***

(Third person)

Inside a certain dark back alley, a distinct repeating sound was echoing around the narrow path.

The sound of metal hitting something soft.

"Please...stop, Mister." Said the girl lying on the ground while rolling her body to cover her stomach. Both of her hands were covering her head.

"That's what you get for being a filthy demon!" The man wearing full body armor responded as he continued kicking the girl while laughing.

"You should stop that, someone will definitely see us." The other knight on his back said.

"So what? Even if someone sees me, no one cares, it's a filthy demon." He responded as he kicked the girl once more.

The other knight slowly walked toward them with concern in his eyes. "Somebody probably owns that slave, you don't want to get in trouble aren't you?"

"Then, I'll pay for it. I really hate demons, they're the reason why I have lost my 3 brothers. All of them deserve to suffer!"

His kicks become more violent as the demon girl just cried due to the pain.

"Big brother Yohan!" The demon girl cried out.

"Shut up, Insect!"

The only thing the other knight could do was uncomfortably watch.

However,

The harsh knight suddenly fell to the floor with blood flowing out from his body.

The remaining knight stared at the girl with great terror in his eyes.

The demon girl stood up, next with her were sharp shadow spikes slowly fading on her feet.

"I... didn't mean to do it." The demon girl shook her head in fear and immediately ran away.

Leaving the remaining knight in great awe. "This is bad."

***

(Casimir Kismet)

It's been 3 days since I arrived in this world. I managed to survive by eating fruits and hunting easy prey like deers and wild boars.

When you have handy Fire magic at hand, every problem is solved.

Since then, I finally reached the end of this ridiculously massive forest that was full of dangers in every direction.

"Grab your weapons!"

Is that a human voice? Finally, another human encounter who probably won't try to kill me on sight.

I peeked my head from the bushes and found 2 merchant carriages currently being surrounded by a bunch of dark green-skinned midgets with annoying high-pitched laughs.

Definitely Goblins.

And just 5 humans protecting the carriages. 3 of them were armed with weapons like swords and shields and there was also one using a staff. While the other 2 looked like they were merchants.

And from the looks of it, they're in the middle of a losing battle due to the overwhelming number of enemies.

From the forest, 2 darker-skinned and taller goblins came out while carrying a spiked wooden bat.

I can clearly hear the panicked screaming of the cornered people.

That's bad news.

I can't just look and let them die on my watch, can I?

I walked towards them and burned down all the goblins on my way as I walked through the hordes of goblins.

I joined them and fired multiple Fireballs primarily targeting the 2 massive goblins approaching the carriages.

However, I'm aware that small fireballs were not enough to defeat the massive goblins.

So, I focused my Fire magic on them and completely burned them to ashes. It's dangerous when it's done in the middle of the forest, but not on this dirt road.

My attacks made enough devastation to make the goblins flee for their lives leaving us alone.

I exhaled upon seeing the goblins finally gone.

I looked at the 5 people protecting the carriages, they were looking at me like I'm some kind of oddity.

Besides the fact that I literally came out of nowhere, maybe, suddenly interfering in other people's business is considered rude.

I scratched my head. "I hope I didn't interrupt something."

"No, no, you don't. You're a big help, I don't think we could easily defeat such an amount of goblins." Said the one who has a sword and shield in his arms. I think he's an adventurer if adventurers exist in this world.

"I see." I exhaled. "Was that kind of attack a common occurrence around here?"

He nodded. "Yes, due to the abundance of goblin bases around this isolated road we have expected their appearance, but we didn't expect them to bring not just one but 2 Hobgoblins with them."

The 2 merchants ran towards me.

"You have my deepest gratitude for helping us." Said the blonde-haired young man, he pointed his index finger at himself. "My name is Neville Feriba." He pointed his finger at the blonde girl next to him. "And this is my little sister, Ekiya. We are wandering merchants."

Don't the 2 of you look too young to be a wandering merchant? Neville looks like he's just the same age as me, which is 18.

Well, better start a business at a young age, am I right?

I nodded. "My name is Casimir Kismet, I'm a.... traveler."

"That's unusual clothing for a traveler. Mister Kismet." Ekiya commented while checking my clothes with a smile on her face.

It's unusual clothing even in general.

"Ekiya," Neville cut his sister. "How can we pay you back for your help, maybe there's something we could do, maybe a ride to the next kingdom? It's just a few hours away from here."

Now that I think about it, I need some necessary things to live in this world. If I want to go to the nearest human settlement I need that specific thing to live.

I stared at Neville waiting for my response. "I need some currency and a shoulder bag... a handy one."

Both Ekiya and Neville did a brief pause but immediately nodded and smiled. "Of course."

It's a good thing that I met them.

Their journey continued and they insisted that I should take a ride with them towards the nearest kingdom.

I opened the leather shoulder bag that Neville gave me and put the cut-in-half headband that I received from mom back home inside the bag with the coins inside.

I don't know how much they gave me, all I know is it's enough to support me in the meantime.

I need to find a proper job sooner, not every day you could find someone who would willingly grant you this much.

I raised my head and nodded my head to the 2 adventurers with me. The mage one and the other swordsman, while the 3rd one who talked to me earlier was currently driving the carriage while following Neville's carriage in front of us.

Both of them nodded and smiled.

Yep, this is definitely my new life now.