(George POV)

“My lord, we will take care of the other enemies.”

One of my men said after lining his horse up with mine. I answered without looking at him and only gazing forward.

“Make sure none of them escape. We have the right to kill them for harming innocent people. Killing civilians as someone who swore to protect them is a crime.”

The entire village was destroyed. Many houses were still on fire and corpses lined the streets. In the distance I could see a wagon with even more corpses piled up.

‘These bastards make me sick.’

Were it not for the fact that he hurt my son then I would’ve given him a painless death. But I felt like tearing off his arms and legs.

“Oho. Reinforcements! Bentinck sure is helpful!”

He pointed to Clyde spewing blood on the ground.

“I found a demon spawn. There must be others–“

“Demon?”

My voice sounded deep as I held in my anger.

“You killed innocent people, burned down villages and hurt my son. Yet you call him a demon?”

I unsheathed my sword.

“Get moving. I’ll slaughter this bastard.” My men nodded and headed for the other enemy soldiers, “Clyde.”

I climbed down from the horse and walked towards Clyde. After bending down, I patted his head and spoke softly.

“Go to the other exit of the village. Your mother is waiting at the barracks.”

‘I’m going to sleep outside today for not arriving sooner...’

I gently pushed his back and sighed as I remembered how his mother almost threw spells at me out of anger.

He nodded silently while looking at me. And then he broke into a run.

“Oi! You’re letting that demon run away. Did you not feel that magic from awhile ago!?”

The giant man grabbed my shoulder and shouted into my face.

It’s true that I felt that pressure which came from this direction. The mana I sensed was so bottomless that I thought mages were casting spells together. Although I am a swordsman, I can pick up on faint mana traces if I focus hard enough. I learned that from my wife.

I also sensed that Clyde had mana ever since he was born. We may be fortunate that our child was born with mana.

It’s rare for our family to born with mana. Duke Luxembourg’s household doesn’t have any mages in his family either. Only Miss Kimberly is a mage. It was the same with the Astley family. It might be because Clyde has more of Eleanor’s genes than my own.

‘Could that pressure from before have come from his body?’

I looked at his tiny back as he ran further.

‘No way.’

“GUH!?”

I punched the man in the face causing him to stagger backward. A popping sound entered my ears. I may have broken his nose.

“Stop spouting nonsense. You have illegally chosen to slaughter a village while on a mission from the Order.”

The White Order deals with most of the war related things of our kingdom. They chose to send out captain Clark of the Spear Arts to handle the mission. He is the youngest captain for the Knight Order and also one of the strongest youngsters in the kingdom. I might lose to him even if I fight full power.

“I would’ve just let your superior, Clark have dealt with you but after seeing what you did with my own eyes...” I cladded my sword in blue aura, “I’m killing you myself.”

“Kukukuku.”

He moved his lower jaw sideways and chuckled.

Afterwards he took a deep breath and then–

“-----!!!! YOU DARE HIT MY FACE!? DO YOU KNOW WHAT HAPPENED TO THE LAST PERSON WHO DARE TO HIT MY FACE!?”

RUMBLE

His roar shook the entire village.

“DO YOU THINK I’LL LET YOU GET AWAY WITH–“

I kicked him in the face using the heel of my armoured boots.

He rolled backwards on the ground and crashed into a house. The entire roof caved in and fell on his head.

I didn’t want to waste time with cannon fodder.

“Kuk...!”

‘What a resilient bastard.’

He stood up with his head lowered and reached for the great sword on the ground.

“Ptooey.”

He spat a mouthful worth of blood and grinned.

“Kekeke. That tickled.”

CRACK

The next thing I saw was him jumping with such speed that everything behind him crumpled from the power of his jump.

WHOOSH

BOOM

His sword struck past my neck after I evaded it. The sword ended up collapsing the ground instead.

“Oi! Why are you dodging? Did you not see me take your punches? A warrior must have great endurance.”

‘So he could’ve dodged it , huh.’

I felt it was strange that a man as big as him would just stand still and take a punch. It seemed he preferred the way barbarians duel.

“Come! We shall settle this with our swords. Now that I know you do not have a warrior’s heart, I will crush you! Kiiieee!!”

He shouted and ran towards me. He lifted his great sword and swung it towards me.

“Kuh.”

I took the full brunt of his swing with my sword. Since my body was coated in aura, I was able to remain standing. It only took his raw power to push me back.

CLANK

CLANG

CLANK

He released a flurry of attacks with a mad smile on his face.

“Guh!”

I kicked his leg but then suffered from a shoulder blow from his giant sword.

‘Fuck, something popped.’

I felt a stinging pain on my left shoulder.

“Whew. That kick had some power. Kukuku.”

He tapped his leg with a laugh.

“Why are you only defending?”

He took slow strides towards me as he swung his great sword.

I sent aura towards my entire body instead of my arms and legs. My body bulged underneath my armour and I could feel my senses heightening.

“Hoho.”

He took a sword stance instead of charging like before. He must be aware of how reckless it would be to get hit after making one mistake.

I poured a healing potion over my burning shoulder.

The wound burned for a few seconds before closing. Although the wound closed, the internal damage could not be healed entirely.

I gazed at Raizen.

The bastard’s smirk never left his face. It’s like he baits his opponents by smirking.

Even though he is known to be one of the most dangerous criminals on the continent, the Knight Order still recruited him. He’s the leader of a bunch of barbarians who enjoys slaughter as much as him.

I almost lost my child to this bastard. I didn’t want to lose another child.

We had no choice but to abandon our first child after Eleanor gave birth. It was a hard decision to make for us who were first time parents. Annette didn’t do anything wrong. She was just a baby.

We originally came from the Holy Kingdom. That’s where the Astley family are from as well. Living conditions were hard back then since the Holy City came out of a war when we decided to leave home.

It was a hard but necessary decision to make.

I wonder if my brother was able to build our family up again? We were a Baron household and a vassal of a Count so we had some influence in the kingdom. Since my brother was destined to become the head, it left me few options to continue living.

I spent most of my days as a young child visiting our fiefs and villages. I took many girls and older women to bed to escape from my eventual fate. Since I was blessed with a handsome face and some academic ability, it wasn’t hard to get anyone I wanted.

But Eleanor was different. She was a village girl who would get up early in the morning to plough the fields, tend to the livestock and wash clothes.

She was the most stubborn woman I’ve met in my life.

There were many women on par with her in terms of beauty. But still, I wanted to court her as my own. The pride I would feel of taking such a woman into my bed would be immense. That was how I felt before I developed actual feelings for her.

It took a long time before I was able to ask for her hand in marriage.

I was rejected two times but it was worth it. I did everything I could to build us a home in our household’s territories. Since my brother didn’t want me on his lands, I had no choice but to take Eleanor along with me.

Her parents rarely cared about her so it was an easy decision for her to make. Life wasn’t easy for people living in a war struck land anyway.

And then on one of our travels, Eleanor fell pregnant. We were still in the Holy City by that time.

We made a decision we may regret for our entire lives.

Annette, our first child.... we left her at an orphanage door. We waited a few minutes to see if someone came out, though.

After that we left the Holy Kingdom for good and came here. I received some money from Duke Luxembourg since I’m his nephew. We’re not actually related by blood since our family, which is the Astley household are from a different branch of the Luxembourg family.

There are two other branch family heads whom I’ve never met before. They are the Nordt household and then there’s the Roberts household. Viscount and Marquis respectively.

I truly hope Annette was taken into a good house. It would’ve been torture to her as a child to live with us who were living on scraps to survive back then. Looking after a child takes planning and financial stability.

That is the reason why we waited before we had another child. I became a knight of my best friend’s(Kyle) father, Mason Bentinck. Eleanor took studies in enchanting items which made enough money to be called a stable job. She completed her training at a magic school in Hurge city. Afterwards one thing led to another and then Clyde was born.

“Hora! Come on!”

The big gorilla hit his chest with a hearty laugh.

‘As an apology we’ll make steak tonight, son.’

I brandished my sword and charged at Raizen.

◇

(CLYDE POV)

When I reached the barracks, mother suffocated me in her bosom while bawling her eyes out. She told me that she’ll lock me in the house until I’m 15. The injuries on my stomach made it even worse.

Talk about over exaggerating.

‘Man, that really hurt.’

I was sitting on the carriage which was on its way to our village. My mother said I didn’t need to worry about George.

Why would I when he could totally kick that guy’s ass?

I’ve seen my father throw hands with many people before. I would sometimes sneak out of the house to watch him train at the Bentinck manor near the village. He would train the household’s recruits every morning.

It may have been my imagination but when I saw him talk to a young girl at the back of the garden, it looked like one of them was confessing. The girl was all fidgety and blushed like crazy while speaking to him.

‘That bastard. If he cheats on my mother then I’m burning the woman's family’s house down.’

I may have been mistaken though. My father may be a hunk but surely he wouldn’t be such a bastard to cheat on his wife while he has a son, right?

Anyway, I’ll go check tomorrow if everything has settled down by then. I actually enjoy watching the knights spar. On earth, I’d watch livestreams to keep myself entertained.

Seeing as how this is a world with elements of the middle ages like on earth; sex, plays, coliseum battles and watching duels are the only source of entertainment. What a boring world.

Where are the major villains with dark backstories? And also the hero who vowed to slay the villain who causes suffering for others? Surely one of the demon lords are itching to invade us?

I might have been too fixated on fantasy novels back in the day. I expect too much from this world. And since I’m living in this world, it’ll be too crazy to wish for something which could put me in danger too.

‘I have to stay humble until I become a full-fledged mage.’

Only then will I be able to become an adventurer. My dream of fighting strong monsters is still very much alive.

‘I wonder what happened to that kid...’

He ran away the instant he saw my face. I may have overdone it too much with that display of power.

I need to learn what that power is though.

The horizon passed by us as we sat on the carriage riding towards our village.