"Alright you brats, out! Out!"

I jumped backwards out of shock, almost tripping over an uneven stone on the sidewalk. Fortunately, I caught myself (of course) because I really didn't need my head bashed in thank you very much.

An old, white haired man had barged out of one of the backrooms and, just as I caught myself, tried to smack me with a broom that he was holding. 

"Woah woah old man, if I were looking to get my clothes dirty I would be rolling around on the ground! Aren't you a tailor?"

I stepped back and ducked under his swing but, despite my words of explanation, he aimed at me again for another swing. 

"Alright, that'll be enough of that"

As the man tried again, Thogir grabbed the broom and pulled it away from the mans hand before throwing it to the side. I scratched my head at this and sighed.

"When you said this was the place, I wasn't expecting such a warm welcome" I said, though my sarcasm was very clearly bleeding through.

The man stared at us before bending down and retrieving his broom. I almost leapt back again but he just turned back towards his store and started to walk in before turning his head towards us.

"Young'uns nowadays like you are either broke or thieves and, based on what you're wearing, I'd say you're probably the latter since you don't seem to be lacking equipment." 

"Wait, we swear we're adventurers. Wait, here! look at this!"

I pulled out my skill sheet. According to the guild master, most people that see this sheet would only be able to view my name, class and level since stat gap is way too large. However, the words (Hero) were very clearly shown, making the shop owners eyes widen.

At this, he pulled both me and a very confused Thogir into his shop before closing the shutters. 

"Are you crazy!? Showing something like that in the middle of the streets, do you want to be swarmed by bandits right now!?"

I..really didn't think of that honestly. 

The man massaged his forehead and sighed.

"Alright, obviously the hero can't be a thief so I'll believe you and your dwarf friend here BUT you have to know that you can't show that everywhere you go. At least for now"

I tilted my head at this, it seemed like I was quite a prominent figure so what was the issue.

Sensing my confusion, the man continued.

"Considering none of us have heard of you yet, I'm assuming that you haven't done much and are new at this whole "hero" business. This means that most bandits and thieves see you as weak and a money bank since you probably have a great deal of money from the church so, unless you do something huge, DO NOT show that around"

I found myself nodding like my grandfather just found out I took the last cookie out of the cookie jar and was scolding me. Not the best memory I had.

But still, it's a memory I guess.

"I get it already, you don't have to go scolding me like that"

He rolled his eyes before looking at me, then Thogir.

"So whose getting the clothes, you or him?" He said while pointing at each of us.

I stepped forwards.

"It's me. I can't run around fighting in a dress, as much as I would like to it would catch on too many things and probably kill me eventually."

He looked me up and down one more time, making me a tad bit uncomfortable before nodding.

"give me a moment, I'll bring out a few options."

He went in to the back, where I could hear his trail of thoughts since he was speaking out loud.

"hmmm, leather pants possibly...normal shirt and tunic. Maybe hood or cape since she's a mage..hmmm"

We're gonna be here for a while, aren't we?

---

Terrence P.O.V

"Sire, Caroline is being a bit restless. As in, more than normal. We've already had to stop her from breaking out three separate times, I'm not sure what we can do if she does it again and we aren't here."

The old knight sighed exasperatedly. She had found various windows and holes that she could reach and had tried to jump out to freedom, only for her to be caught by one of the guards and escorted back to her room grumpily. 

"The whole time she kept on saying that she "wanted to see Uncle Skeleton". This might be a slight problem"

Terrence sighed defeatedly. As the lord of the Agrestia he controlled a great deal of resources and was essential for the kingdom, yet due to the empire of Tauron's high ranking officials negligence he had an immeasurable amount of work to do. This meant that naturally, the amount of time he had for personal affairs is next to none which meant that Caroline spent most of her time wandering the palace halls with nothing to do.

"Is it possible to just - capture a skeleton or something to deal with this?"

"No sir. A normal skeleton would tear any living thing apart and I don't think that would be the best course of action. Also, I don't think it's just because it was a skeleton but it was because it actually acted like a human."

Everybody already knew that skeletons and all manners of undead were generally viewed as bloodthirsty, hateful creatures that killed all that stood against them. They were tricky to kill since they, though fragile, in many cases could get up after being knocked down since they were undead.

Though, when the undead knows swordsmanship and magic that would be a different story with the same moral. 

"A B rank... currently no one in this state could actually defeat anything of it's calibre so it's lucky that it let us go. Unfortunately, the dangers as of now are not them but the crime that lurks in the alleyways and shadows. We should not venture into the Demon Forest anymore lest we anger the undead, or worse."

Then there was the other problem. The families of the dead.

Though they had tried to relay the news as quiet as possible, news of the deaths of tens of young soldiers started to spread among the populous, no doubt caused by the thieves and criminals trying to start a riot against the government. Families were demanding answers, the few citizens that were still here were planning on moving away and everything was going downhill more than before. 

"We might have to go and at least get their swords or armour back...we need to give them something at least. No parent should be unable to say farewell to their children"

Though Terrence knew he had no right to say that. His daughter was safe and sound while other children were laying dead in the forest probably eaten by beasts at this point. 

"Sir, we need you in the tower!"

A young soldier, most like in his early twenties or even younger, burst through the door to Terrence's office. His sudden impact knocked a bunch of things of his desk but he barely noticed as he stood in front of him, frantic about something.

"What is it?"

"We've got a number of monsters headed our way, we need you to tell us what to do!"

Terrence and the knight looked at each other for a minute before Terrence sighed. 

"Lead the way"

---

"Triple check, are we sure of the number?"

"Reset the monster class checker, it's not showing!"

Terrence walked into the magicians tower, an important part of the palace that oversaw the monster activity for the whole state. Most of the people here were communication magicians, who could communicate with individuals and use magical sensors to an incredible degree though they were less than useful on a battlefield. 

Currently, many of them were scrambling left and right, checking and rechecking the information being displayed for some reason. Everybody paused for a moment as Terrence entered.

"Head magician, what's the situation?"

One of the black haired magicians with colourful robes stepped forward. 

"We've detected ten- no- twenty monsters coming from the Demon Forest and heading towards us. Most are around C class.. three or four B Class's...and one unknown. We're currently bringing in a stronger machine since this one can only measure up to a B- class monster."

At this prompt, another man opened the door and walked through. He was carrying a huge wooden box that was around half his size and didn't seem to know what was going on as he set it down on the table.

"Here we go. This is one of the older ones but should work just fi- oh, lord Terrence. My apologies for ignoring you!"

"It's whatever, just tell us!"

The man hastily turned the machine on before releasing a light glow from his hands. 

[Detect Hostile]

It spun around the centre of the table before it separated into multiple dots and rings. (like a radar)

"We have multiple C class's, three B- and one normal B class monsters. and...a-"

At this the man scratched his head before shaking the machine, obviously thinking something was wrong. 

"Well, it says A+ class which isn't good in the slightest. Sir, is the hero strong enough to take out an A+ class monster?"

"Not in the slightest. Also, are you sure the thing isn't broken? I thought A+ class's rarely appeared even in the unexplored regions, why is it here now?"

The man shook his head.

"Two options. Either it's an A+ class or it's higher, and I don't think we want to go into the possibility of an S class so let's just pray that this is right."

Terrence sighed. An A class monster is bad enough, able to take over whole towns and cities in the blink of an eye and usually took whole armies or squads of A rank adventurers to actually take down. He had neither the resources nor the manpower to order a full monster subjugation.

Despite this, the man continued his methodical analysis of the situation. This was why he was paid after all, he had to stay professional.

"My guess is that they are possibly remnants of the last demon lord subjugation. A demon lord can open portals years after their deaths if they are strong enough, which leads the forces of hell through to the mortal realm."

That complicated things. 

If they were forces from hell, that meant they weren't rampant monsters and were instead highly intelligent and calculating demons. Though they were labeled as monsters, this meant that they could use tactics just as well as they could.

Terrence, as well as everyone in the room, knew what had to be done to stop their forwards march.

"Get me my armor and gather everyone that can fight. We're intercepting them."

---

"Sire. You know we trust you with all our hearts and souls, but I'm not sure this was the best idea."

"Yeah I noticed"

Despite their best efforts, they barely came up with 20 men to surround the main gate to the city. Most were well equipped, but were shorter and looked a great deal weaker than a soldier should've looked.

Though this was no surprise. These were recruits that were brought to replace the ones that had died during their previous "incident" and were very poorly trained. So much so that many of them didn't even know how to hold their swords, draw back their bows, or have any type of skill that would allow them to put up a half decent fight. 

Terrence was mounted on his trusty steed with a steel longsword by his side. The knight by his side and him were the only ones who actually knew how to ride a horse, the greenhorns beneath them were jittery, stammering slightly as they spoke to each other. Despite their promised salary, all of it would be for naught if they weren't alive to use the money that they earned.

The knight reached to his side, hand clasping around something on his belt before pulling a spyglass out and extending it towards the tree line of the Demon Forest. 

"Yeah, I see them. Three mounted, around a dozen foot soldiers, one aerial. I'm assuming that the one flying is the A+ class and a greater demon or something similar, we're not winning this one."

To Terrence's credit, all he did was tighten his grip on the handle of his sword. He stared at the forest as the dust and smoke started to kick up as the small army of undead and demons started to rapidly approach. 

It's been a while, really, a long while. I finally finished with everything, exams and everything, which means I can come back and write!

I've lost a bit of my spark and it's quite difficult for me to deal with, but I'm trying to get the feeling of writing again, I hope everyone can support me throughout this.

See you next chapter!

WriterOfVeralis