Holy shit, I almost forgot to post the chapter for today, sorry guys.

Volume I

Chapter 5 ─ Suspicious

Seeing that he couldn't fill the gaps in those particular fields of the document, Ashton attempted to ask the receptionist about the issue. "Umm… Sir?"

"Hmm?" The old man grunted with a peeved expression, showing that he was listening and that he didn't like Ashton wasting more time than needed.

"I… can't write anything in these fields," Ashton hesitantly told the receptionist while pointing at the gaps he left just now. In return, the receptionist glanced at those spots and let an incredulous frown appear on his face. "You don't know where and when you've been born?"

"...No, I don't." After a small pause, Ashton confirmed the man's doubts with a nod.

"Hmph," In return, the old receptionist scoffed at the sight and replied: "Just write your current address then, or are you going to tell me that you don't know that either?"

Of course, that was meant as a joke, but Ashton bit his lower lip in nervousness without doing anything else, confirming that it was indeed just as the old man described.

"..." The old man remained silent as an unreadable expression appeared on his wrinkled face. He was giving a long and hard stare at Ashton before he glanced down at the form, looking at the few fields that Ashton already signed up for.

There was only his name, surname, age, and gender.

"Hmm." The old man hummed as he thought about something, which prompted him to get up from his seat and gesture at a door behind his back. "Follow me." He ordered.

After giving a nervous nod, Ashton silently followed after the old man who looked at one of the guards standing on the corners of the waiting room.

"Watch over them while I'm out, don't do anything else."

"Yes, sir!" With a voice filled with respect, the guards shouted at the wrinkled old man as he brought Ashton to the back room.

In the meantime, Jean was staring at their backs with a curious expression, not expecting Ashton to receive "special treatment". Why did the receptionist bring his acquaintance away from the line? This wasn't what happened to the other people who registered in this spot.

Once the two disappeared behind the door, Jean's eyes trailed down until they observed the receptionist's desk that was in front of him.

There were a lot of documents, some of which were filled up and stacked over each other, others which were still empty, but the thing that caught his focus the most was the wooden tag laying on the table which carried the identity of the old man etched on the surface.

"Dion Graham?" Jean blankly stared at the tag, feeling a sudden case of deja-vu upon reading that name.

It took him a dozen seconds to understand why he felt like that, and his eyes widened in reaction. He knew the man very well, considering that he was not just a nobody.

Dion Graham was one of the Knights of San Ilia, a man whose capabilities had been acknowledged by the King. But he wasn't average among his fellow Knights either! He was the strategist responsible for most of the large expeditions in the wilderness!

Even though he was way past his prime, the man's strength was to not be underestimated at all! It was said that during his old days, he once broke off a Lamia's restrictions barehanded and that his combat prowess with his spear was without equal.

But between his physical capability and his spearmanship, what made him truly recognizable was his cunning mind which brought him victory many times across his career.

To think that such a person was the one overseeing today's registration for the military…

…But what could he possibly want from Ashton?

*Bang!* In an interrogation room set a few hallways away from the recruitment post, Ashton had been pushed against a wall by the man himself, who still had a lot of strength to spare despite his old age.

Dion's sharp eyes alone were enough to keep Ashton on his spot, as he felt that he would get beaten to an inch of his life as soon as he made a false step. The fact that the old man's hands were holding his jaw against the wall and a knife right over his throat simply reinforced the idea.

And as if that wasn't enough to give Ashton a clear idea of how fucked up his situation was, there were also a few armed soldiers surrounding them while aiming their respective weapons at him in particular.

In reaction to all of this, Ashton completely froze over. There was no scream, no extreme shaking, or any such thing that may explicitly show Ashton's panic attack. All he did was simply stare back at Dion with dilated pupils and a pale face.

It happened all of a sudden. At first, he was walking after the old man while he called some soldiers inside the room, and without a warning, he was slammed on the closest wall and put on a knife's edge.

What was going on?!

"You're a monster, aren't you?" The old Knight whispered at Ashton while his terrifying glare pierced through the young man's soul. "You dirty beast thought you could just disguise as a man and sneak into this city without a problem? Huh?!"

"W-What?" Ashton couldn't understand what Dion was talking about and attempted to ask for clarification as clearly as his clutched jaw would let him. Needless to say, the question came out disjointed, but from this distance, Dion was able to understand and shouted back.

"Don't fuck with me you brat! How many of you are out there? Answer me, you filthy monster!"

After hearing Dion's words once again, Ashton's brain caught up with the sudden turn of events and understood what was going on. He was being misunderstood as being a monster, one of those creatures that preyed on the people of this world!

But he wasn't! He was just as human as anybody else was!

"I'm… I'm not a monster…!" Ashton tried to make Dion understand that it was all a huge misunderstanding, but of course, a simple verbal answer from the suspect himself wouldn't be able to fix anything.

But something did change, although it looked like the change was going in the worst direction possible. Dion's gaze lost its aggressiveness and began to compensate with a bone-chilling coldness.

This situation had concluded, but it was impossible to say that the odds were in Ashton's favor.

"If you won't speak, then there is no need to keep you alive any longer," Dion whispered, his grip on his knife tightening, while in return Ashton's eyes widened in terror as he felt dread coming up in the few seconds after the end of the sentence.

And here we go! Now on the reviews.

Mediocracy: Any chance of him using a non-standard weapon like a quarterstaff?

Answer: Not as his main weapon choice, but the answer is yes.

Weewoozesty: With his last name being Cobb, I'm seeing opportunities to pun his name that I just can not resist.

If somebody spilled corn on him it'd be "Corn on The Cobb."

If he were to make a salad, would he be the first one on that world to invent the "Cobb Salad?"

Answer: Honestly I just picked that last name from a name generator, puns didn't even enter my mind while I wrote it.

Sh4d0wgh0st: Hi thanks for the update I hope Ashton learn magic to keep himself on equal ground with monster on the same topic I see that the system resemble danmachi Falna is the similarity only extetic or not?

Answer: Consider your hopes met and surpassed. With this sort of power on his hands, it will be the monsters' turn to try to catch up to him. As for the system, I actually did take inspiration to Danmachi, since I spent some time before reading 17 volumes out of it.

You will see both aesthetic and actual functional similarities between this system and Falna, but for the complete list of mechanics behind it, you will have to wait later. There are both similar and different things between them.

And this is it, see you guys tomorrow!