Trouble at the Village of Aria (2)

I couldn't help but think about what Naoki just said, he wasn't wrong for thinking about it. This army ahead of us is something that none of us have any information on whatsoever.

"Either way we'll wipe them out." Koichi chimes in with confidence.

Back to himself as if nothing ever happened to him, that's exactly why we need him around more than anything. He'll keep our morale up when we're at our lowest which is pretty important.

He's helped me plenty of times when I thought all was lost for us so I don't want him to go anywhere.

The trouble that remained at the village was mostly cleanup and helping those who got trapped within debris. It took hours of work to get the fires out out, the debris cleaned up, and to get any trapped villagers out from the rubble.

"You guys saved us. We couldn't be any luckier to have you." A woman says with tears going down her face.

"Yeah! You really did save us all." A man chimes in with a grateful tone in his voice.

Fighting to keep people like this alive is always going to be our goal. I like to think that this is what most of our world is filled with but I know that a lot of sick people are out there as well.

"It's part of our job as heroes. No need to thank us." Koichi responds to them with a smile on his face.

Naoki just kind of wanders off to the other side of the village and leans against a broken wall.

"Sigh. I wonder if I'll ever find him." Naoki thinks to himself while looking up at the sky.

Stars filled the skies as it was late and the fighting took up most of the day, along with most of the cleanup afterwards.

"Any idea where Naoki went?" Lena asks while standing with Koichi.

"He's probably around. It's pretty normal for him." Koichi answers while taking a look up at the sky.

The group made sure that everyone in the village was okay before starting to head forward once again. A demon army awaited in the south where they needed to go before it made it to the kingdom of Everfiel.

Demon armies was the sure sign that the war was starting once again so they needed to start wiping them out as fast as possible.

(Hours away from the village. Within a small forest, they made a small camp.)

I can't help but wonder how we haven't run into any of the other heroes and I'm getting a bit frustrated with it. Why does it feel like we're doing most of the work right now?

No, that's just me being selfish when this isn't the only continent dealing with issues. Ugh, why do I have to have these thoughts?

"Those summoned heroes better be strong or I'm going to be pissed." Naoki says while sitting by the fire.

"I'm sure they will be. We definitely need the help this time around." Koichi reassures while putting some meat on the fire.

Heroes being summoned here to fight against the demon lord, how interesting that is. Something like this has never been done until recently so it'll be quite a thing to see in person.

"I like to believe that it'll make it easier for us to return to our own lives if they are brought in." Lena speaks up while taking a look at the fire.

Returning back to my family would be nice, I don't really want to leave them behind again after this for a long time. It'd be nice to see them grow up instead of of fighting these battles for so long.

"Yeah I'm sure my wife would appreciate it. Haha." Koichi chimes in before letting out a laugh.

Lena and Koichi shared some small stories for a bit while Naoki sat quietly listening to them. After a bit they all went to sleep for the night, taking turns on guard duty until the morning.

Chirp. Chirp. Birds can be heard making noises as the sun shines upon the small camp by the river.

"Yawn. Guess it's time to get going." Lena yawns before speaking.

Sleeping in this camp is definitely a change compared to the beds we got to see at the inn. At least it's something to look forward to when we get back to the kingdom later.

"Yes, the battle awaits us out there." Naoki says with a bit of a serious tone in his voice.

They packed up the camp before heading back on their travels once again. Taking the time to enjoy scenery along the way with the thought of what army awaits.

But the scenery began to disappear as Haru and the Demon lord appeared once again.

(Haru's View.)

"You know we could discuss this rationally. Ha." Haru says with a nervous laugh after.

"Rationally with a hero who intends to kill me. How funny is that." The Demon lord replies with a smile on her face.

An orange beam begin to form within her fingertips as she stared directly at Haru. "???? Skill, Devour. (????)." The beam began to fire out from her finger before a flash of black and white light appeared between them.

Thump. Thump. All Haru could feel was his heart beating out of his chest the whole time as this all went down.

Is this where my life ends? Am I about to die to this demon lord without getting a chance to redeem myself.

"You need to make it to the temple. I'll handle this." A deep and mysterious voice says.

A dark figure stood in front of Haru with dark black armor, silver pauldrons, and a dark black cape going down it's back. The face was completely concealed whether you looked in the front or back of the figure. Almost as if a voice was within the figure itself.

"I won't question you till I get there then." Haru manages to speak before making a run for it.