Vrusta Kingdom... Has Not Yet Fallen!

Chirp... Chirp, Chirp Chirp! Fluttering birds chirped throughout the vast woodlands while I laid facing timber trees on the freezing grass.

My head... it hurts. I picked myself up and dusted the leaves off my clothing. My Vrusta Uniform was dirtied from laying on the dirt, brown streaks smudged all over the white flexible material.

More importantly... that voice still lingered in my head. It was full of malicious intent with what it said.

The Demon King... has been reborn?

A flashback of the dining hall appeared in my mind. The sight of seeing the cheery King assassinated, his head all splattered on the dining table, with moments before he had congratulated me for allegedly sealing back the Demon King.

But I didn't do that. Who knows who did? But what matters now... the King is dead. I witnessed that with my own eyes. Not a chance he survived that.

I didn't know what to feel, whether sadness or grief. After all, I was from an entirely different Kingdom. I don't even know how I wound up in Vrusta Kingdom. Despite that... I don't know what caused the King to promote me, a lowly level Farmer, to the Captain of Vrusta's forces.

Actually, that was a lie. I did know why, but I didn't believe it.

Was it really because of the same prophecy that almost had me killed?

Undoubtedly, the whole Kingdom, no, the entire Land and other Kingdoms would mourn the death of the Supreme King. After all, there was almost like a Kingdom hierarchy, with Vrusta being the most important and powerful Kingdom in the land. Ah! Something clicked in my head. About the other Kingdoms...

The King had left me with the responsibility of investigating the nearby castles of the other kingdoms. But, well, now that he was dead, I wonder if that still applied...

C-r-u-n-c-h! Leaves snapped from behind me as a familiar body lied sprawled out on the comfort of the leafy bedding atop the grass.

I carefully approached the small body, till I realized who it was.

Mareii!

I collapsed to my knees and glanced at her face. There were minor gashes all over on her cheek and lips, and the whiteness of her Nurse dress had been washed away into a tainted gray because of the greenery of the foresty field. Her vibrant blue hair was dirtied, with leaves all in it as her eyes stayed closed.

I slipped my hand onto her forehead, checking for a temperature. Fortunately, her body heat wasn't high. However, with the state she was in, I wasn't expecting her to wake up soon. I didn't try to check for a heartbeat for a number of reasons...

Instead, I activated the 2nd category of my skill: Manifestation Power Ranking. Instantly, a much more detailed description of Mareii appeared.

Full Name: Mareii Dinqii

Age: 17

Nationality: Vrusta

Health: 2342/1007436

[Class] - Medic/Healer

[Weapon] - Dagger

[Strength] 178411

[Speed] 629245

[Defense] 1007436

[Intelligence] 976325

[Perserverance/Morale] 125

[Luck] 45

[Total] 2792135

[Main Skill 1] Instant Heal

[Main Skill 2] Buff/Nerf

Goodness! Was this really the same sweet Mareii that I had known? Well, to be fair, it makes sense for her to be overly powerful. After all, she was part of the Vrusta council.

Luckily, since my power was rare, it came along with what we called 'Categories.' These are basically just different forms people can use to utilize their power in a stronger way. Except for me... all it really did was provide extra details about the targeted person.

I took a glance back at her health... which it's maximum stat was amazingly high, but I had gotten used to seeing high numbers when it came to people like her. More importantly, her current health was at it's all time low. If this continued, she'd... something bad would happen.

I can't let that happen! Not after all she's done for me. But, the fastest way to make her regain her energy was through food... My stomach grumbled at the thought of food. Any food. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to take a single bite of food at the Banquet, because, well...

I shivered, a chill went down on my spine as I remembered what happened. I cleared that image out my head, though.

Maybe I should look for food... But where the hell even are we!? I took a look at our surroundings. It was... an enclosed woodland, with a meadow of grass accompanying the forest scenery. There wasn't much to say about it, except that the number of towering trees made it difficult for sunlight to pass through, and the occasional chirping of the birds.

I didn't want to leave Mareii behind, but it was my best bet. Especially if her health kept depleting. Who knows, maybe she'd be awake by the time I brought something. Assuming if I was lucky to even find the slightest bit of food.

I departed from where Mareii rested, stumbling forward to look for some type of fruit or berry. Leaves were scattered around the ground, and every step I took was followed by the sound of crunchy leaves.

After a few minutes of exploring, I had finally found something worthy to be considered food. A whole stash and bush of blueberries... and Strawberries! Hahhh... my stomach roared at the sight.

I approached the berries. Step by step, crunch by crunch. I was about to start collecting them, until...

Whooosh! A rock flied past me and hit a nearby tree. I turned around, and behind me was a goblin preparing to throw up another rock at me. Shit... a goblin?!? In this forest!?

Instinctively, I dashed for cover behind a nearby tree, out of the goblins sight. I picked up a sharp rock on the ground and dashed towards another tree. Phooosh! The goblin threw another rock but missed terribly. I threw the rock past another tree, diverting the attention to another spot. The goblin picked up on it and headed in that direction.

I grabbed a sharp pointed tree branch and waited patiently behind a tree. Once the goblin has its back turned, I carefully snuck up behind it, avoiding the spots with crackling leaves to avoid making any noise. As I caught up, I whistled and the goblin turned to face me, but it was too late for the monster. As soon as it turned around, I pierced its eye with the end of the tree branch, and it collapsed on the ground. I pushed the branch as far as it could go, blood flowing out of the monsters eye and from there it was paralyzed. Hah!

Whew, that was close. If the goblin hadn't missed on the first attack, I would've been goblin food!

I went up and collected the blueberries and strawberries, fitting as many of them as I could into my hands and pockets. Just as I had finished, I heard the snap of a twig and crunch of the leaves behind me once again.

Almost a whole hoard of goblins stared afar at me, watching me collect the berries. I let out a groan. There were more than I could count... if I had a weapon, it'd be a lot easier to deal with these lowly scum!

But I don't have a weapon! What am I supposed to do... Ah. Right, my only hope in a situation like this when I was far outnumbered...

RUNNNN! Thud thud thud, crunch crunch crunch, I took off running and an angry hoard of goblins chased after me. I took a sharp turn to the left and accidentally dropped behind me a couple of berries. A few of the goblins stopped and ate up the berries, but most of them kept following me.

That's right! I remember reading in a book once how easily goblins were distracted by food. I dropped a couple more berries, and some stopped while others bumped into the ones that had stopped, slowing down the hoard.

A plan formed in my mind, but I only had one chance to use it, otherwise... Death would await me.

My eyes scoured a tall tree, with many bumps and ledges to hold onto. Hah, my eyes met contact with one! I dropped a trail of berries behind me, and in a swift jump, I grabbed onto one of the ledges of the tree. I pulled myself up and climbed up another ledge, and I was concealed within the leaves of the bushy tree.

The goblins below me did not notice where I had disappeared to. Instead, they followed the trail of berries I had placed and continued in that direction. One by one, all of them had disappeared shortly, thinking they were chasing me.

Nice! It had worked... somehow. The trail of berries were able to divert their attention into somewhere else. After a few minutes passed, I jumped down from the tree and made my way back to Mareii. Hopefully the hoard, or anything else, hadn't made their way to her.

After a couple more minutes of walking, I had reached Mareii. Only this time... the hoard had found her. Not good. If I was too late... then things were looking grim for her. I had to do something fast.

"Hey!" I instinctively yelled out, not a plan in mind. The entire hoard faced me. Hopefully I could lure them away again.

Just as I was about to run away, I heard a quick slash of a blade, followed by the thud of the goblin bodies dropping to the ground. As I turned to face where the slash came from, I exchanged eyes with a familiar person.

"Why're you two here?" Iomene had suddenly appeared out of nowhere, saving the day with a single brilliant stroke of her sword.

"Iomene!," I called out her name. Where the hell did she come from? I stared at her in bewilderment. Though I didn't exactly... like her, in fact I hated her, I would've had to deal with the goblins if it weren't for her.

"...Answer," she demanded a reasonable reply. She was as cold as always, but not expressing outright anger at me like she did back then.

"I don't know. And how did you wind up here?"

"Ugh, you're useless. Maybe Mareii has a better answer," she looked at Mareii as she ignored me, who fortunately hadn't been harmed from the goblins.

That... bitch! You're not wrong, but you don't have to rub it in my face! There's a reason your attack didn't somehow kill me!

I glanced at Mareii, and she had awaken, standing up. At her health, she shouldn't be standing up... Then again, Elite Vrusta warriors had strength of whole armies.

"H-hey," Mareii yawned before she realized Iomene, "Is that... Iomene?!"

"Yes, Mareii. Now answer, do you know why we're here?"

"Here... like where... O-oh, isn't this Fort Meridian's forest?" Mareii seemed to have recalled, a puzzled look on her face. Fort Meridian? Isn't that a popular strategic Fort near another Kingdom...

"Yes, it is. That is not what I asked, though,"

"I have... no idea," Mareii had a sour expression on her face as she tried to piece together the details from what happened last night.

"Me neither, but... I have a feeling it's not anything good," I added to the conversation.

"Whatever. Tell me about the details later, I'm going to Fort Meridian," Iomene said as she started walking off in a certain direction.

"Mareii... should we follow along?" I asked.

"Yeah, why not?"

"Alright, I guess we'll have to tell Iomene the details later."

Mareii nodded and we followed Iomene out of the vast forest.

While on the way, I offered Mareii some berries and asked her a question that I had wondered ever since I found her.

"Mareii, are you alright?"

"Huh... Yup, I am. Just a bit... y'know, I don't know what happened."

"Yeah, me neither. None of us do. But, what I meant was about your health."

"Hmm... I woke up with low health, but I healed myself up pretty quickly."

I had forgotten about her role and skill. Of course she'd heal herself! She's probably the World's best medic! And I thought it would help to find some food for her...

Well, if she didn't need it, that meant more berries for me! I munched on blueberries and strawberries on the way to Fort Meridian, offering some to Mareii as I wondered and thought about the incident at the dining hall.

After a while, we were finally out and greeted by the shining rays of sunlight. More importantly, a heavily guarded fortress with stone walls and pillars stood, outlined by the sun.

We approached the fortress, not saying a single word to each other in that span of time. As we approached the main gate, we were suddenly stopped by a few armored guards patrolling the fortress.

"Halt! State your name and business!"

"I have business with your Commander," Iomene told the guards as they crossed their spears in an X, stopping us from entering.

"Now, now, I doubt our commander has business with you!" The guards stayed ever so still, not moving an inch. "Now state your name!"

"At ease, soldiers," A man walked out from the fortress gate, and the guards retracted their spears and stood upright. "This, right here, is master swordswoman Iomene."

He pointed a finger at me. "And this, is Captain Vanguard, who we have awaited for quite some time now."

Has news of my promotion really reached out that far already?

Well, I could tell that this was going to be... interesting.