P1 The Hero of Demon's Hallway

Two years after the final battle between the hero Altrius and the Dragon Demon Lord.

In a border between the Kingdom of Foreland and the Northley Meritocracy where conflict had been brewing for several years, the army of Foreland was gathering forces.

That time around, the kingdom sent a new batch of one thousand conscripted soldiers that was mainly composed of peasants.

There were several lines of conscript queueing. At each line, a soldier was stationed on the table to register their names and gifts. After being registered, the new conscripts would go either to the left or the right.

On one of the lines, a young man approached.

"Name and gift?"

The soldier thought that the man was too young to be a conscript. But it was none of his business, so he asked the question he had been repeating all day.

"My name's Del. I have the gift of strength."

The soldier looked at Del appraisingly. He then continued.

"Any weapon? It's fine if you don't bring any, we'll give you a spear."

"..."

"Oi I'm talking to you-" He was angered by Del's silence until he looked at the young man that was trying to get something out of his bag.

"Is this a weapon?" Del presented a hammer.

The hammer brought was not something that could be called a weapon. If anything its size and shape would land it in the "tools" category.

"That's not even close to a warhammer. I'll give you the spear, go to the right."

"All right, thanks."

As he was about to leave, Del felt somebody touching his hammer.

"WAIT! You brat!"

The man who shouted was a fat man who had been standing still behind the captain.

Seeing the shape of his pudgy body, Del even concluded that the man must be in a position where he usually works sitting down.

But why such a man would be sent to the front lines?

So maybe his body wasn't the sign of a high ranker. It may just be the result of his lazy and indulgent life.

"What are you doing? Let go of my hammer." Del starred the fat man down.

"IT'S FOR INSPECTION!"

"Hah?" Del's stare grew colder.

"Huh!?" Even the captain was surprised to hear that answer.

"LET GO!"

"You let go, fat man. This hammer belongs to me."

They struggled for the hammer. Not, In truth, the only one struggling was the fat man and Del barely used his power at all.

The scene disrupted the line that had to be stopped. The conscripts that were still waiting in line started voicing their frustration at the two.

"LOOK! BECAUSE OF YOU THE LINE STOPPED MOVING! LET GO OF THE HAMMER!"

"Why would I care? If you don't let go now, I'll take it back with force."

The fat man was visibly frightened by Del's ultimatum and was about to release his grip.

"Du Lax! What's happening here!? I tasked you to oversee the registering of the new conscript, but can you not do something that simple!?"

"GAH!"

The man who scolded the fat man (Du Lax) was the commander of the army stationed there, General Zaive. After hearing the commotion the conscripts made, he rushed to the scene and found Du Lax fighting with a boy.

"We never needed any inspection for personal weapons, why are you doing this?"

"Ehm... You know... the hammer was too good for him, right? So I thought he must have stolen it from someone."

Del's hammer indeed looked very beautiful. Not only the wooden grip, but even the head of the hammer was full of exquisite carving.

"And? Why is it our place to say anything? No matter where that hammer came from, it is his. We're an army, not some city guards. Give the hammer back Du Lax."

"But... it's... elven... hah!" Du Lax had realized something. "IT'S ELVEN, SIR! WE RECEIVED A REQUEST FROM THE CAPITAL TO FIND SOME MISSING ELVEN RELICS!"

"Hmmm... That we did... But, how could you tell it was elven?"

"T- they sent a description! I read it and this could be one of them!"

"So you weren't even sure about it... now why don't we-"

"Are you done? If I knew it would end up like this, there's no way I'm joining the army..."

The commander just realized that they had been talking by themselves and leaving everyone else out.

After thinking about it, the commander turned to Del.

"I'm sorry, but just to be sure we need to verify if this hammer was on the missing relic list or not. Would you lend it to us for a little bit?"

"Why would I do that? You will never give it back either way right?"

"No! I promise you on my pride as a knight! You will have the hammer back after I checked it!"

"I don't need your promise, but..." Del sized up the general with his stares. "If this hammer doesn't get back to me by tomorrow noon, I'll take your knightly pride..."

Del surprisingly let go of the hammer and left the place. Nobody knew the meaning of his last words. Not yet.

---

Du Lax who felt humiliated for what had happened with Del was fuming with rage. That night he spent all his sleeping time to conceive a plan to take Del down.

As Del had thought, this man was someone who had been living a luxurious life. In his little luxurious world, everything that he wanted would be his. After all, he was the heir of the great Du Lax house.

He had planned to live his life in luxury until he inherited his father's title.

But that father had another plan. He understood that the lazy heir would never be able to survive by himself. To help with that, he sent his son to the front line as the second-hand man of the great general Zaive.

The father had hoped that his son would grow as a man by watching the general. Unfortunately for him, the result was the worst possible one.

---

The early next morning, Du Lax was told by Zaive to return the hammer as the hammer was deemed to be not stolen.

He accepted the order went to the new conscripts' camp and called for the leader of that group.

After finishing that, Du Lax went back to do his job. At noon, there will be a meeting of all the nobles in the army.

Du Lax was a petty man. In truth, he had never given Del's hammer back. To ensure that the hammer would never go back to Del's hand, he even sent Del to a certain death.

But his target was not only Del. The other person who had humiliated him times and times again, general Zaive was also in his sight.

Of course, he could never harm Zaive who was higher higher-ranking noble and his direct superior. But he was petty, so he would do everything he could to shame Zaive.

And to do that, Du Lax brought the contested hammer to the meeting. Not only that he had the nerve to proudly nested it on his waist along with his sword. All just to see Zaive lose his temper.

---

Just as Du Lax had planned, at the start of the meeting Zaive saw the hammer and angrily scolded him. But the scared Du Lax was nowhere to be found there, he accepted Zaive's words with a smile on his face.

"COME WITH ME! WE'RE GIVING THE HAMMER BACK!"

Zaive ordered Du Lax who happily obliged.

When they arrived at the new conscripts' campsite, there was nobody there. An officer then crossed Zaive's view, he grabbed the man, and asked where the new conscripts were.

"They're being deployed right now, sir!"

"What!? On whose orders!? I never gave such an order!"

"Eh? but lord Du Lax said..."

"DU LAX YOU FOOL! WHERE DID YOU SEND THEM?"

"Hihihi Please calm yourself down general, I just did what needed to be done for our country. I told them to march to the [demon's hallway] to test the water."

"Demon's... You bastard!"

The demon's hallway was the floor of a tall ravine that led directly to the Northley Meritocracy's land.

It was a harsh area for battle as the narrow way could only fit several men walking side by side. In that kind of area, humanity's weapon in number can't be shown. On the other hand, the demon that had better individual strength was undefeatable there.

Sending an army, let alone a new conscripted one there was practically sending them to their graves.

Because of that, Zaive's anger was appropriate.

Du Lax hadn't stopped smiling even when his plan was discovered. After all, if Del died there, no matter what happened the hammer would be his.

---

What happened next was a panic-filled deployment of the army. Zaive moved every soldier to a standby position. He sent scouts ahead to see what the situation was on the site, but he was fully ready to go there himself.

In the middle of the rushed clatter, Du Lax slipped away from Zaive's view. But that didn't matter. His goal now was to ready the army and march to the demon's hallway.

While the army got ready, he jumped to his horse and waited outside the camp for the scout to come back.

From far away, he could see a silhouette of a man. If it was the scout, they would be riding on a horse. But the man he saw was running.

Zaive spurred his horse to meet the running man. But surprisingly the man was running faster than Zaive had thought.

When they met, Zaive recognized the young man's face. It was Del.

"You... Del, right? Why are you here? Are you the only survivor? How about the others? I'm... I'm sorry for my lack of disciplining of Du Lax." He bowed his head down.

"Calm yourself down." Del looked at Zaive disappointed. "Some of the guys died on the ravine's floor, but most survived and are on their way here. We defeated the demons. I was just going ahead of them."

"Is... Is that so!? Thank Goddes for her protection." relieved Zaive stepped down from his horse.

"So, where is the fat man?"

"You mean Du Lax? Ah! your hammer."

"So he does have it, that pig."

"Let's search for him. I also want to talk to him."

The two entered the army site in search of Du Lax

---

On the other hand, Du Lax was in terror after finding out that Del and other new conscripts survived.

There was no other way for him but to run and ditch the army.

Before he left, he met with a group of knights searching for Del.

Once again, he found a way to weasel his way out of trouble. He saw those knights as if they were sent by the goddess herself.

"I will tell you all where Del is right now. Follow me, please."

---

"THERE HE IS!" Du Lax shouted while pointing at Del.

"There you are, fat man. Give me back my hammer."

"Du Lax! You have gone too far! Give the hammer back and you'll have a talk with me!"

Seeing the two angry men flustered him, so Du Lax ran and hid himself behind the five knights.

"Who are you?" general Zaive asked the knights.

From their clothing, there was no doubt that they were an elite group of knights. But Zaive never seen their faces, so they must not be a part of the army he commanded.

"Lord Zaive! these men are-"

"Shut up!" one of the knights knocked on Du Lax's head.

"Lord Zaive, we're the personal knight of Prince Eric."

"What!?" The general was shocked.

"Tch, Eric, huh? That weakling finds me as fast as always." Del whispered under his breath.

Leaving Du Lax to follow them from behind, the five knights stepped towards Zaive and Del.

"I'm sorry to bother you, Lord Zaive. But we were told by the second prince Eric to take the man beside you back."

""Eh?""

The general along with the gathering spectators let out questioning noises to the knights' proclamation. While others were left stunned, the man in question, Del stepped forward.

"I don't want to now. Sooner or later I'll visit Teakwood, so just wait. Tell him that please."

Hearing Del's proclamation now left everyone, including the knights stunned.

After saying that, Del passed by the knights and started approaching Du Lax.

"YOU INSOLENT FOOL!" One of the knights thrust his sword in anger.

The next moment after attacking Del, the knight's world turned upside down. With one move Del had dodged the attack, grabbed his arm, and then kicked his unstable legs. His face was forced to eat dirt.

"If any of you attack me again, I'll identify you as an enemy."

The other four knights that couldn't react took steps back away from Del and the downed knight.

"R-Realeas him now! We're the second prince's elite knight! YOU DARE TO FIGHT US!?"

They all drew their swords and aimed them at Del.

"You weaklings are too prideful... when we're done you will not be a knight. Train yourself back from zero!" Del claimed.

Del pushed the hand he was holding, breaking the knight's right arm. The force was strong enough to break the bones in one move, even tearing the flesh a little bit.

Two of the knights then jumped Del from each side.

Del picked up the dropped sword of the defeated knight and rushed one of the incoming knights. He parried an incoming downward slash to the side. While their sword was still entangled, Del pushed the knight's sword down, destroying the knight's posture.

As the knight fell, he felt a pain from his face. Del kicked his face and continued the movement to stomp his head to the ground.

As if that was not enough, he then stabbed the knight's hand and twisted his sword.

Del did all of that in one smooth motion with a terrifying speed that he was finished before the other knight reached them.

The incoming knight swung his sword diagonally while running at Del that met the knight's sword with his. Just like before, Del parried the attack and manipulated his enemy's sword.

Del manipulated the sword so that his left hand was able to grab the knight's sword's flat part. With the sword locked in place, so will the knight's hand. Using that chance, Del swung his sword at his enemy's wrist, severing his hand.

In an instant, three of the five elit knights were downed. At that moment, Del stopped, giving the remaining two a chance to run.

But alas, they didn't take the chance and chose to attack Del.

The result was obvious. The two knights ended up on the ground with both of their right hands severed.

"I told you. You're not knights anymore." Del told them.

He continued what he was doing previously and approached Du Lax. Without any resistance, he took his hammer back. He then continued walking away from the military camp.

"Wait! Where are you going!?"

The one that was trying to stop him was the general, Zaive. There was a fear reflected in his eyes, but he still asked.

"General... What do you want? You're going to fulfill your promise and give me your knightly pride?"

"What?"

"Ahaha I'm just kidding. There is no fun in fighting someone who is already defeated."

"Please, wait! Where are you going!?"

"Another place! I thought the army would have something. But there was nothing for me here." Del answered Zaive's question.

With that as his last words, Del vanished into the forest. Nobody was brave enough to chase him.

Until the end, nobody who was there ever understood what he was thinking. But Del left a lasting impression on them. One of overwhelming power.

---