Orson Rsenr

  ***

  With a long day having passed, I sighed as I sank into the couch. Despite everything, there was still more to be done. Looking at the item that was delivered not long ago, I sighed. This was the signaling, rather communication, device we have prepared for Evelyn. Though now that I look at it, I can’t help but regret it’s construction. Although a complicated and expensive device, it was actually quite small. Being a small rectangur device, it’s front was made of crystal and it’s back with some light metal, or metal like material. It was designed to fit in one’s pocket and be easily accessible. It’s fascinating and dreadful.

  To think, when Evelyn returns she will be bound to it. Answering the call to fight demons regardless of the time or pce. Luckily I managed to have the craftsman include a “busy” feature. Officially it’s for letting others know that she is already fighting demons, but I’m sure that Evelyn will use it to give herself breaks every now and then…

  “No.” I sighed. “She won’t do that…”

  For all the years I’ve known her, she’s unusually determined to defeat demons. No. It’s not unusual. Not for her. I remember hearing the reports of what happened to her and her parents. Not only that, but she was trapped in demon infested woods for nearly half a year. People have had far more extreme reactions in lesser circumstances. Regrettably that wasn’t the end of it, but she hasn’t had the easiest home life since her return either.

  Regrettably, there's nothing much I can do in that regard. Interfering with a family to tell them how to raise their child isn’t something others would overlook. Even if they knew of the circumstances, how many would fear that they would be ordered to raise their children differently? Perhaps in a way that benefits The Empire at the expense of their family? It would be an overreach of power that none would accept. Even so much as recommending certain tutors for her would be considered as interfering to many. Closing my eyes, I once more sighed.

  “Is something the matter?” Alyssa asked.

  “Ah?” Opening my eyes, I saw my wife enter the room.

  With gentle eyes, she joined my side on the couch. Although us being together wasn’t rare, it wasn’t as common as either of us would have liked. Taking her hand in mine, I couldn't help but share my frustrations.

  “I worry for Evelyn.” I said.

  “Ah, as do I.” She nodded.

  As parents, we couldn’t help but worry for her. Being the same age as our children, yet so very different. Aside from the Shadows and this Raven she often speaks of, she interacts with others very rarely. Only recently has she started interacting with the few servants in her residence. Luckily she does seem to have some friends her age, but for someone of her status, that amount is far too little. Four to be exact. No. Putting the matter of her status aside, four friends is too few, isn’t it? She’s a nice girl. She should have more friends, right? Repeatedly I’ve tried telling Lloyd and Lna to become friends with her but they’re reluctant. Kids these days… You tell them to do something and they do the opposite. It doesn’t help that they have memories of a past life distorting their view of her…

  “Is there anything we can do for her?” Alyssa asked.

  “…” I took a moment to think.

  We had considered telling Lloyd and Lna of her, but they are still swayed by their past memories, and sometimes still think of Evelyn as a threat. Also, I can tell that Evelyn doesn’t particurly trust them, or most people to be honest. At least she doesn’t dislike them. As far as we know, there is only one person she dislikes. The Fifth Prince Levi Altari of The Alterrai Kingdom… Considering that she jumped out of a window upon speaking with him, I fear that there may soon be another Diplomatic incident.

  “Maybe we should consider releasing her identity?” I mumbled.

  “Oh you know she won’t like that.” Alyssa said.

  “I suppose that’s true…” I sighed.

  Once before, we had asked if she wanted to spread the news of her powers, but she refused. Later we were informed by the Shadow guarding her that she seems to be enthralled by the idea of a “Secret Identity” or so she called it. Most would readily spread word of their accomplishments to the world, be it for fame or wealth. She was oddly humble in this regard. Well, as The Empire’s youngest Duchess, she isn’t cking in either.

  “Still, there is the issue of the Altari boy.” I said. “If possible, I wish to avoid having her troubled by him.”

  “Well…” Alyssa paused. “His behavior isn’t exactly admirable, and he does seem to be drawn to her.”

  Had this been any other student, this would greatly benefit us. Especially with his one sided decration of marriage. However, Evelyn was involved. Even if she didn’t have her goddess’s powers, she is still a Duchess with vast nds and assets. The issue with inheritance alone would be monumental. We can’t exactly let her go, especially given her abilities. Not only that, but many other kingdoms were eyeing her. As soon as she reaches age, she’ll no doubt be bombarded with proposals, requests and invitations from nobles across the continent.

  “What to do…” I asked,

  ““…”” The two of us thought for a moment.

  “We could inform the kings and leaders.” She suggested.

  “We could…” I slowly nodded.

  Given that everyone knows of “Melody’s” value, they would have a vested interest in avoiding her ire. It may let other kingdoms know to keep their own nobles in line. That being said, many would also attempt to draw her into their own kingdom. As hypocritical as it is to say this, Melody is too powerful to be left in the hands of any single kingdom. Looking at the communication device which was made exactly for this reason, I nodded.

  “Yes, we should.” I said. “As soon as she returns, we should speak to her about this.”

  “Hopefully things turn out well.” Alyssa said.

  “Fate has a habit of working things out for her.” I nodded.

  “That much is true.” She lightly ughed.

  Joining her, I couldn’t help but feel somewhat guilty. Though I called it fate, I know that it is Evelyn who beats the odds. Just like with the demons, I’m afraid that all we’ll end up doing is leaving her with the difficult job of taking care of things…

  Lna

  ***

  “I’m really sorry for this…” I whispered.

  “…” Evelyn kept quiet, looking straight ahead.

  Currently our and Evelyn’s groups were walking together in the forest. I want to say that this is a coincidence, but it just seems too convenient for Levi. Speaking of Levi, he was the reason for Evelyn’s silence… Proudly walking alongside her, he bragged about his accomplishment. Holding what looked to be a feral raccoon, with what looked to be a bark shell protecting it, he showed both it and his bloodied sword off.

  “-and its shell isn’t that tough when you know where to strike.” Levi bragged.

  Honestly it was an impressive strike that he managed to make, but I don’t know if bragging about this is a good idea. After all, Evelyn did hunt these things back when she was a kid. Given how successful her group has been, I doubt getting one raccoon like thing is that impressive to her. Gncing behind them, I saw the rest of Evelyn’s group. Being surrounded by high ranking nobles and royals, it was no surprise that they kept their heads down and were quiet.

  I gnced at Lloyd, but he was despondent. All of his attempts to redirect the conversation were ignored. To be honest I’m sure that anything short of hitting him would get his attention. Looking at the sword that was on my side, I debated the merits of hitting him with the ft side. No. I can’t cause an international incident just because he’s annoying. I really want to, but I can’t trouble Mom and Dad like that. Hopefully we get back to camp soon…

  Nissia

  ***

  “Do you think this is good enough?” I asked.

  In front of us were the bodies of five horned rabbits of various sizes. To be honest, there are alot of these guys around here. Even with as many that got away from us, we still managed to catch five of them. I suppose that with Melody killing all the big demons in the kingdom, these small guys are flourishing. They eat grass, so it’s not like they’re cking in any food. Wait… What if they eat all of the grass? Isn’t that going to be an environmental problem in the future? Yikes, we might need to do something about that. I’ll write to Dad and tell him to tell her about this next time she visits.

  “It should be.” Alice nodded.

  “Yeah, we got one for each of us and then a spare.” Jenna said.

  “It sounds weird to call it a spare.” Lidia said.

  “What should we call it?” Jenna asked.

  “Probably an extra like any normal person would.” Lidia said.

  “Oh I’m sorry. I didn’t realize I was surrounded by normal people.” Jenna said.

  “Do you think we can cook them?” I asked.

  “They are just like normal rabbits, so I guess.” Alice said.

  “Who’s going to clean it out?” Jenna asked.

  “Not me.” I quickly said.

  “Little miss chief, isn’t that your job?” Lidia asked.

  “I’m a baker, not a butcher.” I said.

  “Honestly, how different can they be?” Lidia asked.

  “Very different.” I said. “I bake bread, not gut it and empty it out.”

  “What about bread bowls?” Jenna asked.

  “I will strike you if you bring that up again.” I said.

  “I’m sorry?” Jenna said, unsure of herself.

  Honestly, I don’t understand bread bowls. Just use a normal bowl and have some bread on the side. You don’t need to hollow out a loaf and throw away most of the bread. The bread is the best part! It’s not just me who thinks that. My whole family hates them. Dad almost got into a fight over it. I almost joined him.

  “Well, we should head back. I’m starting to get hungry and I don’t want to get us sick by trying to butcher this thing out here.” Alice said. “Let’s just leave it to the kitchen staff.”

  “Good idea.” I nodded. “Who’s turn is it to carry them?”

  “Mine.” Jenna said.

  “Alright, let’s-” Lidia started.

  A short distance away, we heard talking and the rustling of the bushes. Looking over, we saw Lloyd and Lna’s group along with Evelyn’s. Wow Evelyn looks annoyed. Looks like they couldn’t get Levi away from her. I’d hate to be in her position.

  “We should go.” I said quietly.

  Not wanting to bring attention to ourselves, we worked as quietly and as quickly as we could. Don’t want to anger that prince with our presence… Wait… Turning from our spoils, I once more looked at their groups. Aside from the Prince and Evelyn’s friends, aren’t the main cast of the game all together? Oh no, this is some sort of event, isn’t it?

  From the bushes, in the direction we were going to be heading back to camp, we heard a growl. Turning our heads, we saw a pair of white wolves emerging, low to the floor and growling.

  “Back up slowly…” Evelyn said quietly as to not startle the wolves.

  “Is that…” Lna said.

  “Demonic wolves…” Evelyn said.

  No, those seem different. It’s almost familiar… Thinking about it, old memories resurfaced of my time pying the game. White wolf allies, no they weren’t wolves they were… Fenrir! What the hell!? Those are legendary monsters! What are they doing here!? They’re mid-game content to fight the Demon Lord’s minions! Wait! That can only mean one thing… We get to tame them! How should we go about doing this?

  “What should we-?” One of Evelyn’s friends, Charlotte, hesitated.

  “…” Evelyn was quiet.

  “Should we fight them?” Levi asked.

  No no no, that’s a bad idea! These guys are super dangerous! And useful! I’ve gotta have it! Gncing at my friends, I saw that they too were looking at the fenrir, judging its usefulness. Thinking quickly, I reached into the bag Jenna was carrying and pulled out a horned rabbit. Maybe it’ll understand that we aren’t a threat? The fenrir, the rger of the two, narrowed its eyes at me. Teeth still barred, though no longer growling, it stepped forwards.

  Okay, that’s scary. I don’t want to do this anymore. However, this rabbit was now the only thing that was between it and me, so I can’t exactly take it back. Okay just calm down. I’m a Saint. The Saint allies herself with some fenrir and she fights the Demon Lord. I’m a Saint. I mean you no harm. Please put away your teeth. As it stepped closer, I could feel my breath getting shallower and the surroundings getting cold. Be confident. I’m confident. I can do this. I’m a saint. My friends are saints. The main cast of the game is here. We can do this. Barely keeping myself together, I tried to stop myself from shaking. Sensing my fear, the fenrir changed its sight from the rabbit to me. At that moment there was a fsh of silver and sptter of blood. Gargling, the fenrir fell over as a familiar spear tore through its throat. Looking up in shock, I saw Evelyn, and froze. Even with her back to me I could feel the madness radiating off of her. The remaining fenrir howled in anger and soon magic started to fly.

  Evelyn

  ***

  As the wolf fell, the second let out a dreadful howl. It was the same howl that I heard long ago. The same one that sent the horses and my family’s carriage over the cliff. The wolf was preparing some sort of magic. But that was a secondary concern. I took a step towards the first wolf and crushed its head under my heel. Having seen that look in it’s eye, I knew that even with its throat like that it would still fight back unless I killed it. So I did exactly that.

  Turning just in time, I saw three bluish white bolts of magic flying my way. Using my spear, I swatted them out of the air. Given that I didn’t know what magic it was, I pyed it safe and used some of the power in my glove to activate the holy magic in my spear. Thanks to that, the spells were snuffed out.

  Running towards it, the creature once more howled. Hearing that, I was brought back to that night where demons ran through the camp. I remember hands grabbing me trying to escape and demons tearing into tents. I remembered the bodies and crawling through the bloodied dirt. Three icy specters appeared, all the same size as the wolf I had just killed. All at once they rushed towards me, with the original once more calling bluish white bolts of magic. The air turned cold and I jumped away from the magic. However they corrected their path and circled around towards me. Drawing one of my knives I injected it with magic from my glove and threw it towards the spells. Erupting in a white light, the spells shattered along with my knife.

  The first of the spectral wolves reached me. Striking it with the butt of my spear, I sent it away and then thrust at the second wolf. It dodged and the third lunged at me. Using my armored glove, I gave it a solid uppercut. As it fell I spun my spear around and stabbed it deep into the side of it. It let out a cry and colpsed into a pile of wet snow.

  From behind the second spectral wolf attacked but it was struck with the end of my spear. The third wolf quickly came up, as I relentlessly stomped on the wolf that cried out. Feeling cws dig into my back I was thrown forwards as more spells knocked my spear away from me.

  Rolling on the floor, I got to my feet with the wolf still on my back. The one I was previously stomping on charged at me. Reaching behind me I grabbed the jaw that was attempting to bite me. Feeling my fingers in it’s mouth it quickly bit me, but thanks to my gloves I won’t be losing any fingers today. Using all of my strength as well as the enhancements from my clothes, I pulled it off of my back, feeling it tear flesh from my back as I did so. And like I was swinging down a sledge hammer, I crushed the wolf that was charging me. Both of them disappeared into the same pile of wet snow.

  With three more spells heading my way, I dove towards my spear and used it to destroy the spells. The first two dissipated, however on the third, I ran out of magic in my gloves and spear. A heavy block of ice appeared at the top of the spear, forcing me to drop it. I was kind of happy since my fingers on my left hand felt a bit broken, but that didn’t matter at the moment.

  Locking eyes with the wolf, I drew my knife in my good hand and watched as it ran at me. Must have been low on magic given its actions. I didn’t have long to think as our bodies collided. Rolling on the floor, I nded on top. The wolf bit and cwed at me and I stabbed it, not caring at all about its attacks. I stabbed it again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again.

  The wolf bit my arm and my knife was frozen and shattered. As it cwed at me and tried to throw me off, but I punched it’s throat. I punched and punched and punched and punched and punched. It finally let go of me and it’s movements slowed. Now freed and it’s head exposed, I punched. Again and again I hit it. Over and over. Seeing blood coming out of it’s mouth, I was reminded of how I found Reani. I remembered how she looked after me and ate with me. How she would stay by my side and help me sleep. I remembered those demons that held down Aura and Bke and everyone else. It won't happen again.

  I kept punching and the blood kept flowing. The demon fell limp in its own blood, just like my parents who protected me to the very end. Who’s embrace I can still feel even now. I kept punching. Over and over. Again and again. Time and time again. I kept punching even as it’s broken teeth stabbed into my fists. An eye rolled out and stared at my friends. Don’t you dare look at them. I’m not losing them. I’m not losing anyone. Not this time. I kept punching the remnants of the head, crushing bone and smashing flesh as its head slowly turned into a pile of mush.

  Grayburne