Chapter 12

After finding out the reason for his harsh treatment, Zich began to feel a small amount of guilt and sympathy. However, it ended there.

‘I can’t change what has already happened. Like I thought, I can just help them later.’

Zich coolly passed on dealing with the aftermath of his doings to the rest of the family and began preparing for his journey. The first thing he had to do was figure out what to pack.

‘Even if I prepare, I can’t get everything I need in Steelwall anyways.’

But there was nothing to worry about.

‘If I’m missing something, I can buy it on the way.’

Even if Zich was basically an abandoned child, it didn’t change the fact that he was the first son of the Steelwall family. He had a certain amount of savings and inheritance that he could easily secure. The first thing he did was go to a pawn shop and sell the many gems he possessed. He was able to obtain a large sum from this, and with the money in his pockets, he headed towards the armory shop.

‘As expected of an armory shop in the capital—it’s enormous.’

A wooden sign with a drawing of a sword and shield shook with the wind. No matter what country or what type of leader they were, they all hated armed commoners. People in power were afraid that armed commoners would point their swords against them. However, the forest was crawling with monsters, and the commoners had no choice but to arm themselves.

Even if they were weak or were unable to fight, they had to request professionals to fight for them. For this reason, armory shops were prolific in the Kingdom.

‘Of course, there is a clear difference in the number and quality of supplies from store to store, but this is true for any goods.’

Zich opened the store’s door and went in. Numerous weapons and shields hung on the walls, and weapons filled up the showcase from back to back.

“Welcome!”

The store owner enthusiastically welcomed Zich and Hans inside. Since it was common for armory shops to have many rough customers, store owners often acted rough, but this place seemed to have at least some sort of customer service.

“Is there an item you are looking for…?!”

Zich stopped the store owner who was coming closer and pulled out a sword next to him. The sunlight seeped through the window and sharply reflected off the sword.

Ting!

Zich flicked his fingers on the sword a few times.

‘The sound is okay.’

Then, he tried swinging the sword.

Swish!

He made a clean half-circle with the sword. Standing awkwardly in the corner with his shoulders hunched, Hans felt a shiver run down his back.

‘He really is a genius in sword fighting.’

When Hans saw Zich and Greig fight, he thought Zich’s sword fighting skills were extraordinary.

But it was even more impressive than what Hans had thought. Even from a distance, Hans could feel the murderous intent from Zich’s sword.

‘The balance is alright.’

Zich was satisfied with the sword. Of course, this sword could not compare to the weapons he had when he was the Demon Lord. Quality-wise, this sword was even worse than the one he had brought from Steelwall.

‘This is good enough.’

Zich decided to buy the sword if it was not too expensive. Then, he put back the sword he took out and dragged Hans to where the short swords were.

‘These are also pretty okay.’

Zich picked out a suitable short sword and passed it onto Hans after testing it out.

“Why would you give me this, sir...?”

“That’s yours from now on…”

“What?”

“Well, we don’t know what’s going to happen in the future, so it’s good for you to have a weapon. I will be protecting you in general, but we should also prepare for the worst-case scenario.”

“T-Then wouldn’t a different type of sword be better, sir?”

Hans’ eyes shifted over to where the long swords were. From the outside, long swords looked stronger than short swords. Zich let out a chuckle and lightly hit Hans’ back.

“And will you be able to handle it? Before you pierce your enemies, you're going to cut your hands. You should be satisfied with this before I give you a club. No, would a club actually be better?”

Hans accepted the short sword with no further complaints. A short sword was much better than a club.

“Sir Zich, what about you?”

“I have this.”

Zich tapped the sword on his waist. Since it was a sword from Steelwall, the quality was better than most swords. After he bought a spare sword and a sword to do menial tasks for himself and Hans, he shifted his attention towards the armor. Like a scarecrow, several pieces of armor hung on a wooden pole. Most of the armor was made out of thick cloth or fur and had wood or metal on the body's vital areas. Zich whole-heartedly laughed at Hans’ disappointed eyes.

“I bet you are wondering why there is no plate armor…and why we are in such a cheap-ass store like this.”

“Wh-what? No, of course not, sir!”

Hans fervently denied Zich’s claims, but his nervous hiccups betrayed him. The store owner, who had quietly been watching Zich assess the weapons in his store with great expertise, looked at Hans with disappointment. The store owner didn’t look angry, but he also seemed to think that Hans was pathetically naïve.

“Even though being armed is a necessity in this world, metal plate armor is ridiculously expensive. If a store like this actually sold metal plate armor, the owner would be out of his mind.”

The store owner nodded in agreement.

“Try wearing this first.”

Zich threw leather armor at Hans. The armor was tied with a string in the back and had metal plates on the chest and joint areas to increase defense. Hans grabbed the armor, but he hesitated. As a servant who did house chores, there was no way he knew how to put an armor on.

“I will put it on for you.”

The store owner offered his help.

“Memorize the steps.”

Following Zich’s order, Hans opened his eyes wide to remember. He watched the store owner put the armor on him and tried to memorize each step. Since the store owner was experienced, it did not take long for him to finish. Hans looked down at his armored body in fascination. 

Likewise, Zich put on a similar leather armor as Hans. However, unlike Hans, he was skillful at

putting on the armor. It was fascinating for Hans to watch Zich who was now checking the armor out with different movements.

“Where did you learn these types of things, Sir Zich?”

“Here and there.”

It was not a satisfactory answer, but Hans could not ask further.

After making sure that the armor did not inhibit his movements by tightly holding onto his fists for the last time, Zich shouted, “Okay, all set! Give me the check!”

               *    *    *

After buying basic weaponry, Zich began to prepare for other things he needed on his journey. He packed items such as blankets, flint for outdoor camping, and foods like jerky. After they finished purchasing all the necessary items, Hans and Zich looked like travelers. Then, they went outside the walls that surrounded Steelwall’s capital, Violsa.

As they went out, Hans and Zich’s expressions directly contrasted each other. Zich was in a good mood and hummed—even his footsteps were light and easy. On the other hand, Hans’ expression was dark and gloomy.

“Sir, have you decided on your destination?”

They had no specific plans, and Hans was unable to see his future in this journey, but he wanted to know at least where they were heading.

“Porti.”

“Isn’t Porti a city in our neighbor’s territory, sir?”

“Yeah. I want to get out of this territory first. So, I’m going to go to the nearest region, which is Porti and see how things go from there. ”

Like before, Zich seemed to be moving without plans, but it wasn’t like he had no plans at all.

‘Should I try to find those guys?’

Before he regressed, Zich had four retainers. As expected of retainers of the Demon Lord, they were all crazy bastards, but there were a few people Zich considered as his comrades. Before he regressed, they all died earlier to Glen Zenard, but they were all probably alive at this point in time. 

Of course, they were no longer the subordinates he knew.

‘But I still want to check on how they are doing.’

Moreover, from what Zich knew, his underlings also had their fair share of sufferings and troubles.

‘As I travel around, I will look for them if I remember. And if they are in trouble, I can help them.’

Hans looked up at the sky. In contrast to what he was feeling, the sky was overwhelmingly bright and blue. It was hard to move his feet forward; it felt like something was grabbing his ankles and not letting go.

‘…But I still have to go.’

Hans did not know what would happen if he slowed down Zich. Contrary to his expectations, Zich was treating him very well. However, this still didn’t mean that Hans felt comfortable around Zich. Hans fixed the position of the bag he was holding and followed Zich from behind.

‘At least I should be thankful that our next destination is a city.’

Although he spent all of his life in Steelwall, even Hans knew about Portia—that was how famous and bustling the city was. Hans felt reassured to find out their first location and thought that it would be more comfortable to go to a famous city than to go to a random, strange who-knows-where place.

But only after a half of a day since their departure from Violsa, Hans realized that he had been too naïve.

“Sir Z-Zich? Are we straying from the path?”

Hans, who had been quietly following Zich, spoke while trembling after Zich began to stray off.

“I know.”

But Zich’s footsteps did not stop.

“Isn’t that not the path, sir?”

“I told you, I know.”

Insecurity began to rise in Hans’ heart slowly. Hans desperately wished that Zich was straying away from the path for a moment to pee or something like that. And like usual wishes that arose in moments of insecurity, it seemed his wish would not come true.

“Is there a reason why we need to follow the path and go around and around? If we go straight like this, we can reach Portia in half the time.”

Listening to him plainly, Zich was right. However, as Hans looked at the bright green and densely packed forest, he could not agree with Zich’s comments.

“E-even if the distance is longer, I think it will take a shorter amount of time if we follow the path, sir.”

“What are you talking about? Let’s go.”

And that was all there was from Zich. Hans knew Zich would never listen to him, so like a cow dragged into a slaughterhouse, he pulled his body forward.

    *   *   *

There were many reasons why people followed a path, but the main reason was safety. If they strayed from the trail, travelers could meet beasts that could kill ordinary people with a single bite and other dangers. However, if someone interviewed a hundred people about what they thought was the most dangerous thing outside of the path, all hundred would say monsters.

Monsters had strong physical strength; some possessed magical abilities, and a few even had special abilities. They were currently the biggest threat to humanity’s survival. 

On the bright side, humans worked hard to expel monsters from areas where humans normally lived, so there were very few monsters in largely populated areas. Even Hans had never seen a monster before. Once, he saw a monster from far away when the knights had brought monster corpses to the castle. However, despite all of this, if people strayed even a little bit off the path, they could be attacked by many monsters lurking around.

So, it was completely expected when Zich and Hans soon met some monsters.

“Sir Z-Zich! T-th-there…!”

“Stop being so loud. Is this your first time seeing a monster?”

Hans’ legs trembled in shock, while Zich calmly looked on.

Krrrgh!

A bright yellow being that almost looked like a patient with its deep yellow eyes yelled ferociously at them.

“What is that?”

“That’s a goblin.”

“A-a goblin, sir?”

Curiosity was part of human nature, and Hans could not help but ask despite his fear.

The goblin was barely a meter tall. It wore nothing, and its only form of weapon was a wooden stick that was crudely shaped into a bludgeon. To be honest, the goblin didn’t look frightening at all.

‘I-Is it actually not a big deal at all?’

Even in the heroic novels that Hans read, goblins were not depicted as strong monsters. They merely came out as weak footmen for mighty demons.

As a result, Hans began to gain confidence.

‘I-I think I might be able to beat a monster of that level.’

Hans’ hands began to move towards the short sword on his waist.

“Why, you think you can beat a goblin?”

“Yes? N-no, it is not like that, sir.”

Hans felt overwhelmed whenever he interacted with Zich, so he denied everything Zich said. Zich might say that Hans did not know his place and scold him again.

However, Zich gave Hans a completely unexpected response.

“You want to try fighting him?”

“Me?”

“Yeah, who else but you?”

With Zich’s words, Hans felt his heart beating fiercely from fear and nervousness. Fighting with a goblin was a real-life experience with his life on the line. On the other hand, Hans wanted to try listening to his confidence.

‘It’s just a goblin. Wouldn’t it be alright with Sir Zich? If I want to continue traveling, it will be good for me to gain combat experience early on.’

And who knew what would happen in the future? Maybe the tale of ‘The Great Hero Hans’ would begin from this fight.

Hans’ thoughts were naïve and childish, but it was also expected from someone who was young and had just left his house.

“I will try, sir.”

Hans pulled out his sword.