Walking through the halls of the villa, a gray bearded man dressed in a neat black suit knocked on the door.

"Come in," a voice said from the other side.

The man entered and saw his lord eating a well roasted chicken with a side of buttered corn.

"What is it Sebastian, you know I don't like being disturbed while I'm eating," He said in a grumbled tone. He was a rather slim fellow despite the amount of food on the table capable of feeding a family of four. In his mid 30s, he was well dressed and his demeanor gave off the aura similar to nobles which resided in the holy empire.

"Apologies my lord, but an envoy from the capital wishes to speak with you."

The man almost chocked on his wine.

"From the capital… d-did he say what he wanted?" Cold sweat could be seen forming on his brow.

He was the village head of a small village known as Crottish village. It was a position he claimed rather than earned through the approval of the people. He was once part of the noble circle, albeit of the lower rank, and enjoyed a certain privilege others could not. Not many outside of his inner circle knew that he had been exiled by his family for running the family name through the mud by acting unscrupulously in the city and running high unpaid tabs. Many businesses quickly disassociated with the family which made the family lose many sources of income. In the end, his actions brought about his exile and he was sent to this small village within the family territory with nothing but the title of village head and his butler, Sebastian.

Still, it was merely an exile and he was still given a position of power. Though he could no longer use his family's name as influence in the city, here, he held absolute authority. As such, he enjoyed a minimum of luxury in this village by using his authority to increase taxes. He also saved money by doing the least in fixing the problems around the village and when that wasn't enough, he went on to his next money making scheme.

There were plenty of villages around and a great deal of them required proficient workers in their jobs. Farmers, blacksmiths, tailors, all kinds of professions were the key of any successful village; and yet, to him, they were basically walking sacks of coin.

Over time, the number of proficient workers dwindled through the trading of his village's highly skilled professions for gold coin. Soon, the village went from being self proficient to completely desolate and starving. Farm land was given to those within the head's inner circle who in turn, leased it to young but clueless workers. Without any prior knowledge, swaths of land quickly turned barren as crops died and turned to rot.

The village head was nervous that perhaps his schemes were finally coming into light and someone from the capital was sent here to reprimand him.

"They shouldn't be here for me, I'm just a small village head!" He tried to calm himself but the nervousness could easily be seen as he quickly cleaned and dressed himself.

He headed towards the main great room with Sebastian following behind to find a lanky man enjoying a cup of tea.

"Apologies for the wait, I had no idea I would be receive such an important guest today." The village head said ceremoniously.

"Not at all, in fact I come bearing tremendous news from the capital."

"Is that so," He smiled and internally letting out a sigh of relief as it didn't seem to have anything to do with what he has done.

"Mn, as Sir Christopher maybe aware, war had broken out between the demons and our border city, Liefrin. The demon's surprise attack caught us completely off guard and we lost many good men and women that day. The city was forced to defend until reinforcements came but, on that day, the demons had three abyssal lords."

Christopher eye's widened as he heard the story. As a noble he understood the basis of demon hierarchy and knew they were as powerful as the seraphim whom most regarded as angelic beings, more powerful than any mortal could hope to perceive.

"And then what happened?" He asked, his heart pounding. News was slow to travel and since he was just a mere village head, news like this came even slower. He was smart enough to realize the border city likely had at most, one seraph stationed there and it wasn't likely that the seraphim were enough to defend against three abyssal lords. If the border city fell they would all suffer especially those residing outside the big cities!

Seeing the panic on Christopher's face, the messenger smiled and said, "As I said, I've come with tremendous news. The demons had planned to use an oblivion orb on the city but their plan had back fired and it had exploded within the demon army! It wiped out more than 80% percent of their forces and even their abyssal lords were heavily injured. The seraphim and many legendary adventurers quickly turned the battle around and completely wiped out the demonic forces."

Christopher let out a sigh of relief but couldn't help but feel everything was a bit weird.

"The gods are surely looking out for all of us but… surely someone from the capital wouldn't come all the way here just to inform a small village head like myself about this news?"

"Right, normally, even most nobles wouldn't be sent personal messages from the capital to inform them of such news but this time, it had something to do with someone of your village."

Christopher tilted his head slightly in confusion.

"The truth is, the person who contributed the most to this victory was one of your own, his name was Harris Hill."

"Someone of my village?" Christopher was taken aback. As far as he knew, all the villagers of his were regular people, barely fit to serve as foot soldiers. He knew a recruiter had came several months ago and took a batch of his villagers with them, in fact, he offered that recruiter a few more than necessary in exchange for a few extra coins. However, he didn't specifically know the villager known as Harris Hill.

"Uh, I don't mean to doubt your words but are you sure it was someone from my village?"

"Yes, we have already gone through the records and we are certain he had come from this village. The merit he achieved is so great that I was sent here to personally deliver the rewards."

The messenger cleared his voice and began to present the rewards rewarded to Harris. "Harris Hill, 21 years old, made a contribution recognized by the imperial family as instrumental in defending Liefrin city and its millions of inhabitants. He will be rewarded with 20 parcels of C class land and the sum total of 40,000 gold coins." The messenger waved his hand and a small spatial rift opened beside him as he took out four chests of gold as well as a stack of land deeds which only needed to be signed.

Christopher's eyes almost popped out as he saw the huge wealth appear out of nowhere. 40,000 gold coins and 20 parcels of C class land. It was practically equivalent to his entire family's fortune, perhaps even more!

Before he could say a thing, the messenger continued: "Harris Hill will also be awarded with a medal of valor for his bravery in the line of duty." The messenger took out two more items, one was the medal of valor which depicted a golden lion roaring in the sky and the other was a purplish crystalline emblem which depicted the god Dagda in the center, surrounded by his subordinate gods which represented different virtues of humanity. "In addition to these rewards, the Hill family will be granted the Child of God emblem of the main church of Dagda for use up to three generations."

The last reward almost made Christopher faint. The medal of valor was nothing special, just a symbolic medal given to those who provided outstanding service in the army, but the Child of God emblem, he had only heard of it. The emblem gave its holders the rights of royalty. In essence, it meant that aside from the royal treasury, the emblem could be used to bypass many regulatory and physical barriers instituted in and outside the imperial kingdom. For example, the Astral Library, the largest collection of accumulated knowledge and managed by the Sentient Consciousness, only allows entry to mages and alchemists with great contribution in research which bettered humanity as a whole or those recognized by mages of the higher echelon. Only the royal family is the exception with even dukes and duchess' unable to gain access no matter their pull.

No rules within the Adventure's Guild, Association of Commerce, or the Mage's Tower could prohibit the holder of the emblem from partaking in activities of the highest order. They were treated not just like royalty, but as if they were those organization's highest member. Even the children of the emblem holder benefited greatly. No matter how talentless their kid may be, they could enroll in the top school in the first class for the best education.

In the long history since the first royal family had been established, the Child of God emblem had only been given out a handful of times. Most of those who received these emblems were great heroes who contributed greatly to the rise of humanity. These were heroes of legend who by themselves had abilities far above the scope of regular men. They were idols all of humanity looked up upon and yet, for the first time in history, an ordinary commoner was given this emblem.

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Christopher hesitantly reached for the emblem and the moment he touched it, his legs felt like jelly and he fell back down on the couch with the emblem in hand.

There was a brief period of silence where Christopher was just staring at the emblem. In his mind, wild fantasies flashed by. With this emblem, he would have more influence than dukes and duchess, only below the royal family. The things he could do…

Finally, the messenger coughed out bringing Christopher back to reality.

"W-what exactly did he do?" Christopher finally asked.

"He was the turning point in the war. The demon's wanted to use him to enter the city and then activate the obsidian orb inside the city. The resulting explosion would've destroyed the entire city and corruption would've spread across the land. Should it have detonated, this village would have likely ceased to exist by now.

Christopher gulped down.

"Fortunately, through some sort of divine intervention, Harris was able to regain his awareness of the situation and courageously chose to give up his own life in order to protect everyone one else. His sacrifice completely annihilated the demon forces and allowed our warriors to finish off the rest of the demon. The entire human world owes their thanks to this man. However, many of those present that day are still at the border city cleaning up as well as those from the holy church which was why they sent me."

The messenger sighed.

"As Harris Hill has unfortunately departed, his rewards will go to his next of kin, his wife, Lana Hill. As head of Crottish Village, you will be responsible for the distribution of the rewards to its rightful owner. That is all."

The messenger got up and gave a bow before heading to the door. Christopher watched as he got into a well decorated carriage surrounded by guards and head off into the distance.

Christopher continued to watch through the window at the spot the messenger had left. All the while, a smile slowly crept up and he was soon grinning ear to ear.

"Sebastian!"

"Yes, my lord?"

"Get me the papers on a Harris and Lana Hill… no, actually bring the papers on everyone who lives here as well as anyone who frequents this village."

Sebastian went into the downstairs cellar took out the papers from a secret compartment which documented all of the villager's information including age, occupation, family tree, etc.

When he returned upstairs, he could see the greed in Christopher's eyes as he ran his fingers into the chest of gold.

"My lord, the papers."

"Excellent!"

Christopher quickly flipped through the papers, separating the two papers which mattered, Harris and Lana Hill. As he read through their information, he took a deep breath as his hands covered his face. A particularly conniving scheme plotted through his mind.

"I won't be able to do this without the whole family. Sebastian, report back to the family manor on what had occurred and be sure to tell them that the rewards are exactly listed as 20,000 gold coins, 15 parcels of C class land, a medal of valor, and the Child of God emblem. Be sure that only the main family knows about this." Christopher took two handful of gold coins and stuffed it into Sebastian's pockets.

"This next part depends on what we uncover next. I want you send someone to talk to Lana, her friends, and her overall situation. Everything that has been going on since Harris' departure, I want to know it."

Sebastian countenance did not change and he simply nodded. "It will be done."

Christopher was soon left alone to immerse himself in his new found wealth. He looked at the paper on Harris Hill and said, "You've done a great deed for humanity but you have unfortunately passed away. But don't worry, even though you are dead I'm not. I will spend the fortune you couldn't and live every day in your memory!" His laughter echoed through the villa.

It was truly unfortunate. The system was built long ago when commoners had had little rights compared to nobles. Commoners living within the lands of nobles were essentially seen as the noble's property. Thus, when a commoner is drafted to the army, any achievements were first handed to the noble in charge who then distributed the rewards accordingly. It's well known that some nobles will pocket a bit off the top before distributing rewards but rarely were there a noble who would blatantly take all of the achievements from their people.

Through time. the system had changed in some aspects where the commoner soldiers were told of their achievements first and if they didn't get what they were told by their lords, they were able to report it back to overseeing authority for a particular region. An auditor would be sent out to audit the noble’s character and wealth. If the noble in charge were caught to have stolen some of their people's reward, serious repercussions would be placed on them. In most cases, it simply wasn't worth it as there were many other avenues more profitable and less risky than taking a few coins off some measly achievement.

However, Harris Hill was a one of a kind case. His achievement was simply too eye catching and too great.

Harris Hill was dead, no one could ask him whether or not he had received his reward. Survived only by his wife, Lana Hill. The system had never accounted for what would happen in such a case because a commoner earning such an achievement was never meant to happen.

Christopher waited until dusk. A carriage carrying the Hunt's nobility insignia which could be seen etched and painted into the carriage door. Men and women of noble and lofty air walked out and greeted Christopher.

Christopher invited them in and the moment they saw the gold, land deeds, and especially, the Child of God emblem, emotion quickly got the best of them.

"Son, it seems the goddess of fortune has smiled upon us," A chubby middle aged woman said.

"Bitch, you haven't called me son in three years and now I'm suddenly your son again?" Christopher scoffed internally but didn't let his face show it.

"Mother, as Sebastian probably told you, the rewards this time were issued directly by the the imperial family and the holy church. I know what you are all thinking, we can take half or even more since the next of kin doesn't know of her husband's achievement. She'll likely be happy with what she gets but as long as she someday goes to the city and learns the truth, it will be trouble for the family."

"Indeed, the goddess emblem is the crux of the problem." A tall and rough looking man said in a gruff voice. He was Christopher's father and spoke sternly towards his son: "With the Child of God emblem, she has full access to the kingdom and with the way you've managed things here, she isn't likely to stay here anyways. If what Sebastian said was true, that man's achievement is too great that if anyone found out we took some of the reward from his now widowed wife… Forget it, just give her the entire reward and leave it at that. What a waste of time." His father's eyes carried a hint of disappointment in his son and he sighed before turning around to head back to the carriage.

Christopher did not take any offence and instead, smiled as he said, "That's why we're taking everything, including the Child of God emblem!"

The entire family gasped and the father turned around in a rage. "You're mad! You'll have us all hanged!"

"Calm yourself, father. I have a plan which will not only allow us to take everything with no repercussions, but also may boost our family instead. The goddess emblem will be in our possession and you can do anything you want with it."

Christopher's father tried to speak out but the words were caught in his throat. His eyes fixated on the emblem. Without the emblem, they were relatively low in the class of nobility but with the emblem they could rival even the dukes in status and influence!

The Child of God emblem was too tempting. He swallowed whatever it was he wanted to say and nodded for his son to speak. His whole family waited patiently to hear the ingenious plan the exiled son would speak.

"Before Harris left, he managed to leave something very important here. This was just confirmed but Lana Hill is carrying their child. She is soon to go into labor but what if some complications were to occur to the poor wife leaving her now orphaned child? Truly, the heavens are not fair. Luckily, some good nature noblemen were here to take the orphan child as their own."

Christopher chuckled as he stopped beating around the bush and spoke out his plan in full detail.

As the noblemen heard the plan, insidious smiles crept up on all their faces. A silent nod was shared between them as they each went on their way to put the plan into action.

A week passed by.

It was night and the screams of a women were barely audible outside a wooden cottage. Inside, a midwife gently wiped away the sweat from the birthing mother. Her agonizing screams served to remind anyone the true pains of child birth.

"Deep breathes, one more push. I can see the head!"

The woman on the bed took a deep breath and exerted everything she had in one final push.

The cries of a baby reverberated through the room and the woman on the bed, having exhausted everything she had, collapsed down. Her breathing, while still hard, slowly returned to a calm as she weakly opened her eyes.

In the arms of the midwife, a baby boy cried.

"My darling boy…"

She stretched out her arms to reach for her son.

However, the midwife simply sat there, looking as if she had no intention to hand over the child.

Just then, the door opened and two men entered the room.

"I'll take it from here, you wait outside."

The midwife looked to Christopher and handed him the child before exiting the room. Christopher then sat down on the chair with a hooded individual standing behind.

"Village…head?" Perhaps it was because of the birth of her son, but her motherly senses had looked at Christopher in fear for her son. She didn't know why the village head was here, they never even interacted before. The village head was always too busy in his villa and rarely interacted with any of the villagers, only coming out to collect taxes. Though she looked at Christopher, her entire focus was on her child in his arms.

"Lana, was it? I come bearing great news. It's about your husband," he said with a smile on his face.

"Harris? Has he returned? Is he okay?" Seemingly out of nowhere, a surge of energy jolted her body as she lifted herself up a bit and looked at him expectantly.

However, he shook his head solemnly. "Your husband has made a great contribution to humanity. He sacrificed his life and in doing so, he allowed our forces to overwhelm the demon army. He's a hero and the royal family and rewarded him justly so with a medal of valor."

Tears streaked down Lana's pale face yet she made no noise. There was a brief moment of silence before she wiped away the tears.

"He always wanted to be a father. I know he would've done anything so that our child could grow up somewhere safe and happy. Now that our son is born he is the last piece I still have of him. Please, let me carry my boy."

She stretched out her arms once more.

Christopher looked at the mother and handed the child.

Lana took her child into her arms and touched his face gently.

"My little boy, from now on your name will be Ken."

Just then, a sharp pain stabbed into her chest. Her eyes went wide as she looked upon the man who had stabbed her.

Christopher retracted the knife and the bed quickly soaked with fresh warm blood.

"W-w-why…"

"Your husbands’ achievements were too outstanding and he was rewarded too greatly. All that gold and land going to a commoner's wife while a noble such as myself starves. It is a bit unfair; don't you think?" He asked smirking.

The baby suddenly cried loudly as Christopher took Ken from his mothers’ arm.

"M-my b-baby… give... me my…baby…"

She cried out weakly as she tried to grab hold of Ken but she was simply too weak. Her blood continued to flow out and her consciousness waned.

"Do not worry, your son shall live. He still has a purpose to serve. Rest your eyes, your husband is waiting for you."

Lana's arm shakily stretched out and grabbed onto Christopher's sleeve. Her eyes showed her willingness to fight but it was her body that finally gave out. Her arm drooped down and the light from her eye vanished. She was dead.