As the sun rose early next morning, Loganel was awaken by the bright rays of the sun as it met his closed eyes. He slowly opened his eyes and blinked. The air was cool as it met his skin, but he didn't mind it as it helped him wake.

Just forget yesterday happened, Loganel thought as he felt a sudden chill as something that was covering him drop from his body. He looked down and discovered that a blanket that was wrapped around him had fallen as he woke. Where did this...?

Loganel stood up and picked the blanket up and folded it neatly. He then looked up at the sky, using his left forearm to block out the sun. He judged what time of the day it was and discovered that it was still fairly early in the morning. So Loganel then began his slow walk back to the cabin. As he walked, Loganel glanced around, discovering a completely different world during the day. Everything was lively, but somehow, his gloomy presence almost ruined the lively picture.

Loganel could see the cabin in the distance now, and he approached it. He wasn't sure if the others had awaken or not so when he opened the door, he did so slowly as to not awake them from their slumber. When he entered the warm cabin, his body immediately began warming up. He glanced around and discovered that the others were indeed still asleep. So, he began walking over to the spot by the window that he was sitting last night, which was in the direct center of the room in between where Tetsuya slept and the girls slept. Just as he was about to sit down, his eyes wandered over to the girl's wall and discovered that the three blankets that each three of them were supposed to have was now down to two, and that Azura and Juliana were sharing a blanket as they huddled close together.

Without much thought, Loganel unfolded the blanket and walked over to them, and gently placed the blanket on them so that they wouldn't be cold. Afterwards, he walked back over to his usual spot and sat down, as he walked, his figure appeared lonely.

Slowly, as time went on, the others gradually woke up. First, it was Tetsuya, who greeted Loganel with a smile and went on to prepare breakfast for the whole group. Next, it was the girls. Azura appeared quite dazed, which Loganel believe was possibly due to her being confused as to where she was at. Juliana smiled at Loganel who looked away and stared out the window. Sherriel stretched her back and gathered the courage to approach Loganel.

"Ugh...hello," she said shyly. "This is the first time we've talked right?"

Loganel glanced at her from the corner of his eye and resumed staring out the window.

"I'm Sherriel," the girl continued. "Nice to meet you."

Loganel nodded slightly after the girl has finished her introduction. He then glanced back at her lazily and discovered that she was still standing there.

"What is it?" Loganel asked in his emotionless voice.

"..." Sherriel stared at Loganel with a somewhat disturbed look on her face. "ugh...nothing."

"Alright everyone," Tetsuya entered the cabin from the outside. "Breakfast is ready."

Everyone in the cabin then relocated themselves to the small campfire outside of the cabin where Tetsuya had prepared a warm vegetable soup with some shreds of meat. Then, he produced a small wrapped object from his personal bag and unraveled it. Inside was five pieces of bread.

"Might not be the freshest," Tetsuya apologized before hand with a smile on his face.

"It's fine," Sherriel responded.

They then proceeded to eat their food as they sat around the fire. However, Loganel on the other hand chose to distance himself from them and sit in the umbrage casted by a tree nearby. He quietly ate his food, which was a sharp contrast to those that sat around the fire. There, all appeared to be calm and joyful. The sun and the small fire illuminated everything, burning away the cold and the loneliness. However, where Loganel sat, the sun was blocked by the tree behind him so nothing burned the loneliness away. However, Loganel wasn't bothered by it anymore. He sort of accepted it already and was immune to any damages that it might cause.

As Loganel sat there and ate, he could feel the occasional gaze thrown his way. He originally thought they were talking about him, but he quickly dismissed the idea since he believes that he's not worth them talking about.

That's right, he thought, just turn invisible.

***

When noon came, it was accompanied with the objective that they had set out for. They ventured into the forest next to the small mountain village as they approached the small fort that their target had built. They laid low in the bushes as the approached stealthily. The fort was crudely built, with flimsy looking cabins and a makeshift wooden fence that surrounded the sides of the fort, leaving only an opening at the front with the backside of the fort being the wall of a cliff.

As they approached the fort and got as close to the entrance as cover had allowed, they could see the orcs now. They were all lined up neatly as they faced someone that Loganel believed to be their leader. Next to the leader was a woman who was dressed in a black cloak.

"I was told that the monsters here would work well for our efforts to revive the Demon King," the woman said, her voice was seductive and forced the attention of all males on her.

A succubus, Loganel thought.

"I can't believe its just you orcs," the succubus shook her head in disbelief and sighed.

The leader orc pounded his chest with his fist. "I promise we will be a valuable force for the great Demon King," the monster said.

"That thing can talk?" Sherriel whispered.

"High level monsters like that Succubus are intelligent enough to speak," Azura explained quietly. "That Succubus mentioned the Demon King..."

"Yeah," Tetsuya whispered. "Something about reviving him."

"What do we do?" Juliana asked.

"We watch," Loganel's voice caught everyone else by surprise. Loganel ignored their shocked gaze and continued. "We're no match for that Succubus. We'll die if we attack now. Best thing we could do is to wait for her to leave."

"He's right," Tetsuya said. He then unwillingly gritted his teeth. "As the Hero summoned into this world, I can't let her live. But now I'm still too weak to take her on. Let's just wait."

"We'll do anything to serve the great Demon King," the leading orc said, flaunting his muscular body and sword.

"Anything?" the Succubus stared into the orc's eyes, causing the orc to blush and a lewd smile. "How bout you take care of those eavesdroppers first?" The Succubus looked over in the direction that Loganel and his party was hiding. "Then, I'll reward you heavily. You could have anything you want?"

"Anything?" the monster asked. "Let's butcher these humans!" The leading orc then rallied his followers as they all unsheathed their weapon and ran towards where Loganel and his party was hidden.

"Run," Loganel ordered as he took off. He reasoned that since they were outnumbered, taking the orcs head on was suicide.

The others followed behind him, letting Loganel guide their escape. They sprinted through the forest as they tried to lose their pursuers. However, the orcs persevered their attempts and maintained tight on their tail.

They ran until their lungs burned, but Loganel knows that stopping would mean death. He looked back and saw that the others were still determined to live, so he continued on. They continued their escape through the forest, going only where the vegetation density is high so as to lose the orcs. However, due to the density of the vegetation, it was dark and they lost sight of their pursuers. However, they could still hear their rapidly approaching footsteps and the sound of their weapons cutting through air.

"Keep going!" Loganel shouted to the others.

They continued running, and slowly, they approached a running river in the mountains. Loganel was held his breath as he listened for his pursuers, his lungs burning as he did so. His body lacked oxygen, and he deprived it of badly needed oxygen as he did so to listen for any sounds that might indicate danger.

"I think we're--" just as he was about to say safe, something appeared behind him and licked his neck.

Loganel immediately turned around and discovered that the Succubus was the one that had approached him.

"Can't have you go rat on me," she licked her lips. "Or else the plan would be ruined."

Loganel unsheathed his new sword, and stand his ground.

It came to this again...He sighed. In the end, it has to come to this. Why? But no matter. It's something that I have to do. If I don't she'll kill us all. I don't know how long I can stall her but...

"Are you thinking of doing that again?" Azura's voice pierced Loganel's mind, causing Loganel to focus on that voice alone. "This is the third time..."

Third time?

"Why are you so willing to throw your life away?" her voice echoed in his mind. "Why isn't there a better way?"

Loganel allowed a half-smile to appear on his serious face. "Because there isn't. Now go."

"Loganel..." Tetsuya stared at the boy who was about to risk his life to buy them time to escape. He gritted his teeth at his incompetence and then lowered his head. "I'm sorry. This should've been my job..."

"Then get stronger and avenge me," Loganel answered back. "Don't die now."

"...Let's go," Tetsuya started walking off with a reluctant look on his face.

"No," Juliana resisted. "I can't leave him like this again."

"This is what he wants!" Tetsuya shouted, shocking Juliana which allowed her to be easily dragged away.

Sherriel looked over at Loganel, and back at Tetsuya. She appeared divided but her inability to change anything made her frown with some tears forming in her eyes. She rushed over took the dazed, Juliana by the hand and led her away.

Before leaving, Azura looked at Loganel. In the ice cold eyes of hers, she showed emotion: worry and guilt.

"Go," Loganel repeated once again, which proved to be the catalyst that finally drove Azura away and join in with the others as they left. However, as she left the scene, her eyes were constantly on the boy who was about to risk his life for the third time for her.

"Wow," the Succubus clapped her hands and smiled. "Acting more like the hero than the Hero himself. So, you think you can stop me?"

"Not stop," Loganel said calmly. "Merely stall."

Loganel exhaled and looked up at the sky. Why is it that whenever I'm in this type of situation I'm the calmest that I've ever been?

Loganel felt the gentle breeze as it blew by him. It blew up his coat, letting the coattail flutter a bit in the air behind him.

"Hmm," the Succubus smiled as she stared at Loganel. "You actually hate them do you?"

"What?" Loganel and his calm mind was disrupted.

Author's Note:

What up people? Vote if you've enjoyed and I've got a question that I want you to answer in the comments. The question is:

"What are your thoughts on NTR?"

Please answer and thank you for reading and participating in the question. Thank you very much everyone!