Ch.9998. The First Trial (1)

# 98. The First Trial (1)

Thanks to that, we were able to easily overcome the crisis and finally relax, letting our bodies rest on the ground.

Everyone except me, unable to endure their physical fatigue, collapsed weakly on the floor, breathing heavily.

“Everyone, take a rest.”

I left them be and looked at the people slowly walking toward us from the distance.

I could see Riel and Eve, who had been supporting us from afar, but now they weren’t as noticeable because of the people beside them.

‘Wow….’

The lineup of those people was impressive enough to draw an involuntary admiration.

The Knight Commanders Light and Ray, and Emperor Reinhardt.

And Amelia, the owner of that arrow shower from earlier. Though they were just walking quietly, an indescribable aura was emanating from them.

I greeted them cautiously.

“Um… hello?”

“You’re that boy Albert, right?”

“Yes, that’s me.”

Upon hearing this, Ray and Light suddenly expressed their gratitude to me.

“Thank you for always taking care of my son.”

“And I assume you led this situation too.”

“The other kids played a bigger role than I did.”

Certainly, without our party members, such a favorable situation wouldn’t have occurred.

What I just said wasn’t mere display of humility but the absolute truth.

While we were having that conversation, the Emperor glared at me and spoke.

“Is my daughter alright?”

“Of course. She might need rest after using too much magical power, but she has no direct injuries. She’s quite exceptional in that regard.”

And suddenly, that “exceptional person” had approached behind me and spoke.

“Father, I’m fine. Rather, Albert is the one who got seriously injured… Are you okay?”

It was still pleasing that she was concerned about me, but it felt somewhat awkward in the current situation.

She was worrying about me instead of her father who had just returned from battle, and the Emperor was clearly expressing his displeasure about this fact through his facial muscles.

I avoided his rather burdensome gaze and answered her question.

“Um… I’m fine. I didn’t lose much blood, and thanks to [Death-Defying Life], my vitality is good.”

Thanks to [Death-Defying Life], I had recovered quite a bit of vitality, and due to the effect of reducing damage by 30%, the damage I received from the remaining troops was relatively minimal.

“I thought you must have had some method since you deliberately took those hits… but please don’t do that again…”

“Yes… I’m sorry…”

She seemed to know about [Death-Defying Life] and trusted me, but she still appeared quite worried.

They all watched her concern for me with different perspectives.

Ray and Light were busy checking on their own children rather than us, while the Emperor wore a displeased expression.

Finally, Amelia was watching us with a pleased expression.

“I’ve only seen you in photos, but seeing you in person is quite interesting… You two definitely look good together. Emperor, you don’t need to worry anymore, right?”

“Be quiet, Amelia.”

Amelia approached me with a playful smile.

“Hello? This is our first time meeting, right?”

“It’s an honor to meet you, Hero.”

“Oh… you know who I am?”

“Of course… You’re the Hero after all, and your archery skills earlier were amazing.”

Amelia scratched her head bashfully.

“Ah… don’t praise me so much…”

Yet she clearly enjoyed the compliment, while the princess was looking at Amelia and me with a displeased expression.

“Thank you too, Princess. If it weren’t for you, we would have all died long ago.”

“Hmm… I’ll let it slide.”

Her tone and voice suggested she had no choice but to accept it.

The thought that an unfortunate future might have awaited me had I not said those words sent a chill down my spine.

In that situation, Amelia looked at the bodies with arrows stuck in them and asked me.

“Were these guys the only ones here?”

“No, over there… Huh?”

The corpse of Fenex, which had been there until just now, had suddenly disappeared.

‘Where did it go…?’

Not only the body but even the severed head was gone.

Unaware of this fact, Amelia looked at the numerous corpses there and exclaimed in admiration.

“Wow… did you guys do this?”

“Yes… that’s right, but…”

“But?”

“A corpse that should be here is missing…”

I had definitely been too careless.

A demon of Fenex’s caliber would surely have had unique skills, but I hadn’t considered that.

Of course, they obtain their skills differently from us, but demons also have unique skills just like we do.

Except for special cases like the Succubus’s [Enchantment] or Dark Elf’s [Mana Conversion], demons also have their own unique skills.

“I let my guard down…”

Demons are born with the unique skill [Demon’s Heart], and after their magical power exceeds a certain threshold, they gain another unique skill.

However, just like humans, only a small number of individuals satisfy the awakening condition of exceeding that magical power threshold, so there aren’t many individuals with a second unique skill.

Of course, someone of Fenex’s caliber would be among those few individuals.

‘I didn’t think of that…’

I stared intently at the spot where Fenex’s head had been until just now, and Amelia spoke to me.

“It’s okay, these things happen. And what you’ve already accomplished is more than enough.”

“Thank you…”

Amelia’s consolation was appreciated, but this was a matter of my pride.

As someone who had been a Knight Commander, making such a mistake… it was impossible not to feel self-reproach.

I should have been at least a little suspicious when Fenex quietly accepted death.

“Still, he’ll probably just quietly retreat. With injuries that severe, he can’t do much right now, and if he gets caught by us, he’ll die immediately.”

“We should still look for him.”

Amelia immediately took out her phone and contacted someone.

“Near the Clock Tower, please search and check all CCTV footage. And just a moment…”

Amelia approached me, held the phone to my mouth, and asked.

“What did the one who disappeared look like?”

“…Black hair with orange horns, and he was wearing gray armor. His hair was long enough to reach his shoulders, and his horns weren’t particularly large.”

“Did you hear that? That’s what he looks like. Contact me immediately if you find him.”

With those words, Amelia ended the call.

“Are all the others still here except for him?”

“Yes… it seems so.”

Even if not Fenex, those troops were armed demons, so even a single soldier could cause considerable damage.

However, since almost all of them were dead, there was no concern in that regard.

And since civilians had already been evacuated, even if a few had secretly escaped, there would be few or no casualties.

“It’s okay since there are no people around, but I’ll go look around just in case. You all don’t look good, so leave the rest to us and get some rest.”

Amelia continued, looking at Light and Ray.

“Knight Commanders? Please take care of these kids. Heal them with holy power too.”

After saying this to Light and Ray, Amelia disappeared between the city buildings.

As soon as Amelia vanished, the princess gently placed her hand on my shoulder and said.

“You did well.”

“I’ve only just taken the first step.”

Besides, this was not just relatively small but absolutely small in scale as wars go.

The detachment heading to the Clock Tower was small, and judging by how quickly reinforcements arrived, the main force must have been small too.

Of course, even if the scale hadn’t been small, members of this caliber would have ended the battle quickly.

“And I learned a lot from this battle.”

“What did you learn?”

“That I’m still far from adequate.”

We struggled against a small force of less than a thousand and Fenex, a demonstrative Executor with far from impressive skills.

And that was with her by our side.

It was truly a result that could only make me sigh.

Although the damage was minimal in the end, it was too early to conclude that we “did well” based solely on that.

In the end, we had Amelia’s help, Fenex somehow survived and escaped, and Lilith didn’t join the fight until the very end.

‘We definitely didn’t do well…’

It might have seemed good objectively, but by my standards, it fell far short of even an average performance.

It was an achievement that made me ashamed of myself, and it naturally made me think that I needed to work even harder in the future.

“Let’s train harder when we get back.”

“Don’t overdo it, okay?”

“I’ll try.”

I said that, but in the end, I have to push myself, and extremely so.

Skills would improve even without pushing too hard.

However, without giving myself trials and pushing my limits, I couldn’t expect dramatic growth.

“I’ll try.”

In the end, I need to grow by overcoming trials that seem impossible to overcome.

I don’t know if that’s the best approach, but that’s how I’ve done it so far, and that’s how I’ll continue.