“Oh, you’re awake. Have you calmed yourself down? If yes then why don’t you introduce yourself to me?”

I was talking to a girl who is currently restrained in a chair by handcuffs. This girl is responsible for attacking me a while ago. This is what happened:

I stand up and head towards the huge door to search for the said artifact, but before I can reach the huge door, I felt a presence rapidly heading towards me. As I turn to look around, I saw the girl who was hiding in the pillars of the room earlier. And she was midair while attempting to strike me with a knife. Her movement might be agile, but I am faster than her and therefore, I evaded the knife. I looked at her face and saw the fire in her eyes, looks like he was really angry and wants to have revenge so badly.

“Oh, now that I think about it, you are the Girl that talked to me first after I fell in this castle, right? So? Why are you suddenly attacking me?”

The Girl looked at me with the eyes full of anger and hatred.

“You’re really asking me why? You’ve just killed all of my comrade! You’ve killed my King! Is that not enough reason to make me want to kill you?!”

I observed the girl carefully. I can’t really see what she was wearing underneath because she has a robe with hood around her. She looks like a certain character that wields a sword made of light. Her robe is dark red colored and you can just barely see her face underneath the hood. She was holding what looks like a ceremonial knife with gold hilt and engraved with different symbols. The blade is curved in an S-shaped manner. She was different to the first Generals that I fought a while ago because she looks more… human. She has a skin that sits perfectly between being porcelain-white and slightly-tanned brown. She has the same features as humans. In short, you will definitely mistake her for a human.

“Tell me, are you one of the Demon King’s General?”

She doesn’t lower her guard at all. She glared at me while answering my questions.

“Yes, I am one of his Generals. You’ve got problem with that?”

“Well, you see, apart from the first 5 generals, you look more human than them.”

The Girl had a confused and shocked reaction in her face. Looks like my question is just fitting to ask of her.

The girl then realized the question that I asked her then she started removing the hood from his head. What showed up under the hood is a pair of sheep-like horns.

“You are not entirely wrong. I am what others call, a half-bred. I was born from a human mother and a Demon Father. Because of that, we were extremely persecuted. Because of my my appearance, we were avoided by humans, my mother couldn’t even find a proper job because of that. One night, while we were sleeping deep in the forest, we were attacked by humans who wants me dead because they said that I am the bringer of bad luck to the humans. I escaped them but only because my mother sacrificed herself to buy some time for my escape. I will never forgive humans until I die!”

The Girl appeared teary eyed for a second but then immediately wiped her tears and return her deadly gaze towards me.

“Um, I don’t know what to say to that. Umm… Well… I kinda want to apologize to you because of that… Not that it’s my fault, I just felt the need to.”

“It’s too late for that, human. I will kill you right here. After that, I would follow my comrades to the afterlife.”

“Look, girl… I get it that you hate humans, but I don’t think that I am the right person to receive your hatred. Heck, I’m not even a part of any races that existed. Yes, I look like a human, but I really am not, in any ways, related to the kingdom or empire that you said.”

The stares of the girl became heavy, it might even be able to kill someone.

“LIES! You just want to be spared, you lowly humans. I will never forgive humans, I will never forgive your kin, I will never forgive you!”

She gave me a look of pure hatred. Looks like I won’t be able to avoid fighting this one.

“What I said is the only truth. I don’t care if you believe me or not, I just want to avoid fighting in this kind of situation. I hope you are intelligent enough to assess the situation you are in right now. I don’t think that you want to end up like one of your comrades, right?”

The moment I finished talking, the girl dashed straight on to me. A normal human would’ve probably had their head split into two by that time, but since I am not a normal human of this world, I was able to detect her motions even at her speed and predict her point of contact, that is why I managed to dodge her.

“It’s rude to attack someone in the middle of their speech, you know. That’s just plain rude.”

The girl turned her head towards the direction I’m standing. the girl readies herself for another dash but before she could do it, I dashed in front of her and hit her in the back of her head with a hand chop. I controlled the power I exerted to just make her unconscious and not to deliver a fatal blow.

The girl fell face down on the floor. I found a chair inside the throne room and restrained the girl in the chair with handcuffs that I created from my ability. That is what led me to the situation I am right now.

After observing the situation, the girl began to struggle to release herself in her restraints. When she became exhausted, she glared at me.

“Hey, release me!”

“Nope, I won’t release you. Not until you answer my question. Now, let’s get back to the topic at hand. What is your name?”

The girl, having realized that she can’t escape if she doesn’t cooperate, sighed and averted her gaze.

“Erylla Erfreth, That’s my name. Can you release me now?”

“No, not yet. Not until you stop attacking me.”

“Huh?! That won’t happen. As soon as I escaped through these restraints, I will slit your throat.”

It’s no good reasoning to this girl without revealing who I really am.

“Ok then, I am going to introduce myself to you, after that, I will free you.”

“Don’t bother, I don’t care about human anyways.”

“Well, as you can see, I am not really a normal human.”

Erylla had a puzzled look on her face.

“What do you mean?”

“I wasn’t even an inhabitant of this world, I was summoned here from another world. The name of my world is Earth.”

“Earth? That sounds lame. That sounded like a made-up place of sort. You’re not going to fool me with that.”

“My ability is not under magic category. It is given to me by the old geezer’s ghost when I was summoned here. My physical strength is far greater than other normal being in this world because the world that I lived before was a lot harsher than this one. The moment I was sent into this world, I was removed from the restrictions of my own world, therefore, amplifying my physical strength. The weapons that you saw when I fought with the generals are also a weapon from my old world. Are you satisfied now?”

Despite looking a little bit confused, Erylla was still able to process all that information.

“Your story is kind of fishy, in the end, what is the true nature of your ability?”

“I’m not going to tell you, not yet. Not until I determined that you befit my trust.”

“I understand. Still, you don’t think that you will be able to gain my trust with just that, right.”

“Look, Erylla, I don’t know what I could do for you to trust me, but one thing’s for sure. I am not like those humans that killed your mother. In fact, if I had a chance to meet them, I will decapitate them in the most excruciating way possible. I know that it’s hard for you to trust a human especially with those past of yours. But please, I want you to bet on me just this one and I promise you that you will get your revenge with the one that killed your mother.”

Erylla’s reaction seemed softer than before. She looked like she was carefully thinking what should she reply.

Silence once again enveloped the room.

“… Ok, I’ll trust you. It doesn’t mean that I fully trust you yet. If you dare double-cross me, I will not hesitate to end you.”

“Actually, what you say was actually the most reasonable and comfortable choice for this situation. I just need to make sure not to deceive you, right? I got it.”

“As long you understand. Now, would you mind releasing me right now?”

I decomposed the handcuffs in her hands and feet. After that, she looked at me with doubtful eyes. Looks like she still doesn’t know what to do with me.

What follows is a long silent. I was sitting in a stair step while she’s cross-legged sitting in front of me. She’s carefully observing me for a while now. After a few moments, she stood up and head towards me.

“I still don’t know if what you said is true. But I decided to trust you on that note. And since you’ve defeated the Demon King, I don’t have the reason to stay here by myself. So, I decided to accompany you to your journey. I might not look like one but I am a bonafide assassin with huge skillset. You can make full use of me on any kinds of killing and reconnaissance duties.”

“Um, I’d rather avoid the killing part.”

“So be it. Anyways, Nice to meet you… Um…”

“Oh, I forgot about it. My name’s Johannes. Just Hans is fine since were comrades now.”

“Ok Hans, you can call me Eri if you want.”

“Nice to be of your acquaintance, Eri. I hope we both get along.”

I shook her hands. Looks like they don’t have the ‘handshake’ customs in here because she appeared confuse as I did that.

“Oh, I’m sorry. It’s just one of my own world’s customs.”

“Don’t’ worry about it… what should we do now?”

Now that I think about it, I literally have nothing to do now that I defeated the Demon King. This is the moment where a happy ever after should occur, right? Honestly, I was expecting a huge ‘Game Over’ sign to float above the Demon King’s corpse. But I guess that would just be weird if that happened. But the fact that I have nothing to do is still lingers.

“Um, Eri. Honestly, I have literally no plans after defeating the Demon Lord. I mean, defeating him should be the final mission of a hero, right? What am I supposed to do now that I defeated the Demon King in my first day in this world?”

“How should I know!”

“Figures… Well, let’s just do what we can do!”

Eri then looked at me with sharp gaze.

“And…”

“Yes, yes. We will also find those humans responsible for your mother’s death, I won’t forget it.”

She then showed a little smile at me.

“Good!”

If we were to go on a journey, we would need money. I have nothing when I was thrown in this world. I can create money using my ability but I don’t know what the money in this world looks like.

“Um, Eri. Is there a treasure room in here? You know, the loots that was gathered by the Demon King from his invasion?”

“I shouldn’t be doing this, being a former general and all. But since the Demon King is dead, I guess I can do anything now. Yes, there’s a treasure room in here. It is located at the door on the back of the throne.”

“I guess I’ll get all of the accumulated treasures of the Demon King first. After that, we can immediately start our journey.”

We went to the treasure room and what we saw is, as expected, a mountain of gold silver and bronze. Not only that but there are also all kinds of weapons that I think are all rare or even legendary weapons, if not then why would he hide it in his treasure room.

“Wow, this really is a lot even for a Demon King’s standard.”

“He was just a hoarder, that’s all. The Demon King always remind us to gather every treasure we can get and every gold and silver in the area that we will attack. No wonder there are so many artifacts and golds and silvers in here. By the way, If you want, we can get a few gold and weapons and then make this castle your own treasure home.”

“I don’t think that it would be a good idea. I bet as of now, the human forces are advancing through your army’s defenses. Add to it that the Demon King has been slayed, the Demon forces must’ve been under chaos right now. If we were to leave the treasures here, they will be hoarded by humans.”

“We shouldn’t let that happen, no matter what!”

“Of course, we will not let it happen. That’s why we will make sure not to left even a single coin.”

“But, how’re you going to do that. Even if you’re powerful, you can’t possibly carry all of these, that’s impossible.”

“I think I can do it, but I don’t know what item to manifest that can hold all of the treasures.”

After I said that, I noticed something on the far corner of the treasure room. There is something that appears to be a small bag made of gold. I approached the bag while Eri followed me with her eyes.

I picked up the Golden Bag and carefully examine it. The bag looks nothing out of ordinary except for being gold.

“If this is in the treasure room, then it must’ve been because it is gold or… if my guess is correct…”

I picked a sword near me and try to put it inside the bag that is smaller than the sword itself. The sword goes inside while I’m thrusting until all of it was inside (I didn’t mean this statement to be as lewd as what it came to be. Sorry.). My guess turns out to be correct.

“As expected of a magic world, they do have this kind of item in here after all.”

Eri approached me from behind and looked at the bag I was holding.

“So, what’s with that bag?”

“You don’t know this? I thought this would be a common knowledge in this world.”

“No Idea.”

“Well, This bag that I’m holding right now is imbued with spatial magic, if that’s what it was called in this world. Basically, the bag can hold a lot more than what its outside appearance looks like and the weight will not even change. In short, we can store all of the treasures in here without even increasing our travel load.”

“That would be really helpful. But will it hold out if we were to dump all the treasures there?”

“Just worry about it when it happens. For now, help me put all the treasures in the bag.”

As soon as we finished confirming that the bag does work, we started putting the treasures in the bag.

After a few moments, Eri approached me. She was holding two sheathed daggers.

“Hans, do you have a second?”

“Yup, what is it?”

“I would like to keep these daggers for myself. Since I have no weapon, it would be nice if I can get these.”

The dagger in question is a jet-black colored one with cracks that is filled with glowing pink gemstone. The crack must’ve been inflicted purposely so that the cracks can be filled with the pink gemstone. The hilt wasn’t extravagant at all, just hastily wrapped with silk that appears to be aged as well. It wasn’t very long, just under a quarter of a meter. The overall look wasn’t that imposing.

“That’s fine. But why do you want to keep those two, there are literally other weapons in here that looks strong and pleasing to the eyes in here.”

“You really don’t know anything, huh? These daggers might be looking inferior than the other weapon here, but it certainly is one of the strongest. The Blade itself was forged using an obsidian block from Mount Harlequin, and the Pink-glowing gemstones that was imbued in the cracks are Ioris Crystal. The combination of the two materials are the reason why the daggers are so powerful.”

“Okay? You’ve lost me halfway. Mount Harlequin? Ioris Crystal? The Former sounds like a a jester’s name and the latter sounds like a name of a person from a certain fighting game.”

While we are putting the treasures in the bag, Eri tells me about Mount Harlequin and Ioris Crystal

“Mount Harlequin, also known as The Sacred Volcano of the North, is a Volcano that has been active since time immemorial. The volcano last erupted about a hundred years ago. The volcano is deemed sacred because, unlike other volcano, this one releases pure white lava. The eruption from a hundred years ago were the most beautiful one that everyone will see in their lifetime. The color of the obsidian formed inside the volcano were dark blue, unlike other volcanoes that produces normal black obsidian. But there are times that the Obsidian from the Mount Harlequin was devoid of any impurities, making it the purest obsidians. Purest Obsidians, unlike the normal dark blue obsidians from the same volcano, Were pure black. Much more darker than the normal obsidians found in normal volcanoes. The Pure Obsidians are very durable, yet easy to work with. These Pure Obsidians were so rare that the obsidian block itself costs thousands of gold coins depending on the quality and quantity. Pure obsidian can also be sharpened until it can cut even a rock with ease.”

“I didn’t know, that it was that important. Better keep a note to myself whenever I found one.”

“That is not the only thing that makes the dagger powerful. The Ioris Crystal is also one of its components. Ioris Crystal can store mana. The more mana you store, the stronger it becomes. Although not as rare as the Pure Obsidians, It can certainly be on par with the Pure Obsidian in terms of power. Ioris Crystal is used to make staffs and wands for mages because of their mana storing properties. Normally, you wouldn’t even think of using one if you weren’t a mage but if it’s imbued within the cracks of the dagger, then it was perfect. The durability and sharpness of the Pure Obsidian together with Ioris Crystal fragments is a wonderful combination. You can pour a lot of mana in the Ioris Crystal so that every strike will guarantee a fatal blow not only because the blow will be stronger but also because it can cause mana poisoning to the ones in the receiving end. A perfect weapon for an Assassin.”

“Mana Poisoning?”

“Ah, yes. Mana Poisoning. Don’t tell me you don’t it too.”

“Yes, I don’t know it.”

“Well, Mana Poisoning happens when a huge amount of mana were to be injected into a person’s body. There is usually a limit on how much mana can your body store, if it exceeded the limit, it would become really bad for your health, especially on your innards. You can stop mana poisoning from spreading if you were to release it naturally, but if I were to use this dagger with a huge amount of mana stored in it, a single hit would inject large amount of mana, therefore, making the mana flow abnormal and because of its sudden injection, it will definitely kill anyone.”

“That was scary!”

“I know right, and it sure is effective.”

How much killing do you need to be like this girl? Probably a lot more than what I’m thinking.

The time really does feels faster when you’re talking to someone. We’ve already finished gathering all the treasures without even noticing it. There is not even a single coin left. Eri really wants to leave nothing for the human forces. The humans will surely be disappointed upon coming here. Not only did the Demon King already defeated, but also his treasures were already hoarded. I can just imagine their faces when they discover all of that. Which reminds me…

“Eri, can you fetch the empty treasure box right there?”

“Okay, but what would you do with it?”

“Ah, just a little surprise for the human forces when they reach this place.”

I placed the treasure box in the middle of the throne room together with the corpse of the Demon King. I then use my imagine ability to produce a piece of paper and pen. Afterwards, I gave the paper and the pen to Erylla. Erylla was confused at first given that I suddenly gave her something that she doesn’t know the purpose of.

“Eri, do you know how to write in human language?”

“Yes, we generals needed to learn our opponent’s language to be able to communicate them with ease. Why?”

“I want you to write something for me.”

“Write, using this stick?”

Eri was holding the pen without knowing what it does.

“Yes, yes. That is a writing tool. Now, I want you to write this: I hate to break it to you but you are late. I’ve already defeated the Demon King. Also, if you want his treasures, too bad. I already have all of them. You can do anything you want with the castle, I don’t really care about it. That’s all, have a nice trip back home! ”

Eri, even though she’s still new in using the pen, wrote what I just said, and it was well done for someone who hasn’t used a pen.

“Is this good enough?”

“Yeah, it’s really good.”

I get the Paper from Eri and I placed it inside the treasure box.

“Now, they will know what happened, at the same time, be really pissed. This is so amusing!”

Eri, still holding the pen I gave her, approached me.

“Are you done with your business here? If so, I’d like to ask you to accompany me.”

“Where to?”

“Don’t worry, it’s just inside the castle grounds.”

“Ok, lead the way.”

I picked the magic bag on the ground and followed Erylla. We walk past a couple of chambers and reached a stair that heads towards what it seems to be a dark basement. I used my imagine ability to create a flashlight. Eri was startled at first but then after I explained to her what it was, she calmed herself down and proceeded down below.

The place that we reached is a pitch-black chamber the size of a normal storage room. The room was filled with silence. The smell was unbearable, it would definitely make you puke because of the filthy smell and the overall environment.

“What’s this place? This really looks ominous.”

“Don’t worry, I’m just here to finish my other business.”

“Business?”

Suddenly, I felt someone grabbed my feet.

“Wha-!”

I was shocked at first but then when I point the flashlight on where I felt the grab, I saw a hand full of cuts and scrapes. I trace the whereabouts of the hand and saw a humanlike figure.

Not just a humanlike figure, but a bonafied human.

I don’t know what to feel. The human, which appears to be a little girl, was full of scratches, cuts, and bruises in her body. Various feelings clouded my heart. I used my imagine ability to create a battery-powered light bulb on the ceiling of the room. As my eyes adjust to brightness, an atrocious scene filled my eyes.

The room is full of humans, mainly women and children, and with the same condition as the little girl who grabbed my feet. I looked, at the little girl who was still holding on to my feet. Our eyes met and her mouth began to open slowly.

“P-please… Help u-us…”

An unpleasant feeling filled my heart, I don’t know what is it, but it really is something powerful. I approached Erylla with a blank look.

“Erylla, what are you going to do with them.”

“I’ll kill them all to so that when the human forces arrived, this scene will unravel to them. In that way, I can damage their morale.”

The whole room, now that the prisoners are aware of our existence, began to be noisy. All sounds of cries for help can be heard in the room.

“Help us!”

“Please, spare us!”

“Please, just spare my son, I beg you.”

Those are some of the cries that can be heard across the room.

I went in front of Erylla.

“Release them…”

“What did you just say?”

“Release them…”

“No! why would I, this is my chance to get even to those filthy humans. I can let them experience how to lose someone that they loved the most.”

“I said, release them…”

“And what will you do if I don’t? ha! You’re just a spineless bastard just as I thought.”

At that moment, Darkness filled my heart, my thoughts became clouded, the overwhelming feeling I had before was reaching its limit and is going to burst out. Ah, so this is Anger.

In a split second, I produced the sharpest sword that I can imagine without focusing on what it will look like. I swung the sword in a surprising speed and stopped near Erylla’s throat.

“I will kill you…”

Without even a second to react, Erylla was flabbergasted.

“I-I-I’m sorry! Please spare me!”

The voice she released were cracked and filled with terror.

At the same time, I was snapped out of my dark-consuming anger and once again regained composure. When I looked at her face, I can only see pure terror in her expression. The looks of someone who suddenly faced with the God of Death. That is what Erylla’s face looked like, A face drained with blood. The dagger she was holding before has been dropped on the ground. In short, she looks like someone who’ve seen a monster.

I pulled away from her. After that, Eri lost strength in her feet and staggered down. She was breathing heavily, as if she just barely escaped the grasp of Death itself.

I looked at the weapon I’m holding and saw something really terrifying. The sword was misshapen yet really sharp. The sword looks like the Purest of Black with what appears to be a design that looks like splattered blood all over the sword. There wasn’t even a normal hilt, just a metal wrapped in an aged leather.

I immediately dropped the weapon I’m holding which then disappears into thin air.

I realized what happened then. I released a pure uncontrollable bloodlust. It is because when I looked on the other prisoners, they also looked like they saw a monster that can kill them instantly.

“I-I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to do that.”

Even after I apologized, Eri’s still distance herself to me and didn’t utter a single word.

I approached the fearful prisoners and proceeded to remove their restraints one by one until all of them are free from restraints. I then head in front of them.

“First of all, I want to say that the War between Humans and Demons have been ended. That’s why all of you are now free. But I want you to promise something to me first. Since the Human alliance doesn’t know that the Demon King has already been slayed, I want you to keep quiet about his defeat and don’t ever speak of this moment to other humans. I want you all to keep these a secret. That’s all I want. Now, you’re all free to go, head to your families and friends, celebrate, but never forget about our promise. Understood?”

Although still confused about what’s happening, they let out a pretty loud reply.

“””Yes!”””

“Good, now, you can freely go. Enjoy your life!”

The Prisoners then ran towards the basement exit while cheering, a while after, the cheers began to fade and Erylla and I were the only once left on a room full of silence.

Unable to bear the silence, I approached Eri and sat in front of her. I looked her in the eye and began to apologize once again.

“Eri, I’m really sorry about what happened, I didn’t mean it, it’s just that… I was drowned in anger on seeing you kill those innocent people.”

Eri was still silent, she also averted her gaze from me.

“I did that unconsciously because I really don’t want you to end up killing those that are innocent and unarmed. I really am sorry. I know you wanted to get revenge to humans but I think you wouldn’t be satisfied if you were to kill them all. Their deaths will be pointless if you kill them out of revenge. Save those anger and bloodlust to when you met the people that killed your mother.”

Eri slowly lifted her head and looked at me. She then opened her mouth.

“You know what, that is the first time I felt genuine terror. I thought that the Demon King was fearsome enough, but then you came. That was the first time I thought that I don’t want to die. Dying in your hands while in you’re like that was like I am going to be eaten alive.”

“Look, I’m really sorry.”

“You don’t need to. In fact, I was glad that I’m together with a person like you. I can be at ease if I knew that someone that fearsome is together in my travel. I feel like our travels will be filled with amusements.”

“Is that right?”

“Well, I also need to make sure not to be on your wrong side. I don’t want to experience that thing again.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t be doing that again. Unless someone forces me to. But I guess there are no existence that can push me to that limit in this world, right?”

“Okay, If you say so.”

I helped her stand up and we went towards the stairs leading to the hallway. As we reach the hallway, there are already no signs of the prisoners that I freed few minutes ago.

“I guess we can now properly start our journey. This’ll be fun.”

“I think so too.”

We walked in the long hallway that leads to the outside of the castle.

Now that I look at this, this castle sure is deserted. No other personnel can be seen inside the castle. Looks like they are not prepared for a surprise attack by me. Well, it’s their fault so, I don’t care.

“Hey Eri, is this castle always deserted?”

“Yes. Only us generals, some of our forces and the Demon King itself.”

“This place is depressing. Let’s get out of here quickly.”

We gathered all we can get and got ready to embark on this journey with Eri. At least I’m not going to be alone while travelling.

“Wait, before I forgot…”

I hold the golden bag and used my imagine ability to change the appearance of the Golden Bag. After I used my ability, the bag’s appearance became a blander and the golden bag became a small tattered messenger bag with faded color of fabric.

“Why’d you do that?”

“This is just a countermeasure for thief. It is so they wouldn’t even think of stealing the bag. Tell me, if you were the thief, would you think of stealing this bag?”

“No, that looks old and tattered.”

“That’s my point!”

“Ah, now I get it.”

After preparing, we went to the front gate and then we start our journey without any plans at all.

“Let’s go!”

“Ok!”