The three attacked me in perfect sync. So I had to take out my other dagger to cope with their linked attacks.

Martlea and the other girl focused to attack my sides but Teobaldur came right from the front. While their attacks had power and speed, there is just something that was completely amiss from their attacks. Except for the guild master, the other two have no killing intent, rather, I felt more of a hesitation, and from the other girl, also fear. The guild master who showed some killing intent also seemed like he was doing it deliberately. That is why, I only blocked and parried their attacks without countering.

After I dodged Martlea’s knife, I parried Teobaldur’s sword and guided it so it would hit the other girl’s sword coming from my side. After that, I made a sweeping kick at Martlea’s legs, followed by elbow strike at the other girl’s side torso. Teobaldur pulled back after I swung my dagger randomly.

“Kyah!”

“Khuargh!”

Martlea squealed as she landed on her butt while the other girl made a pained scream. Huh? I’m sure I didn’t hit her that hard… maybe she already got some wounds somewhere on her body and my hit affected it.

“Enough! Sorry, I just wanted to confirm something.”

With Teobaldur’s words, Martlea who just stood back up relaxed her posture while glaring at me in discontent. What’s with that face? I mean, you were the one that attacked me. The other girl put a hand on the wall to assist herself to stand.

“What is it that you wanted to confirm by suddenly attacking me?”

“Something that you wouldn’t tell us honestly. Izarea, how was it?”

“T, there is no mistake. He is the same guy as the one in black armor. The way he used his blade is exactly the same”

What? It was Azanthys and Mareritter back then, how did she…?

Teobaldur heaved a long sigh before he looked at me.

“This girl is special, she can differentiate people just from their slight movements, movements that has a pattern like martial arts or sword styles are even more so, rendering any disguise as useless. Now, is it true?”

That sounded like a convenient ability, but is a pain if an enemy has it.

“What if it is?”

“Although you appeared late in the battle with the demon race, you played a very big role in putting an end to it. On behalf of everyone in the guild, I offer you my gratitude.”

“Wow, thanks… talk about being roundabout. What if I took you seriously and accidentally kill any of you?”

“With your capability, your serious can take on the whole guild and leave unscathed. I just trusted that you would just incapacitate us at worst.”

“...”

“I wanted to give you some reward but we have no leisure for that and you wouldn’t like it if we tell the world that it was you anyway.”

“Yup, no need for that.”

“Also, there will be more demon race army coming here in several days. If my messenger reached Rifsten, some reinforcements should be coming, but I’d hope that you are willing to help us in handling that too.”

“Ah, about that…”

I told Teobaldur that I already took care of them, while omitting about Nourrie coming here to check on Liz.

Teobaldur seemed relieved, and the other girl, Izarea showed an expression that told me she had no choice but to believe my words. Martlea was the only one who had a tinge of doubt but she said nothing.

“I thought I had properly seen through your strength when we first met, but it seems I have been severely underestimating you… Just who are you?”

“This question again? You’re free to guess.”

“Heh, I don’t want to step on a dragon’s tail so let’s leave it at that.”

“If there is nothing else then, can I leave?”

“P, please wait!”

The one who called to me as I was about to turn away was Izarea.

“What now?”

She hesitated when I glared at her with displeasure, however she soon collected herself and bowed at me.

“Please teach me your way of battle, especially dual wielding!”

Eh? Way of battle? Like fighting style or martial arts school? Do I have something like that?

I’m mostly self taught while I combined the basics of Rifst royal sword arts I learnt from my fights with Eneas, general Razak’s original martial arts he taught me directly, and my own impromptu fighting style. I seriously started dual wielding simply because I thought it was cool.

“Why should I? You’re already pretty good with a sword already, just try to do the same with your non-dominant hand. If you had a teacher then just consult with him or her.”

“Dad can use swords but his main weapon is lance with a shield which I have no talent for. And if dual wielding was as simple as that then I wouldn’t ask you.”

She looked at Teobaldur who in turn looked elsewhere while saying that.

From what I saw before, she utilized a style that focused in speed and centrifugal force than raw strength. Wait, dad… Teobaldur?

“You got a daughter?”

“What’s with the surprise? I mean, I was quite a hunk back then.”

Not quite the answer I was expecting, and he said it with a straight face which somehow just irritated me. This Izarea girl also looked too young to be his daughter but too old to be a granddaughter. Let’s not mind it.

“Anyway, the answer is no. My hands are full with my own problems already.”

“But I…”

“Leave it at that, Izarea.”

“…”

Having given up, thanks to Teobaldur’s words, Izarea looked down dispiritedly. I just heaved a sigh and was finally able to leave the room.

Barely several steps from the room, my way was blocked by 4 people, two whom I recognize as heroes. Other than the two, there was a man who kept smiling with slanted eyes, I sense a strange dangerous vibe from the guy. Another was a tall muscular man just like Juno but with hair on his head, he gave a soldier-like atmosphere. The two I saw before was gloomy, especially the girl, while the muscular man tried to console them. Maybe because I killed some of their attendant knights?

I stepped aside to give way since it seemed that their destination was the guild master’s room. Purely on a whim, I decided to be a bit nosy by whispering a piece of advice when they got past me.

“Never trust the empire.”

“Eh?”

“Huh?”

I immediately left the place as they stopped to look at me. Heck it was basically next door, but fortunately I was spared from any awkwardness that might result since none of them called out or followed me.

“Welcome back, master.”

“Erik!”

I was greeted by Mareritter, and Liz’s shout. Liz who seemingly just woke up jumped off the sofa and held my hand before letting out a relieved sigh.

“What’s wrong, Liz?”

She gently shook her head and smiled.

“I’m just glad that it wasn’t a dream. Erik is right here… ehehe.”

That teary eyed bashful smile is dangerously cute! Mental evasion activate!

I averted my eyes while doing the usual head patting and was able to hear the delightful ‘fuee’ again after a long time.

***

The next day, I was doing some cleaning up. While stuff like rubbles and the likes were handled by the civilians, we adventurers were dealing with the smelly corpses and literally things like entrails and blood. Nevertheless, I had Liz join the civilians’ side. Needless to say, I was currently in my spare clothing, since the black snake jacket and the light armor were no longer wearable.

As for why I was doing this, after being urged by Liz who seemed energetic, I decided to lend a hand in reconstruction of Arx Norr. The crater over there surrounded by traces of destruction was apparently caused by me… indirectly, and that straight line of collapsed buildings was caused by me… directly, so I have no qualms in helping out.

Martlea who just so happened to have come to supervise the work interrogated me on that matter, but I donned my best poker-face, feigning ignorance. Martlea who was clearly tired also didn’t press any further but still gave me a sermon containing some sarcastic insults at me. She told me to work my ass out in restoring Arx Norr. As for why I stayed silent, it was simply because rebutting would be a pain as she would just add more to it, and I do feel bad about the destruction, a little.

The surprising part was that, Liz is extremely famous. Almost everyone who saw her greeted her with smiles. More than half of those were civilians. It seems that she has done quite a great deal of post-dragon head fall restoration work. She also has a remarkable achievement in the battle and that further fueled her fame. The only problem was just that people never approached her and only greeted from a distance whenever they saw me first. Big brother is feeling a bit hurt and lonely now, but since I don’t want her to work on corpses anyway, I’ll let Liz work separately from me for a bit, within the range of my eyesight that is. That resulted in a flock of people thanking or praising Liz from time to time. There was no trace of any awkwardness when she talked with those people. You have grown splendidly, Liz.

It’s a secret that I flicked some pebbles at the hand of dangerous carnivorous male who was about to be unnecessarily touchy with her. If the number kept increasing, then its not my fault if I forgot to hold back. At least Yusa and Eldys were also regulating the crowd. Well, other than that, this is a good thing so I should just watch her with warm eyes. Azanthys was working behind me, by the way, using ice just on her palms to prevent her hands from being dirtied… that’s convenient! The dreamy eyes of lonely male adventurers that was directed at her when we first arrived changed to a disappointed look after they saw how azanthys expressionlessly worked on the corpses without hesitation or disgust.

I incidentally heard some talks about Praesia’s believers intending to go on pilgrimage to Praesia’s main temple in the empire as well. It seemed that they wanted to affirm whether it was really Praesia’s voice or not they heard before. I bet there are others from all around the continent. I meant, if I mention Praesia’s believer then it is basically almost every human on the continent.

There were also talks about strange dreadful presence during the battle and when the presence was gone, the battle just ended before anyone noticing whatever was happening. That was… about me wasn’t it?

After I judged that there was no other significant information, I contacted Mareritter who was also helping out on the reconstruction at some distance and another direction from Liz as opposed to me.

(Mareritter.)

(Yes, master?)

(I asked you this before, but. You sure we shouldn’t confront the empire yet?)

(Unfortunately so, master. If my assumption is correct, our enemy, the Ar daenocens have finally begun to act. And it is very likely that they are using the empire as their base. And even the demon territory is not free from their influence, thus I believe that we should keep our vigilance within this kingdom as well.)

Well, given the 1000 year period, it would be weird if they did nothing at all.

(Just asking then, if I were to fight a genuine Ar daenocens, how would I fare with just the two of you?)

(It depends, however, if it was the weakest among them then master would have 25% chance of victory. As for the strong ones, currently the chance would be almost zero)

I’ve been questioning my humanity lately, but just how strong are they?

(How would I fare against artificial ones then?)

(As proven with how master defeated a full powered first generations like Fiammre, the probability for victory is very high. However, against a full powered prototype class like me or sister then it would be different.)

(Then how will I fare against you in that case? Assuming that I have weapon on the same caliber of you two, that is.)

(I will answer honestly then, about 50% or slightly more than that.)

That’s rather promising in comparison… how about Azanthys?

(As for sister, it would be 95% chance...)

Huh? I thought Azanthys was the strongest prototype so why…?

(...of master’s defeat. My sister is the closest to a real Ar Draughum.)

I see… even stronger than the weakest Ar Daenocens. That means, I have only seen the tip of the iceberg in her case. The only way to see the rest of the ice is to get stronger myself. I know that I said I wasn’t in a hurry before, but i don’t think I have that leisure anymore given that the main enemy has started moving… Why did they choose the empire as their base, damn it!

For now, let’s just do whatever already in front of me.

(Mareritter, can you check on the demon general we met in the great forest for me?)

(Of course. How should I deal with her? Shall I eliminate her?)

Why did it come to elimination?

(No, just tell me later the prediction of her time of arrival. I intend to take Liz and see her before she reaches Arx Norr since it will be hard for the other party to enter the town.)

It was kind of faraway but I could tell that Mareritter showed an astonished face to my earlier sentence.

(Something wrong?)

(No, it is just that master had a little bit of negative emotion at the demon when we met in the forest. Forgive me for assuming such that master wanted to eliminate her.)

What the hell? Negative emotion? I don’t… think I felt anything like that.

(What do you mean by that?)

(When the demon said about confirming Miss Lissa…. No… it might just have been my imagination. I apologize.)

(… Then, can you do it now?)

(Of course, master.)

Mareritter skillfully avoided any attention and made a soundless dashing jump onto a rooftop then the other in succession, leaving the area without being noticed.

I don’t know why, but I wasn’t able to get what Mareritter just said out of my mind. If I did have some negative emotion back then, it might be because I didn’t want to let Nourrie and Liz see each other…

Maybe I was afraid that she will try to convince Liz to go back with her again? Heh, like I have the right for that.

I don’t know… or maybe I just unconsciously refused to admit it? Nah, let’s forget it. Let’s tell Liz about Nourrie after today’s work is over. I also need to check on Albert and the rest from the settlement. Maybe after we see Nourrie. The problem is, what to do after that? I actually wanted to try to poke at and annoy the empire for a bit. But as I thought, it would be wiser to look for another one of Praesia’s children first as Mareritter suggested.

From here, the closest great dungeon would be the one in demon’s territory. If I’m not mistaken, the other two are located in beastmen island nation and elven capital. The best route to take if I want to make it quick would be the demons’ territory, beastmen, then elves. How did my revenge story turn into a mess like this? Well, ignorance is bliss, but if I were to attack the empire just to be rekt by the Ar Daenocens instead, then I guess I should be glad to know about it beforehand.

***

“Eh, Nou is?”

Was Liz’s response when I told her about Nourrie. She has a complicated expression, maybe a mix of happiness and worry.

As our inn was still under renovation, we continued freeloading in Martlea’s office. Mareritter who is currently not here as he was monitoring Nourrie, had prepared some makeshift beds from whatever was available so it wasn’t inconvenient. I’m already used to sleep while sitting but lying down is the best after all.

“So, how about it? It will be bad if a demon race was spotted in town, especially after that battle, so how about we go see her instead? I had Mareritter track her location so we can go anytime. He said that they will arrive at the forest edge by tomorrow before noon.”

“Umm, if it is okay… then… Un, I want to see Nou. There is also many things I want to ask about the… new… demon lord…”

Her expression darkened as she said the last part. I guess she really is worried about the current situation over that side.

“By the way, Liz… If Nourrie asked you…”

“I won’t… I don’t want to leave Erik.”

Liz gave me her answer before I could finish asking.

“I see, thanks Liz.”

“That’s why… don’t ever leave me again.”

She snuggled closer while saying that. Except during restoration work, she has been sticking close to me. I know the cause so I let her be. Or rather, I admit that I missed these kind of moments too. With all my circumstances, I can’t promise that I will never leave her, but I still nodded anyway.

“Well, you worked hard today, so let’s go see Nourrie after a good night sleep. We’ll leave the first thing tomorrow morning.”

I stroked her head and she smiled after a delighted “fuehehe”.

Liz lied down on her bed and I was about to lie down to when I saw Azanthys. I pretended not to notice Azanthys puffing her cheeks and “muu”-ing in the corner. It seemed that Mareritter was able to convince her not to disturb me and Liz for a while. At least Azanthsy wasn’t leaking her frost aura, I won’t feel cold but Liz will if that happens, so let’s pat her head too as reward for holding back.

I beckoned her over patted her head a few times until her expression slackened. This is late by now, but it seems I have reached mastery for the lhordes class head-pat skill.

***

Martlea caught us when we were about to leave and asked where we were going to. She emphasized on me slacking off from the reconstruction work for no reason. Martlea was only convinced to let us go when it was Liz that insisted that she has to go. Liz only told Martlea that there is something she wants to confirm and Martlea easily relented. Martlea is harsh to me but extremely soft on Liz… welp.

Thus here we are now. Amidst the old ruined buildings near the great forest’s edge.

I had Azanthys hide nearby and when Mareritter came out from the forest I also told him to hide with Azanthys after he told me that Nourrie and her attendant will arrive soon. I just don’t want to show too much information yet. I borrowed Liz’s transformation pendant and so I transformed into the demon of Arx Norr while Liz was in her original form.

“There they are.”

“Un.”

Three figures came out from the thicket covered in leaves and dirt. Their exposed skin and gears were full of scratches as well but they looked to be fine.

“Nou!”

Liz was the first to call out at the three and with surprised look, Nourrie who needed several seconds to organize her thought finally was overcome with emotion as her eyes became teary.

“Princess Lissa’aelle!”

Nourrie and her attendants immediately ran over here but they stopped as realization showed on their face and they knelt before Liz who smiled gently at the three.

“I am pleased that you are well, princess.”

Thank you, Fiel, and…

“My name is Leena. I am honored to be able to meet you, princess.”

Still smiling, Liz nodded. Right now, Liz was unlike her usual self and has this noble aura on her. Well, she was a real princess, after all.

“You are, the one from that time...”

As Nourrie’s eyes moved at me, Fiel and Leena also looked at me. Perhaps because it was our first meeting, Leena’s eyes were full with caution.

“The name is Erik. I am… well, just say that I am Liz’s guardian.”

“Liz? Guardian?”

“Umm, ‘Liz’ is me.”

“You! You dare to call the princess in such a disrespectful way…”

Nourrie stood up and walked briskly at me but Liz stopped her.

“It’s okay, Nou! Erik is… special. And I like the nickname Erik gave me.”

Rather than calming Nourrie down, it only served to agitate her further when you said that while blushing, Liz…

“You bastard! What have you done to the princess!?”

“Nou!”

“Ugh…”

Nourrie pulled back reluctantly when Liz raised her right arm as if to shield me.

Different with Nourrie, the other two were just looking my way with curiosity, whispering to each other. Gossiping already?!

After Nourrie had collected herself, we gathered in one of a somewhat sturdy looking, but ivy covered building to avoid the sun which was already halfway up. The building was full of dirt but Nourrie told her attendants to clean and cover the place where Liz was now sitting with a piece of cloth. Nourrie and her attendants seemed like they intended to stay standing, and Nourrie glared at me when I nonchalantly sat next to Liz. She was already all smiles when Liz urged her to also sit though.

“If I may ask you something, princess…”

“What is it?”

Nourrie who sat right across of Liz started the talk with a question.

“Are you acquainted with someone who wears a black full body armor and was able to fly?”

Liz showed a puzzled look but she soon glanced at me several times. Liz shouldn’t have seen me using the armored form, but as expected of her, she immediately connected that to me. I shook my head slightly to make her deny that for now.

“N, no... “

“I see, I just assumed that the black armor who helped us was surely connected to you, princess. While the man next to you might be as strong or stronger than even Berudis, the black armored personage should be far stronger. Even among us generals, there is none with such strength.”

Liz who was troubled on what to say only managed to make a wry smile to Nourrie’s comment.

Nourrie’s tone hinted some respect when she said ‘black armored personage’ but was kind of sour when she said ‘the man next to you’. They’re actually the same you know… not that I will say that.

“I also have something I want to ask.”

Perhaps Nourrie already guessed from Liz’s serious tone and expression, she prepared herself with her own serious expression. Her two attendants also straightened their posture.

“I heard that there is a new demon lord…”

Nourrie gulped her saliva before she opened her mouth to answer.