Chapter five

" Father, I have returned." A young man declares as he barges into a room unannounced.

His red hair shimmering as if set on fire. With a clearly hardened face that depicts him as a warrior, he stands at an impressive six foot with a musculature that would make ladies swoon. Dressed in what can only be called a warriors garb covered in a silver cloak made from the fur of an obviously fierce creature.

He wrinkles his nose in disgust as he sends a faint glare to his 'Father' who is laying on a large bed while being attended to by four beast women.

" Ah Nahand, you returned rather fast." The man spoke just as he went down on one of his 'women'. "I take it that the investigation was without issues then." He smiled, watching one of the beast women moan in ecstasy, her eyes glazed over from the pleasure.

Nahand turned his gaze to the floor as he frowned.

" We had to retreat father." He braced himself.

Silence immediately arrested the room as his father paused.

" What was that?" His father spoke very slowly, his tone sounding nothing like a question.

" I said...." Nahand's words were immediately halted in his throat as the room immediately erupted in flames.

" Aaaahhh!!" " Aaaahhh!!" Aaaahhh!!" "Plea.... Aaaahhh!!!".

Nahand could only flinch as the beast women were immediately burnt from his father's power. Their bodies charring in the time it took for his father to stand.

Covered by flames from head to toe. Nahand's father looked like the incarnation of a demon from hell as he stood to his full height. If Nahand was considered tall, then his father was considered a giant. Standing at an astounding eight foot, his father was a large hunk of a man.

The flames slowly vanished and in their place, flame like armor covered him from his chest to his feet.

He took a step and Nahand felt like he was carrying a dozen giants on his shoulders. His knees buckled and he struggled to breathe. His shimmering hair now felt like a candle compared to his father's presence.

' What a monster' Nahand sighs in his mind. 'The man known as the Monarch of Flames, Garuth Starblaze. Such blistering heat. My flame resistance can't keep up.'

" Say that again boy!" 'Garuth' speaks, his voice echoing with a heaviness that could rival mountains. " You...retreated?!! Were you that weak that those Pelverians could chase you away." Standing before his son, he looks down on him with steam blowing through his nostrils.

" P....Pelveria is no more, father." Nahand immediately stutters, barely conscious at this point.

" What?.'" Garuth exclaims in shock and the flames immediately die down as the room rapidly cools.

Nahand takes advantage of his father's shock to speak again. " The kingdom of Pelveria is no more. I couldn't find any semblance of the kingdom or it's people. It's as if it's been erased from the surface of the world." He finally calms down enough to speak normally " Whatever that disturbance we felt a month ago was.." he didn't need to complete his sentence for his father to understand the seriousness of the situation.

" What did the other kingdoms decide on?." Garuth asks his son, walking back to his bed.

" There's been no word." Nahand immediately answers.

" And the king?" Sitting on the bed, Garuth pours himself a glass of scorching red wine.

" He has ordered a summon of the seven sins." Still standing, Nahand answers.

Taking a long sip from his cup Garuth sighs." Makes sense, the empire's bound to make a move over this."

" Father if I may, whatever this is, it could very well endanger our whole world. The kingdom of Pelveria is gone father, completely destroyed. Is now really the best time to fight between ourselves?" Nahand asks, with confusion in his eyes.

" You're a fool, Nahand. I don't give a damn about the world, the empire cares even less. Get your priorities straight boy. The empire still dares to covet what doesn't belong to her. When is the summon?" Garuth takes another sip of his Drake heart wine. ( because why not.)

" In two weeks, apparently the witch queen will be attending." Nahand bows his head as he prepares to leave.

" Go, prepare the zairas. And tell finnas to send the next batch." Garuth relaxes, though a glint can be seen in his eyes.

Nahand can only pity the next women that would service his father.

///////////////////////

A black carriage pulled by two horses slowed down on its descent towards a fairly large city.

" We made it." Yui popped her head out of the left side window with a smile on her face.

" That's dangerous Yui. You could hurt yourself....or the carriage. Let's not break the carriage." Chrome chuckled as Yui pulled her head back in.

" Ehehe, sorry Chrome. It's so exciting. Are we going to join a guild? Do they have guilds? How many guilds do they have? Maybe we should start a guild." Yui rants in high speed, shaking her twin sister vigorously.

" Slow down there, Yui. Let's get in first." Chrome glances at Maple who has a wide smile on her face as she cheers alongside Yui and his smile fades.

/ Two days ago /

" I'm gonna call you.....hmmn.. what should I call you?" Maple chuckles as she nuzzles the dark fur of the undead 'Gorilla bear' she and Yui are riding.

" I don't think you should name it. It's not exactly an actual pet." Chrome says just as the 'Gorilla bear' nuzzles Maple with a low growl. "Or maybe it is? I can't tell yet what my powers do now." He laughs.

" Look a carriage. Up ahead." Mai points into the distance.

Looking into the distance, the group spot a carriage with people and a commotion. " Looks like an attack." Maple murmurs.

On a closer look at the commotion, they finally realize what's actually going on.

Bandits.

The carriage is currently being attacked by a large group of bandits.

Some people who look like adventurers at first glance can be seen resisting them.

" We have to go and help them." Without any hesitation, Maple jumps off the undead gorilla bear and starts running towards the carriage.

" Maple wait." Chrome yells at Maple but she doesn't listen. " Damn it, this isn't good."

////

With a large swing, Tiilecus cuts off the final adventurer's head. Calming his breath, he surveys their recent catch. A merchant had hired a group of adventurers for protection. Normally that would probably be bad for him and his crew, But he knew two of the adventuring group and with a bit of bargaining they slipped out unawares, leaving the last group of adventurers along with the merchant to a cruel fate.

Glancing to his left, he takes note of the magician laying lifeless on the floor. Such a beautiful lady, she would have made him a lot of money. It's too bad he had gutted her himself, magic is a game changer after all.

He watched as his boys dragged the driver all the way to his feet.

" Hello Luwy, you remember us don't you?" He smiles as Luwy squirms under his boot." Just one merchant? You're starting to dull our business. I really like what we've got going here. You don't want to ruin that do you." He slowly places his dagger to Luwy's throat.

" Pl...lease spa...s.... spare me " Luwy struggles to speak as he chokes on his own spit.

" Ya see, I would. But business isn't booming like it used to. We're moving to greener pastures. Fortunately for us and unfortunately for you, you're the only loose end left to tie." Tiilecus makes a small incision in Luwy's cheek as he smiles.

Luwy begins struggling even more, fearing for his life as tears run down his face.

" Boss." Tiilecus pauses with a groan as he turns to one of his men.

" Look over there, there's someone coming." The bandit points.

" Huh" looking in the distance Tiilecus spots a....young girl?? " What's she doing all the way out here." He wonders.

The young girl finally makes it to the bandits who're shocked a young woman is running towards them and not away.

" Weird armor" Tiilecus wonders "Doesn't matter though, she looks like she fetch a nice price."

" Capture her." He simply states.

////

Maple crosses the distance between her and the carriage in a surprisingly short amount of time.

She's too late however as the fight is already over by the time she makes it.

" Stop, you bandits. Stop terrorising these...these..." Finally at the site of the battle, she freezes. Blood stains the road as body parts are littered around. A head right next to her feet, she stumbles backwards. Turning her head she looks into the dead eyes of a young woman, a hole in her stomach with her intestines spread beneath her.

" Oh? Looky here, we have our selves a hero." A rough looking bearded man laughs, his daggers sending a chill down Maple's back.

" And here I was, thinking I ran out of luck. The great Suho must be watching me today." Maple doesn't even register the man speaking anymore. All she sees are the blood and the corpses, each one seeming to stare at her accusingly.

She doesn't notice when one of the bandits grabs her, or when his arms gets lopped off the next instant.

" Maple!! Maple!!" Chrome calls out to her. Now standing between Maple and the bandits. " Damnit, She's in shock. Mai, Yui take her into the carriage."

" Right." " Okay." Mai and Yui grab Maple and drag her into the carriage, shutting the door. They immediately open the door to throw out the corpse of it's resident, in this case, the merchant.

" Oh, an actual knight. Knew something was off." One of the bandits twirls his daggers as he smiles.

' That must be their boss.' Chrome's mind races to come up with a solution to help Maple. " You must be the leader here." He speaks, trying to make himself look like he didn't want a fight, while still carrying his cleaver.

" Yes I am? The name's Tiilecus, and I manage this motley crew." The leader spreads his arm to signify.

" I am called Chrome. What're the chances you just ignore us. We go our separate ways." Chrome asks. ' please just say yes, Maple isn't in her right mind right now. Damnit, I don't want her to see any of this. She's still a kid.' He keeps a straight face while wondering.

" No can do Sir Chrome. It's unfortunate but we can't have any witnesses. loose ends if you get the gist." Tiilecus answers with a hungry smile. 'Three young girls for the taking, luck smiles on me oh great Suho.'

' it can't be avoided huh.' Chrome sighs. "So you can't have any witnesses huh? It's unfortunate, but neither can we."

A silent nod is all it takes for the bandits to descend on Chrome.

A bandit immediately stabs his dagger towards Chrome's face while another swings his sword towards Chrome's left leg.

Blood spills and Tiilecus pales.

Chrome had ducked low in a spin relieving the first bandit of the upper half of his body. Then cleaving through the second bandit's head before ending his spin.

It had happened in an instant, and apart from Tiilecus, no one else had seen what happened.

Maybe it was the fear, or the confidence in their numbers or just plain foolishness, the rest of the bandits attacked at once.

Tiilecus tries to call for a retreat but is ignored as their fear overwhelms them.

" Aaaahhh, die" a bandit charges in with spear but is expertly parried by Chrome, leaving his midriff open for a kick that sends him into another bandit in an explosion of blood and gore.

Chrome swings his cleaver, and three heads fly.

" H..hey... That's enough.." Tiilecus stutters.

Chrome swings his shield, and two bandits turn to bloody paints on trees.

" W..where did that even come from." Tiilecus cries.

Chrome crushes a bandit's head with his foot.

" S....s.surrender. we surrender." Tiilecus lays on the floor in tears. It's too late however, and he's the only one still left alive.

Looking down at the man laying on the floor before him, Chrome raises his cleaver.

" Chrome!!" He hears a voice and looks back to see a pale Maple watching him." Maple, you shouldn't see this. Please go inside."

" I'm fine Chrome. Just stop.....okay." Maple puts on a strained smile.

Looking at Maple, Chrome feels a pang in his heart. He can see her trying to hold back tears, her eyes already red.

" Fine." His cleaver and shield disappears as he walks towards the driver who's still shaking underneath the carriage.

" Hey driver." He calls.

" Ehh? Is it over?." Luwy peeks outside from beneath the carriage, before crawling out.

" Oh thank you. Thank you so much. My name is Luwy, I'll take you wherever you wanna go just name it. It's the least I could do." Shaking Chrome's hand he immediately cries tears of joy.

" Uhm can you take us to the nearest city?" Chrome asks with a tired smile.

" Ah you mean Furan, then sure. I can take you, I can definitely take you." Luwy practically screams in cheer his answer."But what are you going to do about that bandi..."

Boom

Looking back immediately, Chrome notices that Tiilecus is gone and in his place, was a large black hammer with green accents. Blood spilling from the ground beneath it.

" Mai!!!" Maple screams in horror as she watches Mai raise her hammer.

" Mai?" Chrome raises a brow.

" I know what you were doing Chrome, and I figured I might as well try it too." Mai answers as she slowly stops her hammer wielding arm from shaking.

' she was trying to see if she could kill without hesitation.' Chrome wonders, still watching her. ' but, she still hesitated, that's good. She's still there.'

" W..why, Mai what happened!!" Maple is still visibly shaken.

" Don't worry Maple, I was just checking something." Mai answers straight forwardly.

" It was you or them missy, don't ever feel regret for ridding this world of bandits." Luwy smiles as he tries to cheer up Maple.

After taking a deep breath, Maple smiles. " It's fine, I'll be fine."

Chrome wants to say something but decides to give her time.

Everyone gets into the carriage and Luwy leads them towards the city of Furan.

Where more adventure awaits.

" Hey Chrome what happened to the gorilla bears?"

" Huh, oh yeah I released them."

" That seems dangerous"

" It's probably okay. I think."

" Onward, to Furan my friends. The City of Magic."

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Author here. This took so long to write, I couldn't bring myself to stop and when I did, it just looked weird even to me. But I have to drop it anyway because I don't really know what I'm doing.

I just happened to have a story I want to share with the world.

What did you think about this chapter.