Weak,” I muttered as the crowd that had formed by the end watched with bated breath.

More of their people would have survived today, had I only been free and unburdened. It was this oppression, as much as it was my choice, that killed a promising healer today.

What a waste.