Nameless Grunt's POV:
'Tsk! Why do I have to kill this little girl in the countryside?'
I am just a nameless monster, a part of the Demon King's Army. We follow the will of the Evil God, who promised us salvation. These puny humans will be our slaves, and we will rule over the entire world!
And yet… That little girl is the one who's going to kill the Demon King?!?
The demon stands in front of the so-called Hero's window, monitoring the situation. A memory relapses in the demon's mind:
'Listen up! The Demon General, Mephistopheles-sama, has ordered to kill the Hero before she grows! Due to time restraints, I will send you there because of your infiltration skills! I hope you won't disappoint me in the slightest, Barghest!'
Kehehehehe! Barghest smirks widely as his shadow covers the little girl's window, slipping into the room without disturbances.
'I'm busy, so…'
The shadow raises his hand, claws protruding from it.
'Die, Hero…!'
In a blink, the claws close the distance between the child in the bed.
'….!'
However, to his surprise, he stops as a hand pats his shoulder.
"I don't think so, bud."
The demon, momentarily halting his attack, retracts and raises his claws towards the man instead. An attack enough to rip the whole house apart is launched and is about to hit him.
Yet the man only flicks the demon's claws as they shatter into the ground.
The demon is confused, realizing that the man in front of him is a threat. The man, predicting this, touches the demon, and both instantly disappear from the house.
The little girl, who had been sleeping soundly, suddenly wakes up in a cold sweat.
"…?"
There's no one there. She proceeds to sleep once more, thinking it was just a nightmare.
The demon, disappearing in an instant, appears with the man in the middle of a thick forest.
"Who the hell are you?"
The man, his figure unclear, says in a melancholic voice, "Me? I'm just a normal old man."
"DON'T MESS AROUND WITH ME!!!"
'I have to get rid of this human immediately!'
That's what his entire being is trying to tell him.
"I'LL KILL YOU, HUMAN!"
His body expands, his monstrous appearance becoming more hideous. He grows taller than the trees, mouth full of jagged teeth, claws disproportionate, a red aura enveloping him. He looks like a feral dog ready to maw someone.
Without hesitation, he raises his two front paws, ready for an attack.
"Slash Claw!"
The slash decimates the forest.
But he's not satisfied.
'Where is he?'
He attacks recklessly because he instinctively knows that if he doesn't fight back, he'll die.
'Fuck! I won't be scared of a weakling human!'
"What?"
Surprisingly, the man is unscathed as he jumps towards the middle of the beast.
"YOU'RE WIDE OPEN!"
Barghest, noticing the opening, takes advantage and launches his left claw towards him.
"…!"
In a sudden realization, Barghest can't feel his left arm anymore.
And in a moment of nervousness, he feels a primal emotion sealed through their strong and reckless behavior—Fear.
"UWAGHH!!!"
Barghest, seeing his now left arm gone and gushing blood, for the first time in his demon life, instinctively hides in the shadows and runs away from the human.
'I WILL NOT DIE, I WILL NOT DIE HERE!'
With all his might, Barghest runs towards the great mountain ranges. But before he can take another step, he feels blood trickling from his neck.
'….!'
Before he can react, his head is sliced cleanly. The demon doesn't even know he's already dead.
His head slides off, falling to the ground as blood spurts from his disconnected neck.
'Mephistopheles-sama…!'
-
Ugh, a pesky demon had arrived.
This was probably due to an oversight I made—to abandon my daily schedule earlier, which included re-casting the barrier that expired yesterday.
As a result, I was not able to detect the demon who entered the village.
Although I can sense them due to my [Instinct] ability, they had to be at a certain range in order to be activated.
And I was luckily just around before the demon attacked Aria's home.
'Shit.'
I guess they were partly right for taking the Hero to the church, huh?
Since information about the Hero is important, there's no way the Demon King Army wouldn't have known their whereabouts.
And since they already knew it, they wasted no time and sent an assassin to kill her before she became a threat.
I bit my lip in frustration.
I thought that I was already mature enough to think through things, but here I am, endangering the life of an innocent girl just because of my whims.
I guess I'll have to train until dawn in order to repent.
-
I didn't get any sleep.
I was just practicing my swordsmanship until dawn, and now I'm just shining my sword.
My sword is a very important partner in life, and I cherish it more than other people. If there was one, that is.
"Excalibur" is the name I had given it. It sounds grandiose, but in actuality, I just gave it because it sounds cool.
You know? The sword of King Arthur from the British Isles? I kinda liked reading into it because of F*te.
Excalibur had been with me long before I became an adventurer, after all.
I bought it as a child and trained with it.
One time, I was training in the mountains in secret because my parents were against me doing it. A wolf monster showed up and attacked me, causing me to be badly wounded.
We fought until I stopped his jaw with the sword.
The sword was already in a bad condition when I scammed the merchant selling it, so I braced myself to die at that moment.
But surprisingly, the sword didn't break at that moment, and the wolf even became surprised at how hard it was.
Using that moment, I pierced the wolf through its throat, and it bled to death.
Thanks to this sword, I was able to survive through that ordeal.
And from that very moment, I swore that I would make Excalibur the strongest sword, even surpassing the holy sword of the Hero.
I have always treated Excalibur as my partner ever since.
We were inseparable, even until this day.
I tried my best to make the sword the strongest, but even until now, I was only able to make it as strong as an adamantite sword.
One of these days, I'll fulfill my promise to you.
After shining my sword, I went and made breakfast, which is just some simple bread sandwich with some fresh vegetables, eggs, and bacon paired with some hot roasted coffee.
Heaven, if you ask me.
Today was the day I'm going to train Aria, so I headed towards their house after eating to pick her up.
The village was almost the same after yesterday's incident.
I overheard some children being proud of their given jobs and some complaining about what was given to them.
"Hey, I got 'Warrior'! Just like my dad!"
"Mine said 'Farmer'… I wanted to be an adventurer…"
"Don't worry, my uncle said Farmers are super important! We need food, right?"
I walked past them, a small smile tugging at my lips.
Kids. They'll figure it out.
"Oh, it's Uncle John!"
Oh, they saw me.
They immediately swarmed up to me.
"Uncle John! You said you'd come and play with us!"
"Yeah! You said you'd go to the forest today!"
I laughed at them and gently rubbed the head of them.
"Haha, Uncle John has some "business" today kids. Maybe next time~"
I tamed these kids to recognize certain keywords so the grown-ups won't be startled if I said something dangerous.
They smirked as they knew the meaning.
"Kay'!"
Then they all dispersed and went to their ways.
That keyword means that I had to do something for them another time, but it was guaranteed.
I'm trying to be that cool uncle that only cares about make them have fun.
Of course, I am also a responsible adult!
When I arrived at Aria's house, her father Gildot was already waiting outside, looking nervous.
"John… thank you for coming."
"I said I would, didn't I?"
He nodded, but his eyes were still worried.
"Is she ready?"
"She's… preparing herself."
As if on cue, the door opened, and Aria stepped out.
She was wearing a simple tunic and trousers, her platinum blonde hair tied back in a neat ponytail. Her eyes were determined, but I could see the faint traces of fear underneath.
"Uncle John," she said, bowing slightly. "I'm ready."
I nodded.
"Good. I'll talk with your parents first."