"Come in! Come in! We have the best mounts in all of Melromarc!"

The trader opened the door to the large stable that holds every available mounts in the country.

"We have the selections from horses to dragons! Take your pick, Sir Spear Hero!" said the trader.

And Marius walked while his party followed him behind. Rino watched the animals in amazement and Elena could not care less. Meanwhile, Malty and Lesty were disgusted by their surroundings.

Malty walked faster towards Marius, grabbing his arm then showed him a dragon in one of the pen. Marius remembered how much Filo hated dragons and continued walking as he released himself from Malty's arms.

Marius then stopped where a strong white stallion stood. The very same horse he owned before the Time Reversal occured.

He approached the stallion slowly and placed his hand on the horse's bottom jaw. A small smile carved on his face after he was reunited with his steed, which surprised Rino who never saw him smile since the summoning.

"Interested in this one?" said the trader, "This one is quite special. Bred specially for war."

"I will take this one. And four more." said Marius.

"Oh, excellent! I will have my assistant show you more of this breed!"


All five warhorses were gathered by the trader's assistant on a fenced field. All saddled up and ready to be rode.

"If you don't mind me asking, but what do you intent on doing with four more horses?" said Malty.

Marius grabbed one of the horse's rope and handed it to Malty, who was confused.

"You don't mean?"

Marius grunted and nodded.

"W-Would you rather that we sit together in a carriage?" Malty tried to flirt.

"Would you prefer walking? Our journey will be far. It is best that each of us have our own mount."

"What?!"


After finished several laps, the white horse immediately stopped its track. Marius then petted the side of the animal's head. He then looked up to check on his party.

Rino rode her horse slowly, fearing she might fall. Then, Elena's horse galloped pass her, startling Rino's horse as she almost fell off. Elena then stopped beside Marius.

"I understand why you gave us horses. I couldn't imagine walking that far to the village." said Elena.

"You have riden horses before?" said Marius.

"A long time ago. But I remember a thing or two."

Marius nodded, Rino saw their interactions and grew jealous.

"Come on! Move you stupid animal!" Malty yelled at her horse.

She kicked the side of the animal's side, causing it to raise on its hind legs and dropped Malty to the ground. Meanwhile, Lesty's horse ran wildly while trying to shake the woman off its back. She eventually was thrown away by the horse and fall face first.

Marius sighed in dissapointment.

"I guess this will take awhile." said Elena.

"Indeed." said Marius.


After hours of travelling on the road, Marius stopped at a flat ground near a river. He dismounted and took his camping equipment off his horse.

"We will camp here for tonight." said Marius.

As he was setting up his tent, he saw Rino completed her tent with ease. Marius nodded in approval. Then he looked at Malty and Lesty and found both of them have a hard time setting up theirs.

"Rino!" said Marius.

"Yes sir!" Rino almost dropped her bag.

"Help them pitch their tent. I will gather food.", And Marius left the campsite to go hunting.

Rino went to Malty's spot to assist them.

"Do you need help?" said Rino.

Malty glared at Rino, then tossed her tent on the ground, "It better be sturdy!"

And Lesty did the same before she followed Malty to go somewhere else.

"I told you he's a hard one." Lesty whispered, "I say we ditch him."

"Not yet. I've already ruined the Shield's reputation. I'll give the Spear Hero more time."


Marius returned with some firewood, meat he hunted from the woods and herbs he gathered. There, he saw Rino laying on the ground exchausted, Malty looking at him seductively and Elena taking a nap next to her unpitched tent.

"Your tent." Marius approached Elena.

"Uh?" Elena opened one of her eye.

"Why is it not pitched?"

"Do I have to?"

"Do you wish to be exposed?"

"We're almost there, right? Why can't I just save my energy when we go hunt the beast?"

Marius grunted, "Fine."

Marius gathered the firewood in the center of their campsite before taking a stone and struck it with the blades of the spear, and the sparks burnt the wood til it ignited the entire campfire.

As his companions watched, except Elena, Marius started combining the meat with the herbs he grounded earlier and skewered them with sharp sticks before setting them on top of the fire.

"Something smells good." Elena woke up from her nap.

"Those look so good!" said Rino, "I didn't know know you can cook!"

"I had a good teacher." said Marius, "Now eat."

All of them started eating their dinner as the quite night and crackling of the fire accompanied them. As Marius ate his food, the taste reminded him of the time he was one of Naofumi's companions in their travels.

And it was Naofumi who taught him how to cook all of his signature dish as it was the favourite of Filo, at his request. As Marius would not want Filo to miss her master's cooking if they would have live together as husband and wife.

But all that is but a memory for Marius. He feared with him now in Motoyasu's place it would now be difficult to get close to his family. Marius thought about how to win them back once Filo is born.

"So." Malty sat beside Marius, "Judging by your armor, you must be a soldier back home?"

"Was." said Marius.

"Then you must be a war hero in your world." Malty pressed herself closer, "That must be why the spear chose you."

Marius eyes shifted toward Malty, "No."

He got up and headed towards his tent, leaving the princess confused before grunting in frustration.


"I told you he's too hard to get."

"Fine. Then I'll have to use something stronger."

"You mean?"

"No man has ever resisted this. They all fall on their knees wanting my affection. And so will he."


The campfire as been doused and all of them were pass asleep. Except for Malty, with only lingerie on while carrying a bottle of special perfume on her hand.

She approached Marius tent and inserted the nozzle of the perfume into the tent then sprayed it. She counted to a few seconds with her lips before going in.

Inside, she saw Marius completely covered in blanket. She went on all four and laid beside him. She ran her fingers over Marius's before grabbing his blanket and pulled it away.

But to Malty's surprises, all she saw was Marius armor and rolls of clothing in a shape of a man laying down.


Not far from the campsite, Marius sat behind a tree with a lantern beside him. He was carving a small wooden figurine of a person with wings sitting down while holding something.

Marius sighed. Memories of his time with his beloved Filo lingered in his mind. He continued on with his carving. Remembering every detail of his soon-to-be-born fiance.


Morning, the Spear Hero party made their way to the village on horseback. Meanwhile, Malty was still mad about being outsmarted by Marius, yet she still stayed hoping to get a jump on him.

Finally, they reached a village that looked abandoned.

"This can't be right." said Rino, "That bounty was recent."

"They are still here." said Marius, "But stay focus. And be ready."

Marius readied his weapon and went to high alert. He heard a door opening and immediately went combat ready, but stopped when he saw an elderly villager coming out of his house.

"A-Are you here for the bounty?" said the elderly man.

"Yes." said Marius.

"Oh thank goodness. I thought no one would come."

"What happened here?"

"When they warned us about the beast roaming in the forest near here, we all stayed inside in fear. And no one would dare to go out at night."

"Who warned you?"

"The hunters guild. They set up camp not far from here. They're the ones who sent out those bounties."

"Which way is their camp?"

"Just northwest from here. You won't miss them."

"Good."

"But becareful. I heard the beast have killed so many hunters."

"But have the beast killed anyone in this village?"

"No. But the farmers have seen the beast in the forest. It scared them so much no one dared to go out to work."

"I see. Stay safe."

And Marius moved pass the elderly man and headed northwest.


"So the rumor of the summoned heroes were true." said the hunters guild leader, "But to have the Spear Hero answered our problem? I feel honored."

"The beast. Where does it stalks?" said Marius.

"Straight to the point, I see? Well, our tracker knew where the beast was last seen. They will have to coax him out of his hiding place first."

The guild leader then took out a small purse full of coins.

"The rest will be yours after you bring me the beast, dead or alive."

Marius gets up and grabbed the purse. He exited the guild leader's tent to meet his companions. Outside, he saw the hunters trying to convinced their tracker to come out of a barrel.

"Come one! Boss said you have to go back in the woods!" said one of the hunters.

"No! Not with that thing is still lurking!" said the terrified tracker.

"It's been like that since we got here." said Elena.

Marius grunted. He walked towards the hunters, walking pass them until he reached the barrel.

"I'm not going back to the woods! I want to go home!" said the tracker.

Marius grabbed the tracker by the back collar and pulled him out.

"Your leader demands your services. As do I." Marius snarled.

The tracker was trembling even more at Marius. He nodded in fear and Marius dropped him to the ground.

"Well that was easy." said Elena.


Hours have passed since they ventured into the woods in search of the beast. The woods slowly became darker as night will arrive soon.

"Ugh! How long are we gonna be in these woods! It's almost dark!" Malty complained.

Suddenly, a wolf jumped out of the bushes. The tracker panic and run to the opposite direction. Marius and the others was ready to fight the wolf.

The wolf growled at them as it slowly backs away. It then turn around and disappeared into the woods. The group was confused. Suddenly, they heard the tracker's scream.

Marius quickly ran to look for the tracker, followed by his companions. They ran until they found the tracker sitting on the ground motionless.

Rino tried to go to him but Marius stopped her, knowing it might be a lure.

The woods became eerily silent. The small animals ceases their noises and not even a wind was blown. And out of nowhere, something jumped out of the trees towards Lesty.

Marius saw this and quickly pulled Lesty away before being tackled by the beast, carrying him away deeper into the woods. Marius was slammed on the ground with the beast on top of him.

The dark towering hairy figure with visible wolf like ears and two glowing red eyes was ready to finished Marius off. Marius kicked the beast away, quickly got up and punched the beast's face.

Marius backed away with his spear ready as the beast recovered from the blow. Then, Marius noticed the beast wore an adventurer like gear with leather strappings on the torso carrying smaller knifes. He realized it was not an animal but a wolf beastmen.

"Who are you?" said Marius.

But the beast didn't reply, instead pulled out a longer daggers on each hand and attacked Marius. Marius parried the flurry of swift attacks with his spear while keeping distance.

Seeing an opening, Marius thrust his spear at the beast but the beast caught the spear. With one hand he tried to cut the shaft of the spear with his dagger but it bounced back and he looses his grip on his weapon.

Using the short moment of the beast's confusion. Marius let go of the spear and throw punches at the beast, landing on his face and torso.

The beast blocked one of Marius punches and thrust his dagger into Marius's abdomen, piercing the armor. Marius quickly caught the beast's hand before the blade could reached his flesh.

Marius headbutted the beast, causing it to recoiled from the blow. Marius charged at him, grabbing him by his leather straps before lifting him up and rammed him on a tree.

The tree nearly uprooted itself from the ground and the beast fell on his knees.

"You... You're not a hunter, are you?" said the beast.

"Why did you kill them?" said Marius.

The beast then threw two daggers at Marius. Marius shielded his face with his arm as the dagger was deflected off his armor. Then the beast got up and tackled Marius by the waist.

The beast pushed Marius, trying to make him fall on the ground. Marius planted his feet to regain control and started hitting the beast with his knees. Marius then elbowed the beast, further weakening the beast's hold on him, and he grabbed hold of his furry opponent then threw the beast across the ground.

As the beast recovered from the throw, Marius held him on a chokehold. He struggled as the beast tried to break free from the hold. He started elbowing Marius's side but the armor soften the blow.

"Yield!" said Marius.

Marius felt as if the beast was almost broke free from his chokehold. He pulled the beast backward until he fell on his back as he struggled to keep the beast on his arm. Marius tightened his choke even more until the beast slowly losesconsciousness and went limp.

The tired warrior tossed the beast aside and laid there, panting for air as his eyes fixated on the almost darkened sky. Marius then gets up, pulled out a rope from his satchel and tied the beast's hands together.

Marius fell backwards and sat on the ground, still exhausted from the fight. The beast regainconsciousness and realized his hands were tied up. He sat up and saw Marius sitting beside him. Silence fell as the two beaten combatant stared at each other while they catch their breaths.

As Marius gets up, he felt his entire body sored once the adrenaline stopped. The beast tried to get up with only his legs while his hands were tied up. Marius grabbed him by his mail armor and lifted him up on his feet, which confused the beast.

"What are you?" said the beast.

Marius summoned the spear back to his hands.

"I heard about that weapon... You're one of the Legendary Heroes."

Marius responded with a grunt.

"Sir Spear Hero!"

Marius turned his head and saw Rino running towards him while the rest followed behind.

"Are you okay? Are you hurt?" said Rino.

"Nothing to be concern about." said Marius.

Malty approached the beast with a disgusted look, "Filthy animal. What makes you think you can go up against the Spear Hero?"

The beast growled at the princess.

"You dare bare your teeth on me! Do you know who I am-"

"Enough!" Marius shouted.

Terrified by Marius sudden outburst, Malty backed away.

"He is our prisoner. But show him respect."

"But it-"

"I will not hear another word... Now move."

Marius grabbed the beast by his back collar and started leading him out of the woods. Rino looked at Malty for a few seconds before walking off to join Marius, followed by Elena.

"Still think you can get to him?" Lesty whispered.

The frustrated princess ignored her friend and followed them.


The hunters could not believe their eyes when they saw the Spear Hero returning to their camp with the captured beastmen that have been killing their men. As they walked through the hunters, they could hear some of them berating the beastmen as they made their way to the guild leader.

"I always knew the Spear Hero would help with our problems." say the guild leader.

"And the rest of the bounty?" said Marius.

The guild leader snapped his fingers and one of the hunters behind him presented a larger purse. Marius took the purse and felt the heavy coins inside.

"You're making a big mistake, hero." said the beast, which caught Marius's attention.

"Shut up!" one of the hunters violently yanked the loose rope.

The beast turned and growled at the hunter, causing him to recoiled in fear. Then, the guild leader cast a spell on the beast that instantly subdued him. This left a smile on Malty's face.

"We'll take it from here." said the guild leader.

As the beast was pulled into the guild leaders tent, Marius walked away with his party. They got on their horses and went on their journey. Yet, Marius felt something was not right and Rino noticed.

"Sir Spear Hero? Is there something wrong?" said Rino.

"Wait here." Marius turned his horse around and galloped back to the camp.


Tied up and on his knees, the beast could do nothing except hearing all the sneering from the hunters. His ears perked up after hearing the sound blades sharpening.

"Your fur will catch a hefty price on the market." said the guild leader.

The beast was silent, ready to meet his end.

"But don't worry. I'll hang you up right beside your mate's fur."

The beast's boiled quickly boiled and was ready to pounce on the guild leader.

Suddenly, they heard the tent flapped opened. The guild leader turned around and saw Marius entering.

"Oh, Sir Spear Hero. Is there something the matter?" said the guild leader.

"The beast. Why did it killed your men?" said Marius as he approached the guild leader.

"Well, that what they always do. And thanks you, the villagers are now safe from harm."

"The beast never harm the villagers. Only your hunters." Marius then circled around the guild leader. "And I heard of what you said."

"Oh. And what are you going to do about it?"

Marius drew his spear and pointed at the guild leader's neck.

"Careful now."

The hunters around them started harming themselves.

"There's only one of you."

Then, the spear quickly glowed and the spearhead appeared at the back. Marius then quickly cut the beast loose and all the hunters were shocked. Now free, the beast lunged at the guild leader.

The hunters regain their composure and started attacking them. Marius swung his spear around, slicing any hunters that got in range of the spear. Marius then started fighting the rest of the hunters while protecting the beast.

The guild leader casted a bright light that blinded the beast and escaped with few bloodied slashes. After he recovered, he saw the guild leader ran outside before two more hunters entered.

"Beast!" Marius shouted and he kicked a sword at the beast's feet.

The beast quickly picked the sword off the ground and started fighting the two guards while Marius dealt with the others.

After they finished off the remaining hunters, the two ran outside. There, they saw the guild leader limping away as more hunters started closing in on them. Without hesitation, the two fought through the hunters. Leaving behind a trail of dead hunters as they went after the guild leader.

With the last of the hunters slain, the beast gives chase. His rage build up, he threw the sword away and went on all fours. The guild leader turned his head and was terrified to see a raging beastmen gaining on him.

The guild leader tried to ran faster but he tripped and fell on the ground. He felt the sharp claws dug into his leg and he tried to crawl away before being dragged closer. The beast turned the guild leader on his back and started ravaging him with pure hatred.

The guild leader let out a loud helpless scream as his guts was slashed opened by the beastmen. The blood curdling scream of death slowly dissapeared along with the guild leader's life.

The beast stopped, gazing at the mangled corpse before him. He turned his head around and saw Marius who saw the bloody display with no reaction. He glowing red eyes slowly disappeared. Marius nodded and leave for his party.

"Why did you help me?" said the beast.

"I did what is right."

Marius continued walking away.


After a long wait, they saw Marius on horseback approaching them.

"We heard the commotion. What happened?" said Rino.

"There were more monster there than I thought." said Marius as he trot passed her.

All of them followed him without question.


The Spear Hero party rested on a new campsite not far away from the woods. The all gathered around the campfire as they checked their gear. Then, all four of Marius's companions freeze in fear by something behind their leader. Marius turned his head and saw the beast standing behind him. He calmly got up on his feet.

"State your business." said Marius.

"Let me join your party." said the beast.

Marius could hear gasping behind him.

"You're not thinking-" Malty said before Marius lifted his hand up, commanding her to be quite.

"We need more capable fighters in this party. And I saw you fight."

Malty looked at Marius is disbelieve.

"Your name?"

"Leandros." said the beast.

Marius then present Leandros an empty spot beside him, "Join us."

Frustrated, Malty stomped her foot and walked back to her tent.

"Will she be okay?" said Leandros.

Marius grunted.