"We are knights from the Kingdom of Warforge, we bear no malicious intent natives", a deep voice bellowed out, its origin tracing back to Captain Edin, who stood unbothered by the village guard's continued hostility. Sweat trickled down the forehead of a woman draped in long purple robes, strands of grey hair which gave away her age stuck to her forehead, as the beads of sweat slowly trailed down her cheek towards her chin. From the way, the guards positioned themselves behind her on the walls, Edin quickly discerned that she was the leader of these guards and focused his gaze on her, resulting in her flinching from the sudden attention.

Realising that the powerful knight had worked out her status among the guards, the elderly mage was forced to decide. Should she trust the words of these men? As this question resounded through the depths of her mind, her entire forehead had become wet with sweat, exhibiting the sheer pressure she was under. Suddenly, a light of realisation sparked in the pools of her blue eyes, at the end of the day, whether she chose to trust them or not, these knights could do whatever they wanted, the berth between the strength of the villagers and their armoured visitors was just that large.

A wave of calmness washed over the village chief's mind before she raised one hand, gesturing to her fellow villagers to put away their weapons. Swords and daggers were sheathed, arrows were put back into their quivers and staffs were lowered, but wariness still remained within the eyes of guards. Though they trusted their chief's decisions, that didn't mean they would forgo all sense of caution, at the end of the day, the ones who held the most responsibility for their lives were them.

Upon seeing that everyone had sheathed their weapons, the village chief, Minerva climbed down the village walls and moved towards Captain Edin's giant form. Once she was within a metre of the leader of the knight group, she stopped and looked up into the glowing golden orbs hidden behind a helmet.

Using every ounce of courage within her old body, she asked,

"W-what's your purpose for visiting our lowly village, Sir Knight"

Minerva shuddered as she felt his piercing gaze glance over her body, her secrets laid bare to his golden pupils. But the uninterested look in the man's eyes showed how little the worth of her secret was to him, as his attention shifted to the crowd of villagers slowly forming behind the village guards.

"It's a good thing that most of you have gathered here", Edin murmured, this comment causing the aged mage's eyebrows to raise as she wondered if she had made the right choice. Her thoughts were cut short by the answer she had been waiting for, resulting in a sigh of relief as the reason behind the knight's arrival.

"My scout unit's purpose is straightforward, we have been given the task of exploring and determining the habitability of these lands on which you reside"

The giant knight's next words, however, sparked a weak sense of distrust among the villagers as they cautiously looked at the ones they called their friends and family.

"However, our mission changed after discovering demonised goblins, those vile creatures were doing everything in their power to try and prevent us from coming towards your village. I've confirmed that your village isn't a cult hideout so all that's left to do is find the demon that hides amongst. That is our new mission. The Demon Hunt."

If the villagers could see the faces of the Knight Seedlings who were masked by their helmets, they would have seen visible confusion. Why would the captain choose to reveal his knowledge of the existence of a demon in front of a crowd in which the demon, they were looking for, could be hiding within. As they pondered their captain's choice, the confusion that had plagued them slowly morphed into realisation once they realised their captain's status. Captain Edin was a Knight. A being that had undergone six core node enhancements. The strongest among the Knight Seedlings had managed to complete five enhancements yet he couldn't even land a proper attack against the captain. This was the difference between a Knight and a Knight Seedling, so what about the strongest warrior in the village with his measly two enhancements? Simply put, the captain wouldn't even need to land a perfect attack let alone draw his weapon to kill the village's strongest.

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The reason behind the captain's choice was his confidence in his strength, he was sure that even if the demon possessed abnormal abilities he could still defeat it. This assurance in one's abilities was something that the young Knight Seedlings desired, but the only way to reach this goal was to grow stronger, power was always the answer in the end.

While the future Knights had these thoughts, Edin turned towards the crowd of villagers before his deep voice thundered across the village, "If anyone has information on abnormal individuals within your village, there is a reward waiting for them if it directs us to the demon"

Those who were unaware of what was occurring at their village entrance rushed towards the scene upon hearing the words of an unknown voice. Their interest was piqued by both the situation but also the mention of a reward. As the crowd of villagers grew, those who had no idea what was going on were given a quick summary of details whilst the others mulled over the words of the giant visitor.

"What kind of reward would we receive?", a question resounded over the murmuring crowd, silencing their chatter. A mixture of intrigue and shock filled the expressions of the villagers, intrigue because most of them were pondering the same question and shock because of who asked the question. Their kind, trustworthy chief now had a wild look in her eyes that usually glimmered with wisdom, her question drawing the attention of Edin who quickly responded, "The kind of reward that would heal your damaged Mana Heart".

Shock rippled through the crowd upon hearing the words of the man, many eyes glued themselves upon their chief, only to see a salivating savage, all reason had left the mage's mind. All she could see now was an opportunity, an opportunity to escape the destiny forced upon her. To live as a chief of an unknown village in the middle of nowhere, a mediocre life with no excitement, adventure or fame. Power would have granted her the escape she wanted if it weren't for the injury that tormented her. The fire of ambition was slowly being lit once again in the ancient forge of life as feral eyes searched the crowd, one of these people was her road to freedom.

Men, women and children shuddered as they felt the primal stare of the person they respected the most, some of the smarter heads among the crowd realised that it was every man for himself and began shouting out names.

"Alexei, it's that bastard, I know it"

"He's right, that fucker always disappears every week and never tells us where he goes"

"What are you idiots talking about it, it has to be Grace, have you forgotten how many guys have died after sleeping with that whore"

"Yeah yeah, she looks like one as well with all those marks on her face"

With that two people were thrown out of the crowd, a bony grey-haired man dressed in complete black and a relatively young blonde-haired woman, who would have been quite the beauty if it weren't for the rashes that were scattered upon her face. Both shared the same look of shock-horror and betrayal. The Knight Seedlings only shook their heads as they watched the villagers throw out people they once called friends simply because of the words of their captain.

As time passed, seven more people were pushed out of the crowd and thrown at Edin's feet, the crowd started to quieten down as they had no one left to throw accusations at. Until...

"FAYE", a beastly voice screamed as shivers ran down the spines of the villagers, the only thing reminiscent of their kind leader was her purple robes, the thing that wore the robes was a beast. The elderly mage gave no care as to how the villagers looked at her, the only thing that she cared about right now, and that was the black-haired beauty that she was glaring at.

Minera's mouth opened again as she roared, "IT'S HER, THERE'S NO DOUBT ABOUT IT, THAT GIRL HAS ALWAYS BEEN STRANGE"

The girl who had always been ignored was now the centre of attention, as people slowly remembered her existence and realised that the mage was right. Faye found herself on the earthy ground next to nine others, all of them receiving looks of scorn and distrust. She searched the faces of the crowd hoping to find one that looked at her differently, and she did. But it was not what she wanted. The cold mask that her father always donned had been replaced with a look of hatred, his eyes flickering with a sense of enlightenment.

With that, Faye's world came crashing down, they hadn't even proved that she was the demon but her father looked at her as if they had. Was this how much he hated her?

Her hazel eyes, which were always full of light, darkened as negative emotions crept into her heart.

Sadness.

Helplessness.

Despair.

Anger.

Each one threatened to drown her heart in darkness as the light of hope fought back and called out for a saviour.