A grand mansion near the edge of a cliff, covered in the thick miasma. The sound of sea waves bashing the wall of stones, the weather seems angry today as well.

Black clouds gathered above, covering the sunlight. A perfect day, well, for undead at least.

Inside the mansion faced two figures, one is a beautiful woman with pale white skin, black hair, and red blood eyes. Just her fangs alone gave away that she was a vampire.

“You've done well. You entered my house, took my food, and killed my servant... I WILL KILL YOU!”

The sight of lesser vampires without head piled on the ground, pool of blood, and stench of iron filled the air.

This man, a damn paladin who appeared out of nowhere and destroyed everything.

“...”

His calmness ticked the vampire, causing her to dash to him.

“DIE!” Her nails grew longer and tried to hit the paladin, but he raised his shield faster than she expected.

“Tsk!”She back down and casually evaded the incoming sword. Too slow. Her vision could see everything, even the most subtle movement.

Maybe that was why she took the faint of the paladin and moved the way he wanted.

The motion of his sword suddenly shifted into a thrust attack.

“ACK!!!”

It was painful, why? Silver! That damn paladin! Regeneration would be hindered because of the holy properties of silver.

“Aversia, preserver of law. Provide me with your holiness—”

“As if I'd let you!” She was not an idiot to just let him finish his prayer.

A barrage of the attack came down to the paladin.

“—to defeat the evil before me. Holy Light!”

But even with that, his composure did not crumble. He was, without a doubt, a highly-skilled paladin.

An image of a female human holding a scale and sword in her hands appeared. She was clad in white, radiating light.

“Damn you!”

She stepped back to evade the light, she knows too well that it can hurt her. While she was busy moving away, she noticed a slight movement from the paladin. Well nothing to worry, with that heavy armor, he cannot match her with speed.

When she looked back at him, hard cold steel collides with her elegant face.

The shield he was wearing was thrown away with such strength.

“Guh!” The shock from the shield caused her to be stunned for a few seconds. But that was enough for the light, and him, to catch up to the vampire.

First, the burning sensation brought by the light, her skin turned red and burnt. The second was the sharp blade running from her neck to her torso.

Why is this happening? She wondered. She could feel the strength from her body slowly leaving her. Her fangs revert to its normal size.

“Guh...I... Wha... I just wanted to live...”  Blood from her mouth prevented her from speaking properly, but even so, she continued to speak.

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“...”

“I...Is that too much... to ask...”

She collapsed on the floor, drowned in her own blood. From there, she could see her servant sharing the same faith as her.

“Curse you...Paladin... If only.... If only you didn't come...” Then this would not happen... She was cut short when the paladin sliced her head off with a single stroke.

“300 people. That's how many people you killed in just one month. You don't deserve any mercy nor sympathy, vampire.”

The paladin turned his back and left the gorefest he had created.

Outside the mansion, hidden behind the trees, humans of different ages and sex appeared as soon as they saw the paladin walking.

“He... He killed the vampire! Everyone look! Sir Darwyn has returned!”

“Ooohh! We're finally saved!”

“Mama! Papa! I'm coming back!”

Cheers and applauded came from the victims of the vampire. Originally, the quest said that the hostages were 13 villagers, but it was down to 6 when he arrived.

The villagers hugged each other in tears.

For Darwyn, this was just another normal day. The vampire was relatively weak, a group of C-ranked adventurers could handle it well.

But because the quest reward was low compared to its difficulty, no one wants to take it.

If only I arrived earlier. He watched the villagers from his cold helmet.

***

“Hahahaha! Look look! I became an E-ranked adventurer in just one month!”

Inside the rowdy guild, Darwyn and Liliana sat to each other. After helping Liliana and accompanying her, she found someone her level to party with.

Both of them just finished their quest. Liliana told him how and her party managed to defeat an ogre. She may or may not exaggerated her tale just to look a tad bit cooler.

“Fufufufu, you know what, maybe I'm destined to be a hero who would save the world!” She clasped her hands in delight.

On the table laid fruits, sliced and served in a platter, charted meat, and a cup of wine for the two of them.

“You should celebrate your victory with your party, not with me,” Darwyn said. Hearing that, her mood turned sour.

“My party's tired and said that they wanted to rest first... And don't you want to have a pretty lady like me to be with you?” She blinked fast repeatedly.

“... I think calling yourself a lady is far too early for you.”

Certainly, she was pretty—gorgeous in fact, but her features still show her youth.

“Booo!” She said pouting. It was always like this every evening, inside the guild, at the same table ever since they have met.

Rumors about them being in a relationship started to spread, but after adventurer saw how they interact with each other, they thought that it was more like a brother and sister relationship.

“Maybe alcohol is too early for you?” Darwyn asked as he looked at the flustered cheeks of Liliana.

“Shut up! I'm an adult inside dammit...” Clearly, she was drunk. While Liliana was finished after drinking one cup, Darwyn did not touch his.

He didn't even eat the fruits and meat before him.

“I will take you to the inn.” He said. This was the first time this kind of thing happened. Liliana usually didn't drink much, but because she defeated an ogre today, she had gone overboard with her celebration.

He called for the waitress and asked her to cover the leftover food with leaves. He wanted to take it with him.

“I will be the greatest!” Liliana grumbled. She stood with her wobbly feet.

“...” Darwyn lifted Liliana with one hand and placed him in his shoulder, carrying her like some sort of baggage.

“Let go of me! Ah!” She hit his armor repeatedly with her fist as it made a dull clung each time.

The waitress returned with a bag of leaves and handed them to Darwyn. “Thank you,” he said receiving them gently.

The town was bustling with the crowd even at night, smokes of skewered meat painted white line in the darkness.

Countless stars shone above them, the pitch-black sky presented its blue moon with pride as it ruled over the land.

This world is beautiful, if not for the monster that lives within it. He thought.

Evil always exists somewhere, and all he could do was stop them for the time being. But even so, he wouldn't stop. His oath to protect the weak and defeat evil was the reason why he exists, why he attained powers that normally would be impossible to achieve.

“For it is my duty as a servant of Aversia” He stated, only to himself.

After sending the drunk Liliana to the inn and to her room, he goes, not to his home, but an orphan funded by the church he serves.

“Darwyn is here!”

“Yay! Darwyn!”

“Call Sister Sinthia!”

Children ages 4 to 10 started a fuss with his arrival. The orphan door opened and revealed an old woman wearing white worn-out priest clothes.

“Darwyn, welcome” Her white hair was dry, the number of wrinkles on her face reflected her age.

“Mother,” Darwyn said.

This person was not his biological mother, but he considered her as much as the real one.

“I brought foods for the children, and wine for you”

“Hohoho! The children will be delighted” She touched her cheek and laughed. “But even without food, you could always visit us.” She said.

Who would have thought, that the timid young boy who always cried because he couldn't sleep alone would grow as an A-ranked adventurer? Aversia surely knows that this would happen.

“It's cold outside, how about you come inside first?”

“No, I need to prepare for tomorrow,” He said.

An event popped inside the mind of Sinthia. It seems that Her Highness, the third princess was planning to visit this little town tomorrow.

The royal family asked, if not pleaded to Darwyn to escort the princess. The royal family knows the value and the power of A-ranked adventurer, if they offended him somehow, he might escape this country and head to another one. Something that they could not allow.

So that was the letter that he received was written in the utmost matter, the paper used was scented in perfume.

With the sincerity alone, Darwyn was impressed.

“Right, you're guarding the princess right? How dependable” Sinthia teased him.

“...Am I?” Darwyn took her joke seriously, causing her to chuckle.

“Of course, Darwyn is the most dependable person in the world. I am lucky to have a son like you” It was the truth. She treated every child she cared for as her own, but Darwyn has a special place in her heart.

“Thank you, mother... I will protect the princess with my life”

“Hohoho, way too serious as always!” She said.

Well, I guess some things never change. Sinthia watched the wide back of Darwyn until he could no longer be seen.