Progress and Old Enemy

The sun rose to the sky and brightened the world, the birds chirping energetically. The bright sunlight seeped into the room and woke me up, I rose from the bed, scratching my head and went to the bathroom to wash my face. I wondered when they replaced the water? Braving the cold, I took a bath. Surprisingly, there was shampoo and soap in this world, I guess one of the heroes made it and spread the knowledge. 

The quality was no lower than the one back in my world, I heard the door open and saw a maid went in carrying a tray of food. Thankfully, I was done and already wore my pants, the maid looked like in her twenty, with long red hair and green eyes, her face was frowning with disgust like she just entered a filthy place. When she put down the food on the table and saw me, the expression of disgust on her face became even more apparent. I've only worn pants and my upper body was still naked, the maid wanted to run out of the room but I stopped her. 

"Wait!" (Kagero) 

The maid stopped and clicked her tongue loudly before turning around to face me. Extreme reluctance was clearly written on her face. The maid didn't bother to hide her disgust and disdain at me, she was probably forced to take care of me. If I could I really don't want to talk with the maid because of her attitude but I had no choice.

"Sorry, but can you help me a little?" (Kagero) 

"What is it?" (Maid) 

"Can you get me some simple clothes?" (Kagero) 

"Clothes? Don't you have your own clothes? Why not just wear that? What a bother." (Maid) 

"Please, can you get one for me? A native clothes from this world." (Kagero) 

"...Yes, please wait for a moment." (Maid) 

The maid was visibly irritated when she heard my request, but in the end, she went out and searched for the clothes. Fuck, even asking for clothes was hard. But, at least I knew that I could ask for something. I thought she wouldn't hear my request and just ignored me. I wore my uniform and waited for the maid to return, the breakfast was once again unpalatable. It was a soggy mashed potato with rubber-like jerky and tasteless egg. While I wasn't being starved or confined, they only gave me the bare essential.

The maid returned swiftly, she was pushing a trolley with clothes of varying sizes, design, and color. 

"I don't know your size, so I've prepared a lot of it in different sizes, just check which one fits you." (Maid) 

"Wow, where did you get so many clothes?" (Kagero) 

"These are the servants used clothes, it's already good enough for you. Just quickly choose, I have work to do." (Maid) 

"Is that so?" (Kagero) 

Servants used clothes? What am I, a beggar? I clenched my hands, I really wanted to give the maid a punch. She looked at me condescendingly, her eyes saying that I should be grateful for receiving the clothes. Fuck, one day, I would get even with her. I went through the clothes and found one with matching size for me, it was a faded long sleeve purple shirt with black long pants. At least the clothes were decent. It didn't have a tear or smelled bad. 

"Thanks for the clothes." (Kagero) 

I had to smile while enduring and hiding the rage deep in my stomach. after all, there was a saying 'don't hit a smiling one.'

"Hmph." (Maid) 

The maid pushed the trolley as she went out, I changed my clothes and stood before the mirror, the long sleeves were folded to my elbow, the first button was left open, the long pants was without a crease, and my brushed back hair. Hm, I look good in this. If the wearer is good, even a sack will look good. When I was admiring my good looks, I heard the bell rang nine times. Realizing the time, I took the black book on my desk and went out and headed to the library, I wanted to review yesterday's lesson in the library. 

When I passed the training ground, I saw Saya and the others, they were wearing this world's clothes, Naoki and Reki wore a white shirt with golden lining and long pants with the same color and lining, Saya and Shina wore a white one-piece with golden lining. While the clothes looked comfy, was it okay to wear such expensive clothes to train? they were training with the Imperial Knights, I knew they were Imperial Knights because of their armor and the fact Tsurai was there, sparring with Reki.

"AAAAH!!" (Reki)

"..." (Tsurai)

Reki was using red gloves that covered his fists and forearms, there were complicated carvings on the gloves and they were glowing dimly. Tsurai was using a white kite shield with decorations and jewels on its edges and a carving of the sun behind a sword, I presumed it was this kingdom symbol. Reki attacked Tsurai with a barrage of punches but Tsurai quickly moved his shield and blocked each punch, Reki was frustrated with his punch blocked, in a fury, he roared and put all his strength in his right fist and punched out. Tsurai parried the punch by slapping it with his shield, Reki staggered and fell down backward, when he looked up, Tsurai's sword already in front of his face.

"You lose." (Tsurai)

"Shit!!" (Reki)

"Reki-sama, your power and speed are stronger than a knight, as expected of the member of the hero party. Strength is important but you can't just rely on brute force, you need to use your wits and learn to use techniques too. Just like the spar, facing someone with shield, if his defense is stronger, you can use your speed, to create a feint to distract him and deal damage to his unprotected area. If he was weaker, then and only then, you can just use a strong attack to destroy or disrupt his defense." (Tsurai)

Tsurai sheathed his sword and extended his hand to help Reki stood up, but Reki glared at Tsurai and slapped his hand away.

"I don't need your help!" (Reki)

"...I'm sorry." (Tsurai)

Reki stood up and left after glaring at Tsurai one last time, Tsurai sighed when he saw Reki departing. Reki had always been arrogant, he was strong and everyone feared him. Being beaten by Tsurai probably didn't sit well for him. He only showed respect to Naoki. The reason? Some said Naoki had beaten him before and some said it was because Naoki was his childhood friend. Seeing Reki's rude display, I really wanted to smack him in the head. He was advising you, what the hell were you being so rude? Some of the knights also didn't like it but didn't dare to show it. 

I looked at the others, Saya was standing inside a dome of translucent light, she was holding a white scepter with a tinge of blue, the tip was a circle shape with intricate design and a light blue round gem floating inside the circle, the gem was shining and the light was shaping the dome. She closed her eyes and concentrating hard, my guess was, she was training to maintain the dome. Around her were priests and nuns, in front of her was Jukes Eor. He was looking at Saya while nodding, probably pleased by Saya's progress.

Shina was shooting magic toward a straw target, she chanted for a short time and shoot magic of different element and shape. There was a fireball, ice spear, disk made of wind, and earth bullet, the magic released to hit the targets and reduced the targets to dregs. She was using a black wooden staff, there was a red gem on the tip of the staff, the gem was tied and bound with wooden root connected to the staff. Just like saya, mages were surrounding her. Someone who looked like the leader of the mage was in front of her, wearing a black robe with intricate red runes covering the robes. 

When I was looking at the mage's robe thinking it was cool, the mage turned and our eyes met. The mage was wearing a mask, it was like the robe he was wearing, black with complicated red runes engraved on it. I somehow felt like a pair of eyes under the mask was staring intently at me, it was uncomfortable like I was stared at by a predator. A chill went down my spine, was this guy a homo?! I quickly broke eye contact and saw Naoki sparring with Zerra, no, it's more like Zerra was playing with him. Holding a white sword with runes engraved on the spine of the sword and angel wings on the handle, Naoki went on full offense.

Gripping hard on his sword, Naoki rushed forward. He raised his sword and brought it down. Without moving, Zerra blocked the attack and tilted his sword. Naomi sword slipped down and struck the ground. Naomi pulled out his sword and jumped back before rushing again with a thrust attack. Zerra parried the thrust with a sweep of his purple zweihander. Naoki was sent spinning from the force of Zerra's sweep, he gritted his teeth and forcefully controlled his body. He used the momentum and slashed at Zerra. 

I saw Zerra surprised a little before calmly blocked the attack. Naoki pulled back, his breath was heavy and ragged. 

"Splendid! That last attack was very good, hero-sama. Nonetheless, such a move put a strain on your body and stamina. I know you are anxious about the world and want to save it, but you can't rush. Haste makes waste. Why don't we rest for a little bit?" (Zerra)

"It's okay. I can still go on. Please." (Naoki)

Naoki began attacking again. Zerra sighed and defended against Naoki's attack. Slashing, bashing, stab, sweep, Naoki attacked with everything he got. And yet, Zerra was like a mountain, he had yet to move even an inch and parried all of Naoki's attack with only one hand. The purple zweihander in his hand moved so smoothly like it was weightless. Looking at their progress, I guess it's not like they automatically became strong even if they got a unique job. 

After a bit, I thought it was time I went on my way. I met Tsurai's eyes, he smiled and waved at me. I did the same and walked toward the library.

@@@

I ignored the stare aimed at me and checked the bookshelf, I was looking for history books. Mainly books pertaining to the summoned heroes and demon king, I wanted to know more about it. I found many books about it, from a chronological record to an analysis of it. After picking about five books, I took them to a table and sat down. My first book was a chronological record called "Record of the Heroes war", I found a little trick to learn the language of this world quickly. 

Thankfully, Castarian language was easy. It didn't have something like kanji, as long as you remember the alphabet you could read it, like English. As for the word meaning, I accidentally discovered it yesterday when I was learning. If I voice it out, the word of this world would be translated into my language. I tried and verify it yesterday. With this, my learning time was cut down considerably which I really appreciate.

I read the book out loud with a soft voice and noted down the important bits on my notebook. After a few hours, I was done reading the book. I closed the book and leaned on the chair, rubbing my tired eyes. It was a good book that contained a detailed record of the last war, from the first signs of it to its conclusion from the historian's point of view. While it was good, I wanted to know more about the heroes and their battle. After resting a bit, I continued reading the next book. 

Book after book, I didn't stop reading. When I finished the last book, it was already dark outside. I tidied up and returned the book to the shelf before heading back to my room. My cold dinner was already placed on the table, I placed my notebook down on the table and ate my dinner. I was too hungry to care about the bland taste of the dinner. I took a bath after dinner and I laid on the bed topless with only trousers. 

I blankly stared at the ceiling before covering my eyes with my hand. A sigh escaped from my mouth. I couldn't help it, the information from the book was too heavy for me. It revealed just how dangerous my situation would be if people knew about my job and what I had become.

@@@

At first, it was just a sudden increase in monster attack. The attacks were aggressive, villages of every nation bear the brunt of it. They all thought it was nothing, the government sent in adventures to thinned the monsters.

It worked and the monster attack stopped. No one expected that it was just the first wave. The second wave came soon and even more aggressive. Many villages were wiped out, it became worst later on. The monster began attacking small towns.

The nation was taken by surprise and hastily sent out their armies. It was manageable at first but then some clans of the Horrors joined the fight at the side of the monsters. The combination of the endless hordes of monsters and the Horrors were putting immense pressure on all of the races. This army of destruction came surging like unending waves.

The races became aware that they were at war. Just when the races thought it wouldn't get any worse, as if fates were laughing at them, they appeared. The antagonist of the war and the leader of the nightmarish army.

The demon king. 

He was a demon, one of the races of Horrors, their appearance was human with horns, wings, and tails. While the title had the word demon in it, it was not a title given to a king of the demons. It was a title created out of fear and terror, solely for the person who could control monsters and had a catastrophic might.

No one knew from where and when the demon king appeared. His first sighting was when he destroyed a church in the demi-human nations. Proclaiming himself as the eternal enemy of the gods and their followers. Vowing to erase them and their influence from this world.

In this world, religion was an important and inseparable aspect for all the races. Except for the horrors, each major races have their own religion. Humans worshipped the Creation God, demi-human have War God, elves were Magic God, and for dwarfs were the Metal God. The horrors didn't have a God or worshipped one, that was one of the reasons why other races treat them the same as monsters.

With the demon king proclamations, the four churches combined their power and rally all the races to punished the demon king in the name of God. But despite all the races joined hands to battle the demon king, they were at a disadvantage. The demon king's monsters army and horrors were already hard enough to deal with, but there were also the five calamity friends on the demon king's side.

Garna Brigan, an exceedingly rare dragon demi-human, nicknamed Calamity Dragon. His might made him a terror on the battlefield. Being a dragon, his physique was the pinnacle of all the demi-human. Every hit from him was akin to being hit by a battering ram, few could take a hit from him. The dragon scale granted him high resistance to damage, whether it was physical or magical. Not to mention his flame and dragonification. It was a wonder why such a figure followed demon king.

Christia Alundra, a high elf that stood on the top of the pyramid of the elves caste system, the Witch. A magician second only to the demon king himself. She weaved ancient-class magic like it was rudimentary magic at the speed unimaginable from an infamously class of magic that require long casting. She had the magical capacity to cast grand magic, that usually requires multiple people to activate, alone. Some said she was brainwashed by the demon king into following him.

Gibly Warhammer, a stout dwarf who had mastered the dwarven craft AKA the Hammer. Wielding a giant warhammer larger than his body and clad in his masterpiece mechanical armor, he wreaked havoc on the battlefield. In terms of personal power, he might be the weakest of the five calamities but none of the five calamities could surpass him in terms of destruction. His mechanical puppets and gadgets he made sharply increased the destructive power of the demon king's army. According to rumor, he was with the demon king because he simply wanted to use his creation to satisfied his destructive impulse.

Kuzunoha Saya, a fox demi-human nicknamed the Empress. A talented tamer that said could tame any kind of monsters. All of her tamed monsters was an S or higher ranked monsters. 'Just one S-ranked monster is already hard to deal with, a team of S-ranked monsters that work as a team is a nightmare.' Such was the quote of an adventure who managed to survive an encounter with the Empress. In the battlefield, the Empress and her entourage were akin to a battleship. She could attack, defend, and support. Her reason for siding with the demon king was because she loves him, she often declared her love for the demon king on the battlefield.

Because of these formidable foes, the army of the races was at a disadvantage. The war entered a stalemate until the churches received an oracle from their gods. The church of creation has been gifted the means to summon heroes from the other world which had the power to save them, this was the first summoning of heroes in this world. As for the other churches, the books only mentioned that they received the means to further strengthen their race's strong point.

The humans quickly summon their hero and just like God promised, the heroes proved to be the salvation for the races. While they were weak at first, they quickly grew stronger and defeated the demon king and his army, bringing peace to the world. The war ended in a happy end or so it was supposed to. Why? Because not all of the five calamities were taken care of.

The last member of the five calamities was an elusive figure mentioned only by the hero and his party because he only appeared in front of them. Nothing was known of this figure. Name, appearance, or power, nothing. Even the heroes who encountered him could only vaguely recalled him. There was a debate on whether this figure ever existed or not. The heroes left only one word for this figure.

I looked at the tentacle growing out from my back and sigh. The word was…

Tentacle.