Annie promised to serve as the village’s Angel and I swore to do as I was asked, but even that wasn’t enough to sway the Primordial to release her from prison. It wasn’t until White Knight was sent on a confidential mission, that he needed Annie. After that, he agreed to my offer. The little Angel was forbidden from leaving the village and if she showed any signs of treachery, Old Dude would no longer feel compelled to protect her sister once we recovered her.

Old Dude himself escorts us to our room on the second floor of the temple. There are two other rooms there, each with a sacred rune on them.

The other Angels must live there but I only know of Cinnamon Roll.

Annie doesn’t have to stretch since the doorknob is at the lower part of the door. She swings it open and her energy spikes. “This is amazing!” She jumps on the water bed, bouncing around and giggling. “Wow, look at the colors!”

“Yeah…they look lovely,” I say, moving my head around to act like I’m scoping out the room.

“You don’t like it here?” she asks, pulling on my cloak.

“It’s not that…I just…can’t see color.”

“Oh, sorry.” She blushes before running off. “We have a mini hot spring! How is that even possible?”

Old Dude’s wrinkles smile for him. “Space Share. It’s a costly ability but well worth the effort. This exact onsen is in Cherry Thicket. Don’t want our beloved angel getting hurt trying to get a rejuvenating bath.”

Annie runs up and hugs Old Dude. “Thanks so much!”

“To receive thanks from an Angel is truly a blessing. I’ll leave you two be. Expect some exotic fruits delivered at lunch and dinner time.” Old Dude sinks into the ground and leaves us be.

“Yo, pops! There’s plenty of room on the bed for two.”

“I can…rest on the floor.”

Annie bonks me. “Hey, we’re equals in my eyes and since I outrank you that means you have to agree.” She sticks her tongue out.

“I…can’t argue with that.”

“Hmm. You just need to relax. Oh, I know! Music!” Annie takes a bowl and grabs a thick stick. She makes circles around the bowl which creates a pleasant rhythmic sound that calms my nerves. “Looks like it’s working! Oh wow! There’s a whole shelf of books here! Once we rescue Rachie and Tumble, we can all live together!”

I…want her to be happy. But what if I mess up? What will I do if my darling daughter hates me?

We lived together in that lavish room. I never even had a place to sleep before, so it took some getting used to. She hung up her belt at the entrance and bowed to it every time she entered. The belt had once belonged to Braven, a commander for the Mortal Militia. Apparently each totem on the belt belonged to a hero he knew that lost their life...all of which I had brought there.

I was the one responsible, so why was she the one muttering heavy words of regret?

Despite our pleasant accommodations, Annie wanted to leave the village. Each day stuck there meant another day her family and her Hero was in danger. Whenever I was sent out, I’d try to collect information on Hero’s Militia. Together my darling daughter and I dutifully completed any quest on the quest board, and every day she attended the temple ceremonies.

Why does she never let me go to the ceremony with her? Am I not worthy?

Annie holds out a book as she walks into the room in her sheep jammies. “Oh, you’re totally worthy.”

“What is that book? Why does it feel familiar?”

“It’s your Hero’s Diary. I can only make one for the people special to me. Most of the pages are blank but every so often, your thoughts and actions appear on it.” She lies in bed and then shivers. “I’m gonna go take a bath.”

I sing her a song about BunBun’s frolicking as I scrub her down with my many appendages. Unlinke most fathers I can give her a full scrub in seconds. We often spend the other fifteen minutes with me holding her in a loving embrace. I like to think that when I zone out, WarWolf takes over and feels Annie’s warmth herself.

That night she was carrying a heavy burden of sadness.

I felt her, staring out the window, wearing only a towel. There was a pink ethereal string that traveled to through the wall to some unknown location beyond and another string that connected to me. “Why has sadness attacked you?”

“It’s a full moon. You see it up there?”

I move my head in the direction she points, but I see nothing but darkness. “I once shared a moon lit night with someone very special to me.”

Annie grabs my cloak. “Rachie is out there. So is Tumble and Luna and my mom. And I’m just stuck here.” She sobs. “I can only pinpoint there location on a full moon. I wanna run away and find them…but I won’t put you in danger because of what I want. You’re my huggie rock and I’m you little pebble, right?”

I hold her with all my appendages, sending all the positivity I can to her.

The following morning, while she is doing her temple ceremony, I meet with Old Dude to discuss allowing her to leave the area with me.

“Every time you visit me, it’s for something you want. You never stop by to just chat. Breaks my immortal heart.” He sulks.

“Please, she misses her family.”

“And that longing gives her strength.”

“She’s be stronger if she was fighting to protect.”

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“But not as complacent.”

“We can track down Mortal Militia, but only with her help.”

“I’m no longer concerned with them.” Old Dude twiddles a flower between his fingers.

“Annie can find out their plans with her Hero’s Diary techinique.”

“You must think me selfish, but it’s nothing of the sort. She is someone who must be protected at all costs. I will not allow a gift like her to be trampled on by the dangers of the outside world.”

“I can keep her safe.”

The room distorts and the flowers are all plucked and fall from the air. “You can’t even stop yourself from killing. You’re a loose cannon. My decision is final.”

“Please, just give us something. She needs hope or she will break from the tears.”

“Alight. I never meant to make her cry. I’ll assign her a hero tomorrow. You can go out on quests but nothing too dangerous. If you had any idea how important she is…”

“I know how important she is to me. She’s my daughter.” I pick out the most vital flower to give to her.

“This peaceful lifestyle you have…it’s like poison to a RiftRipper. You’ve been starved of real conflict for so long you hardly remember what it tastes like. But I’d poison you to death if it meant protecting her.”

“I’d slice you into thin paper shreds to keep her safe.”

Old Dude emits positive energy and fist bumps me. “Then we’ve reached a true understanding. Now go.”

Over the next three years, Annie was assigned four heroes. The first was a low-level hero. No powers, not much of a heroic spirit either. Lasted four months. When we were scouting the area for CatBoy spies, he went missing. We found him on a tree branch, hung by his own intestines with a love letter in his hand.

Apparently, he had to turn Annie in to Flam in exchange for his life. He seems to have refused. I had no idea he cared for her. Was I really that blind to his emotional attachments?

Annie was devastated by his death. At his funeral, she talked about the time he rescued her from a TedUrsa. I don’t recall the event at all.

Even with her at my side, days go by like minutes. But…they are happy minutes.

Old Dude wasted no time assigning her to a new hero. While the other one was cautious, this one was overly adventurous. He went off mission and we followed along, all the way to Glam Castle, the home of the Love Dictator.

The fortress unraveled its tongue bridge and Flam came out. I remember fighting him but being overpowered. He threatened to hurt Annie which made me go berserk. Next thing I know, the hero is sliced to bits. I killed him.

Ashamed of my failure as an assassin, I fled the fortress with Annie and told her to return without me.

She told me that I wasn’t responsible and that Flam just made me think I killed him. The little Angel then fed me a MemShroom to help me forget.

Unbeknownst to her, RiftRippers can’t lose their memory. But I acted as if I forgot the whole thing. No doubt I’d forget it in a week anyways.

The third hero was smitten with Annie. He was a short boy about her size. One of the very few grade school heroes I’ve seen. He barely survived the Angel’s Kiss, but when he did, he gained a special power. He could mark targets, creating weak points as soft as rice paper. Annie called his ability the Weak Point.

Rather than being sent out on real quests, we were assigned to the mines. His ability made for a handy tool. He could poke through the hardest of stones. And I could already cut anything, so it wasn’t necessarily a bad fit for me.

We were all stationed at a nearby village called Slave Town. Heroes didn’t have powers in this place and instead were employed as unpaid servants. Many of them died in the mines and once they had died, the Town’s RiftRipper would go out the next day to recruit some more.

Annie kept plotting on a way to free the heroes, but I told her we must comply so that she could see her girlfriend again.

Not sure if their relationship was moot at this point. Annie and the Hero Boy would stay up night after night just chatting. He too had a fascination with mythical creatures. Unlike me he could tell her about the wondrous colors they had.

Did I ever see the world in color? Or was it always black to me?

The revolution happened without our intervention. Apparently spies from the Mortal Militia made their way in and one day they caused a mass revolt. Annie’s hero got taken in the confusion and we had to return to our village without him.

Upon arrival we are informed that Cinnamon Roll was assigned to a girl hero by White Knight. Annie, despite the heroes that have been lost under her protection, is assigned to the number one hero.

For a year and a half, we complete quests all the while investigating the whereabouts of the Mortal Militia. Old Dude is aware of Annie’s abilities and always makes sure she stays at the village whenever there is a full moon.

Annie’s twelfth hero, White Knight, only selected quests where people were in peril. If those in trouble had the unfortunate circumstance of being male, we would quickly move on to our next destination to rescue what he felt were more worthy victims.

Our exploits garnered our village more wealth, and instead of raising the standard of living or fortifying the buildings, Old Dude hired a special spy to assist the village. This spy was a shy girl with the power to phase things in and out of existence. It wasn’t long before her and Annie’s hero fell madly in love with each other. It was a good thing that the shadow tent I formed for Annie to rest in was sound proof.

Eventually the day came when we would finally have our chance to infiltrate the Mortal Militia. It had been three years since I first talked to Annie in that prison cell. All our hard work and loyalty was finally being paid off.

At the meeting, White Knight informs us of the Mortal Militia’s growth and lists off every female casualty they’ve caused. Despite him knowing their good intentions, he agrees that rebellion is a man’s job. He opposes the Mortal Militia for having female soldiers.

Old Dude approves of our offer to steal one of the militia’s top commander’s: Racheal. Regrettably Annie was unable to summon up her girlfriend’s book. We had no choice but to wait for a full moon.

The day before we headed out, Old Dude pulled me aside.

“This is going to be a dangerous mission, but it is of great importance. Betrayer has been spotted at several of the militia’s raids.” He leans in toward me. “I don’t think he’s working with them, but he’s using them for something.”

“I’m not strong enough to defeat him. I’ll never be strong enough.”

“You’re not, but your Angel is. This isn’t just about putting an end to his mad rebellion though. This information is classified, but I have decided to share it with you. Don’t make me regret my decision.”

I bow repeatedly. “Thank you, great elder.”

“Yeah. Yeah. StarBorne, the leader of your class, was supposed to be the very last KIT.”

“What?”

“Killer in Training. How could you forget that? Anyways, the point is that Betrayer and Flam are the only ones who know where your classmate is. And once he’s returned safely to ISEKAI, we can stop raising children unwillingly into assassins. Everybody wins!”

“You don’t need to convince me. Fighting against ISEKAI will only put Annie in danger. I’m at your command. Still…I do want to help those kids. They should have a choice to live how they want.”

“While you’ve been away, we got a new Hero and a new Angel too. This Nasuke hero is on his way to becoming the number one Hero. They both will be accompanying you to make sure everything goes as planned.”

“You don’t trust me?”

“Heheh! Of course not. But this isn’t just about trust. Judging by the pattern, this village will be the next one they try to attack. They want to redeem themselves for their failure. We have to cause turmoil within the group to delay the attack. And when it does come. I won’t hold back.”

“Why did you hold back last time?”

“We had the upper hand. It’s important for heroes to feel needed. If they knew I could wipe out an army with a few waves of my hand, well it would be demoralizing. They’re used to old people dying for the next generation to take over. Don’t wanna shake up that dogma.”

“Understood.”

“Oh, and one last thing. That Angel you’ll be working with, she’s a tricky one. Used to belong to a village that willing worked with Flam. If she tries to run off, cut off her wings please. We’re going to need every angel we can get.”

“Your whims are my duty.” I bow repeatedly and leave.

I wake up Annie who is snuggling up to a BunBun pillow in her bed.

“Heya, pops! Is it time to leave?”

“Yes. We’re meeting up with our team before nightfall comes to save time. Pack anything you would miss.”

“Why is that?”

“Staying in this village will only put you in danger. I’m going to set you and your Hero free.” I pat her head.

“Okay! You get packed too, okay?”

I pick her up and hug her tightly. “I have my most cherished treasure right here.”

Annie nuzzles me affectionately. “And I have the greatest papa in all the worlds!” She beams at me.

I would bathe villages in violence, make the rivers run red and black out the sun just to protect my dear daughter.