“Food, check. Water, check. Luggage, check. We’re ready to depart.”

I am now preparing in a room inside the guild given to me by the guild workers. Furry was, naturally, dozing off in my head, looks like she wanted to fulfill one part of the promise early.

I bought food for about a week’s amount. Coupled with a magic bag that can stop the time of anything inside it, I won’t be worrying about food for the next week.

Now that I was done preparing, I walked towards the exit of the guild. I saw Alexis, with a backpack waiting for me there with a big smile. Maya was there too, along with Ryuford, who was crying on the floor, begging for her not to go. What a doting parent.

When Ryuford turned to my direction, our eyes met, then he lunged at me with bloodshot eyes.

“You!!! I won’t forgive you!!! Taking my lovely daughter!! I will--- GAHH!?”

Ryuford, who was still in midair, was restrained with metal chains while still spouting off something like curses. If I take a closer look, he had chains bound over his limbs. Maya was staring at him with a gaze that looks like it could kill. Scary.

“Dear? Didn’t we discuss this already?”

Maya, who was still staring daggers at Ryuford, had a low voice that sounds like it could break glass. Partnered with her scary gaze, she looked like a scary mafia leader.

“Don’t worry father! I will be safe as long I am by nii-san’s side!”

“KOUTA!!!!”

Looks like Ryuford broke and tried to get rid of the chains. Just how much does he dislike being away from his daughter.

I slowly walked past Ryuford, who was trying to free himself from the chains, going towards Alexis.

“Nii-san! I’m so glad I can come with you!”

Alexis, with a big smile on her face, came trotting over towards me. The next moment, my body felt something warm embrace me.

“Oh my. Oh my.”

“ KOUTA!!!”

Ryuford, who looks like he might cry tears of blood at anytime now, shouted my name with hostility and hatred.

“Father! If you call nii-san like that, I will never call you father again!”

“Wha!? Anything but that!”

Looks like not being called father by his daughter hurt Ryuford more than separating from her. Such a doting father spoiling his daughter.

“Umm… Now that it’s over, can we leave now? Time is wasting.”

Pretending not to notice the mood, I spoke my thoughts out loud. Of course, this is intentional as we are truly wasting time here.

“Dear, Kouta-kun is right. The longer it is for them to leave, the longer they will reach the surface. Also, the harder it is for you to say your goodbyes.”

Maya, who was still grasping at the chains binding Ryuford,, narrowed her eyes on him at her last sentence. Ryuford, who had no other choice. Nodded in agreement.

“Kouta, if our daughter is harmed because of you, realize that I and Maya will chase you to the ends of the earth for revenge.”

“That is true Kouta-kun. So you might want to take care of her.”

Both of them are really doting parents.

…

“Goodbye! See you next time!”

“Goodbye!”

I, Furry, and Alexis said our farewells to the couple in the adventurers guild. Putting one step ahead of another, both of us traversed the damaged path and left the settlement.

On the way towards the next settlement, we ran into monsters, slept together, ate together, and protected each other. Alexis was good at using magic so it was good of her to back me up when I took on the monsters in close-quartered-combat.

And like that, we traversed through the floors in five days. When we arrived, what greeted us was a very familiar sight. Not in a good way mind you.

Walls crushed, buildings burnt and demolished, unmoving bodies on the ground. It was the aftermath of a battle.

“Nii-san…”

“I know, for now, let’s search for survivors.”

We entered through the demolished gate. When we entered, we spotted corpses here and there of adventurers and monsters, but no survivors.

“First, let’s search for the adventurer’s guild.”

We searched for the adventurers guild. It was a building with a sign of a shield and sword above its doorstep. 20 minutes later, we found it utterly demolished to the ground. Corpses of adventurers and monsters can be seen under the debris.

“This is bad. There is no one alive in this place. Let’s keep going to the next settlement.”

“Un…”

But, there is one problem. How can we find food for the next trip? At times like this, appraisal! Please help me!

(Unable to find solution…)

… This is seriously bad. Well, we can’t just stay here. We need to hurry up and reach the settlement with two days worth of food left.

“Alexis, let’s go. Ration your food as we might not have enough.”

“Un, nii-san…”

Thus we departed from the settlement.

…

~ Kayaka POV ~

Riding on horseback hurts my butt. Ahh, I wish that Kouta-nii is here to give me a princess carry. While fantasizing about my brother, Hyoudo, who was also on horseback, came beside me.

“Kayaka, the knight leader told us to rest. We’re resting at that spot over there.”

While pointing at a huge boulder the size of a truck, something caught my eye.

“What was that?”

“Hm? What was what?”

“Mm… It’s nothing.”

Was I the only one that saw that? Whatever, must be my imagination. Right now we need to rest. The horses are getting tired from travelling nonstop for an hour.

We arrived at the huge boulder and got off from our horses. The knight leader got off from his horse and went towards his fellow knights, must be discussing something about the next move to take.

While I was resting my back on the huge boulder, the thing that caught my eye earlier appeared for a moment before disappearing. This isn’t my imagination. I tugged on Hyoudo’s sleeve who was sitting beside me.

“Hyoudo, something is following us.”

“!? Are you sure?”

“No doubt about it. Report this to the leader, and keep quiet about this as we might attract attention from the following party.”

“Yes.”

Hyoudo got up and headed towards the knight leader, who was still giving commands to the other knights and instructing some of the heroes about setting up camp. When they learned about this, they became more cautious of the surroundings, but it was wasted effort.

“Fufufu… What pitiful creatures.”

After hearing a familiar voice, my vision dyed in black and I lost consciousness.

…

~ Third Person POV ~

“Fufufu… Now, Korke, I wonder how will you cope up with this number of heroes against you. This is my revenge against you for humiliating me at that time.”

With a dark smile on his face, the heroes and knights vanished from the area.

“Now, how should I report this to the higher-ups?”

Saying that, Veda left for the demon continent.

…

~ Kouta POV ~

“So hungry…”

“N- nii-san… My stomache…”

“Pu-puuu~…”

Rumbling sounds came from our stomachs while we were traversing the path of darkness. It’s been a day without eating anything. At least we have a water source. The problem is where to get food. And according to appraisal, it will take two more days to reach the next settlement, where we don’t even know whether it was demolished or not. This is a bad situation for us.

When we turned a corner while following appraisal’s direction, we entered a huge room with a creepy humanoid creature standing in the middle.

“Kekeke. I’ve found you hero…”

With a sentence from the creature, it lunged towards me with incredible speed and striked with a force that can send a bulldozer flying.

“Nii-san!?”

“Pupuu~!?”

Furry who was on my head was dropped to the ground while I was sent flying to the wall.

“My name is Korke. One of the Demon Generals serving the Demon Lord.”

With a twisted smile, the creature… The Demon General, Korke lunged himself at me once again.