---

'Humans stupid. Every single time, they let down guard. Let us intrude easily. Let us kill. Destroy. Stupid.'

A single imp hovered in place, its shimmering, scaly body half-way concealed behind the damaged remnants of a house's chimney.

'We enjoy destruction. It give us and master energy. Energy master needs to awaken. Important energy. We raid human base to get energy for master. To awaken master. Offer destruction to master.'

The sounds of destruction echoed from around it, followed by a nearly imperceptible golden shimmer soon after.

The air would suddenly turn golden, flashing here and there, like beams of light flying through the sky in all directions.

The imp continued to watch, while thinking,

'But all not easy. Some human strong. Silver-hair human-woman protecting front of village, strong. Scary. Steel wearing humans, kinda strong. Annoying.'

"Go!" 

A single voice stood out among the sounds of rushing air and neat slicing. Yes, slicing. The slicing of flesh - a sound that the imp knew all too well.

What followed each of those slices weren't the familiar sounds of human pain and suffering...but the sounds of its' bretheren. Their bodies being rended into mist.

'But those humans only protect front half. We send weaker imps there. Distraction. Distract, while we destroy other half. Burn. Kill. Hunt. Then hide. We smart. Humans stupid. Arrogant. Look down on us. So...why?'

"Away!"

Another shout of effort, and yet another golden flash, followed by rushing air, and this time, the imp heard the sound of two of its' bretheren perishing. Then another. Then more. The sky in front of it was now no longer visible, filled with the misty smoke that dead demons emitted...

It was like a thunderstorm brewing directly in front of him. There was a living lightning bolt arcing through a cloud made of their death mist, picking them off one by one.

The illusion magic they employed didn't even seem to mean anything, as it was ripped to pieces alongside them.

"Stupid imps!"

'How...one human...?'

The imp didn't even have time to react, as a bright flash of yellow overtook his entire vision in only a second. Instinctually, it already knew it was dead. But there was something it saw. Something that broke it even further. 

A face filled with a rage it had seen before, plastered on the face of many useless humans as they faced their death and ruin.

Many prideful, older humans. Some younger and more hopeful, but still adult. Yet that face belonged to...

'Child...?'

With a single cleave, the imp's body was cleanly bisected. But, as quickly as its' life was ended, it didn't leave without a parting gift.

---

"Ouch!" 

I heard Aurum yelp in pain somewhere above me. While I was worried, it wasn't by too large of a margin. She landed a few seconds later, panting, with a few scratches covering her previously unhurt body. 

It was a given, considering she was just wearing a loose-fitting black and gold tunic. Not to mention, she didn't have any 'defense' up from her Treasure.

Imps' claws were sharp. However, her claws were sharper. Far sharper.

Staring at her hands, which still had that sickly purple-smoke indicating a dead demon rising off of them, I knew that my confidence was not badly placed.

"You alright, Aur?" 

I asked, though I didn't move from my position against a nearby still-standing wall. My leg was still broken, and I was aware enough that the pain of a broken bone wasn't worth going over to check on the wellbeing of someone as tough as her.

"Y-Yeah, yeah!" She quickly stood straight, apparently not wanting to show any sign of weakness. "Don't worry about it, it was a piece of cake. I mean, especially with what you told me...I just got a little scratch here and there!" 

Those 'little scratches' were bleeding. They were honestly more like small gashes in her skin, but like I said, I knew she could handle it. At least, I hoped so. 

"Come on, the old-...uh...my mom, shouldn't be far, right? Let's get moving again."

"Mm!" 

Aurum nodded, though she still gave me a strange look with the way I mentioned this woman who was apparently my mother. I didn't know how to convince her, so I just decided I'd have to accept a certain amount of suspicion for now.

I was a good gamer, not a master actor. 

Aurum approached me and slung my arm over her shoulder again, supporting me without even asking for my permission, or without me even needing to say anything. It seemed second nature for her to support me in my time of need. 

We headed through the rest of the town like that, with her supporting me, and occasionally stopping to kill a wave of imps.

The strategy for killing them, by the way, was pretty simple. 

In the game Treasure Quest, every heroine receives a randomized list of treasures for each runs. While the lists are usually random, the treasures on them were preset. Essentially, whatever list they received, also explained what character tree they would go down.

When I saw her golden wings, I realized that Aurum, in the "run" that was happening in this world, was on the path of 'Draconic Manifestation', or 'Dragonification', to make it simpler. 

She would find traces of her extremely distant ancestor's power, traces which would allow her to slowly take on its' features. 

And first and foremost on that list was the 'Golden Dragon's Body', which, as she gained more control over it, would allow her to use the physical capabilities of the golden dragon. Strength, speed, defense, and even flight - she could materialize aspects of the Golden Dragon that would allow her to use its' capabilities.

Eventually, Aurum would be able to take on all aspects of her ancestor's physical power at once, alongside other things...but it was an extremely exhasuting ability. Until she gained full mastery over it, it would honestly be hard for her to handle.

So I taught her a trick - she only needed to manifest small portions of her ability, and only for very brief periods of time. 

Manifest the wings for a second to control her airborne momentum. 

Manifest the dragon's muscles for a moment to boost her speed to insane levels.

She didn't even need to bother with using its' strength. After all, she could just use the momentum she gathered up from her speed to strike - Imps weren't really that durable. Especially because she already had a strong weapon - her hands. Simply manifest the dragon's claws to deliver a killing blow instantaneously.

It was a strategy with many flaws. Honestly, you could consider it more of a cheap shortcut than anything, but it worked for low-level enemies like imps. 

And it confirmed to me that strategies needn't just be confined to pre-existing game mechanics. I mean, this was not something you could do in the original game...but this wasn't exactly a game anymore.

While Aurum was accumulating more and more small wounds due to her inexperience, both in fighting and in using her Treasure, she continued on with toughness you wouldn't expect from someone so young.

Was it the pride of a dragon?

Or did she go this far because of the presumably strong connection she had to me?

The guilt I felt when looking at her body, battered and bruised because of my own lack of strength, didn't let me think about that for too much longer. 

Along the way, we even found people to save. Other than the people who were carrying around water buckets, futilely trying to put out the flames that threatened to consume their homes - to take away everything they had built up in these small villages, there were some who were gravely wounded.

Those surrounded by imps, or stuck in burning homes. If they were there along the way, we stopped to extend a helping hand. I wasn't exactly a hero type, but I wasn't going to just let people die in front of me, when all it took Aurum was a second of strength to help them out.

We were all stuck in this hellfire. These people had already lost lots of the people they loved, money, furniture, memories that could probably never be recovered. My only objective was to survive. As long as I lived, I could essentially do anything else I wanted, right? I had the time.

I still felt bad for putting the burden on her over and over, but again, she never seemed to mind. She never complained. Though she did seem incredibly apprehensive about the whole thing.

"I just don't understand why you're personally helping these guys, Tommy...but if you ask me to, I'll do it."

The villagers themselves seemed at ease, giving Aurum warm smiles that made me think this meant more to them than she could ever comprehend. Yet, despite me being there...they seemingly ignored my existence. No, they outright sent me scornful gazes.

"Thank you, young lady Aurum...this is far too much of a blessing."

"As expected from a young lady with the blood of Aurelian within her."

"I promise to make this up to you later, lady Aurum!"

Everyone would say things like this, extending generous thanks to Aurum. I understood it, considering that dragons were considered something close to mythical, near-divine beasts by many. Not to mention, her ancestor was closely tied to this village and it's founding. The name resemblance between the village and her was not a coincidence.

But...why did they ignore me so much? And why did Aurum look so incredibly pissed when they did, like she was basically swelling up in barely contained anger?

I had a feeling that they were all connected...Aurum's rush to apologize for speaking about my mom calling me weak, the guard captain apparently being this same...mother, and the fact that these villagers appeared either willfully ignorant or spiteful towards my existence, even within this crisis.

Still, there was no mental room to dwell on this. There were way too many mysteries, and the situation around us still didn't seem calm enough to leisurely theorize. The fires were slowly dimming down, but...

Clang!

The sound of steel hitting against another hard surface was nearby. Multiplied many times over, like dozens of swords were continually striking at something. And the direction Aurum was taking us in only seemed to be getting closer to it. 

"Hehe...finally, finally we can...we can see the old lady! Tommy, don't you think she'll be proud? She will be, won't she? I mean, I killed so much of those little weird guys, and I've got battle scars!" Aurum said proudly, looking down at her slashed tunic and the many cuts and bruises on her tanned, fit body.

She had certainly not gotten out unscathed, but I was a little more interested in something else.

"My mom? So, uh...is she really good at fighting or something? Because I'm pretty sure we're heading towards a battlefield."

Aurum's golden eyes fixed me with that incredulous gaze again, and she sighed. She spoke in a voice that was both hesitant, yet certain.

"Oi, Tommy...you really hit your head, didn't you? Be honest."

My eyes widened. Her response alone indicated how tough things would be to keep up the act...was I supposed to be my mom's biggest fanboy or something? 

"Uhhh...y-you got me. My mind is a lil'...umm....empty. Probably hit it too hard in the fall."

I decided to play along. I mean, if she was giving me a way out, then why not take it?

"I knew it." She sighed, and for the first time, I saw a tinge of sadness in her eyes. Before I could say anything else, she immediately perked up. "Well, anyways! I'm sure you'll get better if you sleep! The old lady always says that!" Her grin returned in no time, but that sadness I saw in her made it feel a little forced.

However, I had enough social etiquette to know that prodding at something like that would only make things awkward right now. And I had no ideas of getting into a feelings discussion with Aurum, no matter how grateful I was for her saving me.

"Just what kind of person is my mom to be giving all this irresponsible advice...?"

"That's sure a big word you used, Tommy, but your mom is definitely a responsible adult. Way more responsible than any of those other wimps back there, anyway." She seethed, taking in a deep breath, before continuing. "I mean, she's the captain of Aureal's guard! She's one of the Kingdom of Tesora's strongest ex-knights, you know? She's ultra-popular! Don't you remember how hard I had to work to get the right to be her student?! I-I mean, I know you aren't ultra close to her, but..."

No, the biggest fan was definitely right here. Aurum was definitely the biggest fan of my mother around. Her tough, prideful demeanor totally disappeared the moment she started excitedly chatting about this mystery woman.

As for me? I was just confused. 'Strongest Knight of the Kingdom'? That was something I wasn't familiar with, by any means. This was something never mentioned in the game, and the 'captain of Aureal's guard' wasn't that important, since it was just a beginner's village.

Not to mention, while I knew the currently strongest knight, and the character that would become the next strongest knight, I knew nothing of this 'previous strongest'.

But I wasn't surprised. A game can't possibly detail everything. Minor NPCs will always go unnoticed, their stories untold, utterly ignored by even the developers who insert them into the game. However, this game was now reality. Everyone had a unique story. Everyone had lives they had lived, even away from the prying eyes of me - the former player.

My mother - no, Thomas' mother, this apparent ex-strongest knight, was one of those new variables.

"I mean, of course I remember how popular my mom is, Aur. I remember at least that much."

I lied as easily as I breathed, when I wanted to. I wasn't a good actor, but I was pretty good at dry delivery and keeping a straight face.

"But, uh, what do you mean by me not being close to her?" 

While I could've skipped over that, I couldn't help but be curious. It immediately made me wonder if it had something to do with the villagers we had saved back then being so obviously distant to me, despite their lives being saved essentially because I had asked Aurum to bother with it.

Aurum looked to the side, chuckling nervously in a barely-hidden display of anxiety. "Well, um...you know what, how about we just get to her first?"

Before I could object, Aurum quickened her pace, and soon enough, we arrived to see the source of the clashing of swords.

"Holy..."

In front of us was a literal war-zone. The buildings around weren't scorched to hell, but some were flattened via sheer destruction. Around and within the frames of ruined buildings were littered hundreds, maybe thousands of imp bodies. I realized then, that the numbers of imps we had seen back there...weren't anything compared to the numbers now.

"I know, right? There were even more at first...they just attacked outta nowhere at night. I was having such a good nap too." Aurum shook her head, grumbling, like it had been a particularly personal slight to her. "Thankfully, old lady Arianwen and the other guards- well, everyone just calls her Aria, was there to stop most of them. If it wasn't for her, things could've been way worse."

Aurum let out a sigh. "Apparently, this is the worst it's been since a few years back...but they had to be exaggerating! These guys might be a little tricky, but they're suuuuuper easy to kill. Especially with your strategy, Tommy!"

I gulped. Her words were casual, but did Aurum realize what she was saying? 

This place had gotten attacked by slimes in an even larger number before, and survived? And now they had an Imp raid with these kinds of numbers? What sort of difficulty was this, ultra-hell mode?!

This was how an attack on the village went before the protagonist got here? Just what sort of character was Aria to take down these sorts of numbers by herself, maybe with a few other regular guard-level characters?

Not to mention, this amount of imps...it indicated something that I didn't want to believe. Something I hoped wasn't true...I'd have to look into it later.

"Oooh, oooh, Tommy, look! She's over there, finishing off the last few!" Aurum pointed out, her fingers extending to a sight barely visible in the distance.

There I saw it. A streak of silver dancing through the night, like a beam of moonlight. The traces of a sword, cutting along a clean, efficient path. It wasn't showy. In fact, that single line the cut followed was perfection - to the point that even a total rookie at real sword fighting like me could tell.

I saw the sword before I could even catch the person swinging it in my eyes. The clanging noise came from the other regular guards nearby, bustling with not nearly as showy or strong, but still impressively practiced swordsmanship, dispatching the Imps that dared to lower towards them with precision befitting a military unit.

It was only after the numbers of Imps began to truly lower, that I noticed the long silver hair - the slender form, not even protected under armor...piercing blue eyes, that I swore I met the gaze of, despite the impossible distance.

Had it been hours? With how mesmerized I was by the sheer display of skill and power, I didn't even realize that the last Imp had long been dispatched. The silver-haired woman stopped in place and sheathed her longsword, like she hadn't been a beautiful killing machine moments earlier. 

The other knights surrounding her, without even taking a moment to break, dispersed, heading in different directions around the village, likely to provide relief. 

Then, stepping over the corpses of the multitudes of Imps she had killed, so quickly dispatched that they were only now turning into pitiful smoke, Aria began to approach us.

Aurum, for all her fangirlish glee, tensed up, suddenly holding me closer as this enigma of a powerful woman approached. She was no doubt coming directly towards us.

Aria, the Kingdom's ex-strongest knight. And...my mother?