The Hero
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What was the goal this time? I wondering to myself admidst the war-torn battlefield. What the was reason behind this? Ever since I’d arrived here, I’d seen things both terrible and great, but more often were they terrible. This place, until the last battle, had been the soldiers had been protecting. Except, the empire had snuck an army in during the dead of night and stormed the place.

Ruined buildings were reduced to fine charcoal on the ground, the only remains of the villagers scattered around as blackened bone. They had burnt the place to the ground in the ambush, and the majority of the soldiers had died or been near death when we arrived.

This, as I’ve come to learn, is what the people of this world call the Age of War. For the years since my summoning, I haven’t fought demons or demon lords, but rather… An army of Hobgoblins, who have no mercy, no kindness, and no compassion.

Like I said, it wasn’t all bad, the party I had made had grown to a group of battle hardened friends. However, in this particular moment our eyes were forward, guarding the little camp we had built with survivors. As the dawn shift, my day was bound to be long, but I enjoyed the early rising sun when it came.

The sound of hoofsteps on the packed dirt of the road leading into the town drew my attention and when I looked upward, I was relieved to see the soldiers of Stilia approaching. A week of waiting and finally the job was done. “Hero Skylar!” the man leading them called out as they grew closer, “I’m glad to see you’re well! What is the situation with the village? How are the men?”

I grimaced and waved my hand towards him, “Out of the villagers, so far we’ve only found three, while only ten of the soldiers survived, and I’m not sure how long most of them have. You brought priests and physicians, right?”

He clenched his fist and spat, “Those damn Hobgoblins. Andrion, gather a group of men and patrol the area. The rest, with me and the Hero.” The man next to him on his horse turned and started towards the rear of the group as the man brought his horse towards me.

“Which way are we headed?” he asked.

“We’ve set up near the remains of the village,” I pointed off towards the edge of the forest. The clearing had been the best vantage point. The edge of the kingdom wasn’t much farther off, which meant we could at least see any approaching hobgoblins.

“I see, then let’s get our people treated.”

After the priests had conducted their work and the physicians taken care of any lesser wounds, the leader of the battalion, the head of the priests amongst them, and I had taken to a tent at the edge of the camp. The man, Knight Gable, had asked me many questions before he left the tent with a hanging head and sorrow. The priest, however, had asked to speak with me.

“Hero,” he said as he sat down, “I’m afraid there’s been a situation at the capital. Holy Maiden Auna was taken away by a man we believe is the Demon Lord. However, the situation was odd seeing as before we got the message from Fort Lastidefo, there was word she had already returned.”

“How is that my concern?” I asked.

“I suppose that’s true, but seeing as this involves the Demon Lord, we can’t be too careful. The kingdom simply couldn’t handle a war on two fronts at this time,” the priest answered.

“I see, but what of the war? I can’t abandon the front lines, not like this.”

“Myself and Knight Gable shall stay here, other forces should be headed northward soon, so I believe we can hold this region for the time being. The situation with the Holy Maiden is far more critical in this case,” he answered, gesturing towards the rough map Gable and I had constructed, “I shall even swear upon the Goddess Iara, if you ask, that I will dedicate my all to holding the line.”

“How would I even be of use here?”

“Deterrent, of course. I’m not asking you to fight, but the Holy Maiden is critical to the kingdom and the church. Her ability to inspire moral may outweigh yours.”

“Fine,” I sighed and turned towards the flaps of the tent, “But my party will join me.”

“Of course,” he bowed as I stepped out and was surprised to see… Mylla, our party’s mage and…

“What was that about?” she asked me with a smile, my heart twitching in my chest.

“We need to head to the capital,” I said, starting my way towards our group of tents. “Apparently the Holy Maiden was kidnapped by the Demon Lord. Supposedly she’s back now, but the priest wants me to take a look.”

“Really? I thought the demons were neutral…” Mylla mused as her brunette locks bounced with each step. She stopped when she saw my face, “Are you alright?”

I turned my eyes from her back to the burnt ground when my cheeks began to burn. “I’m fine.”

She squinted with a small grin, “Oh really? You’re pretty red right now.”

I groaned, “Really Mylla? This is serious.”

“Well I had to lighten the mood, you were all somber hero and all. Oh don’t get me wrong, I love the look, but it totally doesn’t fit with my image of a beautiful and dashing hero,” she laughed before she grabbed my arm and started to pull me along.

“Mylla,” I sighed, “Okay, let’s just get everyone together and set off.”

“A good plan,” she smirked back at me with a turn of her head, “Still it’s really weird, you know.”

“With the Demon Lord?”

“Yup,” she popped the p, “I don’t think I’ve ever heard anything regarding them, you know. They really stick to that island of theirs.”

 

Epilogue-

 

In the few weeks it took us to reach the capital, Mylla teased me endlessly. It got bad enough that when we arrived in Sleetwell, I decided to pull a little prank that worked almost too well. A quick purchase of a long dress, some basic makeup, and adjusting my tone had her floundering. I had pretended to go off on a quick commission to make some extra money for our trip and then ran into her at the pub.

With a lot of teasing, the tone of an aristocrat from the capital, and perhaps a bit of hands on action had her practically broken. In fact, it had been even funnier than I expected when she had admitted she loved the hero, to my own face, and then been torn on why she was so into this “random woman” she had met.

“Why are you doing this to me,” she had her face in her hands at the table, “I already have the hero! But the flirting,” she groaned and dropped her face onto the table.

It was around then I lost my composure and started laughing, wiping a tear from my face, “Really, Mylla? You can’t recognize me, I’m hurt.”

She looked up from the table, “Recognize you? What are you…”She blinked slowly the first time, and then rapidly. “Skylar?”

I laughed harder.

“SKYLAR YOU ASS!” she growled, “Why are you dressed like that?”

“Contrary to popular belief, Mylla, I am a woman you know.”

“Oh… wait, really?”

“Yes really,” I smiled.

“…WAIT. I’m so stupid, I already knew that.”

I laughed again as she pouted at me from across the table.

And our journey went on from there, though Mylla kept sneaking into my tent at night. We grew even closer, what with her begging me to doll up again all the time. And so, when we arrived at the capital, I was in a far better mood than I had been in awhile, though I was still concerned for Auna. While we weren’t the best of friends, we definitely were quite close.

So when I arrived at the church and was sent to her quarters, I was shocked to see a darker skinned girl with her head in Auna’s lap. Auna was distractedly running her hands through the girl’s hair, the massive grin on the girl’s face told me she was ecstatic about this. However, when she saw me enter, that smile started to fall and before she could lift herself up, I interjected.

“You don’t need to move, I’m just here to talk to Auna,” a laugh slipped its way out of me when the grin returned.

“Hm? Oh Skylar, it’s been some time, what brings you here?”

“One of the priests that I met said you were kidnapped. You seem fine though,” I shrugged.

“Oh, yes. Orlyn here was desperate apparently, though no harm was really done. The Demon Lord is quite a nice man once you get to know him,” she trailed off.

“I already said I was sorry!” the girl, Orlyn apparently, gripped from her spot.

“Yes yes,” Auna smiled, “Since things are fine here, why don’t you tell me about the frontlines while you’re here. We could invite your party and have a little dinner, I’m sure the others of the church would like fresh news, after all.”

“Sure,” I answered.

Hello everyone, I’d like to thank you for reading this series of oneshots.

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