“What are you doing here?” The female knight asked.

The black knight stood in the doorway, not giving the time of day to answer the female knight.

You could hear him sigh softly. He didn’t care enough to have this conversation with the female knight.

He walked passed me and was coming up on the female knight, intending to pass her too. But, as he did, she brandished her sword, blocking his way. It shine blinding those who laid eyes upon it.

But this small action did not stop him. The black knight continued to walk forward, angling himself just enough so he could just barely dodge the tip of her blade.

And just like that, he passed by her and walked slowly over to the counter.

“Give whichever one will knock me out the fastest.” This was the first time I heard his voice. His voice was young, implying that the man behind the helmet was young and maybe in his early twenties.

The old man behind the counter was sweating. His name was Rowan, something. I don’t know his last name, but another thing I don’t know is whether he’s sweating from the heat that lived in this building, or it was because the female knight was staring daggers at the black knight’s back. Either could have been the reason.

The two of them faced each other, on one side, the old man wanted to please the noble knight, while on the other side, the guy just wanted to get drunk.

The old man looked over to the female knight. I couldn’t see her eyes, the only thing visible through her armor, since she turned around to glare at the black knight, but clearly, Rowan saw something.

“I’m sorry honored customer,”

“Honored customer? Wow, I do believe that this is the fifth time someone was going to deny giving me my drink. Good Job, you're scared shitless by a woman.” Damn. It’s true but damn.

Rowan kept his cool, used to taking the crap from hundreds of drunk people, sometimes literally, “I’m sorry honored customer, but we just ran out of that drink you were asking for.”

“I didn’t ask for a specific drink. I asked for anything that could knock me out. You could literally give me the cheapest most disgusting alcoholic thing you got and I would drink it. All taste the same anyway.”

“Well, sir,”

“Changed it to sir huh. Got tired of calling me an honored customer?”

I’m a little far away, but for some reason I see Rowan's face getting redder. I don’t understand why, I get that the black knight is annoying, well annoying to others but I think it makes him look cool, but those insults don’t seem that bad. Rowan, why are you getting so mad, you’ve heard far worse things.

“Sir, I’m sorry to inform you, but we ran out of all mead just a little while ago.”

“The sun barely got up. It’s still technically morning.”

“We had a large party today to celebrate the coming of these brave adventurers.”

“But they came today. Also brave, isn’t that going a little far?”

Great, now not only is he attacking Rowan but even the adventurer. I don’t think they’re capable of killing a chimera, but I feel like they could kill you.

“We were celebrating that a group of powerful adventurers was coming to save us from that vile monster.”

“Again, aren’t you going a little far? Powerful. Please those idiots couldn’t cut off a silkworm’s ass. Nor smart enough to know where the ass is.”

“Please sir. While I don’t mean to be rude, but I do believe that when compared to yourself, they seem much more powerful.”

“Is that so?” A chuckle could be heard behind the helmet. His shadow was growing ever larger. He was getting mad, why was I scared of him getting mad.

“Yes, it seems so.”

There was silence for a few seconds until the black knight began to question Rowan, but each one he asked seemed more like a threat, “Do you have anything else other than mead.”

“No, we don’t.”

“Then what about those fancy looking bottles behind you?”

“Those are just displays, not for sale.”

“Then what about those old looking wine bottles in that underground safe of yours? You know, the ones under your feet.”

Rowan’s face became instantly white. I knew about the wine, the entire village had seen it, but not the adventurers. I’ve only seen them drink from those wine bottles once, I don’t know where they got them from but they seem very special to them. They might have drunk from it after the adventurers finished slaying that chimera, but until then, how did he find them.

How was he knowing where those wine bottles were, the scariest thing he’s done all day. Even more than when he opened the door hard enough to break my hand.

“T-Those are... B-Bad. No point in drinking them.”

“I didn’t know wine could go bad. I mean they could, but even poorly made wine takes at least four years to go bad. But hey, maybe you got that shit a long time ago. Wonder why you kept it, but hey I’m not picky. I’ll take those, bad, wine bottles.”

“Y-You want expired wine?”

“Yes, I would oh so love,”

“Leon! Shut up! Your evil presence isn’t welcome here.”

Huh?

I was staring at the black knight, whose name is apparently Leon. That’s kind of a letdown, but I was looking at him the entire time, but how could the female knight get over to him so fast.

It was faster than I could blink. She somehow was able to move fast enough and silent enough to get across fifteen meters in the period it takes for my eye to fully blink. That’s less than a second, and somehow nobody heard her.

Leon looked over his shoulder. The female knight’s hand grasping at his right shoulder, the light that came off her armor being the brightest it had ever been.

In both a bored and annoyed voice, Leon responded to her calling, “One, can you not scream in my ear. Two, could you please down the light. No wonder everybody is scared of you knights. If you get them mad they blind your ass. Also, could you please get your DIRTY hands off me?”

“D-Dirty? How dare you insult me! I am of noble blood. The protector of humans and you dare to compare me to filthy beastmen and those vile demons.” Why are you insulted by that? Doesn’t seem that bad. Also vile, did you really have to add that part?

Leon seemed to have had the same thoughts as me, “Why are you mad. It’s the adventurer’s job to get the blood of monsters all over your body. Well actually no, since there are the mages who shoot at a distance. Also, those elven archers, while there are others among the races but they all suck. Oh, and those gunners, who seem to be getting more popular by the day. Then again…”

Leon seemed to have become trapped in his own little world. Completely ignoring the literal shining knight that was slowly pulling out her sword to cut this man back into reality. Or just to kill him.

Honestly, I felt that was badass. Don’t know why, but showing such disrespect towards a class of people who have slaughtered thousands of my kind, really makes me happy, and improves the respect I have for this man.

As her bright sword was about to be fully extended out of her sheath, Leon finally noticed something was off.

He came out of his little world and looked over to the female knight who was raising her sword.

“Um, I’m no lawyer, don’t even know if lawyers are a thing in this world, but I’m pretty sure killing someone in cold blood is against the law.”

“But sweety.”

“D-Don’t call me that.”

“It was you who told me that only the strong are allowed to make those laws.”

Leon raised his head, looking towards the ceiling. Like he was trying to recall that moment he said those words to her, “Sounds like me, but I don’t recall telling you that. Honestly, that’s more on the line of thinking it than saying it.”

Her sword was now over her head, in the perfect position to strike down and cut the head from Leon’s body.

Without a second delay, she brought down her sword, like that of an executioner.

As the end of her sword was mere centimeters from the top of his helm, the blade stopped. And in a cool expression, she stated, “You're not worth the trouble.”

“Not worth the trouble, or you know you can’t kill me.”

She didn’t sheath her blade, she just stared at him. Her sword at her side, pointing at him.

“I don’t know where you get this arrogance from, but I don’t care. Please leave, you’re disturbing the others.”

“By others do you mean your wonderfully weak companions or the people who actually live in this dump?” Oh yeah, I forgot she had companions with her. I wonder what they think about all this.

“Does it matter? Either way, you're disturbing the peace here.” She gave no thought into his question, and so she was given an answer.

“If you can’t even figure out why giving a twelve-year-old child the chance to become a knight without any formal training, then you’re as dumb as. Well, I’ll keep that to myself.”

And with that, everything seemed to have gone back to normal.

The female knight went back to her table after giving Leon a loud, Hmph. And for Leon, he once again started to argue with Rowan, trying to get something out of him.

As for me, I left the building. But I didn't go far, someone was on my mind and it wouldn’t let me leave.

I should leave but I can’t get Leon’s words out of my head. Why would giving a child the chance to become a knight be a bad thing?

I don’t know why, but I feel like that statement had a lot to do with me. Well, it was about me, but something was sprinkled in there, and yet, I can’t find it.

I kept repeating his words, something about them wasn’t right.

Then it hit me, he said, If you can’t even figure out why giving a twelve-year-old child the chance to become a knight without any formal training.

It doesn’t seem that bad, but the age. I look like I’m four-years-old and yet, he called me twelve. That’s my real age, but other than my mother, no one else knows it. So how did he know?

My mind went from one crazy idea to the next trying to figure him out.

I thought that maybe he was a human who figured out my identity and either has a soft spot for demon children and tried to warn me, or he’s a special type of knight who hides in the shadows looking for demon spies. Maybe he thought I was a demon spy and wanted to try and scare me to confirm it.

But then again, he could be a demon himself. Maybe he was a demon spy and after finding me, he wants to contact me and saw that as the best option. But how would he know, I don’t have horns, I don’t have the pointy ears, and I don’t have the immense amount of mana like most demons do.

Also, there’s the thing about his helmet, his horns wouldn’t fit inside them. Did he cut them off so he could blend into human society?

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Like I thought, just a bunch of crazy ideas about how he knew I was really twelve instead of four.

Such a simple statement and it got me all confused and paranoid.

But no matter the amount of thinking I do will get me the answer. I may be mature for my age, but I’m still a child. My knowledge of the world is very limited. The best option right now is to tell mother.

She needs to know about it.

I look up into the sky, it’s still noon.

It’s not like I was going to stay here even if Leon didn’t mention my real age. We had to leave because of that woman saying she would come back for me and try and convince mom about letting me join her and become a knight.

I thought this, but my body didn’t listen. I just stood there with my mind wandering, thinking about the man who made my mind like that of a beast, Leon.

I don’t know who you are, but you are one arrogant bastard. Going against a noble knight, one of the most powerful titles a person could have. Then going around calling the homes, the villages that people slave away in, a dump.

And that armor man, it was so badass. If I ever become a knight or some kind of warrior, I would want to have that as my armor. Even if it sucks, I want something like that.

Plus there’s his personality. I feel like we’re very similar, but also very different.

For me, for him, both of us, I feel like we’re both assholes. Just that he’s way more upfront about it.

The number of times I wanted to punch, no just yell or make fun of a small child that won’t keep asking me to play do something so stupid you don’t know wif they joking or not. And adults, they think they're so much smarter than you, only for them to make all the problems in the world. War, adults started those, poverty, I don't think children are living out in the streets because their parents are lovely individuals.

Of course, I’m just a small child who hasn’t gone through life yet. They say that like their dead and experience everything the world had to offer. Children aren’t stupid you know, we live in the exact same world you do, why not try and listen to us more.

Also, the amount of times I’ve seen someone make a stupid decisions or say something stupid, and I had to hold in all those juicy insults and inappropriate jokes. All those jokes and those laughs I could have done instead of helping them, what a waste.

But Leon different. He doesn’t care. About statues, titles, or race. If he hates them, he will badmouth you to your grave. He’ll also never apologize. If he does something, he remains strong about it, never regretting it. Even if he’s completely wrong and the thing he’s defending is just the worst possible thing. He doesn’t care, if someone starts talking bad about him, he’s either going to ignore them or just beat the crap out of them. Well, that’s what I got from him. You gotta respect that about him.

And also, I honestly just hate people. Demons, elves, orcs, dwarves, Humans, Beastmen, all of them. I find them disgusting, and sometimes I feel like I’m better than them. Does that make me a bad person or just an asshole?

I don’t even know why I feel better than them, it’s not like I have any useful skills. It could be because mom always calls me special and unique. That could be the reason.

I look back down to the ground. Seeing the ants travel through the dirt.

I then look back towards the pub. Someone was leaving it.

I looked closer, his toes became visible, then his leg and finally his whole body came into view. It was Leon, but why was he leaving.

Was I wrong about him, because I got the feeling that he’s a person that doesn’t take no for an answer, and will do anything to get what he wants? Please don’t tell me I was wrong about him.

As Leon’s figure came into view, he made a complete 180 and was once again facing the pub.

He held up his hands, making a strange symbol with his fingers, and pointed them at the opened door.

Not only was the door somehow still opened but now Leon is using strange symbols with his fingers.

No, upon closer inspection, he’s only using one finger. His middle fingers.

I don’t know the meaning of showing your middle finger to someone, but I heard stories, not only from my mother but from other residents of all the different villages I’ve lived in.

The story went that a previous Hero once brandished this symbol to the current Demon King, right before he killed him. No one ever knew the meaning of this, and all the Hero said was that it was a powerful symbol back in his world.

Ever since then, we have been using it as a form of holy symbol meant to praise the Gods and the heroes that have come before. So, why is he using it here? Does he not know the meaning of that symbol?

After an intense moment of brandishing that symbol to the open door, Leon finally stopped. Walking away, and only now was the door closing.

A stupid thought came to mind, should do I follow him?

It would be fun following him, finding out what he knows about me, but a part of me knows that if I’m caught, I’m screwed.

Yeah, let’s just go home.

Walking back home, it was still early noon so I had plenty of time to get back home before it got dark. So I just took my sweet time.

So why, after several minutes of walking, Leon’s back hasn’t left my fucking sight? I’ve been walking home this whole time, and yet I’ve just been staring at his back.

Have I been unconsciously following him this whole time... No, there’s no way I’ve been doing that. I’m going back home.

So since I’m going back home, that must mean that Leon knows where I live and have been leading me to it, because,

A) He’s human and knows I’m a demon. So he’s leading me back home to kill me and my mother.

Or B) He’s a demon and a friend of my mothers. And he’s leading me back home so we can talk. Maybe he’s my long lost father.

A smile formed on my face. This was because no matter what option it turned out to be, I would completely safe. If he’s really human, then he’s going to be introduced to a very unpleasant surprise.

My mother may seem weak, but she's the strongest person I know.

That speed the female knight showed ain’t shit when compared to her.

After walking for a few more minutes I noticed that I was studying the object connected to his back armor. It was a shield, with a black dragon at the center with a large black void behind it that was dripping some red liquid. I don’t know what it means, but I feel a strange connection to that black void. Something about it connects with me.

We walked past houses and farms and didn’t stop, we just kept walking to the point it felt like we were walking in circles. Actually, I think we were walking in circles.

I know this because we just walked past that same house over five times. I know it because that house is the leader of this village and has golden lines that run through the edge of the roof.

So, does that mean Leon knows I’m, “Ooow!”

Knocked back a few steps, I rub my head. A small bump was starting to form, and my brain was shaking as if I walked into a pole. But why would a pole be in this run down village?

Oh, wait.

Clearing my vision, I look up and see Leon. His arms crossed with one of his fingers tapping his bicep.

“Okay, so are you going to tell me why you’ve been following me?”

“I wasn’t following you, you were leading me to my house.”

He made a strange sound like I just said something stupid and his brain was trying to comprehend it, “What? Why would I need to lead you to your own house? Are you stupid and forgot where you lived?”

“I’m not stupid, I know where I live.”

“Really, then where do you live?”

“Of course it’s over…” Shit! Please don’t tell me I forgot. How the fuck did I forget where I lived. I haven’t lived here that long, but still, I should know this. I’ve lived in like ten different houses before this and I’ve never had a problem. So why now?

But I can’t let him know. No reason, I just don’t want to look stupid, “Wait! You almost got me there. Why would I tell you where I live stupid?”

“You forgot where you lived huh?”

“Yeah, I did.” No point in lying, it’s pretty obvious. This guy can read me like a book, but hey, he’s here so I might as well ask him, even if the smarter choice is to run, “But, I knew you were looking for my house. You’ve been walking in a circle this entire time. You thought that I would get tired of you and walk back home huh. But you got impatient and decided to interrogate me.”

Marvel at my logic, “Um, no. I’ve been walking in a circle because I have no fucking idea where I’m going. I don’t live here.”

...Fuck, your logic is way better than mine, “Why though, if you want to know where you're going, just knock on a door and ask someone.”

Asking him this question, a sad sigh could be heard from behind his helmet. He then placed one of his hands over his forehead like he had a headache, “Trust me, if I go up to a random person, they will either ignore me or dump a bucket of water onto me. I did just insult the only adventurer that came to kill that chimera that’s been terrorizing the people for some time now.”

Oh yeah, that would make people mad, “That makes sense. Alright then, where do you want to go. I could try guiding you.” Why did I say instead of running?

“Really? The idiot who can’t even find his own house wants to guide me.”

...Ok, fuck this guy. I’m going to guide his ass whether he wants to or not, “Yeah why not. Don’t you want to make fun of me while I fail to guide you?”

He thought for a moment, but only for a moment, “Yeah, why not. Laughing at you failing at life would be a fun afternoon activity.”

I see why that female knight didn’t like him when he first walked into the pub, “Alright. So once again, where do you want to go?”

“First things first. This is out of your own partial free will, I’m not paying you. And second of all, I want to go to the Inn. I rather not go through the process of protecting myself from an army of mosquitoes.”

“An inn, you just left it.”

“Left it, you mean I passed it?”

“No, left it. That pub you just walked out like an hour ago was the inn.”

He looked at me like I was crazy. Like I said something that shouldn’t have been said, “Are you stupid?”

“Apparently I am since I don’t remember where I live in this small village. But what’s the problem?”

He rubbed his helmet and faced me. Ready to drop some knowledge on my ass, “Understand this child, a pub and an inn are two very different things.”

“How so?”

“Well you see stupid kid, a pub will only sell you mead or beer if you’re from my world,”

“Your world?”

“And maybe, just maybe it will sell you some food. But in the end, it’s a bar, I don’t even know if this world knows that word. But when compared to an inn, it’s like an apartment. It might sell you food and some drinks, but it’s a place you can sleep at if you pay rent. That pretty much means that an inn is a place you can live and sleep at, but a pub is just a place you can drink at, not sleep.”

Huh, that was a terrible explanation, “Alright I think I understand but the owner of that, inn, calls it a pub, so we all call it that as well.”

“Well, that guy is an idiot!”

“Why are you so mad about this?” It’s a few letter difference, no need to yell about it to a child.

“Because I just spent an hour walking with a stupid small child following me because I didn’t fucking know the people of this town are dumb enough to not know the difference between a Pub and an Inn! Good thing I chopped off his hand so he wouldn’t be able to write the word pub anymore.”

“You did what now?!”

“Oh, I cut off that old man’s right arm after he refused to give me anything.”

So that’s why you left that place, but then that means the other just let you go, “Wait, but what about adventurers and the people?”

“What about them?”

“Didn’t they try to stop you? And the female knight, didn’t she try and punish you for what you did?”

“Well, they tried. But after a few rounds of defending myself and some, persuasions, I was able to leave that place without too much trouble.”

Huh? You know, for some odd reason, I believe him, “Really now, alright. But now what? Are you going back there or will you try and find another place to stay?”

He can’t go back to the pub, I mean Inn. There, a group of some pretty angry people and adventurers over there. And there's the problem of selling a room to this guy. He did chop off the hand of the store owner after all. Why would he sell a room to a guy that insulted a noble knight and cut off his hand, “Obviously I’ll go back there once it starts getting dark.”

...Wait what, “Why?! Why would I ever go back there?!”

“Uh, because I need a place to stay. What, do you want me to go to some random person’s house and sleep there? No thank you.”

Okay... Okay, if this guy wants to die I’ll let him do that. Better for me actually since he knows my real age and all. That reminds me, should I bring up that topic of my age, it seems a little strange and suspicious to ask, but it’s something that needs to be asked.

While I was having this mental warfare in my brain about whether I should ask him, Leon seemed to have gotten bored and tired of standing in the exact same spot for the last couple of minutes.

“Um, aren’t you supposed to be my guide. Even though your stupid, I’m pretty sure that most guides know that you have to move to show me the village.”

Oh yeah, forgot I said I would show him around the village, “Alright. Do you want the old classic tour where I show you a bunch of places that you will neither be interested in nor care to visit or do you just want to tell me where you want to go?”

“I’ll take the second option. Do you know a good secluded place I can get drunk at? Preferably a place nobody knows or goes to.”

Hm, a secluded place. There’s a nice hill over to the east that not many people know about. I found it randomly one day, and it's a nice spot. Good vegetation, the cliff looks over the village and the tree stops any sunlight from blinding you. Overall it’s a good place, “I have one spot, but before that, I need to know.” This may be the worst decision in my life, but I might as well ask, “Why did you call me twelve back there.”

“Twelve? You mean your age?”

“Yeah.”

“Well stupid, it’s because your twelve-years-old. Why wouldn’t I call you by your age.”

“But my height. It’s that of a four-year-old.”

“And,”

“Everyone else thinks I’m four-years-old, so why would you think differently?”

“Because I’m not an idiot like the rest?”

...I believe him, “Alright, so with that out of the way, I know this perfect spot.”

Finally, after walking around in a circle for an hour, then talking another half hour, only now are we going somewhere.

I still don’t trust him.

While he was able to tell how old I am, but you have to remember that I truly look like I’m four. During that entire conversation, I had to look up until my neck cracked. The top of my head barely reached Leon’s kneecaps, so how the hell did he figure out my true age.

Also, even if he did know I was lying about my real age, how would he know I was twelve and not ten or something. It doesn’t make sense, but hey, no point in caring now, right?

I’ll just bring him to that spot which will take around thirty minutes, then I’ll try and remember where I live and tell mom everything that happened. After that, we’ll leave this village and never return. So unless this guy kills me in that secluded spot, nothing really bad will happen.

And to avoid him killing me in that secluded spot, I’ll just get him to a very public area, and point to where he has to go, he’ll find it, and he won’t be able to kill me. Although, now that I think about it, there aren’t that many people outside. Why is that?

Is it because of the adventurer? But the mood there was pretty bad when I left, and if what Leon said is true about how he cut off Rowan’s hand, then wouldn't most of the villagers have left already.

It’s still noon, so why is everybody still indoors and not working out in the field.

We continue walking east, nothing happening on the way, no talking, just walking. It was awkward, but it was still better than him killing me.

Thinking about our earlier conversation, for no particular reason, I remember him saying he wanted to get drunk. Does that mean Rowan finally sold him something, or did he steal some? Guess it’s not that important since I’ll be leaving this village and Leon will be leaving to slay that chimera with the others.

“So... What’s a demon doing this far out in the human continent?”

I knew it!