'Zeno to Alissa, can you hear me?' I called to notify them that it was safe to come back

'Loud and clear' I heard Alissa's reply soon after

'Things have calmed down back here, you guys can come back'

'Got it'

"1, damage report" I approached Guardian 1 who was wearing a robe behind everyone's back

"Slight damage, My Legs were damaged from the fall, repairable, it will take 3 days"

"Good Job, return to the mother ship and have Guardian 2 repair your leg"

"Roger"

Guardian silently left after that

"Zeno! there you are, where is your ally?" Astarotia called from behind me

"He went back home to rest" I replied

"Oh..." Astarotia bit her lips and tried to think of something but in the end, she sighed and looked at me with puppy eyes

"...What?" I sensed that my job wasn't quite finished

"Help us seal the hole... pretty please?" She started acting like a spoiled little brat begging for her favorite candy which utterly shocked Mardoth and the other spearmen

"Hahaha... no" I chuckled before giving a monotonous reply

"Why?!" Astarotia puffed her cheeks and kept flailing her arms while throwing a tantrum

This caused all the men to fall back with foams on their mouth

"What's with the dramatic reactions?" I looked at Mardoth who had white eyes

He pulled me close and whispered in my ears

'Goddamnit, didn't you know that Astarotia is known for being a monster?!'

'whut?'

'She's punished and tortured countless people, there was this one time she cut off a man's hand that tried to grope her'

I gulped. I compared Astarotia to their descriptions and honestly, it scares me

'haha, good joke... please tell me it's a joke' I laughed nervously

'I wish it was' Mardoth spoke out before moving away and pushing me towards Astarotia

"What did you talk about?" She asked

"Nothing... I have to go" I was about to run but she held my arm with both her arms... she's quite strong

"Where are you going?" She asked

"To take care of business" I replied before shaking her off and running awayequipment

I finally reached the ship and quickly entered, there I saw guardian 1 who had no legs and is in sleep mode while Guardian 2 was busy fixing the legs. Guardian 3 and 4 were quietly standing guard by the door and 5 was recharging

"Good work" Alissa greeted me and helped take off my helm

"Thanks"

"You look a little pale, did something happen?" Alissa asked

"Nothing, just a bit tired from the fight" I replied as I took off the entire armor

"Oh, then please take a good rest" She pushed me to a room and closed the door

I looked around and noticed that the room was actually Alissa's bedroom

"Take a bath before sleeping!" I heard her shout out from the other side

I did as I was told and took a bath... it feels so nice taking a warm bath.

I came out of the bathroom feeling refreshed, I accidentally glanced at a table and saw a picture of us along with the entire platoon. I looked at the photo and couldn't help but remember all the good memories with my friends but the pain and regret soon followed so I returned the photo to the table and just landed on the bed

It was soft, comfy, and also smelled like Alissa... it was such a good feeling that I fell asleep before I even noticed.

I woke up the next day and found Alissa sound asleep beside me, I carefully stood up and covered her with a blanket before leaving the room without making a sound. Outside was Cynthia patiently waiting

"Oh, didn't know you were here" I spoke to Cynthia

"I just arrived" She replied

"Can I get you anything? Coffee or tea?"

"I'm good with tea"

I made a coffee for myself with the help of a coffee machine as I heated up some water for some tea, the coffee was ready at the same time the water was boiling so I made the tea for Cynthia before taking my cup in the coffee machine. I also bought some bread, the coffee, tea, and bread were all bought in the city

"What brings you here?" I asked

"Astarotia pestered me to come get you" She replied with clear anger in her tone

"oh... did she perhaps disturb you in your sleep?" I would be pretty pissed off too if someone disturbed my sleep

"No, nothing like that" She waved both of her hands

"Then what is it?"

"It's just that I really hate her go..." The rest was said under her breath

"You hate her?" I asked

"You can say that"

"Oh, well... wanna help me with whatever task I'm going to be given?" I requested

"Yes" Cynthia smiled

"Let me just leave a recording for Alissa" I took out a recorder from a cabinet and started speaking

'Morning Alissa, I got called to the city early in the morning, it probably has something to do with the hole that scarab left behind. Love you, be back as soon as I can' I pressed the button and left the recorder on her table

I pressed a button and one of the hexagon-shaped containers opened, I took out my DK armor and wore them before taking Azazel that was also within the container.

"Same job as yesterday, 2, keep working on 1, 3 and 4 will be on guard duty while 5 will be on standby" I gave out the orders before leaving with Cynthia

"I still can't get used to it" She said

"What is?" I asked

"With you and your amazing pieces of equipment"

"Oh, I personally think that your magic is amazing"

"How so?"

"The ability to control different elements is amazing in my perspective"

"Shame that you can't use magic" Cynthia bitterly smiled

"A shame indeed"

"Hey... is that a fire?" Cynthia pointed at the center of the city as a black smoke started to rise to the sky

"Let's go check it out"

"You go ahead, I didn't expect that I'd be coming with you so I didn't wear the armor you gave me"

"Alright, meet me there then"

'Lilith, speed'

'...' No reply came

'Lilith?' I asked

'Speed mode activated' I soon heard her voice

'Is there something wrong Lilith?' I asked

'Negative, I only needed a moment to optimize DK's capabilities'

'Is that so? thanks then'

'No problem'

I ran towards the center, occasionally passing by people who kept waving at me

I reached the center and found Astarotia kicking the asses of the people from the sword and ax guild

"What the?" I thought there was an emergency but seeing those men running around naked with their heads on fire shocked me, someone should give that man some pants before someone scoops their eyes out

"Zeno, you're finally here" Astarotia smiled and hopped over to me

"Uhm. You called me?" I made a quick decision of forgetting everything I saw, mostly due to the naked men

"Yes, those incompetent fools just can't get the job right" Astarotia pointed at the hole that was halfway filled

I sighed and switched to strength before picking up the debris of some broken houses and the debris of the street itself.

It took me a while but by midday, the hole was filled. Cynthia and Astarotia had a competition on cheering but in the end came to a draw after I got mad at them for hindering me instead of helping.

I was tired mentally so I went back to the ship to re-energize myself, it wasn't long until Cynthia came knocking with a letter in hand.

The letter had the royal seal on it which surprised me, I carefully opened and read it loud under the two attentive women

"To The Man Known as Blade Knight

It has come to our attention that you've been the one responsible for victories against the unknown creatures that have invaded our lands, we wish to meet you in person so that we may be to share information and hopefully, device countermeasures.

-General Gram"

"General Gram?" I asked Cynthia

"He's a well-known general due to his good nature, it was said that he wanted to stop the invasion of my kingdom, however, he was sent to fight a war in the opposite direction" Cynthia explained

"Oh, he's a good guy... one thing though, how do I meet him? He didn't say anything in the letter" I spoke out

"About that... it has been rumored lately that he's coming here" Cynthia replied

"Oh? what are the odds"

"This is where his family lives"