Kris shot awake, gripping blindly for his shield as panic filled his body, looking around for the-

…

He was in his tent.

Alone in his tent.

Kris took a shuddering breath as he put his face in his hands, reminding himself what had happened.

He didn't kill anyone.

It was impossible to kill a Mamono anyway.

…But he'd wanted to.

Kris froze as he realized it.

He'd genuinely been prepared to murder her.

For ruining a shirt.

That was…

…

"...I need to learn how to control this." Kris said to himself as he grabbed for his glasses and got up.

He exited the tent and saw that Lily was making breakfast, and Hilda was polishing her sword.

"Morning Krissy," Lily said with Hilda just giving him a happy nod as he stepped out.

"Morning Lily, Morning Hilda." Kris greeted. "Do you need help with breakfast?"

"No I am almost done," Lily said as she pointed at the sausage and eggs.

Kris was going to question how they had eggs before remembering Lily's bag and deciding not to worry about it.

"So, after breakfast, we pack up and head onwards to Leodonia then, right?" Kris asked.

"Yep we have enough to go straight there if we want, unless you want to stop by one of the town on the way," Lily said.

"Nah, I think I want to head straight for Leodonia, the main reason we went to your palace was because there were rumors about something weird." Kris said. "I didn't hear anything about these villages being weird or needing help or anything like that."

"No the Order only mentioned that Lily's village was the only acting strangely with the lack of communication, but still paid on time taxes," Hilda said. "Things might have changed or will change but we won't know until someone informs us."

"Then yeah, I'd say we should head straight there, I want to establish what needs to be established… and get my clothes protected if possible." Kris admitted sheepishly.

"Then let's eat and get going," Lily said.

And they did.

Butt Stallion rode like the wind.

And they rode along the now cobblestone road.

And as the hours passed by they heard the sound of… croaking?

Kris turned to look at the source as they slowed a bit.

And from a somewhat sizable pond by the road, two giant toads jumped out of it.

"...Should we deal with those so they don't attack anyone else?" Kris asked, fully aware they could run away and fully wanting to do so.

"Probably a good idea," Hilda said.

Kris sighed as he quickly dismounted and sent Butt Stallion a bit away the other direction, Hilda doing much the same

"Gwak!" The Giant Toad croaked at them as the one on the right jumped over to Kris and tried to bite him, but Kris was able to use his shield to push its mouth away.

"What kind of frog bites people?" Kris asked in confusion.

"The giant kind apparently," Hilda responded as the brother frog tried to bite her, and she also just pushed the mouth with her shield.

And she retaliated with a slash of her sword.

"I am going to go and distract," Lily said as she flew up and behind the toad and started making loud sounds.

"Be careful Lily, frogs are known for eating flying things!" Kris warned before bashing his shield into the toad that had been biting at him, smashing his shield directly into its face.

And it responded by croaking at him.

Kris tried to take advantage by grabbing its tongue, but it closed too quickly, only to open again as it tried to bite him once more.

It failed with its brother once more trying to attack Hilda.

And missed like its brother.

"I am not food," Hilda said as she attacked again with her sword, but the toad stopped it with its tongue, throwing her hit of course.

"Attention back to me stupid," Lily said.

"And le bashe~!" Kris said as he once more smacked it with his shield, once more going for a grab only to miss. "Dammit, this thing's slippery."

And with that miss of the tongue its mouth opened wide and it bit down on Kris.

"AAAAA!" Kris screamed as he was lifted off the ground, most of his body in its mouth. "Oh god it's disgusting in here!"

"Ah Krissy!" Lily yelled in shock.

"Do not become its lunch!" Hilda added. "Do not try to take me by surprise."

"I'll try and help Krissy!" Lily shouted.

"LEMME GO YOU SLIMY FUCK!" Kris shouted as he punched it in the uvula (or what he thought was such), his fist bursting with radiant light on impact.

And then screamed as it bit down further. And felt something seeping into the wound, only exacerbating the pain.

"Kris!" Hilda shouted. "Again I am not lunch!"

And then Kris heard the sound of flesh being seared as the other toad croaked in pain.

"Argh ehh, Kris I will help you get loose!"

Kris felt tiny hands grip his ankle, and then finally got a grip on the thing's teeth -since when did frogs have teeth?!- and pushed himself out, stumbling onto his feet and feeling utterly disgusting, the toad standing before him, its brother looking rather injured and missing an eye, Hilda and Lily looking none the worse for wear- wait, no, Hilda was covered in toad blood and mucus and clearly not liking that.

"...Die." Kris said before jumping and driving an axe kick directly into its face, the light radiating off of him propelling him like a rocket, driving its face into the ground with the blow with a satisfying crunch as it stopped moving.

Kris then whirled around, focusing on the other one, which was still fighting back, and then went and grabbed the other toad from behind, keeping it place. "Alright, Hilda, finish it!"

It almost immediately kicked him off, but it left it wide open to Hilda.

Who jabbed her sword into its other eyes going all the way to hilt, it stopped moving collapsing after she pulled it out.

"...You know, this doesn't feel like a victory should." Kris said as the light burned off and away, not as intensely as the previous night.

"Let me clean you," Lily said as she waved her brush, and they were clean.

"...Wow, I feel cleaner than the last time I showered." Kris said in awe.

"Prestidigitation is best spell," Lily said with a smile.

Kris looked poleaxed for a moment. "Prestidigitation?"

"Yep, one of the best spells, mom loves it as it makes cleaning so much easier," Lily said.

"Now let me heal you up Kris,"

"...I never thought to ask, but the way you're healing me, is it Cure Wounds?" Kris asked.

"Sometimes, but that was my own innate healing ability," Hilda said.

"Ah… so Lily, do you know what I mean if I ask if you're a Bard?"

"...I mean I can make money from playing music if that is what you're asking?"

"...Nevermind." Kris said, realizing that if it hadn't come up already, if his hunch was correct it would definitely be more of a background thing. "Anyway, what I was trying to say earlier, you gotta teach me that spell some time Lily."

"I can try."

"Awesome."

And soon after that they were off.

As they rode, Kris's mind turned towards the fight.

He'd been trying not to go super sannin, but when the frog bit him…

Well, he wanted it to die, and it did.

Killing giant frogs was fine, right?

Yeah, killing giant frogs was fine. They were just dumb animals, that were attacking them no less.

No worse than being forced to kill a wolf.

If anything, it was better than fighting a wolf, because at least it didn't sound like (nor literally was) a dog.

…

Oh, right, the death dog.

Wild animal-esque monsters were fine, and it was okay for him to want to kill them if they were already attacking him.

That seemed a good enough metric.

Right?

The day was about to come to an end once more, meaning they would soon have to make camp again.

Though as they rode on road, they saw in front of them a very large woman dressed in a green dress covered in flowers. She had prominent, proportionally large hands and feet, and what looked like maybe a cow tail.

She was just standing there, smiling idly, looking in their direction.

And off the side of the road, there were 2-3 crashed wagons.

"...Hey Hilda, you're seeing this right?"

"Yes that is a troll standing in front of us, we should be careful,"

"Yeah… those wagons though." Kris pointed out. "Did she cause that, or are those hers…?"

"The first I think," Lily said. "Because trolls have a…quirk."

"Quirk?"

"You see, if she is doing what I think she does," Lily said.

"We're gonna have a discussion later about the dangers of being Vague." Kris said, before sighing. "I guess no matter what this is, we should at least check it out."

"We should," Hilda said.

With a nod, they rode forward, carefully.

And Kris saw the Troll perk up at their approach. Her face wide with a smile on her face.

"Hello! Is everything alright?" Kris asked once they were a nice distance where the troll probably wouldn't be able to get to them before he could jump off Butt Stallion if things came to blows.

"Oh everything is fine, but if you wish to pass me you need to either answer my riddle or pay me," She answered.

"Oh, a Troll Toll. How much?"

"Three loads of semen in my womb," She answered.

"Aaaaand what's the riddle?" Kris asked, definitely sure he didn't want to pay that.

"What has four wheels and flies?" She answered.

Kris triple took at that, before turning to Hilda. "Do people in this land have carts that transport garbage or similar?"

"I do not believe so," Hilda answered.

"Maybe it's the carts?" Lily suggested. "Since she threw them?"

"Oh, yeah, that's gotta be it, thanks Lily." Kris said with a smile, before turning to the Troll. "The answer is the carts that you threw."

"Correct," She said with a pout as she stepped over to the side. "I should think of a new one…"

"Honestly, it's a pretty good riddle, it gives people the chance to solve it via context clues, which is a lot better than a Sphinx's riddle."

"Oh you think so? And yeah those girls make mean ones," The Troll said. "Hmm, well for being nice you can have this." She took out one of the roses in her hair and held it out for him. The flower much larger than a normal one due to her size.

"O-oh! Thank you very much!" Kris said, surprised at the show of kindness as he took the… walking stick-sized flower, blushing a little at the gesture.

"Kindness is repaid with kindness though I wouldn't mind if you-"

"Sorry, I took an oath of chastity." Kris said as they rode by.

The face the troll made in response made him chuckle.

"It was nice meeting you!" Kris called back as they rode away.

"Hopefully you've changed your mind when you come back."

Kris couldn't help but giggle as they rode away. "She seemed nice." He said to his companions after a moment.

"Yeah Trolls are very motherly, though they will take things by force if you ignore them or answer the riddle wrong too many times," Lily said.

"Eugh… that's still a lot more reasonable than what I've heard of some other Mamano types."

"Again we very a lot, some are more in control, others are to horny, and some have barely changed from what they were before."

"Like orcs?"

"Yep, though now their pillaging barely results in deaths from what I've heard, much more kidnapping though," Hilda said.

"Eugh… its stuff like that I wanna stop, whack 'em with the anti-horny stick…" Kris said, twirling the flower around idly in one hand off the side as they rode, before gasping. "I have an anti-horny stick now."

"You think? That's a flower," Lily said.

"Yeah, a flower with a stem as hard as wood, feel it." Kris said, holding it out behind him.

"Oh wow it is and… the shaft is magical," Lily said in wonder.

"Oh, woah, really?"

"Yeah, I don't know what kind of magic but it can do something," Lily said.

"Aww, I kinda wanna go back and find that troll's name and thank her for it somehow."

"Maybe if we run into her on our way back," Lily said.

"I guess..."

—

They made their camp, and Kris took the first watch again, agreeing that this should be rhythm in how they did it.

Thankfully, nothing happened that night, other than Kris figuring out that the staff allowed him to sprout flowers, seeming to default to some rather beautiful daisies, but with a bit of experimentation he figured it out it could be any flower he thought of, which was really cool.

After breakfast they set off once more and unlike the day before, nothing happened as they rode along the road. It was only filled with small talk and songs taught to and by Lily as she played her music.

She had taken a liking to the sea shanties that Kris knew.

And at the end of the day they made camp near a small cliff, and the night passed without incident the only thing of note happening was Kris hearing an owl hoot.

And so their fourth day on the road began.

Their day starting out with a rather unusual encounter on the road.

Kris heard the sound of music coming from behind the hill ahead of them.

Kris found himself absently humming along as they crested the hill.

There was a very nordic-looking man, perhaps an actual skald? With blond hair and clad in green, walking around just beating to the tune of his own drum- literally, probably trying to come up with a new melody.

"Hello!" Kris called out as they crested the hill.

The man's attention was pulled away from his music. "Oh hello there, nice to meet some new faces along this rather drab road. Where are… A Valkyrie? My, I never thought you left the celestial realm."

"Only when given a mission," She answered.

"I see, so you much be quite the important person, young man," The man said as they got closer to each other.

"Ehh, I wouldn't say I'm that important, just a potential hero, not much to speak of yet."

"A hero that just started his journey? Must be my lucky day, I can feel inspiration filling me," The man said with a smile. "The name is Erik, a simple wandering bard."

"Well, I'm happy to provide inspiration, good sir. And it's nice to meet you, I'm Kris."

"Young Kris it is then, I hope I hear of your exploits one day, so I can weave them into proper song," Erik said. "Well I must get going, I have a long trek back home to the misses."

"Good luck in your travels, good sir! And stay safe, there are monsters about, of both kinds."

"Ah I know ran into a Oni far from home and a Hag earlier, discussing who was the sexiest of the two, and asked me to decide for them," Erik said.

"Ah." Kris said, immediately recognizing that scenario. "And, just wondering, which did you answer?"

"Both obviously and demonstrated that fact," Erik said with a sly smile.

"W-what are you?" Kris asked in awe, confused at the thought considering the Order had been insistent that monsters hated sharing and mated for life.

"A man." Erik said back as he walked by them.

"That is a proper Bard," Lily said in awe.

Kris made sure to block Eric's view of Lily as he passed, before quickly riding off. "Good thing he didn't see you, Lily."

"Eeh why?" Lily asked as they started to ride again.

"That man had machismo, chutzpah, charisma." Kris said. "I tremble to think what would happen to our group if we lost you."

"Ehh not my kinda man," Lily answered.

"Good, good… but wait, does that mean Mamono are willing to share sometimes?"

"The answer is 'depends', from what maa told me. Some will stay with the first man they jump, and will not share him. Some will want her man to satisfy as many Mamono as possible by giving him a harem. And others are looking for specific men by testing out their essence and finding the most delicious one. And again others just want to fuck whoever passes by," Lily answered. "Kinda like how some humans can be."

"Huh." Kris said, a bit surprised at that given the… what was likely a lot more propaganda than previously thought information he'd gained from the Order.

They continued down the road, and an hour later… saw the aftermath of Erik's conquest.

Kris couldn't help the cringe at the sight as he swerved completely off the road so Butt Stallion wouldn't have to step through all the… fluids.

He wasn't actually sure which fluids they were, really, but there was a lot.

And they just continued on from there.

And two hours or so later, they saw a big, glowing blue, obvious rune in the middle of the cobblestone road.

"That's an obvious landmine." Kris said. "I would step on it on purpose. As a king."

"Is that a reference to something?" Lily asked.

"What is a landmine?" Hilda asked.

"Yes it's a reference, and a landmine is a hidden explosive trigger on contact." Kris said. "I don't think it's an actual landmine, but I do wanna poke it to see what happens."

"If you wanna," Lily said. "I am not getting near it."

"Alright, you can stay with the horses." Kris said, dismounting once they got within 50 feet of it- he'd only had Butt Stallion for less than a week but if anything happened to her he'd kill everyone in the room and then himself- and then went over to the rune on the road.

"Hmm…" Kris said, looking it over to see if he could figure out what its deal was. He didn't recognize it, it wasn't the Elder Futhark or any other runic language from back home that he knew, and it didn't look Sylvan… but it looked a little bit like Celestial, sharing a bit of the characteristics. He was very happy his companions had decided to teach him their respective languages as they went.

And then he poked it with the butt of his new flowery staff.

And almost immediately, it exploded in a burst of winter, Kris quickly jumping back to avoid getting hit in the face, but was still blasted with cold wind and covered in a thin sheen of ice and snow.

And as he stood there, he heard laughter that quickly faded into the air.

But the rune was gone.

Kris turned around with a smile as he raised the staff overhead. "Mission accomplished!"

Hilda facepalmed at him.

—

After that mishap they continued, Hilda didn't heal him for that mishap of his, and a few hours later they again settled into their camping routine, the dinner being made and eaten. Talk, songs and teaching of languages were had.

And Kris took some time to familiarize himself with using the staff, which definitely was more than sturdy enough to be used like a weapon despite an oversized flower. And it let him grow full-size sunflowers.

It was neat.

The night went without incident, and day five of their journey did as well, and the night that followed was the same. The only interesting thing was a bird flying by him and picking up a stick.

Again the peaceful day repeats itself, along with a peaceful night, and another encounter with a normal woodland creature that had come out from the forest that was near them. A squirrel he had shared a few nuts with.

And now they were on day eight of their journey towards Leodonia, the area still the same.

"Are those swords on the ground," Lily said as she pointed a finger at the ground in front of them.

And in front of them, having gone unnoticed by Kris before, laid five very beautiful swords.

"Oh no, my one weakness." Kris said as he noticed them. "Free swords."

"But what are swords just laying on the ground for?" Hilda asked.

"I dunno," Kris said as he hopped off Butt Stallion. "But they're mine now." He said as he went to pick up the very nice looking broadswords.

And then suddenly it flew up and cut his shoulder, and the rest of the swords flew up into the air as well.

"Oh cool, they're alive!" Kris said excitedly, even after getting cut.

"I think animated, living swords are very much different," Hilda said.

"All the better!" Kris said as they began to swing at him, trying to deflect with his shield, but only managed to reduce the blow as another distracted him. "I gotta wonder who left these beauties just laying around out here."

"Probably somebody playing a prank," Lily shouted from behind him. And a second he heard the sound of her crossbow being fired.

And hitting the on furthers on the left, cracking the handle.

"Hey- Lily! Don't break them!" Kris said, turning around to face her.

"They are attacking you!" Lily shouted before he felt a slash across his back-

And then another one pierced straight through his chest, causing a burst of blood to come out of the wound and his mouth.

"Kris!" Hilda shouted in panic as the sound of galloping was heard and up beside him on her horse and lashed out with her sword, the flying sword parrying her swing.

"Don't worry, I got this!" Kris assured, easily deflecting another swing with his shield. "C'mere!" Kris said, reaching behind and grabbing the hilt of the sword still sticking out of him, and pulling it out, radiant light beginning to flow from his body instead of blood, as he gave the sword an experimental twirl. "Alright, now, I'm in it to win it." He said with a grin.

"You sure that is going to work?" Hilda asked as she blocked a slash with her shield.

"One way to find out!" Kris said excitedly, blood and adrenaline pumping as he instinctively deflected another slash with his newly acquired weapon.

"I think that is a crazy tactic!" Lily shouted from the back, having stayed with Butt Stallion.

Kris, meanwhile, was thriving as he was an animated sword to parry other animated swords in addition to using his shield to block, his newly acquired weapon seeming completely fine with this turn of events from the lack of resistance.

"Ah, feisty." Kris said as one of them while he was performing an otherwise perfect parry. "I like it!" Kris said as he swing his sword into the one Lily had been damaging, and snapping it half with the force of the blow.

Kris turned excitedly towards one of the others, stowed his shield on his back, and then reached out to grab that one by the hilt, too, but it was… wetter than he expected. "Oh, ew, gross, what the hell?" Kris asked, pulling his hand back to look at it. "Oh, that's just my blood, that's fine."

"That is not a good thing," Hilda said as she parried another one of the swords that was attacking her.

"That's a matter of opinio- oh you're still trying huh? En garde!" Kris said, excitedly engaging in the most bizarre swordplay he'd ever experienced.

This was what he signed up for!

The sound of Lily's crossbow was heard, but there was no sound of it hitting its target.

"Gargh, I missed."

"Guh, ooh you guys do not let up!" Kris said as the one that been clashing with Hilda suddenly pivoted and slashed him across the back.

"Die!" Hilda shouted as she swung her blade radiant covering as just cut through the one that had slashed like a 1000 degree knife through butter.

"Alright, swords this big aren't good for duel-wielding anyway," Kris said as he took his shield back out and tried to actually hit the one he'd been having the back-and-forth with, denting it severely and leaving it barely floating in the air, but still floating.

"Good job," Hilda said as she parried another slash.

"Save the compliments for when we're done, please, need to focus." Kris said, easily dodging the bent sword's attempt at taking his head off.

And then one of Lily's bolts hit and smashed through the blade, making it into shards.

"Got it!"

"Nice shot," Hilda complimented the fey girl, as her sword glowed again and badly chipped the one that had been harassing her.

"Nice slash!" Kris continued the compliment train as he ended the last one.

"Well, well, well," An ethereal female voice spoke inside his head. "That was rather entertaining, little hero, you get to keep the last one, a gift from Eris as it were. I will be keeping an eye on you now, be sure to entertain."

"..." Kris looked at the sword, able to literally feel the magic thrumming through it, before looking at Hilda. "Hey, Hilda, you want a magic sword? I have a feeling you could probably use it better than I could."

"Well it's just animated by magic, not a living one so… yes it should be fine," Hilda responded.

"Awesome, there should be a sheath around he… aha!" Kris said, finding a sheath that had definitely not been there a moment ago, sheathing the sword, before kneeling and presenting it to Hilda. "Your sword, my lady."

Her face blushed as she took it and placed it on her right side.

"Alright, I think we're good to go, right?" Kris asked, covered in blood, his wounds beginning to slowly bleed as the light of the Blessing faded.

"After you have been healed and cleaned," Hilda said with a sigh.

Kris looked down at all the blood and wounds. "Oh, right, this. Forgot I was injured."

Kris was choosing to believe the reason he could do so was a side effect of the Blessing, but he knew it was probably just the general insensitivity to pain.

—

A few hours had passed since the fight with the swords and Kris was feeling a bit better now, his body healing much faster than normal either thanks to his Blessing or it was a factor of this very world.

Probably both.

It was definitely one of the perks of being summoned, that he'd quickly learned when his spars with Hilda had begun using real weapons, though she never went for killing blows the way the swords did.

And then he noticed something shaped like a person lying face down in the dirt besides the cobblestone road

"Ooh, that's not good." Kris said before quickly riding over. "Sir? Sir, are you alive?"

"Urgh," The person groaned as they sat up, showing what looked like a rather ordinary middle aged man. But his face was a mess of bruises showing he had gotten the shit beat out of him.

"Oof, you took a beating." Kris said as he kneeled beside the man and tried to help him to his feet after not noticing any obvious injuries otherwise.

"That I did kid," As he got up, and began dusting himself up.

"How'd you end up like that, sir?" Kris asked. "Bandits?"

"Kinda, was returning home, and those ruffians assaulted me and took my money," The man said. "Argh my back, well shit like that happens, just gotta get back home and report it to the guards."

"Do you need help getting back?"

"No I don't, but thanks for asking," Man said as he gave Kris a pat on the shoulder.

"HEY YOU LYING!" Lily shouted from right her seat on Butt Stallion. "He just stole your pouch."

Kris looked down to see the pouch, having instinctively grabbed his wrist when Lily shouted, before sighing. "Come on dude, if you're that desperate, just fucking ask."

"Argh, you little…" The man cursed.

Kris squeezed the man's wrist.

And he dropped the pouch. "Okay you caught me, just don't break my wrist."

Kris sighed. "Alright, dumbass, why are you trying to commit highway robbery here in the first place?"

"I… I just like taking other people's stuff, okay," The man said.

"Same!" Kris said, to the man's shock. "Go be an adventurer so you're paid to steal from people who deserve it, probably, and if you find a good team to have your back, it'll be safer and more lucrative than this." Kris said with disgust as he let go, picked up his pouch, and pulled out five gold. "Here, use this, get to Leodonia or something, there'll be someone probably willing to pay for your services, alright?"

"I get you man," The man said.

"Alright, just stay out of trouble, dumbass, and maybe take a lesson or three in common sense, trying to rob someone riding with a freaking Angel." Kris said, pointing over his shoulder at Hilda.

The thief just nodded.

Kris nodded back, remounted Butt Stallion, quickly confirmed that everything was where it was supposed to be, and then rode off.

"That was nice of you Kris," Hilda said.

"I don't like kicking people when they're down." Kris said simply.

—

After that they had no issues, the day ended, Lily's delicious cooking was had. Shifts were had between the three of them, and they went through the days that followed were without incidents, until they hit the twelfth and final day, passing by more and more people who were coming from Leodonia and leaving to the other cities, towns and villages in the country, those that noticed their group more noticing Hilda than Lily.

"Ah an angel thank the Chief God," A man's voice shouted from off to the side of the road.

"Hilda, that's you." Kris said quietly to his companion.

"Me?" She asked.

"I see no other angel here," The man was standing by a rather fancy looking carriage pulled by two horses. "I ask for your assistance in dealing with a problem of mine."

"And what is that problem good sir?" Hilda asked.

"I was attacked by bandits, and they made off with rather valuable goods of mine, so I ask if you could defeat them and retrieve mine jewels."

"Of course good sir, in which direction did they escape too?" Hilda asked.

"They went into the forest, I've heard rumors of bandits, but I paid them no mind, but alas I became a target of them," The man, probably a merchant said.

"Then do not worry we will retrieve your goods," Hilda said.

"Oh thank you kind angel, the Chief God has blessed me today," Man said. "And I will of course reward you, mortal knight of our dear Order."

"Most appreciated, good sir." Kris said as professionally as possible.

"Then let us get going," Hilda said as they set of into the woods.

—

And it had been absurdly easy to track the bandits down with Lily's help, and not even thirty minutes later they found the rather simple bandit camp.

The group consisted out of five bandits, looking like the most stereotypical highway bandits Kris had ever seen.

Though one of them was obviously the leader.

"Who the hell do you think you are?" The Leader asked as they noticed the group.

Kris answered by standing on Butt Stallion as they approached, jumping off into a flying jump kick, using the leader to soften his landing and kick him at the same time, before pulling his shield off and prominently displaying the symbol. "Who do you think, thief?"

"Fucking Order Knights!" They shouted and they began charging at Kris.

"Sloppy." Kris said, deflecting the first one to strike's blade with his shield.

Sidestepped another's swing. "No coordination."

Kris felt a slash across his back as the leader slashed out with his sword. "And your blow's are weak." He said, before he burst with radiant light. "Lemme show you how a real warrior does it." So saying, he took his shield and slammed its face into the leader's face, breaking his nose.

"Gargh you little shit," The leader cursed.

"I'm literally the tallest person here." Kris said, reaching out to grab him but the part of his clothes he grabbed ripped instead.

"There is a fucking Manono for some reason," The fourth bandit said as he came up besides Kris and noticed Lily flying secretly behind.

"Well capture her, we could use a good fuck toy after we kill this one, and then make the angel our bitch," Bandit leader ordered.

Kris's jaw dropped at sheer stupidity and casual evil on display in that order. "I was going to try and capture you alive, but honestly I'm not going to feel that bad if I accidentally kill one of you now."

He felt a sword hit his shoulder and bounce off, causing him to turn a glare on the failure who was looking at his sword in shock.

And then the final bandit did the same.

"Wow, you guys have a collective IQ of like, 3, don't you?" Kris asked, impressed at the sheer stupidity on display.

"Probably," Hilda said. "And I agree, I would not feel bad about killing any one of you." Hilda go of her horse and swiped at the one that had just failed to hurt Kris.

And she cut off his head with a single slash.

"Oh shit she killed Dave!"

"Surrender and you might live~!" Kris sang, the horror he expected at the death of a human being simply not setting in.

They immediately dropped their weapons.

"Cowards," The leader said.

"No, they just have more brain cells than you." Kris said.

"Yeah you're an idiot," Lily simply said from behind Kris.

"Argh," The leader growled as he swung his blades at Kris wildly, Kris bothering to dodge, his blades not even scratching his t-shirt seemingly. And he just looked at his blades after he was done, seemingly thinking his first strike had been a fluke. "What are you?"

"Me? I'm only human, and one not keen on killing other humans." Kris said, before pointing over his shoulder at Hilda. "She, on the other hand? Is an Angel of the Chief God."

The bandit leader dropped his weapons in surrender.

"Alright, where's the goods?" Kris asked as the radiant light faded with a burst.

"Over there sir," One of the bandits who been next to the one Hilda had killed, said as he pointed at a wagon over to the side that Kris could see had a chest on it.

After they had bound the bandits and put them in the wagon, they had returned to the man they had robbed and returned the chest that had been stolen from him.

And he had awarded Kris with 100 gold coins.

And after they had literally carted their prisoners to Leodonia, the Gate Guards easily taking them of their hands after Hilda had explained the situation.

Lily at the moment though was just hiding behind Kris, her wings pressed against her back making her just look like a small child.

Making the guards not notice her true nature as they finally arrived in the Castle City of Leodonia. It had looked magnificent from the outside, the wall seemed to go on forever. But now even more so from the inside, even compared to how Salvarision had looked like.

"Are you ready for the next step Kris?" Hilda asked as they rode on the large street, eyes all on them.

"Yeah… yeah, I think I am." Kris said, eager for the opportunity to sleep in a bed and begin progressing towards his nebulous goals.

But mostly the bed part.

And so they continued towards their current destination in the city.

The Order HQ.