1 The Protagonist is Adam

Sounds of the galloping of a horse could be heard from afar. Five knights following a man wearing fancy armor seemingly not for battle rather as a symbol for status. A few caravans were being towed by a few more men behind them.

Treading through the lands they come across a rural village. The residents within living about their daily lives, men tending to the crops, kids playing and running about, women doing housework.

The villagers noticed the 6 men approaching their village on horseback.

An elderly man vigorously spoke out, "Dear heavens! Everyone! This a raid, arm yourselves to the teeth we will go down fighting till the last man!"

*Bonk*

The elderly man fell on the ground holding his head that has now a bump, in pain.

A woman beside him retorted while holding a frying pan, "What are you blabbering about? What kind of bandits wear knight armor? Even then, what do you think they hope to gain from this village?"

*Bonk*

"Ow! Of course, it's simple! They will take our men for slavery, our women for pleasure, our kids sold for cash! This why I must lead the resistance against-"

*Bonk*

"What kind of idiot are you? We live in a literal wasteland, our men are weaker than our women, our women are so ugly even monsters run away from them and our kids, hais, I even saw one of them make a giant bear bow down before him while hitting it with a stick. What's more, when that stick broke the giant bear cried while frantically burying his head into the groundbreaking the language barrier trying to say sorry!" the buck-toothed woman angrily retorted.

While both of them were arguing the party of horsemen entered the village.

The fancy armor-wearing man spoke in a loud voice audible to all, "I am Sir Steward Von Leonard, from the Leonard Household. I come to this barren village due to the orders of His Majesty the King. Who is the chief of this village?"

The elderly man cried out as he jumped from the ground into a proper fighting stance, "I am! I challenge you to a duel, if I win you shall not bother this village anymore. If I lose, then do what you will."

Fighting intent welled inside the elderly man as if he was a grand warrior that lived through countless battles.

Sir Steward confused said, "What are you talking about? We are adopting children with potential to be enrolled in a school for the betterment of the kingdom. I assure you we bear no ill will."

"Nonsense! Men attack!"

After saying that the elderly man blew a horn.

*Bonk*

This time the elderly man dropped down for good.

The buck-toothed woman calmly said, "I apologize, good sir, this man has gone senile. Anyways, do carry on with what you were saying."

"Ahem. We will provide all the basic needs that they may need and will allot a time once a year to visit their families back. We will also accommodate the families of those children with sufficient compensation."

"Ah, I see. Well, no problem! No problem whatsoever! I will get all the children in the village here all at once so that you may check their potential. Children! Come now, these good sirs have come to give you a better life than here in the village." The buck-toothed woman gathered children at a quick pace so if she rehearsed this many times.

Sir Steward seemed a little confused.

"Oh? What seems to be the matter?"

"You seem to be so willing to letting these children go, it's just a little confusing."

"The reason is simple you see, we are starving since there we are living in the wasteland and-"

"The crops seem to be flourishing though? I can see the warehouse full of food literally right behind you. Quite odd since this is a wasteland and all."

"Ah, is that so? Well, no need to lie to you the real reason is that there are still bandits roaming around and about and we would rather-"

A man wearing light armor from behind Sir Steward interjected, "Hmm? That man below you from the stance he had earlier seemed skilled though? At least strong enough to compete with one of the knights here. There is also you who seemingly just slammed him in the head but was faster than his reaction. I highly doubt common bandits would hinder your village."

"Enough! Why are you so willing to let these children go?"

"Well... you see, I don't want these children to be corrupted as well. So I beg you to take them with you before they succumb to the corruption."

The women took a bow and sincerely voiced out.

"An illness that only targets children? Seems serious, come medics let us see what kind of disease this is."

"Sir, it's not a disease but a child."

"A... child? A devil's incarnate, huh? This seems more serious than I thought, come, men, we will subjugate this devil before it spreads throughout the land."

"No sir, he isn't possed rather he holds extremely dangerous ideas. He already spread his influence throughout the other children."

"Oh? Is that the case, then I wish to meet this young man."

A minor tremble suddenly occurred, beasts of all kinds and sizes surfaced from the woods, underground and, even from the skies.

"What's happening?"

"The sun is getting blocked out!"

"The earth is shaking!"

Fear and confusion filled the knights as they witnessed a seemingly impossible scene. In this scene, Sir Steward and the lightly armored man were still calm.

A horn that sounded exactly like the elderly man blew on earlier was heard in an even louder fashion.

"Squadron 1 and Squadron 2, left flank! Squadron 3 and Squadron 4, right flank! Squadron 5, standby from above." An extremely childish voice gave orders.

On the left flank of the knights were big beasts and reptilian monsters. On the right flank, armored monsters and ranged monsters were raging out. From above, multiple kinds of birds blocked out the sun reducing the visibility below.

"Richard! Stop this instant! They are not bandits! Ronald, wake the hell up! Tell them to stop or I'll break your damn skull!" Right after the buck-toothed woman forcefully gripped Ronald's skull waking him up.

"Ahhhh! Ow, ow, ow, ow! Stop it hurts! Richard, it's a false alarm! False alarm!"

*Bonk*

The elderly man once again laid on the cold ground.

Immediately after, the bird retreated and light once again touched the land below. The knights never knew how warm the light was.

"Tch, I got worked up for nothing."

Richard on top of the king of the birds dropped down from an unbelievable height followed by a few birds following him, above those birds were a few scary-looking children. Richard was then caught by a slime looking monster and landed safely.

The beasts went back as if nothing ever happened in the beginning.

Sir Steward with his voice trembling said, "Say, is he the child you were telling me about?"

"Yes, now you can see how bad of an influence he is towards the other children. So if you would please take them before it is too late."

Sir Steward came closer to Richard."Say, Richard. How would you like to spread your wings and soar? The kingdom is in need of people like you."

"The kingdom, huh? Why should I? I don't need you or anyone else's help, I can do anything on my own. Like for example, beating you down to the ground."

Richard put out his hand and made a fist facing his thumb down.

"I see you are arrogant due to your trait, lets make a deal kid."

Sir Steward threw out a steel sword towards Richard.

"If you can beat my friend here then you can ask a favor from me, if you lose then you follow me back. How about it?"

Sir Steward pointed at the man behind him, it was the only knight wearing light armor, the same person who spoke out earlier.

Richard narrowed his eyes and smirked.

"Seems easy enough. I got a better offer, both of you come at me. That way you can't back out."

The man wearing light armor spoke out, "Hahahaha! You sure are funny kid, only I am needed. As a reward for making me laugh, I'll tell you my name. It's Hans."

Richard let out fighting intent as he dashed forward. Hans stood there with a smile on his face seemingly waiting for Richard.

Richard thrust his sword towards Hans but Hans simply stood still. His sword made contact with Hans' armor but it didn't pierce through no matter how hard Richard tried. Shocked, he leaped back.

"Interesting, then I'll show you a little something too."

Mana gathered around Richard's body and entered the steel sword.

Sir Steward said with amazement, "Oh? It seems like this little gifted one seems even more gifted than I thought. Hans don't break his heart too much, alright?"

"Hahahaha! Of course, of course! We still need someone like him to join the ranks."

Richard finished enhancing the steel sword. It now glowed a blue hue then suddenly turned red. He dashed again towards Hans at a faster speed than earlier.

Hans seemed quite interested in the red hue around the sword. Richard once again attacked with a thrust yet the same thing happened. The sword didn't pierce through Hans' armor.

"Yawn. If this is all you got then it's my turn."

Hans lazily attacked but Richard couldn't dodge. Richard took damage as he was blown back a shallow slice appeared on his chest.

"I guess it's too much to expect from a kid who hasn't even learned basic combat yet. Well you already lost, let's go already."

Sir Steward said, "Well since you are still young, so are already showing enough potential to be an elite. Don't be too hard to yourself, you shine in a battlefield, not on a duel."

"Dammit, I lost to one person before only its two. I'll make sure I get my revenge."

After saying comforting words, the medics were assigned to heal Richard and accompanied him towards the caravan.

A few kids went to Sir Steward.

"Sir please take us with you."

"We want to follow Boss."

"We are also strong!"

The buck-toothed woman said, "I told you they are already corrupted, might as well take them along. Richard's idealogy made them train like maniacs. If that's all then I will bring the other kids back. Finally, some peace and quiet back in the village."

"All right, we got more than we expected. Say, who are Richard's parents?"

"Who knows? We just found him alongside Adam abandoned in a carriage."

"So I am assuming Adam is Richard's brother?"

"I don't know either, the majority of these kids were adopted in that same carriage, Adam and Richard just so happened to be beside each other."

"So where is Adam? There might be another promising youngling here."

"I don't think you would want to associate yourself with Adam, to be perfectly honest."

"Oh, why is that?"

"Look behind you."

Sir Steward looked behind him and noticed one of the caravans missing. He asked the other knights where it went and got no answers.

Sir Steward gazed at the buck-toothed woman and frantically asked, "What's going on?"

"Adam happened, you see he is a bit, eccentric. As well as being the embodiment of greed. You might as well head back, you'll find him when you get back to the kingdom. Though I guess he will only show up in name but don't take my word for it." The buck-toothed woman gave a bitter laugh afterward.

"Why so?"

"The number of times I managed to catch him after age 8 can be counted on one hand. The last time I managed to see him was when he turned 11, last year."

"Last... year?"

"Yeah, that kid sure has some weird hobbies. I remember Richard saying that Adam attacked him, he made him call out Gem Golems and forced them to mine underground and offer it to an altar. After that, it disappeared as soon as he placed the gems. We never knew what he did with it."

"So, is it safe to assume that Adam is stronger than Richard?"

"Oh, nononono! Richard is leagues above Adam its just he fights is really dirty. Like that one time, Richard was bathing and Adam took his clothes and called his subordinates. Also, at that time when he was sleeping, Adam put Richard's hand on a water bucket and blackmailed him. That time when Adam made Richard go on a treasure hunt only to find his base fully looted. I can go on, you know."

Sir Steward threw a sack of gold towards the buck-toothed woman.

"No need, I fully understand. Here, some gold for the trouble. Since the village cared for them it is only right to offer proper compensation. We will be off."

"Take care."

The knights sent off back to the kingdom. Meanwhile, the children were cramped due to one missing caravan.

The elderly man woke up, he gazed into the distance and asked the buck-toothed woman, "So Amanda, how long do you think until Richard manages to rise to fame? He does have the Beast King trait."

"Not long, but I am more inclined on Adam's origins. He knew something was wrong and hid from us, though I don't know where he got that greed."

"Well, I am certain that Richard will go on and become a hero like myself was once was."

"What hero? You just made trouble everywhere you went! Don't forget you are the sole reason why this place is a wasteland in the first place!"

And thus the peace in the village finally settled in and the story of Adam started.