It's already been a day since I started working as a demon hunter.

I must say that it has both good and bad sides, I do a job like any other.

At the end of the mission, i entered a resting area, where i will not be bothered until they need me again.

I'm not sure if vacations are well distributed, but at least they are better than other armed forces such as the Republican Army or the order of knights of the Kingdom.

Now I've left with a lot of free time again, at least until I got a couple of messages last night.

One is from Sarah and her group to organize another dungeon cleanup, and the other message is from Veronica.

Veronica's message is the reason why I am today at the door of one of the properties of the Duchy of Milanos.

"Young Miss is waiting for you in the training rooms, please follow me" Said a maid who attended me when I knocked on the door.

After giving a simple nod in the affirmative, I followed her.

The house, or rather the mansion, was incredibly large, even larger than the place where she used to live.

Theres also triple the number of butlers and servants, sometimes I forget that I live in a place where nobility is extremely important.

Anyway…

Once we reached the hall, the maid dismissed me, leaving me alone at the door.

I could hear banging inside, after opening the door I was able to verify my suspicions, she was practicing with her scythe.

She stopped her practice when she noticed my presence.

Seeing this, I began with a simple greeting when I approached her, "It's a pleasure to see you again, Young Miss."

Although there was no change in her expression, from the tone of his voice it seemed that she was irritated by my presence.

"Why do you always seem like you're making fun of me?"

She shakes his head in disappointment as she speaks to me.

"Forget it, let's start practicing"

She hadn't said anything but hello, it seemed that i have earned more negative points with her.

How the hell did I end up in this situation?

Well, we'd better forget about this, placing myself in an acceptable position in the training camp I shoot my question at her.

"Okay... by the way, what should I call you?"

I have my doubts as to why he has such a bad impression of me, but if we're going to work together, we should at least get along.

Veronica still showed no change in her expression, but she could speak.

"Call me what you want, just make sure you don't overstep your limits"

I understand…

In that case, I think calling her by her name isn't wrong.

"Well, since you put it that way, you can also call me whatever you want."

With that last exchange, practice started without a problem.

*** *** ***

For an hour we just kept quiet and focused on the practice match.

Her idea of this, from what I can understand, is to win back his father's trust to return to the dungeons.

From the previous events, we had to at least appear to get along in his father's eyes.

That means this practice will take place regularly.

Regarding the practice, as soon as I told her that I was ready, nor did she ask me if I was sure that I was going to fight without a weapon in hand, the girl attacked me with everything and without restraint.

I'm not bothered by that fact, like being annoyed if it was naturally silly to me, even more so when she can't accept even one of her attacks on me.

But with all those details, I think the awkward silence is enough.

In Verónica's next move, I took the initiative to counterattack for the first time in all that we have been practicing, I deflected her blade from the weapon with one hand, and with the other I held her by the neck, pushing her to the ground.

She had widened her eyes in great surprise, it seems she had completely forgotten that I could attack too.

With my hand still on her neck and a serious expression, I spoke while looking directly into her eyes.

"Why are you always so stiff? That's not good. Feel free to talk to me to ease that, even more so if we continue with this."

Releasing me from my grip and stepping back, Veronica recovered from her surprise and looked at me doubtfully.

“Talking during a fight doesn't sound good at all. Besides, what are you and I supposed to talk about?”

"Anything is fine, you can tell me about yourself or you can ask about me, and if you can't talk about whatever comes to mind"

I insisted while I approached one of the shelves in the room and took a spear.

"I thought you were a swordsman, why a spear?" Veronica asked as she raised an eyebrow.

I began to swing the spear until I was on guard.

"It's boring to be practicing the same weapon all the time"

Veronica, who was listening to me, rearranged herself into a combat position and replied.

"Your arrogant words are an insult to all who strive to improve in some discipline"

Resuming our battle, our weapons collided

"Is that so?" I answered her calmly.

Maneuvering with the scythe, Verónica once again distances herself from me as she retorts.

“Yes, the people who try very hard to increase their mastery with a weapon, most of them are nobles, finding out how to make fun of it could cause you trouble”

Contemplating what she was saying, I swung the spear and advancing at a speed comparable to that of a speedboat, I tried to shoot her down with my weapon.

Veronica was able to dodge and counterattack by aiming for my chest.

Blood splattered everywhere, obviously determined not to dodge anything and his weapon had cut into my flesh.

The girl distanced herself from me when she saw this, to which I spoke.

"It's not my fault that they have to try harder, I'm very different from other people, and as arrogant as it sounds, I'm not going to make my life miserable just for a couple of people"

I had to remove my shirt because the cut from the scythe had rendered it unusable.

"I'll have to find better quality clothes or some way to solve this" I said while looking at the torn shirt on the floor.

Veronica relaxed and came closer looking at me with complex emotions on her face.

"Increasingly I see you more as a villain than as someone who will be part of the group of the next heroes"

Her gaze swept over my body, then suddenly looked away with a slight blush on his cheeks.

"And it's your fault for wearing clothes that aren't fit for combat."

I didn't know whether to laugh or cry, to begin with, now I'm considering looking for suitable combat clothing.

On the other hand…

"I think only the naive aspire to be heroes, and I could say the same for those who aspire to be villains" I expressed my opinion by shaking my head.

If I was rational with the subject, the idea of being a Hero was quite nice for many people, the birth of the legend of the Hero was a rather long story, but at the base, it seemed really exaggerated to me.

The Hero is a kind and brave person who sacrifices himself for the good of Justice, someone prodigious and blessed by the strength of the Gods.

There was a time when I thought that stupidity was an invention of the fucking republic advertising all over the news, but it turns out that it is a very popular concept everywhere.

If I remember correctly, the Hero was a person who defeated the Demon King many years ago and even though the second Demon King was also defeated by another Hero from that time, now it seems that everyone wants to be a hero.

Anyway…

From Veronica's serious expression, it seems that she did not like my comment at all.

"It may all be a joke to you, but the matter of who is going to be a Hero is a serious matter, there are even people who show the qualities of a Hero"

Expressing her discontent, she put his weapon aside, for my part I just smiled.

It's just what I meant, it's a fucking obsession with that matter.

"Oh yeah? Are there already some gullible ones?” I answered him while giving a round of applause.

At this point, I could see a vein in Veronica's hundred and continued to speak.

"There are people who are proving to be capable of assuming a role as honorable as that of being a Hero, and they are not just anyone..."

This situation is quite funny to me.

Also, the expressions this girl makes aren't bad either, let's see how far we can push her…

“For example, in our Kingdom, the current Crown Prince is someone who has proven to be a prodigy at his young age, and is of course quite popular among the nobility.”

I nodded to what she told me as I approached her slowly.

"There's also that guy who's been in the news lately, he's a republic prodigy, at least those two have declared their willingness to want fight demons"

I think I know who you mean by that prodigy of the republic, I saw him a couple of days ago on the news, a redhead.

And as for the prince, I've also seen him on the news some time ago, he must be close to our age from his appearance.

However, I don't care about those two.

“So… if I become the Hero, will you look favorably on me?”

When I threw that question at her looking into her eyes, I was right in front of her.

The question wasn't serious, just wanted to continue bothering her.

All her anger vanished and was replaced by a surprised expression.

"What are you talking about? Wait! Get away from me!"

Veronica, realizing how close she was, began to push me nervously.

Once I distance myself, she took a deep breath and smiled wryly.

"Someone like you becoming a Hero? You're very strong and I admit it, but that doesn't suit you"

This time it was my eyes that widened in surprise.

Before she could say anything one of the maids called out to Veronica.

"Excuse me, Young Miss, you have to get ready for the tea party at the royal palace, your mother has announced that she expects to see you there."

That alone was enough to send Veronica into a panic.

"Right, how could I have forgotten!"

After saying that, she turned to me.

"Let's continue this later, I have urgent matters to attend to"

Without saying more, Veronica leaves the practice rooms at high speed.

These noble…