A man, who could be identified as a butler, was standing next to his master's son. No... considering the current state of the kingdom his master had been a part of, it would be more accurate to say that he was standing next to his new master instead. 

William, the butler of the formerly prestigious ducal house Flare of the Luxus kingdom stared in shock at the rubble that used to be a kingdom from where its gates used to be. Even from there, he could smell the scent of rotting corpses and the smoke from the numerous destroyed buildings.

The middle age man trembled. He had a good idea of what had caused this disaster.

It could only be Him, the archdemon, Rouge. His mas... former master was right, the summoners could not control him. It was too much of a gamble, even for the purpose of winning the war against the enemy kingdom.

Then he heard the sounds of sobbing from his side.

Immediately he snapped out of it and grabbed his new master, throwing him over his shoulder, William started sprinting into the forest.

He made sure that he was generally moving towards the new empire, the Everent Empire that had only been established 3 years ago. He also avoided any known monster dens that he could remember.

For weeks, William used all the skills that he had learned over the years and pushed his body and mind to the brink to provide for the youngest and currently, the only member of the Flame family whom he served, Magnir Flare.

The distraught boy was rather unresponsive to most stimuli, opting to sleep or stare blankly at random trees. Magnir had only spoken when he had to do his business or when he was hungry. He was like that for two whole weeks before he asked the only person left in his life a life-changing question.

" Mister William..." The boy spoke. The butler who was sitting by his side resting perked up and faced Magnir.

" Yes, Master Magnir?"

" Pap... Father used to say that our kingdom was surrounded by monsters. D-did the monsters do... that?" The boy stared into the butler's eyes with his own, rather lifeless eyes.

Gulping a little, the man contemplated on what to say. Finally, he simply responded with a nod.

" Something like that, Master Magnir... Something like that." Feeling a little guilty for lying, the man turned away from his master's eyes and began picking through some of the sticks he had collected to throw into the small fire before them.

Then, the boy stood up. 

" William, stop calling me master. The Flare house has fallen, I am nobility no longer ."

" Master, I-" The butler looked up only to find his master staring at him with eyes that seemed to burn with hatred. It seemed that William had made the right choice lying about the true culprit.

" Very well, Magnir."

" Then, I ask you as Magnir and not as the last survivor of the Flare family, will you train me? Will you make me strong like my father was, strong like you are?" The boy held eye contact with the man as he spoke.

" Though I am not as strong as your father was, I shall try my best," Closing his eyes, William said so with a sigh. He could not bear to look at the child of his master and friend. The boy had made up his mind, just like how he could not dissuade his former master when he made up his mind, he would not be able to dissuade Magnir either.

Magnir’s training began the day after. The butler showed the boy the Flare family’s footwork for swordsmanship. He also instructed the child to start exercising to build up stamina. 

Just a week later, the duo found themselves in a village on the outskirts of the empire. 

After some haggling with the locals, William used the twenty or so pieces of gold he had kept safe on him to obtain a small rundown bar near the edges of the village and close to the forest that they had emerged from. 

From then on, this bar became both a source of money and their home.