I clench my fists. With a hesitation, I run to the entrance door, take my things, and get dressed. I take my daggers from the cabinet standing next to the door. The four follow me directly. I open the door and a loud bang occurs. A guard runs around in front of us, shouting for attacks. He sees us and approaches us.
"What are you doing here? A monster is in the city!" his voice is full of excitement and fear. He looks at me. I let a bit of mana flow from my body, which is slightly above that of a normal human. The guard understands what I am trying to say.
"Good, come with me to the castle." The guard points toward the castle. We walk through the city, where some people are running screaming toward the city gate, for a massive camp has already been set up there, extending from the city in every direction of the forest. The gods look with a grin at the giant orb where the world can be seen.
"This will be his end." Freyja sounds convinced and crosses her arms over her chest. Mina isn't so sure about that, just like the silent guy. Hermes begins to laugh.
"Do you really think something like that will stop him?" Hermes looks with a dark gaze at the orb, where something can be seen: A monster with black skin, yellow-white horns, his gaze threatening and ice-cold, his body enveloped in flames as he currently smashes the entire capital, Lagoon.
We head toward the castle while the banging continues repeatedly. It seems strange to me that he doesn't attack the castle. Only the King is left in the city. I sense an attack coming in our direction. I quickly cast a barrier. A fire vortex shoots at us from behind. Suri is the only one outside the barrier. I reach out my hand, grab her by the shoulder, and pull her to me. Her cheeks turn red. She and I are so close that one can even feel how our breathing feels. Suri is super happy for a moment. The fire vortex bounces perfectly off us. A small flying monster approaches us.
"So it is them after all: The demons." My voice is serious. I cast an ice lance that pierces the flying demon. It falls from the sky and drops to the ground. The guard looks at me with wide eyes.
"Who or what are you... this power, it isn't normal." The guard begins to tremble. I turn back toward the castle. Without answering, I simply keep walking. The guard asks me the entire way who or what I am. Shortly before the castle, I turn to him.
"I don't know, but I am something like a human monster who is here to kill monsters." My voice is relaxed. I dissolve the barrier while the guard settles for that. Luna and the other three have already killed several demons on the way here. Fortunately, I healed Suri's hand immediately during the encounter, otherwise she would have been nothing but a dead weight.
We enter the castle. Guards are already waiting for us. Since I have connected us all with telepathy, we were already able to inform everyone. In the entrance area, we go up the stairs leading to a hallway that seems infinite. At the end of the hallway is a giant door. We walk along the hallway, where the previous kings and queens can be seen on both sides of the walls. Luna's mother, the Queen of the land, died five years ago during an assassin raid on the royal family. Twenty guards and the Queen died back then.
We arrive at the large door. I open it. On the other side of the room is an older man with a robe so beautiful it could almost be blinding. His friendly face hides the fear that he might lose the city.
"Loran, do you really think this boy is strong enough to kill demons?" The King looks at me suspiciously and speaks as if he sees a small, useless boy in me. He looks at the girls and Milo behind me. His gaze falls on Luna, his daughter. Tears form in his eyes. He recognizes her immediately.
"Luna, you are back." His words are filled with sadness. Luna only looks at him with utter disgust, while a small beastgirl with empty eyes comes back from behind a curtain with a glass of water. My eyes narrow. Luna's face fills with even more disgust. She turns to the door and leaves without saying a word. I take a short breath. It's an emergency, I must not lose my composure. I must remain calm. The mana, which was slowly becoming uncontrolled, circulates slowly through my body again, completely normal.
"Yes, I am strong enough. I will save this city." My voice is determined, just like my gaze. The determination shows an effect. The King nods, as he feels a strange familiarity, as if he remembers my power from back then when I defeated him and the Archmage. A strange smile appears on my face.
"Good, then save us." The King sounds relieved but cannot understand why he grants me so much trust. But first, I want to go to the camp. I see the slave collar on the neck of the beastgirl and sigh. I snap my fingers, causing the slave collar to fall off. The King looks at me with an angry face.
"What is the meaning of this, you bra—I mean Hero?" He hesitates at the word Hero.
"I hate slavery, my King." I try to remain polite. With a sigh from the King, the conversation is ended. We leave the castle. The guard brings us to the place where all the inhabitants of Lagoon are supposed to stay.
We arrive at the camp, which is truly massive. We walk through the entire camp. The demon is currently sleeping, so I have no stress. Out of the corner of my eye, I see a tent where a wooden sign says in large letters: "Slave Trader." I should perhaps stop by there, just to see what is going on. A creepy smile appears on my face. The others don't notice it.
We go to an inn, behind which several small tents stand that are meant to represent the rooms. I go in first, then the girls, and finally Milo. The guard waits in front of the inn. We buy three tents: one single tent and two double tents. Suri gets the single tent, Milo and I a double tent, and Luna and Mia also get a double tent. I put down money for five nights for now. Tomorrow I will try to lure the demon into the forest. He can't do anything there for the time being, then I can kill him without concern. Even if a demon can be very strong, based on his mana amount, he should have a power level of 2,001,040. Since he is a minion of the Demon King who stands below the gods, the gods don't need to worry about him.
We leave the inn again. The guard is already waiting for us. We continue looking around the makeshift camp. The people try to live their normal daily lives. There is no school, but there are teachers who come to people's homes. After a few hours, just as we want to go get something to eat, the demon wakes up—but with a massive injection of mana.
"Then my suspicion is correct. He is one of the eight Demon Generals." My voice is rather whispering and understanding. A gust of wind shoots past me. I see a girl, rather thin and with a large sword. She jumps toward the demon, preparing for an attack. I slap my palm against my forehead. I run off as well. Luna still tries to hold me back but narrowly misses me. I sprint so fast that one couldn't even see me with a human eye—even if time were only half as fast, one couldn't see me. I catch up with the girl.
"Stop! That is a Demon General!" I scream these words to her. She looks back startled. One notices that she didn't expect anyone to be faster than her. I even overtake her. Shortly before the demon, I unfold my entire mana, causing the capital to be enveloped by a purple translucent skin. The demon becomes aware of me.
"Hey, you there! Attack him with several weak attacks so he doesn't get the aggro on you!" My breathing becomes faster. The girl merely nods curtly. She casts several small fireballs so that he takes damage, but perceives her as a smaller threat than me. Alone I would have no chance like this, but with this help, I'll manage. I jump over the wall of Lagoon. The demon simply walks through the wall. My entire plan works perfectly. Now just further into the forest.
The girl is slowly exhausted, as I thought. She is fast and strong, but her stamina is lacking. I cast a recovery spell on her. Her energy regenerates again. The trees become denser and the ground more uneven.
"Stop the attacks and go behind the big stone!" I scream these words to her. She nods. Good that she trusts me so quickly, otherwise I would have had a problem. She runs behind the stone after stopping her attacks. I erect a prison around the demon, which is thereby trapped for a maximum of two days. Alone I will not be able to defeat him. I run out of the prison. The girl holds her hand out to me, ready for a high-five. I return the high-five. We begin to smile.
"Well done, um..." Her voice is soft and relaxed, but she cannot finish the sentence.
"Min. My name is Min. And you?" My voice is calm, but one notices that this running around hasn't exactly left me cold. Reducing speed has become quite difficult for me by now with these parameters, though no wonder.
"Min, are you only fast or also strong?" Her question comes unexpectedly. I look at her, confused by the question.
"He is quite strong." A female and gentle voice. Suri comes out from behind the trees with a smile. She waves to the girl.
"Oh wow. Min, would you fight against me tomorrow?" Her voice is somewhat hesitant, as if she were unsure if she even has a chance. However, I sense a lot of mana from her, even if she suppresses it. I hesitate briefly but nod after a few seconds.
We head back to the camp, where the King is already waiting for me. However, not like back then for a lecture, but this time to thank me.
"Thank you very much... Min." His hesitation shows me that he has forgotten what my name is. I only smile.
"It isn't certain yet, but for now you can start repairing the city again." My voice is cautious and distant. I somehow cannot trust him. He is behaving strangely. Back then he had trusted me quickly, but this time it was as if he knew something he isn't saying. What if... no, that can't be. I can't get my thoughts out of my head.
"Min, could we speak briefly?" The King looks at me seriously, as if it were something incredibly important. His voice becomes more serious too. I nod to him in agreement.
"Good, we'll be going then." Suri looks at me and the King while she walks away with the others. The King looks at me even more seriously, clears his throat.
"Good, Min. Back then in the fight where you fought against me and the Archmage..." He stops briefly in the sentence to look for a reaction from me, which he also gets. For I look at him in amazement, surprised that he remembers. For actually, our bond wasn't that great at all.
"What do you want..."
"Stop addressing me formally!" he interrupts me mid-sentence.
"Okay, what are you trying to tell me?" I ask, curious for an answer, because somehow it is strange that he can remember me.
"I wanted to say thank you. Because had you not been there, I would never have learned how those you protect feel." His words sound like the truth, but one thing is strange about it: when we were in the castle earlier, there was a slave there. It's strange, but I somehow believe him.
"What was that with the slave then?" My voice is calm, yet one can feel that I distrust him. Even if I believe him, I cannot entirely deny my distrust. He looks into the air for a moment.
"That was a beastgirl who was being violated by the slave driver. That's why I bought her from him. I am truly sorry, Min, but she was happy to do it." He says it with a voice that cannot lie, which is why I only nod and trust him. But that he remembers me is still strange. The King says goodbye to me and then goes back into the capital.
The girls and Milo come back to me. The girl who chased away the Demon General with me approaches me.
"I almost forgot, I'm Lilly." Her voice is soft and shy. I look at her. Her yellow eyes reflect the light of the sun and her black hair looks as if it were bright black hair. The sun is already setting, but because of that, it shimmers like black-orange hair. Milo's cheeks turn red. One notices immediately that he finds Lilly cute.
"Hey Milo, why are you so red?" I say in a teasing voice. He turns even redder while everyone starts to giggle. We go to the inn, across from which stands a restaurant. Outside and inside the large tent, there are seats where one can eat. We enter the large tent while the sun is entirely gone and the moon slowly comes out.
We sit at a table with six seats. The noise level is relatively low, but at one table people are shouting around. The entire evening is wonderful. We all laugh, but shortly before the end, Milo looks at me dejectedly. I notice it, but the girls keep giggling. Milo is about to say something but seemingly doesn't find the right words for what he wants to say.
"Min, can we speak briefly in private? It is extremely important." I nod after Milo says it with a hesitating voice. We step outside the restaurant for a moment. Milo looks at the ground for a moment to consider how to say it.
"Min, I..."