“I welcome thee mortal, to a portion of what thou may call, the realm of gods”

Standing in a dimension that seemed to go on indefinitely was a man with light brown hair, and green eyes that almost seemed to glitter.

“Who are you?”

The man with light brown hair looked around and asked the other person who wore a simple robe that covered him from head to toe.

“I am, what many would call a god”

“What am I doing here? Did I die?”

“Fear not young one, thou art completely alive and well”

The man wearing the robe began stroking his chin, as he looked over the man with light brown hair.

“Young one, answer me this question. What is a man without honor, pride, wealth or fame?”

The young man looked at the person proclaiming himself as a god with a confused expression.

He had thought to himself, why would a god ask him a question he should already know? Nevertheless, he still gave an answer.

“A man without honor is a man of sin. Without pride, man has no backbone. Wealth doesn’t define a person, but measures their greed. Whether or not you want fame and attention, that’s for the person themselves to deicide.

The values of a man may change from person to person, but you can’t judge a poor man who shamelessly steals to provide for his family. Therefore my answer is, a man is a man regardless if he is without honor, pride, wealth, or fame”

A smile formed on the robed man’s face.

“Well said young one. I was right in choosing thou”

“Choosing me?”

“Indeed, I’ve chosen thou”

The atmosphere around the robed man quickly changed. A powerful pressure filled the area.

“W-who, who are you?”

The light brown haired man trembled as a gust of wind blew past them.

“I am one who rules over all that is Life and Death. Albert, thou may call me, Odin”

“Odin…”

Albert who heard the gods name at last stood astonished. Was everything that was happening a dream? Unable to understand what was happening, Albert and the god talked vigorously. After what seemed like hours, he finally understood.

“Albert, son of man, you will be sent into another world. You will judge those who cannot be judged. Whether they be human, or not at all. You will seek them out”

“Understood”

Understanding his purpose, shining blue light surrounded him. His vision distorted as he was sent into another world.

“This place is…”

Albert looked around

In his peripheral vision, he was in the middle of a field. The grass was lime green, and the tree’s close by were in various shades of red, brown, orange, and yellow. Currently, this world was experiencing what his world referred to as, Autumn. Spotting a small city in the distance, he immediately embarked on his path. He was told to grow strong, and to judge those who were unable to be judged.

“He he he, looks like you’re alone. Drop everything you have or we’ll kill you”

After thirty minutes of walking, a group of three approached him from the side.

“Bandits?”

Dressed in worn out clothing, each of them carried a knife in one hand, and a sword on their waist.

“Hey, didn’t you hear us?”

Although the bandits were serious, Albert wasn’t scared in the slightest. He himself also wondered why for a slight moment. Although he had trained in martial arts, when threatened by more than one person holding a weapon, anyone would give into their demands out of fear.

“Sorry, I have no respect for garbage like you”

“Tch, Kill him!”

Clicking his tongue, the bandit on the left quickly ran out in front, while the other two surrounded him.

Sensing he was in a bad situation, Albert remained calm.

From behind, one of the bandits quickly lunged at him, however Albert sidestepped while raising his arm up and immediately swing down his elbow at full force.

“Gah!”

The thief who cowardly attacked from behind missed, and was hit in the back of his neck. A cracking sound mixed in with his cry could be heard. Unable to withstand the force of the impact, he dropped onto the ground, showing the whites of his eyes.

“That’s one. Come!”

Albert taunted the other two bandits who had watched as one of their own was so easily handled almost as if it were child’s play.

“Randy!”

One of the bandits screamed out as their friend fell to the floor with a plop.

“You bastard! You’ll pay for that!”

The one who could be called the leader drew his sword. He ran forward and quickly tried slashing vertically.

“Too slow”

Simply moving a step back, and bending his body slightly, Albert completely avoided the wild slash.

As the sword moved past him, Albert quickly grabbed him by the neck, and slammed him into the ground. A cloud of dust immediately flew up from his choke slam. When the dust settled, the leader could be seen in full display, knocked out while foaming at the mouth.

“And then there was one”

The last bandit stood there, trembling in fear.

Did they choose the wrong person to rob? He thought to himself. His movements were precise, and his attacks were calculated. Who was this person? Was he secretly a master of martial arts?

“Here I come!”

Without much warning, Albert appeared in front of the last bandit, and before he could react, Albert had Knee’d him in the chin.

“Guuhah!”

The bandit flew up several inches before falling down and hitting the floor with a hard thud!

In the distance, galloping horses could be heard. In just a few moments, A group of Five knights appeared.

“You there! Stop what you’re doing!”

When the knights arrived, they saw the three bandits sprawled across the dirt road. The leader dismounted their horse and made their way towards the oddly dressed man.

“What happened here?”

A very feminine voice was heard coming from underneath the knight’s helmet as it was taken off.

“These guys tried to rob me as I walked by. I simply retaliated in response”

Surprised by the turn of events, Albert explained the situation to the stunningly beautiful woman with tied up crimson red hair.

“Is this the truth?”

The beautiful knight looked at the young man with light brown hair, and then at the thugs who were knocked out cold.

“Yes”

“Unbelievable…”

She shook her head as the other knights also dismounted from their horses.

“Unbelievable? You don’t believe me?”

Surprised by her reaction, he repeated her words.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean what you’re saying is a lie, I meant its surprising”

The Lady knight had simply been astonished. A young man, unarmed, beat a group of three bandits all at once.

“Gather, and tie them up”

“”“Yes ma’am!”””

The other knights urgently responded to her orders, and rounded up all three to tie up.

“I apologize for the late introduction, My name is Clair Rosenberg. Knight Captain of the Red Barons. On behalf of our knight corps, I’d like to thank you. Those three bandits are well known in this area, we surely wouldn’t have been able to catch them”

“My name is Albert Ridge”

“From the look of it, you’re not from around here. Are you an adventurer?”

Clair examined the way he was dressed, looking up and down his body.

“No, not yet. I’m on my way to town”

“Is that so? Allow me to bring you to town as thanks”

“I accept your offer”

The two of them firmly shook hands, after introducing each other.

“Captain Rosenberg, we’re finished tying them up”

“Good! Go ahead and take them with you, I’ll follow behind”

“Yes, Ma’am!”

The knight that had come to inform the knight captain, ran back and helped the other knights load the bandits onto the back of a horse.

“I hope you don’t mind, but there isn’t much room so you’ll have to ride with me”

“That’s alright, let’s get going already”

The two of them saddled up on a single horse, Albert sitting behind Clair as they rode off towards town.

_________________________________

“That was my first meeting with the female Knight Captain, Clair Rosenberg”

As Gear spoke, he was looking out the window, towards the stars outside illuminating the darkness.

“How long were you in that city for?”

“A little over 3 months”

“I see, so it was your area of operations while you were still getting used to the new world”

“In a sense, you could describe it as such, but there was another reason”

Gear turned his head towards me, anticipating the obvious follow up question.

“What was that other reason?”

“I fell in love”

“With the woman named Clair?”

“Yes”

Nodding his head, he continued his story.

“That day, I registered at the Guild as a new adventurer. I spent the first week in the fields nearby, completing small requests as I raised my level and skills.

During the second week, we coincidentally met again, or maybe it was fate?”

_______________________________

Grrawr!

Thud!

“Alright, that makes all 12”

Albert had finished his objective of exterminating twelve horned bears, and began quickly dismantling it. Skinning the fur, and cutting off its horn. He also cut off various parts of its body like its paws and feet, as well as cutting off portions of meat for himself to dry out later for making rations.

“It’s still early, should I head back?”

Finishing his request faster than he thought he would, Albert was reluctant to go back. Although he had travelled far into the woods to find the nest of horned bears, his curiosity got the best of him as he studied the species of animals and monsters around the area. He wanted to expand his knowledge of his surroundings.

Finally deciding to search around for a while longer, he quickly disposed of the bear carcass as to not attract any monsters.

“Surround them!”

Making his way towards a small hill overlooking a random cave, he heard voices in the distance.

“Secure the horses, make sure none of them escape”

Looking down towards the cave, he saw the figure of five knights surrounded by numerous bandits. They looked to number above thirty.

“Looks dangerous”

Albert sat and contemplated.

Clearly the number of bandits outnumbered the knights. The knights would no doubt lose. Even if he went down there, it was unlikely that it would change the outcome. From his distance, it was impossible to gauge the strength of the bandits. It was practically like committing suicide if he were to just randomly jump in.

“Captain, we’ll break through the left flank. Take that chance and run!”

“Don’t be foolish! I cannot to leave behind my fellow knights!”

Thinking about their Captains safety, the knights decisively would aim for the left side of the bandits that encircled them.

As the bandits drew in closer, Albert quickly formulated a plan as he heard the familiar voice from afar. If it didn’t work out, at the very least it would allow him to escape unharmed.

Creeping around to the mouth of the cave, he quickly activated his hiding skill.

“Hey, that one there is female, make sure you save her for last”

A large man commanding the group licked his lips as he heard the Knight Captain muttering.

“Kill them!”

The large man finally signaled the other bandits to move.

“He he he! Let us have a taste later as well boss”

“Yea, I’ve been starving for one for a long time now!”

The knights engaged in fierce combat versus the numerous bandits.

“You bastards!”

“Take this!”

“Arrg! Stop struggling!”

The knights slowly fought off the bandits.

The bandits were weak, however, they were great in number. No matter how many the knights beat, another would take their place.

“I’m sorry, I couldn’t be of more use to you my Lady…”

One by one, the knights fell. Each of them saying their last words holding on tightly to their swords.

“Are we fated to lose…?”

Knight Captain Clair had looked on in despair at the remaining number of bandits. There were too many! They were severely outnumbered!

“He he he, its too bad little lady. You underestimated our numbers. Because of you, your knights all died! But don’t worry, you’ll become our plaything for a loooong loooooong time! Ha ha ha ha ha!”

The large man laughed wildly as the knights were beaten down. His eyes were completely glued on his prize, the female Knight Captain.

Forcing her to her knees, her helmet was stripped off, and her armor was ripped apart, exposing her bare white skin.

“Delicious!”

Four of the bandits held her down, and licked her face.

“You… I’ll never forget this humiliation!”

Clair furiously spat in the large mans face.

“I like em’ feisty. After I’m finished with her, you can all have a round. He he he”

"""Cheers for our leader!"""

The surrounding bandits cheered on the bandit leader, as he began fondling Clair’s various body parts.

“Stop… Stoop! Ku! Damn you!”

“Ha ha ha! You like it there don’t you!”

He inserted his fingers into Clair’s various body parts.

“Haa… haa… haa.. Curse you wretched animals!”

“Looks like you’re ready”

The Bandit Leader licked his fingers, quickly took off his pants, and came closer towards Clair.

Watching as the bandit leader crept ever closer, Clair closed her eyes as tears flowed down her cheeks. If only there was someone who could save her. As she thought of that, the figure of that person she met a week ago came to mind. He had a gentle, yet handsome face, yet his beautiful sparkling green eyes were his best feature.

She waited with her eyes closed for her body to be penetrated, but after a few moments nothing still had yet to happen.

“What’s wrong boss? What’re you standing there for?”

“…”

One of the bandits holding her down spoke up to the bandit leader who wasn’t moving, however he didn’t respond back.

“Gah!”

“Guuh!”

“Uuueh!”

Appearing from out of thin air, three of the bandits holding down Clair were immediately blown away.

“Wh-who are you?!!”

Stunned at the person dressed in black, the remaining bandit that held onto Clair’s left arm stuttered.

“[Deadly Impact]!”

The bandit was answered with a swift blow to his chest that sent him flying away.

“Hold on tightly, we’re leaving!”

Quickly picking up Clair who had her eyes open wide in surprise while shivering in fear, Albert vanished into thin air as the bandits rushed towards him.

“Where’d he go!”

“Search the area!”

“Are you alright Boss?!!”

“That sneaky bastard!”

The voices trailed far behind Albert as he sprinted through the forest, dodging tree after tree, as he held onto the trembling Clair in his arms.