Being in a town little as this one, there was nothing to do. The princess, Avellana sat down on a chair with one of her legs topped to another.

Holding a book in her hand, she flipped to another page with her slender finger as if caressing the paper. Tomorrow, they would head back to the royal capital and report to the king, her father.

Her long silver hair was tied into braids and she wore indoor clothes. Then suddenly, she heard footsteps announcing its way to her room. The door knocked and opened with a creek.

“Avellana, let's go out!” It was the hero Keizo, clad in civilian clothes.

“I can't Keizo, Mili will get angry at me.”She answered. Her servant would scold her for sure if she left the mansion without notice—and even if she did, Mili would not permit it.

As a princess of the country, she knew her importance as a member of the royal family.

“Come on! This is the last day in this town and probably, we will never visit this place again! Aren't you bored?”

His offers are tempting, but she still had her duty to fulfill. She replied with a “No” and shook her head sideways.

Keizo, not taking that as her answer, persuaded her even more. “Who knows? Maybe you could find some books that can only get here, you know?”

“Er...” She made a hesitating expression. It was well known throughout the castle that Avellana was a bookworm. Using books as part of bargaining, Keizo knows how to attack the princess.

“Besides, we're only taking a quick look anyway, no one will notice.”

“...Only for a bit... Is that alright?” Well, if that's it, maybe I can go.

“Y-yeah!” Keizo exclaimed.

***

“F-finally! We escaped!” Followed by a loud laugh, Keizo looked at the nervous Avellana. She was not used to breaking rules, he could tell that.

“C-come! Let's look at the bookstore right away!” To ease the heart of the princess, he decided to go to the bookstore.

“But do you know where the bookstore is?” She wore civilian clothes, just like Keizo, but her beauty didn't fade but instead bloomed even more—if not for the hat she wore.

“Of course I know!” He planned this even after arriving at the town. It's a date! I'm having a date with a princess! How cool is that? Keizo thought to himself.

“Well, let's go okay?” He sounded so confident that Avellana placed her trust in him. Navigating through the sea of crowd, the two were bombarded by the people. Then Keizo thought something that made his face blush.

“H-hey Avellana... T-there's too many people you see? How a-about we hold hands so we don't get separated.” His voice quivering, his eyes swum all over the place.

“Alright.” Avellana on the other hand didn't take that statement other than guidance and nothing else. Mili always held her hands like this, and this time was no different.

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Her soft hand intertwined to him, clasping his palm tightly. Keizo jolted in shock, wondering how her hands were soft and smooth and such.

“L-let's go!” The two continued their way with Keizo leading. Good thing I wore a hat... Keizo thought. There was no way they could show their face after that grand parade.

The two arrived at the rundown bookstore. It was old and smelled like paper and ink, Keizo covered his nose but Avellana smiled in joy.

So this is what a commoners bookstore looks like? Her eyes darted at every book she can, then softly, she touched the covers.

“Feel free to look young miss, and tell me if something caught your eyes!” The old owner said.

“Yes...!”

She spun and almost stumbled when she tried to hurry and grab some books. “S-sorry...” She pulled down her hat and tried to hide her reddened face, then pulled a book with her free hand.

The knight and the princess.

The book was old, but not dusty, it was a well-kept book. She read dozens, if not hundreds of novels similar to this one, but somehow, she felt something different when she looked at it.

“Hoo? You have a keen eye for books young miss.” The old owner said with a calm voice. “That book is one of my favorite novels.”

“I see... Then, I will buy this one.” Avellana resolved herself and handed the book to the owner. If the owner of a bookstore said that this was his favorite book, then it must be good.

With a hearty laugh, he sold the book. Avellana held it with both of her hands, then gazed at Keizo. “Let's go back.”

“Now!? I-I mean, we haven't explored the whole town yet, and we didn't even visit the church and... Alright...”

The depressed Keizo slumped his shoulder and let out a sigh. He looked so sad that even Avellana cannot help but to notice it.

“I-I guess we could explore the town a bit more?” She felt bad seeing the dejected hero.

“Really! Then let's go!” In an instant, he regained his cheerfulness and said “Hurry!” happily. “...” She said nothing, but she was glad that the usual Keizo returned.

The town was a lot bigger than expected. The cheery and jolly atmosphere of the townies brought a smile on their faces.

The two eat skewered meat from a stall, listened to the tale of a traveling bard, watched the children play across the street.

“This town... Even though they're far from the capital, they didn't worry about the monster attack...” Her eyes reflected the vibrant color of the town.

“I guess that's the reaction if one of the strongest adventurers lives with you.” They sat on the bench, shadowed by a tree.

A cool gentle breeze wafted by, slightly shivering the white hair of Avellana.

“I guess... I hope that the whole world is like this...” She muttered then stared at the brick road of the town. But I guess that wish would never true.

With the forces of chaos, the evil spawn of evil gods, and the monster all over the planet, that wish would be just that, a wish.

The staggering silence fell before them, neither of them wanted or tried to speak. Keizo was nervous about being with a beautiful girl and Avellana realizing her powerlessness to protect her people.

Amidst the quiet and seemingly peaceful atmosphere, a black magic circle appeared from the middle of the city.

“Wh-what! What is that!” Unbelievable! Keizo couldn't tell what it was, while Avellana shouted “Magic Portal! Everyone run!”

But she was too late, before her or any civilian could react, a figure of a demon came out from the black gate. It was bigger than Darwyn, standing tall at 7 feet.

It had a long jet black horn, four yellow eyes, and two big bulky arms with two small ones under it.

It fits the description of a certain demon she had read somewhere. A wizard's worst enemy, a demon who could cancel magic at will. “T-that's a LongHorn! W-we should evacuate the people before—” Avellana didn't finish her sentence when Keizo grabbed her and run.

“W-what are you doing! Let's help them!” Avellana said with a panicked expression, very uncharacteristic for her.

“No! Don't you get it? Why do you think the demon exactly appeared here!” He didn't look back to her but instead focused on the road.

The once peaceful place turned into chaos.

“Why...!!” The demon is here to kill us. She watched the people fell into dismay. Puckering her lips in frustration, she continued to run.

The Long Horn surveyed the area calmly, twisting its neck eerily, he was looking for something—someone. He couldn't pay attention to the inferior species who were swarming like the bugs they are.

From his monochrome sight, he searched for the hero and the princess. What a good deal it was, he will rise from middle to upper rank just by killing two humans? Even the sweet-tongued devil couldn't make a sweeter deal than this.

Several humanoids, adventurers, gathered around him, bearing their spears and sword and arrows. Useless, just what did they think he was?

“G̲͞҉O̲͞҉G̲͞҉H̲͞҉O̲͞҉H̲͞҉F̲͞҉O̲͞҉H̲͞҉” The Long Horn's word sounded gibberish to those who do not speak their sophisticated language. But those who could, they will tell that the LongHorn just cast a spell.

A bolt of lightning struck down one of the humanoids, then it jumped from another, then to another, and so on, until the lightning fell on the weaponless bunch, then it disappeared after toasting the last one.

A waste of spell, really, but it was better than spending time fighting the insects. Once again he searched and search, then finally, he could see the target.

Even if they wore that kind of clothes, they cannot escape the eyes of a demon. The two were heading outside the town.

Useless, humans are really laughable. He let the two exited the town as if giving them a small hope and made them think that they escaped somehow. The Long Horn jumped so high that one could mistake him for flying. Then he landed, in the very front of the hero and the princess.

Out here, no one could interfere, there was no place to hide. This grassy field will be the death bed of the two. He could torture them, play with them, and after that, he will kill them, then present their severed heads to the demon lord. With that in mind, the LongHorn made his first step while revealing a nasty expression befitting for a demon.