Welcome to Teakwood

2 years after the hero Altrius's death, a few months after Del named the hero of Demon's hallway. Teakwood, Foreland.

Del had started working in the city as a member of "The Special Investigation Team". That day was the first day he would officially join them. He arrived too early and no one other people arrived yet.

The work started quite late compared to a normal job. At the time, it was already ten in the morning, and yet nobody was there except Del.

"They're all too lazy," was what Del thought at the time.

However, in the end, Del also chose to go somewhere and not wait in the closed office. He decided to go to the market area to get some snacks.

He bought himself multiple amounts of different things, anyone who saw him would've thought he was going to eat them with other people.

On the way back to the office, Del stopped at the statue of his late brother, the hero Altrius. The statue was showing a gallant appearance of the time when Altrius saved the city.

What slightly saddened Del was the statue's depiction of Altrius. It depicts Altrius's public image with him wearing his helmet, covering most of his face. If it was possible, Del would like it if the statue had shown his face.

"I wonder what his face looked like... Altrius..." A girl was whispering to herself while also looking at the statue.

"Others thought of the same thing too..." Del thought to himself.

The girl beside him clearly came from outside the town. She was carrying a large amount of luggage with her. She turned around and met Del's eyes.

"Oh! Can you help me? I'm lost!" The girl closed the distance and asked him.

"What?"

"Ah! sorry."

"No, it's fine. You're a new student, right? If you're looking for the academy dorm, I can take you there." Del who didn't think much about it, offered his help.

"Thank you! But, I'm not going to the dorm. Do you know where this place is?" She handed a piece of paper to Del.

"Really? Are you staying with family, then? Hmmm... I don't think I recognized the street..."

"Yes! Something like that. I thought you would know..."

"Sorry, I'm not local."

Del handed the paper back but stopped after he saw someone coming closer. The woman reached Del and the girl. She then proceeded to kick Del's leg.

"You dare to try picking girls up on your first day, rookie?"

The woman was a bit older than Del and the lost girl. From her appearance, she looked to be in her early twenties. Another thing that was noticeable from her appearance was that she was wearing the same uniform Del did.

"I'm not picking her up, she's lost. And don't talk to me as if you're my senior. You started only one month before me."

"Still your senior. Also, I'm older than you kid. And I'm taller."

"Height doesn't matter-"

"Uhmmm..." The lost girl cut between the two who looked ready to fight each other.

"Ah! Sorry! We forgot about you. Then, he said you were lost?"

"Yes! My name's Rain! I'm looking for the address in the paper."

"I'm Del. This lady here is Erika. As you can see we worked in the same place. She's a local though, so she might be able to help you." Del handed the paper to Erika.

"Let's see... Oh! Wow, Didn't know you were an important person, Rain. Alright, I'll take her, you go ahead to the office, Del."

"I hate the way you ordered me around. I'm going there without you saying anything. I'll leave her to you."

Del left the two girls while carrying the large amount of food he had bought.

---

As Del approached the office, he saw a girl looking around confused.

"Another one?" he thought to himself.

Del got closer to the girl and then tapped her while she was peeking around the office where he works.

"You lost?"

"Hiii! Ah! No, I'm not a suspicious person! I-I was just trying to see inside this place, but it looks like nobody's here so I'm going, excuse me- Ah?" The girl tried to retreat but was stopped by Del who grabbed her arm.

"I work here. You need something?"

"Ah! Y-you worked here!? Umm... I... I-" The girl was very nervous.

Del started to find the girl suspicious. What she was doing already seemed dubious, peeking inside a building and escaping. But her behavior was even more reason for Del to be suspicious.

Del isn't one that is good at interrogating people as fights are more his forte. Luckily for Del, his two co-workers came at the right time.

"Good morning Del." The human mage with long black hair bowed his head and greeted Del.

"Good job being the first one to arrive on your first day!" the halfling that was walking beside the mage raised his hand congratulating Del.

The human mage's name is Lemon, nicknamed Lem. He was one of the strongest human mages, measuring from pure fighting capabilities. The only other mage that could rival him was the headmaster of the academy.

The halfling that seemed to be most carefree was the leader of the team, Charle. Before that, he was already a high-ranking member of the kingdom's knights. He had a lot of ties with nobles and even royalties. His ties with the King landed him the role.

"Yes. That aside, I found someone sneaking arou- What?"

Del who took his eyes off the girl to see his two colleagues was surprised after finding the girl was no longer in his hand. In fact, she was nowhere to be found around the area.

Del had used practically no strength to avoid any injuries. But even if that was the case, someone would need to be at a certain strength level to be able to escape him.

"Hmm? Something wrong?" the captain asked Del who was visibly confused.

"No... There was a girl, I caught her sneaking around the office so I captured her. But it looks like she escaped."

"I would have never guessed that someone could escape your hold, Del." Lemm smiled and then walked to the door and opened it.

The two then entered the room that had only four desks office and a guest desk in it. They sat on their desks. All the while, Del was still standing outside flabbergasted.

"Come on in, Del! There's no helping it if she ran, right? If she had bad intent, she'd be back again. Anyway, Erika isn't here yet, huh?"

"She must be running late for some reason. Usually, she will be the first to arrive. You know something, Del?"

"Yes, I met her in the town when I bought these. She is going to send a lost girl home."

Del finally relented and entered the office. He had been there before, but it was the first time for him to be there wearing his new uniform

---

"T-that was sooo scaryyy!!" Nina who just escaped Del's grasp was running away on roofs.

"Why did you escape?" The lion-shaped fire spirit asked her.

"That man was scary! And then there are others coming as well! If you didn't help me I would've been dead, Leo!!!"

"You were screaming in my head! You could just tell them who you are you idiot!" Leo, the spirit's name given by Nina, scolds her.

"He's so scary! I can't think!"

"It's not like you'll never see him again! The prince said one of them will be your teacher! What will you do then idiot!?"

"Uuuuhh, Let's hope it's not the scary man"

After departing for the capital. Nina was sent to Teakwood by the king. Nina was told to consult with the 2nd Prince, Eric to find her someone to train her. Eric promised to find the best teacher for her.

For a couple of months after that, she would be joining the knights' training. Eric's right-hand man, Dusk, and his party would also accompany her in training from time to time. Additionally, she would be entering the academy once the new year started.

But just some days before the academy entrance, Eric told her that he found someone to be her teacher. He told her he put the man in the special investigation team and would ask him to train her later.

That was her reason for sneaking around their office. But Del was too intense for the coward Nina.

"Hiiii!"

"What now!?" Leo asked her.

"T-there's another one!"

Nina saw another person who was wearing the same uniform as Del and them.

"I-it's a woman! Maybe she'll be the one to train me... she doesn't seem to be that intense."

Compared to Del who always had a stern face, Erika who was almost always smiling looked calmer. But Nina didn't know that Erika was as intense as Del was.

---

Erika was escorting Rain to her new place when she noticed someone observing her. Being someone with the gift of the soul, she was very sensitive to others with the same ability.

After a while, that someone stopped, so Erika didn't think too much out of it.

"Erika?"

"Ah! Sorry. What're we talking about again?"

"I said, everyone in the town knows you. A lot of people greeted us." Rain expressed her amazement.

"That... I guess it's because I spent my whole life in this town."

"Oh! Then, did you see the hero when he fought the dragon?"

"Ah, that... I was out of town when that happened, you see."

"Sorry! I was insensitive."

"No, it's fine." Erika ruffled Rain's hair.

Erika was born in Teakwood. Unfortunately, her parents died early in her life. Having no other relatives, Erika joined other orphans living in the church.

Their foster father was a priest named Raymond. At the church, the children were raised to hopefully become a priests later. Some would choose to leave, but most stayed and became priests.

Some lucky ones that ended up with the gift of the soul would be helped to attain the light type of spirit.

Erika was one of the lucky children. Beyond that, her gift was also in magnitude of her own, being able to contact greater spirits since she was young.

When she grew older, she chose to leave the place to be an adventurer. The church denied her of that request and tried to force her to become the next saintess.

Refusing the idea, Erika ended up escaping the church and became the strongest solo adventurer in the country. The church would later denounce her, saying that she was not worthy of the great spirit she had.

But at that point, she had already become a renounced adventurer with unrivaled achievement that speaks for itself.

The day the dragon demon lord attacked, she was doing a mission out of the town. By the time she arrived, all the fighting had finished.

"No one in my family was harmed, so it's alright to ask me. Just don't do that to random people, ok?"

"Yes!" Rain answered.

The two continued their walk while having small chats.

"By the way, back then... why're you askin- Oops, it looked like we're here."

"Oh! Is this the place? It's huge!"

"That's what you got being the lord of the land."

"The lord?"

"Wait, you don't know? This is the manor where the lord lives. It used to be called the Du Lax mansion, but now another family has taken the position. Woods, was it?"

"Is that so? I didn't know... Oh! you were saying something?"

"Nah, I'll ask you later. We'll meet again if you're going to live in this town."

"I see. Thank you, Erika!"

"You're welcome."

The two then separated. Rain would enter the mansion by showing the letter that she pulled from her bag. Erika would leave after seeing Rain had safely entered.

Erika then looked at the pocket watch she always carried. "Crap." she thought to herself, and then started running through the city.

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