Kyle, Digby and Fi waited patiently just outside of the purple dome that was the Zone for Jerald who had let Digby know about 15 minutes ago that he had defeated the Boss and sure enough the Zone was already starting to collapse, the dome that denoted its borders now had cracks in its surface.

The rest of the way out of the Zone had been uneventful and they had decided to go over Kyles Skills and spells once they had returned to town. It had been a long day for everyone and they would make better decisions once they had some time to rest.

Suddenly they heard a loud crashing sound coming from the dome followed by a figure in black armour carrying what looked like a cross between a shield and a lance in both hands followed by a shower of splinters from the trees he had obviously been smashing through on the way out of the Zone.

“Hey guys!” he shouted revealing himself to be Jerald. “Sorry about the wait, things got a bit interesting in there.”

Dispelling the strange weapon he was holding he walked over to the other three who glared at him as he approached.

“That’s all very well and good,” Fi growled at him. “But why did you feel the need to destroy half the forest on your way out?”

As she said this she slowly slid towards Jerald while keeping her tail wrapped around Kyle’s neck ending up with most of her body suspended between father and son as she glared daggers at the older man.

“Oh, calm down,” Jerald replied as he reached up and slowly pushed her backwards with a single finger. “I mostly used the area that the Boss had already destroyed on my way back, so in the end I only ended up smashing through two trees.”

This didn’t do much to decrease the irritation the others felt as they continued to glare at him and he sighed tiredly.

“I don’t have time to explain right now, we need to get back to Farholt as quickly as possible,” he said looking at Digby pointedly causing him to roll his eyes and transform back into his combat form.

Late afternoon quickly turned to evening as they made their way back to Farholt on Digby’s back in silence, Jerald glaring ahead as though remembering something unpleasant.

“I wonder what happened in the forest,” Kyle muttered to Fi as he stared at his unusually silent fathers back.

“I don’t know but whatever it was, it wasn’t good,” Fi replied, nervously tightening her coils around Kyle’s neck slightly. Even when they had been chasing Denzel and the guards Jerald hadn’t seemed as intense as he was now, and this worried them as they couldn’t figure out what could possibly be so bad that not only he hadn’t told them but was actively ignoring them as he slowly scanned his surroundings.

Soon they could see the walls of Farholt in front of them and Jerald seemed to relax slightly letting loose a small sigh as they approached.

“Well you two,” he said speaking to them for the first time since they had gotten onto Digby’s back. “What did you think of your first taste of adventuring?”

Kyle thought about this for a while, fighting the monster had been terrifying, especially when Fi had been attacked by the Amoeboid but it had given him a much better understanding of his Skills and the reason that the world needed Adventurers as well as many other things and had ended up leaving him with more questions than he had started with.

He glanced at Fi who was watching him carefully with an interested expression on her face.

“It’s hard to say,” he replied finally. “It was my first time killing anything, so that was hard, but it gave me a better understanding about the sort of world we live in.”

A small smile crossed Jerald’s face, the first time he had fought monsters it had been in a much more controlled environment so by the time he had entered his first Zone he had gotten more used to the idea of killing monster, but he had felt something similar.

“It’s not an easy thing to come to terms with,” Jerald said his voice almost too quiet to hear over the sound of the wind whistling in their ears. “But in this world only one thing really matters; either we kill the monsters, or they kill us.”

The world they lived in was a cruel one where being of terrible power stalked the land outside the villages and towns that they lived in, a world that didn’t care if they lived or died. So, the people had no choice but to rely on the System’s power to grow stronger and survive any way they could.

In the kingdom of Coronia there were only two settlements that could be called cities; the capital and a port city on the coast where most of the countries imports and exports passed through. This was because large numbers of people attracted monsters and led to the creation of even more Zones and Dungeons leading to the creation of many smaller settlement spread out through the countryside each protected by their own guards. For many people leaving the safety of these settlements was a suicidal action, even the travelling merchants refused to leave if they couldn’t hire enough Adventurers to protect them.

It had taken a long time for society to begin to return to the way it had been before the System came and even now life was hard. It wasn’t unheard of for entire settlements to be wiped out overnight by monsters even with the guards to protect them. The people didn’t truly know if the System was there to help them or not but there was one thing that they could only agree with; if it wasn’t for the System they would all be dead.

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The smile on Jerald’s face turned grim as he thought about the life his son had chosen. Only about half of the rookie Adventurers made it back from their first mission, and of those who did many of them quit, being unable to handle the horrors of fighting monsters and watching their friends and companions dying. This was why he had suggested that Kyle and Fi stay in the Zone while he hunted the Boss down. Adventurers School was all very well and good and he trusted the people there but experiencing what being an Adventurer was like first hand, even with Digby there to protect them if anything went wrong would either put Kyle off being an Adventurer for good or make him even more determined to make sure that less people died to the monsters that roamed their world.

“So, you still want to become an Adventurer?” he asked turning back to look at his son.

Kyle’s eyes glowed brighter as his face set in a way that reminded Jerald of Emma when she decided something.

“Of course,” Kyle replied simply as though he had never doubted that he would change his mind about what he had decided to do.

Jerald nodded, slightly awestruck by the look of conviction in his son’s eyes. He had struggled with his decision for years even after he had become an Adventurer, but right now he had no doubts in his mind that his son would do anything to achieve his goal.

“With an attitude like that you won’t have any problems getting into the Adventurers School!” Jerald chuckled the tension that he had been feeling since killing the Boss finally disappearing from his body. He had graduated from the Greenhearth Adventurer School himself and knew several the teachers who worked there so he knew that Kyle was in good hands.

Seeing his father’s normal mood restored Kyle smiled back happily, he still wasn’t sure what had been bothering him, but it seemed that seeing the village was enough to put him at ease for the moment.

In fact, the only thing the two were worried about now was waiting for them with her hands on her hips in front of the village gates causing the four to gulp audibly as they approached.

Emma’s foot tapped rhythmically against the ground as they approached, “Well what do you four have to say for yourselves?”

“We’re home?” Jerald replied hopefully causing his wife’s eyes to glow brighter as she levelled her gaze on him.

“Are you sure that’s what you want to say to me after allowing our son to stay overnight in a Zone?” Emma asked dangerously as the temperature dropped dramatically causing their breath to form white plumes of mist in the evening air.

“I wanted to stay,” Kyle said quickly trying to defuse the situation.

“Is that so?” Emma asked as ice began to form on the ground around them.

“In fact, we all agreed,” Fi said backing up her partner an effort that was somewhat compromised by the layer of bandages wrapped around her and the holes in Kyle’s new jacket.

Emma sighed seeing that they wouldn’t be backing down and placed a hand over her face to hide the small smile beginning to form there.

“Very well then, welcome back,” she said quietly causing them to break out into smiles as Digby started to gingerly walk forwards over the frosty ground into the village.

“Well now, look who’s back,’ laughed Warren as they entered. He knew that Emma had been waiting impatiently for them to return.

It wasn’t everyday that your oldest son Levelled up for the first time and the day after he got his Class at that! She might have been upset that he had put himself in danger, but she had been prepared for that to happen one day ever since he had decided to become and Adventurer.

“Hey Warren, sorry about leaving you to clean up the mess,” Jerald said as he got down off Digby.

“It’s fine,” Warren replied with a shrug. “A Zone appearing this close to Farholt is more than enough reason to leave me to deal with things on this end.”

“Well it’s good to see your back to your normal self anyway,” Jerald said nodding his thanks at the stout mayor of Farholt.

“Don’t get me wrong now Jerald,” Warren stated. “Denzel will still get what’s coming to him.”

“I’d expect nothing less,” admitted Jerald.

Denzel had completely betrayed the oaths he took as a member of the guards which was not looked well upon in any country. Guards were the last line of defence for the villages and towns they protected so anyone who betrayed their oaths were seen as one of the worst forms of criminal and that went double for someone like Denzel who was in charge of a whole garrison of guards and had even convinced some of them to join him when he had betrayed the trust of the people he had sworn to protect. Warren hadn’t looked very kindly on the way Denzel had treated visitors to Farholt especially when he refused to protect them like he had the night of the Barghest attack and Jerald was sure that the usually amiable man would be pushing for Denzel to receive the highest punishment allowed in Coronia for people who had neither murdered nor raped; being sent to mine ore in a dungeon until they died. As one might expect between the poor conditions that these criminals lived in- in camps just outside the dungeon- and the dangers they faced inside the dungeon, even with the guards who accompanied them the expected life span of these criminals was not long.

The expressions on the few villagers who were still nearby were grim, they had trusted Denzel to protect them for years, even when he had refused to allow non-humans to enter Farholt and had abused his authority to try and make life more difficult for Kyle and his family and now he had finally shown them his true colours. When the guards came to try Denzel, he would face justice.

If you’ll excuse me, I’d like to go see my friends,” requested a sheepish looking Kyle. The adults were talking about things that were a bit over his head and he was worried about Ryan.

“I’ll come with you dear,” said his mother seeing the hesitant look on her husband’s face.

Jerald nodded, “You two go on ahead, I have a few more things to talk to Warren about. I’ll catch up later.”

So, Kyle, Fi and Emma left in the direction of the inn leaving the two men and Digby watching them leave.

“Well?” asked Warren eventually. “What did you want to talk to me about?”

A small hole in space appeared next to Jerald’s hand and a small wrapped bundle came floating out.

“Thank you, Digby,” said Jerald as he started to unwrap the object which he had sneakily handed Digby before they had left for Farholt. This was of course the same object that he had found inside the stomach of the Scaled Razorback; a portion of a breastplate with a very specific mark on it, one that caused Warren’s face to pale in horror when it was revealed.

“Is that?” he asked with a trembling voice.

Jerald nodded causing Warren to clench his fists as he started to wonder what it could mean.

“Do you think that Denzel knew?” he asked angrily.

“No,” Jerald shook his head. “Denzel hates them just as much as he hates non-humans.”

They both looked down at the chewed-on hunk of metal in Jerald’s hands the disfigured mark of a giant eagle emblazoned across its surface. The symbol of a country hated by most of the civilised world; The New Byzantine Empire.