On our way back to the capital, we make a few stops to kill monsters to increase our Level. My level increased to Lv. 22 and Gray had leveled up to 25 which triggered his growth to an adult, which caused me to laugh my ass off at first considering he ripped his clothing from the growth spurt, however I gave him my jacket to cover himself while we went to a nearby town by him some simple clothing. Once at the capital I went straight to find someone to dispel the slave curse, from experience playing video and online games a curse is just another form of magic. Walking inside I'm greeted by Mahōya the Witch and store owner

"Balthasar dear did you have any luck finding him?" Asked Mahōya

Stepping to the side I show the woman the demi-human

"That's wonderful news, now I assume you didn't just come to my shop just to show him to me"

"Unfortunately your right," I say showing the witch the slave crest

"Oh my..I'm sorry dearie..but...you need either a slaver or holy water to dispel a slave curse," Mahōya said causing me to groan

"And after what I did, the Three Heroes Church isn't exactly going to give me Holy water, So it looks like I have only one choice. Mahōya do you know where I can find a slaver" I say sneering at the last word

The witch began giving me directions to find the slavers business. Following the directions Gray and I stood in front of a large tent with numerous cages inside, Stilling my breath I walk in with Gray in tow

"Well well well what do we have here, such a fine Demi-human specimen" the short plump man said with a massive grin

"Don't even...I'm only here to remove a slave crest" I say

"Very Well, just as long as you don't kill me like you've some of my clients" the slaver says walking to the back of the tent

As the slaver removed Grays slave crest I take notice in a box full of white eggs with a red symbol that looked like an eye

"Hey slaver what are these?" I ask pointing at the eggs

"That's a monster egg lottery, for 100 silver I can guarantee at least a filolial, but if you hit the jackpot..you could win a dragon mount and that goes for 50 gold pieces" The slaver said as he finished removing the curse

With The Slave crest removed I was ready to pay the man when Gray calls my attention.

"Brother, come here" Gray said as he was looking into one of the cages

Walking towards him I follow his gaze to a severely injured Panda Demi-Human Girl

Looking at the girl my anger began to rise as I saw she had fresh bloodied wrapping around her stump of a left leg, when she looked at me I saw that her eye lacked any light in them, eyes that embrace death

"Slaver, did you apply these wrappings?" I ask looking at the round man

"Yes I did, I prefer if she didn't bleed out, she's still useful for one thing at least that's what her last owner said before she tried to run away" the slaver said making me ask

Before I asked it clicked, she was missing a leg, so manual labor was out of the question, so that'd leave...

'Those sick twisted fucks'

"How much for her?" I say in a stern voice

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't you hate slaves?" asked the short man

"What I Hate is how people treat Demi-Human like objects or monsters, and the only reason I'd ever buy a slave is to set them free" I say opening the cage

"It'll cost about 20 silvers"

Reaching into my wallet pouch and pull out a gold coin and toss it to the man

"Set here free and remove her curse" I say as I help the girl to remove her curse(20 silver for the girl and 40 silver for the removal of the curse ×2=1 gold)

Once the curse was removed I begin to look at her Injured leg to see the damage, the leg was severed at between her knee and ankle and by the looks of it, it happened sometime between 3-6 days ago

"I need a large piece of metal" I order both the slaver and Gray

The slaver returns with a black iron brand, I'll have to talk to him about that later. Taking the brand I heat it up with one of my fire spells until it started to glow lightly before handing it to Gray. I stood up and began talking to the panda girl

"Little Girl, can you hear me?" I say making sure she's conscious

slowly the girl lifts and nods her head

"Good, okay I'm not going to lie but this is going to hurt, I need you to bite down as hard as you can and try to endure it, Do you understand?"

The Demi-human Girl nods her head before opening her mouth, Lifting my right sleeve I place my wrist in her mouth and tell Gray to do it. Hesitant at first, the wolf Demi-Human pushes the glowing iron against her severed leg to cauterize it which in turn causes the girl's eyes to grow wide and bite down on my wrist to the point that I begin to bleed. I just close my eyes and grit my teeth for a good second

"G-Gray...Stop...It"

Gray immediately removed the iron and the girl passed out from the pain. Looking at my wrist I see she had broken through the skin and caused me to bleed.

"Your Suffering Is My Suffering and Your Happiness Is My Happiness" I say confusing both the wolf and the Slaver

"It's a saying back home" I say as I wrap up my arm with bandages that the Slaver handed me

"But why when you could have had her bite down on something else?" Asked the Slaver

"Simple, If I was going to hurt her then I was going to share her pain, One doesn't gain without losing something in return. It's one of the Laws that must be followed in my world" picking up the girl, I begin to head out before stopping in my tracks

"And By the way...I didn't kill your clients because they had slaves, I killed them because they had my brother as a slave" I say leaving the slaver and his slaves

Walking out into the main street I see Knights coming straight for me, handing the girl to Gray and arm myself with my magic staff

"Halt..You're under arrest" one of the knights said pointing his spear at me

"Under what charges?" I ask ready to active my Vine Snare skill

"Theft of a nobles property and murder of several nobles and a member of the Three Heroes Church" the Knight said which made me laugh

"The only thing I did was set Demi-Humans free," I say seeing the knights' anger grow

"And those Slaves belong to the Nobles"

"Okay you guys are starting to sound like a broken record" I say activating my skill

Vine Snare

The knights were bound and forced to their knees as they tried to free themselves

"And that's all she wrote, come on Gray we need to buy a few things before we replace your weapons and armor" I say walking past the bound knights

Heading to a few small shops I purchase a number of items before going to our next destination. Walking into the Blacksmith shop I begin looking at the weapons and armors. For his weapon Gray chose a 6ft ax halberd and a 3ft shortsword, for his armor, he selected a Scale mail armor for his torso, and a pair of dragon scale gauntlets, lastly I got an Iron shortsword for the girl

"Well glad to see the kids safe and sound" Erhard said as I purchased the weapons and armor

"Me too" I say leaving to head to the magic shop

Looking to the top of my vision I see the timer counting down to the next wave

15:05:47:05

Fifteen days till the wave

Walking through the store I purchase a number of magic grimoires when Paying Mahōya offered to measure our magic affinities. Gray went first placing a hand on the crystal orb which glowed white and reddish-green

"It looks like you have a affinity for Ice and Combat Support magic" The witch said making Gray smile

It was my turn next, Placing my hand on the crystal ball the shop owner inhales sharply at the ball flashed multiple colors before it shattered

"Oh My...God..You...you have such powerful magic and affinities for all magic" Mahōya said as I step back and thank her for the compliment

"Well now how bout we learn us some spell back the in" I say as the two of us head back to the inn to study some of the spells in the grimoire

Walking into our room I tell Gray to set her down on his bed while I take the materials I bought and begin assembling them together using my Carpenter Magic Staffs crafting skill

While my brother began crafting something, I was sitting next to the bed reading one of the grimoires learning a low-level Ice spell, when I heard a mumbled groan. Looking towards the bed I see the girl start to regain consciousness, closing the book I watch as she opens her eyes, which were a beautiful brown color, as her vision focuses she jumps backs in fear

"Whoa there... It's okay, you're safe here, no one is going to hurt you" I say calming the girl down

"Can you tell me your name?" I ask

"I don't remember, my Masters called me whore" the girl said soon jumping back at a loud bang

Balthasar hand slammed his fist into the desk having heard what the girl said, it was then that I noticed his weapon had a slight red color in the center of his jewel. realizing why he did that I begin to look around the room until my gaze fell onto a vase with a bundle of lilies

"Lily?...How does Lillian sound?" I ask

"Whatever my master wishes" the girl said

Hearing what she said I lower the collar of my shirt and show her my chest

"I'm not a slave and neither are you" I say pulling down the collar of her shirt showing her that she no longer has the slave curse

Immediately her eyes lit up which made me smile

"You and I, are as free as the birds in the sky" I say soon seeing the tears forming in her eyes

"And not only are you free.." Balthasar approaches with something made of wood and leather

The man I consider a brother began fastening the leather straps to her leg

"...You are also now able to walk on your own" Balthasar says stepping back allowing the girl to slowly crawl out of the bed

Once she stepped to the ground the only thing that followed was the sound of water hitting the ground as her tears were hitting the wooden floor

"Now.." Balthasar said kneeling before the panda girl

The girl looked at my brother with tear-filled eyes and he began to speak to her

"..I wish to apologize for harming you the way I did. So I hope that with this you can forgive me" Balthasar says showing her the injury she gave him

"I'm...sorry" She said making My brother genuinely laugh, which is something I've never seen since the first wave

"You have absolutely no reason to be sorry" Balthasar said patting her head much to her surprise

"The next part is completely your choice to make" Balthasar says turning back to his pack

"My..Choice?" asked the girl

"Yeah...see when me and my brother aren't level grinding, we're raiding setting slaves free from their oppressors, you can choose to live with the others we've freed or you can join us in freeing other Demi-Humans" I explain to the Panda Demi-Human

"Wait...that would mean.." she began pointing to my brother

"You're the Black Mage that one of my masters talked about?" Asked the girl

"The one and only, Guilty as Charged" my brother says with a smile on his face

"So have you decided?" Asked Balthasar

~15 Days Later~

"You think this is wise?" my brother asked concern in his voice

"Absolutely, Erhard is like my old man, Old as Dirt but Tough as Nails, We won't give up without a fight, come on game face on we've got a wave to defeat" I say nudging his shoulder

"If you say so"

"Hey Lilly is Lv 15, and an excellent swordswoman, she'll be here when we get back" I say to Gray

"Yeah your Right, Alright let's get this party started" Gray said grabbing his halberd

Scrolling through the menu I select a staff from my weapon tree that would be the most helpful until I spotted the one I wanted. the weapon was made black petrified wood etched into the wood was fear-filled faces with roots holding the black orbed jewel

Physical Attack +50, Magic Attack +100

Force of Nature

With my weapon equipped and Gray armed, I stood and watched the timer countdown

"It's Showtime" I as the timer hits zero

..0..

My little brother and I found ourselves teleported outside the capital and in the area outside Lute village, around I see for the first time all four Cardinal Heroes and to my surprise, I saw a Demi-Human with the Shield hero that looked very familiar. Charging into the wave I stop when I see a signal flare along with the Shield Hero running towards the village

"That's Lute village, Gray follow the shield fight with all your heart" I say smiling as I head to the field

Seeing monsters in front of me I begin smiling outright as I jump off a short ledge with the orb on my staff glowing dark green

'Force Of Nature'

Slamming my fist into the ground four massive grey root erupt and start smashing the monsters in the vicinity

Skeleton Soldier[Unlocked]

Skeleton Captain[Unlocked]

Poison Stinger[Unlocked]

'I summon the unholy beast of flesh and bone, slain by magic might to do my bidding'

RAZOR BOARZ

Finishing the incantation 20 pig-like monsters with a back full of serrated steel spines covering its entire back stood in front of me

"GO...kill monsters and protect humans and Demi-Humans" I order sending the creatures away

See the other three heroes I summon the Obsidian Horse, which I named Ruin, and race toward the heroes and the monster.

"Faster Ruin" I say as Ruin increases its speed

Arriving at the fight I charge up a fire spell and unleash it on a monster that had a body of a lion, an extra head of a ram, and a tail of a fanged snake. Using my Appraisal skill I found it had a resistance to Lightning attacks

Zwei Fireblast

The monster took the full force of my spell which only singed its fur and retaliated by using its tail to bite Ruin killing it in a matter of seconds.

'That's what I get for using a low-level spell' I thought as I get up

"What are you doing here, Get to cover" Shouted the Sword hero

"I'm here to defend against the waves" I say triggering my Vine Snare skill

The Monster found itself wrapped in large green vines which restricted its movements

"It won't hold attack it now!" I yell Charging the highest level magic spell I have

With The Chimera bound By the Magic Heroes vines the Three Heroes fired off their respective electrical attacks each one caused a lot of damage to the boss monster, but all three attacks didn't kill it. Having wasted their attack and their SP, the three heroes were at the mercy of the Chimera who was breaking out of its restraints

"How is that thing still alive!" Yelled Ren the Sword Hero

"That was my strongest attack!" exclaimed The Bow Hero Itsuki

"As Source of thy Power.. " the Magic Hero began as the Chimera's roar drowned his words out

"Um...Guys any Ideas?" asked the Spear Hero

...And Swallow my target with the power of Darkness"

'Shroud of Midnight'

A massive black mist floods out from Balthasar's staff as it begins to envelope and swirl around the Chimera. The black mist returns to the staff and reveals nothing but the Chimera and the head of the snake which was snatched up by a Razor Boar and brought to the Magic Hero

"Hey you stole our kill" Yelled Motoyasu

"Stole your Kill?, That's what you care about? Really?" Asked Balthasar grabbing the snakehead

"And you call yourselves heroes? What a Joke"

"Hey last time I checked Your first spell did little damage to the Chimera" replied The Bow Hero

"It's called gauging your opponent, If any of you had use of an appraisal skill then you would know that the Chimera has a resistance to electric attac..." The Magic Hero stopped when he laid his eyes on a certain redhead

"Well...Well...Well.." Balthasar said slowly making his way towards Princess Malty

"If it isn't the Bitch that tried to kill me and my little brother" The Magic Hero says being stopped by Motoyasu

"Hey Stop i.." The Spear Hero began but was stopped by being tackled by a Razor Boar

"I swore I would make you suffer, and I'm always a man of my word" Balthasar says heading to the Capital