Adam knelt down in the bushes. He checked to confirm that he was well-hidden, then turned his eyes to the lake in front of him.

To the untrained eye, the lake would appear calm and peaceful: water glistening in the light of the afternoon sun, birds diving into the water to catch fish, countless insects buzzing in the air. But to an experienced hero like Adam, there was clearly something wrong with the scene. Specifically, there was a small patch of water that, no matter how long he watched, was never approached by any of the animals.

"There's definitely a monster here," Adam murmured.

"And they're good at hiding, too," Lilith said. She was currently in her human form. "I couldn't sense their demonic energy at all until I got this close. Even here, it's very faint."

"Still, it looks like it—they couldn't control their hunger," Adam said. "They must be devouring every animal that gets close, causing the rest to avoid them. Anyway, now that we've found them, time to lure them out."

First, Adam held out a torch for Adam to ignite with magic. He then picked up a stone and threw it at the unnatural patch of water. The "water" rose up and spilled over the lake's edge. Upon touching the earth, it formed a large blue blob roughly equal in mass to a bear. The blob had no defined shape, instead constantly shifting and stretching.

This was a slime: an amorphous monster composed entirely of blue liquid. They were relatively common and also relatively dangerous, as most weapons were useless against a monster with no blood to spill, no bones to break and no organs to crush. They were capable of engulfing a grown man and dissolving him until there was nothing left but bones. This particular slime had already devoured three humans.

After leaving the lake, the slime flowed towards Adam at a speed surprising for a monster with no legs. Before it could reach him, a fireball flew past Adam and struck the slime head-on. Steam filled the air, accompanied by a sizzling sound and an acrid smell.

The slime had lost nearly half of its mass to the attack, but it did not retreat. It flattened itself to the ground, presumably to make itself a smaller target, then extended a tendril towards Adam.

Adam deflected the tendril with his torch, at the same time raising his shield to block any splashing droplets. Then Lilith took flight and shot down a second fireball, boiling away most of the slime's remaining substance. Only a small blue puddle was left.

Adam cautiously approached the puddle, then prodded it with the torch, but there was no reaction beyond some of the liquid boiling away. His training was indeed correct: slimes had a minimum mass that was needed to stay alive, and below this mass they were no more than inanimate liquid. Adam took out a small glass vial and scooped up some of the liquid.

With their mission complete, the two of them walked away from the lake.

It had been two weeks since Adam and Lilith had first met. They had left Valeria and begun travelling across the country. This was the third time they had taken a mission to kill a monster, or group of monsters.

They soon arrived at a nearby village. It was small, with a population of less than two hundred. There were few agricultural fields nearby, as the land in this area was not fertile enough to support most crops. Instead, there were numerous nets and fishing lines lying around, the sign of a village that depended on fishing. None of these tools showed signs of being used recently. It was only natural: a slime may have been vulnerable to fire, but a few torches would not be enough to kill it.

Even the weakest monsters were too dangerous for the average human to fight. This was why the Chief God created heroes, humans with divine blessings that made them strong enough to fight monsters on equal terms.

Adam and Lilith walked through the main street. They passed between buildings with storm damage that had barely been repaired. They passed by people whose bodies were unhealthily thin, though not yet to the point where it would cause permanent damage—that, at least, was something to be thankful for.

In the centre of the village was a wrinkled old man: the village chief. Despite looking as if he'd seen more than sixty winters, he was standing tall and overseeing the repair of one of the houses.

Adam approached the chief and, holding up the vial, said, "We have completed the mission. The slime is dead and the lake is again safe."

The chief took the vial and tilted it. The liquid within flowed slowly: few things were as viscous as the substance of slime monsters. The chief then nodded, a gesture that caused the surrounding villagers to cheer.

"Thank you for your service," the chief said, handing back the vial. "Still, these are troubling times. Even though there is no Demon Lord at present, monsters continue to be a plague on humanity. And there are rumours of other things… the last trader to pass through spoke of a village whose people had all been killed, yet their bodies had all been given a respectful burial."

"That incident, can you tell me more about that?" Adam asked.

"Unfortunately, that is all I know—the trader was himself terrified and didn't stay in the village for long," the chief said. "More importantly, your reward—"

"There is no need for an excessive reward," Adam said quickly. "All we ask is a meal and lodging for the night. We'll be on our way tomorrow."

These words elicited another cheer from the surrounding villagers.

The chief blinked, then bowed his head. "Thank you—on behalf of my village, I cannot thank you enough for this. It's reassuring to see someone who embodies the virtue of generosity to such an extent. Please, allow me to offer you my own house as lodging."

For a moment, Adam wondered whether he should accept the offer or ask for another, more private building. The former option would make it difficult to talk with his partner. On the other hand, asking for other accommodations would be selfish and potentially arouse suspicion. He eventually decided to accept.

The chief led the two to his house, which wasn't much larger than the houses of the ordinary villagers. He led them inside and to a guest room. This was also a simple affair: two beds with straw mattresses and pillows, and a table with an oil lamp. However, it was practically a luxury to people who spent much of their time sleeping out in the wilderness. After showing them to their room, the chief left.

Adam and Lilith each put down their baggage and selected a bed. They then began to discuss the strange news they'd just heard.

"It doesn't make any sense," Lilith said. "There are many different kinds of monsters, with many different ways of attacking humans: eating them whole, eating only specific organs, drinking blood, or… the method that my kind use. But none of them would take the time to bury their victims."

"Indeed," Adam said. "And neither would human attackers, for that matter…"

They continued talking about this topic for over an hour. By the end, the most plausible explanation they could think of was that the massacre had been exaggerated by the trader, or it was simply a complete lie.

Evening arrived. The two of them left the chief's house to join in on a feast. To celebrate the killing of the slime, the villagers brought out what had to be most of their remaining stored food. There was trout, catfish, pike, salmon and a dozen other types of fish that Adam couldn't name, cooked and seasoned with various herbs.

During the feast, Adam was repeatedly approached by villagers who wished to thank him personally. This happened frequently enough that Adam had to be careful when he was eating, lest he find himself with a mouth full of food while trying to answer the villagers. However, Adam wasn't annoyed at all by this minor inconvenience. Rather, it was times like this that gave him the will to do his duty, to continue fighting against monsters that could kill him with a single lucky blow.

Whenever he had a free moment, Adam checked on Lilith. She was also the recipient of the villagers' thanks, despite her own best efforts to appear inconspicuous. She initially deflected them with replies such as "Just doing my job" and "It was no problem", but over time she was able to hold brief conversations. There was one occasion when Adam had to intervene, when Lilith had trouble answering questions about her past. Still, she had definitely gotten better at interacting with humans.

After the feast, they returned to their room in the chief's house. They were both too full to go to sleep immediately, so they sat on their beds and talked. They didn't bother turning on the lamp, as the darkness wasn't a problem for a hero trained for night fighting or a monster.

"I've noticed that you've been taking proof from each of the monsters we've killed," Lilith said. "From what you've told me, you didn't do that before."

"That? Well, it actually started because of an issue in Valeria," Adam replied. "A few months ago, there was a hero there who abused his position, to make merchants sell to him at unfair discounts and to coerce women into sleeping with him. That led the townspeople to distrust heroes, so I decided to bring proof of my kills when taking a mission from there. Since then… I suppose it's just become a habit for me."

"It just sounds foolish to me," Lilith said. "I could understand if it was just someone pretending to be a hero, but you're telling me that this was an actual hero, who must've fought monsters personally. He should've known how dangerous monsters can be, and that abusing his position would weaken human society, making it easy prey for monsters. But after the things I've seen… I have no problem believing it."

"I think it's because, well, most people don't think in the long term," Adam said. "If you're not sure if you'll have enough to eat tomorrow, why would you care about what happens a year from now? And while that specific problem doesn't apply to heroes, we do have the problem of being more powerful than other humans thanks to the blessings of the Chief God. It can… lead some of our number to think they deserve more than others."

There were a few moments of silence.

Eventually, Lilith responded, lowering her voice to a whisper, "You know, I used to look up to humans. I saw your kind as being much better than monsters, able to work with each other without needing a Demon Lord to force them. Then I left home and entered human territory and… realised how stupid I was. You can laugh if you want."

"I won't, because when I was a child, I used to think the same thing," Adam whispered back. "The Order teaches that humans must be unified in order to stand strong against monsters. When I grew up, I saw, time and time again, that reality wasn't that simple. And I should have seen it sooner… in the orphanage where I grew up, there were children who'd been abandoned by their parents, and it wasn't uncommon for the children to bully each other. But I didn't realise what it meant back then…"

"So… we've both been idiots, then?" Lilith said. "Is that what we take away from this?"

This time, Adam couldn't help but laugh. "That's one way to look at it. But a better message might be that humans and monsters aren't so different. Even if that's because we share the same flaws."

"Hmm… it's still an uncomfortable message, due to the reason behind it, but I agree that it's better than the other one," Lilith said. "Anyway, it's getting late. We'd better get to sleep soon."

"Yeah, I'm starting to feel sleepy as well. Goodnight."

"Goodnight."

Adam closed his eyes and relaxed his body. Soon, he heard Lilith's breathing shift into the characteristic rhythm of sleep.

Looking at it objectively, this was a bizarre situation. A hero sleeping in the same room as a succubus without trying to kill her, and the succubus not trying to assault him. But after two weeks, Adam no longer felt anything wrong about the situation.

-ooo-

The next morning, Adam and Lilith left the chief's house. As they walked through the village, they saw the villagers picking up their tools and heading out towards the lake. All were happy at being able to engage in their livelihoods again. As in the previous night, the villagers thanked the hero and disguised succubus whenever they saw them.

They fetched their two horses from a small pasture on the outskirts of the village. These horses had originally been bought in Valeria and were kept at this pasture during their mission here.

After leaving the village, the pair decided to ride towards the west, the direction of the Ataraca Desert. This was an immense region of barren sand and rock that few humans inhabited. For this reason, the Order rarely bothered to send heroes or any other troops there. However, monsters were much better at withstanding the harsh conditions, and thus were a major threat to the few humans willing to brave the desert. It was a region sorely in need of help.

For three days, the hero and succubus travelled across the plains without encountering any problems. They rarely needed to tap into their packed rations: with their combined skills, they could easily live off the land. However, on the third day, this peace was broken.

Adam and Lilith were sitting around a campfire, waiting for their dinner to finish cooking: rabbits and a kind of wild tuber that Adam didn't know the name of, but which tasted delicious. The horses were tied to a nearby tree.

Suddenly, Lilith snatched up her spear. Adam didn't know what had alerted her, but he similarly drew his sword.

"What direction?" Adam asked.

Lilith frowned, then replied, "At least two directions, in front and behind us. Not sure about their numbers.

Without saying anything else, the two of them positioned themselves with their backs to each other.

In this terrain, there's a wide range of monsters that could be present, Adam thought. Minotaurs, centaurs, slimes, the various kinds of insect monsters… all need different tactics to combat them.

Almost an entire minute passed. Then Adam heard the distinctive twang of bowstrings. He quickly raised his arm to shield his face. Many arrows flew in from all directions. Those aimed at Adam bounced off his armour. Unfortunately, Lilith wasn't wearing armour, and she cried out in pain.

"Lilith!"

"I'm fine! Just—fight!"

Two men burst from the darkness in front of Adam: one wielding an axe, the other a short spear, both wearing rough clothes but no armour. They charged with clear intent to kill.

But they were no match for a hero. Adam dealt with the spear-user first, slashing his sword with enough strength to cut both the spear and the man in half. The axe-user froze in fear after seeing his ally fall so quickly. Adam took this opportunity to cut him down as well.

After taking out the immediate threats, Adam turned back towards Lilith to examine her condition. He was immediately struck by a wave of magic that filled him with drowsiness, which he immediately recognised as sleep magic. He bit his lip, using the pain to clear his head and allow him to keep standing.

Fortunately, the attackers—the bandits were in an even worse condition. Two of them were lying on the ground near Lilith, soundly snoring. And judging from the fact that no more arrows were being fired, Lilith had also managed to affect the archers.

Adam sheathed his sword and hurried over to Lilith. She was on her knee and had two injuries. One was a large scratch on her left arm, caused by a grazing shot. The other was much more serious: an arrow had embedded itself in her abdomen.

Calm down, Adam urged himself. Remember your training. An abdominal wound can be dangerous if an organ is damaged. A damaged liver or kidney will bleed profusely, a damaged stomach or bowel will leak its contents and cause infection. And I can't heal organ damage… No, I need to focus on the things that I can do.

"Lilith, how do you feel?" Adam asked.

"It… doesn't hurt that much," Lilith replied. "Sorry… for hitting you with the spell as well."

"That's fine."

"Anyway… I should be alright, as long as you take the arrow out and heal the wound," Lilith continued.

"I could do that, but if there's a barbed arrowhead, it would do more damage when I pull it out," Adam said. "Hold on a second—"

Looking around, Adam spotted one of the arrows that had missed and hit the ground. He pulled it up and examined the point. Fortunately, the wooden shaft had simply been sharpened to a point rather than being equipped with an arrowhead: the bandits must not have been able to buy or make anything better.

Adam returned to Lilith, grasped the embedded arrow and slowly pulled. During the process, Lilith clenched her teeth and didn't make a sound. The arrow finally came out, along with a jet of red blood.

Next, Adam placed his hand on the wound to stem the bleeding temporarily. He examined the arrow: luckily, there was no trace of gut contents. Putting down the arrow, he then held both his hands over the wound and began the healing spell. A few splinters of wood floated out of the wound, then the flesh started knitting together.

"It was stupid to try fighting when I'm a succubus," Lilith said.

"What?" Adam said. "That's not true—"

"Most monsters would treat arrows like mosquito bites," Lilith insisted, "and slimes wouldn't even notice them. Back before I met you… there were several times when I almost got killed."

"Perhaps, but then those other monsters would also envy the magical talent that succubi have," Adam retorted. "And now we're working together, making us far stronger than when we're alone. If I were on my own, I wouldn't have been able to defeat these bandits."

"You don't have to lie to make me feel better—"

"If I were on my own, I probably wouldn't have noticed the bandits before they attacked," Adam insisted. "And even if I did notice, they would have a decent chance of defeating me. I'm stronger than any one of them, and better equipped, but the advantage of numbers should never be underestimated. On top of that, I'm trained to fight monsters, whereas they clearly have experience against their fellow humans."

Lilith lowered her head. "That's true. But, now that you bring that up… what are we going to do about them?"

Adam finished the healing. He looked towards the still-sleeping bandits, and his expression hardened.

"Good question. To answer that… I should explain that while I was trained to fight monsters, my teachers were also aware that I might eventually encounter human opponents. They therefore trained me to also be capable of dealing with them."

Adam took a deep breath, drew his sword, and continued his explanation.

"These bandits… it would be impractical for just the two of us to transport them elsewhere for judgement. A small village, like the one we recently left, wouldn't be able to deal with this many criminals, but there are no larger villages or towns close to here. And even if we could transport them… in human society, they would be sentenced to either a life of hard labour or, well, to execution."

"You don't have to say anything more," Lilith said. "Besides… it would be hypocritical for me to object, after what I've been doing to other monsters."

Adam nodded, then walked over to one of the sleeping bandits. The man had short fair hair and stubble of the same colour, and wore a grey shirt and brown pants. In short, he looked perfectly ordinary.

With one swing of his sword, Adam brought an end to the bandit's life. With another swing, he did the same to the second bandit.

By now, Lilith had recovered enough to walk, so she accompanied Adam and showed him the positions of the archers. There were six in total.

Six more humans that Adam killed.

Once it was finished, they dug a mass grave and dumped all ten bodies in. They then moved over to their horses, which had become skittish after the recent battle, and Lilith used her magic to calm them. Finally, they returned to the campfire and ate their dinner: it was slightly overcooked due to the lack of attention, but still edible.

As he ate, Adam cleaned the blood off his sword. Even now, the weapon shook in his hands.

Hypocritical… that's the right way to describe it. But I can't stop this from doing what I must. Not after all the monsters I've killed, for crimes that aren't so different.

If only there was a better way…

AN: Just to clarify, the Ataraca Desert is the same as the "desert region" referred to in the source material, I just gave it an official name.