Once there was a talented young Herbalist of Elven blood. The day should have been a grand day, for he had just opened his very own medicine shop. But he bought his supplies from his former employer. The resentful man, jealous of the young Herbalist talent and lusting for his beautiful wife, had sold him rotten herbs.

As the Herbalists tried to figure out what to do, patients flooded his store for medicine, for a plague had stricken the town, and he had nothing to treat them.

Just as he was about to panic, his wife took the rotten herbs to the backroom, and later returned with medicine.

Her remedy cured all the plague affected citizens almost immediately. The Herbalist former employer even had to buy some of the herbs to treat his father.

Shortly after, a wandering Mage approached the Herbalist, warning him that there was a monster in his house. The monster he said, was his wife.

The Herbalist laughed him off, for his beautiful resourceful wife couldn’t have been a monster. But the man insisted, but after being denied countless times, he forced his way into his shop.

As the man laid his eyes onto the herbalist wife, he attacked her, but not before the Herbalist could jump in front of the attack, killing him.

As the wife laid there crying, a light appeared on her chest. As the sun began growing, it engulfed her body. As this light dimmed, what stood in the wife’s place was not a monster, but a majestic dragon.

With a wave of her tail, a gust of wind sent the Mage up beyond the clouds to be judged by the Gods.

Now, silent, the dragon continued to sob before the Herbalist. Her tears, hot as fire, burned her scales and later her body. But even with this immense pain, the dragon continued to sob.

At the end of her life, the dragon said one final sentence after an age of silence,

We shall always be together.

And as the two bodies began to merge, a new life was created.

This was the first Demon.

“Um, Mom, why do you only ever read me this story?”

“Hmm, but Logan, this was your favorite when you were younger.”

“Hey, but I was three at the time, and it’s already been nine years, and you never read me anything else. Also, it’s not that great, plus the story gets pretty dark very suddenly.” You would expect the dragon to heal the Herbalist, but instead, she just died crying.

“But Logan, this story is the only bit of history and knowledge about how the Demon race came to be. You need to know this. Also, I was the one who wrote it. Ungrateful child.”

“But why?” Even if we were in the Demon continent, I don’t see the point of having you read me the same story every morning since the day I was born.

Also learning that you wrote this story explains a lot.

“I know it’s weird you have to listen to this story over and over again, but listen. You're more special than you think. And that’s not just because I’m your mother, you truly are special, and you will know this soon enough.”

Not this again. Every time I’m mad or sad about something, she’ll just come out with that whole your special nonsense.

The only unique thing about me is my height. I’m twelve years old, and yet I still have the body of a four-year-old. Because of this, my mom and I can’t stay in any human village for very long otherwise people will start questioning us. And if they start doing that, then they might figure out that we’re not human and, in fact, Demons—the Human race's worst enemy.

“Mom, why can’t we just go back to the Demon continent?”

“Child, you know it’s because of your horns.”

“Oh...yeah, I forgot.”

My horns, or should I say my lack of horns.

My mom told me that most demon children would start to grow horns only a few months after they are born. I don’t know what happened to me, but mine never started growing. So, going by the logic that all Demons have horns, if we go back home, everyone will think I’m human.

But, it’s not that bad, I don’t even know what those horns would have done even if I had them. If anything, those horns would make my life way worse. It would be a nightmare putting on a shirt, and I can imagine myself getting those things stuck in rope, cobwebs, and a few other things. Plus, there’s the whole Hero vs Demon King war.

“Hey, mom, why do the Hero and the Demon King always have to fight?”

“Hmm? Uuh, I don’t know. It's always been that way. But, the most accepted answer is that Demons were never meant to be alive. Remember the story about the Herbalist and the Dragon. Demons were born from an Elf and a Dragon, and not by the Gods. Because of this, the Gods refuse to give the Demons any form of help, also known as a Blessing. The same goes for the Beastmen, but I don’t know how they were created.”

“Wait, but what about the hero? Why can’t the Gods just come down here and wipe out the races that weren’t created by them?” If they did that, then there’ll be no reason for war and we could have some peace.

“Logan, you shouldn’t say that. You’re a Demon yourself.”

“Yeah, but I’m barely a Demon, and besides, you know what I’m saying is true. If we didn’t exist then this stupid war wouldn’t have happened.”

“Logan, please. Don’t say those things. You don’t understand what the Demon race went through. Blessing gives people the chance to become DemiGods, and yet the Demons and Beastmen have nothing.”

“What are you talking about? Demons and Beastmen don’t have anything. If anything, they have more. Beastmen’s physical strength is beyond any other race. You told me that you once saw a Bearman destroy an entire mountain with just their physical strength alone. And Demons can do all that but with magic.”

“Scipio! Haa, Nevermind. It’s too early for this.”

Oh no. She used my real name, which means she’s mad. Shit, I completely forgot who this woman is. Although she has the typical appearance of a loving mother, with her kind eyes, her welcoming smile, and her hands that were as smooth as silk. But, under all that, her body was covered in scars which already told me everything I need to know about her past. She was definitely a soldier who fought in the war. I’m such an idiot, I talked terribly about a war that my mother was in so obviously her feeling towards that subject is very sensitive. I should leave.

But first, a reason.

“So... Apparently, the Adventuring Guild is about to get their very first party of S-Rank adventurers among the Hero’s Party. Seeing how it’s already been five years since they were summoned. It seems very fast but considering their Hero’s summoned from another world.”

“What?”

“Also the Adventuring Guild finally sent some Adventurers to deal with that Chimera nest.”

“What!?”

“Yeah, I think it’s stupid too. Sending only a few C-Rank Adventurers to deal with a Chimera, but apparently, they have one B-Rank, so maybe they can do it.”

After a few moments of silence, my mother only said one thing, “This changes things.”

Uhh? I’m going to assume that I’m not supposed to know what that means. “So, the Adventurers are coming today, and I would love to see them. Can I go?”

She looked at me, and with her normal loving smile, she said, “Of course. But Scipio, make sure your back before it gets dark. We have to prepare.”

Again, I’m going to assume I’m not supposed to know what that means, “Alright.”

Getting up from my spot, I ran around the house grabbing all the things I would need. Especially money considering that most adventurers won’t tell you a story unless you pay them.

As I entered the doorway, my mother stopped me, “Remember Scripio, I want you to come back early. Also, if you want to find those adventurers, try the pub.”

“Thank You!”

After thanking my mother, I leave the house and sprint to the village only pub. I wonder why adventurers or even adults love to go to these types of places.

Running up to the entrance to the pub, I open the door.

The smell of sweat and mead, or beer as the earthlings call it, polluted the air. The temperature here being several degrees higher than outside. And all you could hear were the many adventurers laughing and telling the adults about their many wonderful tales out in the world.

Seems like the entire village, minus my mother was here. With enough people to build a wall with, it made it hard to get a good look at the adventurers, but my height allowed me to sneak through the forest of legs, with the only uncomfortable being that the bump on the men’s pants kept brushing against my head. I don’t think I need to explain what that bump is.

Nearing the edge of the forest, I was once again in the light, and in front of me were a group of people that did not look like they could take on a chimera.

The number of adventurers that were presented here could be counted on one hand. That’s not a good sign.

I’m no monster expert, but I get the feeling that if you want to kill a monster that has claws that can shred steel like fish, carry around entire tree trunks like a stick, and breathe fire. I think you may need a few more than five people to take care of this monster.

But hey, I’m just a little boy from the countryside, what do I know.

Even if their armor and weapons look like shit it doesn’t matter. Maybe they're really smart, or maybe it’s their magic ability. I know I shouldn’t judge someone based on their appearance, but.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

With the exception of one, all of them have dented iron armor that’s cracking, worn-out leather armor, and some with no armor. They’re just tanning their chest against the sun.

Why do people do that? Does leaving your exposed skin to the world a smart idea when you go to battle with people or monsters with iron weapons and fangs. “Hmm…”

Somehow, among the hundreds of laughing mouths, the only person here who seems to have equipment suited for the job was able to identify my short ass.

I didn’t notice it at first, but after observing every one of the adventurers, judging them by their appearance, I noticed one staring straight at me.

There was no mistake that this one was staring at me. I barely reach the kneecaps of most adults here. So either he was staring at me, or he had a weird kneecap fetish.

While the others were talking and having fun, we were forming mental war. I don’t know why, but I don’t trust this person. I don’t know who he is, but something is telling me that this person is dangerous.

He’s sitting down, but I can tell that he’s already twice the height of anyone one of his party members. That’s not even counting his armor.

With full silver-plated armor and streaks of gold lines running along its surface, it was a beautiful piece of armor. His side wielded a sword, and while I couldn’t see the blade, the hilt was enough. With a single blue stone embedded in the center, the light would enter the stone and reveal a beautiful site. Everything about this person read knight. If that wasn’t enough, it also radiated a soft but powerful glow.

This light wasn’t very bright, you could miss it very easily, and yet you would always know something was there. I think it was supposed to give off a soothing aura, but for me, I don’t know why but my body seemed to reject it. Why though?

My body started to burn as the light that came from the armor seemed to have started targeting me once I noticed it. Strange, almost like he knows I’m really a…

Fuck! I need to leave!

Turning around, breaking the connection, I bolted to the door. Dodging all the legs and hands that were wondering why I was running away. But who cares about them, I just need to get back to mom.

Humans hate Demons, that’s a fact. With Beastmen, they turn them into slaves, but with Demons, they just kill them. No questions asked, no logic in it, no reason, Humans just kill any Demons that enter their territory.

Breaking free from this wall of legs, I sprint to the door. The sweat that formed from the hot air started running in the opposite direction. I need to leave, so I ran like I never ran before, until, “Young one. Could you come here for a second?”

A feminist voice called for me. But she said young one, that could be anyone, “Young one, you are the only child here. You better not try and pretend there are other children here.”

Well shit, I’m going to die.

Turning around, the sweat building up, I see the knight that was staring at me for a long time. Now the villagers are moving out of the way, making a pathway that leads straight for me.

A woman huh. Eh, who cares about that, I live with my mother and she’s crazy strong.

But if she’s like my mother, then that means I’m dead. No way I’m outrunning her. Even if she’s a weakling, she could tell everyone here that I’m a demon, and I don’t think my mother will be able to save me this time.

The knight got up from her chair and slowly walked down the pathway and towards me.

With each step she took, the glow from her armor became brighter, and it started to hurt my skin even more. What is with that light?

Soon she stopped, mere inches away from me. Now the light was burning my skin, making it feel like someone was constantly slapping my entire body, making every part of my skin red, or I had a terrible sunburn and someone just kept rubbing it. I couldn’t decide which was worse.

She looked down at me, and I could see her eyes, blue as the sky. She was clearly a noble, with armor like that. If she knows I’m a demon, even if my mom and I escape she could hire an infinite supply of adventurers to capture us.

I have to get out of this and to do that, I must use the one thing my body gave me.

My height of a four-year-old, and my supposed puppy-like face.

If she believes I’m just a child, she just might pity me enough to let me go. I am just a child right.

Ready for anything, I stand my ground against her, waiting and preparing my act. But, then she just said the one thing I or anyone in the room was not expecting, “Do you wish to be my apprentice?”

“......Huh?”

Apprentice? Me?

That’s not possible. She must mean either I could become a good foot soldier or her servant/slave.

Because to be the apprentice of a knight, you need to be able to use holy magic, or just be talented in magic. I can’t use either.

For one, I’m a demon, holy magic was created to kill my people. Second, I can’t use any form of magic. That's another reason why I’m barely a demon.

Mom says I’m a demon, but I don’t have the horns, the physical strength, or the ability to use magic, which the Demon race is famous for.

But hey, this is still better than her killing me right away or telling everyone in the village I’m a demon.

“I know it’s sudden. But I can tell that you have an amazing ability to use magic. Also, you seem very young, the perfect time to start training your body.”

I’m neither of those things. I’m twelve years old, and while that’s still very young, I don’t see my body growing to the ideal height for a knight, plus I seriously can’t use magic. Trust me on this.

But I can use this.

“R-Really, I can be a knight!”

“Of course! You see, this light that emits from my armor is actually invisible to the naked eye. Only a magic-user can see it, and seeing how you're still a child and already you could see it proves just how talented you are.”

That is a lie, but if it isn’t, then that’s due to my demon blood, “Really! That’s so cool!”

“I know right! So what do you say? Why don’t you come with me and become a knight?”

Gasps were heard throughout the pub, as everyone was shocked by the opportunity of someone from their village to become a knight.

Knights were of noble blood. The protectors of justice and the ways of humans, and have fought alongside the Hero who has slain the Demon King countless times. And now some random kid from a backwater village has been given the opportunity to become one of these legendary figures.

But another thing about knights is there apparent hatred of Demons. I don’t know why, but maybe it’s because their humans or because they work alongside the Hero, but knights are famous for being cruel and ruthless towards demons.

My mother and I once lived in a major kingdom, and these knights would hold weekly execution of captured Demons.

And this was before the war started.

So sorry, but I much rather keep my head, “I-I'm s-sorry but... I can’t take your hand. My mom doesn’t know, and I can’t leave the village without her. I’m sorry.” I could feel the glares of hundreds of jealous eyes as I said this.

I know I have the body of a four-year-old, but even if I had the body of your average twelve-year-old, my real age, you would still be cursing a child. Either way, you adults just look sad.

“I see.” She took a knee, now she was leveled with my eyes, “Don’t worry young one. I may not know your name or your mother’s name, but I will soon. My armor has never reacted this strongly towards anyone, Not even demons, so I know you're worth the trouble. And besides, your mother can come with you.”

But your armor is only reacting so strongly towards me because of how close you are to me and because of my demon blood. That has to be it since my magical talent is nonexistent, “Really! I'll go ask my mother right now!”

“Of course young one. You go ask your mother and once I come back from this little chimera slaying quest, I’ll find you. Then we'll try our best to convince your mother to join me.”

Sorry lady. I don’t know if you're the most beautiful woman in the world or have thousands of scars all over your body but, by the time your knight ass is back, I’ll be gone.

“O-Of course! I’ll go ask her right now!” Thank you god, even though it's the gods that order the Heros to kill my kind, but it’s over. Now just to turn around, leave this hell hole, even though I’m a demon, tell mom, and never return.

Making a 180-degree turn, I finally lay my hands over the door.

But as I began to push, a mysterious force pushed against the other side of the door. This one having fifty times the force my push had.

Time seemed to slow down as I watched the wooden door smack right into my hand that was trying to open the door.

This smack sent my open palm flying straight into the side of my face, sending my entire body crashing right into the female knight metal chest.

“AAAAAAAAHHHH!!!”

“Hey, Hey look at me. It’s going to be okay. I caught you, you don’t need to cry anymore.”

I’m crying because of you!

The door breaking my hand and wrist was extremely painful, It’s nothing compared to crashing into your metal armor. Do you think that metal is some soft material?

But nothing, nothing could compare to this burning feeling.

The armor surface could be equal to that of lighting your hand on fire, and now I have my entire left side of my face rubbing against it. This hurts like a bitch!

If that wasn’t bad enough, I felt a terrible presence.

I looked over to my upper left, and I saw the most horrifying thing a man could ever see.

This woman was raising her other arm and was about to hug me. With that metallic arm of hers.

Oh hell no, biting my tongue to stop my cries of pain, I put everything into my arms as I push against her to free myself.

I don’t care how much my palms burn, I refuse to have both sides of my face burnt off in the span of a few seconds.

Pushing against her, steam could be seen coming out.

The heat, burning my skin from my muscles, my nerves sending thousands of signals to my brain that something was hurting my hands and that I should get away from it.

I tried desperately and yet her hold on me was too much, her grip too strong, and very soon her other arm was going to come around and try and comfort the other side of my head.

But finally, she noticed my struggle. She noticed how much I wanted to leave her embrace.

She released her grip slightly, and I was able to swiftly duck under her arms and into the fresh, acholic air that I love so much.

But even though I was free, that didn’t stop the pain that was emitting from my burnt hands, but I can’t start screaming now.

Biting my tongue, I hid my hands in an attempt at avoiding anyone from finding them.

Finally in control of myself, I looked up and could see the confusion on her face. Wondering why I was struggling to free myself from her.

I thought I would need to come up with some excuse, but before I could, her eyes became dark and filled with hatred.

But she didn’t direct them at me, instead, she looked over me. She stood up and glared at the person behind me. Presumably, the person who opened the door with such force that it broke my hand and sent me flying into a metal fire.

“Of course you would come here. Look at what you did, you just sent a small child flying through the air. He’s crying in pain because of you.” It was actually because of you, but I guess this person was the one who started it.

Hell, I wanted to face this person down as well. He just made me go through the pain of having half your body on fire.

I turned and faced him, but I stopped halfway.

My body forgot the immense pain I was still under, my eyes widened, my mouth opened, my heart began pumping. I could even feel sparkles starting to form in my eyes.

The light, no more like the darkness seemed to follow this person. His body was engulfed, and yet the person’s figure could still be identified easily.

Before me was a knight. A man just under six feet, who wore black gothic armor, and while they were dented and filled with dirt and sut, you could smell, no feel, the blood from the countless monsters this knight has fought.

He wore dirty metal boots that were connected to his brown baggy pants by some rope and some cloth.

The same for his arms. Held up together by some cloth and rope.

His armor, completely black with the exception of some golden lines that ran across the surface. Plates connected like a chain hung from the bottom of his breastplate, near his thighs.

Linked chains protect the rest of his body, and his helmet, black like the rest, had a shadow within. You couldn’t see the knight’s eyes. And yet, this knight still wore a brown light cloak covering his back, but not the front. A small portion of this hung off of his right shoulder.

And underneath this cloak, leather straps could be seen. Either connecting his cloak to his armor, or what I presume to be a shield on his back.

Everything about him was the exact opposite of the female knight that was now behind me.

She had a kind and holy aura. This knight seemed rude, arrogant, and had a Demonic aura.

Light surrounds the female knight, and yet darkness surrounds this knight.

She kept her armor clean and well maintained while this one didn’t care at all. Leaving all the dirt and blood it has gathered over the years.

Normally you would want to hang around the nicer, cleaner person that has treated you well and has an almost holy aura surrounding her.

But seeing how I’m a demon, the opposite of holy. I thought this knight was BADASS!