“Is this armor enough to pay for the new equipment and the food?”, Meira’s business like voice rang out within the orangish twilight of the small smithery. The fires of the forges threw dark shadows onto the faces of me, Riina and Enri while brightly illuminating the old blacksmith’s stoic smile.

“It is.”, his voice was course and fitted his tough hardened image.

“But there is one problem with this.”, he pointed at the heavy plate armor laying on the steel anvil before him. More exactly his rough finger pointed at the crest of a royal knight that was engraved onto the breastplate. A dangerous glint appeared in his eyes and I could see his old but muscular body tense up.

He was already viewing us as enemies.

“Old man.”, I spoke without any politeness.

“Do you really have to trouble us over such a small detail?”, my pale eyes shone dangerously in the dim light of the fires.

“Small detail?”, the elderly blacksmith snorted unintimidated by my tough talk.

I grinned darkly.

“Just heat the plate and remove the crest and you have a piece of exquisite heavy armor that is worth far more than the light armors, weapons and the food that you have provided us with. In fact, you could just sell it and retire. The profit will easily suffice to feed you for the next 20 years.”

His eyes sharpened and a somewhat threatening expression appeared on his old bearded face. If I didn’t know that he was a human I would have thought him to be an angry dwarf ready to burst my head with a war axe.

“So, you won’t even deny that you killed a royal knight? Aren’t you a little too insolent to admit something like this within the Haelia kingdom?”, his words carried the weight of boulders.

I chuckled and shrugged my shoulders.

“He tried to kill me, the hero of this country, so why should I feel any remorse?”

The blacksmiths wizened eyes widened as he heard my words. His gray beard began to tremble as a difficult to read expression appeared on his face.

“Y-you are the hero who enslaved the princess?”, his words surprised me and now it was my turn to become defensive.

“…so, the king has already spread the news…”, it was truly surprising. After all I had only left the capital for little more than a week and even if that bastard king had began spreading the message right after I left through the gate of the capital, it was still incredible that it had already reached a rural town like this that was located on the other side of a giant forest.

“I-I’m that very princess and I assure you that Chris had no evil intentions in doing so.”, Maira quickly interluded before I could say anymore. A sincere expression that could win over even the most cynical of all cynics covered her perfectly beautiful face.

“Even if what he did is reprehensible, my father has still gone to far in trying to kill the hero that has been send by the gods protecting our realm!”, she followed up by playing the religious card. As always Maira was truly excellent at manipulating the feelings and actions of other people.

This was a rural village and like most common folks around these areas the old blacksmith was very religious, endorsing the gods of his ancestors. As such playing out the god-sent-savior card proved to be very effective on him.

His expression softened a little as signs of struggle appeared in his eyes. He seemed torn between Maira’s arguments and his loyalty towards the kingdom.

“Not to say that unlike your king I will actually protect you from the demons looming in the north.”, my words were biting and unfair, but they were the truth.

“…fine.”, the elderly man said after struggling for some time.

“But the armor is too much. I cannot accept such a fortune in exchange for some cheap equipment and food. You have to take something that is worth more.”, his eyes were honest and clear. I didn’t believe that he wanted to trick us in any way.

Despite that I shook my head.

“No. We take what we asked for and nothing more. The risk of selling that armor is too high for me to demand anymore.”, it was true. Selling this armor could be very dangerous if one wasn’t extremely careful about it. After all, riches tend to be deadly for those who weren’t capable of handling it.

He gave me a long look before nodding.

“But I will customize the armor to your needs. Otherwise you might as well fight without it. An armor that doesn’t fit the one who wears it could as well be a stone chained to his ankle.”

“How long?”

“Three days.”

There was a brief period of silence as I thought about it. Finally, my head moved in a very familiar manner. A nod.

“We will be back.”, I turned around and headed towards the exit. The girls followed me without hesitation, mumbling farewell before backing away from the elderly blacksmith.

Suddenly the old man thought of something.

“What if I hadn’t decided to help you?”, his voice began to tremble.

A cold smile appeared on my lips.

“I would have killed you. I cannot risk you running to the king after all.”, the door opened, and we disappeared in the bright light that suddenly flooded into the formerly dark smithy.

…

“You were a little too harsh right there.”, Enri said as soon as we had left the vicinity of the smithy and began to move down the small main road of the tiny town. We were heading towards another iconic building that could not lack in any proper Isekai story- the adventurer guild.

A wry smile overtook my cold expression.

“I will try to control myself.”, I knew that my behavior was a little out of tune. It wasn’t a matter of attracting trouble, it was a matter of politeness. Though I had the unconscious need to display dominance I could not give up on basic etiquette.

Otherwise I would end up like I had after arriving in this world. Attracting more enemies than friends.

“What will we do if he uses the three days to inform the kingdom about our location?”, Maira suddenly asked after being silent for some time.

“Kill him and run.”, Enri’s reply was accompanied by a cute grin. Seriously though that dragon girl isn’t quite right in the head. I’m not one to talk though….

“He won’t.”, Riina suddenly interjected from behind me. Since the events leading to Ilea’s death, she had become even more silent than usual. Furthermore, she had for some reason picked up the habit of hiding behind me and simply tagging along as I lead the way.

I threw her a surprised glance.

“Why do you think so?”

She shrugged.

“There is a shrine right above his forge and I could see offerings to Bohaem, the god of blacksmithing. Someone who is this devout to the gods won’t betray the hero over his loyalty to some king. After all that person has also said that the rural people feel disconnected from the royals and that the nobles are using this to build up resistance against the king.”, she was right. I had forgotten about the intel that I had received from R’gis.

“W-what person? Is this true?!”, Maira asked as she hadn’t been with us when we met with the goblin king.

I simply nodded.

“You will see. But you shouldn’t worry, right now this plays to our advantage and when the time has come for the noble’s uprising I will crush them and install you as the queen.”, that had been the plan either way.

Maira seemed like she wanted to continue and argue with me, but right in that moment I bumped into a person. I had been caught up in talking to the girls and didn’t notice the rather small girl that had been walking across the street.

She yelled out in surprise and tumbled to the ground. Then her two green eyes threw me angry looks.

“I’m sorry!”, I immediately said and reached out with my hand to help her stand up. She gave me a deep look and took the hand, heaving herself up. At this point I had a chance to get a good look on how she looked.

She was quite petite with dark blond hair and a rather plain, normal looking face. Same went for her body figure and those important areas. Only the pair of almost sparkling green eyes that were currently looking very angry were quite out of the ordinary.

“What else can one expect from the hero who allied himself with the goblins…”, the girl sighed theatrical. A frown had overtaken her plain features.

“At least you aren’t like the other hypocrites these kids have brought here over the past eons.”

Her words made my eyes widen.

“H-how do you….”, my eyes widened even further as my brain processed her words even further.

“Y-you… are you…”

A grin appeared on her lips and she gently shook her head.

“No, I’m not a god, I am older than those that you would call the gods of humanity and I have seen far more than what these little brats could ever imagine in their petty eternal strive for dominance.

I, am simply Liaia.”, she looked like a playful young girl, but what left her mouth were either the ramblings of an old drunkard or the talk of an ancient being.

“Since I had the huge misfortune to meet you…”, Liaja continued to speak.

“Let me give you a little clue regarding the goblins. If you continue to ally yourself with R’gis even after the demons are suppressed, you will have to rebel against the gods of the human realm.

This might lead to your miserable death, in fact this is the most likely outcome… OR you might have a chance to rise up against these little brats and become one of them.

By the way it was them who devolved the aloof Lords of the past into miserable green goblins.”, the more she spoke the more questions arose within my mind. But even worse were the waves of shock that washed over my brain.

“…rise up against the gods…”, I mumbled with a foolish expression.

A knowing smile appeared on Liaja’s face.

“It seems like I have intrigued you with this, haven’t I? You are a rather interesting hero, maybe we will meet again. That is if you manage to survive until then.”, with these words she turned away from me, suddenly stomped against the ground and catapulted herself into the air. It happened at a speed that surpassed the realm of humans and I couldn’t follow the blur that disappeared into the air.

All that was left was an empty street and a clear sky.

“…isn’t Liaia the original name for this area? After the Haelia kingdom was founded the province was called Liana, but from what my teachers told me it was originally called Liaia- the land of wheat.”, Maira suddenly said after a short while of shocked silence. Her face was just like the one of a person who had just witnessed the ascension of jesus Christ.

“Older than the gods…”, I whispered to myself.

“Become a god.”, I couldn’t help but feel tempted.

In fact, I had already decided to follow a path that could very well lead to my demise. Or it might truly raise me to the level of a god!