He descended down with a pillar of blinding golden light. When he opened his eyes, there was a lot of destruction all around him. He took in the scenery in an instant. There were corpses of what seemed to be like soldiers with dismemberment or severe degree of burns, well they were still on fire. the trees around were either broken, toppled over or burning. There were broken carriages on the road and three ladies were huddled together behind two men who seemed to be casting some sort of barrier behind the wreckage. One of the women was wearing luxurious travelling attire while the other two were wearing maid uniforms. The men were wearing robes of white and blue. They must be magicians and the lady must be some rich woman. He surmised that and focused his attention on where the battle was still going. Five male soldiers and two female magicians were battling something like a giant lizard with wings. It didn’t have forearms.
‘This must be the staple of fantasy, dragon or wyvern. That shitty old man sent me here on purpose to mess with me.’
He thought.
‘Isn’t it terrible to call me a shitty old man? I’m like your father, treat me with some respect. Anyway, it seems you arrived safely. Now, knock out that wyvern and save the damsel in distress. Trust me, it’s good for you.’
He heard a voice in his head and decided to respond.
‘How the hell did you become my father? Also, I don’t know how to use magic yet, how am I supposed to fight that overgrown lizard? Also, don’t just casually read my mind, it’s an attack on my privacy, I’ll sue you.’
He complained as he watched the fight. The three women were now looking at him with hard to describe the expression on their faces and the radiance that came with him is gone now.
‘Use brute force, for now, you can do it. And I am the highest authority there is, where will you sue me? I’ll leave you to it now. Take care and have fun. Bye!’
With that, the voice in his head stopped and he focused his attention on the situation at hand. He picked up a nearby upper half of a tree lying about. Meanwhile, the wyvern turned to him and sent a 50-centimetre-wide ball of fire hurling towards him.
“What? Are we playing cricket? Or maybe baseball?”
He said and swung the long piece of wood like a bat at the coming fireball. The fireball and the wood exploded upon contact. The splinters came at very high speeds at him and the surroundings. He got a few scratches on his face and arms but nothing serious. He didn’t get any injuries on his chest or stomach, so he observed his clothes for the first time since he met the God and murmured,
“The old man changed my clothes too. He’s nicer than I thought. Not a single scratch on it. Maybe it’s protected by some sort of magic.”
He touched his clothes and felt the texture. It is thin and light enough but feels like made of some sort of silk and leather. The black coat had golden embroidery and buttons and belts attached while the shirt underneath is dark blue with hints of silver here and there. The black pants seem super expensive too. They are a perfect mixture of safety and comfort in one.
‘As expected of a God. It’s a fine piece of clothing. Maybe I’ll need to go and look at a mirror after this is done. I hope he didn’t change my appearance too much.’
He thought and switched his attention to the enemy in front of him. The wyvern had killed one more soldier and now there were six people challenging it. He heard them communicating with each other and lamenting their fate. And told them,
“Fall back you guys, I’ll take care of that guy. I don’t want to have to focus on collateral damage, and your getting out of the way will be greatly appreciated.”
He said as much and picked up a nearby rock the size of about 60 centimetres in diameter and threw it towards the wyvern’s chest. The rock got destroyed on contact and also did some damage. The wyvern that was toying with the soldiers until now was toppled over and fell on its back. There was a thunderous sound and many trees broke from the weight as the 20-metre-tall monster touched the earth beneath. The soldiers seemed convinced of something and fell back to where the three women from earlier were. In the meantime, the wyvern got up.
‘That thing is seriously tough. I thought the stone will deal more damage, but instead, it broke.’
He thought and ran towards the wyvern. Avoided the incoming fire breath and jumped to its face, punching him afterwards. The creature almost fell over again but somehow managed to keep its balance. It swung its leathery wing towards him but he just kicked it away and fell back. Picked up a boulder larger than last time and aimed at the chest. The same thing happened and the wyvern fell over with a shriek. He wanted to buy time which he did. He swiftly moved to the people waiting behind and asked,
“Can you guys give me your spears? Also, tell me where is that creature’s weakness, that’ll be helpful.”
One of the girls that were fighting the wyvern earlier gave him a spear she took from the soldier she was standing with and said,
“Its skin is super tough so it’ll be difficult to pierce him but it has a heart on the right side of its chest or you can pierce his brain, which will be even more difficult. Slashing its throat might work too.”
She also passed him a bastard sword with the other hand as she said that. Her hands were trembling but the expression on her now reddened face was strangely ecstatic as she passed him the weapons. He took the weapons from her and said,
“Thank you. I’ll take care of that thing if these weapons don’t break. Remember to throw one at me if they do break. It’ll be easier than coming back here to get it. That rich lady’s leg is bleeding too much, do something about that. Also, you people are also beaten up pretty badly, first aid should be your priority. Running away won’t work seeing as that thing can fly but not taking care of your injuries as soon as possible is stupidity.”
And took off towards the wyvern that was getting up again. He picked up a murmur as he went,
“How is he so calm in this situation? Who is he?”
It seems his attitude was not appropriate for the situation. He ran in a zigzag pattern to avoid incoming attacks and jumped. Slashed at the creature’s throat and fell back. The sword’s blade was stuck halfway in the wyvern’s neck and the hilt was in his hands.
“I used too much force.”
He murmured and threw the spear to its chest. It passed cleanly through. leaving a trail of blood. After flailing around for a little while, the creature’s movements stopped. there was blood gushing out of the hole in the chest and a slash in the neck.
“That was pretty intense for the first fight in a magic world.”
He said to no one in particular and walked over to the people he took the weapons from.
“The wyvern’s dead. You’re welcome. Now, tell me. Which way is the nearest town? I need to find food, water and shelter before the sun goes down.”
He said this to people in front of him as he remembered how long has it been since he last slept. He was killed while taking a walk before sleeping and then he was in that senseless room for who knows how long. After that when he came here he had to fight. Now he was hungry, thirsty and a little tired. But as soon as he said that, the people in front had indescribable look on their faces and their eyes wide open. Their most dangerous wounds were now closed, he just assumed there must be some sort of healing magic in this world and didn’t ask about it. The magician who was guarding the rich lady earlier took off his white protective leather hat and spoke with a look of disbelief on his bearded and slightly wrinkled face.
“That’s the first thing you say after a dangerous situation like that?”
‘It is a valid question.’ He thought and replied,
“Look, I’ve been through something even more absurd than that just before this happened but talking about it is not going to change anything. I’m thirsty, hungry and, tired. So, that is my priority right now. can you help me with that, please? You don’t have to do anything more than tell me where the next town is and I’ll be on my way.”
They were silent for a few seconds, but the one he had assumed to be a rich lady told something to one of the maids and came out front. She curtsied and introduced herself.
“I’m Teresa Rix Trinae. The first queen of the Trinae kingdom. I appreciate your help in this matter. It will be sunset soon and there is not a single town that can be reached from here in that short amount of time in any direction.”
While she was introducing herself, the maid from earlier came back with a glass filled with water and presented it to him. He prioritized the water over the talk as his stomach in his newly created body was completely empty. It had neither water nor food, so he was almost desperate for it. He took the water and gulped it down at once. Passed the glass back to the maid and asked for more water. Her hands were still shaking because of the near-death experience. but she complied. After he was satisfied, he turned to the queen and plainly introduced himself.
“Hello. I’m Kaminaga Akito. Nice to meet you. I was hoping to find food and shelter before it got dark but it seems I’ll be travelling in the dark. Anyway, point me in the direction of the nearest town or city. I’ll be grateful if you could do that.”
The queen had a troubled expression on her face and the other magician who was guarding her earlier spoke up before she could respond.
“You should kneel when you talk to the queen. Don’t you have that much common sense? What kind of attitude is that while talking to the queen? You also prioritized water over her earlier. That too was extremely rude behaviour. Did nobody ever teach you, how to treat royalty?”
He seemed angry as his face was red and his voice a little bit like shouting. He assumed he must be military personnel from the fact that he was guarding the queen. He had also removed his headgear showing his mix of red and white hair and forehead with slight burn marks. Akito just looked straight into his eyes and spoke with a nonchalant attitude just like before.
“Look, I don’t care who you people are. It’s my personal rule that I don’t kneel or obey authority just because it’s authority. If you have a problem with that, then quit paying attention to me and focus on something else or keep it to yourself. Also, I don’t know how royalty and nobility are supposed to be treated and I don’t even have any interest in that at the moment. I thought maybe you had some sort of human kindness and will show me the way, but I guess not.”
He said as much and started looking around for some reason.
‘I should be able to see at least a little further if I climb on the tallest tree around.’
He thought as he kept looking around. The queen was in a stupor as she had never been treated like that. She felt as if she was completely ignored. So she was lost for a moment. She broke out of that and glared at the magician from earlier.
“He saved our lives. We should be grateful not pompous like you are being. Stop that and fall back this instant.”
The magician retreated with a dissatisfied expression on his face. The queen then focused her attention on Akito again and spoke up.
“Kaminaga-sama, I apologised for the rudeness of my subordinate. I hope you can forgive him.”
He replied without any intonation of anger or dissatisfaction in his voice while looking at her.
“I don’t mind. It’s your common sense and I don’t abide by it. I can see some people getting angry at that. It’s all good.”
The queen heaved a sigh of relief and continued,
“Thank you. I’d like you to stay with us for now. I also want you to travel with us to the capital so that we can properly reward you for your help this time around. You see, we have lost much manpower and the capital is still a few days away. It’ll be reassuring to have you around and you will be properly compensated when we reach the capital for your escort services.”
“That’s a good offer for me, as I also want to visit the capital city too. But, it might get troublesome if the people around you keep getting angry at me. That can lead to security issues for you.”
He said as he wiped the blood off of his chin with a handkerchief he took out from his coat pocket. The few scratches he had gotten from earlier fights were already healed. The queen replied to him without wasting any time,
“It won’t be a problem. Please join us.”
And so he agreed to join them on the journey to the capital.
