The Shadow King, an entity as powerful as the Hero, chosen by the deity of Hell itself, Demonia, to proclaim her dominion in mortal lands. The Title not only gifted its bearer with Attributes elevated far beyond those of the most experienced combatants, supposedly in the 70-point range, and a series of Skills nothing short of legend, there was also a unique characteristic associated with the supreme leader of the army of shadows: immortality. While the Hero was immune to all effects other than those of shadow, against which he was "weak", no one other than the champion of God was physically capable of delivering a lethal blow to him, even if they had that firepower. For this very reason, it was a special tradition, commemorative date, and proof of victory for the Hero to parade through the streets of the capital of the Holy Kingdom Fanon, Canon, displaying the corpse of his arch-enemy before it was sent to a distant tomb. It was a grand parade, where thousands of specially selected flower petals were thrown over the soldiers, and the civilians cheered and applauded.

  I did not participate in such a parade, however.

  While the Hero, his closest companions, and the nobles of high rank within the army were applauded, I remained at the City of the Abyss, guarding the transport of loot from the enemy capital. I didn't even get close to the capital, in fact, even after the sacking was over, marching only as far as the city closest to my home village, Right Foot, the same one where I had enlisted four years ago, where I received my last salary, a "good service and thank you, soldier", and was unceremoniously discharged from the military, along with thousands of other soldiers, no longer needed since the representative on land of God's enemy had been defeated, and the monster generation had dropped considerably.

  — ...And the worst part is that I don't even have enough money left to buy a house — I commented, almost in disbelief.

  I was walking along a dirt path, almost imperceptible if you didn't already know it was there.

  Reaching the edge of a small village with a name that referred to the fact that most of its visitors were people who got lost on the way to Right Foot, I found myself pointing out how absurd my situation was:

  — So... Back to my parents' farm?

  I had no other choice, really. No matter how much food and shelter the Holy League had provided me during the campaign I fought, I wouldn't have survived until the end of the war if I hadn't invested my own money in relatively decent, overpriced equipment. So I only had enough to keep me alive and independent for about a year, but what about after that?

  — Hello? Anyone home? — I knocked on the front door. It didn't take long for someone to answer me.

  — ...Hi — a middle-aged elf, tanned and with calloused hands, with wisps of white hair already appearing in his mane and beard, answered me. — Can I help you, soldier?

  — Dad, it's me. Haicard. I, uhm... I'm back. The war is over.

  ?

  I would gather with my loving family for dinner in the late afternoon.

  My father sat at one end of the table, with my mother to his right, and of my many brothers, only four had survived the hard life of subsistence farmers, of villagers, of whom the eldest made a point of making it clear that he was the one who would sit at the other end of the rectangular table.

  — I'm sorry I didn't prepare anything special for your return, Haicard. I had no idea you'd show up again — my mother said, placing a bowl of soup in front of me. — I saw my children leaving one by one... I can't tell you how happy I am to see at least one of them returning. I missed you, Haicard.

  — Me too, Mom — I smiled. But the happiness left me as soon as my eyes fell on my brothers, especially Umberto, the eldest son, who stared at me as if I had sacrificed his friends to the devils in a blood ritual.

  — I bet this food tastes like cow shit to you, right — Umberdo commented.

  — Uh... No, our meals weren't much better than this. In fact, I think Mom's cooking tastes better.

  — Thank you, Haicard.

  — It's just the truth, Mom.

  — Come on, there’s no need to be so modest. I bet you’ve seen many more interesting places than this little village. Better food. More beautiful women — my other brothers seemed to agree with Umberto, but they didn’t dare to impose themselves like he did. The times when they could use brute force to subdue me were over, after all.

  Well, actually, if the four of them joined forces against me, it would be a difficult fight to win, regardless of my Attributes, but they didn't need to know that. Let them cower under their own assumptions.

  — Nah, most of what I saw were fields scorched by magical bombardments, ruined towers, and stinking camps. Battlefields aren't exactly a tourist attraction.

  — Of course, of course — Umberto didn't keep the fear off his face when I reminded him that I had combat experience and wouldn't chicken out this time. Surprising me, however, he smiled right after — In other words, in the last half a DECADE, you haven't even picked up a hoe, have you? And, if I remember correctly, you weren't the one who spent most of your time cultivating our crops either, even back in the day.

  He wasn't wrong, but it stung a little that Umberto, of all people, had caught me with words. That was what I got for choosing the approach of exalting my strength. I wasn't the Hero to overcome all my challenges with unmatched power.

  — Four years is not “half a decade”, brother. Four is not half of ten, you know?

  —...It was just a figure of speech — if looks could kill, Umberto would be guilty of fratricide.

  — Well, well, Haicard just got back from a war, boys, I bet the last thing he wants to do is talk about work right now. Let him eat and rest for today! — my mother intervened.

  — Huh? But he's going to work tomorrow, right? If we put him to work turning the mill, we can sell the ox! — my father seemed excited to put me to work instead of a literal beast of burden...

  — Why sell the damn ox?! To send all the money on cacha?a, old man?! — the oldest of my brothers complained. — And when you die, and when Haicard leaves, what would happen to us?! — he glanced sideways at me when he said that I would inevitably leave, but I pretended not to notice.

  The rest of dinner was not much different, with Umberto trying to dissuade me from any ability to work on the farm, and my mother intervening. When the sun went down, I slept in the dining room, next to my three other brothers, on a straw mat.

  ?

  — Ai ai... — I sighed, sitting on a rock and watching everyone working on the small plantation of cassava, peanuts, coffee, potatoes, sweet potatoes, and other things that they must have started planting after I left.

  I had tried to find something to do when the sun came up, but whenever I picked up a tool, one of my brothers would be there to take it from me with some excuse. One moment they would say that things had changed in the last few years and the way I knew how to do the task was no longer the same, the next that I was doing the task wrong and that I should let them do it themselves.

  Sure, I could very easily knock my brothers down with a mere shove, but I took no pleasure in using force against those who knew they had no chance of survival if they didn't aggressively compete for that insignificant piece of land.

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  — Hi, hehe — a girl approached me. Hair tied in pigtails and freckles all over her face, wearing a patched dress. She wasn't ugly by any means, but she wasn't any different from any other young elf in the village. — Still resting, huh? Just returned from the war and everything, you really need to rest!

  — Of course — I smiled, trying to be friendly.

  Sitting down next to me, the girl continued:

  — All the girls are talking about you, you know? Oh, they're all crazy about the warrior who came back as a winner, hehehe.

  — I see. — That wasn't really surprising, noble war veterans were very romanticized by bards and storytellers, but for commoners, a mere Warrior Deacon was the best they could realistically fall in love with... if said veteran wasn't a broken and traumatized person, of course.

  — So... You must be really silly choosing the prettiest girl to marry, right? Hehe.

  Marrying a girl I barely know...

  — I mean, you're strong, and you can inherit your father's farm if you want, now. Or become a hunter, or a butcher, or whatever.

  Get a common profession...

  — Hey, are you okay? You look a little pale...

  — Yes, yes, haha.

  Live another fifty years working hard, have a dozen children, and die. Sure, that option guaranteed my survival. But something about it didn’t sit well with me. Put so many more children into the world to fight each other over slices of moldy bread, like animals destined to die animal deaths. After all I had been through, I couldn’t consider the child who decided to live through violence “lucky” either; the sacred war was over, and another one wouldn’t be fought for another hundred years, but there were still monsters and bandits, and adventurers to kill them. If I did that, wouldn’t I be just as much of a murderer as the beasts that roam the forest?

  — Aargh!

  — Shit!

  — Where is he?!

  A commotion erupted in the small street that made up the center of the village. I doubted it was anything serious due to the lack of sounds typical of a surprise attack, but I dashed toward the commotion with one hand on the hilt of my sword, which I never allowed to be more than an arm's length away from me, neither as a soldier nor as a civilian.

  — What happened? — I asked the nearest villager.

  — Ah, Haicard! It's true, you can help. It was a wild boar! The animal almost killed Pedro, poor thing — the villager pointed, indicating an injured man who was being carried away by four other men. — The bastard has already invaded a few plantations and destroyed everything, but it's a huge animal, and we don't have spears to hunt wild boars, hunting dogs and all that stuff. We were about to take up a collection to call some hunters from the big city, but now that you're here, you can solve that!

  — That's right! Haicard is strong! — other members of the crowd cheered. — It's time to show what you learned in the army!

  — ...Where is the animal? — I resigned myself to the task, with nothing better to do.

  ?

  Since Pedro had been attacked not long ago, the boar should still be around, especially since, from what I heard, it returned from time to time to feed on the villagers' crops.

  — Well, the trail is very fresh. The animal should be right there. Just follow the trail now — my guide, Pedro's brother, who had been the last to encounter the boar, looked at me sideways as if asking for permission to leave the hunt.

  — Great, let's go then, guys — I replied, pretending not to notice the reluctance of my guide and the other two villagers who accompanied us, who visibly just wanted to leave it all to me alone.

  True, I was about three times stronger than a Level 1 elf, and perhaps even stronger than the animal we hunted, but that didn't mean I was invincible, or arrogant enough to reject a little help.

  Of course, I didn't expect those three scared guys to be of any use in combat, but they could at least help me surround the animal and distract it.

  — Oighn! Oighn! — The boar scrambled around on the ground, eating some berries that had fallen from the leaves. It was quite a large animal, the size of a person from snout to tail, and reaching my navel at shoulder height. It was no surprise that unprepared villagers were unable to bring it down.

  — There it is — my guide whispered, looking at me sideways. — Just go over there and finish him off now, Haicard — he nodded.

  — Okay, the plan is as follows: you will approach the animal from the left, you from the right, you from the back, and I will face the boar from the front.

  The three men, wielding spears with hardened wooden tips, exchanged nervous glances as they listened to my instructions.

  — Haicard... Why don't you just go there and kill the animal once and for all? — Pedro's brother asked.

  — Hey, don't you want a chance to help slaughter the animal that hurt your brother?

  — Well, yes, but...

  — Don't worry, your job will just be to distract the animal, I'll be the one who will attack.

  — B-But what if the beast comes at us? This damn old spear is going to break all over the beast's skin — another of the boys complained in a whisper so loud that it could hardly really be considered as such anymore.

  — I have enough Strength points to outrun the beast, so if it attacks you, I'll get reinforcements in no time.

  That was a lie, but facing the beast head-on with just a sword was dangerous even at my level, and while the poison of the ultimamora was effective in slaughtering enemies, I had no idea how careful the meat obtained through such a method should be. The villagers would certainly want to eat the boar, and it wasn’t like I could just stop them from eating the meat without being deeply resented later, since practically everyone there lived in a constant state of hunger.

  — Now, get into position.

  Hesitantly, the villagers did as I asked.

  Then, at my signal, they emerged slowly from their hiding places, sweat beading on their foreheads, and gripping their spears so tightly that their knuckles turned white.

  — Ooink! Ooink! — The boar spun in place, facing each of the villagers in turn, showing its fierce and deadly fangs.

  As soon as the beast turned its back on me, however, I jumped out from behind the bushes, quickly crossed the distance between us, and swung my sword at its neck, aiming to open an artery and end it as quickly as possible.

  — Waaahn! — the boar, however, turned at the last moment, and my blade bit its face instead of my original target; it lost an eye, and I broke one of its tusks, spraying its blood in a semicircle on the ground.

  — Shit — I whispered, immediately backing away.

  — That's it!

  — Finish him!

  — Give it to him!

  My fellow villagers only saw me launch an attack at the beast, oblivious to my failure.

  — Roooghn! — the animal, now feeling cornered, ran towards me with bloodlust.

  I dodged his initial attack, but I didn't have time to launch a counterattack, so savage was the boar's charge.

  I jumped left and right, my heart pounding so loudly in my ears it was deafening, hoping not to trip over a root or rock, fall to the ground, and end up disemboweled by the animal.

  Finally, however, I managed to get to the left, blind side of the boar, and I returned the attack: my sword penetrated the thick layer of skin, fat and muscles of the neck, cutting high-pressure blood vessels, which spurted the red vital liquid pumped by the heart almost above the level of my eyes when I removed my weapon from the animal's body.

  The boar kicked and tried to run away, spitting blood from its mouth and nose, and spraying it from the open wound, but its legs soon gave way, and in a short time, it died.

  As my heartbeat returned to normal, I allowed the other villagers to prepare the carcass.

  ?

  Thin ale flowed like rivers, glasses were clinked, and roasted boar meat was shared among the villagers, along with freshwater fish and vegetables prepared for the occasion. Technically, we were forbidden from hunting, and the animals in the forests belonged to the nobles, but there was an unspoken agreement that if the commoners could avoid bothering the busy and important knights and soldiers with dealing with wild beasts, they could enjoy whatever their corpses had to offer.

  Naturally, I also enjoyed a skewer of wild boar with vegetables, next to the animal's carcass over the fire.

  — Wow! You killed the boar all by yourself?!

  ...And the girl from earlier sat next to me, wide-eyed.

  — Nah, like, four guys came with me.

  — But you were the one who cut out the animal's eye and pierced its neck! I mean, those guys exaggerate in their stories, but even exaggerating, they couldn't say they put a single scratch on that animal!

  — Well... they distracted him long enough for me to finish him off.

  — Hahaha! You're so humble! But I know the truth, you're strong! You've barely arrived and you're already protecting the village, killing animals... ai, ai, you're so cool too.

  — Haha... — I couldn't say I didn't like the girl's attention, especially knowing that, unlike my last girlfriend (Julia, I'll never forget when you sacrificed yourself to save me, I hope you'll be happy in Paradise), she wouldn't die in the war against the Shadow King. It was everything that came attached to her that made me hesitant. After all, I'd never felt happy in that village as a child, and I was sure that wouldn't change as an adult. — I need to go take a shit, I'll be right back — I stood up — that clearing with the deadwood trees still exists, right? I don't think taking a shit there will bother anyone. — I longed for solitude like I hadn't in years.

  — Oh, no, some historians came there about three years ago and carried out some studies there. Now, there is only a hole filled with rainwater in that clearing, it has turned into a small lake. — The girl replied.

  — Eh? B-But what about the rock that was resting there?

  — Rock? Look, we go there to wet our feet every now and then, and there aren't any rocks there anymore. — She raised an eyebrow, confused. For some reason, the absence of my secret childhood hideout shook me more than any push my brothers could give me. — Hehe, you've barely arrived in the village and you're already killing animals and exploring the forest, you even look like an adventurer!

  — Adventurer...?

  — Uh... Did I say something strange? Oh, soldiers must not like being compared to adventurers, right? Sorry.

  — ...No — I smiled. — They haven't given you any meat yet, have they? It's not a surprise, they want to prioritize those who "helped" in the hunt, even if only tangentially. Here, do you want to try some? — I entertained the girl. I felt that I owed her at least that much.

  ?

  The next day, I left the village to become an adventurer.